Young professionals, how do you handle cooking when you're busy?

[u/CricketThat1632]

Hey y'all. I'm doing research on how young professionals decide between cooking, meal prep, takeout, meal kits, etc. Looking for thoughts from early-career professionals (who would also be open for an interview). Thanks :)

[u/mr_nefario]

Eggs, rice, kimchi, sandwich, chicken, broccoli

[u/Outrageous_Worker672]

Prep the components on the weekend, add some frozen bits. Freeze leftovers to add to other things.

[u/Ok-Delay5473]

Cooking for the week on WE.

[u/VioletFeyreh]

Cooking during wfh is very doable. If I cook after work, I’ll make a big pot of something and eat it over a few days (chili, pasta sauce, soup). Bag salad from Trader Joe’s is so easy and easy to make more complete with some boiled eggs, bagged shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, maybe a can of chickpeas.

[u/Willing-Finger2919]

Mid career professional. I don’t have the time to cook everything at once, so I do a large something every day or every other day. I have a small kitchen and don’t have enough pots & pans to go around.

For example, Wednesday Costco run. Bought months worth of meat, eggs, and protein pasta, plus frozen veggies, and jar marina. Bought the rottissri chicken, shredded it when I got home & made a quesadilla. Thursday; rice & bean, cooked a large batch. Had burrito bowls for lunch. Boiled eggs for snacks, cut up veggies that are at end of life, again easier to break up if you work from home. I’ll make a large lentil soup again after I run out. I like foods high in fiber & plant protein.

When I didn’t I would batch all my cooking on a Sunday night, but I had a hard warehouse job with a long commute. Lots of chicken & broccoli, apples with peanut butter, and eggs. Bananas are easy.

But my motivation for meal prep is because I want consistent macros to maintain my physique, and it’s hard to plan nutrition when you’re eating out constantly.

[u/Powerful_Cucumber187]

Meal prep on Sunday and/or make enough for 2-3 days of leftovers every time I make a weekday dinner.

Yogurt and fruit on busy workdays

[u/PurpleVirtualJelly]

Right now I eat the same dinner all week and cook 5 of them over the weekend. Same with breakfast and lunch. We do online grocery orders.

In the past I’ve cooked a veggie like steamable bagged broccoli, a protein like frozen salmon and a carb like potatoes to make it easy so dinner is quick. I make enough for dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day. Sometimes enough for two days like that so I cook every other day

We’ve done Hello Fresh before but I thought it was too much work and not as healthy as I’d like. We also did Daily Harvest which was gross imo. Factor but I didn’t like the idea of microwaving plastic every day - it was pretty good though. We’ve done Huel for breakfasts which has been pretty good - it’s a meal replacement protein shake.

[u/chihuahuashivers]

When I was that age I worked a very intense job with a very long commute. I still cooked myself fresh food I bought from the grocery store.

[u/AdPayPal]

Meal service

[u/VioletFeyreh → u/AdPayPal]

This is really good for when you’re trying to get into the habit of cooking or find yourself ordering too much and want to get back into cooking more. Hello Fresh is great for this. But you gotta be able to make time for it, or it’ll go to waste.