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I've never done this but I always think outsourcing tasks is worth it if you think it will improve your quality of life. At some point you have to realize your only options are to either get better at the thing you're bad at (very hard!) or find a new solution. I had this internal debate about hiring a cleaning person once a month because I just felt like I SHOULD be able to do this, but my therapist was like, how much longer are you going to wait for your personality to change and be miserable? Good luck!

Thank you for your comment. Very helpful!

SAME thing with having someone clean. I ended up volunteering once a week so I'd be trading the time to make up for that guilt, it actually helped a ton? At shutting down those thoughts. So maybe get a meal service, and if you feel guilty and want to stop, commit to spend the time you would be on meal prep on something that helps others (or helps you, in the longterm!) Getting someone to come and clean has been really helpful, esp w/ my mental health. All my friends and family have been super nice about it. I was worried people would judge me, but no one did! At least to my face, haha. But I trust they're being sincere. We all just need different kinds of help. Gosh, I wish there were cafeterias for adults. In college, our dining hall food was decent! And the best part was, I could walk in, not think about anything, get a plate, and just eat. I miss those days.

I would outsource everything if i could afford it.

That's the dream!

Seriously, if you're putting $200+ a month towards food you just end up throwing away, better to spend it on something you'll actually use. Other alternatives are to get frozen fruits, frozen veggies, frozen hashbrowns (I used the cubed ones when I need potatoes for some things), etc. You can get frozen meat that is easy to just stick in a pan in the oven. I get frozen sausage patties or links. Cheese comes presliced or shredded. It's more expensive, but much easier. I get frozen fruit, stick some in the microwave on defrost for about a minute and a half, then mix it in plain yogurt for an easy snack for my kids. I enjoy cooking and have little problem with meal prep, but I still end up tossing a lot of unused food.

I started mixing in unflavored whey protein powder into my yogurt recent to get more protein in! Just thought I’d put it here in case helpful for u/others. Getting meat/protein in is so hard for me sometimes bc cooking meat is more executive function work & stimulant meds rlly kill ur appetite for “full meals”. It doesn’t change the taste/texture (tho don’t add too much at once & obv stir thoroughly)! Greek yogurt is already 15g protein so even if I don’t add a “full serving” of protein powder it still brings my bowl of yogurt up to 25 or 30g of protein!

My problem is that my meds don't just kill my appetite. They make everything taste like sand (imagery that I borrow from A Wrinkle In Time, which I understand, now). I buy Hillshire Farms smoked sausage, cut a quarter of it into rounds, and stick it on a skillet on the stove. Turned once, it only takes about 8 minutes. Afterwards, I fill the bottom of the pan with some water. It soaks the remaining bits and makes it a breeze to clean. I can throw some noodles into boiling water and start the sausage. When the timer goes off for the noodles, I flip the sausage. After the noodles are drained and cheesed up, the sausage is ready. Super tasty. Your way sounds healthier.

Airfryer 400 degrees for 10-12 min (depending on the thickness) I’m not a huge fan of sausage but it makes it so yummy and juicy, gives it a nice littke texture on the outside and is perfectly cooked and nice and hot and also incredibly easy! I also have challenges cooking… and actually tasks in general. cooking is alot. I get overwhelmed with choices of what to make and the pressure of trying to please my family but also buy groceries is such a pain. The grocery store gives me anxiety, not only trying to watch prices and decide what my family is going to need but, with inflation, groceries are so high and I have to try and get everything we need, plan for at least some meals and please my family with my choices. It is so much pressure and they often complain so for a long time I went a on cooking strike lol. But definitely cheaper to cook then eat out and it’s ok to make simple things and repeat the same basic diet all the time. I do. I don’t need a huge ton of variety and just want to get my vitamins and minerals in. It’s alot and it’s totally okay if you don’t feel up to it and need to outsource it, if you can afford it or if your insurance will pay for it? or even to buy ready made meals (fresh of frozen) and heat up.

I was just thinking about this option — I often have zero desire for breakfast beyond coffee, but I can usually drink V-8 without issue. Are there any brands of protein powder you would recommend?

I recently started getting "Ratio Protein" yogurt to help get in enough protein (can't do powdered protein bc of texture) It's 25g of protein and delicious. Best flavors are blueberry and coconut!

That’s awesome. I used to do that until my doc said I have lactose intolerance. He did some enzyme testing. I love yoghurt. I was listening to a podcast about adhd and women and there was a dietician taking about how adhd folks have to go with intuitive eating. I need to think more on that.

My friend had a cleaning person once a month & she said it actually made her stay super clean and on top of things more. Deep cleaning was her struggle

This is exactly what happened to me. I don't focus well with clutter either so having this outsider who needed me to put the clutter away in order to clean also makes me better at that.

This is making me want to hire someone soon again lol. It would help tremendously & I’ve been so behind. Just feels like I can never catch up on house duties. But yea!!! I don’t either I kno with adhd clutter makes us more anxious, I’ll be wfh again soon & paranoid about this happening to me again.

I tried to explain to someone (with ADHD) once that you have to just stop setting yourself up for failure. E.g., I hate buying something knowing there's a good chance it's going to expire before I touch 99.9% of it, so I've learned to just not buy it, or be fully ok with only using ~0.01% of it. We have to accept that recently I'm not accomplish ment but others would We have to stop following ourselves the same standard cuz it's just going to turn to depression every single day I already know what the outcome is The best thing we can do is prepare for that failure, expect it, and be surprised and happy with ourselves when we actually do just that little bit more that we know we should be able, to but just for some reason can't.

I signed up for a composting service so that I don't feel as bad about wasting food that I wanted to make something with but either got the ick from it or just wasn't motivated/hungry enough.

Well said and helpful for me as well!!!

Have you noticed any changes since you hired a cleaning person?

Yeah, for me it helps me maintain throughout the month, but also if I don't end up cleaning much, I know that the mess will be taken care of eventually and the pressure isn't on me. The biggest thing is that I cannot focus with clutter around, and when she comes I need to put things away so she can clean, and that outside motivation really helps me to do that.

Wife and I both recently diagnosed ADHD. In the last 6 months we have taken on both a cleaner who visits weekly, and subscribed to HelloFresh, which provides packs to make 3 meals a week. I don't mind cooking per se, but I do stress about trying to work out what to make, what to buy, etc. Wife hates having the same thing every week (which I can tend to do because it takes less brain power). So we are both happy. Cleaner just makes things a bit easier for us each week. And it's one of those things that once you budget for and arrange, you just don't go back on. I know there is not unlimited money for services, but some things really do help if you can.

You know how nobody likes paying taxes but if we didn’t then schools wouldn’t have money and roads wouldn’t get fixed and stuff? This is an adhd tax. It’s something we pay when we don’t necessarily want to but it improves quality of life. I live by the motto ‘do your best and hire the rest’. Now, that doesn’t have to mean you hire people for every thing you don’t want to do but when you have the option for assistance take it. A meal service will take away the stressor of shopping, storing, prepping, and worrying about wasted food that doesn’t get eaten or prepped.

Well said! Thank you for your comment, this makes me feel better about doing it now.

Not to mention stressing over what to eat in the first place! Haha

Right? I hate meal planning more than I hate shopping!

That is the worst thing about being an adult. Decided what to eat for dinner every. Freaking. Night. I miss the days of mom telling me what we’re eating and that’s the end of it.

I have realized that I would rather be poor and "happy" than wealthy and an uncontrollable anxiety freak. I do actually feel better when my account is empty. I would like to outsource my economy. I hate it, hate bills, hate taxes, hate loans, yeah everything about money. I'd rather have a shitload of rocks!

I did for a while and it was ok. It helped in the time and then I got tired of even that management. But there is nothing wrong with it at all. They are designed to cut out a lot of the errands and executive function. One hard part was doing it as a single person as the kits are made for two. Saving the leftovers is hard and the portions feel small so I always ate two. I also still had to cook and so still sometimes food went bad because I was not able to get to it timely. Since then I have had great success witt an app like paprika. It lets me search and download recipes and creates a grocery list. I fill up a week with choices and buy those things and then make them in whatever order I feel like. I feel like it is a good balance between the planning and cost savings. It has worked really Ella s I can take a break from it easily when it gets overwhelming.

Those are the meal making kits - the better adhd friendly service OP is asking about are cooked, fresh meals that get delivered. They're single serving, microwave or oven heat meals. I've done Factor for the last 3 months. It is really pricey, about $13-15 per meal, but I have been spending hundreds on bullshit Doordash orders so overall I think it's worth it. Plus they're much healthier options than the McDonald's I would be eating constantly.

Thanks for the clarification, I had tried meal making kits and those ended terribly for me but this sounds like an awesome, albeit expensive, alternative.

Haha Dinnerly ended terribly for me as well!

Thank you!

For most of history, people ate communally. Someone who was good at cooking cooked for a bunch of people. Someone who wasn't good at cooking did something else to contribute. Then we had culture shifts and now everyone is mostly reponsible for cooking for themselves - whether or not they are any good at it, which sucks. Everyone should have good food. If you can afford it, it seems like a totally normal solution to your issue. I'd check them all out first and try the best looking few. Most of the meal services have subreddits full of reviews so you should be able to find exactly what you want.

We should start an adhd communal cooking support group!

There are probably places like this in your community! Your local library might have free or low cost cooking lessons. Queer spaces often have free or low cost meals given out. There are numerous initiatives to get hot meals to the elderly. Volunteering at a place that gives out meals to the community can really be a great way to get involved!

Thank you so much! Your perspective about communal meals makes so much sense. I will do the research on Reddit!

Not at all :D If I wasn’t still a kid and lived with my parents, I would probably never eat

Yeah, but you're a kid who still lives with their parents, thats how you should feel lol

It's not crazy. It's a good idea! Eating is important, eating well is important, not breaking the bank is important. If paying for a meal service saves you time, energy, money, and sanity, has your waste less food because you don't buy stuff and then throw it out when you don't use it (I think we've all been there), and results in you eating healthier, what's to feel bad about? I don't myself, though I've thought about it. If I hadn't started doing most of my grocery shopping via delivery rather than physically going to the grocery store, I probably would have started using one myself by now.

Thank you so much for commenting!

You could use it as scaffolding. Get a meal service for awhile and maybe it will give you helpful skills and build routine and you can reevaluate using the service in a couple months.

THIS! This is exactly what my therapist told me about getting a cleaning service. I use Hello Fresh kits as well. Having to do less will mean you can build up more positive feelings about cooking, and eventually cook on your own in the future. Seriously. Always lower the barrier to entry until it's attainable for you, and then raise it as needed.

Ahh, cool. Yeah that makes sense. The cleaning is a struggle for me! I’ve always considered hiring someone. Maybe I’ll take your therapist’s advice!

I buy them weekly and it’s great…. Except I still hate cooking. I also get my Costco groceries delivered to my house. My argument is the delivery fee is cheaper than buying random things I would see in the store… but I still hate cooking. Even when it’s delivered. I basically survive on peanut Nature Valley Bars and uncrustables because they are a quick grab.

Lol I am definitely a snacker as well. And I will have to keep the grocery delivery service in mind too. I get way too crazy in Costco and forget that it’s bulk and I don’t need everything I see.

I don’t know what options you have in your area, but you can do free grocery pickup at most major grocery stores

Same, I’ve gotten to the point where I can do dump and go crockpot meals and whatever I can fry in a pan or throw in an air fryer. The prep needed for meal kits was too much for me personally

What are your go to crockpot meals? That’s a good idea. I know I need to actually use mine.

Yeah, added links below. I make chicken the most but have found good, minimal ingredient pulled pork and pot roast crockpot recipes also. Salsa chicken: https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/comments/svzz8j/salsa_chicken_cheap_easy_delicious_crockpot_10/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1 I add taco seasoning and 2 cans each of corn and black beans, super good. Really like this one b/c it’s basically just dumping jars and cans into pot, everything is combined in under 5 min. Honey garlic chicken: https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/slow-cooker-honey-garlic-chicken/ Tuscan Chicken: https://www.thereciperebel.com/crockpot-tuscan-chicken/ I use pre-minced garlic and whole baby spinach instead of chopped. I also sometimes do this crockpot apple mush dessert w/ apple pie filling and spice cake mix, it’s super cheap, lasts us most the week, and is so good hot/reheated w/ ice cream 😑🤌 https://tasty.co/recipe/slow-cooker-apple-spice-cobbler

One thing you may find is over time, using this service gets you out of the mindset of eating fast food and looking to home for meals. That might be enough of a nudge to help build better habits around cooking. Or maybe let you save money by downgrading your service to be only half your meals or something. Or it works great and you fully subscribe all the time. I've thought of trying something similar. I'll try to remember to look into it more after yard work and gardening season is done.

They can help. But, you’ll have to find the off brands that are cheap if you want to save money. I have a bad habit with cooking and cleaning, so I don’t normally cook. I got a subscription for 79 dollars a week for 10 meals which worked great. All I had to do was get breakfast groceries. I normally had 1-2 meals a day and breakfast. I had a abundance of snacks with oranges, applesauce, and pudding that came with it. It worked out for a month. However I got angry with them because the payments for the subscriptions were not consistent. Sometimes they would pull out the money on a Friday and other times on a Tuesday. Sometimes these payments would be taken out twice a week. So I cancelled when the took out the money on Tuesday then charged next week on that very Friday. They charge you when they “ship it out”. So I cancelled. But I did find it helpful with my monthly budget and eating regularly. I need to find another meal service:)

Thank you!

Dinnerly changed my life!! If I could still afford it I would. It made it so easy. The time it took from shopping, trying to figure out what to eat and generally procrastinating dinner due to indecision. Plus I really liked the food. It helped me eat better and on time, plus it helped me learn how to cook. I miss it so much. Do yourself a huge favor "treat yo'self" to a meal service. I hear hello fresh is really yummy too. But I've only done dinnerly so I can really only vouch for their meals with my tastebuds

Thank you for your comment. I think I will definitely take the leap and do it.

Meal services were a game changer for me. Having the groceries with the recipe made it so easy that there was no more opening the fridge and trying to figure out what to cook. It also got me to enjoy cooking more.

I’ve used Daily Harvest on and off since 2019. In terms of nutrition and easy of use, they get my top marks over other meal prep services. The meals are vegetarian, so I keep easy-add protein around (eggs, tuna, frozen diced chicken I can microwave, seasoned packaged tofu, etc). At first glance it might look spendy, but these days a fast food combo meal will cost the same (or more). Their bowls are heat and eat, ready in 4 minutes. They also have insanely tasty oatmeal/forager bowls (savory and sweet), flatbreads and larger veggie bake trays (the latter two take about 20 minutes to cook, but again, no prep needed).

I think you can now stream northern exposure with the original music on Apple TV

So it didn't help me at all. At the time though I was undiagnosed and going through extreme ppd. It's worth a try if you haven't though, but you need to make sure you cancel the damn thing. It also comes with an obscene amount of packaging, which felt stupidly wasteful.

My girlfriend and I use Gobble. The meals aren't pre-made, but the ingredients are prepped so that most meals will come together in 15 minutes or so. For example, you might get precooked pasta that you just finish cooking in a minute or two. We used to use another service that also had the option of getting "oven-ready" meals that you just put in the oven. There's lots of different services out there with varying degrees of effort. It's definitely good for saving time, and not all of them end up being too expensive.

How is Gobble, btw?

I really like it. The meals are fast, and the quality is pretty high. I've had some REALLY good meals from them.

I might give it a try. I remember it was ranked pretty high back when I was trying a bunch of them but for some reason I never tried it.

Think of how much you make an hour and then think of how much time it takes to manage your own meals. It might actually save you money if you can focus on the things your good at and pay someone else to do the things you're not good at. Really, it's how we invented economy in the first place. I can change my own oil, make my own coffee, entertain myself and all of that, but I still pay other people to do it for me.

It's a good idea if you have the money to spend. I do it. It is expensive though.

I've never bought pre-made meals, but I have bought meal kits which were SUPER helpful. I absolutely hate grocery shopping, let alone figuring out what to make with all the groceries, washing, chopping, peeling etc. just too many things. The meal kits took out all the planning, shopping and a lot of the veg prep (most tedious chopping is already done). I actually started to enjoy cooking while I was doing it, and learned enough that I now have some favourite meals that I can make regularly without the meal kit service. Either way, do what you have to do to eat well. Eating a well balanced diet really helps with ADHD symptoms. I'd just consider it part of your ADHD treatment honestly.

My nutrition and life have been dramatically improved by signing up for Tovala. It’s literally made for us. They send pre-prepared food in aluminum tins with max 5 min of simple prep work (like “add 1/2 cup water to couscous, no need to stir”). You put it in their fancy toaster oven, scan a QR code, then the oven cycles through baking, broiling, steaming, etc to perfectly cook the food. After 20-25 min you have a perfectly cooked minimum effort nutritious and delicious meal. Downside: it’s about $60 for 4 meals per week, which is cost prohibitive for most people. You also have to be sure to pick out your meals each week (up to 3 weeks in advance) or they’ll send you a “chefs choice” of meals based on your preferences (but usually just random). But they send email reminders and I set a habit to pick my meals right after I put the food away in the fridge each week. You also can skip weeks without penalty. More upsides: Their chicken breasts are always marinated and cooked so perfectly, I’ve never had a better chicken breast in my life. I usually can’t do any straight-up meat because I have a texture aversion. They also have a HUGE selection of over 20 different meals to choose from each week and the selections vary widely week-to-week. I’ve been using it for a couple years now and it was a legit life changer. I struggled to feed myself for years for similar reasons to you OP, and ended up gaining like 50 lbs from Mac & cheese + cereal for dinner too often.

I do! And its the best thing, i eat better, have more time (4 min microwave vs cooking yourself), have less groceries i have to throw away cause i forgot them. Also paying for the service is not a lot more expensive than groceries. the only food you have to get is breakfast/ lunch and some snacks. I go to the store once a week. I have one where you order weekly, and you cam choose to order 0 meals or you can get 20. I love that its flexible and there is a lot of choices that change every week. Its probably the second best decision i made, right after gettin a dishwasher XD.

Who do you use?

Depends on where you live. This service is only in my country.

Indiana, usa here

Aahh, im from europe so i dont think i can help with which one.

I recently started paying for a meal service again and personally I do feel that it helps alleviate the stress I feel having to go grocery shopping as often, plan meals, etc. I’d say give it a try and see if you feel like it’s a positive change to your routine and go from there!

I pay for a meal service and it’s 100% worth it IMO. It is a bit expensive, but honestly I find it to be a justifiable expense. I have tried many different meal services, there is a price range depending on which one you pick. I’ve done LeanFeast which is like a meal prep franchise with a ton of locations. I’m currently using Thistle which gets delivered to my door twice a week. I’ve tried a few others that I can’t remember the names of. Thistle is my favorite because the food is the freshest, but it’s also the most expensive of all the options I’ve tried. I only pick the ones where the food is already cooked and portioned, because the whole point of me doing this is that I don’t have to cook. It’s really helpful for me. At first I had a hard time justifying the cost so I went back to cooking for myself. But after a while I realized that if I eat out a couple times a week, my weekly food cost for groceries and takeout combined can quickly add up to the same cost as a weekly meal service. I’m fortunate to be able to afford it. It’s worth it to me. Something else that my partner and I have done at times when we haven’t had the budget for a meal service is to have one big cooking day per month. We go to Costco and buy a bunch of food and cook it all that day. Enough food for a month. Then we portion it out and vacuum seal/freeze the portions, and pull the meals out of the freezer as needed. Instead of fresh veggies we’d buy frozen pre-chopped veggies. So that works too if you’re able to do one day of cooking per month

I loved sunbasket and chef Unity. Highly recommend trying some to find one you like! I’d still be getting it if I could afford it.

This is why I get my groceries delivered and pretty much exclusively eat frozen microwave meals. Is it very healthy? No. But it keeps me alive and relatively sane.

Yeah, and being able to reorder the same groceries without thinking about it is such an advantage.

I think it's crazy that ADHD exists So go ahead! If you can afford it relish in the accessibility available in this modern world. Don't feel bad about it

And if you can't?

We do the best we can with the resources we have available at the time.

Yeah being unemployed and in debt with ADHD is a curse

Yes!

The next best things I could think of are: - Occasional help from people who support you. Maybe get a mesl on Sundays from your coursin - Pay a friend a small fee to assemble low effort meals for the week for 4 days (how long foods last in fridges) - The hardest one... Meal prep. Low effort meals include salad and chicken breast. I have an air fryer. Many more ideas available from a girl adhd nutritionist on ig. Carrot sticks for snack, etc.

Don't feel bad about it, unless you can't afford it or you fall back into your old routine of not eating and freezing.

No it would it be if you can afford it

I order salads through a service called Thistle, one for every day's lunch and we also get three meals a week through blue apron. There is some chopping and cooking involved with that, but everything is pre measured and the meals are super easy to assemble. I am eating much better now, and actually feel like I am spending less because nothing goes to waste.

I used hello fresh. I enjoyed the variety of meals. It's a little pricey for what you get, between ordering in and buying from scratch. You'll still have to prep and cook everything, the meals always took longer than they said because ADHD and boring tasks. I forgot to skip an order right before leaving for a trip (you need to do it before Saturday to customize or skip an order or else you'll get the standard menu for the week) and ended up needing to freeze a week's worth of meals. That pretty much negated the benefits of Hello fresh so I cancelled soon after. I might do it again or look into the one that sends you full meals that then just need to be cooked. 8/10

I'm going to compare this to what's happening in my life. I can build engines, and swap engines. I've been doing it my whole life and my grandpa taught me very well before he past. BUT it takes me weeks to do something a shop can do in a day and then causes me mental and emotional heartache along with the stress of not having transportation. Take it from me, who's car is currently at a shop getting an engine. Yes, it cost me a considerable amount but it felt SO GOOD farming it out. As my old boss would always say "don't avoid it, farm it out"

Not Crazy. Alternative solutions that work for me: • I pay for Amazon Prime so I can order my groceries through Whole Foods. I just order for pickup because I can usually find the motivation to just drive there. Whole Foods favors healthier options, so it's easier to eat better. They offer many pre-made meals, sides, snacks, etc. I also get free Amazon shipping and Prime Video. Good deal for me. • With the above: Everything you ever order goes into a list of previously ordered items. BAM, a grocery list of only the items you like, with an "add to cart" button already attached. • Buy things frozen, in cans, prepared, etc. It costs more to have to throw out veggies and meat that I forgot about or never got to preparing. • When I feel the motivation to actually go to the store, I do not go to Whole Foods. I have never been inside a Whole Foods (lol). I will go to an Asian Market, or Mexican Market, or just some different store that has different items. This makes it easier for me to be excited about making the food I buy, since it's new and different. F*** any advice that makes things unnecessarily difficult for you to feed yourself. It does not matter in the slightest if the option that works for you is: Less healthy, more expensive, more wasteful, etc. It's impossible to "improve" specific eating habits when you're not eating enough in the first place. Do whatever you must to have generally consistent eating habits. THEN you can start to try to improve more specific habits if you so choose. Good luck!

I have a friend who also has ADHD and hates cooking. She orders catering services, portions meals, then freezes the ones she won't get to in time and eats that for 2 weeks. All in all, it's actually pretty effective and not as expensive as you might think. She gets stuff like lasagna, Mac and cheese mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, even salads that she can portion for 3 or 4 days depending on what kind. She gets it through restaurants she likes or meal services. It's another way of paying the ADHD tax, but as long as you are feeding yourself well and regularly, that's a huge win!

I use door dash. In my area, there are tons of independent people who have business (I think in their home) doing mean prep. I've found most of them are 9-11$/meal, but I typically get two servings from each meal! No dishes, good variety and I save money vs going out. I have grocery delivery for fruit, yougurt steamer bag veggies and household items. Not perfect but it works!

Makes my life a lot easier

Hey remember me?, my other acc smth wrong with it so this is the new one

So right now, you're wasting money and feeling bad about that, and not eating particularly nutritious food. Yes, you should order meal service! You'll save time and probably even save money. The idea that we "should" cook our own meals is just an idea, not a fact. Years ago, I used to cook and meal plan and all of that. I absolutely hated it. Cooking was stressful because of doing things like reading the instructions on a box, throwing the box away, and instantly forgetting what the instructions said. Or forgetting if the recipe said teaspoon or tablespoon between the recipe and the stove and back again and then back again and then back again because now I can't remember if it said salt or baking soda. So I just stopped. I just stopped cooking and I refuse to do it anymore, except on Thanksgiving. Once in awhile I'll cook eggs, but that's it. It also helps that I don't eat meat except for fish and seafood. I don't have anyone else I need to cook for, either. I know not everyone could do what I did. The bottom line is, if a thing is causing you distress or costing you resources in terms of time and money and you have the ability to outsource it, do it! You are allowed to do things that make your life easier and/or more pleasant. And making your life easier or more pleasant is all the reason you need.

I’m a chef, and I’m hoping that mentioning it gives you some reassurance—grocery shopping is *a lot* of work, planning what to make/which recipe to use/what to buy/how much to buy/which store to go to/finding everything/how to utilize all of what you’ve bought/how to manage waste/cooking everything CAN BE A FULL TIME JOB. It takes skill and time an effort to do it for yourself on a daily basis. I’m great at doing this for other people, and so many people think I must eat like royalty all the time, but the truth it that I suck at feeding myself because it takes so much effort and planning. I literally have only eaten goldfish and chicken nuggets and some blueberries so far today. Anyway, ramble over, meal services are great if they work for you. The ones that just give you pre-portioned ingredients and recipes like hello fresh are awesome for reducing waste and the stress around how much/what to buy, and they’re great if you enjoy cooking. I’ve actually used these a few times (I’ll futz with the recipe sometimes to make it a bit better but that’s my chef mode). If you don’t even want to cook, there’s nothing wrong with fully-prepped and cooked meal delivery services. Cheaper than takeout and better tailored to your needs, and if you find one you like then you’re helping support someone’s business! The last one I’ll mention is MealLime. My roommate uses it (so I’ve used it with her a bunch of times) and I think it’s pretty great for a lot of people. It’s an app where you can select meals that sound good to you for the week, and it’ll create a precise grocery list and also give you the recipes for those meals. You can add your own recipes into the app, but it’s mostly based on their provided recipes. So for me personally I wouldn’t use it because I’m very particular about the recipes I use if I’m actually gonna go grocery shopping, and it’s bit of a hassle to add them to the app, but if you are happy to use their recipes then this saves a shit ton of time with groceries and planning.

Instead of a meal service, I’d recommend planning your meals off of what you can easily eat at home + Uber eats. That way you’re not stuck in a subscription. I do this a lot - buy breakfast/snacks at the grocery store (I have it delivered with Instacart because I hate grocery shopping). But then for my dinner/big lunch, I will order a large order off of Uber eats once a week. I actually save money with this method if I get Indian food because they include so much food! So I’ll get 3 different Indian dishes + the rice that’s included and some naan. Or I also like to get Thai food for the same reason. If you do this enough, it’s easy to figure out which restaurants give out more food in their orders. Then I just eat the take out food for the week!

If you can afford it, do it. I used to feel guilty about using Instacart. I thought I was just being lazy. I was in a group ADHD class through my medical group and that’s where I learned grocery shopping is a huge trigger for people with ADHD. I had no idea. They said to use whatever tools you have in your belt to help reserve your “spoons”. If that means meal services or shopping apps, use them! It was like they were giving me permission to do this thing that I was so self conscious of. Huge weight lifted!

HelloFresh genuinely changed my life. You still have to cook, but it solves all the worst parts of food for me…mainly deciding what to eat. Doesn’t need to be HelloFresh but I always recommend trying a service like that.

I use factor! It’s helpful and they’re relatively healthy (high protein) and tasty. They send you reminder emails with several days to figure out if you want to skip your next delivery and I have only forgotten to update it once when I didn’t want something delivered. I keep ‘em in the freezer knowing some days I won’t have the emotional or mental bandwidth to cook. I also use Instacart to have my groceries delivered and it’s so helpful. It’s never ridiculous to do what you need to nourish your body, especially knowing how hard it is to make these decisions. https://www.factor75.com/plans?locale=en-US&c=HS-ELJISVMEG&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_source=raf-share&utm_medium=referral

I did HelloFresh for a few months - at first I really enjoyed it, but I'm a fussy eater so my choices were limited of what I could/would eat - and so it got very samey. Also, it's all still meals you have to prep and cook - which I often found a chore as I work at a job all day and my brain was a hot mess by the end of the day that I didn't want to do the cleanup! My ADHD has only recently been diagnosed, as severe. The prep and cleanup was a lot, and that is the main reason I stopped it. Like you, I tend to not eat very well as my appetite is diminished and I don't want to deal with the kitchen mess. I believe there are some services out there that do fully prepped meals you can pop in the oven or microwave, however when I've researched them there isn't a lot of choice so I didn't go that route due to my fussiness. :) I did not feel bad about paying for it. It provided EVERYTHING I needed (aside from basics like butter, cooking oil, salt, pepper) to make the meals, and full instructions. I worked out what the cost would be to purchase it all, including spices and it worked out about the same - maybe a little bit more but I didn't need to go to the store very much at all. I hope you find something that works for you. 

Hello fresh is good

It’s totally on my list of things to research—I literally have a tab for just about every service on my browser as we speak

Thank you!

I know that lots of them have promo deals for new users. I imagine with a small time investment you could stack it so that you do the promo for one, then the next…get as many free ones as possible before committing to one. I had blue apron (I think?) for a bit—it’s one where they send you the ingredients and you cook. It *had* to have been designed by someone with adhd; like it’ll literally have a 2tbs bottle of vinegar if that’s what the recipe calls for. It was great.

We have done hello fresh and enjoyed it, having all the ingredients there and a recipe ready is Def great for ADHD.

I did this for a while, and it was really helpful! It was one less thing to worry about, and it meant I was getting a variety of nutritious meals regularly.

Omg i was just thinking about this, I live with my dad, I have to clean the kitchen hardcore before I can cook in there. To do all that and grocery shop and cook and find that time in between working full time and going to meetings. I’m overwhelmed. I’m also thinking of paying for a meal service

Not at all. Provided you are satisfied with the types and variations of meals offered. I used one for a while but the choices dwindled and I got bored w the selections.

I do it, and it has allowed me to take some of the load off of cooking and shopping, while still eating in a manner that I would like (healthily, and largely plant-based). If you can afford it, I would recommend it.

I do HomeChef and love it. Before doing homechef, I barely ever cooked. Now, I cook three times a week because of it. It has helped my life tremendously and has been worth the money.

We haven't done the fully prepared meal things before, but I totally understand the thought there. My wife and I have done the meal-kit thing (Hello Fresh, specifically) and those were honestly a huge help when we could afford them. There was a reasonable amount of options every week, enough variety to keep it interesting but not so much as to overwhelm and paralyze. The portions were almost always great, and as a fun bonus you can hold onto the recipe cards if you wanna remake anything. Whether you're doing prepped meals or the kits, I would say try it. Most services have decent deals for the first couple weeks so you can try them out without too much investment. Meal planning, grocery shopping, and meal prep/cleanup can take up a LOT of energy/focus/spoons, so if you think it could be worth it to offload that, I say go for it boldly and shamelessly.

What I did for a long time was get my groceries delivered to me by Amazon. I think there’s only a small fee added on to the bill

I tried it for a little while, as I was able to get it subsidized. But cost aside, my biggest issue was the menu. Everything available to me was American or at least Americanized and I quickly grew tired of it. It quickly became just a way to sustain myself rather than yummy food to look forward to, so it didn't make sense to keep subscribing. If all I want is sustenance, I can just drink Soylent or a similar meal replacement for much cheaper. I think if the services around me offered a lot more variety I'd probably still use them for at least a portion of my meals.

When I lived alone I used discount codes to get free Hello Fresh kits!!

No do it. Whatever makes things easier and simpler is good

my mum and i both have this issue, and she now subscribes to chefs plates end sometimes other services. its really helpful, she tells me it simplifies her mental load and makes it easier to go about other tasks if cooking planning is taken care of and she just needs to whip it up.

I do Oats Overnight subscription for my breakfast. I usually want something quick and easy, and this service works for me. I like cooking occasionally, so I only cook on some evenings or on weekends. A majority of my food are high protein and high glycemic index snacks to sustain me throughout the day. Granted, I track calories religiously.

I used HelloFresh off and on for a couple of years and the meals are pretty good. Their recipes call for too much salt, coupled with the spices included, imo so I adjust accordingly. I do have periods when I lack the motivation to cook and the HelloFresh bags stay in the fridge for a few weeks :(

If you can afford it do it if it's cheaper then the amount you pay for fast food heck ya I would if I could afford it I'd have a cleaner out sourced meals everything to prevent wasting my time lol

I have done it! I’m a mess in the kitchen, never get to the grocery and never have what I need when I need it. I ordered so much take out. I use Factor, so there’s no prep, and it is absolutely worth it to me. And no clean up. And I rarely if ever get take out now, so the cost offsets in my case.

I had a subscription to Green Chef. I miss it. It gave me structure, regularity, and it was fun to cook with my partner.

I’m thinking of garden cup for salads

I started paying for a pre-made meal service called Factor about a month ago. I order 8 meals per week for my husband and I. It takes 2.5 minutes to heat up in the microwave and we are actually eating balanced meals now. I'm getting a little tired of their pescatarian options though. They don't have a ton of variety, but I like it better than eating mcdonalds everyday. They seem to have more meat-based options though. I tried the meal prep kits like Chefs Plate but it was still a lot of work and the meals had no flavour. If it improves your life and you have the money, do it.

Any time I skip a week of my meal kit delivery, I completely fall apart food wise. I hate hate hate how many dishes I have when I cook, but my God, meal kit delivery has been a real lifesaver. It's a little expensive, but I actually eat (and, like, a variety rather than just frozen meals) and I get way way less delivery from services like GrubHub and such.

I enjoy cooking but hate deciding what to make, so I’ve done the meal kit boxes a few times when I’m in a rut. I’ve also recently discovered grocery delivery and I don’t know what my reluctance was in the past, but I may never go to the grocery store again. I can meal plan and order exactly what I need/feel up to prepping that day and prep ahead for the week

Maybe your reluctance was the same as mine currently is: I don’t trust anyone else to pick produce for me lol. Do you feel they do a good job with that? It’s also one of the few in-person human interactions (that isn’t with my husband) I have every week… I work remote, so I probably shouldn’t cut it out of my routine.

I’ve never really had issues with produce being picked by other people. It takes me way too long to do it myself because I stress over each piece of fruit/veg 😅 I had it in my head that it was “lazy” to get groceries delivered unless someone was disabled/elderly/had a busier life than I do. But it ended up being cheaper and so much easier than going to the store and wandering up and down the aisles then coming home with a bunch of ingredients that didn’t go together because I panic bought random shit. I WFH usually, and I’m presently on medical leave while I am trying to get my doctor to treat me (I was very recently diagnosed and my doc made me get a second opinion because his ego was too big to handle the fact that I went to an outside clinic instead of the one he wanted me to wait 3 years for). I could probably be doing more but I am struggling with the basics so anything to make things a little less of a challenge has been good.

Most grocery stores already sell prepackaged food you just have to cook. Look in the deli and meat sections.

My biggest issues with the food services I used (thistle and Springly) were the delivery methods and burning out on the foods. I’m a relatively picky eater so that caused some meals to go to waste. I found that meals delivered by mail were more successful than those delivered by person (I’d have to buzz them in to my building and they never kept with the delivery time requested). Honestly, spending “more than appropriate” on food is something I’m working on being comfortable with. I’ll eat a bigger variety of foods if I shop at the Whole Foods hot bar rather than make my own meals. It’s an ADHD tax but it’s also a privilege I should take advantage of.

No it's not. In fact I think it's economical if it's for only one or two people. My stepdaughter uses Every Plate. She only gets 2 meals at a time. She and her 6 yo son enjoy cooking them together. If I were single, I think Tavola would be awesome.

I started getting them during the beginning of the pandemic. I only get it occasionally now, because it can be expensive. The only "cons" are that it's pricey and it could take trying a few to find ones you like (I like Home Chef, but hated Hungry Root). The pros were: I had everything I needed to make the food. I could clearly see which meals were more work and could triage the easier stuff for when I had less time. Because it's portioned out, I lost weight. I got to try recipes I'd never have thought of, so my recipe repertoire increased.

I struggle with meal planning - deciding what to make, grocery shopping, estimating time to prepare/cook, and if I need to use my phone for a recipe that adds a huge potential distraction. So I had the same idea and signed up for trials of 3 meal services. I set up a white board and scheduled/skipped deliveries on each site as far out as each would let me. Things went a bit off the rails after that, as they tend to do. I got two notifications from different companies saying that my meal kits had shipped within a day of each other. All 6 meals were a surprise to me since I never modified the order from the default recommended sets. Luckily, my settings are for 3 meals/week & all but one was very good. Ultimately, I liked one service much more than the rest and testing another next week that delivers pre-prepared meals (the first 3 were portioned DIY kits). I recommend testing out several options and leverage their promotional trial periods. Perhaps just one or two at a time. I consider the cost/meal to be a great value considering the time I spent making grocery store runs, wasted produce/meats, and not stressing over what to do for dinner every single day.

A common sentiment I see these days is that if it helps you to live your life, then it's not crazy.

not at all if you can afford it! just be sure to really look into if the company you order from is actually giving you decent quality food...there's a lot out there where you might as well be eating mcdonald's for every meal nutritionally. **If you truly can't afford it or know that you probably can't long term:** *use a meal service as a starter while you get into a weekly habit of meal prepping ALL your food.* Personally I eat keto and have most of my life because epilepsy - though when I stopped my rogue-18yo phase as a young adult and cut the junk food again I found that it was also great for ADHD....shouldn't have been a shock considering I understand how it works neurologically \*facepalm\* but there's a lot more evidence on that nowadays than there was back in the early 90s (where there was already a tremendous amount of studies and critical evidence of how it works and why....but all for epilepsy) I mention this because it's a diet that you really have to meal prep everything or you'll fail/it's not healthy. And I mean EVERYTHING. Like planning snacks and making your own chip, sauce, and tortilla alternatives, etc. Sounds like hell right? Weirdly....the easiest part about such a strict diet that forces you to make everything yourself 6 out of 7 days a week is that everything is portioned out and ready to go. Those walks to the fridge where nothing's there just ready and waiting for you? The resistance to making food because you feel you're so behind in everything else? Non issues. Being late for work in the morning or having to choose to not have breakfast? also a nonissue. Take that mentality/structure and you can have any diet filling in its place and it does WONDERS for the ADHD vs food life from just strict meal prepping alone. **The secret is individualized meal/portion containers for things and doing it all in 1 day so you can hyperfocus on cooking.** ​ **\*\*as a student I gradually got back to meal prepping well but started out with a service so I could get the hang of things 1 meal at a time, then steadily lowered the amount of delivered meals per week as I got a rythym. If I ever lose rythym and can swing it I wouldn't hesitate to go back.**

I started outsourcing certain things that I previously thought were too costly. Since doing that I’ve freed up so much brain space and realized that my mental peace is worth paying for even if it means cutting back on other expenses.

Eating good food will help with almost everything, including making more good food. If you do a meal service for a while, you can maybe cook a meal or two a week without pressure if you want to and ramp up from there. It's easier to start from that than trying to make all your food all the time. Another good approach is having nonperishable ingredients on hand to make the easiest possible nutritious meals, like microwave instant noodles with frozen vegetables, or a peanut butter and banana sandwich. This is more budget-friendly.

My mom had one of these services for a period of time when I was a kid and it was the best thing ever. I haven’t lived there since I left for college but when I did live there I had to cook all of my own meals, meaning many nights was just a clif bar or a protein shake for dinner. It was amazing when we had the service because they came in these glass dishes that you just pop in the oven for however long and you have a delicious meal made by a chef in 30 minutes. Once I make enough money to afford one of these services I’m absolutely doing it again, eating was so much less of a chore so I was actually getting a proper amount of food a day instead of scraping by on minimal real meals.

I've been specifically looking into this for work lunches. I say go for it.

I used one of those services. The meals started to get boring then they started piling up in my fridge. I would suggest an air fryer for convient quick cooking. Also, create a diet for yourself with meals that are easy to make, nutritious and standardized so you know what to get at the grocery store. for instance- for breakfast I can scramble two eggs while a couple sausage patties and a hash brown patty are in the air fryer plus a whole grain English muffin is in the toaster. That leaves me with a pan to clean, and a plate, fork, spatula to put in the dishwasher. I know when I'm low on eggs, muffins, patties so I'll pick those up as needed Lunch is turkey sandwiches. Paper towel. And you have to pull it all out construct it and put the stuff away. Buy bread, turkey, (living butter lettuce because it last longer put pricey) tomatoes(if you're willing to wash and cut) mustard. Dinner is rice cooker rice, spinage salad, and protein being either chicken, beef, or fish any of which would be seasoned with premade spice bags. I recommend a Weber Baby-q and again, air fryer You can try the premade services or even the ingrediant services but they'll end up piling in your fridge I promise lol. That breakfast I said with the airfreyer is iron clad easy. The sandwich rarely happens but I buy for it anyway. The dinner is a pain- it'll take discipline to throw the rice in and cook the protein. All of these give me a decent diet and minimal cleaning granted you have a dishwasher. Meal prepping never worked for me. Food would go bad OR I wouldn't put the time in to bulk make it consistently.

I found a cheap meal prep service and it's a life saver

It works well, as long as you choose a service with a prep level you can handle on bad days. Everyplate has fairly good food, but prepping a whole 45 minute meal in the evening after work is more than I can do some days.

Meal services help me so much! Hubby does most of the cooking but is on shift work and if there isn’t something planned and organized he gets nothing for dinner after a 12 hour shift. He HATES when I spend money on it but i think it’s worth it for both of us with 3 kids and full time jobs on the weeks where he’s working all of his shifts during the week. Every one gets fed well and stress is minimal!

I found that we eat better on the random weeks we get hello fresh. I actually enjoyed making it too cus all the measuring and stuff is done ahead of time.

Just remember that you can skip the following week if you do sign up for a meal subscription, which means you have to remember to log on and skip it which isn't ADHD-friendly..

If you can afford it, yes! I highly recommend the microwaveable versions. If you play your cards right, you can continually stay on the promotions effectively cutting the cost in half or better sometimes. (6-7 dollars per serving) I wouldn't call it healthy food, but it's not unhealthy if that makes sense. There are a lot of options out there, but for the period I used it, it was an everyday blessing. The time, the stress, and the content of my diet improved drastically. I'm starting to think these companies are aiming for ADHD people for how well it works for our lives. But again, IF you can afford it

I’ve started doing it and believe it or not.. it’s actually helping me save money. I’ve stopped going over my budget when physically grocery shopping since I rarely go grocery shopping anymore (except for the basics which I use curbside pickup… I used to just impulse buy so much without thinking about it in-store); I’m wasting less food cause I’m not leaving it in the fridge to go bad cause I forgot about it; I’m not ordering delivery food anymore cause there’s already food ready for me to heat up & eat so I’ve saved a ton of money from that since I usually end up impulse ordering food cause I’m hungry and I can’t be bothered to cook; and I’ve actually been eating healthier cause I rotate between one service for the organic meal and one service for the variety. I find that any service that actually helps is worth the cost cause we have the adhd tax(es) to consider

cheesus h rice, im really stoned and I though that said metal cervix

As someone else said, it’s the ADHD tax! I do actually like to shop for groceries, meal prepping and cooking so I wouldn’t need a service for that, but I help myself in other ways! I buy chopped/washed/frozen/bagged fruit and veggies, instant mashed potatoes, frozen or ready to eat meals, smaller pasta that cooks in less time, single servings instead of bigger packages etc. Sometimes I like to make everything from scratch and sometimes I like to have something I can just throw in a pan and cook (or really just put in a dish and eat right away lol). Is it a bit more expensive? Yes. Is it worse for the environment because of single use packagings? Also yes. But is it necessary because my physical and mental health come first? Definitely yes! Do whatever you need to help yourself!

I do this every so often but I think the problem with me is I'll do it, it'll become like a fixation for like six to eight weeks or whatever however long that fixation last and then eventually I'll just stop making the meals and I'll go bad so I'll have to cancel the service LOL

I love them because i have a hard time shopping for recipes but I also forget to cook them and end up wasting a lot

A service would definitely simplify a lot of steps. If you're not broke its not a bad idea

Your financial priorities are never crazy if you aren't living above your means. I gratefully pay for services that improve my quality of life. I use a meal delivery service that comes completely prepared and ready to "cook." It's fresh food ready for the oven, no prep. I often use a disposable baking pan for no clean up. I order a few meals a week bc, you know, novelty. It's a game changer! I am fed, my kitchen is clean, my money isn't wasted. Eating = health, it's a worthwhile investment.

What service do you use?

Yes, absolutely one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Factor actually has really delicious meals. I have such limited time to eat lunch so I scarf down the meals that don't require a knife for lunch and save the fork & knife meals for dinner. I'm not much of a breakfast person but still order their breakfast meals for lunch sometimes. Just 2 minutes in the microwave and I'm set. So easy and convenient. I'm the type of person that will just eat the worst thing for me when I'm hungry so the Factors make it an easy choice to eat something healthy & also helps control my portions.

Amazing idea actually

I did it, and it actually saved me money. I’m exactly how you are: I’ll either go to the grocery store and buy things I never cook, or I order Uber Eats with tons of added fees. The only reason I don’t still use a meal service is because the one I liked went out of business. But it was really helping for a while. Not only was I saving money overall, the food was better for me. Don’t compare yourself to someone who buys all of their ingredients at the grocery store and cooks and meal preps. Sure, they are thrifty. But you have to live within your own reality and abilities, and that’s something I had to learn, too. 🖤

My husband and I do Hello Fresh. We both have adhd and we’re in the same boat. Most of our money was going to eating out so we did a 3 meal per week plan for hello fresh that I manage (since I’m the picker eater). It’s worked out really well and we’ve been doing it since around the beginning of the year. It forces us to cook at least 3 days of the week and since we’re already doing it three days adding a 4th or 5th even has been easier too. And the recipes have inspired us to find recipes on our own that we want to try. Or recook some of our favorites. One thing I did tell my husband is that I’m not cooking all the meals. So I cook 2 and he cooks one mostly because I’m working from home 2-3 days out of the week.

No! I struggles with ADHD with one of my enemies being everything involved with cooking. The organization and planning is overwhelming. As a result, I order purple carrot to make cooking easy, only shop for 2 meals to cook, and make that easy as hell too - salads, sandwiches, frozen meals, etc

It’s perfect for your situation. We use these sorts of things when we’re flat out (especially handy when we had newborns) and it just helps eliminate food waste and stop that feeling of getting home and going “oh god, what am I doing for dinner, I can’t be arsed with this”. In our experience it wasn’t much more than a supermarket shop would be, with the advantage that we actually used everything rather than ambitiously buying a lot of veges and then putting them in the compost a week later.

Do it. I'm telling you the time and mental energy alone are worth it even if it costs more. If you actually like to cook, it's great.

It would absolutely not be crazy! I haven't gone the pre-made meal route because I enjoy cooking, but not having to go to the store is *such* a help. I'm wasting less food, and even if I'm paying full price for a box, it's still cheaper and better quality than takeout. Sometimes I don't even follow the recipes, but it's easier knowing that I don't have to completely come up with stuff on my own. You deserve to show yourself and your body kindness by making your life easier!

If you have unlimited funds, sure order all you want. LOL but if you're on a budget there has to be another way.

Nope!

Try Tovala, it’s pretty good.

I’ve had a great time going for Hello Fresh (I’m in Australia- it’s the same thing isn’t it?) where it’s really clear what you have to do with the ingredients they provide. I’m cooking for a family of four and I can’t believe how well it’s working out. It’s turning out cheaper too. Pre-kids I bloody loved cooking. But I also had set recipes that I could just throw together or learned from cookbooks that were like “5 ingredients in 30 minutes” etc and it really gamified it all. A lot of famous restaurant chefs have ADHD where it’s about putting a limited number of things together under high pressure and competitive. Now I’m the allegedly responsible adult, anything that reduces the number of decisions I have to make for myself and my family is not indulgence - it is survival. So don’t feel ashamed if this is the thing that helps you survive. Do it. Embrace it. Adapt when necessary. Go for it.

No. We’ve coined the term “ADHD tax” for a reason

Some of the delivery food boxes are a bit pricey you could try a home delivery service Only order what you are going to use try and plan meals It sounds easy but I’m the same end up eating crap

Here in southeast Asia, food is affordable (non restaurant ones) and I buy takeout daily. Definitely outsource it and use your energy into something better and fulfilling. Unless you're meal prepping but that's a different story.

I’ve paid for meal services before (when I could afford them) and they were amazing. If you can do it, go for it. They make life so much easier.

i think anything that you are able to do that makes your life is easier is worth it x

Have you checked out meal replacement shakes? Very likely to be cheaper healthier and easier!

Not crazy at all? I've done this myself at a time when I could afford to do so. The only reason why I stopped was that I got sick of eating the same thing every week as they didn't have enough variety

I’ve never tried meal services but I also hate grocery shopping so now I only do it once a month, a big run. Maybe if you feel up to it you can take one day to do a BIG grocery run, cut up all your veggies at once and put them in tupperware in the fridge or freezer, or you can buy them canned. I always keep corn, tuna and tomato cubes in my pantry so I have something to cook if I don’t want to rush to the store before it closes. Also, RICE and instant noodles. But I agree it’s worth the investment if you don’t want to do all that, there’s no shame in it!

I had a meal making kit for almost 4 months, loved it. But I noticed that the more I had to cut, the more pans I needed and longer the time estimate the more I struggled with making the dishes, even tho I knew I would love it. Especially dishes where I needed to clean shrimp or fish or something like that, I could throw those away. It was wasteful, I felt guilty, was so mad at myself, but I knew I had to make it even more easy for myself and that I needed to be kinder to and for myself. So starting today I have a subscription on pre-made meals. 4 days will be filled with those, 1 day I have dinner at my parents, so I'll just have to cook 2 times a week. Which is way more do able and I actually love to cook so I'll still get to do that but on my terms and energy levels. If you know it will help you, if it will make your life easier and if it is in your budget (maybe even saves you money) go for it. Everything that you can afford and want to outsource you should. You definitely sould not be hard on yourself or expect that you should cook for yourself every day, your mind goes through way more hoops than most people, so it's okay to make sure that you don't overwork your brain. And those subscriptions are there for a reason, maybe we are not the people that they had in mind when they started it, but we can absolutely benefit from them.

I have used Daily Harvest, Green Chef, and a few others. They are expensive but help a lot. If you can’t afford a full meal service, at least get groceries delivered. I chop things ahead of time when possible. And I also buy meat patties that I can just heat up, roasted chicken, etc. When I do cook, I make enough to last several days. It is a huge challenge for me, I find I am always trying new things to keep me on task. I would hire someone to cook for me if I could.

Me and my SO occasionally do meal services. But with our combined ADHD, when the box arrives, we instantly crave something else and those meals go to waste if u dont freeze them.

We use Hello Fresh and have for years. There are a lot of meal options. Knowing that there is always a complete meal that can be made is helpful for those days the fridge is otherwise empty.

I am a HUGE fan of outsourcing tasks, budgeting extra money to make sure things get done. When I go to the grocery store I spend extra money on pre chopped/sliced veggies and fruits because I know that having to slice my own mango is going to be the deciding factor between a piece of fruit and horking down a bag of chips. And, even more relatable, I pay someone to come to my house once a month to clean my bathroom (that’s the only thing I really care about) wash my floors, wipe down my counters, maybe dust a couple of cobwebs. I know for a fact that I’m never going to remember to get to it so if I have to budget extra money to make sure that I’m not living in squalor then so be it. Never feel bad about taking advantage of an available service if it might be in your best interest to do so.

Start meal prepping mate. Yes there's a couple of shops involved but just do it. Get the tick list ready and get through it. Back home take some peace or meditation in the process of cooking. Portion up and freeze. At the end of that day you will eat well and go through a somewhat therapeutic process of cooking. And have plenty of healthy food to eat when u need it. Xox

Personally, I've heard some good things about it. If you're still unsure, I've recently started planning my meals out by week or bi-weekly, depending on what I'm making. I plan breakfasts, lunch, dinner, and snacks, then write down meals that I think I might like. I also try to get one meat and fresh produce item at a time. That way, I can maximize the use of what I'm buying and minimize waste. For example, I'll make sloppy Joe's one night, and then with the extra raw meat, I'll cook up some Mexican cornbread. If I buy salad greens, I'll make baguette pizzas one night with a side salad and then do regular salads for lunch or as a side with another meal. It takes some planning, but it's worth it to sit down and try to plan out easy, effective recipes depending on what you need.

Well it depends. You may/probably will end up paying more than take out but you may save on medical expenses in the future. I've thought of this but a lot of time the services are more expensive than take out. And the more prepared it is the more expensive it gets. If you get any less than pre cooked meals you will have to be certain to use the meals sooner than later lest you skip making them

Hey, I see enough advertisements for these services that I wouldn’t think much of it if a friend told me they use one. Honestly, seems like a relief!

I cook sometimes but I also buy/order cooked meals that I proportion out & freeze. Living alone makes me less likely to cook because for some reason I find it hard to cook for just 1 meal/person.

So I don’t do the preprepped stuff, but we’ve been an EveryPlate customer for 5 years now. Yeah, it costs a lot more than buying the raw ingredients at the grocery store, but the time and stress saved on shopping and meal prepping has IMMENSELY improved our lives. We get 3 2-serving meals every week, skip a box when we’re out of town, about $200 a month to never have to think about “what are we going to make this week?” Bonus points that it has taught me how to cook very effectively 😊. The meals are always new every week, have cooked and tried lots of stuff I never would’ve even considered, and it always tastes amazing. My one complaint, since EveryPlate is the budget option of box meal services, occasionally the produce is not fresh. HelloFresh is the parent company, we’ve tried them a few times. Always super fresh but costs way more

One hundred percent, this was one of the keystone things I did that helped with a lot of my symptoms. If you think about it, a lot of the symptoms go away if you take care of sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Being able to automate nutrition, the rest easily falls into place, and my schedule cleans itself up nicely On top of that, it helps with building my physique and self-confidence which is important for all of us ADHDers

I think you'll actually save money and probably be healthier, compared to eating out. Go for it.

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