The Lazy Guide to Meal Prep From a Millennial Who Hates to Cook
I have always been a person who has disliked cooking and I consistently go out of my way to avoid it. I imagine that I am not alone in my disdain for cooking and that many of you out there also share a similar view.
The truly ironic thing about my hatred of the kitchen is that I spent 12 years of my working life in restaurant management – yes, it is possible to have worked in the restaurant industry and to have no interest in cooking or food preparation whatsoever. You could argue that working in restaurants, in fact, makes you even more apathetic towards cooking.
As if that information isn’t shocking enough for you, to further illustrate how anti-cooking I am, I used to go to McDonalds or the closest fast food establishment, order 5-10 sandwiches, and put them in the fridge so that I could eat them for different meals over the next few days (did i just hear an audible gasp?).
You may be thinking this was just something that I did when I was a broke college student (which yes, I ate like this in college too, if not worse) but I can assure you I continued this pattern of eating well into my twenties and early thirties.
After taking that all in, you’ve got to be thinking I’m clinically obese with dangerously high blood pressure and cholesterol with this diet of champions of mine. But quite unbelievably to the reader, I’m sure, I am not overweight. Believe it or not I am a fitness enthusiast who enjoys running and whose medical values all are currently in line (knocking on wood as I type).
Shamefully, I will also have to admit that I have employed the bulk sandwich stockpile order recently as well. And yes, I get questions all the time from friends and family along the lines, Why do you eat like a little kid? Why don’t you just cook something like an adult would? All fair and valid questions, right?
Society expects us to settle into these Betty Crocker and Master Chef adult roles as we get older but what if you are like me and you just don’t want to?
Kitchens are overrated
As a guy, I suppose that it’s a little easier to veer from this expectation of healthy eating and you’re probably thinking, well certainly you aren’t married yet – try eating like that once you settle down. Despite these unorthodox eating habits (or maybe because of them?), I am not the complete bachelor, slob, societal outcast that you visualizing me to be, I am in-fact, happily married to an amazing woman.
And guess what? We each share a mutual disdain for cooking.
Unbelievably, despite the unfair pressures that have been put on women to be perfect homemakers throughout generations, you can even say that my wife has a stronger dose of the anti-cooking gene than I do. It’s not for a lack of knowledge though as she grew up going out to restaurants daily and she’s an excellent cook, but like me, she truly dislikes cooking and will do whatever she can to avoid it. It was destiny.
This would not be a problem if we were rich right? If we were, I’m sure we could handle this “trouble” easily and ignore the bank account while we snack on burgers or dine at a new local restaurant (see: 90% of Americans don’t like to cook – and it’s costing them thousands each year).
However, much to my dismay, we both have modest incomes and simply live a comfortable life, somewhere happily etched in that ever shifting middle class. As such, it would cost prohibitive to eat out at restaurants every single day.
This is the backstory – one that I am sure isn’t popular among many of you future-famous YouTube chefs out there, but I know I’m not alone in my opinion.
Like many millennials these days, I simply don’t have the interest to cook, or the desire to learn to cook. But like many people who share my anti-cooking viewpoint, I need to eat to survive and the real question becomes, How do I do this with limited funds? (you can only skip so many meals before it impacts your ability to function as a member of society).
So how have we as a generation reconciled this dilemma? I speak to you as an old millennial, right on the edge of the border, born in 1981, and by most estimates, maybe even a xennial, although nobody knows what that is. That term sounds like an old TV to me. For the sake of not annoying you with a debate on age generations (which gets into a whole other mess like, “I am a millennial but I “identify” with Gen X”), we will just say I’m an old millennial who has adapted and survived with this problem, to many people’s shock and surprise.
And I am going to share with you my secret weapon that has worked for me that you can use if you find yourself with a similar mindset.
Even if you love to cook hopefully this will give you some great conversation material. I can hear it now, “Let me tell you about this devilishly handsome individual I read about on the web who…” Maybe that is a bit extreme, but I do 100% agree that this approach to meal prep will not work for everyone, and for those of you for whom it doesn’t, there will be a other posts centered on healthy eating and fancy meal preparation that I’m sure you will find valuable (no, I won’t be writing that one J).
For my fellow “cooking is too much work” brethren out there, you know who you are; those who would literally rather drive thirty minutes across town for a cheap meal if it meant avoiding a spatula, as they say right before the toast, “This one’s for you!”
no fail cooking - instant pot
For clarity’s sake for the reader, this article is not sponsored or affiliated in any way with Instant Pot. It’s just one dude’s real life journey of enlightenment and how Instant Pot became a beacon of hope for people like me who don’t cook.
Of all the devices that I would anticipate being life changing, this one wasn’t even on my radar. In fact, I had no idea what it even was or furthermore why I would ever need one.
This device first entered my home via a family Christmas present to my wife. It promptly remained in its original packaging for a good three months stashed in various inconvenient kitchen locations. After tripping over the box one day (this inconvenient location happened to be the floor) I found out it was a pressure cooker type device that resembled a stainless steel version of R2D2.
My immediate thought was that I should not be trusted with this item and I refused to let it get any closer to my face than arm’s length. I, like most people, thought that all pressure cookers exploded, caused significant damage, or were only to be used by people who passed some sort of training course. Obviously not wanting to risk any explosion, I, bravely, decided put it back in the box and place it out of sight underneath jackets.
Repeatedly telling myself that it is foolish for a grown man to be afraid of an appliance, I eventually resolved to conquer this beast. So, I did what any millennial would do, I grabbed my phone and asked Siri……..”How to you use Instant Pot” and “will Instant Pot explode on me.”
Pre-Instant Pot, I had a couple of go to meals I threw together like most guys – spaghetti and chili being my top “edible” dishes (although some would say the word edible is being a bit too generous). I would concoct chili in a Crockpot and spaghetti the traditional stovetop way - neither of which were that savory or something I enjoyed eating or doing.
These are easy dishes for most to make but in my mind they took too much time to prepare. They were a chore and a pain. But they made for excellent leftovers, creating multiple meals for me to store and eat on future days.
But in one eureka moment online everything changed as I discovered a Facebook group called Instant Pot Community, a community of over one million members. Suddenly I understood. There are OG chefs/cooks/pros on there and then there are people like me who had no idea what they were doing.
With a little bit of digging around the page, I quickly caught on as I found where users would post recipes, offer troubleshooting advice, layout all the beginner terminology, and literally anything else from A-Z. Suddenly, with knowledge gained from the Instant Pot Community, my spaghetti and chili specialties started tasting much better, while also taking much less time to prepare.
Since then, I have branched out to new Instant Pot recipes with ribs and a variety of soups. The best part is that nothing takes me over 30 minutes to cook and prepare. Prior to Instant Pot, for an amateur chef who hates to cook, this didn’t seem possible.
Getting an Instant Pot (or other similar devices) and linking up with the online groups can be a game changer for other millennials like me who hate to cook or for just about anyone with a very busy lifestyle. Whether you are someone putting in long hours trying to advance up the corporate ladder or someone who simply doesn’t have the time to make those TLC mom and grandma type dishes, this will make your life better.
Instant Pot Facebook group pointers:
If you join the Instant Pot Facebook group, you are best clicking unfollow and then going to that page when you are thinking about using the device. Otherwise you’ll be getting one million people’s updates in your feed, which I can attest to from a personal level. It makes you feel overwhelmed and also extremely hungry at all times.
For these meals, make much more than you need, freeze the rest and bring it out the following week.
With the world and its societal norms changing everyday, there is no law that says you need to fit into the traditional mold and cook every single day. I know I certainly don’t fit this mold and if you are like me and cooking just isn’t your thing, I say to simply be yourself, adapt, and focus on the things you enjoy and love. There are plenty of ways you can eat without going bankrupt or spending hours in the kitchen.