It is 5:30 PM on a Tuesday. You are hungry. You are tired. You are standing in front of the open refrigerator, letting the cold air hit your face while the low hum of the motor fills the silence.
Inside, there are vegetables. There is a package of chicken. There are seventeen different bottles of condiments.
And yet, as you stare into the void, you come to the same devastating conclusion you came to yesterday:
“I have absolutely nothing to eat.”
We have all been there. It is the universal paradox of modern adulthood: having a kitchen full of ingredients but zero desire to turn them into a meal. Eventually, you shut the fridge door, lower your standards, and eat a bowl of cereal—or worse, you spend 45 minutes scrolling through a delivery app only to order the exact same thing you got last week.
But here is the good news: You aren’t lazy, and you aren’t bad at “adulting.”
The problem isn’t the cooking itself—it is the choosing .
It’s Not Laziness, It’s Decision Fatigue
Did you know the average adult makes roughly 35,000 decisions every single day?
You decide when to hit snooze. You decide what to wear. You decide how to word that awkward email to your boss. You decide which lane to take in traffic. Every single one of these choices drains a little bit of your brain’s “battery.”
By the time 5:00 PM rolls around, your battery is hovering at 1%. Psychologists call this Decision Fatigue .
When your brain is fatigued, it loses the ability to do complex planning. It looks for the path of least resistance. Unfortunately, cooking dinner is not a simple task—it is a complex project management scenario involving inventory, timing, and manual labor. No wonder your brain goes on strike.
The “Ingredient Tetris” Trap
The other reason the 5:00 PM panic sets in is the gap between “Ingredients” and “Food.”
We often shop for the ideal version of ourselves—the version who loves chopping kale and simmering sauces for 45 minutes. But we are cooking for the real version of ourselves—the one who just walked in the door and wants to sit down.
This leads to a game of “Ingredient Tetris,” where you have pasta but no sauce, or you have meat but it is frozen solid like a brick. Trying to solve this puzzle while hungry is a recipe for disaster.
3 Low-Energy Hacks to Fix It (That Aren’t “Meal Prepping”)
If you are waiting for the day when you will magically have endless energy to cook after work, stop waiting. It won’t happen. Instead, you need to hack the system.
1. Create a “Brainless List”
Open the notes app on your phone right now. Write down three meals that meet the following criteria:
- They take less than 15 minutes.
- You almost always have the ingredients.
- You could make them while sleepwalking.
Examples: Scrambled eggs on toast, quesadillas, or “fancy” ramen. The next time you hit the 5:00 PM panic, you are not allowed to think. You must simply pick one from the list.
2. Embrace the “Theme Night”
Variety is the enemy of efficiency. If you don’t want to make decisions, remove the choice.
If Tuesday is always Taco Tuesday, you never have to wonder what’s for dinner on Tuesday. If Friday is always Pizza Night, the pressure is off. It might sound boring, but peace of mind tastes better than variety.
3. Accept “Girl Dinner” (The Snack Plate)
Somewhere along the line, we were taught that “dinner” must include a hot protein, a starch, and a vegetable, all cooked separately.
That is a lie. A plate with cheese, crackers, some grapes, and a few slices of turkey is nutritionally identical to a cooked meal, but it takes 3 minutes to assemble and creates zero dirty pots.
Make Peace with the Pantry
Be kind to yourself. You are navigating a busy life, and sometimes, fed is best.
Whether it’s a gourmet meal or a bowl of oatmeal eaten while standing over the sink, the goal isn’t to be a chef. The goal is to nourish yourself so you have the energy to tackle the next 35,000 decisions tomorrow.
Conclusion: Make Peace with the Pantry
Be kind to yourself. You are navigating a busy life, and sometimes, fed is best.
Whether it’s a gourmet meal or a bowl of oatmeal eaten while standing over the sink, the goal isn’t to be a chef. The goal is to nourish yourself so you have the energy to tackle the next 35,000 decisions tomorrow.
Over to you: What is your go-to “I give up” meal? Tell me in the comments below—I need more ideas!
