Cooking/Food Ideas?

[WinterFaust]

I don't eat when I'm depressed, anxious, stressed. When my appetite goes or I can't bother with eating, I know something's up. This time around has been pretty severe as it's been about 7 months of this and I have developed health complications as a result. A couple of months ago, a dietician suggested that I go to an ED treatment center because it's gotten so bad but there were insurance related issues.
I need to eat for a chance at both physical and mental recovery. Problem is, it's been so long I truly don't even know what to buy at the grocery store or what meals to try to prepare. I also am struggling with leaving my house so I will try ordering the groceries.

Anyone who has experienced anything like this have any ideas of what things I could make or general grocery items to buy? I don't have any dietary restrictions or allergies.

 

[BPD Barbie]

I'd start small, maybe even buy meal replacement drinks rso at least you're taking in calories. If you want solid food, definitely small amounts. Some of my favourite is pasta, rice, salmon, asparagus, toast, sometimes I just throw something in the microwave.

 

[RileyTanaka]

They say that a balanced meal consists of a protein/meat, carbs, and a vegetable - preferably green veggies. I drop the carbs because I'm diabetic but I always get some lean meats, like chicken or fish, a green vegetable like kale, broccoli, or peppers, some onions, garlic, cheese, butter, and eggs. Do you like pasta? Bread? If you're looking for easy things to cook for yourself, stand-bys might include sandwiches, pasta, microwave meals, oatmeal, cereal, omelettes, stir fry with noodles. The more colorful your plate is, the better off you are nutritionally. :)

 

[Myforevercharlie]

I often make soup. Fresh one, not out of a can. You can put almost any veggie in it you want, chicken or beef, or vegetarian... You can make a lot at once and put it in the freezer untill you want to eat it

 

[a.n.kirillov]

Basics, you don't need much. Look for easy recipes with simple ingredients (I don't know where you live so it's hard to tell what meals that would be). My process is usually that I pick one or two recipes and then cook them for several weeks, every day or every other day. This way you will on the one hand become very proficient at cooking those recipes and on the other not waste groceries, by simplifying what you have in stock. Most importantly though, you won't have to think.

You can also force yourself to become creative by trying to use up what you have left and limiting the variety of ingredients you buy and seeing how many different meals you can make out of them.

You can become an excellent cook out of laziness, the two aren't mutually exclusive ;-)

Cooking a spanish potato breakfast for four months in a row with minimal aspirations will produce perfection eventually and people will be impressed by that. And you will produce it in your sleep.

Whoever said you need meat is lying btw. Meat is a stupid grocery to handle. Buy eggs instead, they are versatile and have a long shelf life.
.
Another tip is, if you can handle it and it doesn't trigger any eating disorder issues, eat less frequent. This is something that isn't trendy right now, so people will think I am giving you bad advice, but it works for me.

I eat either once or twice a day and have adapted to that. Dinner is fixed and breakfast is optional, depending on whether I'm still satiated from dinner the day before. It's less work that way and since many people seem to have the same breakfast every day anyway, it's also a plus. Just eat the same oatmeal with banana and honey every morning. Never becomes boring (at least to me).
.
Oh, and you will need certain spices and stuff like olive oil of course. If you are starting from scratch (with an empty kitchen), just buy the spices and ingredients you need for the first two recipes you pick and go from there. The basic spices will accumulate in your kitchen that way and you don't have to worry about it any further.

 

[WinterFaust]

I'd start small, maybe even buy meal replacement drinks rso at least you're taking in calories. If you want solid food, definitely small amounts. Some of my favourite is pasta, rice, salmon, asparagus, toast, sometimes I just throw something in the microwave.

Thank you! I really have been overwhelming myself. Salmon is always good. I'll try to stock up on some microwavable things too. And yes, nutritional drinks. I used to at least have those until I stopped leaving the house completely.

They say that a balanced meal consists of a protein/meat, carbs, and a vegetable - preferably green veggies. I drop the carbs because I'm diabetic but I always get some lean meats, like chicken or fish, a green vegetable like kale, broccoli, or peppers, some onions, garlic, cheese, butter, and eggs. Do you like pasta? Bread? If you're looking for easy things to cook for yourself, stand-bys might include sandwiches, pasta, microwave meals, oatmeal, cereal, omelettes, stir fry with noodles. The more colorful your plate is, the better off you are nutritionally. :)

I do very much like pasta and bread. I used to cook often but it's been quite a while. Thank you!

I often make soup. Fresh one, not out of a can. You can put almost any veggie in it you want, chicken or beef, or vegetarian... You can make a lot at once and put it in the freezer untill you want to eat it

Soup sounds lovely actually. Might be easier on my tummy while I work my way back up to eating more foods. Do you have any particular favorites?

Basics, you don't need much. Look for easy recipes with simple ingredients (I don't know where you live so it's hard to tell what meals that would be). My process is usually that I pick one or two recipes and then cook them for several weeks, every day or every other day. This way you will on the one hand become very proficient at cooking those recipes and on the other not waste groceries, by simplifying what you have in stock. Most importantly though, you won't have to think.

You can also force yourself to become creative by trying to use up what you have left and limiting the variety of ingredients you buy and seeing how many different meals you can make out of them.

You can become an excellent cook out of laziness, the two aren't mutually exclusive ;-)

Cooking a spanish potato breakfast for four months in a row with minimal aspirations will produce perfection eventually and people will be impressed by that. And you will produce it in your sleep.

Whoever said you need meat is lying btw. Meat is a stupid grocery to handle. Buy eggs instead, they are versatile and have a long shelf life.
.
Another tip is, if you can handle it and it doesn't trigger any eating disorder issues, eat less frequent. This is something that isn't trendy right now, so people will think I am giving you bad advice, but it works for me.

I eat either once or twice a day and have adapted to that. Dinner is fixed and breakfast is optional, depending on whether I'm still satiated from dinner the day before. It's less work that way and since many people seem to have the same breakfast every day anyway, it's also a plus. Just eat the same oatmeal with banana and honey every morning. Never becomes boring (at least to me).
.
Oh, and you will need certain spices and stuff like olive oil of course. If you are starting from scratch (with an empty kitchen), just buy the spices and ingredients you need for the first two recipes you pick and go from there. The basic spices will accumulate in your kitchen that way and you don't have to worry about it any further.

Thank you so much! I used to cook quite often before this particular dip in my life so I still have quite a few spices. I just need go get back into it.

Unfortunately, my issue is heavily related to the fact that I don't want to live anymore and I also have little energy to care for myself. There's been a big brain fog so I don't remember much of what I liked or how to do things. Not much of a life, honestly.

Currently I only eat one small meal if I eat at all so I do need to maybe try to eat a bit more frequently to get my system working again. The Spanish potato breakfast sounds amazing.

Now the true test. Getting these groceries.

 

[rebelsue]

Soup is awesome. When I was really sick and also depressed and had so little energy I could barely make food for myself, and I lived alone and had nobody to help me, I would just put a bunch of veggies, garlic, salt, pepper, rice or pasta, and chicken in a crockpot/slow cooker and leave it overnight and then I'd have food all day, hot and ready.

 

[WinterFaust]

Soup is awesome. When I was really sick and also depressed and had so little energy I could barely make food for myself, and I lived alone and had nobody to help me, I would just put a bunch of veggies, garlic, salt, pepper, rice or pasta, and chicken in a crockpot/slow cooker and leave it overnight and then I'd have food all day, hot and ready.

In times like these I really wish I didn't give mine away in a manic frenzy lol. Oh wait, I can see if I can use some of the stimulus check money. Thank you because I'm struggling here. The protein deficiency symptoms are getting a little too real haha.

 

[rebelsue]

In times like these I really wish I didn't give mine away in a manic frenzy lol. Oh wait, I can see if I can use some of the stimulus check money. Thank you because I'm struggling here. The protein deficiency symptoms are getting a little too real haha.

I got a really nice Crockpot brand slow cooker at one of those discount stores. Not sure if you're in the US or not..if outside the US I don't know. But stores like Ollies, Discount Warehouse, Roses, Dollar General, etc. I think it was like 6 bucks, literally. Just had a dented box. Thrift stores, too. Then get a bigass bag of frozen chicken parts and vegetables, brown rice, pasta, just all kinds of "sustenance" types of food. Throw it all in there. It saved my life, not even exaggerating. I had a digestive disorder where I had diarrhea constantly and was bleeding and too weak to stand in the kitchen for more than 30 minutes. If not for slow cooker chicken soup I'd have never gotten any protein or fluids.

 

[Done at Fifty]

The most severe appetite loss I experienced during a bout of anxiety, I had trouble even taking a drink of water. I forced in bouillon soup for the sodium and runny scrambled eggs for protein. For a few weeks I ate like a baby. Running cream of wheat, plain yogurt, etc. I found the sweetness of even unsweetened applesauce too much so I kept to bland foods. When I moved to solids it was dry cereal and baby rice crackers. Slowly I was able to eat normally again.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

I bought a bunch of pint and quart sized containers. I make up a variety of dinners and lunches, cook over the course of a couple of days, split them up into portions and freeze them, and then every day I take out of the freezer the meals I'm going to eat the next day. So I generally cook once every two to three weeks. I don't have to go to the grocery store/get delivery that often, and I don't have to do a bunch of dishes every time I make a meal. I tried cooking for a whole month, but the fresh stuff like fruit didn't last long enough.

Soups and crock pot meals that others mentioned are great for this kind of meal prep. And I don't get bored because I have to eat one type of meal before it goes bad since I only cook for myself.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I'm crap in the kitchen.
At the moment I'm using canned chunky soups to add other stuff to, to make a broth. Kale seems to work well, chopped and added to the soup, it loses most of it's raw bitterness. I'm also sauteing kale it with mushrooms, diced courgette and garlic. All on toast. Delicious with tumeric and Chile powder too.

 

[kyle]

I'm crap in the kitchen.
At the moment I'm using canned chunky soups to add other stuff to, to make a broth. Kale seems to work well, chopped and added to the soup, it loses most of it's raw bitterness. I'm also sauteing kale it with mushrooms, diced courgette and garlic. All on toast. Delicious with tumeric and Chile powder too.

I'm also terrible in the kitchen. What you mentioned was delicious, so I'm probably going to try and attempt making it tonight. Let's hope that we can become good cooks together

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I'm also terrible in the kitchen. What you mentioned was delicious, so I'm probably going to try and attempt making it tonight. Let's hope that we can become good cooks together

Kale is very good for you but tastes bitter raw. Make sure you take out any stems (too crunchy) and chop then heat enough to start to wilt and reduce in volume. It adds real bulk to the meals.
I'd imagine it's good in omlets too. I used to use spinach for this too, so that might be and option which I might add to my list.

 

[kyle]

Kale is very good for you but tastes bitter raw. Make sure you take out any stems (too crunchy) and chop then heat enough to start to wilt and reduce in volume. It adds real bulk to the meals.
I'd imagine it's good in omlets too. I used to use spinach for this too,so that might be and option which I might add make to my list.

I love omelets and I eat them for breakfast most of the time.

 

[Oh so tired]

I have an eating disorder and after months of severely restricting I'm finding it hard to tolerate much too. At the moment I'm able to eat a small bowl of porridge with banana and honey. I often don't eat for the rest of the day but if I do I'm usually able to tolerate soup, simple pasta dishes like tomato/basil sauce, pesto, ham and broccoli. I cook every day for my family but don't eat much of what I cook unfortunately. I hope you manage to find some meals that help you get your appetite back.

 

[WinterFaust]

I have an eating disorder and after months of severely restricting I'm finding it hard to tolerate much too. At the moment I'm able to eat a small bowl of porridge with banana and honey. I often don't eat for the rest of the day but if I do I'm usually able to tolerate soup, simple pasta dishes like tomato/basil sauce, pesto, ham and broccoli. I cook every day for my family but don't eat much of what I cook unfortunately. I hope you manage to find some meals that help you get your appetite back.

Thank you so much. It's really difficult. I find that when my mood plummets, even if I get hungry I struggle with feeling like I don't deserve to eat or what's the point if I'm going to ctb anyway, which is very much how I'm feeling today.

I'm sorry you're struggling too. :(

 

[Oh so tired]

Thank you so much. It's really difficult. I find that when my mood plummets, even if I get hungry I struggle with feeling like I don't deserve to eat or what's the point if I'm going to ctb anyway, which is very much how I'm feeling today.

I'm sorry you're struggling too. :(

Mine started as a loss of appetite with my depression, but is now a full blown eating disorder.
I totally get what you're saying, I see my restricting as another form of self-harm (I also cut myself and take overdoses) like I don't care enough about myself to nourish my body. The trouble is the lack of food can seriously alter thinking processes and I think it is intensifying my suicidal thoughts.

I'm sorry you're going through this

 

[WinterFaust]

Mine started as a loss of appetite with my depression, but is now a full blown eating disorder.
I totally get what you're saying, I see my restricting as another form of self-harm (I also cut myself and take overdoses) like I don't care enough about myself to nourish my body. The trouble is the lack of food can seriously alter thinking processes and I think it is intensifying my suicidal thoughts.

I'm sorry you're going through this

Yes, that's pretty much what has been happening to me. I didn't realize it because I'm not trying to alter my appearance but in some ways it's become a form of control and maladaptive coping.
I say all the time that it's a form of self-harm for me, probably one of the worst kinds of self-harm there is. It's torture. You're absolutely right about it altering thoughts. I know I'm not thinking remotely rationally. I know I should at least nourish myself for a chance for recovery but do I even deserve recovery? Points to some other serious issues I have.

I hate that you understand because this really sucks but it is nice to not feel alone

 

[Oh so tired]

Yes, that's pretty much what has been happening to me. I didn't realize it because I'm not trying to alter my appearance but in some ways it's become a form of control and maladaptive coping.
I say all the time that it's a form of self-harm for me, probably one of the worst kinds of self-harm there is. It's torture. You're absolutely right about it altering thoughts. I know I'm not thinking remotely rationally. I know I should at least nourish myself for a chance for recovery but do I even deserve recovery? Points to some other serious issues I have.

I hate that you understand because this really sucks but it is nice to not feel alone

Yes, likewise, nice to speak to someone who understands!

Same as you, not bothered about looking thinner or whatever, but it's a way of coping with all the difficult stuff. I literally don't know how I would cope without it. My weight is pretty low now so I'm feeling the physical effects, but in a weird way that spurs me on, if I'm feeling ill it's obviously working.

I know it won't make any difference saying this but you *are* worthy of nourishment and the chance to recover. No one deserves to starve and to suffer such emotional pain. I hope you manage to start to eat a little and maybe that will be enough to start you on the road to recovery.

 

[Despondent]

I know some members have suggested meal replacements. I think that would be a good start because you don't necessarily have to eat something and you're still getting the nutrition you need :)

Even if you want to grab a milkshake just to fill you up (not all of the time of course) Even smoothies!!

I'm sorry to hear all that you're going through, but you're strong and you have a huge support system here to back you up ❤ Message me if you ever need to or want to chat :D Sending big hugs!

 

[Arrow]

Even if you want to grab a milkshake just to fill you up (not all of the time of course) Even smoothies!!

damn i want a milkshake now

 

[Blutsager]

You know what my mom did the other day? She made cheese... with milk and lemons. No complicated chemicals and overcomplications:

Lemon Cheese Recipe - Cultures For Health

Lemon cheese is a creamy, spreadable cheese with a light, lemony flavor.

www.culturesforhealth.com

And it's actually really good! spice it up as you please, the only taste it has itself is a strong and slightly acidic lemon taste, so from there on you can add to it whatever you want.

 

[Remember to forget]

I can relate to this. I still have eating issue but I am quite healthy body wise at the moment. I would suggest things you don't have to chew to much, chewing would make me feel sick but I'm not sure how you react
If you can chew OK toast with peanut butter or marmite it a good start. Cut it into smaller squats so it doesn't look overwhelming.
If you can't I would go for porridge, over night porridge is great.
Get a container which has a lid, add 1/3 cup of porridge, around 50g, add milk, fruits and high protein yogurt, honey if you like it but should be sweet enoug and leave overnight. Minimal effort, healthy and ready for the morning or when you feel ready to eat.

 

[DunnoWhyButYeah]

I drink (green) smoothies or protein shakes because I don't want to eat anything.

 

[AlexM]

My antidepressant diet - ice-cream, bananas and chocolate. Actually i like cooking, I love soups, homemade bread and cookies, fish, I try to eat less meet and more vegetables and beans. Coffee and cacao, pomegranate juice, it s like some mix of the healthy and not healthy food. My main problem is depression, any food is good if it helps me. I dont want to think about calories and cholesterol yet.