You should mealprep
Meal-prepping has been the single biggest improvement in my life of the past three years. It has been a life-saver, metaphorically speaking.
- It is saving me countless hours. It takes me around 2h - 2.5h to cook, clean and pack away anything from 6 to 10 meals. Compare it to around 2h a day (lunch and dinner) of cooking and cleaning the ROI is extremely good. We're speaking anything from 3x to 5x, depending how many meals I prepare. It is especially noticeable during exam season, where 1 hour of studying more, might be the difference in a exam.
- It is saving my body liters of cortisol. Every day I'd go through the (first world problem) little hell of: what am I going to cook, most of the time, twice a day, whilst trying to be within my macronutrients goal. Given that weightlifting is one of my major passions, just eating ramen noodles was never an option. This would more stress me and have as consequence that I'd procrastinate cooking. Now, I do not need to think about it at all, and every meal is perfectly within my wider nutritional goals.
- Taste. When hacking together meals on a day-by-day basis, I would go for speed and convenience over taste. Now I actually take the time to cook something which my taste buds approve of, and also can take the time to cook slightly more elaborate dishes.
- I am learning how to cook. In the weekly routine, I wouldn't have the motivation to try new dishes and or experiment with new ingredients. Now I have entered a iterative process, where I can try new things and with it my understanding of food, and how ingredients play together, are constantly improving.
- It is saving me money. I go buy groceries only when I need to mealprep. I already have a recipe in mind with a very definite set of ingredients which I am going to need. The chance of buying things I do not need, or low effort meals drops to virtually zero. I wouldn't have the money to order take out either way, but I can see how that would easily cost even more money, reiterating the crazy ROI.
Meal-prepping turned, for me, two very stressful activities, namely cooking and groceries, in something which is bringing me (not kidding) happiness.
All of a sudden now, I have more time for the things I enjoy, my meals all taste good, I am learning how to cook, and can go through my day with two worries less. I encourage anyone to try. Generally it is something people do if they want to loose or gain weight. I'd say just do it. You can still eat how you like, but have that much more time on hands.