What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking

On the final day of last week's Culinary Boot Camp, I was chatting with a student who was describing how she had so much fun and felt so happy. I think the last day of this course is really quite special. Throughout the week, we give you pretty firm marching orders on how to get successful dishes to enjoy together. On day five, we give the students a little more autonomy - gathering their own ingredients, different teams making different recipes, organizing your workflow in a way that makes sense to you. The student I was speaking to told me that all that cooking felt like something they could only do if they were in a good mood. They asked “What do you do when you are too sad to cook?”

This question caught me off guard. In the advent of social media and people putting highlight reels of their lives on display, sometimes doing “fun” things can feel less like a little perk of life and more like an item on a to-do list. On top of that, add in the rise of trad-wife/homesteading influencers. Compare your cooking and eating routines to them and you have a recipe for an anxiety spiral. Am I doing enough? Am I eating healthily enough? Why don’t I have the will and desire to cook like these people?

My number one piece of advice to people who don’t have a lot of kitchen knowledge is to be kind to yourself. Not every meal has to be a five-star experience. Cooking a fancy meal for yourself or your partner is good fun but nine times out of ten, I am eager to just get something on the table after a long day of living life as a human person in 2026.

So the question remains “What [does Matt do] when [Matt is] too sad to cook?” If the budget for the week is looking good, I am no stranger to the take out game. Something that people living in a city have the privilege of is having a lot of great locally-owned takeout options within walking distance. I have a really great falafel place that is a 5 minute walk from me that sees me pretty regularly. I also find some joy from this in supporting a small business and taking myself on a little walk to get out of my cave of isolation (aka my apartment).

On the other side, if I have the energy to make something but don’t want it to take more than 10 minutes, that's easy. I give you my Feta Fill-up Salad. This salad is so simple to throw together and the protein you get from the feta really fills you up and makes this a full meal. Add in your favorite frozen chicken tenders. I use the Aldi brand because we’re not fancy in Matt’s apartment (okay sometimes we’re a little fancy - but not when it comes to chicken tenders).

Feta Fill-Up Salad

Serves: 1

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes (for chicken tenders)

Juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup crumbled feta- or more (I always endorse more)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cups of greens (I like using spinach, but romaine also works great)

Frozen chicken tenders of your choice (breaded or unbreaded)

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes (optional)

1. In a medium metal bowl, combine the lemon juice, feta and olive oil, whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper
2. Cook the chicken tenders to package instructions. I prefer using my air fryer for this.
3. Add the greens to the bowl with dressing and toss around.
4. Chop up the chicken into bite-size pieces. Add to salad. Crack open a beer. Enjoy! (optional garnish with a chicken tender as pictured below)

To experience the joy that our students feel in Culinary Boot Camp, take the plunge and sign up for one of our August or September sessions! If you have already experienced the joy and want it again, we have added a second Culinary Boot Camp 2 session in October.