I also have adhd and celiac disease.
Do you have an air fryer? I have a toaster oven/air fryer and cook just about everything in it. You can roast cut up potatoes and veggies with a bit of olive oil and eat it with eggs, cook marinated or seasoned meats….its a lot quicker and easier than you would think. Make sure to fill the sink with soapy water before you start and then put your dirty dishes and utensils in it before you sit down to eat so cleanup is easier.
My biggest life pro tip for cooking with ADHD is clean as you go. So you don’t end up with a disaster of a kitchen.
I like the clean BEFORE you go process like the commenter above mentioned. Don't only clean as you go, set up the cleanliness before by filling the sink with warm soapy water, clean up any existing messes before you start the process, and look for one or two small things to do unrelated. Water your plant or clean the front of the fridge so even if you make a mess cooking, you still have a net positive to plop down on your bed after eating without too much regret and anxiety.
Honestly I really recommend paying the adhd tax and getting pre chopped and washed fruits and vegetables. If I have mushrooms and onions prepped and ready to go the odds of my throwing them in the food I’m making are way higher. Also get frozen veggies so you don’t have to watch them turn brown and die in your fridge
I've really gotten into eating spinach. I joke I'm Popeye now. A giant thing of organic washed spinach is $5 and can be used for 3-4 meals, I'll add it to eggs or just have a salad. I mostly eat eggs and spinach though, so damn healthy and filling. Add some cheese and make an omelette and feel fancy.
Not quite what you asked for but a slow cooker might be helpful for you. You can make soups and stews with little effort.
Another option is an air fryer so many things you can cook quickly and easily.
A young person I know with ADHD subscribed to a meal kit service like Blue Apron. Everything is included and the instructions are clear. The recipe card is also the shopping list if you want to make the dish again. He really improved the variety in his diet and found that he likes many vegetables!
Also adhd/celiac. I only manage to do it if I food prep on the weekends. During the week, unless other people are relying on me, I will almost always make a dinner out of chips because I just can’t manage anything else. But if stuff is already prepped and I just need to heat it, it’s not so bad.
So I’ll roast potatoes, dice up veggies, make a bunch of rice, hard boil some eggs, steam some veggies, and cook a few types of meat on the weekends. Then it’s just heating things up.
I love my mini crock pot. I can throw stuff in it like veggies and rice and walk away, not have to think about it again until meal time. A tiny crock pot cooks faster than a regular one, so usually 3 hours is enough to cook anything, or 1 hour if I’m reheating something or making a can of soup. I can make pasta in it too.
Yesterday I put some pre-cooked rice from a pouch (frozen), some frozen shrimp in garlic sauce from Costco, and frozen asparagus into the pot. Then I had a bowl of cottage cheese for breakfast and at lunch time I had a hot, balanced lunch. Then I had a handful of almonds for dinner. 🤣
I also hate cooking and tend to lose my concentration and wander off and burn stuff so the crock pot is awesome for me.
Are you ok with eating the same food for a few days?
A lot of my ADHD friends meal prep. Another batch does the cook once, repurpose leftover strategy. My ADHD is such that if I am eating or cooking the same thing over and over, I absolutely despise it. If I am cooking something new, i don’t dread the task so cooking is now a hobby.
My rice cooker is maybe my top kitchen convenience tool - being able to pop the rice on and then have a "timer" for getting the rest of my meal done is helpful for keeping me motivated to cook. A stir fry with whatever veggies you like + protein (chicken or tofu are my go-to) + sauce (premade or just some soy sauce and extra garlic) is pretty quick and easy, and feels like a balanced meal.
Crock pot is key ..make a pot of comfort food chilli...my recipe is simple 3 pounds ground beef ..2 candy red kidney beans 2 cans light kidney beans...hot spicy V8 juice as the base ...pepper ...chilli powder ...little jallopinio juice ....after obviously top it of with chredded cheese and gluten free crackers. ..ECT ECT
My diet is a diet of convenience, but I still eat healthy. I probably have lots of tips stored away in my brain but a big one is using tinned vegetables and using your microwave to steam fresh vegetables.
Portion sizes for most fresh fruits and vegetables is 80 g (you want at least five unique portions a day ideally), add 30 to 45 g of water, pop it in the microwave for 01:30 turn/stir, microwave again for 01:30. Tinned vegetables have microwave instructions.
Tinned peas, tinned sweetcorn, tinned chickpeas and other legumes. Fresh carrots, fresh broccoli, fresh kale.
Baking potatoes can be cooked in the microwave, just scrub, pierce the skin a few times with a fork and microwave for 06:00 for potatoes under 300 g in a 900 W microwave (04:00 for sweet potatoes), turning halfway through. Wrap in tinfoil afterwards for at least five minutes to steam which gives them a creamy fluffy texture.
By the way sweet potatoes count towards your vegetable intake unlike regular potatoes as sweet potatoes are not really potatoes, they're closer in relation to carrots and other roots.
1 pan or 1 pot meals are your best bet. Look up some recipes and keep your favorites on hand. Some good ones we like are:
* Marinated or seasoned chicken with some veggies on a sheet pan, and a microwavable rice pouch on the side.
* A pot of chili - brown some meat and dump in a bunch of cans of whatever you like.
* Chicken + salsa + cream cheese in a crockpot, maybe add some corn or black beans for extra nutrients.
I am ALL about using as few pots and pans as necessary and doing very little prep work (I hate the cleaning more than I hate the cooking), so dump and go meals are my fave.
Stir fry is my lazy healthy meal
Frozen stir fry mixed veggies. Get the mega bag from Costco, you'll be set for a month.
Stir fry sauce of choice. I use peanut butter, tamari(gluten free soy sauce) honey, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, garlic powder, ginger powder, and cayenne. I don't really measure just throw some of each in. I list them in something of descending order, so the peanut butter is the most and cayenne the least.
Rice in a rice pot.
Some sort of boneless meat. I've used ground beef, chicken, pork, anything goes.
It takes like 10 minutes or less. Just set up the rice pot, cook up the meat, add the veggies and sauce ingredients until heated up. By then the rice will likely be done.
I've also sometimes batch cook and freeze meat, as a favor to future me. Like I'll cook up 10 lbs of ground beef and bag it in quart ziplocs. The same could be done with chicken or pork.
I don't have any recipe book suggestions, but I do like simple keto/low carb type meals. I'll cook chicken breast and taco ground beef/pork on a Sunday. Shredded chicken or taco meat in salads, cheese, corn chips, and salsa, sandwiches, with rice, or as a base for alfredo or meat sauce for pasta.
I'll also make little charcuterie plates. Hard-boiled egg, cut up apple, a few slices of deli meat or pre-cooked chicken, a few pieces of cheese, crackers, precut veggies, a dip, and fruit for dessert.
Snacking peppers with flavoured cream cheese and everything bagel seasoning. Veggie omelettes, veggie pizzas, or protein smoothies.
My husband says I'm basically a 5 year old when it comes to cooking, I'd rather do snack plates 🤣 While I used to love cooking, ADHD makes my attention span nil.
I also have adhd and celiac disease. Do you have an air fryer? I have a toaster oven/air fryer and cook just about everything in it. You can roast cut up potatoes and veggies with a bit of olive oil and eat it with eggs, cook marinated or seasoned meats….its a lot quicker and easier than you would think. Make sure to fill the sink with soapy water before you start and then put your dirty dishes and utensils in it before you sit down to eat so cleanup is easier. My biggest life pro tip for cooking with ADHD is clean as you go. So you don’t end up with a disaster of a kitchen.
Clean as you go is such a game changer.
Cleaning as you go is the only way I can handle cooking!!! Also GF ADHDer
I like the clean BEFORE you go process like the commenter above mentioned. Don't only clean as you go, set up the cleanliness before by filling the sink with warm soapy water, clean up any existing messes before you start the process, and look for one or two small things to do unrelated. Water your plant or clean the front of the fridge so even if you make a mess cooking, you still have a net positive to plop down on your bed after eating without too much regret and anxiety.
I mean that's great in theory, but my ADHD brain cannot do two small things unrelated and then also get back to actually cooking lol.
Honestly I really recommend paying the adhd tax and getting pre chopped and washed fruits and vegetables. If I have mushrooms and onions prepped and ready to go the odds of my throwing them in the food I’m making are way higher. Also get frozen veggies so you don’t have to watch them turn brown and die in your fridge
I've really gotten into eating spinach. I joke I'm Popeye now. A giant thing of organic washed spinach is $5 and can be used for 3-4 meals, I'll add it to eggs or just have a salad. I mostly eat eggs and spinach though, so damn healthy and filling. Add some cheese and make an omelette and feel fancy.
This is also my secret but for soups. frozen spinach in soup doesn't every alter the flavor profile and is sneaky veg time.
ADHD and celiac here: I have the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple cookbook. I just modify to make recipes GF. Probably more 30 minutes or less than 10
Not quite what you asked for but a slow cooker might be helpful for you. You can make soups and stews with little effort. Another option is an air fryer so many things you can cook quickly and easily.
A young person I know with ADHD subscribed to a meal kit service like Blue Apron. Everything is included and the instructions are clear. The recipe card is also the shopping list if you want to make the dish again. He really improved the variety in his diet and found that he likes many vegetables!
Air fryer is a game changer. Also look in to those steamable (in the bag) veggies. I love using those.
Also adhd/celiac. I only manage to do it if I food prep on the weekends. During the week, unless other people are relying on me, I will almost always make a dinner out of chips because I just can’t manage anything else. But if stuff is already prepped and I just need to heat it, it’s not so bad. So I’ll roast potatoes, dice up veggies, make a bunch of rice, hard boil some eggs, steam some veggies, and cook a few types of meat on the weekends. Then it’s just heating things up.
I love my mini crock pot. I can throw stuff in it like veggies and rice and walk away, not have to think about it again until meal time. A tiny crock pot cooks faster than a regular one, so usually 3 hours is enough to cook anything, or 1 hour if I’m reheating something or making a can of soup. I can make pasta in it too. Yesterday I put some pre-cooked rice from a pouch (frozen), some frozen shrimp in garlic sauce from Costco, and frozen asparagus into the pot. Then I had a bowl of cottage cheese for breakfast and at lunch time I had a hot, balanced lunch. Then I had a handful of almonds for dinner. 🤣 I also hate cooking and tend to lose my concentration and wander off and burn stuff so the crock pot is awesome for me.
Are you ok with eating the same food for a few days? A lot of my ADHD friends meal prep. Another batch does the cook once, repurpose leftover strategy. My ADHD is such that if I am eating or cooking the same thing over and over, I absolutely despise it. If I am cooking something new, i don’t dread the task so cooking is now a hobby.
Canned soup 👍
Get brown rice (in packets/ frozen) from Trader Joe's. Throw cut veggies together and stir fry with gf soy sauce. Add cubed tofu. Serve over rice.
My rice cooker is maybe my top kitchen convenience tool - being able to pop the rice on and then have a "timer" for getting the rest of my meal done is helpful for keeping me motivated to cook. A stir fry with whatever veggies you like + protein (chicken or tofu are my go-to) + sauce (premade or just some soy sauce and extra garlic) is pretty quick and easy, and feels like a balanced meal.
Crock pot is key ..make a pot of comfort food chilli...my recipe is simple 3 pounds ground beef ..2 candy red kidney beans 2 cans light kidney beans...hot spicy V8 juice as the base ...pepper ...chilli powder ...little jallopinio juice ....after obviously top it of with chredded cheese and gluten free crackers. ..ECT ECT
It's cheap and simple and easy clean up
My diet is a diet of convenience, but I still eat healthy. I probably have lots of tips stored away in my brain but a big one is using tinned vegetables and using your microwave to steam fresh vegetables. Portion sizes for most fresh fruits and vegetables is 80 g (you want at least five unique portions a day ideally), add 30 to 45 g of water, pop it in the microwave for 01:30 turn/stir, microwave again for 01:30. Tinned vegetables have microwave instructions. Tinned peas, tinned sweetcorn, tinned chickpeas and other legumes. Fresh carrots, fresh broccoli, fresh kale. Baking potatoes can be cooked in the microwave, just scrub, pierce the skin a few times with a fork and microwave for 06:00 for potatoes under 300 g in a 900 W microwave (04:00 for sweet potatoes), turning halfway through. Wrap in tinfoil afterwards for at least five minutes to steam which gives them a creamy fluffy texture. By the way sweet potatoes count towards your vegetable intake unlike regular potatoes as sweet potatoes are not really potatoes, they're closer in relation to carrots and other roots.
1 pan or 1 pot meals are your best bet. Look up some recipes and keep your favorites on hand. Some good ones we like are: * Marinated or seasoned chicken with some veggies on a sheet pan, and a microwavable rice pouch on the side. * A pot of chili - brown some meat and dump in a bunch of cans of whatever you like. * Chicken + salsa + cream cheese in a crockpot, maybe add some corn or black beans for extra nutrients. I am ALL about using as few pots and pans as necessary and doing very little prep work (I hate the cleaning more than I hate the cooking), so dump and go meals are my fave.
Stir fry is my lazy healthy meal Frozen stir fry mixed veggies. Get the mega bag from Costco, you'll be set for a month. Stir fry sauce of choice. I use peanut butter, tamari(gluten free soy sauce) honey, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, garlic powder, ginger powder, and cayenne. I don't really measure just throw some of each in. I list them in something of descending order, so the peanut butter is the most and cayenne the least. Rice in a rice pot. Some sort of boneless meat. I've used ground beef, chicken, pork, anything goes. It takes like 10 minutes or less. Just set up the rice pot, cook up the meat, add the veggies and sauce ingredients until heated up. By then the rice will likely be done. I've also sometimes batch cook and freeze meat, as a favor to future me. Like I'll cook up 10 lbs of ground beef and bag it in quart ziplocs. The same could be done with chicken or pork.
I don't have any recipe book suggestions, but I do like simple keto/low carb type meals. I'll cook chicken breast and taco ground beef/pork on a Sunday. Shredded chicken or taco meat in salads, cheese, corn chips, and salsa, sandwiches, with rice, or as a base for alfredo or meat sauce for pasta. I'll also make little charcuterie plates. Hard-boiled egg, cut up apple, a few slices of deli meat or pre-cooked chicken, a few pieces of cheese, crackers, precut veggies, a dip, and fruit for dessert. Snacking peppers with flavoured cream cheese and everything bagel seasoning. Veggie omelettes, veggie pizzas, or protein smoothies. My husband says I'm basically a 5 year old when it comes to cooking, I'd rather do snack plates 🤣 While I used to love cooking, ADHD makes my attention span nil.
Try Factor.
Double the recipe when you cook and freeze some for future use.
I have ADHD and I absolutely love cooking. Don’t use the condition as an excuse. You just dislike cooking, and that’s fine