ADHD Meal Prep Strategies To Reduce Overwhelm and Procrastination

Managing meals for the week requires executive function and working memory, which can be a challenge if you have adult ADHD. I’m sharing ways to simplify meal prep to make it easier.

Managing meals week after week can be relentless for anyone, but especially if you have executive dysfunction like with ADHD in adulthood. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and stuck, regardless of how badly you want to do something. Managing meals is complex and includes planning out your week, choosing meals for your meal plan, making a list, food shopping, putting food away, prepping meals ahead, cleaning up and then getting meals together each day. All of that requires planning, organizing, prioritizing, pacing, time management, focus and consistent follow through, which can be impaired in people with ADHD. Without a solid system, it’s harder to stay consistent and the process becomes overwhelming.

Meal prep can be a helpful tool to set ourselves up through busy weeks to eat balanced and nourishing meals with less time and effort. These strategies are helpful for anyone wanting to simplify and organize their approach to meals. There are many ways to meal prep, some better than others. I’m sharing meal prep strategies that simplify and streamline the process, so there’s less resistance or burnout with it.

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Why Meal Prep With ADHD is Harder

Overwhelm

Managing food for the week can be overwhelming for different reasons. We live in a culture of food abundance, and endless recipe options. Do you feel indecisive when choosing what to eat? With ADHD, making decisions can be taxing, especially when there’s a lot of options. This makes meal planning and deciding what to have for dinner more challenging. Also, cooking is a complex task, with multiple and sometimes simultaneous steps, that can be overwhelming and paralyzing if you have ADHD.

Inconsistency

The consistent thing about having ADHD, is being inconsistent. It’s easy to be hard on yourself when you struggle to stick with habits consistently, but there’s often more to it. What causes the inconsistency? Your appetite or food aversions might change day to day, your schedule changes, you don’t have a good structure or approach, you’re more stressed, you’re not sleeping well, you’re hyper-focused and forget to eat or you’re overwhelmed. Then sometimes, you have a burst of motivation and can do all the things. Rather than focus on the inconsistency, it helps to address the root causes of it.

Analysis Paralysis

Analysis paralysis usually happens when there’s too many options and your mind goes blank. It happens because everything seems equally important or you don’t feel strongly about any option, and it’s difficult to prioritize or rank them. This might happen if you’re scrolling Pinterest for meal ideas looking for inspiration. Limiting your options can be an effective way to move forward.

Burnout

The task of managing meals itself can cause burnout, but burnout from work and life can reduce the capacity to manage meals too. Some approaches to meal prep, like spending hours each Sunday cooking, can be exhausting for someone with ADHD. Burnout is a commonly shared experience with ADHD, so I find that supportive habits both prevent burnout and help to manage when it sets in.

Kitchen Tools For Easy Meal Prep

One strategy that makes meal prep easier, is to plan meals that don’t require a lot of effort or create a lot of dishes to clean. Having kitchen tools to boost efficiency is key. I’ll share some helpful tools below.

Slow Cooker/Crockpot

From Amazon (updated version of what I’ve used)

From Amazon (nicer programmable version)

The slow cooker is a great tool for making big batch recipes like shredded proteins, bone broth, chili and soups. It’s a great tool for meal prep because you can set it up and go about your day, without needing to watch or stir what you’re making.

Immersion Blender

From Amazon (Cuisinart)

An immersion blender is so easy to grab out of a drawer and use to blend sauces, soups and purées. I use it to make refried beans all of the time too. I recommend this tool because it’s much easier to use, clean and put away, than a traditional blender.

Nutribullet blender

From Amazon (the one I have and love)

I’ve had the Vitamix for years and got my first Nutribullet a few months ago. To be honest, I use this more than the Vitamix. It’s so easy to store, use and clean compared to the heavier and bulkier Vitamix. Don’t get me wrong, the Vitamix has its place, but the Nutribullet has become more of an everyday kind of appliance for me. I use it mostly for smoothies, but you can make sauces, dips and dressings in it too. I’ve been impressed by how smooth it blends and is very comparable to the texture you’d get from a Vitamix blender.

Microplanes

From William Sonoma (wood, course)

From William Sonoma (wood, fine)

From Amazon (all metal, fine)

Who else dislikes chopping garlic? Me too. Microplanes aren’t only for cheese, though it’s a very important job. I started using a Microplane to grate garlic and haven’t looked back. I use two different sizes depending on what I’m making, and have both the wood handled and metal microplanes. I think it’s important to use quality kitchen tools that have a nice aesthetic, it makes me excited to use them.

Prep & Storage Bowls

From William Sonoma

I love these Weck jars so much. I think they’re aesthetically pleasing, but also so functional. I reach for one at least once a day. I’ll prep sauces and dressings in them and store them in the same container, which minimizes dishes. They’re also great for single servings of soup, and sauces for the freezer.

How To Meal Prep With ADHD

My philosophy is to go easier on yourself, meet yourself where you are and to be realistic, rather than give up, self blame or push passed your limits.

Plan Meals Mindfully

If you tend to plan meals impulsively or without much thought, it helps to slow down and choose meals with intention. Meals and recipes are more approachable when the ingredients are easy to prep and they have simpler steps. It also helps to consider how much you’ll want to prep ahead versus during the week and plan accordingly. If you have a complex recipe on your plan, then choose easier and simpler recipes alongside it.

Batch Recipes

Recipes that make multiple meals are a life saver. They allow you to do the work once and reap the rewards for weeks after. I use these kinds of recipes to prep things for the freezer like soups, pasta sauce and shredded meats. I wrote this blog post Crockpot Chicken Recipes For Healthy Weeknight Dinners that might help give you some batch cooking ideas. I can make 2-4 of these kinds of recipes per month and keep a good rotation of easy dinners in the freezer.

Versatile Recipes

When it comes to meal prep, I think versatile recipes are a better choice than those that are more specific. I’ll opt for a neutral seasoned shredded meat, so that I can use it in various cuisines depending on what I’m in the mood for. Shredded chicken can go in tacos, on a burrito bowl, in a Greek grain bowl or be mixed with BBQ sauce for a pulled BBQ chicken sandwich. It’s just another way to maximize your effort in the kitchen.

Do Less, Literally!

I advocate for taking the easy road with meal prep. Rather than making a bunch of things each week, choose a few big things to prep each month. This allows time and space to meal prep a few quick things each week, without needing to spend hours each Sunday on the next week’s meals, then starting from scratch again the week after.

Another way to do less is to use shortcut ingredients. Rather than reaching for processed frozen or canned meals, use easy pre-prepped ingredients to make homemade recipes. Things like precut vegetables (from the produce aisle or salad bar), frozen fruits and vegetables and quality sauces save so much time and effort.

If you’re interested in more guidance and personalized support, I offer custom meal rotations and meal plans as well as 1:1 coaching. It’s a simple approach to help save you time, maximize your effort and provide lots of strategies to stay on track through the unique challenges of ADHD. You can learn more here. You can also join my email community, where I share meal ideas, tips and exclusive offers.