But I want it now...

You get home from a long day from work, maybe you didn't even have time to eat lunch. You walk into your kitchen and see a plethora of food you thought you would have the motivation to make. Uh oh. You're hungry now. The last thing you want to do is slave over a dish for the next 2 hours...

One of the main reasons many people choose to go out for meals, rather than cooking at home is because they think it'll take too long to cook something themselves and they need satisfaction now. WHAT? N-O. No.

Cooking can take time depending on what you're making, but there are hundreds of thousands of meals that you can stir up in under 30 minutes. Think for a second about how long it would take you to 1) think of a place to eat, 2) drive to said restaurant or fast food place, 3) decide what you want to eat there if you already haven't made a decision and 4) wait for the food to get to you. Trust me on this, your 30 minutes was gone awhile ago.

One of my favorite meals to eat when I'm super hungry is a meal with protein, like chicken or fish. Either of those meats can be turned around in under 10 minutes. Add a few spices, maybe a marinade, and all you have to do is put it on the pan until it's cooked through.

Garlic Chicken
Photo credit: allrecipes.com

Chicken is probably more commonly found in your kitchen, so I recommend that the next time you go grocery shopping, you stock up on different marinades and spices. Chicken is chicken, but it can have hundreds of different flavors depending on how you make it.


Vegetables can be heated up from frozen veggie bags or chopped and steamed. It's up to you. And you can add a whole-grain rice to the dish or maybe chop the chicken up and put it over a whole-grain pasta.

If you're able to work with several burners on the stove, you can steam the veggies, boil the pasta and cook the chicken at the same time, which will make this meal an even quicker fix.

Cooking doesn't have to take up you're whole night. Don't sacrifice your wallet and possibly your health just because you don't think you have the time.