Why Cooking Feels Like a Chore (and How to Trick Yourself Into Loving It Again)
Let’s be honest: cooking sucks sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, food is love, food is life, blah blah. But when you drag yourself home after a long day, open the fridge, and see half a lemon, some suspicious lettuce, and three jars of mustard—cooking isn’t love. It’s punishment.
And yet, we still beat ourselves up for not “enjoying the process.” Instagram tells us cooking is therapy. Julia Child says it’s art. But in real life? Cooking is often just another chore on the endless to-do list. Like laundry, but greasier.
The truth is: we don’t actually hate cooking. We hate everything around it.
The decision fatigue. (“What do I make tonight?”)
The shopping. (Because somehow your spice rack is full, but you’re still missing cumin.)
The cleanup. (The moment you finish eating and realize your kitchen looks like a war zone.)
That’s the real enemy. Not cooking itself.
So here’s the good news: if you can hack those pain points, you’ll stop treating cooking like punishment and start seeing it for what it is—one of the simplest, most human ways to take care of yourself.
This isn’t about becoming the next Gordon Ramsay. It’s about making food less annoying.
1. Stop making cooking a daily decision
You know what kills the joy faster than anything? Asking yourself “What’s for dinner?” at 6:47 p.m. every night.
That question alone is the reason half the world lives on frozen pizza and Uber Eats. Because the mental energy of deciding feels harder than actually cooking.
Solution? Decide less.
Make a short rotation. Five recipes you actually like. Repeat them until you’re sick of them.
Keep a list. When you stumble across something good, save it. Don’t reinvent the wheel every week.
Or… just let someone else decide for you (hi, that’s literally why Daily.Recipes exists).
Here’s the dirty little secret: professional chefs don’t make something new every night. They have a rotation. They repeat. And you can too.
2. Grocery shopping is a rigged game (so rig it back)
The grocery store is designed to wear you down. That’s why the milk is all the way in the back—so you “accidentally” walk past the chips, ice cream, and chocolate croissants.
But the real problem isn’t the store. It’s the mental load of shopping: remembering, guessing, hoping you didn’t forget the one ingredient that ruins the dish.
Hack it:
Stock staples once a month. Olive oil, soy sauce, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, frozen veggies. Keep them locked and loaded.
Shop for recipes, not vibes. Don’t walk in thinking “I’ll figure it out.” That’s how you end up with six avocados and no bread.
Double-dip ingredients. If you buy cilantro, plan two meals that week that use it. Same with limes, onions, peppers.
Better yet, if your recipe already comes with a grocery list (wink wink), half the brainwork is already done.
3. Learn the “good enough” rule
Cooking becomes unbearable when you think everything has to be perfect. Like, who decided onions need to be diced into microscopic cubes? Or that pasta water needs to be salted “like the ocean”?
Relax. You’re not on MasterChef. You’re just hungry.
Burn the chicken a little? Call it “smoky.”
Sauce too thin? Throw in a knob of butter.
Out of fresh herbs? Dried will do.
The truth: 90% of cooking is just heat + seasoning. The other 10% is presentation and Instagram filters. Nobody at your table cares if the garnish is hand-torn basil or sad-looking parsley.
Cooking stops being a chore when you let “good enough” be good enough.
4. Clean as you go (seriously, stop lying to yourself)
Every cooking tutorial skips the most important step: cleaning. They just magically cut to a spotless kitchen at the end, as if the dish fairy swooped in.
Reality check: nothing kills post-dinner joy like a mountain of greasy pans.
So, rule of survival: clean as you go.
Done with the cutting board? Rinse it.
Sauce simmering? Wipe the counter.
Waiting for pasta to boil? Load the dishwasher.
It sounds boring, but trust me—the feeling of finishing a meal and realizing you don’t have to face a sink full of sadness? That’s how cooking stops feeling like a chore.
5. Cheat without shame
You’re not less of a person if you buy pre-chopped onions. Or rotisserie chicken. Or frozen dumplings.
Every culture has shortcuts baked in. Italians buy jarred passata. Mexicans buy tortillas. Nobody in Japan is hand-rolling soba noodles after work.
So cut corners where it makes sense:
Pre-cut veggies.
Frozen herbs.
Bagged salad mixes.
Save your effort for the parts you actually enjoy.
6. Turn cooking into a ritual, not a task
Cooking feels like a chore when it’s just another checkbox on your day. But if you treat it like a break, it flips the whole experience.
Play music. (Loud. The worse your singing, the better.)
Pour a drink. (Tea, wine, whatever makes it feel less like work.)
Cook barefoot. (Trust me.)
This isn’t productivity—it’s self-preservation. Cooking is one of the few daily activities where you get to use your hands, focus on something physical, and actually create. Lean into that.
7. Keep it stupid simple
Complicated recipes are fun once in a while. But if you’re trying to force yourself to make a Michelin-level curry on a Tuesday night, you’ll burn out fast.
Instead, lower the bar:
5–6 ingredients max.
One pan, if possible.
Done in under 30 minutes.
Because here’s the secret: the recipes you actually make are always better than the ones you only dream about.
8. Remember why it matters
Cooking isn’t about impressing anyone. It’s not about perfect plating. It’s not even about “health” half the time.
It’s about control. About taking back one part of your day that isn’t owned by emails, bosses, or algorithms.
Cooking for yourself—even something as dumb as fried rice—is an act of care. It’s proof you matter enough to feed.
That’s not a chore. That’s survival.
Final bite
Cooking will always take effort. But it doesn’t have to feel like punishment. Kill the decision fatigue. Outsmart the grocery store. Lower the bar. Clean as you go. Cheat shamelessly.
And when you still feel stuck, just remember: it’s not about perfection. It’s about sitting down with something warm, something you made, and realizing life feels a little more manageable with food in your stomach.
That’s it. That’s the hack.
PS: If you’re tired of asking “what’s for dinner?”—that’s literally why Daily.Recipes exists. Free recipes every Friday. Paid gets you one every single day.