by: Emilie Hebert, dietitian at Nourishing Minds Nutrition

I know many of you can relate to feeling burned out by having to feed yourself (and perhaps others!) multiple times a day, every day. Maybe you’re getting sick of your staple meals, or food just isn’t as enjoyable anymore.

That is totally valid and understandable. However, no matter how bored we are of food, we still need to eat! Being in a food rut can allow us to accidently slip into old habits of undereating, skipping meals, or not eating something satisfying.

The foundation of nutrition is adequacy. Our bodies need enough energy to run smoothly every day and do all the things we ask it to do: work, exercise, go on walks, laugh with friends, walk the dog. Consistent, adequate meals and snacks are going to set us up for energy throughout the day, balanced blood sugar and hormones, and improved digestion.

If you’re feeling like being in a food rut is causing you to potentially undereat, or even if it’s just making food less enjoyable, here are three strategies for eating consistently when you’re just bored with food.

Choose 2-5 options for each meal.

Decision fatigue with choosing what to each for each meal or snack is a real thing! Sometimes we may even skip the meal just because we don’t want to go through the process of deciding what to each.

This strategy helps to lower decision fatigue. Choose 3-5 options for each meal, and make sure you have the groceries on hand to make those. Then, you have a list to choose from when it’s time to eat versus trying to decide out of all the options in your head.

For example, your breakfast options may be eggs + avocado toast, oatmeal + peanut butter + fruit, or a sausage biscuit + fruit. You can decide from that list what you want each morning.

Note: if giving yourself 2-5 options for each meal starts to feel like a restrictive food rule, STOP! This strategy is meant to decrease stress related to food decisions, not increase restriction.

2. Use a meal delivery service (or just their recipes).

If you’re feeling exhausted by choosing what to eat for every meal, a meal delivery box may be helpful. Note: these boxes can be pricey, but you can assess if it is accessible for you and if the cost is worth the lower stress. These boxes work by sending you the measured ingredients for a recipe they choose—all you have to do is cook.

Here’s a hack if you don’t want to purchase the meal delivery boxes: use the recipes on their website! These companies publish all their recipe cards for free online. This might be helpful to find recipes that are new and exciting to you, if you’re feeling bored with your usual rotation of meals. To find these recipes, just Google search the name of the delivery box + recipes (for example, “Blue Apron recipes”).

3. Have convenient, reliable options on hand.

Sometimes intuitive eating is portrayed as “eating exactly what you’re craving in the moment and really savoring it” for each meal. That’s great and all, but sometimes we just need to eat in order to give ourselves energy (read this post on practical eating)

Having convenient options on hand can help us not skip a meal when food just isn’t that exciting. These options could be frozen burritos, pre-made wraps, canned soups + bread, or frozen pizza.

It is totally okay to feel “meh” about food, especially in the really weird times we’re in! Feeding yourself enough and consistently is always the first goal with food—it’s okay if it’s not that exciting all the time. I hope you can find some ways to make food a bit more enjoyable if you’re finding yourself in a rut!