TL;DR

• Home Chef is out: It requires too much energy, and the easy options are too expensive.
• Burnout is peaking: I am underwater and craving recovery time I don’t have.
• Physical limits are hitting: My body can no longer sustain the all-nighters I used to be able to do.
• I added an update on 12/11.

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I’m done with Home Chef. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I thought I wanted variety? Because I sure don’t have a desire to cook.

Anything that is more than three steps is “too extra” and over the top in my book. I don’t even need sauces and the meals are still too many steps. Do I seem as if I want to cook? LOL. Uh, nope.

It was a decent deal from work but I’m over it. Please, more simple meals. The microwavable meals are easy, of course. But the price is 50% more for one serving. So, if I can’t get a deal on microwave only, I will be cancelling soon.

Look at me! Not exceeding. 

I’m so underwater with everything. What I need is time off. Real time to recover from burnout that started in 2020. But that’s not happening.

I’m not worthy enough for rest. So, chaos. Crash and burn. 

One thing I’m learning is that I can no longer pull all-nighters (from insomnia) like I used to. This sucks for me and my work. And my dog. And my life. And everything. 

Oh well.

UPDATE 12/11/2025

Proud to report that I cooked a “meal” without following the too-long directions. I even forgot to add the kale, and didn’t cover it with Reynolds wrap because I couldn’t find my box. And it was good!!! It was an oven pasta and chicken meal. And the chicken breast wasn’t tough at all. WOW. I think I just got lucky, but since I’m so overwhelmed, I’m glad it came out okay.

But for people who don’t normally cook, I wish they would leave out unnecessary things. This is all I want. What MUST I do? This is why I don’t bother with cookbooks. I just need to know what I need to do to make it edible. If I don’t NEED foil, please make it optional and don’t cloud up the instructions.

Maybe one day someone will make a cookbook for people with visual spatial difficulties (and/or nonverbal learning disabilities), but I’m not holding my breath.