Help! I’ve Lost My Motivation to Cook!

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and Editor-in-Chief of Kitchn, and the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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published Apr 18, 2011
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Q:  I need help — I used to spend days creating really thoughtful meals, planning careful weekly menus, get all of my daily of fruits and veggies, but the other day, I looked into my fridge and saw 3-week-old, shriveled zucchini and a bag full of formed chicken patties containing ingredients I cannot pronounce. HELP!

I’ve lost my motivation; I don’t know if it’s the weather, a busy schedule or just laziness but my meals have become less than inspired. What do you do when you’ve lost it?

Sent by Brian

Editor: Brian, I so know how you feel. The state of your refrigerator sounds like mine right now. I don’t know if it’s the busy days of early spring, or the distraction of sunshine, but there just aren’t many cooking projects that sound like fun right now.

My personal recommendation (and one that I’ve been following myself, this weekend) is to try something completely new. Pick up a new food magazine and page through. Check out a colorful, exciting cookbook. Try to find a new avenue back into the fun of cooking, and the more mundane daily disciplines will follow. That’s just a start, though — like I said, I’m rather in the cooking dumps myself this week.

Readers, what would you suggest? What do you do when you’ve just lost the inspiration to cook or nourish?

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Related: Bad Mojo: How Do You Deal with a Cooking Rut?

(Image: Flickr member obo-bobolina licensed for use under Creative Commons)

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