invest in a rice cooker with a steamer and an air fryer.

My boyfriend and I both have ADHD. He's inattentive, I have combination. We both love cooking, but we have problems getting started, making something healthy-ish, and also the cleaning. God, the cleaning. That's probably our biggest barrier. My first tip is that there's nothing shameful about needing paper plates, utensils, etc: No, it's not the best for the environment. But you know what's not good for your personal environment? Plates and cups and more gathering mold and taking up space everywhere. So, use them when you can and don't feel ashamed.

My now life-saving tip from the title that I just learned today: I can make a whole ass, decent meal with two extremely easy to clean appliances, a rice cooker with steamer and an air fryer.

After a long day of going to the laundromat, we ordered takeout to make it easy (as we always do lol). We got home and realized his food was not gluten free, and as he has Celiac, he couldn't eat any part of the meal. Tired and exhausted, and already with a messy kitchen, I tried to think of what I could do to make him decent food without burning myself out for the day and in the midst of my mess... and that's when it hit me: My mother gifted me an air fryer I literally never used, and I had frozen impossible meat patties in the freezer. Quickly I Google if I can make those in there, and sure enough I can!

Put the protein in the air fryer (nearly everything can go in there: Google is your friend), rice in the rice cooker, and any veggie you like steamed in the steamer above the rice. Set the timer for 25 minutes and sit back as everything cooks for you with little to no mess. This is a life-changer. You can mix up the proteins and the veggies, and you can season your rice differently if you're the type, like me, where you gotta mix it up and cannot eat the same meal a few times in a row.

Seriously. I cannot believe we didn't try this sooner.