When cooking starts to feel like a chore

Even people who love to cook hit a wall sometimes.

You know the one when every dinner looks the same, tastes the same and you are just going through the motions.

It starts innocently enough. Spaghetti once a week. Mash and store bought sausages another night. Something fried because it’s easy. Before you know it, cooking stops feeling creative. It turns into another task, something to get done before the washing up.

I’ve been there.

I love to cook, but when routine takes over, I stop feeling excited about food. It’s not that I don’t want to eat well, I just stop caring about the process. There is no spark. No challenge. No joy.

And then, without fail, I find my way back. How? By stepping away from the routine and straight into a market.

Not online. Not a click and collect order.

A real market, or a good grocery store where you can actually see, touch and smell things.

Leave the list at home. Wander. Look around. Let the food tell you what’s worth cooking.

You might find a cauliflower so fresh and white it practically glows. Or a bunch of mint that smells like summer. Or glossy, deep red beetroots with greens too beautiful to throw away.

That’s when something clicks again.

Your brain starts working like a cook’s brain, not a shopper’s. You begin thinking about how to roast that cauliflower, how to turn those beet greens into something special, how to use the mint before it wilts.

There is nothing like it. Nothing brings back your love for cooking faster than being surrounded by great ingredients. Because cooking with ingredients that inspire you doesn’t just feed your stomach — it wakes up your senses. It reminds you why you started in the first place.

So if dinner has started to feel dull lately, skip the delivery, skip the list and just go. Walk around. Touch the produce. Smell the herbs. See what calls you.

Cooking starts long before the pan hits the heat. It starts when something in front of you makes you want to cook again.