AKA alternatives to fueling yourself with empty calories

Everyone experiences depression a little bit differently, but for me, when I'm in a low point, I have no desire to eat. Or at least, no desire to prepare food. (i’ll totally eat a family size bag of Doritos tho) So this is a list of things that are easy to buy, store, and eat when you cannot bring yourself to boil water for ramen or pull out a pan to fry an egg. 

Non-Perishable:

Buy in bulk and store these in a cupboard so you can pull them out when you’re feeling it.

Protein/granola bars (lots of sugar, but better than straight-up candy)

Nuts (almonds are personal fave, but mixes give better variety in nutrition)

Trail mix (slightly better than chips but still salty)

Peanut butter (no shame in eating from the jar)

Oatmeal Packets (you will need to boil water, but they have flavor and healthy stuff, so put down the Saltines you were about to have for breakfast)

Dry cereal (or get nuts and add milk. only god can judge you)

Fruit snacks

Anything found in the aisle that has fruit snacks. This aisle will be full of stuff to put in kids lunches, and those prepacked 100 calorie packs of will make your heart leap with joy. Avoid chips and cookies though; this list is literally just alternatives to that stuff.

Frozen food/TV dinners (potentially full of cancer, but also usually involving a vegetable or two) (also technically perishable I guess but it looked wrong in the other section) (also usually requiring multiple steps, but they can be life savers so I wanted to include them anyway)

Perishable:

For when you can get yourself to a store and get an ounce of honest to god nutrition.

Fruit (bananas, apples, and oranges last a long time and are super easy)

Yogurt

Cheese sticks (doesn’t have to be string cheese! they make all kinds of cheese sticks now. it’s a magical world.)

Salad in a bag (it’s okay that the thought of chopping up a head of lettuce exhausts you. you’ll get through this)

Lunch meat? (I’ve been vegetarian for a long time, but I remember just eating cold baloney and hot dogs in my youth, so maybe give that a go?)

Carrot sticks/apple sticks/anything plant based and now in a stick 

Whole wheat/grain bread (eat it dry, slap on butter, toast, Nutella, whatever suits you)

Baby carrots (an acquired taste, but I used to hate them and can now mindlessly eat them the same way I eat goldfish crackers, so it’s worth trying)

Lunchables/grown up versions of Lunchables (more expensive than making your own lunch, but more likely to cover multiple food groups)

Feel free to add your own suggestions! Someday I’ll make another post that features one-step and two-step meals, for you ambitious go-getters. 

hey thank you! unfortunately i do not. it is really unfortunate that a lot of posts about depression and ptsd and the like are things that are depressing and triggering. venting and expressing negative emotions is SO important and those posts ofc have their place, but it can be very difficult to navigate through all that when you are looking to heal.

i struggled to find some blogs as well, but i compiled a list of some good posts you might find helpful:

coping 101 masterlist

how to handle stress

spicing things up

zero step depression meals

the self care game

@anxiety-depression-recovery is no longer active but it looks like they have relevant and safe content.

i think the safest things are tagged #depression recovery

also not to self promo or anything but i help run a positivity blog @forgive ...it’s not information based but it has good vibes ☺️