Struggle with getting dinner on the table? Grab our 5 easy family meal recipes!

Have you ever thought, I don’t know what to eat? This post will walk you through things to consider when you don’t know what to eat and share 20+ recipes and ideas for what to eat.

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. You can read more here on our Disclaimer and Privacy Page.

If you’ve ever thought, I don’t know what to eat, this post should arm you with ideas and what to think about when you start to feel hungry.

Maybe you’re milling through empty pantry cabinets, trying to find something, anything in the fridge or freezer, but nothing is sounding good.

I have 50+ ideas below on what you can eat when you don’t know what you want to eat – some are even fun snack ideas from Thrive Market that you can stock up on for when you need them.

You can also scroll through my hunger ebook with tips on identifying hunger, which can also dictate what you choose to eat.

Truthfully, the time of day and your taste preferences will play a big role in what you choose to eat and when.

What Should I Do When I’m Hungry and I Don’t Know What to Eat?

Whether you’ve done any simple meal prep or not, I always suggest keeping your pantry loaded with these pantry staples.

Knowing how you’re feeling, when and what you last ate, your current energy levels, and what you have on hand to eat in the present may all impact what you choose to eat.

First of all, I like to counsel my clients to think about what’s in the way of deciding what to eat.

• Is it feeling unable to differentiate between true hunger and emotional hunger?
• Are you feeling low in energy?
• Are you too busy to decide what to eat or take the time to make something?
• Are you stressed with your kids?
• Do you have food on hand to make something? If not, knowing what to eat can be difficult!

When you don’t know what to eat, making things easy for yourself is always the best practice.

---

Here are some pointers to think about when you don’t know what to eat.

Ask Yourself, What Do I Want to Eat?

Sometimes, when you don’t know what to eat, thinking about what you actually are craving can be helpful.

Thanks to toxic diet culture, sometimes deciding what you want to eat and thinking about what you should eat don’t align.

And that’s okay. We don’t have to eat our “shoulds” all the time.

Meaning, everything we put into our mouths doesn’t have to be 100% healthy or whole grain.

This way of thinking is an indication of an unhealthy relationship with food.

One of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating is to challenge the food police, and this is how you can really learn to honor what you truly want without feeling guilt.

You should never feel guilty after eating.

This principle is a major one that comes into play when you think about deciding what to eat.

You should be able to be flexible with food, and not feel food guilt if everything you eat is not tracked or doesn’t go to plan.

Challenge The Food Police Voices

The food police is the inner voice inside our heads.

We have all experienced it at some time or another, and still probably do sometimes.

The food police voice is the judgmental voice that tells us we don’t deserve dessert because we didn’t exercise today, which can lead to compulsive exercise.

Or, the voice that categorizes foods as “good” and “bad.”

It bases our [food] choices on what others may think of us, rather than on what sounds and feels satisfying in the moment.

Rate Your Hunger to Determine What to Eat

Another determinant of our food choices is how hungry we really feel. I like to use the intuitive eating hunger scale with clients to determine this.

One really important point in deciding what and when to eat is learning to honor your hunger.

Your body deserves respect and should have consistent fuel.

If you don’t know what you want to eat, consider:

• Do you want something crunchy? Sweet? Salty? Savory?
• Check in with yourself periodically and ask, “What do I want to eat right now?” If you’re on your way home from work, ask yourself, “what do I want to eat tonight?” 
• Do you want a sandwich? Or do you need non sandwich lunch ideas?
• When did you last eat, and what did you last eat? Was it a small or normal-sized meal?
• Did you exercise today, and hence need to replenish?
• Did you sweat a lot, and hence, crave something salty?
• Do you feel hungry enough to eat a full, balanced meal, like a butter chicken rice bowl or juicy turkey burgers in the air fryer?
• Or, do you just want a small snack, like pizza crescent rolls, or a vegan couscous salad?

These questions are important to honor those cues. 

If you’re feeling any physical signs of hunger, these signs and symptoms from your body are its way of asking for fuel.

If there are any fears of hunger, learning to challenge your fear of hunger can be life-changing.

Food Ideas When You Don’t Know What to Eat

We’ve walked you through what to consider when you don’t know what to eat, but maybe you’re feeling like, “I don’t know what to eat and I just want you to tell me!”

In some situations, you just don’t want to exert the brainpower to find the food to eat when you don’t know what to eat.

You just need simple ideas, or made-for-you foods to heat up!

As a mom with 3 young kids, I get it, and often resort to these easy midweek Wednesday or Thursday night dinner ideas when my brainpower is low.

If all else fails, it’s usually pasta (made in 10 minutes), tortillas with beans and cheese, breakfast for dinner, or a hearty smoothie.

So, consider these meal ideas and recipes for when you have no mental energy left, lack inspiration, or know you simply need to eat something.

Remember, eating something is better than nothing.

So, if all else fails, have some convenient, freezer items on hand for these dire situations.

These freezer meal ideas can be lifesavers.

Convenient and Frozen Meal Ideas

Many of these easy and convenient meal ideas don’t even require cooking, or are already done for you!

• Frozen lasagna
• Grilled cheese with frozen french fries/tater tots
• Bowl of cereal
• Protein bar + a piece of fruit
• Daily Harvest smoothie, soup or harvest bowl
• Canned tuna or salmon + toast/wrap + hummus or mayo + crackers
• Salad bowl – Take a bagged salad kit and add beans, rotisserie chicken, lentils, tofu, etc.
• Quick cooking oatmeal packets with toppings, or make a quick stovetop turmeric oatmeal
• Panera soup or canned soup from the grocery store
• Kodiak cake pancakes – this is pre-made pancake batter that cooks quickly and is high in protein! You could even make these sheet pan pancakes with Kodiak cake batter – easy and hands off!
• Pasta – add in shredded cheese, beans or meat for protein
• Rotisserie chicken with minute rice and a bag of frozen veggies
• Mac and Cheese
• Easy yogurt parfait or cottage cheese overnight oats (you make them the night before in minutes)
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Bagel with cream cheese
• Toast with mashed avocado, jam, peanut butter, hummus

Homemade Meal Options

If you have a little more energy and time, here are some more healthy ideas to feed yourself.

• Rice or noodles with thai red curry meatballs
• A chicken bruschetta sandwich
• Pizza beans – or any canned beans with rice
• Baked veggie pasta
• Sweetpotato mac and cheese
• Heat up your favorite breakfast foods – you can even scramble eggs with beef and frozen veggies, like in this breakfast skillet scramble
• Make two casseroles at the beginning of the week – one to freeze for later
• Have a snack board or charcuterie meal – combine nuts, fruit, raw veggies, dips, muffins, chips/crackers, cheese
• Make an easy prep and easy clean up sheet pan meal, like this chicken apple sausage sheetpan meal
• Taco tortellini – ready in 12 minutes!
• Wrap or tortilla – chicken, egg or tuna salad
• Tuna salad
• Easy taco salad
• Sweetpotato nachos
• Make a quick smoothie – these smoothies with greek yogurt have ample protein and fruits/vegetables!
• Use store-bought crust to make this asparagus quiche
• Microwave a sweetpotato or white potato and stuff it with beans and cheese
• Make a simple grain salad – add meat, poultry, tofu or tempeh
• Tortillas with canned beans and shredded cheese – can also add eggs, spinach, peppers, onions

Eating Something Vs. Eating Nothing

When we come to analysis paralysis situations, it may feel too overwhelming to pick a choice, and we hence resort to not eating anything.

Yet, doing this time and time again is actually detrimental to our health and bodies, especially if we need food because we are sluggish.

Bottom line – keep some convenience foods on hand that you like that can be microwaved quickly or require no cooking at all – there are several options on Thrive Market.

You could even check out a meal delivery, like Blue Apron, to save you the hastle of making choices.

Just make what they send you – they have quick, microwaveable options, too!

• Cheap meal ideas
• How to meal prep oatmeal
• Intuitive eating and meal planning
• Toddler freezer meals