when i was still in school and living with my mom, of course, we always had very little money so the food budget was strict. I always had a selection of food picked for me from which i could select, or i would just eat what ever meal was prepared. Although in my high school years i mostly cooked for my self.

now as an advlt, fully employed and at the moment fiscally prosperous, i buy my own groceries and decide what food i should get.

The issue i am having lately is i just end up not buying any thing, i eat out pretty much every day or just not eat that day. When i go to the grocery store i have no idea what i even feel like eating, it always ends up taking me 2 hours to finally give up and just pick something.

im not sure if its because i too tired from work and don't feel like preparing a meal my self, or if i have become so accustomed to eating such a wide variety of expensive food lately that im burnt out by all the options.

any one else experience this at this time in their own life?

I was glad once I finally started cooking for myself. The quality of food I began to eat improved.

But there are lots of people who never took to cooking, and so since leaving parents have relied on eating out. I think there are a bunch of reasons for this. One is, as you mention, being too tired from work/study. Another is that they find it intimidating, because they have never really learned basic cooking skills.

Sometimes I feel too tired or lazy to cook. One thing that helps, I've found, is to arrange things so that you can't avoid it. This is harder for people who live close to a good and cheap restaurant. But I've found that it's good to plan a few meals in advance, do all the shopping for those meals. Then if you don't cook, you've just wasted a whole lot of food, and money. It's just easier to eat out if there's no cost involved (in addition to buying the food from the restaurant). In general, just work out ways to disincentivise eating out.

i always have rice just in case. i used to cook all the time in highschool, mostly stuff with rice because its dirt cheap.

its definitely not cheap eating out every day, i pay about $300 a month on lunches alone.

I recently got into baking bread - it's cheaper and tastier than the store-bought stuff. At first it seems to be a lot of effort, but you get into a routine quickly.

I guess I spend about 10-15 minutes of actual work per day on baking, although it's spread out over a few jobs that need doing at separate times - mix a new batch of dough (that sits in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours), form yesterday's dough into a baguette, tray-loaf or whatever, stick it in the oven, remember to take it out again. Autolyse (soak the flour in water for an hour or so before adding other stuff) isn't just good for the flavour - it also halves the amount of kneading/stretching you need to do.

As soon as you get into the routine, you just do what needs doing when taking a break from other stuff (e.g., writing my ******* thesis).

Also, it starts tasting really really good after a bit of practice, which gives you something to be quietly smug about. Baking has rekindled my interest in cooking-as-a-hobby in general, which sounds like something you could use?

It's pretty normal to go a bit mad the first time you leave home. Then you spend too much, wind up broke, and calm down. There are so many more worthwhile things you could spend that money on.

Cheap, fast, easy meals:

1. Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese (add fried minced beef for lazy spag-bol)
2. Pasta with pesto, diced bacon and buffalo mozzarella (or smoked cheddar)
3. Rice with tuna and vegetables (frozen veg, boiled)
4. Rice with chopped cooked sausages and vegetables (throw in a stock cube for extra flavour)
5. Microwaved jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans
6. Microwaved jacket potatoes with minced beef, gravy and grated cheese
7. Sliced, boiled potatoes with minced beef, tomato sauce and vegetables

There you go: a week's worth of dinners that takes no more than 15 minutes each (well, the sausages are more like 25 mins, but it's still fast).

Also, keep one of those Mexican Dinner Kits handy - you know, like Old El Paso makes, with the flour tortillas and packaged sauces. You can whip together tacos or burritos in about 10 minutes.

You might want to buy a book of recipes and just go through them one by one. I cook most days, eventually you get a feel for it and you don't need recipes much any more. But if there is no-one else eating, I don't cook and eat stuff that is bad for me usually.

Pasta is always quick, same goes for rice.
Rice and ground meat mixed with beans in chilli sauce is a simple and tasty meal.