If you’ve ever stared into your fridge at 9 p.m. and considered pickles and string cheese a reasonable dinner, this book is for you. The Exhausted Cook’s Survival Manual is not a cookbook—it’s a survival manual for the nutritionally indifferent and emotionally depleted. No meal prep calendars. No detox nonsense. Just fast, cheap, brutally honest strategies to get food in your mouth without losing your mind.

Inside, you’ll find thirty no-fluff chapters packed with real-world tactics for feeding yourself when you’re broke, tired, unmotivated, or all three. Learn how to weaponize your freezer, turn canned beans into dinner with zero shame, and master the art of trash pasta. Discover the holy trinity of flavor—salt, fat, heat (and hot sauce)—and why burnt edges are a culinary strategy, not a mistake. From microwave gospel to tortilla salvation, this is food triage at its most unapologetic.

Written by a grizzled expert who’s lived through burnout and budget meals alike, The Exhausted Cook’s Survival Manual cuts through the performative nonsense of foodie culture. You won’t find curated ingredient lists or cheerful optimism here. What you will find is gritty pragmatism, dry humor, and the radical notion that feeding yourself—however imperfectly—is enough.

For the chronically exhausted, the kitchen-averse, and anyone too broke to order takeout again: this is your permission slip to eat like a human, not a lifestyle brand. No shame. No guilt. Just food that gets the job done.