Cooking meals is futile? (7)
I believe the answer is:
aimless
'futile?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'cooking meals is' is the wordplay.
'cooking' is an anagram indicator (letters cooked up into a new form).
'meals'+'is'='mealsis'
'mealsis' anagrammed gives 'AIMLESS'.
(Other definitions for aimless that I've seen before include "not knowing where to go?" , "Drifting with no purpose" , "Lacking purpose" , "Melissa (anag) -- unmotivated" , "Drifting - Melissa (anag)" .)