how many dinners do you cook in a night????

[Psychomum5]

cos I am beginning to feel like a cafe!!!

admitted, I do have allergy issues, as do three of my kiddies, but still....

anyhoo......tonight I am doing chilli for 4 of us, and baked potatoes with either beans, cheese or tuna on for the other 3.

last night was garlic chicken breasts and salad for me and DH, beans on toast for DS2, DD2 ate out, pasta for DD1 and DD3, and DS2 had chicken and chips and sgetti hoops......four meals in total!

now, most of the time, I do not mind as I can do a base (say pasta), and then do three sauces.....not so hard, and sometimes I can freeze stuff for another time (with all the dancing this works out invaluable).......tis just times like tonight, I feel a little ........argh!!!

anyone else do this tho, or am I soft/a mug/far too nice?????

[Twiglett]

define allergy issues please

I wouldn't cook more than one meal a night tbh .. and just adjust to suit .. but if it's so complicated you might have no choice

[nkf]

One and one only.

[Psychomum5]

well.....I am allergic to dairy, and three of the kiddies are intolerant (ie, they can stand small amounts in food, unlike me who cannot!).

we also have nut issues.

and fruit (altho that is me!)

in fact, I seem to be allergic to evereything.

so, they often want things with milky sauces, so I do those, and tomato based sauces for others of us and me.

and then we have the fussyness, simply becuase the allergies make for fussyness......

[Twiglett]

use non-dairy milk for all milk sauces and make one dish

[PeaMcLean]

Allergies can't be helped. Don't stand for fussiness though, hunger will help sort a lot of that out

I wouldn't make more than one meal unless DH and I are having curry.

[Psychomum5]

twig....problem with the soya milk as that it curdles if used in cooking, and I cannot cope with it myself.

I go for tomato based stuff instead, and spices, tis just with all the allergies I think I have trained mine to be fussy....I was hoping otherwise tho, hence this thread!

[yvonnek]

if its all the same allergy then make one dish for all. anyone who's not got the allergy will get plenty of other things at school/friends house/ eating out.

you must use a crazy amount of pots and pans

[Blandmum]

one

the kids alawys have a choice. Eat it or leave it

[Blandmum]

no food allergies, thankfully

[Psychomum5]

I do....the amount of washing up some nights is huge!!!

altho I wash as I go along, so it is not so bad (I think)...

me thinks then that I am soft.....

[nkf]

Why so many meals? Why chilli for four and baked potatoes for three? Why can't they all eat chicken breasts?

[Psychomum5]

lol NFK, chicken was last nights option!!.

three of mine will not eat red meat, so they will not eat the chilli!! and one will not eat fish, another cannot have the cheese, and so on it goes.

this is my 'punishment' for having 5 isn't it???

hey ho, DH home so off to eat with him

[Psychomum5]

so I am the only one then!!!

figures.....

[fishie]

i usually do three meals for ds dh and i on days when i work (9 day fortnight). it isn't elaborate and it is my own choice. but i don't clean the kitchen on work nights and i only have one small child.

time for a strike pmum.

[ecoworrier]

er, one meal. Always have done. Only exception now is that one child is veggie but we eat veggie 4-6 nights a week anyway as a family. On the nights we eat meat she has either something we've cooked ahead and frozen or I whip up something quick or she makes it herself!

Dietary issues aside, yes you do seem a bit of a mug! Make a stand now...

[Uriel]

One. Or I get one of the kids to make it.

[NomDePlume]

Most nights 1. Some nights 2.

[ChopsTheDuck]

yikes, I'd go nuts, but then I don't have allergys to deal with only one with food intolerances. I cook once or twice. Usually cook big meals for us that can be reheated for the kids the next day. If it something that can't really be reheated, I cook something seperate for them.

[Psychomum5]

like the thought, not sure on the reality as yet!!!

roast dinner is one that I can cook and all will eat.

well, kind of....DS2 also has problems with potato

[Uriel]

Get your older two kids to do one meal a week each?

[Psychomum5]

we did start that Uriel actually.......kind of peter'd out with all the dancing and footy and scouts etc the all do......time was an issue. they can cook okat, but the time taken was horrendous and as we get back at 6ish and then bedtimes are 8 onwards, it all got a little fraught IYGWIM.

however, summer hols are almost upon us, meaning no dancing and beavers/cubs/footy (scouts still, but that is the one night)....I may get it all started again and they can learn the quickness while I am less time watching!!

[nkf]

Just do it Psychomum5. Just say the restaurant business is closed and you are making one dinner. Accomodate allergies of course and don't be too mean. Expecting them to eat pigs liver is probably going a bit far. But it's insane to cook three or four meals a night. It must do your head in.

[Psychomum5]

Nfk, it does, but then I wondered if it was normal...

I will start as of next week....we off away on the 18th for a week, and I won;t be cooking that much (argh, who am I kidding, of course I will end up cooking!!), so hols seem to be the place to aim for.

wish me luck

[Nigellapleasecomedinewithme]

Usually 2 meals - the ds get theirs about 6pm 'ish - put can depend on events. They all get the same (unless using up odds and ends from freezer).

We tend to eat much later - after yongest 2 are in bed - so typically around 8pm but canbe later. Usually something very quick - salad and something or cous couse / rice and something.

Weekends and holidays try to sit down and eat together much more - Sunday tends to be the main meal we all devour eat together. All boys love their puds and eat quite a wide range of foods - can't be doing with fussy eaters.