To find preparing 3 meals a day an absolute grind

I haven’t read the full thread so apologies if I’m repeating anyone. This is why I use Hello Fresh for dinners each evening. Amazing, varied food and I never need to do a ‘weekly food shop’ any more. I could never go back to meal planning now-I would be so bored and fed up with it!

Tell me about it!
And people wonder why I swear.
A lot.

Well if the Pot Noodle people (Golden Wonder) had taken my advice and produced a 'breakfast edition' (no hot water just cold milk) we would all be quids in.

My lunchtime suggestion was the Pot Ploughman's. Crusty croutons, with melted cheddar cheese and a huge picked onion (on a stick).

Then, THEN if Golden Wonder has listened, we would only have to make one meal a day.

On such occasions I like to knock up Turkey Twizzler Dinosaurs with Potato Dauphinoise and a small tin of Beluga cavier. I find the meld of flavours, and textures delicious - and, of course, I add lashings of Tabasco sauce to enhance the delicate flavours that Bernard Mathews have perfected in the Twizzler Dinosaurs.

Yum, yum, as we say in Scotland.

Yes, I can completely relate and absolutely feel your pain. One teenager eats beige food and junk, the other has to eat specific foods for his skin health, I eat keto/healthy foods and DH won’t even touch a vegetable. Always cooking different meals or variations on those meals. The relentless three meals a day planning, preparing, washing up and putting away feels so arduous most days. You are not alone!

Why does your DH get off the hook for cooking for his kids? Jeez I hate this 1950s domestic martyr mentality. The sole responsibility for catering for a family shouldn’t always have to be the woman.

I am with you. It’s an absolute pain in the hole. My most hated three words are “What’s for dinner”!!!
No one cooks in this house only me. Then they have the cheek to turn their noses up. I sacked off cooking this evening - air fryer beige and a bit of salad 🤣

Breakfast can be easy and everyone gets their own. Simple lunch, soup/salad/sandwich. And a shared evening meal. They will need to be less fussy. Most things can be made vegetarian friendly by not adding the meat and add something like chickpeas instead

Tell them to take turns cooking also! I don't like cooking much either but it's something that needs to be done

They are probably too young to be left to their own devices but they aren’t too young to help. Sometimes it is easier to do it yourself but arguably it’s part of parenting to teach them by getting them to help you. And at the very least it makes for less of the finding things, fetching, putting away, washing bits up part of meal preparation. And particularly for the child who has decided they don’t wish to follow the same meat eating habits of the rest of the family.

breakfast: toast, fruit and yoghurt, cereal, you can put whisked egg whites in a cup with a bit of grated cheese and microwave for 30-50 secs for an egg bite, cold meats, cheeses, boiled eggs in the fridge they can peel and eat. It doesn’t need to be a full meal and they can help themselves.

easy lunches: again cold meats and cheeses, canned soups or you can make in advance a big batch and freeze in portions, sandwiches (if kids over 10 should easily be able to make themselves a sandwich), mozzarella and tomato salad, avocado on toast, toasties done in a toaster bag - make as much of this as possible or insist your kids have school lunches.

dinners: one meal for everyone with options, if your daughter wants to be veggie she needs to prep her own meals at least a couple times a week. Or compromise - she needs to eat fish or white meat so you can do a chicken stew. But pasta with pesto and veggies on the side is fairly easy. Try doing one pot and tray bake meals. Have stuff in the freezer they can pop in the oven either home made or some microwave meals. Not ideal but for the days when you are exhausted. Make sure there are also things like fruit, veg, cucumber sticks, proteins etc available. Make sure DH does at least one night of cooking a week.

You are not a private chef. Your job as a parent is to provide a healthy balanced diet for your kids not to teach them they have every whim catered to day and night. If they don’t like what you’ve made for dinner they can eat a cheese sandwich.

Actually cooking 3 meals a day? Surely you can limit to for an evening meal and you can work around the individual mealtimes. Hopefully you can make your life a bit easier finding substitutes to hot food all the time or batch cook and freeze. Xxx

Tell ChatGPT about every family member, what works and what doesn’t, and get it to plan for you.

You’re making life harder for yourself.

If you’re doing something like hot dogs as you’re previously mentioned just give everyone veggie sausages not doing some veggie and some meat.

On a Sunday before the week starts do a big batch of a pasta sauce. Cook loads of veggies and blitz up with some tinned tomato and oregano and you’ve got some of your 5 a days covered. Pre cook some pasta to go with it and then you’ve got 1 or 2 evening meals ready to be reheated already.

Do a big pot of soup to be stored in the fridge and have that one evening with buttered bread.

Cut up carrot, pepper, celery, cucumber sticks and store in a Tupperware with a sheet of damp kitchen paper on the bottom and these can be quick reachable snacks for dipping in hummus or tzatziki etc. Pre boiled and peeled hard boiled eggs are also good snacks.

The key really is making things in advance so they can be quickly eaten or reheated. I’d rather cook for a good few hours on a Sunday rather than stressing every night.

It’s hard for me as well, although we do eat the same so I don’t have to prepare two different meals but it’s very hard having to make a healthy meal plan, then go buy the food then cook it 😆

Cheese biscuits and apple for lunch maybe some hummus or sandwich which they make themselves.

Make a list of all the dishes that each person likes then ask Deepseek to create a monthly meal plan. I did this 5 weeks ago and it has taken off quite a load of thought about what to have for dinner.

Deepseek is better than ChatGPT. I tried chatgpt but it added random dishes I didn't ask for and missed out some of the items on my list.

It's exhausting isn't it? Solidarity.

Could you batch cook some stuff you know each kid will like and just get that out the freezer each day?

Teach them to cook themselves asap as a matter of survival!

The poster was talking about her her 7 year old grand daughter, not husband, which was what I was alluding to. Obviously the husband is an issue, along with a lack of communication.

I agree. Totally had enough of this, ND house here too.
If I don't feed them they just don't eat, which makes everyone grumpy. And no, they won't make something themselves if they get hungry enough. Not unless you count a tub of ice cream. 😞

Even the husband?

Can you take some of the pressure off and ask that everyone gets their own breakfast (AND clears away after). Maybe batch cook a few recipes and freeze, so you're not cooking every day. Finally, if finances allow, can you get DH to agree to a delivery once a week?

She said one of the kids isn't safe around the kitchen though? Do you have ND child? It isn't always that simple.

Mum always made my dads cheese sandwiches on Sunday then froze them, they acted as a cool pack for his lunchbox as she got them out in the morning.
you can do that with the crappy ham too, then all you habe to do is make your own healthy ones.

I doubt that!

I'm with you, it's knackering.

Bullshit isn’t it!? I finally had enough and made my husband cook (and decide what to cook) 2 nights per week. Then Fridays we have a takeaway with shop bought pizzas for the kids(I know! Whatever). Sat burgers and chips. Cook together on a Sunday so that’s only 3 nights I have to think about. I can actually enjoy cooking again. Man needs to step up!