So fucking bored of meal planning!

[bingowingsmcgee]

Anyone else just find the whole meal-making thing deadly dull?! I am so bored of thinking about food, shopping for food, preparing food... Wish I could find some joy in it, but it just feels Neverending. Anyone else?

Yup. We switched it up a bit with gousto for a bit which helped. But since covid we haven't really been able to afford it!

Oh it's so boring.

I spent a rainy afternoon a couple of months back going through my recipe books and selecting various new meals to try, which is making the eating more interesting at least, but the meal planning is sooo very fucking dull. I do find writing down the 'repetoire' so you have a list of meals to choose from speeds it up, but it's dull.

Oh god yes I hate it. I complain about this all the time.

I'm either buying food preparing food, making meals, tidying up after meals or thinking about meal plans. I find it so mentally exhausting. We did hello fresh but it is very expensive but food for a short break.

I feel your pain OP.

I usually have at least 2 and quite often 3 meals to cook too dur to fussy kids (11 &13 so could cook for themselves). DH working long hours and I work 37 hrs from home too but it's all falling on me now. Sickness of working all day and cooking then tidying up. Probably just need a holiday too!

I tend to cook pretty much the same simple stuff throughout the week. So I'm happy to seek out something a bit different for a Saturday.

I love planning and cooking. I wish I had a bigger family to do it for.

Caffeine I love your enthusiasm. I wish I didn't always feel on the back foot with it!

Oh god, it’s so dull. I seem to buy the same bloody trolley full of stuff week in, week out. Last week in Sainsbury’s I was giving serious thought to knocking all the toilet rolls off the shelf just to liven things up a bit.

We signed up for Gousto for this reason, so I don’t have to think about what we’ll eat four nights a week. It’s not cheap but I’ve found it worthwhile in terms of time saving and so far very few dud recipes

God me too! I find I cook the same things over and over which is so boring!! Whenever I try something new or different at least one person won't like it. I'm so close to telling everyone to cook for themselves

Yes. So fucking boring, thankless, never ending, repetitive, BORING.

My dc are teens now and it feels like I've spent a lifetime writing rotated meals against each day

Monday spag bol
Tuesday chicken fried rice
Wednesday tuna pasta bake
Thursday fajitas
Friday cyanide

I love my dc more than life but once they leave home I'm going to live on non-meals like mushrooms on toast forever, so looking forward to it.

It's why most women can't stand cooking in later life!

I found it easier to just buy things we like with as long use by date as possible if fridge stuff and see how we feel. I made sure all my tools are dish washer safe. Big fan of one pot meals. Everyone eats the sane ir has easy subs eg microwave rice if others having no rice.
I think its easier having days of set meals or just rotating 4 or 5 meals.

I think if it was just me and DH then it would be fine but the kids reduce the options and make it a chore.

I used to do a monthly meal plan and just follow that but stopped because I was bored of it. Might do it again and then I only have to think about it briefly when putting the stuff in the basket.

This is the single worst thing about being an adult, I want to be a kid again!

I agree with @MoiraNotRuby... When DS leaves home I'm eating cheese and crackers for my tea every night. I will have the world's greatest selection of cheese and chutney and no night will be the same 👍

I feel like it takes up my entire life. Plan, food, shop for food, cook food, clear up food. It's relentless.

Plus the daily shouts of there's no food, there's nothing to eat, what can I eat, when are you going shopping! 😩

Make it stop

I'm totally with you all! Of course very grateful we can afford nice food, and realise it's totally a first world problem, but fuck me it's so dull. Not only do I spend a huge chunk of time planning, buying, making and cleaning up after food, I swear I'm at the local convenience shop at least every other day buying bread and milk and whatever else we've run out of. What I wouldn't give for a huuuuuuge chest freezer which I would just load up with bread, milk and frozen peas 🤣

@joystir59
It's why most women can't stand cooking in later life!
OMG this is soooo true.
I pray that DH goes first so I can have a few years of eating the crap I want (which requires no cooking) don't bother with the advice to make him do his share it aint going to happen

Totally agree. I cook for DH and 2 adult DS’s. They all like a big home cooked meal in the evening after work, but DH isn’t fond of pasta. I used to shop 3 times a week, but now I have a delivery once a week, so meal planning is crucial. I ask for suggestions each week and am happy to cook, but it becomes boring. We do have a takeaway each week, that one son pays for and I really enjoy that. I’d love to sign up to a delivery meal company, but feeding 4 adults would be really expensive.

I prefer cooking in winter, we have a casserole each week, that anything I have in fridge goes in, so it’s a one pot dish.

@MoiraNotRuby

Yes. So fucking boring, thankless, never ending, repetitive, BORING.

My dc are teens now and it feels like I've spent a lifetime writing rotated meals against each day

Monday spag bol
Tuesday chicken fried rice
Wednesday tuna pasta bake
Thursday fajitas
Friday cyanide

I love my dc more than life but once they leave home I'm going to live on non-meals like mushrooms on toast forever, so looking forward to it.

This!! Except my kids are young, so I've got even longer to go!

i dont meal plan, but the same old same old is annoying, i find a favourite and do it to the death.

I'm jealous of the families who all eat the same! One of us is vegetarian but at least we no longer have DH on the bastarding keto diet, costing pounds and losing none.

i have one vegetarian in amongst us, actually two from today, for 3 weeks, pescatarian to be exact, so we get a lot of fish, until dh announced he does not like tuna pasta! Back to the drawing board, lots of beans and lentils and if you want meat you cook

I go through phases where I find it a real chore. I’ve just signed up to a veg box delivery so it’s less of a blank slate.

Oh God it gets so tedious!! May have to be a New Year aim now but have seen super organised people have a set of lollipop sticks that they write meals on, on the reverse where the recipe is, how long it takes. Then colour code the stick ie red is beef, yellow is chicken then they pick random from the pot. This is my goal. Pinch of Nom books are good for new recipes. Also going to buy a slow cooker to try that.

Really boring and relentless, but also stressful. I don’t mind the cooking, or even the shopping. I just really hate the THINKING WHAT TO FUCKING EAT EVERY FUCKING DAY. And you have to do that first.