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?

Yes . Every other Week when dsd is here.
She is sooo fussy. Only will eat carrots out of all the veg.
At her dms she eats m. Bolognese. T. Pizza. W carbonara. Th. Pasta bake. F nuggets and chips. S. Tortellini and sauce. S. Meatballs and pasta
Every single week!

So here it's a battle.. Because we like the roasts, pies, curries, jackets, salads etc
We prob have pasta once a week if that
So when I try to accommodate dsd.. The teen complains as its boring food.
When I cook our dishes. Dsd pushes round her plate like I served dog poo 😂

We've now adopted the approach of. Each day I cook one person's favourite. I don't cook different dishes because I'm not a cafe. And my kitchen is sooo tiny it's stressful.
A few months ago I gave dh the job of meal planning and he said he couldn't belive what a shitty task it was and how hard to accomodate them all.
My /our kids aren't fussy but like variety not pasta pasta pasta

Oh and the resistance to strangle someone when you ask before shopping what would you like this week and get "I don't know". Then on the day, "what are we having?" "X and Y" "Oh, I dont fancy that" aarrgghh

A friend of mine doesn't plan. She shops daily despite having a freezer full as she says how will she know what she fancies in advance.. I'd find that stressful.

I hate it. I like to try and get as much variety as possible, but sometimes feel like I'm eating the same meals all the time, or the same meal but different meat etc.

FWIW I don't think DP or DSS are bothered by what they eat, so long as they can fill their faces, so this pressure is only coming from me!

I need a good Iceland shop to see what exciting new things I can try.

@PurpleMustang

Oh and the resistance to strangle someone when you ask before shopping what would you like this week and get "I don't know". Then on the day, "what are we having?" "X and Y" "Oh, I dont fancy that" aarrgghh

DP is so bad for this. He will NEVER offer an opinion on what I should buy, but then pulls his face when I tell him what's for dinner on a particular day. I'd happily let him choose the entire menu for the week, but he has to communicate it to me when I go to do the shopping for goodness sake!

I think it's stressful whether you meal plan or not, who is in for supper, who's had a big lunch so doesn't want a big evening meal, who needs to eat early to get to a meeting or whatever ..... and that's even before you take fussy eaters into account ..... obviously slightly easier with Covid in that everyone is in all the time . But I find you end up with random portions of leftovers, never quite enough for a full meal, so frustrating.

And I'm another who used to love cooking, I even did a year's course in catering and ran a (very modest) catering business for a while - bores me rigid now !

Absolutely hate meal planning, food shopping and cooking.

If I win the lottery the first thing I'll do is employ a cook.

Was inspired by this thread to order a take away tonight- no cooking yay 🙌🏻

... and my 8 year old still moaned he didn't like the take away meal HE HAD CHOSEN HIMSELF

Cannot win ffs 🤦🏻‍♀️

Exactly yes I'm with you there op, it is so mundane week in and week out. Give me a private chef any day with the option of planning and cooking a meal on a whim when I see fit (much more fun)

Yesssss! Fell out of the habit and now every day I’m having to try and decide what to have which inevitably ends up in an extra takeaway!

Totally agree! I’m so sick of planning, shopping, putting away, organising food so it doesn’t go past use by date, deciding what to cook, cooking, and dishing out (so stressful - and no one sets the table or puts condiments out unless I ask).

But I do prefer my own cooked food to take out. And if someone else cooked they wouldn’t think about what needs using etc which would annoy me. So it’s better to do it myself.

I do find helps each night to give me the energy for cooking!

PPs have said they can’t wait for family members to leave so they can just have cheese on toast and I totally agree!

It' so fucking boring.

A chef is at the top of my lottery win wish list.

For me, it's the thinking about it that's the worst. DH is mediterranean and wants endless grilled vegetables that the DC won't eat. DD eats most things but won't entertain a Sunday Roast because although she likes the individual things on the place, she apparently doesn't like the 'format'. And DS would eat Pasta and Burgers all day long if I let him.

It's all so tedious, time consuming and thankless. There are very few meals that make everyone happy. I'm going to list them incase they help anyone else as they are selected for zero preparation:

Chili con carne in the slow cooker with plain boiled rice, grated cheese and sour cream

Chicken Fajitas

Grilled Seabass a shit tonne of salt and lemon, with chips and salad

Burgers (supermarket but best/finest/taste the difference/GBK etc) in brioche buns with Swiss cheese and wedges

Chicken, Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto

Green curry (using jars/coconut milk and a bit of fresh lemongrass if you're lucky) and Jasmine Rice.

Pizza using Crosta and Mollica bases (they come with the tomato on) fresh mozzarella, olives and whatever else you want.

Nothing is allowed if it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare
Nothing is allowed if anyone in the house is going to turn their noses up

I also insist that everyone 'nominate' a meal a week so I don't have to think of every single thing and DH has to cook at least once as do DC (as a pair).

I'm sorry but she doesn't like the "format" has me HOWLING 🤣🤣🤣

My DD gets offended by the "aesthetic" sometimes

I'm reading and enjoying Sue Townsend"s The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year at the mo and would recommend to all pissed off on this thread.

I did all the cooking for years. From scratch, loved it. Grew to hate it because of the fussy don't-like-it face pulling, I'm not hungry etc.
Got me a slow cooker and youngest dd a George Foreman grill. I get my soup and dd does her grilled chops, chicken etc.
It was a long unhappy road to get to this balanced place.

Just do bolognese every night. At least they bloody eat it.

Ugh before lockdown it was a pain but during lockdown having sole responsibility for 3 meals a day every single day has totally killed it. I'm ordering way more takeaways than I should and can afford, I'm cutting corners with prepped veg and using jars where I'd be horrified at the thought before but the thought of it each day is souls destroying, especially as the limited school dinners are awful and now I have to make packed lunches every day as well! It's just a constant cycle of planning, prepping, cleaning on top of a full time schedule!

We use gousto for a few weeks when they do their offer then switch to hello fresh when they ask us back and use all the discount codes and the families emails.

But during lockdown we luckily were on gousto so carried on and I've managed to top up with an Aldi shop and save money, wastage and 4 nights a week it's different food, also I end up with lunches as my fussy DS never eats a full portion.

Worth a look at the offers even if it is just for a few weeks break. Also some of their soups are stupidly easy so I've started using the recipes for the weekend and just making a big pot of soup.

@SlightlyJaded
Thank you, that is helpful
I’d forgotten about bloody burgers

I'm reading and enjoying Sue Townsend"s The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year at the mo and would recommend to all pissed off on this thread.

Ah I'd forgotten about this book. I'd actually love that right now 😆

Now we have a covine vaccine the scientists should go and sort those meal replacement tablets out.
Then we only cook when we fancy it, mostly we have the tablets. No fuss, no mess, no feeling hungry it would be great.

We switched to Hello Fresh for the same reason. We've actually saved money since using them which I wasn't expecting.

@ArabellaPilkington

I'm sorry but she doesn't like the "format" has me HOWLING 🤣🤣🤣

My DD gets offended by the "aesthetic" sometimes

I know, right?

I've tried to get her to articulate her issue with the 'format' and I think it's to do with the ritualistic aspect of a Sunday Roast - all that 'pass the parsnips' and 'more gravy?" but mostly that it requires her to sit and eat with her family for a good half hour and look interested and vaguely responsive She is 15. I rest my case.

Now we have a covine vaccine the scientists should go and sort those meal replacement tablets out.
Then we only cook when we fancy it, mostly we have the tablets. No fuss, no mess, no feeling hungry it would be great.

Like Willy wonkas magic 3 course chewing gum?! Hopefully after all this time he's tweaked the recipe to make it safe.

Before we were wfh all the time I'd got so fed up with meal planning and trying to batch cook at weekends as the buggers never ate what I left. I got in later than the rest and finding they eaten crap and left the spagbol/casserole as they didn't fancy it! Food got wasted if I didn't freeze it in time (or it had been frozen b4) this meant I stopped cooking and they survived. I've always thought trying to feed children with different/fussy tastes sucks any joy out of cooking!
Now we're home all the time I've managed to get them to under stand I will not be providing lunch they are old enough to do that themselves.
I find cooking an evening meal easier noe as I'm here to put stuff in oven etc. Also dh is here so will cook if I cba. So almost enjoying it. Moved to online shopping which helps too.