Am I actually forever cooking?

[forevercooking]

I was chatting to my friend whilst I was cooking dinner and I laughed I felt like I was forever cooking.
She said 'That's because you are' I then wondered how much other people are cooking and if not what are they eating 😂

So kindly tell me please Mumsnet, how many nights a week do you eat a home cooking meal?

I cook most nights. We go out sometimes at the weekend but not every weekend without fail.

I cook breakfast about twice a week, lunch we usually have leftovers as I make a larger amount of dinner each night to accommodate.

So I'd say I cook for about 7 hours total per week. But, I absolutely love cooking! I'd do it more if I didn't have to work in the day!

Cook every night and make at least 2 packed lunches a day, sometimes 3. Tonight was great as I only had to make half a packed lunch.

I always end up making different versions of melas as everyone is so fussy, plus make sandwiches as littlest DC has a hot lunch at school so doesn't want a hot meal at home.

Practically never. I don’t have time to cook as have busy job, DD and horse so rarely home.

DH will cook from scratch 3 times a week when DD not at nursery. On nursery days though we have things from jars, ready meals or snacks as DD is fed at nursery and we can’t be arsed for ourselves.

Unless it’s your hobby I really don’t think it’s necessary to cook everything from
scratch all the time. I don’t mind if processed food knocks a few years off me. But suspect it won’t.

Every day. Either cooked that day or previously batch cooked and frozen. We both like cooking so it’s no hardship.

Every day. If I'm at home then I might cook lunch too but it's usually a simple meal like soup.

It's relentless - I had 4 dc and only one has properly left home. Sometimes I'm cooking 2 or 3 different meals, depending on preferences and what I have left that needs using up! And it's all the thinking about what's for dinner, the prep and clear up!

Im sure I will get empty nest syndrome, but mostly I think that when they do all move out, I shall be freed from the tyranny of cooking!

Solo parent here. I used to, now I get the Hello Fresh/Gusto boxes and my teen does it most nights - it's a revelation!

I try to stretch things over a couple of days, so at least a couple of days a week I'm just warming stuff up and cooking pasta or rice alongside. It's got harder since the children became full sized people. Usually do something beige with chips once a week (or Nando's chicken bake in the bag, that kind of thing).

I'm not a stickler for doing it from scratch. I buy fajita kits, jars of curry paste, tinned beans and chick peas, naan bread. I do a lot of salads and soups for lunch, which adds to the load.

Building in breaks helps me stay sane. DH will clear up the kitchen every night and step in to cook sometimes at the weekends. We all do our own tea on Sundays (sandwich, crisps kind of thing.)

My wife doesn't pull her weight with the cooking maybe once it twice a month so I feel I'm also "always cooking" - I always cook from scratch but generally, 9 times out of 10, make a mean that will last for at least 2 nights but I try not to have it 2 nights in a row - less than half the time I get more than 2 nights or if something I've cooked of I've used the stock pot or the slow cooker - my last 4 meals have been

Tomato and lentil soup (stock pot)
Ratatouille (slow cooker)
Chicken/bacon/Apple/spring onions/crème fraich with pasta (cooked in one large frying pan with lid)
Chilli con carne (stock pot)

Next up is beef stew (slow cooker)
Prawn/green Thai paste/green beans etc stir-fry or chicken/carrots/mushrooms stir fry.
Leek and bacon risotto
not sure after that - maybe another soup or fish - it's not just the cooking - it's the time spent think about what to cook, if we have what I need or if I've got to shop for anything. I like to cook for us and to cook nice food but sometimes I do get a bit fed up (no pun intended) of the time it takes even when I'm always trying to cook for meals for at least 2 nights for the pair of us.

Yes, every evening here too. I do sometimes feel exasperated. "I fed you all yesterday! You surely can't be hungry again already!!"

Every single day, one of my pleasures in life

Thank you I thought I was the only one.

I used to love cooking but I find it so tedious now ... and I just don't want / need a 'proper' meal every night. I am very happy with just cheese & biscuits or a sandwich ... DH is retired now so he will cook but I don't necessarily want to eat what he cooks . So I probably do cook 'from scratch' three times a week, DH does a couple of meals and then I tend to have something very simple the other nights. Rarely eat out or have a takeaway as we have such limited choices where we live ... most exciting meal would be an M & S curry meal deal.

I used to love cooking and baking and trying new things to make…like many others have said since lockdowns and the absolute drudge of constantly cooking and cleaning with small children my passion for being in the kitchen has been hugely dampened and I just hate it half the time. Now I still plan the meals for the week and do the shopping, but DH will cook probably 3 out of 7 dinners a week, I just tell him what to make. And he takes over breakfasts on the weekend.

For the last year or so we have started doing a big roast on a Sunday usually cooking together and using the meat from it for meals until about Wednesday, cooking double what we need so we have a second roast on the Monday night we can just zap when we get in. That is a lifesaver not having to think or do anything and still have a tasty roast for dinner. We do things like curry and stir fry with the leftover meat which are quick and easy.

It is just so exhausting and endless!

I have my two sons in their 20s living with me and trained one to do the washing up and the other to do the cooking now and then, so it's not always me.

We pretty much always eat cooked from scratch. Generally dd will cook once a week, DH 2/3 times and the rest I will cook although sometimes this will be just reheating a batch cooked meal. I find this a good balance and it means we eat a wider variety of meals than if just one person did it all.