Do you enjoy cooking?

[Cutiecheeky]

Good morning! Do you guys enjoy cooking for yourself/family? As a married woman with kids I sometimes struggle to take this particular duty seriously and it sometimes makes me feel like I’m letting my kids/husband down but sometimes I just can’t be bothered 😭 and it’s not even that I can’t cook, it’s more like, I simply don’t want to😭😭 it’s a bit of a conundrum in that you love your family and you want them to have healthy, nutritious food each day but the effort that goes into it…and don’t even get me started on the cleaning/laundry…
also, do your partners do more of the cooking? Or is it those traditional households where it’s only the woman?

That’s me too
and this way I eat what I like 🙂

I hate it. I'm ok at it but it's deciding what to have. Luckily my husband does an equal share. I'm doing a lot of one pot cooking in my ninja now the nights are drawing in.

I’m single & childfree, & I enjoy trying new recipes at weekends, then portioning them out for meals during the week. Then I enjoy cooking my favourite ones again when hosting friends.

But all of that’s as & when I have time & feel like it, which is very different from doing it because I have to. Can’t-be-arsed meals are pasta with pesto & veg or cannellini beans stir fried with veg, or tofu marinated in advance & air fried with sweet potato chips, & I can happily live on those for weeks.

Totally agree

We're having Chicken drumsticks, sausages, roast potatoes and tinned peas tonight

I have no clue what to cook anymore

I hate cooking and if I was rich the first person I would imply would be a cook

Same!! 1000% 🤣

Mostly I hate it. Sometimes I get phases of wanting to try new things so put in an effort to make meals. My ex did his fair share of cooking, my DP now cooks, but I don't live with him. I have 5 boys, now adults and they also do their share, so I'm not doing it everyday.

They also do their own laundry so I only have to do mine (and an extra towel wash as they seem to use loads of them in one shower!)

I wasn't having my boys grow up thinking it's all womens work.

It depends who I'm cooking for?

My DS is a hungry teen, there are a few things he doesn't like but generally will eat & enjoy most things. I'm a single working mum on a budget so I've got very good at creating quick healthy wholesome meals with plenty of fruit &veg. He's happy and I enjoy it.

With a recent boyfriend, no, I hated it. He was a total food snob. If a meal didn't contain 20 ingredients, or lamb shanks, steak, salmon etc and a bottle of wine, he would get sneery and rude. He could not understand that I wasn't trying to cook like a restaurant chef, I didn't have hours to waste and I was aiming for good nutrition and flavour.

It ruined every meal and I was soon glad to be rid of him.

Now single again, the autumn is coming, so looking forward to lots of warming garlicky stews from the slow cooker. DS loves herby dumplings. 😋

I absolutely love cooking, I find it a joy. Always watching Masterchef and love cooking programmes.
I don't know what it is, I just love it when people get enjoyment from my food.
I often plan meals in my head and get excited to buy the ingredients 🤣
I sometimes think I should have been a chef, but the stress of a professional kitchen would probably have taken out the enjoyment of cooking at my own pace.

Hate it. Far too much mental effort in deciding what to cook, planning shopping etc. Fortunately DH does all of it.

I am more than happy to do all the clearing up. I far prefer the job that requires no decision making and creates order rather than creating mess.

I feel similar to the OP. I'm now retired so thought I'd enjoy having more time to cook some more adventurous things, but I don't. I really can't be bothered and don't fancy the idea of cooking complex things.
There's only me and OH but I feel a bit guilty as I can't even be bothered cooking something decent at the weekends.

I like cooking and trying new recipes - dh does all the washing so it works

If you don't like it then buy some ready meals or get a takeaway occasionally

I love food shopping, meal planning and cooking but DP does all the laundry including the mental load of deciding when the beds need to be stripped etc. so I understand that if you have the mental load and are physically doing both cooking and laundry it is just another thing on the list.

can you delegate anything? Edited to add that when I say delegate, I mean also delegate the mental responsibility of noticing when something needs to be done

I enjoy cooking new things and what I consider proper food for people who enjoy food and are happy to try new dishes. What I don't enjoy is the busy nights where you reheating something you've batch cooked previously, making jacket potatoes and grated cheese or scrambled egg on toast. That's not cooking, it's feeding!

I grew up on mostly take aways and freezer food. The only meals I remember my mum cooking were things like corned beef hash (rank) and spaghetti bolognaise which was literally an onion, packet of mince and dolmio.

When I left home I had to teach myself how to do EVERYTHING because she hadn’t taught me a thing and she never really cooked. I still have a weird veg chopping method which DH loves to comment on but I’m not that bad at cooking overall, to say nobody ever taught me. I’ve found Gousto/Hello Fresh boxes useful because they remove the pressure of finding recipes and sorting the ingredients at the shop. I like putting music on and getting lost in the act of cooking, it takes your mind off other shit.

I can't stand cooking so I pretty much never bother. I don't have children to worry about though and DH can feed himself