Are people really making homemade meals every night for their family?

[Lilacbluewaters]

soon to be family of 6 and I don’t know if it’s just because I’m pregnant at the moment but I had this sudden overwhelming feeling that I have to cook homemade meals every night for like another 15 years 😂
I’ve been pretty bad recently with eating out too much, the extra layer of washing up after is exhausting. We don’t have a dishwasher and can’t get one because we rent.
anyway, do you cook from scratch every night nearly? I can never think of quick easy meals.

@Lilacbluewaters yep, I use simply cook as I like being able to choose what to make on the day and it’s easy for me to pick up the fresh k recents on the day and take advantage of yellow stickers -I’ve always got at least 7 or 8 of my little boxes of spices and pastes in - it’s revolutionised the variety for me

Yes, 5-6 nights a week, currently 4 people (eldest away at university). Too expensive not to, really. Luckily I generally like cooking. When DC#1 is home she helps and now #2 does as well. Fairly varied menu.

No, I don't. I often use jar sauce and sometimes have processed chicken dippers and fish cakes. I do often use pre-cut veg for ease when cooking from scratch. Baby potatoes are easy enough, just a quick wash and boil them whole. Tray bakes are pretty straight forward so are stir-frys and baked potatoes.

Yes - esp when the kids were at home, meal planning was the key but it was very time consuming - always built in at least 2 easy/prep-light options. Then the kids left for Uni and dh and I really struggled to keep it up. Our health did suffer. But they are all back home again and so it starts with the meal planning once more but now everyone cooks - so it should all be a little less onerous.

Pretty much all the time. Not exciting or complicated. Tonight we had veal in breadcrumbs, with broccoli and asparagus. Took about 15 mins to cook. Last night chicken in white sauce with mushrooms and peas, with rice. That took a good 45 mins, but once it's in the pan it just bubbles away. Roast chicken with roast veg, all in the oven together, easy peasy. Bung it in, have a shower, grab a g&t, relax until ready 😁

We also eat a lot of meat and fish with salad .... Steak, fish goujons, etc etc

@SquishedMallow He's by no means perfect but a marked improvement on Husband No 1! It's good not to be bound in any way by typical gender roles at all and I do appreciate all of the things he does.

Yes, no take aways or microwave meals in our house. I don’t mind a bit of mess but eating healthy is non negotiable.

Batch cook one weekend morning or over 1 or 2 evenings in the week - then have the whole weeks food ready to just heat up - maybe just need to cook rice or pasta to go with it or heat up wraps or add a bag of salad or whatever
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id never have time to actually cook a meal from scratch to eat that evening after work. We get in at 6 and the kids go to bed at 7.30! They eat tea at nursery so Just have a kind of quick supper (wheatabix/porridge/smoothie/toast)

then it’s baths / bed

I either quickly heat up my dinner and eat with them or I have it at 8pm when they asleep.

Yes! Single mum of 3 (2 sporty teens at home term time, lots of activities and driving about). I work full time but I plan a lot and have loads of 30 minute meal ideas. When possible, I find cooking earlier in the evening (5.30 or 6pm) means I am slightly less tired.

I quite enjoy cooking and I stop myself getting bored by rotating different cuisines. I do have a dishwasher that is sometimes on twice a day during holidays (pans, cooked breakfasts etc).

Otherwise, no choice really as I find takeaways delicious but v highly priced.

if you’re looking for ideas I do:
Shakshuksa (chorizo, lots of chopped peppers, onion, eggs on top)
Pasta carbonara bulked out with courgette/peas
Spicy chicken (pre-marinated) with packet rices (hate cooking rice) + extras
Also a big fan of frozen veg - peppers, garlic etc
A fan of frozen Mediterranean rices etc
Koftes or meat with couscous (super quick)
Ttagine veg with couscous (cheap, filling)
Schwarma style chicken with flatbreads / any meat or filling with flatbreads, cucumber, raita etc - super quick, easy
Chicken thigh tray bake with onions, orzo, stock, peppers (45 minutes tray bake, easy)
we do eat meat-free! But these are top of mind as large teens atm

i find adding garnishes and extras makes meals more interesting : raitas (yoghurt, cucumber, garlic, mint), adding gherkins, pickles, etc livens things up and makes cheap plain meals more appealing and gives more of a takeaway feel.

good luck!

I mostly cook from scratch now, but not when I had 4 kids aged 5 and under (and no dishwasher)!
Our staples were... spag bol (veg dependent on which kids was refusing to eat vegetables that day)
Any pasta dish, very basic with onions, mushrooms and tinned tomatoes and lots of cheese, roast dinners, jacket potatoes, salad and new potatoes. Chicken curry (but with a jar of sauce... ) Corn on the cob was always a favourite.
Roasts and casseroles in winter... super easy to prep!

Now there are just three of us, I do a bit more, but not much... we are simple eaters.. I love jacket potatoes with pretty much any filling, macaroni cheese.
Currently I have a bucket load of home made pasta sauce in the freezer as I have had a ridiculously bumper crop from my allotment. I do buy pizza bases as I'm gluten free so just add my own sauce and whatever toppings we fancy.
Tonight was goats cheese and roasted cherry tomato tart (trying to use up the tomatoes... ) I used bought puff pastry cos life's too short for that, and the whole thing took 5 mins to prep and 25 to cook.

However I'm sure there were days of chicken nuggets and chips at times... and they all grew up very healthy!

Yes. Also family of six. But all 4 kids have cooked their fair share of meals since each was about 13 years old. Proper cooking, too. In covid we each did a dinner a week and the 7th day had leftovers or eggs on toast or something.

This isn't a dig at anyone on this thread I promise.

But to all the people reading this thread out there who now feel bad and like a failure because they're not cooking these lovely exciting dishes 7 nights per week and never negotiating 'on health ' : please don't feel bad or like you're doing a bad job.

Amongst my friends and colleagues: most of us whisper about having take aways a little too often, people talk of fussy kids, who they've had to sling fish fingers and pasta at more than once per week. Talk of having every intention to make a slow cooker ratatouille but instead ended up opening the freezer to see what quicker option Is there.

To those people : please don't feel bad. Threads like this where everyone is cooking from scratch daily can make onlookers who can't maintain that level feel inadequate. As families, for various reasons, we do what we have to do to keep a balance , and that will look different for different families circumstances.

I've no skin in the game. I'm very average: good days and 'lazy' days cooking wise. But I know being a "good enough mum " is most of our biggest concern and reading these threads I know can make mums feel inferior and inadequate. I'd hate anyone to feel that way.

Ps well done to all the awesome cooks - it's not a dig!

I’d say probably 5 out of 7 nights but we do batch cook which helps , we might do a night where we have egg and beans on toast or frozen fish and chips and one night where we will have frozen dumplings or just soup

Yes. Although we often do like double meat to make the next night easier- eg a big pot of mince, nachos one day and pasta the next etc. Get the children to help with the dishes :)

@SquishedMallow I agree with that post too - I actually cooked far less if I’m honest when my son was still at home - a lot more chicken pesto pasta using shop bought pesto and cooked chicken or breaded chicken steaks with oven chips and salad etc or fish finger sandwiches with rocket and tomatoes or the odd pizza etc -

As @Timeforabitofpeace mentioned, one pot recipes are very useful @Lilacbluewaters

Most nights yeah but I’m disabled so there are occasional nights when I have an M&S ready meal. Bear in mind OP, a home cooked meal could still include things like bacon & eggs! It doesn’t always have to involve searing & sautéing!

Most days but ‘from scratch’ really doesn’t mean complicated orlots of prep in our house, most meals take a couple of minutes prep and go from nothing to on the table within about 30 minutes.

We eat some very quick meals things like omelette with either salad or a selection of hot green veg that cooks in 5 minutes (tenderstem broccoli, green beans, asparagus etc), stir fry, Raman with plenty of veg and boiled eggs.

Slightly longer meals are tip it on a tray and wait style of cooking. When unpacking the shopping all meat is put straight into ziplock bags in portioned out servings with some kind of rub/sauce/marinade and then either goes into the fridge or freezer depending on when we plan to eat it. When it’s time to cook I pour the contents of a bag onto a tray and on another tray I put corn on the cob, or cauliflower or broccoli, or potato chunks and I season it and oil it. Then it all goes in the oven on gas 6 for 20-30 minutes.

very slightly longer but again just put it in the oven and wait style meals are tray roasts, one big pan with sausages or chicken thighs/drumsticks, big chunks of onions, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mushroom, potatoes. Oil and season then in the oven for about 45 minutes.

I also use the slow cooker a lot because I have my ‘dump bags’ already built in the fridge or freezer so just tip it into the slow cooker at breakfast time and leave it on low till dinner time. Depending on what I’m making I might stick it on the hob for 10 minutes before serving just to thicken up and reduce the liquid, but total prep and active cooking time is about 10-15 minutes spread out across the day.

Tonight we had homemade hummus, chopped salad and bread.

My 16 yo son would be cooking himself something else if I served him this for dinner!

OP, we do mostly cook from scratch. It hasn't always been the case. I've been raising kids for 26 year and the little gits need dinner Every Single Day it seems.

It's just me and DS2 now so we generally share the cooking and washing up (also no dishwasher). Batch cooking works well for us because we are now only two.
There were many years of evenings where something would be thrown in the oven - pizza, quiche, fish fingers, some sort of breaded thing which we now know is full of UPFs, or just pasta pesto and some veg.

I'm one of 5. My Mum was SAH so did have time to prepare good meals, but it was also the 80s where UPFs were King!

Both my sons are better cooks than me so when DS1 is home I let them get on with grocery shopping and cooking. Nice.

More or less every night. I make a meal plan each week then go shopping. It's working out what to eat that's the hardest bit imo.

Most of the time. I’m pregnant rn and the smell of most food made me chunder for the first trimester - so DH cooked and his skills are a bit more limited, but the kids were still fed and both of them survived! Wooohoo!

I normally batch cook, beans, lentils, curry, stew, chilli, lasagna ect. and then just pair with veg and potatoes or rice in the week. On the weekend normally some kind of roast dinner or a take away. I like to cook though. DD6 will eat literally anything and it’s never occurred to her to be fussy. DS4 can be a fusspot but I always have pasta on hand. He had a bad phase a year ago when I did feel like an awful mother for only feeding him pasta and jacket potatoes, but he’s way better now.

Yes we cook from scratch every night. We perhaps eat out at a restaurant or pub once a month.

Absolutely this .My children are all adults now ,fit and healthy.
Definitely were times when they had rubbish,shove in the oven food and other days when they had home cooked food. Most parents do their best and IRL sometimes not everything on offer is 100% healthy.

Yes - we don’t eat takeaways or ready meals. BUT I work long hours so we don’t make elaborate meals and also do lots of batch cooking. Many meals are very simple, one pot dishes. E.g. pasta with a simple tomato and chickpea sauce.

We cook from scratch most nights but we’re not a family of 6, and in the early years of having twins we had an awful lot of ready meals!

Hello Fresh, batch cooking, and having the kids do the washing up/cooking are all ways to ease things a little. If you have the money you might even find a local chef who will cook meals for you that you just have to reheat.