To not want to cook any more, ever?

[gaelicsheep]

I used to quite enjoy it. Now I don't have the mental or physical energy for it. I never feel like eating what I've cooked, DS turns his nose up at more and more things. If it wasn't for DD (7 months) I really think I'd be just leaving DH to make beans on toast.

ingredients, sorry

I agree with longtalljosie - you've lost your appetite and you sound exhausted.

Yes, gaelicsheep, no need to feel like this any longer.

Get yourself some smoothies in, tell DH he'll need to look after his own catering until you're back on your feet, and get yourself down to the doctor's tomorrow.

I'm sure s/he will give you the once-over and provide some good advice about getting back on your feet again.

I also remember my mother (a 60's housewife)used to feed the whole family on a can of condensed soup and bread and butter on some nights. I have no idea to this day how she did that. i can eat a whole can of soup to myself! (not condensed, ready to heat and eat).

gaelic I remember your thread about you not eating.

We used to use occasional jars etc for DS - he liked the Plum Baby ones because they actually tasted of something and had a proper texture to them. There is nothing wrong in using them sometimes - certainly if the alternative is you weeping over the saucepans.

Don't beat yourself up over this - pasta with pesto and some broccoli is a perfectly fine dinner for the days when there is no time.

Your DD can certainly have ham, and the soft cheese wrap sounds fine to me, especially if you have a bit of cucumber and/or tomato for her to have with it.
If she is having cereal without added salt for breakfast, and then a dinner without added salt then you can give her sandwiches for lunch, or toast for snacks.
I used to chop up a whole melon or pineapple and keep those in the fridge for quick snacks - cold chicken is also a good one and has no salt unlike cheese.

What is the deal with DH - can't he cook and help out with all of this?

DH is finishing off making fish pie while I have a strop feed DD.

Thanks for the tips. I have used Organix baby jars for a similar reason. I haven't tried Plum yet, but I will do so. It just feels like a big copout, but perhaps I need to accept I can't do everything?

OK - are you pureeing or BLWing? I'm more use if you're BLW-ing but then I guess you could always use my recipes and then attack them with a magic wand

the time will come when you are sleeping again,when you have readjusted tobeing back at work etc

and then you may feel like cooking more fancy stuff again

gaelic sheep I do what someone else suggested above. If it all gets too much (I don't work ft but I do work long shifts/on call etc and I get knackered) you must be exhausted with the disturbed nights too.

I used to resort to M&S kids' ready meals and adult's healthier options. In my defence I added proper fresh vegetables and we had fruit. I buy healthier versions of "instant" food such as innocent smoothies and decent organic yogurts.

Quick standby recipe here for kids is pasta, for the last 3 minutes of cooking time add some frozen peas and/or small broccoli florets. When cooked, drain and stir in tiny bit of green pesto and some philadelphia type cheese.

Quick risotto. 2 kids' portions. half a small mug or rinsed rice. one mug of water. Put in pan with very finely chopped carrot and pepper. Bring to boil, stir, simmer and stir occasionally til water absorbed. (15 minutes or so) Top with grated cheese if wanted.

Other standbys are jacket potatoes (for a younger child turn the inside into mash) add low sugar/low salt baked beans.

On very bad nights they might have a bowl of porridge with dried or fresh fruit (they have a hot meal at nursery/school)

Mine (thankfully) like raw salad veg such as bits of pepper and cucumber.

If they have had a lighter main course (e.g. say some cooked chicken and salad) I might do something like rice pudding afterwards to bulk it out. I try to avoid a huge wheat/bread (just what I do, I'm not saying it is right!) so I use alternative carbohydrate like rice sometimes.

The thing with DH is that somebody needs to be with DD all the time, otherwise she cries. So normally I'm cooking and he's with her. Would be nice to be the other way round sometimes, but historically I have always done, and wanted to do, the cooking. The lunchtime disaster happened when I was trying to prepare and boil veg while attending to DD and DS - DH was in the bath. I can't do it - the continuous crying just gets to me too much - so I don't expect DH to.

You can get kids' ready meals in M&S and most of the supermarkets. (they are expensive though). E.g. sainsburys' do their own range, aimed at over 4s. Also they stock the "little dish" range. Annabel Karmel meals were criticised for salt levels but the recipes may have changed?

Sometimes you have to stand back and look a bit differently at the nutrition aspect. Sometimes a "proper" hot meat and veg dinner which I was brought up to believe is essential, is equal nutritionally to bits of ham, cheese, salad and bread etc.

I did this when I went back to work the second time. The fact that I genuinely think it is fine now, often takes the pressure off and this in itself makes me more likely to want to cook. :)

Longtalljosie - I give DD whatever tbh. She can handle finger food or chopped up/mashed food. I don't puree any more as a rule, unless I forget and regress a month like today! I generally spoon feed her two meals out of three to make sure she eats enough solids in the vain hope it will stop her waking. Hasn't worked yet! Finger food recipes very welcome - it's very nice to occasionally have a meal to myself and let her get on with it.

Onepieceoflollipop - DS would eat pasta until it came out of his ears if he could! As would I, to be fair.

I think somewhere along the way I have lost sight of all this stuff that I know fine well. In weaning DD I've been trying to "start again" with DS and reintroduce things that he has just stopped eating. Plus we're trying to all eat together at 6pm ish, otherwise DH and I are lucky to eat at all. Makes for a lot of pressure that I really don't need.

Basic bol sauce: one chopped onion, one squirt of tomato puree, a small pack of good mince, mushrooms if they're in the fridge, a tin of tomatoes. Fry mince and onion until mince cooked through, add tom puree and cook for a bit, add black pepper, add tin of tomatoes and cook while the pasta does. Have spag bol with your DH and with the leftovers spoon small portions into freezer bags (breastmilk bags are great for this) and serve to the baby with fusilli

University pasta - fusilli again, with a mix of tuna, sweetcorn, fried leeks and philadelphia. Adult friendly, you could have that too.

Sweet potatoes make good wedges. At 7 months I used to feed DD and random selection of veg sometimes, so sweet potato wedges, brocolli florets, a bit of carrot.

yy to lollipop's risotto. I use Heinz baby chicken stock to make mushroom risotto with peas. There's also a lettuce and pea risotto on Mumsnet which sounds odd but is great.

Double yy (yyyy?) to frozen peas. I hate peas but they're so easy.

Dried apricots are a good source of iron, the soft ones are easy to chew even without teeth.

Ooh and omelette. You have to turn it over to ensure it's properly cooked but it goes down a storm...

When you are back at work could you eat a hot main meal at lunch even if you had to buy it and spend a bit more in the short term? Sorry if you have considered this and said this already on the thread. Might take the pressure off a bit for yourself for the evening?

Who is going to look after DD when you go back to work? Because now may be a good time for her to learn how to settle herself when you're prepping dinner? (separate issue I know)

My two love pasta (take 5 mins) with some plain passatta (comes in a carton/jar in any supermarket) with some cheese on top.. you can add whatever you want to take away whatever you want! It's easy, takes a couple of mins & is healthy.

Bake some potatoes when cooking dinner the night before then they just need dinged in the microwave (or popped back in oven!)

Oh and I use M and S ready meals and Little Dish meals occasionally as well - especially when DD is at the childminder's. It really isn't the end of the world.

FairHairedandFrustrated - I know you mean well so I will only say that I'm well aware that now is the time etc. but we have big "ishoos".

DH will be looking after both children when I'm back at work.

Also meant to add could you or dh do some very simple baking with your ds occasionally? Something like a very simple rock bun or fairy cake mixture, that only take 15 minutes in the oven. I used to do it as an alternative to playdoh but you have something to show for the mess Great as a pudding or snack.

For my risotto recipe it should have read that I make a mug of stock (rather than plain water) with an organic low salt stock cube.

We have done on occasion, but again it's DD who throws a spanner in the works. We could try with her in the stretchy wrap, but that's getting more and more difficult. She doesn't nap btw, in case anyone hasn't worked that out already.

I love some of these thread titles.

I can see you're getting good advice already...