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.

gaelicsheep before I go just wanted to add some sympathy as well as my tips. my dd2 didn't nap much and we had disturbed nights for a long time. It is very hard. Try to be kind to yourself. Whatever short cuts you can take, do so, with cooking and anything else. It is bloody hard sometimes. Do not underestimate the sleep deprivation.

Compteley agree with OP. HATE it now. The complete shag of having to do it when get in hafter working, the crappy compromise meals that try to please everyone, the even more crappy rushed ones when you have to leave the house within 30 minutes of getting home for some older child activity, the turned-up noses etc Joyless, totally joyless now

My sympathy. My lot don't turn their nose up (but always one doesn't like what I cook - but it changes all the time so I never know which it will be !).

What gets me is the relentless every dayness of it - having to be the one repsonsible for thinking what to eat, making sure it is out of the freezer in the morning so that it is ready to cook at 4ish. Remembering what is needed when shopping, doing shopping or writing an exhuastive for DH for the few times he does it.

It is just boring and tedious.

The weird thing is sometimes mine surprise me by cooking and it still doesn't work - because they don't bother to tell me or check what I had planned so what I had defrosted, or just bought fresh to cook that evening, and my mental plan for the next few days all goes awry. And then I feel guilty for not feeling pleased. I would love them to do it - but PLEASE ask me first so I can forget all about it all day.

I know what you mean - it's having kids, it saps all the energy out of you and cooking takes so much bloody time!

For finger foods, meat and 2 veg type meals work really well, and I find them really easy to prepare because they don't need constant attention.

DS would happily pick up and chomp his way through lamb, beef, chicken, with a chopped up jacket potato and some veg.

I know the feeling. Dh and I have just had a fight over his fussines wrt vegetables. He told me to stop talking to him like a child and I had to really bite my tongue to stop myself saying 'well stop fucking eating like one!'.

anyone ever tried monthly cooking -here

Premise is that you spend a weekend cooking everything for the month andput it in the freezer. Ilove the idea....but can I be arsed??

No bloody room in our freezer either for this batch cooking. To be fair, I hardly cook at all at teh weekends - but that makes it worse as I have all chore fuel cooking to do in the week.

Gaelic - do you think you should pop to the GP to make sure you're OK vis a vis essential vits such as iron. At seven months the odd jar is more than fine, as is toast, jacket potatoes, carrot sticks, cheese, ham, cherry tomatoes, bread and butter soldiers, boiled egg, little dishes for the microwave (or even a baby sized macaroni cheese with the rest for you) - anything easy to eat and easy to make. IME it was much less frustrating if a jar of heinze went up the kitchen wall than something I had carefully prepared a la Annabel Karmel (actually only bothered to use the AK book twice). Mine have ended up fine!

Oh GS you sound so tired and down :(

I sympathise, sometimes cooking is just tooooo much.

Do you shop online for groceries?

My main advice would be to make sure you've got plenty of healthy salad stuff in the house. At 7 months, babies don't really need 'meals' per se, you can just stick a load of random stuff on the high chair tray and let them get on with it - while you sit down with a ready meal or tinned soup :o

Stuff like avocado is great, so healthy and you just need to chop it up. I am quite strict on salt too; you can get no-added-salt rice cakes (Kallo iirc?) then just cucumber, carrot sticks etc. Cream cheese to dip, or hummus.

If you can afford it, go for ready prepared stuff like grated/sliced cheese, pre cut veggies etc - slight price premium but it's totally worth it while you find your feet.

I agree with the bulk cooking thing - when DH is home looking after the DCs, make a big batch of a few different things, soup, sauce for pasta, stew etc and freeze. Boots do salt free stock cubes. Invest in some decent Tupperware.

HTH - and please don't beat yourself up!

Would it help if you had a couple of inbuilt days off cooking?
Eg Fridays you pick up fish and chips (you can do veg with it and the baby can have a jar or fish without batter and unsalted chips?) and Wednesdays you just have some nice bread/cold meats/salad or boiled eggs and soldiers/beans on toast?

We do this because of various activities we've got on and it's lovely to waKe up in the morning and not think about tea!

I assume when you go back to work you're dh could get the hang of chucking stuff in a slow cooker/casserole and sticking baked potatoes in the oven/bread in breadmaker if you have one-earlier on in the day-then nobody has to to anything more arduous than taking stuff out and putting on plates when it's the 'witching' hour.

Lots of good ideas thank you. Some I'm doing already, some not possible (no takeaway within 20 mile radius ) and some I haven't thought of, like instructing DH (and myself!) in the art of slow cooking.

I've had my iron levels checked a while back - very good apparently. I think the fact I haven't slept for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time (that long is very rare) for about 10 months has a lot to do with this.

Grab a tray, put in small/med pots cut in half, chicken thighs, peppers,O Oil and chorizo. Leave it in fridge and pop it in the oven when get in. The chorizo flavours everything nicely and tastes delicious.
I have a busy house, fussy eaters too and feel same as you sometimes. I do try and have a bake and freeze day every week (Sunday)which helps. My DS was permanently on my hip or winged on...it can drive you crazy when you need to get on but does get better :) Go for the kids dinners and jars too and you'll find things easier.

gaelic I feel your pain I have a 5.3yr old and 8 month old who seem to moan throughout cooking.

When my 3rd was born my friends gave me vouchers for COOK and a bought loads of healthy ready meals tha I could whip out when DH was working. here

If you have a birthday/bit of cash well worth it for a
Also planned meals for the week and bought a slow cooker so made stuff in the day, then dinner is OK.

My 8 month old loves peeled plums will munch on for ages.

Get some ready made baby food as well - ellas kitchen if you can afford it, as great if out/stressed.

soon you'll be able to mash up what your having (just dont cook with salt)

I promise it gets easier (this is what is getting me through at the mo)

meant to say a 5 and 3 year old!

I do mash up what we're having now tralala. That's part of the problem I think. I'm having to make extra effort when I don't feel like it to make sure there's something to give DS (who won't eat it) and DD (to mash up). When I put it like that it sounds mad! I'd just as soon have beans on toast or pesto pasta.

I would also roast a chicken on Sunday and use it for sarnies etc through the week.

Cous Cous is very easy, just pour on boiling water, and the plain stuff is quite healthy AFAIK. I like it with cottage cheese :)

That chorizo idea sounds yummy

It does sound yummy - meant to say that posh - thanks. We have a roast about once a month FreudianSlippery and do what you say. Often I do a boiled bacon joint and we do the same with that, but again no good for DD.

Thanks again everyone for all these ideas. I would not normally be struggling to think of this stuff, but my brain is mush! It does not bode well for my job!

Nothing wrong with pesto pasta - even for a seven month old. The salt levels on there are for a quarter pot - so you just give them a small teaspoon of it bulked up with something like creme fraiche

What about the nuts?

What about the nuts? Do you have allergies in your family?

No, but I thought I couldn't give them nuts at all before about a year old?

Have a look here

I gave DD peanut butter from about 8 months, and pesto before that.

No nuts are fine, DS has eaten pesto since we weaned him at 6 months.

You have to be careful with whole nuts or pieces of nut because they are hard to chew and therefore there is a choking risk, but in pesto or other sauce etc they are fine.

And a little salt is fine. If your DD is having really minimal salt then a bit of cooked ham/bacon once a week or so is no problem.
I soak my gammon before I roast it - today I had a really big bit so I boiled it first to get some stock for soup and then roasted it. It makes it much less salty.

I am so much more paranoid with DD than I was with DS. Not sure why really. That's great about pesto. I think I would still avoid peanuts as I do have mild asthma and DS had mild eczema.

Remind me about salt intake. Is it no more than 1 gram a day up to a year old? It always freaks me out that it equates to 2 slices of bought bread.