Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do people really eat a cooked meal every single night?

611 replies

JonesyAndTheSalad · 05/04/2017 11:24

I just can't!

I have done this week as we've got guests so it seems the polite and right thing to do...to cook a meal each night.

But the endless stream of meat and potatoes is awful!

We've had pasta one night but that was also with meat...another night we had pizzas...home made...the other nights it has been curry with chicken and rice and a variety of red meat with various potatoes.

I always ask the guests "What do you fancy this evening?" and it's always meat and potatoes of some kind!

Is this usual? Tonight I just didn't fancy it so said I didn't fancy a full meal and I ate some yogurt...they were a bit Shock

Do you eat like this every night? Or do you sometimes think "Meh I'll have a sandwich" or "The kids will be happy with egg on toast and some fruit"

Or is it only me?

OP posts:
Spoog1971xx · 05/04/2017 19:01

I feel a bit better about myself after hearing people referring to taking stuff out the freezer as "cooking". no I don't "cook" every night. The child gets a hot meal but it may come out of the freezer. I can't be arsed to produce a hot meal for me and DH every night. We make do with cold stuff or "freezer treasure" or baked spuds/ something on toast, most nights. Don't get me wrong I'd love a beautiful home cooked meal but just don't have time

Composteleana · 05/04/2017 19:02

Not when I was single, wouldn't be unusual to have cereal, fruit or beans on toast for dinner a few times a week.

Now living with DP we do have a hot meal, not necessarily cooked that night though! If we do cook it's more stir fries, pasta with quick and easy homemade sauces (or the odd jar of pesto if we really can't be bothered), fajitas etc. Or we'll do fishcakes and salad or similar. When we're on either a health or economy drive we'll do a big food prep at the weekend - usually cook a load of chicken and salmon in a healthy marinade, pile of veg, brown rice or sweet potato, then portion them up for the week. I get a bit sick of it after a few days but DP could honestly eat like that every day forever.

OSETmum · 05/04/2017 19:09

Yes but not just meat and potato variations. Ds (7) would be outraged if he didn't get a full cooked meal every night and he needs fattening up anyway!

GetAHaircutCarl · 05/04/2017 19:21

We have a cooked meal most evenings. But not necessarily cooked that day. And not always by me. DH and the teens take their turns ( oh happy day).
The exception would be an indoor picnic - breads, cheeses, cold meats etc which is popular fare in the Summer months.

SaveMeBarry · 05/04/2017 19:23

IMO if I need to use the hob/oven/grill or even the microwave I'm calling it a "cooked" meal. Warm/hot equals cooked I say Grin

When people refer to meat and potato type meals I always picture red meat and lots of mashed or boiled spuds, the kind of heavy meal my parents would consider standard dinner fare. So if that's what you're talking about Op then I don't blame you for craving something lighter.

I get wanting to feed guests food they'll actually like but surely that just means ruling out ingredients they dislike rather than sticking to meat and spuds? If someone knows me well enough to stay in my house for ten days and counting(!!) then they know me well enough to be able to say not a fan of eggs or mushrooms make me gag and then I'll work away on a variety of meals through the visit. That would include lots of lighter, quick prep meals based around salads, fish, pasta, eggs (we don't eat meat anyway) as well as handy things I've already got in the freezer such as veg and bean chili, homemade soups etc.

MissMogwi · 05/04/2017 19:25

We cook most week nights. Not all meat and potatoes though, sometimes stir fry, curries, pasta etc.

If we go out for a big lunch at weekend we wouldn't have a cooked tea. Teens are also free range at weekends so i just make sure there is a variety of picky foods.

Screwinthetuna · 05/04/2017 19:26

Yea I do, can't imagine not to be honest. Sometimes it is frozen pizza with some courtesy broccoli on the side for the kids but sandwiches/soup are for lunch and proper meal is for dinner.
Yoghurt!? How were you not starving by bed time

Havanaclub · 05/04/2017 19:32

I bet the majority of people just eat what they can find and enjoy it.

There is far too much "I am a great parent, person,dad/mother/transgender because I cook from scratch every flipping night. After a twelve hour day.

Good night you perfect people. I bet you don't do that kind of prep every night either. But pretend you do.

Real life is not that simple. Late home, tube delayed, etc. Food is food. Just get it on the table. If it's an ommelette, a tuna salad, who cares.

Oh I forgot, it's the darlings and their carb/calorie/sugar/veg intake that dictates everything nowadays. Perfection. LOL

ForTheSakeOfFuck · 05/04/2017 19:35

Just made a pasta bake tonight. Using sauce out of jars… 😱😱😱

I shall return to my lower echelons of shame and damnation now. Grin

maddiemookins16mum · 05/04/2017 19:41

I don't pretend to "cook from scratch" (what is that, making your own tomato paste, your own pasta??).
Cooking three chicken breasts on a griddle, steaming some veg and nuking some rice pouches is cooking from scratch for me at 6.30pm on a work day.

CarrieWatermelon · 05/04/2017 19:45

We're all always starving by dinner time, so yes, mostly have a proper, sit-down, cooked meal. Not necessarily 'meat & potatoes'. More strfries or curries with rice or noodles or chicken/prawns/salmon with veggies & rice. Potatoes and meat only really with a roast on Sunday.

If I'm alone for an evening (rare!), I'd just have eggs on toast or a salad.

ForTheSakeOfFuck · 05/04/2017 19:49

Maddie That's my kind of high-end home cooked dinner too. Grin

SheSaidHeSaid · 05/04/2017 19:56

I cook all bar perhaps one evening when we might go for a meal or get a takeaway. But I love cooking and try at least onenew recipe almost every week.

It's VERY rare I'd just have a type of meat and veg unless it's a roast dinner.

I also love food though and wouldn't want the same meal or a boring meal every day of the week.

lljkk · 05/04/2017 20:07

My mom stopped cooking for the family when I was 8yo. So almost all we ever ate was things like sandwiches & snack food & bowls of cereal. Which was fine, really. My dad is 74 & still eats like that mostly, too. I never heard of this NEED to have daily hot meal until I read it on MN 30 yrs later. Or the passion for "cooking from scratch" which MNers are obsessive about (we like jar sauces).

I think that an endless stream of meat & potatoes is quite nice, now. Main thing is, a cooked meal means the kids get one good meal a day (veg full). So it feels like our duty to do that.

AteRiri · 05/04/2017 20:12

Yes, cooked meal every single night. But then breakfast is usually bacon/egg and lunch is a chicken salad. By evening we're starving.

But cooked meal means usually just pan-fried fish plus frozen veggies thawed and season.

Curries, spaghetti, taco, etc - they're weekend fares.

WyfOfBathe · 05/04/2017 20:27

We have a cooked meal at least 5-6 evenings a week, but it's not all "from scratch" or anything fancy. Last week, we had:

M: Chicken nuggets (DD)/omelette (us), oven chips, peas, sweetcorn
T: Vegetable bolognese with pasta
W: Stir fry beef and veg
T: Chinese takeaway after activities
F: (Friends for dinner) pear and walnut salad, chicken breast with mushroom risotto, cake
S: Beans and pulses curry
S: Ratatouille with eggs and nice bread

motherinferior · 05/04/2017 20:32

Why didn't your dad cook, lijkk?

I have never got this idea of eating a bowl of cereal as dinner.

lljkk · 05/04/2017 20:47

Y doesn't he cook NOW, you mean? Apparently he did cook dinners when I was a baby, he was a student, my mom worked full time. I don't remember that. Grin He didn't miss hot meals when my mom stopped.

I dunno, people are weird about food. I think curry is fine for breakfast & cereal is fine for tea. You can't give a logical reason why not.

BoboChic · 05/04/2017 21:05

I only eat cereal (porridge or granola/yogurt) for my evening meal if I am or have been unwell.

I look forward to my evening meal all day. Which is why I don't mind shopping and cooking - the reward is so very worthwhile.

MrsKoala · 05/04/2017 21:12

I eat a cooked meal every night, most lunches and breakfasts too. I thought that was fairly normal. No one in my family would be impressed with anything less and if i just ate a yogurt they would think i was ailing for something.

motherinferior · 05/04/2017 21:12

Of course curry is fine for breakfast.

We don't always agree, Bobo, but on this one I reckon we do.GrinDinner is to be anticipated!

motherinferior · 05/04/2017 21:13

If by curry you mean dosas or idlis or uppma, lots of people eat them for breakfast.

MrsD28 · 05/04/2017 21:35

We have a home-cooked meal pretty much every night, no matter how late it is (I am busy cooking dinner now after an extended bedtime with baby DS). I probably spend 30 to 45 minutes cooking every night (I tend to do all the cooking because I am a better cook than DH - and it means he has to do the bulk of the washing up and cleaning instead).

If I am feeling super lazy then I have few quick meals that I do, and on a very very lazy day we might have a jar of bottled curry sauce or pasta sauce or get a takeaway. If we have had a massive meal earlier in the day (a big pub lunch for someone's birthday, for example) then we will have something light, like a salad.

I think DH would probably be happy with a toastie on occasion, but I insist on proper meals - I think it is weird not to have a proper cooked meal (or a substantial salad if the weather is really hot)! If I were a guest, I would expect to be offered a proper meal (which could be takeaway or pizza, but something substantial) every evening, and would find it pretty rude if the host helped herself to a yoghurt and wandered off without providing food for us. Mind you, as a guest staying for ten days I would also expect to offer to cook at least once, and to offer to take the hosts out to dinner at least once.

For those saying that people are "pretending" to have home cooked meals - simply not true! I think it all relates to how you think about food. I don't think that "food is food" or that "food is fuel" (obviously, I know that food is fuel, I just don't think of it in that way). To me, food is one the deep pleasures of life, and I would hate to "waste" an evening meal just eating a yoghurt. I also never grab any old thing while on the go - I would rather wait and eat something I want, even if that means only having lunch at 5pm. No matter how long the day, I will always make time to cook / eat properly, because I really enjoy it!

MotherofPearl · 05/04/2017 21:59

MrsD, your post exactly expresses how I feel about it. I'd feel really miserable and weird if I didn't have a proper meal in the evening. It's something I look forward to all day. Blush

BoboChic · 05/04/2017 22:04

Grin MotherInferior

Regular proper food and conversation every evening are life affirming. I love to go to the market and buy fresh and seasonal vegetables/fruit/fish/meat and for us all to enjoy them together. And it matters that the meal is home cooked. Even better is when I've bought food direct from the farmers. There is something deeply nourishing to the soul about the close connection between farmer-cook-consumer with no corporations in the middle...