Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

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:
BoboChic · 06/04/2017 11:16

Actually, here in Paris that doesn't happen. DC are much more likely to do extra curricular activities on Wednesday afternoons or on Saturdays, all day, but if you want to become a high level sportsperson or musician or dancer you go to a school with a special curriculum.

AteRiri · 06/04/2017 11:23

I cook a hot meal every night and eat it in front of the computer.

AteRiri · 06/04/2017 11:23

Oh and we don't have a dining table.

BarbaraofSeville · 06/04/2017 11:34

OP your post doesn't make sense. A cooked meal doesn't have to equal meat and potatoes.

Lots of cooked meals can include neither of these items. Make something else if you don't want those - just tell your guests 'we're having falafels, fried halloumi, pittas, salads and yogurt sauce' do you want some?

Easy to prepare, pick at and eat as little or as much as you like.

Most of the food I eat is hot and cooked, even if it's just an omelette or a toastie/egg on toast - I don't particularly like cold food, especially sandwiches and generally only eat salad as an accompaniment to hot food like lasagne or meat skewers and chips.

But meat and potatoes feature only once or twice a week at most - there's so much other food to enjoy to stick to such a limited diet.

Neither do I equate cooked food with a 'big meal' sometimes I make something and only have a little bit and eat the rest for lunch the next day - I am much hungrier earlier in the day and can't do what most people seem to do, which is small breakfast, light lunch, big evening meal.

EnormousTiger · 06/04/2017 11:34

We each cook separately actually and yes at least one of my meals a day is cooked.

boredonajourney · 06/04/2017 12:00

This is also an issue for me OP, because I don't like eating after 7pm, but DH gets in later than that expecting dinner. Sometimes I can give him what the kids have had, but not if it was a stir fry or something. Also, I tend to have had some of theirs! I just compensate on the nights he's away /out (usually about 3 nights a week) by eating cereal or similar. He does usually want meat or fish, but there is certainly no need for potatoes all the time! Who eats that? Just do rice, noodles, etc.

goingonabearhunt1 · 06/04/2017 12:08

There's only me and my DP at our place so we only need to cook every couple of days as each time it makes enough for leftovers.

Lunch is normally salad/cheese/fruit etc. at work so we like to eat a bit more in the evening.

We don't really eat meat though so it wouldn't be meat and potatoes. Weeknights its something quick-ish like homemade soup or stir fry or veggie curry. Sometimes some kind of pasta dish. We cook different things each week but then we both really like cooking so its not really a chore. If I was cooking for a whole family (or guests!) every night I'm sure I'd feel differently.

Huldra · 06/04/2017 12:55

Yes, we do. My teens get in at 6 and they're starving, if I gave them sandwiches they would probably get through an entire loaf and block of cheese. Our evening meal is our main meal of the day and everyone looks forward to it.

I eat quite a lot of one pot dishes and stews packed with veg, I wouldn't find a sandwich satisfying and it would bring my daily veg intake down quite a bit.

If you'very got guests I would imagine that the evening meal is a social event too.

expatinscotland · 06/04/2017 13:02

Packet of ramen noodles made in my microwavable noodle bowl, toss in some frozen veg with the hot water. Stir in tin of tuna. It's a cooked meal! WTF is 'proper'. What makes something a 'proper' meal? It's food!

TheKitchenWitch · 06/04/2017 13:05

AteRiri (and anyone else without a table) can I ask where does everyone else eat? What about breakfast? I get that not everyone has an extra dining room but no table / chairs at all?

skerrywind · 06/04/2017 13:10

TheKitchenWitch

Food on a tray on a knee usually.

Not every home is big enough for a dining table.

AteRiri · 06/04/2017 13:29

TheKitchenWitch

We have no dining table. My husband and I have a desk each which is our work/computer/study desk. That's where we eat. There's no space for dining table.

chocaholic123 · 06/04/2017 13:29

*Suburban Rhonda
*
Yes, I'm on maternity leave. Though, with a constant feeding 3 month old and a busy 3 year old, I don't seem to have loads of free time! I do love cooking, though!

Before maternity leave, I used a lot of my slow cooker and we still ate a cooked meal every night.

I find the key is being organised, meal planning, looking ahead to make sure things are taken out of the freezer, etc.

QueenofLouisiana · 06/04/2017 13:40

We eat a cooked meal every night. Might be a stir fry, pasta or rice based rather than meat and potatoes (I am veggie, DH has cut down his meat consumption).

Last night I made sandwiches and pasta salad (mainly for DS who had been swim training) as we had eaten a large meal at lunchtime and was met with looks of disguised horror. No-one complained (they know better) but they were all hoping for something else!

DingDongtheWitchIsDangDiddlyDe · 06/04/2017 13:45

Not every home is big enough for a dining table

They really are. You can ones that are flat to the wall and you out up to eat, so only out when in use. I've seen tiny studios with these kinds of tables, there really isn't a home you can't get some sort of table arrangement into if you want to.
If you choose not to, thats also fine, but its not usually a matter of can't.

expatinscotland · 06/04/2017 14:00

'They really are. You can ones that are flat to the wall and you out up to eat, so only out when in use. I've seen tiny studios with these kinds of tables, there really isn't a home you can't get some sort of table arrangement into if you want to.
If you choose not to, thats also fine, but its not usually a matter of can't.'

Wow, must be nice to live in your world. I've seen plenty of dwellings, lived in them, too, where it's either the bed or a table.

Good to 'see' Bobo back! Doing her usual of slagging off Brits, particularly women, as fat and lazy and then slagging off her 'partner's (because he never married his mistress after he ditched his wife) ex-wife and what a pathetic mother she is compared to Bobo and how the man's kids definitely love her more blah blah blah.

expatinscotland · 06/04/2017 14:01

'Last night I made sandwiches and pasta salad (mainly for DS who had been swim training) as we had eaten a large meal at lunchtime and was met with looks of disguised horror. No-one complained (they know better) but they were all hoping for something else!'

Are they too disabled to cook for themselves?

user1489179512 · 06/04/2017 14:06

Are people trying to out another poster? How unpleasant.

user1489179512 · 06/04/2017 14:10

A proper meal is one where you do not take shortcuts so no frozen vegetables, no cook-in sauces etc.

SherlockPotter · 06/04/2017 14:11

I've always had a cooked dinner for tea... But I eat mine in my room by myself! I prefer being by myself for food!

expatinscotland · 06/04/2017 14:18

'A proper meal is one where you do not take shortcuts so no frozen vegetables, no cook-in sauces etc.'

A lot of restaurants use frozen ingredients, guess that's not 'proper'. It's just food. Calories your body uses and doesn't care if it's frozen veg or 'cook-in' sauce. Frozen veg cuts waste as you only use what you need at the time.

user1489179512 · 06/04/2017 14:24

Cook-in sauces are chock-full of additives.

user1489179512 · 06/04/2017 14:25

I do not waste vegetables either. Being vegetarian might have a bearing on that.

GetAHaircutCarl · 06/04/2017 14:27

I've just looked at a tub of Pesto and it doesn't have any additives.

Not that I'd be too precious about it if it did to be honest.

BarbaraofSeville · 06/04/2017 14:28

Not all pasta sauces are full of additives. Some only include the ingredients that you would use if making yourself, eg tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs, salt, pepper, oil, garlic, chilli etc and maybe a tiny percentage of sugar, and a lot of people put that in anyway, so doesn't make a huge difference, especially as they are good for a quick meal and are often nicer.