Do people really eat a cooked meal every single night?

[JonesyAndTheSalad]

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

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?

Most nights we have cooked food yes. Who are your 'guests' by the way OP?

If it's your family, I would be saying 'you can have what you're given!'

When I say we have cooked food, it may be a frozen pizza, or chicken pie and chips, or some fish fingers, tinned potatoes, and mushy peas. I will cook from scratch about 1 in 4 times.

Sometimes, it's food out of the freezer, sometimes it's salad or pasta, sometimes it's sarnies or a toastie, occasionally it's something from the chippy or a takeaway (maybe once or twice a month,), and sometimes it's cook from scratch. Depends what I feel like doing.

Seeing as it's always me that does our evening meal, I am entitled to do what I want, when I want. I am not going to cook from scratch every night; if my family want that, they can do it. Cooking is a chore (for me,) so the less I have to do it the better.

We have our main meal of the day at lunchtime-I much prefer that!

But it can be anything from a roast to filled pasta, bacon & egg sandwiches, a fry up, toasted sandwiches-you get the picture!

Hot meal every night, yes. As there are only two of us I tend to make a lot of things that will last two nights. We are vegetarian and I'm making my way through Meera Sodha "Fresh" and my two Anna Jones books which both give me loads of enthusiasm. if the enthusiasm is low on certain days we might have veggie sausages and mash, baked potatoes or pizza, but not often. Curry always tastes better the second day.

Yes I cook every night - feel I'm letting DCs down if I don't though they are picky eaters and will often refuse what I've cooked, which drives me nuts. Thankfully DH appreciates it!

Yes I cook most nights or eat out (London).

At home we always had a very relaxed attitude to breakfast, make your own or go hungry or have fruit, what ever.

Lunch is Bread and scrape (cheese, spreads, pickles, cold meats, boiled egg, leftovers cold, Or if it's winter we'll have cuppa soups as well to keep us warm)

So Dinner is pretty much the only cooked meal. I think for a lot of people you have a cold sandwhich or salad for lunch and so dinner is more important. Sound's like you need some more dinner ideas that aren't meat and potatoes (although, yum).

We have a cooked meal most nights, but it's rarely a "meat and two veg" type meal. Maybe you need to be a bit more imaginative!

This week we're only having one meal that falls under that heading:
*Chicken casserole with rice and broccoli
*Pasta Bolognese (with lots of "hidden veg")
*Pie, mash and veg
*Fish cakes with cous cous and roasted veg
*Chicken curry with rice and aloo gobi

I cook every night, always have done, but it's not always meat by any means. Probably not more than 3 times a week.
Last night it was just a very substantial veg soup, since I had a load of veg to use up. I put some red lentils and macaroni in to bulk it up, and we had plenty of grated mature cheddar on top.

Yes we have a cooked meal pretty much every night.

Only exceptions would be if we'd had a huge and late lunch so had a big cooked meal then, or if feeling ill or unusually knackered.

However as PP have said it's not always meat and potatoes. Pasta, risotto, cous cous, substantial salad (with cooked bits in it), curry, baked potato... all regular options.

DC have a cooked tea every day (and a cooked lunch most days as well).

If you have guests you do have to provide a proper meal I think. One of the reasons why having guests is such a pain! But if they are staying several nights I think it's perfectly acceptable to ask them to cook one or two nights or use take away as an option.

I do cook every night, but out of necessity. Ds has multiple food allergy.
Sometimes I get fed up, because my ds likes certain things, and dh doesn't, so I end up cooking two different meal.(Ds loves fish, dh doesn't.)

Yes always cook (occasionally take away or eat out). Cook from scratch about half the week as I have two dd's and other times maybe a prepared fish pie or chicken in one of those bag things which you add flavouds to.

We have a hot dinner every night. Sometimes it's something quick like a microwaved potato and beans or a tin of soup with bread. I have a vague meal plan for the week and discuss nightly with DP what we fancy out of the options. When we have company I don't offer a choice, I have a strict meal plan and stick to it.

In the winter we tend to eat cooked food at dinner time but in the summer we have a lot more salads. Basically, we try to eat whatever is in season via our veg garden or in winter or veg box. That can result in a lot of similar stuff particularly during the winter, but also encourages a bit of creativity (how many things can you make from a swede?)

However, cooked food doesn't need to be complicated. One of my favourite dinners is a mug of soup (from the freezer) and a toastie.

I think if I lived in a country where lunch breaks were longer, I'd eat my main meal at lunchtime, but having a big meal and rushing back to my desk doesn't really work (carb coma), so I tend to eat my main meal at dinner time.

Yes, cooked hot meal every night here too. Yes, it's boring to think of new things, they don't always eat well, but it's all I've ever known. If I don't eat a proper meal I feel empty, a yogurt alone would never fill me.

i cook for dcs and OH every night but I don't always eat it myself, if I'm not that hungry I will just nibble on fruit, yogurt or cheese, crackers and olives, I put my dinner in a tub in the fridge and would normally have it for lunch the next day

Yes every night, but not always with lots of effort. I have a soup maker so we use that a lot, baked potato with salad, cottage pie, oven food one night with veg, spag bol, stir fry, macaroni cheese etc. We don't spend our week eating meat and potatoes. I like a hot meal and wouldn't be happy with a sandwich.

We almost always cook each night and I'm quite surprised that so many people don't. I would find it quite depressing to just have a yoghurt or sandwich. I suppose it depends on what you have at lunchtime though. I would find meat and two veg every night boring though.

Cooked meals every night but we don't eat potatoes we eat rice, plantain, pasta, Quinoa and if it is potatoes it's sweet kind

Yes - cooked meal every night, but again, not always meat & potatoes. Try to vary the carbohydrate:
Mash
Rice
Pasta
Roasted potatoes
Noodles
Couscous
Fahitas
Baked Potatoes
Etc

and also protein:
Red meat
Fish
White meat
Veggie
etc

A friend of mine has a very impressive spreadsheet of all her favourite family meals organised on a Carbs/Protein Matrix and then just picks the week's meals from there! So noodles/white meat might be Turkey StirFry while Baked Potatoes/Red meat will be Beef Stew etc
etc

Mostly yes. It can be a bit rushed on 2 evenings a week as I have evening teaching sessions.
I can just imagine the reaction if I served a light snack for DP and DD......

I find a cooked meal is what gets everyone round the table chatting, whereas a sandwich or yoghurt might mean they try to skulk off to other rooms!

This is a constant battle between me and DP. I don't like a big dinner but he always wants meat and potatoes. Standing cooking after a day at work is the worst kind of housework IMO. I also hate thinking of things to make.

are they responding with "normal" foods that they think you will know how to make, ie meat & potatoes? if a host asked me what I fancied I'd be unlikely to reply with 'moroccan couscous with spinach and grilled halloumi please' even if I quite fancied it .. so perhaps just take charge! "Grilled cheese & salad tonight folks.. and [guest], what's a good night for you to make [fancy thing]? "

Yes, cooked meal from scratch every night, but not meat and potatoes. That's just unimaginative.

This week we've had:
Stir-fry chicken with noodles and lots of veg
Fish in tomato & thyme sauce, with salad
Home made chicken and leek pies, with loads of green veg
Spaghetti bolognese (batch cooked, stacks in the freezer)

Tonight it's Salmon in a fab honey/soy/mustard sauce. Will prob do some new potatoes with it.

We all have packed lunches, so are in need of a decent meal in the evening.

Yes but that doesn't me I cook every night. Often do a big cook on sunday and re heat during the week

We don't but what ever works for you, if you are not under weight it's silly to eat through routine it needs to be through hunger or can lead to weigh gain , a cooked meal is not necessarily more nutritious eg soup, salad, whole meal bread , fruit , glass of milk may be more balanced with far more vitamins than say white pasta with mince