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?

Another vote for cooked meal every night. I drive home from work fantasising about what I'm going to eat... I have a massive appetite. I'm meeting a friend tonight to catch up - we know each other well and have chosen a place where she can have a fruit tea and I can have an enormous mixed grill. perfect for both of us!

Hmm, I think most people probably do eat a cooked meal every night. But, like you, I have a young child. When my older DS is at his Dad's, I often cba to cook a big meal when DS2 won't eat much (he's more a big breakfast kind of eater and is too tired after school for a big meal). I'll often warm leftovers from the freezer or do beans on toast or similar for him, then just have a sandwich or snack and fruit for me. If DS1 is here I have to do a big meal as he eats enough for four due to huge growth spurt!

I love the assumption that people do evening sporting activities. I'd never assume everyone else has evening musical activities or evening martial art activities, both of which do interfere with dinner here (those not involved do eat dinner, obviously)!

We have a cooked meal every night and it is usually an Indian, Iranian, Chinese, or South American dish featuring beans or lentils as DD and I are vegetarian and DD doesn't like cheese or eggs so quiches, omelets etc. are out of the question.

I'll usually cook enough for two days and freeze the leftovers, so although we have a cooked meal every night, I usually only cook four times a week, the rest is heating up frozen stuff.

I love the assumption that people do evening sporting activities.

I didn't assume everyone did, I simply asked those it applied to as I guessed there would be a few. It's interesting seeing how others live - I think we're all guilty to some degree of being blinkered by our own experiences.

I feel deprived if I don't have meat with every dinner. It's just opposite. Everyone is different.

I love veg, but don't see it as dinner by itself.

No, tonight dh is having sandwiches and I'm having (bought) soup.
isn't a hot salad just cooked vegetables?

Cooked dinner every night pretty much. Not too much meat mybe 2-3 times a week at most (and recently we have been vegetarian completely). If I do not cook- maybe in the summer it would be vegetable sticks, a variety of dips, fruit and cheese.

But I love cooking and I work from home so it is easy for me/us.

We have a cooked meal every evening, mostly meat or fish.

Yes terday for example I went the easy route and just did a tomato and basil tart using puff pastry with veg on the side. Took 20 minutes, and most of that was cooking time in the oven.

Growing up for me it was cooked every night and always meat as the main thing then with 3 serves of different veg on the side.

yes i do
and usually a separate one for the kids
and full on breakfasts

no wonder

1. i spend half my work day thinking about what we're eating
2. i do grocery shopping most days
3. spend far too much on food
4. my kitchen always looks like i've done a full on roast
5. we end up eating out a lot. sometimes i just can't face it !

We have meat 6 out of 7 nights.

Sunday -roast chicken
Monday - toad in the hole
Tues - Steak pie
Wed - Spag bol
Thur - liver and bacon
Friday - chicken curry
Sat - pizza (with extra pepperoni)

The only night we don't eat meat is our fish night (salmon or frozen fish portions) or our pasta night when I might do macaroni cheese as the main dish.

We have a cooked meal in the evening as a rule, however occasionally will just have pickings of cold stuff from the fridge.

I like cooking and looking forward to a nice meal in the evenings, so I eat a sandwich/salad type lunch to balance it out. DP gets hot lunches at work though, TBH I think he'd be OK with a lighter meal or cold meal in the evening more often.

We certainly don't eat meat and potatoes every night! Chips or mash or some other form of potatoes might feature twice a week at the most. We have at least one fish day and one veggie day per week, often more.

Yes. We have a cooked meal every night and a roast on Sunday. My DC have hearty appetites - they're young adults - and would be both hungry and a bit meh if we didn't have a proper dinner. Left to myself, I probably would go for something more scratch, but that would mean my veggie intake would go right down. Boiled egg and toast isn't a balanced meal, whereas a proper cooked dinner contains a balance of nutrients and plenty of vegetables.

Last night we had cottage pie, heavy on the onions and carrots, topped with sweet potato mash and served with broccoli. The night before we had chunky homemade veggie soup with crusty bread. I do most of the cooking but that's OK because I like doing it. It's the only domestic thing I'm good at. My DS cooks 1 or 2 times a week.

Yes, we tend to have light lunches so need a good evening meal plus school lunches are small.

We may change a little in summer if it's really hot.

We have a cooked meal most nights, every night isn't realistic for us. There's usually meat involved too but most meals we cook are pretty simple, tonight it's spag Bol. I've already made the bolognese so it's simmering on the hob till dinner.

Sometimes me and the dc will go to a cafe for lunch where they get a hot meal so I'll give them a cold dinner - I.e what they'd usually have for lunch and sometimes they get fish fingers or beans on toast because we're human and stuff happens.

I do try to cook most nights as I feel it's better for them but the odd easy meal won't hurt.

Yes a cooked meal every night. Never meat though as I've been vegetarian for many years. We're not much ones for processed foods so I generally cook from scratch.

Tonight will be a rush as I'm teaching tonight so it'll be a stir fry. I've already done most of the preparation work so it should only take a few minutes and I am cheating and using one of Waitrose's chilled stir fry sauces.....

Oh, and even though I cook most nights anyway, I definitely find it more onerous cooking for houseguests. There's more pressure to make it really delicious, plus you have to make larger quantities, take more preferences/restrictions into account, timing is often more important...

I often just have toast, a bagel or panini for dinner.

I cook most nights but we generally only have a very light lunch. If we have a bigger lunch for some reason then I don't do a full evening meal.

This weeks meals: Sunday - lasagne, Monday, fish pie with green salad, Tuesday chicken casserole with rice, tonight steak and kidney pudding with mixed veg, tomorrow we are going out so will probably have a nice lunch and that means evening meal will be cheese and biscuits, Friday not decided yet but may be prawn risotto....

Maddie that looks like meat 7 out of 7 days to me

I always cook in the evening too. It's normal to do so in France.

Actually we have a cooked meal at lunch time AND in the evening, just like all french people have.
A cooked meal doesn't have to have potatoes in (we rarely have some) or meat (it can be vegetarian).

For me, I would only eat a yogurt in the evening if I had been munching away during the afternoon. Otherwise I would be starving.

Note too that having a cooked meal doesn't mean the meal has to be heavier or heavier in calories etc...
A non cooked meal with a sandwich, crisps and biscuits etc... can be heavier in calories than a cooked meal full of veg etc...