To think people aren't too tired just lazy... dinner

[user1493819825]

I get that once a week maybe or even twice, people have had long days, myself included, out since 8/9am this morning, and get home not bothered to cook a big meal.... though isn't it just like washing? We need to eat, we need to wash, myself included i fell into a rut of eating crap (oven baked) food like breaded chicken oven chips, beans etc cause i was ''too tired'' to cook dinner, when in a matter of fact i was just lazy....

Seen someone comment back to something similar earlier, saying 'bloody hell people nowadays are too tired to cook a meal for themselves' what is the world turning into?
Not going against anybody, i've been guilty of it too and i can admit it was pure laziness.. it takes only a few minutes to throw together a quick/fresh/homemade meal..

my sister is still like that, 5 nights out of 7 she's too 'tired' to cook, even if i offer shed rather buy a takeaway or eat a disgusting cheap oven pizza :S ( i know loads are nice)

i cook a proper meal from scratch every day -except for today when I had afternoon meetings and bought a roasting breast of chicken from m&S and accompanying veg.

But I currently work from home. From 2005-2013 I worked and commuted long distances. DS was born late 2009. I would be up Monday am at about 5, get on a commuter plane to a Major European Capital. Work pretty much 24 hours a day until Thursday lunchtime, then home for a 'long weekend'. I was pretty tired. Did not manage to cook a proper meal more than once in a week.

Guess the Op would say I only worked 'part time'.

I do the whole 'buy a chicken at the weekend, use leftovers for a curry, batch cook chilli, bologna set, dhal & freeze etc' thing.

I also do a meal plan every week, based on there being two nights in a school week when I get home from meetings too late to do anything useful with the time between 6-7pm except batch cook from scratch.

On the other 3 nights, it's batchcooked freezer stuff with rice/pasta/noodles when I get back from a post work swim.

I chuck together a salad whilst the carbs are cooking & the freezer stuff in microwave - or pan if I actually remembered to defrost it that morning.

Kids talk me into a once a week takeaway.

However, we are in Forn Parts where fresh veg & salad is amazingly cheap & ready meals not even a thing. Plus I like cooking & find it a good wind down activity on the relaxed nights when I get home late.

I lose any home cooking Smug Points by being incapable of ironing & having scruffy kids. Also, I have a housekeeper to buy the food in in the first place & do all the cleaning...

Each to their own. Can't see that my chilli from the freezer plus rice plus a salad chopped by my own fair hands is going to taste different or be more nutritious than if I lived in the UK & bought a ready made chilli & bagged salad on way home!

Everyone is fed. One way is cheaper, the other is less faff. Really not an issue.

I left the house at 7.30am this morning and got back at 9.30pm after a full day of school runs/work/training for a cross channel swim.

I just ate a packet of peanuts for dinner.

Yes, you're right op, it's lazy. WTF is wrong with being lazy though?

@UppityHumpty seems to like to troll threads. Dumped onto another thread shit stirring, so I wouldn't feed the troll. With either home cooked from scratch troll food or a microwave ready meal

I left the house at half 9 this morning and in at 8.30 (so not long compared to some people) and I can't be doing with cooking from scratch every evening. Waste of wind down time for me. When I'm working I often go to the gym after so the last thing I want when i get in hungry is faffing. I usually season some chicken/other meat before work and get someone to bung in oven for me (am lucky) and do rice quick. Or I have leftovers I've frozen, or quick stir fries or pastas and veg and tomato sauce that I chuck on the heat as I get changed. Certainly wouldn't be doing a full sausage and mash dinner or similar when i get home. Prep is key though and i try to do as much as I can before leaving in morning, like chopping veg etc. I used to work longer hours (out of house for 11 plus hours) and no way would I cook after that. Just seems to Me a waste of gym and relaxing time. I do like cooking and cook lovely not rushed things on the weekend but I don't love it enough to let it dominate my evening. You don't have to cook from scratch each night or have takeaway, there are other options. Egg or beans on toast, pasta and pesto with some veg thrown in, soup and a sandwich, pasta and a stir in sauce, supermarket prepared chicken and rice, stir fries etc. I'm sorry and only my opinion, but uppity, 3-4 hrs a night isn't enough, it'll take it's toll on your body. It's not healthy, only me, but id never be sacrificing my health for the sake of a 'proper meal'. I'm not perfect, some nights I get in knackered and get takeaway or others I've been so tired (previous job doing 15hr shifts plus commute) so tea has been a bowl of cereal or a banana

livia its $6.99 for a huge bird at the supermarket and $4.99 at Costco for an even bigger one.

My shepherds pie has a lot of veg in it. I also use sweet potato instead of regular potato. Ironically I buy a 10lb bag from Costco (someone earlier on here mentioned 10lb bags of spuds).

My goal is to get 3 adults and 3 DC fed. It's not fancy but it's edible and nutritional ok. My plan has us eating 5 veg, 2 fruit and s good amount of protein. DH sabotages!!!

Wow MadeIn1995 are you a med student or London City professional?

I don't think you have to cook every night, the concept is quite daft. DC have school dinners so they'll have a sandwich or toast with hummous etc. I don't eat, so DH doesn't batch cook per say, but if he makes say cottage pie, there's always potatoes and mince left so he can fill Tupperware / foil trays so there's meals that you literally defrost and reheat. That's just one example, if he makes stew at the weekend, it'll feed 3 over 2 days, then there's enough left to freeze. So on days when DC have stuff on, he'll get the food out the night before, by morning put it in the fridge, then just heat in the evening. It's not difficult. At the moment he's watching what he eats, so last week it was noodles from the Chinese shop in different flavours. Or another easy meal is pasta bake which he'll add salad to for lunches. There's always naan breads, garlic bread, Pitta bread etc in the freezer that you just have to put in the oven.

When I had my first house, we would be at the shops most nights, the waste was crazy. Especially in summer when it was salad season. Now our waste is minimal.

I cook at work. I take leftovers home. I'm too lazy to cook another big meal from scratch.

What are these 'proper' meals that everyone cooks that doesn't involve an oven?

My mind is blown.

Almost all my cooking involves an oven. I've just bought a swanky one for my new dream kitchen. Mine broke last year and it was a week before it could be fixed. I was bereft - after stir fry, curry and stroganoff I was lost!

But meat/fish oven baked/roasted/grilled with boiled or roasted veg is my go to meal. And in my mind counts as cooking from scratch although I will buy a jointed chicken or gutted (sometimes filleted) fish, because life is too short

What are you all cooking on the hob?

*Look, apologies to anyone who got offended, i clearly love food too much to waste my dinner having processed food, i think thats it tbh!

I'm a bit of a food snob i think, so always need to cook something.*

What about those of us who have no interest in food?

I don't have any appetite at dinner time, if I don't want to eat anything, then I sure as hell can't be arsed to cook!! And as I'd rather clean the toilet than cook, I have no interest in forcing myself to cook just for the sake of it.

We can't have DC so why should we cook when it's just the two of us anyway?!

Biro

Paella is a good hob meal. Lots of people have slow cookers so do the prep the night before or in the morning and leave it to cook the stew type meal while they are at work - experienced slow cooker users can make all sorts of things with little effort and no oven involved.

What are you all cooking on the hob?

Poached fish is nice, and quick
Yesterday, I made base of tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, onions and chorizo, and then laid fillets of cod on top, which cooked while the casserole bubbled away underneath. The fish was cooked in under 10 mins, and the casserole was delish
I also add various combinations of olives, celery, spinach, diced carrots etc to bulk it out
Needs 1 pan, 1 chopping board, 1 knife, so not much clearing up to do either

What are these 'proper' meals that everyone cooks that doesn't involve an oven?

What are you all cooking on the hob?

I work full time and have two children under five. Eating a healthy meal every evening is important to me so I make time to cook.

I have a large range cooker but mainly use the hob as it is quicker.

Yesterday I cooked mashed potato, boiled carrots & fried sea bass.

Tonight I am cooking spaghetti bologanise.

Last week I cooked turkey escalope with fried potato & boiled green beans.

Most meals take me around 45 minutes including preparation.

If you are cooking spag bol in 45 minutes, it isn't going to be a very nice spag bol - it needs long cooking!

Nothing so exciting sparkly, I used to work in a children's home where the shifts were 7am until 11pm. Mentally and physically exhausting especially when you have some little utter bastards darlings threatening you, and being aggressive or violent both verbally or physically, so after that cooking definitely wasn't on the agenda! I didn't stay long though.

If you are cooking spag bol in 45 minutes, it isn't going to be a very nice spag bol - it needs long cooking!

You'd hate mine. Mine is about 10 mins! Open pot of ready made bolognaise from Ocado and warm up in pan while cooking spaghetti. Pour over. Eat.

That's perfectly adequate and nicer than anything I'd make myself, my cooking is terrible! DH and I would rather eat a quick spag bol than spend ages cooking one, when it takes just as long to eat it either way.

I only work 15 hours a week and my children are grown up and working full time

I have health issues which means I tire very, very easily and sometimes on my days off all I can do is sleep

Making a meal from scratch is very challenging for me so I only do it very occasionally

There is a butcher in the city centre that does chicken breasts in different flavoured coatings so I stock up on those, freeze them and cook in the oven, then just have Red Slaw, sweetcorn or steamed veg on the side

I do spag bol in 15 minutes too. No need for it to take almost an hour.

Slag Bol takes me about 15 minutes too, dolmio is a great help

Oh Jesus spag bol

Is slag bol what Peggy Mitchell cooks for her boys?

You slaaaaaaaaaaag.

I'm so ashamed

Yes it probably is haha