to hate food shopping / menu planning?

[SouthernNorthernGirl]

It stresses me no end. I always draw a blank, and it's so boring.
I used to love it, and would go out and buy what I wanted, then come back and plan it into meals.

Now I just wing it, or hope my DH will sort it. However, I think that I'm possibly taking the piss, as I am a SAHM and should really take this one on myself.

AIBU to leave my DH to do it, after he works full time? Or should I be stepping up here? If so, please help with tips.

[The80sweregreat]

i hate cooking - its just neverending. Buying it all, unpacking it all, then having to cook and clear up - some people get a kick out of it all, i just don't!

[SouthernNorthernGirl]

sweet Yes, I think it is the fussy eater aspect. My eldest eats everything, and would try it all. My younger two are fussy beyond anything, and I think I got quite annoyed with it all.

[sweetbitter]

The interesting thing is that you say you use to love it but now you hate it OP - what changed? Fussy eaters / been doing it for too long / sheer quantity of meals to prepare?

I enjoy meal planning and shopping on the whole, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it. Those weeks I tend to just go to the supermarket and buy really generic stuff (mince, chicken breasts, pork chops, basic veg for side dishes) and a few interesting things that are on offer or catch my eye, and just wing it throughout the week. Its usually fine.

[SouthernNorthernGirl]

Ah, so pleased I didn't get flamed.

All meals planned, including lunches, and I've bought the food for it all. DH is cooking 2 of the meals, and I'll be doing the rest.

I'll be having a look for that magazine too, seems to be a good one. In regards to HelloFresh, it sounds lovely, though I bet it's too expensive for us.

Thanks for the recipe ideas

[londonmummy1966]

I hate it too - weekend newspapers often have interesting recipes so I try to make one of those each week and if it works and is faff free I'll stick it in my notebook.About once a month I look through the notebook to see if there's something I liked and haven't cooked for a while.

Agree with batch cooking especially bolognese sauce. I freeze in portions for 2 and then it can be a quick post school pasta supper if I'm going out or I can bulk it out with a tin of beans and mash to make a cottage pie or a tin of beans, fresh chilli and rice.

I always have several cartons of passata to hand for pasta bake or to heat with chopped onion, beans and chorizo over rice. (yum). It also makes a good cooking sauce for chicken thighs/drumsticks and Mediterranean veg.

[blackteasplease]

I use the odd hello fresh box to give me some ideas, but I do work full time so it's an OK expense. Not every week though. You can view their recipes on line without buying boxes though.

I don't mind menu planning but for some reason my exh used to think it was terribly unreasonable of me to even think about a meal before jt was time to eat it!

[dreamingofsun]

slow cooker. I know some people dont like them here, but for those days you dont have time or just cant be bothered they are a godsend. Just chuck it in and mix and you have dinner.

Does DH like BBqs? Mine does that during the summer and then i'm keen again to cook in the winter...by springtime i'm sick of it again

[zukiecat]

I don't plan menus at all

I buy the food when I get paid, and we just decide on the day what we want to eat

I would find it incredibly hard to plan it week by week and say we're having this particular meal on a set day

[haba]

I agree, meglet, having to come up with 14 meals a week is an utter fuckers! Especially when one child won't eat what the other will. Well, one child will barely eat anything other than texmex...

[mammmamia]

I absolutely love the randomiser and the ZFD!
MN is great today!

[Katyazamo]

Another vote for hello fresh. Tried it recently and think it's brilliant.

[DooRight]

It is a pain - but it can save you a fortune.....

we used to waste & throw so much food away - before we started doing this..

This, and switching from Tesco to Aldi saved us (me, DP & 2 D(S)S) 30 to 50 quid a week.. - so unless you have money to burn, it's better to persevere .. sorry if it's not what you want to hear...

[Constantlurker]

Another vote for hello fresh. DH and I love it. I don't find it all that much more expensive than a regular shop, we get something completely different every time that I would never think of cooking. we do 4 days a week so Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun as they are the days I can be most bothered to cook from scratch. I then do an online order for cheap and easy/fast meals for Mon-Weds. Feel less guilty about eating plain boring stuff of I know the rest of the week is exciting.

I keep all the recipe cards and there are at least 10 that we go back to time and again.

This totally sounds like I work for hello fresh, I genuinely don't I just bloody love it. I am also 6 months pregnant and I feel like it's helping me eat a really balanced diet with lots of veggies each day. (So when I have a craving for chip shop chips at lunch time I don't feel so bad!!).

[megletthesecond]

Yanbu. A decade of lone parenting and I am bored beyond belief with food. Summer holidays are even worse because they don't have school dinners.

[chaplin1409]

I feel your pain. I hate meal planning but also as a sahm mum I need to be the one that does it. It's boring and hard as the kids all like different foods and all have different activities in the evening.
I do like the idea of making a list of meals we eat and then picking from that.
I also have the while guilt thing of using jars and not making it all myself.

[quercuscircus]

I feel your pain OP!

Perhaps a bit of batch cooking would help? So you only have to think and cook 4 meals instead of 7 for example.

We sometimes do beef mince in a tomato sauce with pasta one day then reheat the mince with added spices to make chilli the next day or day after. Or put in the freezer. It never comes out exactly the same way twice is it doesn't get dull for us!

I also try to cook the main meal earlier in the day and set to one side/ put on the fridge as I've no brain power or energy left by later on. And/ or eat a bigger breakfast/ lunch.

As PP said, definitely having food you can 'assemble' rather than cook helps!

Anything to reduce the thinking and effort!!

[BertieBotts]

I errm wrote a complicated program to randomise it all for me

Then I pick from that and it makes it more fun.

I started off with a random number generator and lists of seasonal food from eattheseasons.

[skyzumarubble]

It's so dull.

I have a subscription to good food which helps with ideas but the monotony gets right on my nerves.

[RefuseTheLies]

I use HelloFresh as have a million other things I'd rather be doing than meal planning.

[ethelfleda]

I'm with you here - I used to love it but I can't be bothered at the minute and have no patience!
I recommend the following:

BBC good food website
Batch cooking so you can grab something out of the freezer the night before
Have a ZFD night every week (zero fucks dinner) of frozen brown shite with loads of mayo and eat healthily the rest of the week

I've been buying loads of salad stuff and just having that with quiche or vegetable samosas or something easy to cook... at least it's sort of healthy! I know I'll get my zest back for cooking at some point. Until then I'm just ordering from Tesco online every week and ordering easy to make stuff!
Fresh ravioli and fresh sauce is a good one and really easy too.

[PumpkinPie2016]

It is a bit boring I have to admit - I quite enjoy cooking but during term time I am so busy that time is limited so that makes it hard. Has to be done though!

We generally and up having similar things each week but I make an effort to try something new/different at weekends.

[Dixiebell]

Sound exactly like me, I used to love creating meals, but now that I have to do it for several fussy children and try planning with a toddler hanging round my ankles, it has become a chore. I can recommend trying Hello Fresh or Gousto or similar if you fancy a week off! It's a pricey way of doing it, although they usually have a 50% off starting offer and you are able to pause subscriptions. Probably not good environmentally either. But it's v satisfying to have all the exact right ingredients for a recipe without having to think about it or buy it yourself!

[Violetcharlotte]

It's dull, but I do spend much less when I meal plan and feel more organised too as I know what I'm cooking each night. Pinterest is good for recipe ideas.

[JaceLancs]

I don't meal plan I'm afraid
Our diet is dictated by what is found on the reduced counter and eaten when I have time to cook it!
None of us are fussy eaters though and I do have 2 big freezers
Last night we had a mixed grill with veg tonight is pizza and salad
If I find ingredients cheap that I can make into something freezeable I batch cook so always have chilli, curry etc in
If I find cheap mince I will make homemade burgers or meat balls n freeze too