Aibu to not buy a cooker if I have a child to cook for?

[Jojorichards]

I split up with partner a few months ago and just moved into our house just two of us.
I won't lie its cost a fortune and just paid £800 for carpets.
At the moment I can't afford a cooker so I've bought a mini oven with grill and 2 hot plates all powered by electricity.
Both of those was only £65 and I can cook a roast/cake/fry a egg/pasta ..basically everything you would want to cook can be done.
My partner came around to collect our child and sneered at me for not having a cooker,as if I was neglecting our child.
Please tell me I'm not being stupid?
Il try and upload pics of what I have.
So far I've cooked a roast ,Victoria sponge,fried breakfast,pasta.

In view of his sneering I wouldnt let your ex over the threshold again.
Do handovers at the door.
Its your house not his.
If it wasnt the cooker he'd find something else, my friends ex would comment on a mark on the ceiling, or what rooms he thought the dcs should have, he had never lived in that house, she got it after they split.

My DD used an oven like that with hob for years. The only moan she had was having to cut pizza in half to make it fit in. Your DD is obviously being fed well so dont worry

He has daughter sat /Sunday night.
Asked what they ate
Pizza Hut and kfc!!

What an absolute arse he's being. You can cook absolutely everything with the equipment you have. I actually don't see the point of spending on a cooker even when you have the money unless you particularly want one.

I cook every day, have a constantly-hungry teenager, and have one ring, a slow cooker, and a tiny toaster oven. We eat very well.

Tell him that if he's that bothered he can buy you a full size one, and pay the fuel bills. I suspect he'll suddenly lose interest.

Is there a chance your ex is disappointed to see how well you're managing with out them, so picking on any little thing to make you doubt yourself? Don't let them do that to you!

Like everyone else, a rare mumsnet thing, I think it looks totally fine just ignore his nonsense. Sounds like you are doing great.

That's a hob and an oven. What else do you need?

Forget sparkly tat until you have a savings cushion. Kids under 5 won't notice tatmas anyway, kids older can understand that food, shelter, clothes come first.

Your ex is a idiot. We had a baby Belling when DS was a baby and it was fine for us. The one you have got looks good,and it does everything you need it to do which is all that matters. As pp have said he is just looking for things to undermine you about, tell him to sod off!
You are doing great with your new home 🏡 especially without him in it!

Ignore the smug, insensitive twat.

Congratulations to you and your child on moving in to your new flat - I hope this will be a great new beginning for you.

My DH used to live in a tiny rented studio flat in London before we married, and there was only room in the kitchen area for the two products that you have just bought, rather than a regular sized oven and grill. Despite that, we managed to cook some lovely meals, and cakes, pies and crumbles. We even cooked meals for my family too when they visited (5 of us altogether), and it wasn’t a problem - the problem we had was finding room for them to sit!

It sounds as though you’ve cooked and baked some lovely food already. You and your child are not missing out.

He is really having to scrape the old insult barrel 'The meals you prepare for daughter, that you raise practically by yourself, is cooked on a slightly smaller than average cooking apparatus' what a cockwobble. I would have laughed in his bitter little face.

@jojorichards

I am sorry to ask again, but why is this ex (the father of your child,) not buying you a cooker (or at least giving you half towards it!) I mean, not only is he attacking you for not having a cooker, but it's his child too!

Yeah re the carpets. You could carpet a (small) house on 4 or 500 if they were basic naff carpets that you may expect to see in the hallway of a cheap office building. But if you want fairly OK quality, it would cost at LEAST £800. My friend has just had an average sized 2 bed bungalow carpeted with a medium quality carpet - about £9 a sq metre, and THAT cost a grand!

So yeah, £800 is an acceptable amount.

Do the 2, plus your slow cooker, mean that you can provide what is needed for DD and yourself by way of hot, nutricious food? As and when it is needed?

Yes?

I thought so.

Can I ask, what hot nutricious food is exDP providing for DD back in the old house with the old cooker that only has 2 rings working anyway?

Dare I ask if he actually does provide any food? And if he does, is it actually hot and nutricuious and filling? When DD needs it?

It sounds like you are doing absolutely fine - organizing yourself, planning ahead and looking after the 2 of you!!

Well if it bothers him that much he could always buy a cooker for you. Idiot.

OP, that setup is perfectly ok , you can cook hot food on it, what more do you need!

I rarely cook for the DC as they have cooked school dinners every day so tea tends to be sandwiches or beans on toast , there is no need for cooked food at every meal.

He wouldn't buy a cooker,he would rather complain that I don't have one.

I agree that he doesn't get to pass your threshold again.

He has some flaming nerve if he isn't even cooking for her, let alone feeding her JUNK food!!

I used to like the TV cook Jennifer Patterson of the Two fat Ladies if you remember her. She wrote about how she used to cook fancy meals for 6 on a baby belling, in one of her first jobs working for a family abroad. Cooking good meals on a small stove is just about having the skills and know how.

I've had this set up (small lakeland oven plus a separate one ring induction hob) for the last 4yrs.

You can't (easily)cook a huge Xmas dinner, and you need to be mindful of bakeware sizes, but it's more than adequate for feeding two.

tell the ex to go and take his face for a shit

Howling.

We had a Baby Belling between ten people in halls at university. It was fine though pizzas were a challenge, we had to cut them into slices before we could cook them.

I think you have made very sensible choices.
Except one: letting your ex into your new place. Keep him on the doorstep from now on.

If this is the worse thing he can throw at you OP I think you’re doing ok . Enjoy remembering all the reasons he’s an ex in all the time you’re not cleaning or thinking about cleaning an oven!

For a small household you’re doing yourself an economical favour. Smaller oven cavity to heat will use much less energy. You’re being eminently sensible.

Enjoy cooking:)

New carpets win over a bigger oven any day. Especially with a child

And especially with a concrete floor - they are bitterly cold without a decent carpet covering.

He has daughter sat /Sunday night
Asked what they ate
Pizza Hut and kfc!!

To be fair on him, they do have very big ovens!