To hate meal planning?

[NoLeslie]

I am so bored of trying to plan meals. DH did it for a while, now it's my turn again but fuck me its BORING.

One person doesn't eat meat or fish.
One doesn't eat carbs.
One doesn't like soup or eggy stuff or quorn.
One doesn't like pastry or fried stuff.

So far my list is
Day 1 Chilli with meat and chilli with quorn.
Day 2 no idea.

Zzzzz

I totally hate it too - and I just don't want to decide what to eat in a few days' time, I hate thinking about food so far in advance; it might be hot/cold; one of us might be out so the other can have their 'favourite', you might just feel like cheese and biscuits rather than a meal, you might just not want to eat ....... I really find it tedious, which is why I just don't do it more than a couple of meals in advance and I don't think it makes life any harder for me, I am quite happy to wander round the shops after work to see what takes my fancy or is reduced - and I genuinely don't think I spend more that way either.

I've never meal planned in my life, never heard of it till I joined mn, no one I know does it as far as I'm aware. I don't get it really.

Same here. A quick survey at work (to see if I'm normal) revealed noone else does it. They thought it sounded very boring and unnecessary too.

I hate cooking and meal planning now. DD is fussy, DH does shifts so I never know if he’s around and he is also (less) fussy. I’ve given up and just cook the same meals in rotation. If I want something nice that no one else eats I have it at lunchtime when they’re out at work or school. The only person I liked to cook for was DF who ate pretty much anything.

How about:

Sausage and Mash (With Quorn sausages and I'm not sure if carrot/swede mash would work for low carb?)

Burgers, corn on cob and salad (Veggie burgers)

I can't even plan enough to know what to buy and then of course I don't have a shopping list 🙄.

I have a DC with allergies diagnosed late.
They won't eat any 'mixed up food' absolutely no kind of wet/sauce.
So meals are plain meat, plain veg and some kind of carb...

I'm pregnant and gone off meat and DP has to eat meat and calories and disgusting super calorie food or he might wither away 🙄🤔

Basically I've given up and I can't see it getting better

If the vegetarian will eat food that has been cooked with meat that makes it easier as you can just do veggie curries, indian or Thai, the veggie doesn't have the meat and the low carb one just has more veg no rice.

Or fajitas. I have an Iceberg lettuce instead of wrap.

Or meat and 2 veg type meals where the veggie has a bean burger.

I used to love it when I had all the time in the world to cook and eat but now we have a 10 month old I hate it too! If I Didn’t feel so guilty I’d be giving him pouches every day and we would have ready meals!!

But I can’t do it so I have to try and THINK of new things to have and to give him and healthy stuff for us too. Luckily DH isn’t fussy but I just can’t be arsed to cook these days. I sometimes miss the days before I was a parent when it just didn’t matter if you bought a pasta salad from Tesco and ate that in front of the TV.

Now you have to do family meal time which means trying to cook for a decent time!! Early enough for all the bedtime routine malarky and late enough for when DH comes home... which means starting cooking before he gets back with a baby trying his hardest to kill himself with various household objects and a cat that keeps trying to trip me up.

So no - YANBU

I don’t plan at all
We eat whatever I find on the reduced counter or delve in the freezer (more reduced counter overspill)
Sometimes get interesting combinations
DD DS and I are on a diet
I’m gluten free
DP is the fussiest
Tonight DP had steak burgers omelette and coleslaw
Rest of us had king prawn stir fry

Meal planning is necessary for me because 1) I'm a low earner so it means I can budget properly for the week and 2) I don't drive and the supermarket is a 30 minute walk away so I don't fancy having to go when I've finished work to pick up midweek extras. I do one shop at the weekend then I only need to pick up milk and stuff from the corner shop.

Thanks for the meal plans everyone. My DH has IBS and follows the FODMAP diet so now cook the same boring meals without onion and garlic. Bought a 3 in 1 slow cooker so can now cook 3 different meals or versions of same meal - what a sanity saver. Agree with PP since D'S 1 and DS2 it takes longer to cook a healthy meal without us I g slow cooker. Good luck everyone!

I don't mind it, but we have no fussy eaters here. It would drive me insane otherwise.

Thank you @SentToTheSynByn I love cauliflower rice!

If people don't like doing meal plans then why do it? They are not compulsory and most people manage to live without them. If you always have food in the freezer and cupboards you can still keep costs down and not run out of food without making boring plans.

OP try the app called mealime.

You have the option of choosing a diet (vegetarian, gluten free, paleo etc) or else all food, then you put in all the foods you dislike / don't want included.

It then brings up lots of meal suggestions minus the foods nobody eats and lists all the ingredients + the recipes. It's made my life a lot easier.

I hate meal planning with a passion!
I get fed up of thinking of meals. We eat the same 20 meals. I get fed up with thinking. What shall we have this week.
Doesn't everyone?

I hate it even more than ironing and putting it away. And I loathe those two jobs.

I stand in Sainsbury's thinking: Christ, are we going to eat the same AGAIN?
*
Sausages and mash
Fajitas
Burgers
Chicken burgers
Quiche and salad
Steak and salad
Stir fry
Spaghetti & meatballs
Spaghetti Bolognese
Jacket potatoes
Steak/chicken pie & veg
Chilli*
Chicken Curry
Chicken kebabs
Roast beef/lamb/chicken
Pizza
Paella
Chicken fried rice
Fish and chips
Pulled pork
Gammon
Lamb shanks
Cauliflower curry
Shepherds pie
Lasagne
Beef casserole

Fed up of eating these all the time.
*

That's a pretty good list Ob.
I am going to pinch a few ideas.

For the love of god life is too short for this. The tedium of it is just too much. Dinners should not require planning a week ahead.
No wonder women become bored as hell with food preparation and what everyone is going to eat. It's a waste of a life!

When the kids were young I made a list of every meal we had in one column, everyone had to give it a 1, 2 or 3 on the list. 1 was they loved the food, 3 hated it and 2 was not a favourite but would eat it once or twice a month. Problem is that everyone expected to eat their favourite food all the time, a compromise had to be made. It made meal planning much easier. Now the kids are moved out, just me and DH and he eats what's put in front of him!

I meal plan as I try to have a meat free Monday, and then do tuna rice for dh on Fridays. The rest of the time it is mostly the Hairy Bikers diet stuff, or low fat recipes, and meal planning ensures that the freezer contents are used up and the store cupboard contents are used up, and that meals don't get boring.

I like it but I don't pander to anyones tastes. I make what I like and there's usually plenty of side dishes or veg/salad/bread so that even if they don't like part of the meal they like some of it so no one goes hungry.

I only do it for two or three days worth of food as we ha e a big family and I go food shopping or have it delivered every other day or so.

I am a meal planner. I have always been a meal planner. I can't imagine doing anything other.

However I think if they are old enough to make decisions about whether they will eat meat, fish, carbs or whatever then they are old enough to plan and cook their own meals