To hate having to think of dinner

[Lovethetimeyouhave]

I'm so fed up, I don't mind actually cooking the meal, but the thinking up of what to have for the entire week has begun to bore me! I try and do new meals and use Pinterest but I'm so fed up.

So aibu to ask for any of your ideas for the following week? I need to do the online shop so it can come tomorrow! The fridge is empty

We have a different nationality of food every night. So even if I don’t know exactly what to cook, I have some idea, which helps.

Mon: Italian (vegan meatballs/pasta)
Tues: Mexican (tacos or burrito bowls)
Wed: South East Asian (curry & rice)
Thu: American (vegeburgers & carrot fries)
Fri: Australian (homemade veggie mince pies, mustard mash & peas)
Sat: Arabic (buffet with falafels, hummus, etc)
Sun: English (vegan version of roast dinner).

It’s the mental load of it I really resent. The endless thinking ahead and never being in the moment.

Actually, hang on, I resent the physical labour of shopping too. No car, all by hand, trudge trudge. I love walking but I don’t love carrying heavy bags.

Feel like going on strike!

Great thread!! I've written up some of your meal ideas on notepad on my phone. Also feeling inspired to batch cook some portions for the freezer ,usually if I'm working late my DP will just have a plate of oven chips or a ready meal as he is lazy! But they cos about £3 each whereas I'm sure I could do several portions of chilli (his fave) for the same price. My fave idea out of the lot so far is pizza chicken, gonna do that tonight with new potatoes and corn on the cob

Gosh I get this. I used to love cooking then just ground to a halt, and it was the constant planning as much as anything that got me down. I’d be happy never to cook again. Two things have helped: DH isn’t working and has taken over most of the cooking; and we do get three meals a week from Hello Fresh - pricey but you get a lot of variety and can reuse the recipes you like.

We eat the same food multiple days in a row - we don’t mind. (Though DD is only little and may make her opinion known soon!) So yesterday I made a lentil and ham soup (lentils, ham, stock, onions) that was dinner, my lunch today, and our dinner tonight. And maybe a portion for the freezer. Chicken thighs and drumsticks is another one that’s easy to do in bulk.

On weekends it’s pizza/takeaways/eating out.

The remaining days will be something like baked salmon with veg or homemade schnitzel with salad.

I saw something on TV a while ago that said the people in the UK have on average 5 recipe books, but cook 7 recipes on rotation.

I can believe it!

Stargirl90 here is the link. Once I forgot to cook the chicken in the frying pan first and now do this all the time as it didn't make any difference. Just cook it longer!
I don't have garlic powder, usually just leave it out or can put in crushed garlic

When I've got my shit together I do a three week meal plan, there's only me though, and an occasional friend so I don't have to take into account anyone else's tastes.

I have 2 shelves of cookbooks and recipe books including a 'recipe records' book where I write down any 'inventions'.

I put the recipe book name and p number on the planner, I then check the fridge and cupboards and make my shopping list. I've recently started using the local butcher and green grocer so use the supermarket for everything else.

@Ouch44 thankyou!! Gonna pop to Sainsbury's today and make this tonight

We did this once: happymoneysaver.com/making-50-freezer-meals-in-one-day

You spend the whole weekend preparing meals and then put them all in the freezer but then you don't need to cook for basically two months. It.was.amazing. We dropped our daughter off at her grandma's and me and my husband both cooked like crazy. It was exhausting but so worth it to have dinner ready prepared every day.

#Charm that all sounds so tasty and it's made me hungry! X

I struggle with this too.

Have recently been batch freezing stuff, this dahl from the Jamie Oliver book for example as the children eat bland stuff..which they like. It gets boring doing the same old things.

Have recently also discovered these bagged frozen meals from Waitrose which you can pep up with some extras, the Kedgeree with extra eggs for example, which helps a bit...they are on special offer at the moment as well.

www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-frozen-smoked-haddock-kedgeree/504751-486495-486496

We’ve been doing hello fresh and gousto, makes a nice change

I hate cooking, hate shopping and hate meal planning.

Luckily it's only me and one DC who's a pretty good cook. I don't eat the main carbs so if we are eating together it needs to be something I can adapt. Sometimes I just buy chicken and let him get of with deciding what to make with it.

Usual meals are:
Steak and salad
Spag bol (Swede and carrot mash for me)
Burgers and salad (No buns for me)
Omelette
Fajitas
Tomatoes, avcardo, bacon and cheese salad.
Roast
Veg, bacon or chicken in a cheese sause.

Basically anything that takes less than 15 minutes.

We wrote a meal plan that lasted 3 weeks and now it runs on repeat. 21 days is long enough between meals to not feel like we're having it too often. Most meals are from Joe Wickes books so they take very little time to prepare/cook. Keeps prices down and no one feels like they're deciding what to buy or cook anymore.

I am going to go through all of the posts, write a list on pretty paper, and stick on the fridge!

Somebody upthread mentioned skin on chicken breasts - would love to know where you get them from as can only ever find skinless.

I was feeling like that, so ordered a gousto box (got 50% off so not too expensive) it has given me some new ideas - what worked especially well was I forgot to cancel it so I got sent a random box, there was a couple of meals I would never have ordered that have made it in to my regular menu. I plan to order from them 2 or 3 times a year now, 1 to give me a break from meal planning and 2 to shake things up a bit

Me, I hate it too. I used to really enjoy it and I have lots and lots of cookery books. Five fussy DC and a DH have sucked the joy out of it for me. There isn't a single meal that I make now that at least one of them doesn't complain about. Big, huge sigh.

Oh it's soooo boring! complications in our family is that DH doesn't eat meat and both kids quite fussy and dislike different things, eg one loves potatoes and hates pasta and vice versa. Added to that their activities means that I need to cook something quick on at least two days of the week.

I usually cook in the week and DH during weekends. Our best go to recipes are:
Salmon in filo pastry with thai filling (Delia Smith recipe)
Salmon with miso paste and noodles
Fish pie
Sushi (if we can be bothered)

For the kids who eat meat there seem to be a lot of bloody chicken! Current favourite is chicken in nando sause and rice

I find the quick cook turkey steaks are good! they cook so quickly and are really easy to coat in flour, breadcrumbs and taco/nando spices to create a quick dish

I try and vary the potato dishes, so sometimes roasties, sometimes chips, sometimes mash (hated by one DC) and sometimes fried potatoes (liked by both yeah)

I love this thread! Only 3 of us here, me DH and ds who is 2, I do all the cooking. Ds will eat most things but loves bolognese, sausages, beans etc
DH thinks dinner should be something handy. No idea what that is and he hates “messy dinners” so basically any sort of meat(except chicken/turkey) with potatoes and tinned peas. I hate tinned peas. I love messy dinners.
I fucking HATE dinner time!
Some great ideas on here though

If you write down every meal you eat for a month, just on your calendar, you'll have a one month menu plan already made. You just have to get through one month. If you can remember what you've eaten for the last two weeks you'll be halfway there.

NightOwlHoney
I know how you feel

yoko how old are your kids? I don't really pander to fussy eaters tbh. I don't deliberately cook things people don't like but I'm not going to faff about making things just because they've decided they don't like pasta or noodles or whatever.

Oh forgot soups, best thing for winter, me and DH always eat soup on a Monday. Usually just a veggie one with lentils. Onion, garlic, potato and carrots, chopped tomatoes and lentils and of course stock! a pinch of sugar and or curry powder works well too