To be sick of thinking about food all the time

[Ladywinesalot]

We are a family of 7 so organising the food shop and meals is a big deal, as in if it doesn’t get sorted then no one eats.

I take the role on of mainly sorting meals because it’s easier for one of us to know the budget and what is and what isn’t in. But if we are out of some thing and DH is on way home from work I’ll ask DH to pick some bits up.

I did the food shop earlier today for the week and meal planned for the week which is important as the dc are at school and I want them to have good healthy meals for breakfast, packed lunch and dinners.

It’s just bloody exhausting, I’m bored of meals and I feed the dc healthier food then I want. (DH is on a odd diet so sorts himself but I make sure his food is in)

I’m annoyed because I’ve forgotten to get myself anything for dinner but I’ve sorted everyone else’s out.
And I don’t know what to have for dinner either.
DH made me some cheese toast for lunch as I couldn’t think of anything else.

I want something nice to eat!!
Bah I’m grumpy

Definitely nbu. The mental load of organising food is so relentless and boring. I'm not surprised you can't think of anything.

Would it help if I listed a few things I like when I cba with food-thinking?

Stuffed mushrooms or mushrooms and Stilton

Chicken noodle soup from a knorr packet

Crunchy nut cornflakes

Sushi

Bowl of edamame beans with chilli flakes and salt

Crisps and Prosecco

Thanks @MoiraNotRuby
Prosecco and crisps yea please

Would it help to have a basic recurring shopping list of a monthly rota of meals (with as many repeats as you want)? You can always change it if you find a bargain, fancy something different or need to work around an event and add in store cupboard items as they run out and seasonal items but 90% of the planning and thinking is done.

Could you treat yourself and your DH to a takeaway tonight as an early Mother's Day gift?

I just ranted about this to DH. I would be perfectly happy to eat the same food every day, and enjoy special food only when I had the mental energy.

I hate repetitive tasks, and I get so bloody annoyed sometimes when I'm hungry when I fed myself a few hours ago. What's the fucking deal with that? Fucking joke, I tell you.

If prosecco and crisps is on your wavelength, I find a glass of wine and a cheese and charcuterie platter with nice bread or crackers, olives, cornichons, crudites, and fresh figs is a good night off supper. Or a Middle Eastern mezze. Raid the deli counter!

@orangenasturtium I LOVE wine, cheese and nibbles but I’m also trying to diet

Out of interest how old are the kids?
I can't really comment too much- it's just me and ds, so we're a small family- but I get fed up of it falling to me solely too! So I have some really basic cookbooks, and I get ds to pick 2-3 evening meals a week, so that at least he can share some of the load! But he is 11.

I hate food too.

I hate the energy it takes to look in the cupboards/fridge/freezer and come up with 7 meals then make a list of the things we haven't got for those meals, then make a list for all the other things we need like fruit, bread, cereals, eggs etc.
Then I hate either ordering it all online or actually god forbid going to a supermarket. Then unpacking and putting it all away for a bastard child to come in and say
THERES NOTHING TO EAT. I just spent fucking £120 on food. There's plenty to eat.
Or after you have done all the above and prepared a meal someone comes in and says I DONT LIKE THAT

It's a waste of my time, my energy and my money........... I'm done with it.

I have absolutely had enough of being the one who shops (either in person or does the online shop), puts it all away, meal plans based on dates/no waste, takes whatever out of the freezer for dinner that morning, preps it, cooks it, serves it, washes up after it.

Honestly - I have really had enough. It feels like it has been going on forever.

DH sorts out maybe one mea a fortnight, and we have takeaway every fortnight. The rest is down to me. Dc2 has a very restrictive diet, so that has to be catered for separately, so I make two different things for each meal.

Thank god both dc are back at school now as that takes lunches out of the equation.

Easy to prep and cook meals:

Nigella lamb, date and pomegranate tagine with cous cous (so easy)

Fajitas

Homemade pizza sans salad (I make the dough in the kenwood chef in the morning and leave it to stand until dinner time)

Chicken korma

Thai salmon fishcakes and corn on the cob and salad

At work we have a 3 weekly rotating menu so you just write 3 and the shopping lists then it repeats and you can just check off the shopping you need from the list. If 3 week is too soon you could do more weeks so you don't get bored of repetition.

Any other competent adults in those 7? Not snippily- we’re a household of 3 and I’ve outsourced a take away/ week/ snacks/ HelloFresh to the others though. Which takes away a few days worth.
It’s relentless.

YADNBU!! I'm also sick and tired of thinking about food.
To be fair my H does the shopping and most of the cooking but I'm still fed up with it.
We have had a few discounted Hello Fresh and Gousto food boxes recently and have enjoyed them, easy to cook and convenient.

Two years ago I started food shopping every day for this very reason. It helped that we moved opposite a large supermarket!

I also eat the same as the kids (middle child eats his own ASD specific menu) and make sure I cook stuff that I like too. We are having tacos tonight and sushi tomorrow.

I hear you. I tried to get my kids to help
With meal planning but we ended up with mince based dinners 4/7 nights, and they wanted spaghetti Bol twice a week.

33 yrs and counting...
no one has noticed we don't have pasta,rice, potatoes etc more than twice a week and never the same the next day. Also with meat... never chicken in two days running (unless its leftovers)

33 fucking years. I have fine menu planning and I am now back to 'what do we have in' on the day.

Could the children start doing some cooking for the whole family? Would be great for them and help you out! They could pick out a meal to make if old enough and start cooking. I'm sure by 10/11 I would cook a meal for family and by 12 I cooked all my own mostly as went vegetarian. I only have family of 4 and although cooking is something I enjoy the relentlessness of thinking of meals for each day does annoy me especially when my 2 young children don't eat them!!

This is why I missed my holidays last year. The luxury of pitching up at the restaurant, scanning the menu and thinking "what do I fancy?"

The thinking what to eat every single day. I did my online shop last night and couldnt think what to buy. Collected today, looked in the fridge and thought "that lot isnt going to feed us all week"!

At least I know what we are having tonight. The chicken i took out of the freezer too late for last night so we had takeaway

Yup! I really enjoy cooking but I'm sick of thinking for everyone else! How do I know what they fancy? Just tell me sometimes and I'll cook it. But "whatever" and then silence when that arrives is really annoying!

Totally feel your pain. Only three of us here at the mo, but dd and DH have quite different food tastes (DH like big filling dinners like curry, pasta etc, dd is always watching her weight so wants v healthy meals, I'm somewhere in the middle)

I'm just so tired of having to think what to cook. This week I just said to them an hour before I went food shopping "I want a list of 7 meals that you're both happy with for the next week or I'm on strike".

It's not the actual act of cooking that bothers me, I'm a good cook and enjoy it, it's thinking/planning what to have. I'm the easiest to please out of all of us and would happily have something on toast half the week.

Yanbu it is so very boring to think about all the planning, shopping etc. I've just signed up to hello fresh just so I can have a couple of nights a week where everything comes ready to do.

I used to laugh at my mum who when all of us had moved out would have toast for her dinner on the nights my dad worked away but god I do not blame her now. I think the charcuterie boards that a previous poster mentioned will be my go to dinners when it's just me in the future.

Just me and DP and both of us enjoy cooking, but we would usually eat out at least once a week, and finding things to cook that are a bit “special” at weekends is doing my head in. Also all lunches at home instead of popping to Pret on a Friday or the odd Boots meal deal. We’re in Scotland so it’s ages until coffee shops etc open again!