Do you hate having to choose whats for dinner every day

[Flowers24]

Every day its the same, every week Monday draws around and i do the weekly shop, maybe its the lockdown life but fed up of it all and just cant think of new ideas all the time, is it just me?

I'm the same. I have depression and have little interest in food or cooking. We're just had 3 weeks of intro offer on Gousto and it has been amazing.

My people!! I fecking hate it! The minute folks put their knives and forks down the next meal needs head space 😩😩

Yep, I bloody hate it .
I ask for recommendations but it’s always the same damn things . I also have one vegan in the family so have to take that into account too even though he cooks one or two nights a week.
We did do Hello fresh for a couple of months but even that got laborious as I’m used to just going on autopilot while cooking rather than having to keep checking the recipe .

My husband is between jobs for two weeks and suggested we have bbq this evening.

The look on his face when I said "sure, if you nip to the shops and sort out the food, I'm working".

BBQ is the worst kind of faff for two people as well. Ooh, let's build a fire like a caveman and sit here sweating our tits off whilst a bunch of meat we wouldn't have chosen to eat normally gets inadequately cooked.

I pointed out that takeaway was easier!

My dd did the intro to Hello Fresh and cooks quite often when she's at home.
A stupid question but why do all this planning and putting up with fussy eaters too? It just makes life hard.
Don't want what's on offer do without or get your own.
Be spontaneoius decide the night before, or even the same day.
Get your husbands and kids to cook a few times a week. Let them plan the meals.
Why are women doing things they don't like or want to?

My kids are a bit young to cook at 5 and 2 and DH is home from work at dinner time for the kids (we prefer to eat together when possible) so there's no real option. Preparing "kids meal" separately won't improve long term eating habits and would just double the planning!

@randomsabreuse

My kids are a bit young to cook at 5 and 2 and DH is home from work at dinner time for the kids (we prefer to eat together when possible) so there's no real option. Preparing "kids meal" separately won't improve long term eating habits and would just double the planning!

Does he plan and cook at weekends, holidays etc? I hope so, it's not right to leave it up to one person, I'd have hated that.

At weekends it's often me as tbh I'd rather delegate keeping the children from killing each other than cooking, and it's easier than doing both.

I didn't mind cooking and meal planning/shopping until lockdown followed by Brexit made shopping much less consistent. My biggest bugbear is peppers which are essential for a couple of our low effort meals - since January they generally need eating on day of purchase or next day or they go off, massively reducing the flex in my menu planning!

Hopefully once we move (offer agreed just trundling through the legal process with an institutional seller) to a much bigger house I will have more freezer and cupboard space.

Why not just post what you are having this week, those that meal pla, and everyone else can steal their ideas?

Today - chicken meatballs and pasta
Wednesday - prawn curry
Thursday - chicken and mushroom casserole
Friday - crab spaghetti

Is my potential ones so far. Wouldn't necessarily have chicken twice and never pasta twice but I'm using what I have to avoid going shopping chicken is cooked in different ways and the pasta is different each time.

Yes! Yes!! And Yes!!!
That's why I was glad for the times I had Hello Fresh as I didn't have to decide.

As I have no children at home only boomerang kids- I’m thinking of saying ‘you lot can do what you like...’

I hate this so much. When I'm home alone I order a ready made sandwich platter from Ocado or Waitrose, a multipack of crisps and some prepared fruit pots and that does me for breakfast, lunch and tea for an entire weekend. Zero choices to make and no washing up.

When I was a kid we had the same seven meals on rotation. Ah sausages, it must be Tuesday! It’s only now I’m a adult that I understand why.

@LouLou789 maybe you could share what those 7 meals were and we can all be inspired! I'm guessing roast on a Sunday...

I actually enjoy searching for & cooking new recipes.
I've got about 80 cookbooks, + a large number of recipes I've printed from the WWW.

I was brought up to know what day of the week it was by what was on my plate . I've never done that. Apart from Sundays - usually a roast so I don't have to think about it.

Yes!!! I love cooking but coming up with idea is sooooo boring and repetitive. DP is useless so I have to do it all. I even tell him to literally just pick an ingredient so I can make a meal out of it eg, tofu or pasta or (vegan) sausages whatever he fancies and he just goes.... I don’t know.

@FergusSingsTheBIues

I ask my family what they want over the next week and they think I’m being amazingly nice (normally I never consult!)

But I’ve just run out of ideas really

Apparently the average family has a meal rotation of 9 dinners - we probably double that but still a massive chore

We have about 4 😂

God, yes, I hate it. My DH almost never cooks. DD1 is pescatarian. DD2 is just picky (and doesn't like anything DD1 will eat). They complain about the "rotation" but so little is acceptable. We do takeout one night (supporting the local businesses) and alternate with my DPs one night and honestly those nights save my sanity. I like the idea of posting our go to meals. Mine are:
Salmon with pesto pasta
Macaroni cheese with sausages
Tacos with taco spiced black beans for DD1
Fish pie
Vegetarian shepherds pie using beef-like veggie crumbles (not bad if seasoned a lot)

It's even more difficult when you are on a very tight budget and sometimes have to rely on a food bank. Don't get me wrong it's a God send but we have to use a lot of tins and not much fresh food. Luckily this week we got a bag with potatoes,a couple of onions,a carrot and some apples.
Tonight I'm making a kind of potatas bravos. Fried potatoes,onions,some sausage meat from a couple of sausages that were in freezer,chickpea and spice's. Luckily I'm not a bad cook so can usually rustle up something.

Our rotation of dinners is usually
Fajitas/wraps or nachos
Pesto pasta
Spaghetti and meatballs
Baked potatoes and fillings
Something on toast-beans,eggs,spaghetti hoops,cheese etc.

Snacks are wraps,sandwiches,pitta breads,toast and jam and cheap fruit like apples or bananas.

@MyOtherProfile It wasn’t very inspiring as it was the 1960s. Actually no roast.
Monday Liver
Tuesday Sausages
Wednesday Mince and Dumplings
Thursday Fried fish
Friday Tripe (yes, really)
Saturday Homemade meat pie
Sunday spaghetti and tomato sauce (homemade...first nod to modernity)

I am lucky, DH makes (heats up) our dinners. I have not nor have ever had any interest in cooking. If I was on my own (God forbid) I'd have cheese and soup and toast most nights! As it is, we have a lot of M&S ready meals and easy stuff like smoked haddock and sausages.

Hate it so much as the only cook in the house

Saturday morning I spend looking at recipes etc to try at least two new ones per week so I don't die of boredom. Then ask the DH and DS to fill out the rest of the meals. Also cross reference with school lunches so no duplication (I would eat Katsu curry twice in one day but DS less likely)

I am also the only fuckin adult working so do get up at 0630 and come home at 1800 and then cook is like torture

Today is grilled salmon in sesame with rice, broccoli, and miso soup.

Tomorrow is DH’s turn so it will be some form of pasta (as he is chronically lacking in food imagination).

After that it’s anybody’s guess as we have to finish the supermarket order.