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?

Yes I was just saying last week that if I could just take a three meal pill once a day every so often I would

I'm past it now...I am much older (70 is chasing me down the street, screaming, "WAIT! IT'S ME! I'M HERE!!!"), and have only myself to cook for. Now, for me, that's the real chore! It just doesn't seem worth it to actually cook for just myself, so I often grab a sandwich and a simple salad, and call it done. Or something prepared to throw in the microwave.

But when my boys were young, it was occasionally a chore, but generally a joy. Neither they nor my ex were fussy eaters. I was able to explore and be as creative as I liked. I remember one lovely year when I found a series of cookbooks for cuisine from around the world. Each book had not only recipes, but several sample menus, a bit about the culture of the country, and maps of where different foodstuffs were produced. The boys and I spent most of that year exploring world cuisine. All three of us had a blast, and learned a LOT!

It wasn't so bad prelockdown. DH worked long hours and did a lot of client entertaining so I only had to cook 'properly' at weekends and we'd eat out or get a takeaway at least once most weekends. I would just fridge forage during the week or I'd be out and about myself so I'd pick up a sandwich. Now he is WFH its lunch and dinner every sodding day. He is still working 12 hour days and I'm retired so it's always my turn to cook. I also have to plan ahead a lot more as we only get one grocery deliver a week and what I order 2 weeks in advance isn't what I fancy eating when it arrives.

In someways I'm fortunate that he isn't a fussy eater. With a couple of exceptions he will eat what's put in front of him but OTOH his lack of interest in food makes cooking for him unrewarding. He will tuck in with the same appreciation whether it's a 2 minute omelette or a labour intensive meal with 3 side dishes and a complicated sauce. He appreciates being cooked for but isn't bothered what it is. I'm a really good cook and I miss cooking for people who are equally enthusiastic about food and make a fuss about how good it all is.

We've got family coming over on Sunday for an outdoor Easter lunch and I am so looking forward to making a meal for people who will be impressed and have seconds! It will be worth huddling up in our coats to eat it.

Yes!!! Definitely this is one area I would happily have a robot decide on dinner, order it and make it hahaha

Yes DH refuses to decide what's for dinner and skulks around saying 'what's for dinner' everyday and I say 'I don't know' but inside I'm screaming how the fuck would I know, I'm not your mum why don't you think up, go shopping for and cook something for once!

If you have children /partner get them to pick a meal each week. This week my husband asked for Japanese curry buns last week he asked for sweet katsu chicken curry and coconut rice.

Cooking a different meal every night is way too much pressure and faff. We cook a massive dinner on Sundays and it takes us to Wednesday usually. We have mashed potato, mashed parsnip and carrot mix, shredded cabbage, and some sort of meat - cooked turkey breast or boiled ham. Our fridge keeps it perfectly fresh for the 3 days. My MIL taught me this trick. I thought it was rank at first, until I started doing it and realised how great it is. Our kids are young though and enjoy the traditional dinner - probably not as effective with older kids. To go this route, there also needs to be an acceptance that you're feeding primarily for nourishment as it's obviously not got the excitement factor. The rest of the evenings, they have something else - pasta with a sauce I have made and frozen. We only ever "get creative" on weekends. We both work full time, but I can say the kids are nourished well and we don't end up having to rely on less healthy short cuts during the week as it's all there already. "What's for dinner tonight" being a daily question when I am juggling everything else? F*ck that.

@Mummabear89

If you have children /partner get them to pick a meal each week. This week my husband asked for Japanese curry buns last week he asked for sweet katsu chicken curry and coconut rice.

Lovely. And is he cooking these or just placing his order?

I love meal planning and food shopping online. There are not enough meals in the week or people in the house to eat all the food I want to cook! My freezers are overflowing as I always make too much.

My MIL taught me this trick. I thought it was rank at first, until I started doing it and realised how great it is.

I can't see how it could be considered 'rank' . There's nothing wrong with eating leftovers, but I'd get seriously bored with eating the same food 4 days a week tbh!

Sitting here right now trying to think of something I want for dinner tonight. Nothing seems appealing lately.

I hate it too.

So what I now do is buy chicken breast and pork and a variety of vegetables, seasonings / sauces and create stir fries which I'm now very good at flavour wise. It's super quick and easy with rice or noodles.

I also find roasts really easy so we often have midweek chicken or gammon and roast veggies as they all go in at the same time.

@lazylinguist

My MIL taught me this trick. I thought it was rank at first, until I started doing it and realised how great it is.

I can't see how it could be considered 'rank' . There's nothing wrong with eating leftovers, but I'd get seriously bored with eating the same food 4 days a week tbh!

When I said "rank", I meant I thought it wouldn't taste very nice more than thinking there would be anything off with it. Yes, it is boring to my own palate too. Not to my children's - or my husband's it seems! My MIL never seems to get bored of it either. It's the diet my MIL was raised on, and she never really ventured away from it. Porridge, potatoes, vegetables, very small quantities of meat, nothing sugary. She's never had a takeaway in her life. "Variety" to her is cabbage one day and kale the next. I guess if we're not exposing our tastebuds to new and interesting flavours of the world all the time, the boring stuff takes on a new flavour.

It's only two of us, occasionally 3. So, I tend to cook more than we need.
This means leftovers, but it doesn't mean we eat the same thing days in a row. I cook something new every other day on average, depending on use by dates of fresh stuff, and then mix and match leftovers.
It can be done with all sorts of food.

It also means that we don't over eat and just eat the amount we want.
And it's only a problem if it was overcooked to start with.

I gave up at the start of the last lockdown. DH and DS1 will eat pretty much anything, so that's good, but DS2 is a picky bugger and I just can't be bothered to cajole him into trying things anymore. So now I do roast chicken with all the trimmings on a Sunday, then alternate between toad in the hole/spag bol/fry up the other nights, with the kids having frozen pizza on fry up nights. It's easy, it's fairly cheap, I don't have to think too much and everybody's happy to eat it. Occasionally DH moans about the lack of variety, but soon shuts up when I tell him he can take over the cooking then!

Main reason I've started with hello fresh. Most things I leave my teen to make so they are confident cooking when they leave home (it was their desire to cook a variety that was the catalyst)

Caiti19 - I'm a big fan of using leftovers, but I guess I try and make them into different things with different flavours- use leftover roast chicken to make noodle soup or risotto etc. The trouble is, now my dc are teens, we don't get much in the way of leftovers out of a joint of meat!

Well switched to frozen stir fry bags for stir fry and box of frozen chopped ginger, can feel the stress levels reducing already ! Used to spend ages cutting veg, peeling and cutting ginger, sigh

Ugh it's so tedious. Just me, my 17yo and 3yo. 3yo is Autistic and has severe sensory issues around food. 17yo would live on junk. I just make what I fancy, 17yo can eat it or suit herself. I do make a separate meal for 3yo. To make life easier I tend to ensure there's at least 3 dinners a week that we'll all eat. I love cooking, I do it for a living, but planning meals is the epitome of boring because I'm somewhat limited.

We did meat free March in the hope that we could find something new - it’s definitely worked and we’ve cut down our meat consumption too 😁👍🏻

@ohcarolina2001

I love meal planning and food shopping online. There are not enough meals in the week or people in the house to eat all the food I want to cook! My freezers are overflowing as I always make too much.

This is me!! It actually keeps me awake at night wondering when we are going to eat the randomness that resides in my freezer. Tragic I know, and such a First world problem which I’m bloody lucky to have.

@Lweji

It's only two of us, occasionally 3. So, I tend to cook more than we need. This means leftovers, but it doesn't mean we eat the same thing days in a row. I cook something new every other day on average, depending on use by dates of fresh stuff, and then mix and match leftovers. It can be done with all sorts of food. It also means that we don't over eat and just eat the amount we want. And it's only a problem if it was overcooked to start with.

I also do the same. It's rare I cook food that is all eaten in one meal. I feel short-changed if that happens.

It's not repetitive either as leftovers are frozen or used as a starting point for a new meal. Eg leftover chilli into enchiladas with minimal extra work.

I definitely do the roast dinner thing at Christmas. Cook enough for 8 even though there's only 2 of us and have another roast dinner on boxing Day and the 27th.

Add in cold meat, cheese, salad and nibbles type meals and it's getting on for NYE before any more thinking or significant cooking is required.

This is me!! It actually keeps me awake at night wondering when we are going to eat the randomness that resides in my freezer. Tragic I know, and such a First world problem which I’m bloody lucky to have

Same here. The other day I found 3 fish fingers, half a dozen chicken goujons and some stuffed hash brown type things that were a Lidl special of some kind and stuck them all in the oven, added salad and that was dinner and 3 fewer bags of randomness in the freezer.

Yes! I stopped cooking for two weeks. During those two weeks we ordered takeout, made frozen or ready made meals.

I'm back to actually cooking this week. It's nice to take a bloody break!

@Oblomov21

Yes. I despise this with a passion. I can't explain how much I hate it.

This. I feel the same way. Lockdown has made me despise cooking, the bloody vacuum, and wipes.