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?

This is why my DH and I now split the week between us.

I meal plan as I do the weekly shop. Just write down a dish and order the ingredients. There's recipies on the supermarket websites if you need inspiration. I do a mix of dishes I need to make an effort with (in which case it does us for at least 2 meals for 4 of us) and things I can cook quickly on busy days. I make little effort/mess for lunches.

@Originalyellowbelly

Yes! My dh is so fussy about food, it's pointless asking him for ideas as he suggests the same few meals every time.

This is me for sure. "I don't know" he says. But then I cook something which makes him wretch and it ruins everything for everyone

Such a joyless drudge. And it shouldn't be because I love cooking!

Yes ... and there's only two of us at home so it shouldn't be that much of a chore. Main reason I hate it is that DH and I like really different foods so it would be much better if we just prepared our own meals - which we do occasionally. I've decided to fast today - so one less day to think about . DH can have something out of the freezer.

I loathe the fact that, especially since lockdown when life is so tedious, the evening meal had become 'the highlight of the day' pre lockdown we would both be out (separately) 3-4 nights a week so dinner would be something simple without making such an issue about it.

Yes, but teach your DC to cook as soon as humanly possible and they can do a day or two! DD is 16 and has learned to cook well during lockdown. She often suggests something and helps to prepare it or even does it herself! It’s an absolute joy and I feel so grateful.

I cook so I get to choose what we eat, well taking into consideration the 1001 meals that DD will probably reject.

We started using Hello Fresh a couple of months ago, so we could have "thoughtless" dinners. Now we have that 3 times a week, then standard go-to recipies 3 times a week, and on Saturday nights I always try to cook something new that we haven't tried before. I love cooking, and I love experimenting, but I dont have the mental bandwidth for it right now.

Something that has helped is keeping a list of all the meals we eat so we can kind of choose from a menu and add in some seasonal extras.

Ooh I'm stealing that!

I don't think it helps that lockdown has meant little or no relief from the tedium of meal planning.

Wierdly, I’m the total opposite! Lockdown has made me fall back in love with cooking, probably due to being home a lot/having more time. Spend hours on pinterest looking at recipes and then add ingredients to my online basket through the week. It’s become a bit of a lockdown ritual.

Am actually planning next week’s meals right now!

I’ve learnt so many new skills, discovered new foods I’d never have found or explored if I didn’t have a lot of time to do so. I have always enjoyed food and cooking though, so it is more of a hobby than a chore.

Kids generally pretty game to try new things which makes things easier, and dh and I eat anything!

Grocery bills have gone up, but seeing as we’re not spending on going out/clothes/coffees etc it’s been ok.

Yes, even when I’m not the one cooking, DH will ask me what there is/if I’ve thought about dinner rather than just do it.

I know I am better at looking at what we have and coming up with something but I’ve spent 12 years giving him ideas/teaching him and he’s great at following a recipe. There’s always a rough meal plan on the fridge, though I tend to go by amount of time we have and what I feel like cooking on the day. I know he’s trying but it’s getting him to realise he doesn’t have to default to me for what we have available. Just open the cupboards!

Hello Fresh has been such a godsend for this! Their recipes are interesting and varied (we get the vegetarian box) and we've now got a load of previous recipe cards so once the meals have run out, we just choose from those.

Not sure what I'd do with fussy teens though!

No! I like cooking and I enjoy meal planning. Much prefer it to ironing, hoovering, dusting etc!

We got Hello Fresh for a while after Christmas. It's given us a few new recipes and if we're ever stuck we get out the recipe cards and pick something from there. I am also using a few Pinch of Nom recipes lately as I'm trying to keep track of my calories so that has shaken things up a bit. We have Monday night when DD and I just have filled fresh pasta and sauce. Takes 5 mins! DH fasts on Mondays so he sorts himself. Love that night! And takeaway usually on Saturday so that's 2 nights taken care of.

I like the idea of having a 3 weekly rotation of meals and it all set up on the online shop ready to go.

Yes, find it so tedious and such a chore. My OH is unadventurous with many things he dislikes such as pasta or fish. Like pp have tried Gusto and Hello Fresh in the past to help introduce some variations which helped for a while. They do at least mean he can prep and cook a meal for me by himself.

Yes hate it.
Don't like meal planning for the week either, I've no idea what I'll fancy in four days time!
Dh is of the "whatever you want/ I don't mind" mindset which is no bloody help at all!
One of the kids is fussy too so that doesn't help.

Once they're teens and certainly for partners, if they don't co-operate with the thinking, planning and execution, they don't get a say. They can sort themselves out.

Don't fall into a trap of tying yourself in knots trying to please fussy people with restricted diets, especially when they only seem to eat food you don't want to eat yourself, when you're the only person putting any effort in.

Bane of my life! Was ok when just myself and DH but have two dc home since lockdown so even though they could obviously make their own, they both work all day so I tend to do it....I'm so bored of the thinking about/planning meals.

I hate it. No one else ever has any ideas to input, and I’ve become the veggie mum who cooks meat for her unadventurous family, which means I often cook 3 meals. DH occasionally cooks, but you have to tell him exactly what, where it is, how to do it. Even after blooming 20 years. He won’t use a recipe book. He will only cook 3 things.

Yesterday I lost my rag that DS (12, able bodied, Turner runner up in our county Cubs cooking competition) was complaining about the lack of pudding, when he’d done nothing whatsoever to help. He hadn’t even laid the table. The fact that the table needs clearing and laying always comes as a great surprise to my dc. I meal man fortnightly, but quite honestly. We have about 20 meals at most that just get repeated.

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

@Flowers24

It is the utter drudgery and groundhog day of it, and agree, it is one of the worst parts of being an adult, Lockdown has made it worse as we would normally have a pub meal every other week (dh and i) and the whole family go out for a meal once a month which breaks it up.

I wish we didnt have to eat 7 days a week and could just take a tablet for half of it !

Well clearly it’s not part of being an adult, as your husband doesn’t seem to do it at all.

It only seems to be part of being a woman.

We eat the same 20 odd meals all the same. If I never ate any of them again it would be too soon.
Eg:

Spag Bol and garlic bread
Steak pie with 3 steamed veg
Sausages and mash
Chicken fajitas

No thanks.

I've got a weaning baby, a fussy eight year old, a vegetarian (me) and my DP and DM to feed.
And I fucking haaaaate it.

Yes Monday is Groundhog Day at the supermarket same old same old. Dd is very fussy and would happily live on nuggets and chips if I let her. I'm on my own so only have to worry about me but it's still mundane !

Gosh yes!
I don't mind the actual cooking- it's the deciding and planning that is so tedious!
We now have a really boring planner, where each week is basically the same. No one seems to mind.