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?

If you get to choose what's on the menu, you get what you like. What's wrong with that? We had roast lamb yesterday, fish with veg on Saturday, sausages, chicken, all cooked the way I like it. If dp had the choice he'd pick stuff I'm not keen on.

This is what I’m doing this morning. I’m doing my online order and trying to think of a variety of meals to cook. God, the monotony of it.

I think along with laundry it is one of the more tedious aspects of family life. I enjoy cooking but I don't always enjoy family cooking.
The one good thing about the children not having any after school activities is not having to rush around and do quick meals during the week.

I meal plan all meals because I find it easier to do just once a week for the shopping and for calorie counting. Also knowing what's for each meal takes the decision making out it so I know what to prepare in advance which helps me to not raid the cupboards and just eat crap!

We rarely have the same meal in a three week period and used to love meal planning and shopping. I have had to stop myself as we have too much food in. This is the second week I have looked in my recipes books and made a list of meals I can make with minimal shopping. Minimal means buying 6-8 things means I can make a weeks worth of meals. We have had 6 new meals out of the last seven days doing this.

YES especially as my nearly 4 year old will only eat about three things...

I’ve lost it when it comes to dinner time. Absolutely had enough of trying to decide every day. Kids (and actually even dh a bit) are so precious and temperamental‘I don’t like that’ but you are it last time. ‘But I don’t like it NOW’ ‘where did you buy the chicken/pork/beef cos I don’t like that shops version of that product. ‘I don’t feel like eating that’ i want this for dinner’ ‘why don’t you make THAT anymore’
Cos the last time you all moaned how itn’didnt taste right’ and I didn’t make to the same and nobody bloody eat it.
‘You never buy food I like’. Well come shopping with me and choose things you like. ‘Why do I have to go shops? Why can’t he/she go’.
Exasperated.

I would eat almost anything and while my children had a large variety of foods when they were small, now they are teenagers they won't eat what they don't like or want. This meant I have missed out on many things I would eat so now I'm making them. They are allowed to make themselves something else if they don't like something I've made.

Agree with those recommending a recipe box. It gets me out of a rut, and I enjoy cooking so much more when I haven't had to go through the what shall I make/do I have all the ingredients I need/can I be bothered to go to the supermarket or shall I try to substitute something faff.

I don’t find it too bad but if I try new recipes ,it often adds to the cost or I can’t find all the ingredients if it’s a bit fancy. I wanted to make a massaman curry & got all the ingredients but couldn’t find tamarind paste anywhere so now I have coconut milk, fish sauce etc which I need to use for something else. DH cooks a couple of times a week but as a pp said, he doesn’t often suggest things we can have. Add to the mix an incredibly fussy DD12, who doesn’t eat with us. She puts the shopping bill up too as she likes pizzas & ready meals. I do al least one night a week which is either beans or whatever on toast or a “ freezer tea” as I’m trying to make room for batch cooking.

Yes, used to hate this.

Now we get Hello Fresh every week (🙈) and life is 100% easier! We all take turns to cool - including the teens - and have delicious and varied meals throughout the week.

I agree it can get so tedious and take the joy out of eating together. TV programmes also tend to romanticise the idea of enjoying food and family meals (looking at you Nigella). My main gripe is cooking something that takes some time and DH eats it in 5 minutes!

What are your meal plans this week? I have:

sausage egg, chips and peas!
stir fry
tagliatelle bolognaise
mash and sausage / other
home made lasagna
pizza teens we will make own chinese curry
always run out after 6 and get a take out at the weekend!

No because I work 12 hour shifts, 60 hour weeks so everybody would starve if they waited for me.

Moany teens should be cooking meals themselves for the family.
End of.

Food just aggravates me generally. I wish it was acceptable to feed us all on milkshakes or some kind of complete tablet that just gave you everything you need.
The whole process of choosing food, cooking food, cleaning up after the food... gives me the rage.

Christ, I'm not alone!

It's such a bore trying to find things everyone will eat. In our house two people like spice, two don't. One is very fussy. I think I have different taste buds to most of my family, and like to try new things, veggie meals, different cuisines etc. Whereas the others prefer more traditional stuff. In the end I often can't be arsed, so cook something for them and eat quick things myself.

Food just aggravates me generally. I wish it was acceptable to feed us all on milkshakes or some kind of complete tablet that just gave you everything you need.
The whole process of choosing food, cooking food, cleaning up after the food... gives me the rage.

Yep, this really.

Yep, I hate doing all the thinking about it. If left to husband we get fish, chips and peas from the freezer.

He does cook, but he'll want to know what to cook (If I say don't mind we get fish, chips and peas) - and then cook from something that I've done the thinking about. He may have shopped for it - but 90% of the time I'll have done the 'thinking' which is the bit that's so tedious.

I'm happy enough to throw together bottom of the fridge pasta or risotto - but he'll say 'don't mind' but 'not that'.

AAaargh.

Obviously in his head, he does 50% of all this..

YES

I'm sick of the boring food that ds will eat. He rejects anything 'mixed up' or anything spicy. At the moment, he'll eat

Pasta & tomato sauce
Spag & meatballs
Sausage rolls
Fried egg on toast
Plain Grilled or roast chicken & roast potatoes
Bread fish & chips
Pepperoni Pizza
Pork kebabs or sausages

I try new things with him regularly but he's not getting any better. He's 12 . When will he get more adventurous?

When he goes to his dad's I have curry or seafood risotto, or lamb tagline.

Ocado let you have multiple stored shopping lists, so we have a four week rotation. That does mean we get a reasonable variety without having to think about it too much. At one point I did want to leave one meal a week out of the "set menu" for trying new things, but it didn't stay long.

I do but for those days I have meals ready in the freezer so we don't have to think. I do all the cooking and meal prep and DH isn't a fussy toddler so we just eat whatever's on the menu. We keep chicken nuggets and chips in the freezer for lazy days though! Meal planning and batch cooking helps and I try at least one new recipe per week.

Yeah, so boring 💤 😴 What I also hate are those times when you go to the fridge/freezer and there’s lots there but nothing to make a meal with then you have to either trudge to the shop or get a takeaway (my favourite option) 😂

For those who only do 1 weekly shop, how do you keep things like veg and salad fresh? Or do you do top up shops?

So mind numbingly tedious...

I have to plan what every fucker in the house is going to have for every bloody meal. Then shop for it and cook it. Bored bored bored.

It’s gone from lunch in the office/at school to every single fucking morsel being consumed at home.
Hate it.

Thankfully no one is super fussy. DD is a bit but not terrible. We’re vegetarian which does limit the choice a little but we manage.
I’m just so bloody bored of the relentless monotony of it.