Fed up of cooking twice a day!

[Scienceisnotopinion]

Need some tips/ideas. All of us, Dh and kids, are home for lunch and dinner. Will often make soups that last for dinner too, but they eat a LOT and often there will not be enough left and will still have to cook some side dish or something.
Anyone more organised then me that can help? I try to have a balanced week, meat fish veggy dishes. Thanks!

I love how sandwiches are boring but yet eating soup for every meal is fine 🤷‍♀️

It feels like the Bucket family eating cabbage soup

And there is nothing wrong with baked beans FFS

My responses might have sound rude as they were after posters making fun of the fact that i am to "fancy" for spaghetti hoops. I just said it is not something that is part of our diet.

No you didn't! Stop being so disingenuous. You used the word "bleurgh" to describe them. You sneered at them long before anyone called you on your attitude towards them. We are reading the thread.

@banjaxxed

I love how sandwiches are boring but yet eating soup for every meal is fine 🤷‍♀️

It feels like the Bucket family eating cabbage soup

And there is nothing wrong with baked beans FFS

Beans are great. Can't beat beans on toast 😂

Pot noodles?👀🙊🤪

@Scienceisnotopinion

We really really dont do things like spaghetti hoops(bleurgh) or beans on toast

Wow, snobby! Nothing wrong with pasta on toast, it’s a great lunch, carbs fill up the kids etc.

We do pot noodle, tins of soup, sandwiches, cheese on toast. Probably all too processed for you. Make enough dinner to use as lunch the following day if you prefer to cook from scratch.

This is definitely one of those Bucket type threadsgoawayalcg😂

I try and cook bigger evening meals - chilli con carne, shepherds pie, roasts, fish pie, pasta bake, curries, etc etc.
Then eat leftovers next day.

PS: you’ve posted in AIBU.

Sorry that was in response to banjaxxed

Beans are great. Can't beat beans on toast 😂

Bean and cheese toasties are the best. Bet that blows o/p’s mind. Beans in a sandwich

I'm stumped as to how the notion of cooking double, using bigger pans etc hadn't actually occurred to the Op? Occam's razor and all that!???

You haven't posted on Chat, you've posted in AIBU

I would absolutely rather cook two meals a day than eat the same thing twice in a row bleurgh!

Big pot of soup to last two lunchtimes and then big pot of chili/curry/stew to have with rice/pancakes/potatoes/pasta for 2 night's meals.

Lots of veg in both meals to negate need for separate veg, or a green veg is quick to steam if preferred.

Have you tried some 'one tray' oven meals?

So rice, stock, veg, salmon or potatoes, stock, veg, chicken

Put all in a huge oven tray and bake for 20 mins (fish) or 30 (chicken)

Vary with sauces, herbs, spices etc.

@Nomoreusernames1244

Beans are great. Can't beat beans on toast 😂

Bean and cheese toasties are the best. Bet that blows o/p’s mind. Beans in a sandwich

Beans on cheese on toast is luverly.

Double egg and chips.

Neither are batch cooking though.

I keep several salads on the go at any one time. A full set would be: green salad, a tomato based salad, a mayonnaise based salad (homemade coleslaw, potato salad, salade Olivier), a more filling one (pasta salad, tabbouleh, Greek salad with feta), and sometimes a dip like guacamole or Baba ganouj.

I can put together a variety of lunches by bringing out the salads to accompany ordinary things like bread, cheese, cold meat, leftovers, quiche and because I refresh the salads every couple of days there's lots of variety.

Anyone of high school age or above gets for lunch what they can prepare for themselves in my house.

Not sure I’m helping but teenage boys here eat a massive range of things
Sandwiches/Toasted sandwiches/paninis/wraps/crumpets/bagels/baguettes/ cheese on toast/soup/salads/omelette/scrambled eggs.
I only cook once a day though and everyone has survived.

OP: I need to batch cook, but I never make enough, how do I make more?
Answer: Make more then?

Well if you don't want cooking ideas, just organisational. You need to make bigger servings, get a slow cooker so it's kept hot and people can just grab a serving. Get a bigger freezer to store ready made meals. Get a microwave to quickly heat those meals.

You can see why people are annoyed when you've asked for advice then hit back at everyone that the only thing that works for you is the very thing you're complaining about.

BUY a slow cooker. They are not expensive! Make a huge load of bolognaise sauce which they can have with french bread or on baked potatoes or with pasta.

I never make two hot meals in a day. Lunch is something cold and quick or sometime left overs from the night before (sandwiches, wraps, picky bits, pasta salad, salad etc) dinner is a hot meal. If you have to prepare both meals for everyone then they'll just have to accept what you give them, like it or lump it.

@dreamingbohemian in my relatives experience there is a limited number of cafeteria places and they are t given to mums who don’t work, a solid expectation that you will be there for your children cooking them a hot meal at 12:30sharp.

@Scienceisnotopinion

My responses might have sound rude as they were after posters making fun of the fact that i am to "fancy" for spaghetti hoops. I just said it is not something that is part of our diet. For those saying what did I expect from posting on AIBU, i have posted on chat. A lot of useful responses actually, sorry cant quote everyone, but will keep those in mind, about using bigger oans/trays for example and others. What my kids are doing, or where we live is not really relevant, i was looking for organisational and batch or double cooking tips and got some amid the pisstaking, so thanks to those.

But it is helpful to know, as it gives a clue to the sort of meals you will be likely to be cooking and therefore, particular methods of planning/prepping - like whether you have a rice cooker, lots of steaming baskets, want multiple individual small dishes, kids prepared to eat variations of similar dishes on subsequent nights, whether you're somewhere with generally huge kitchens or tiny, tiny ones, where bulk buying is easy or difficult, if people expect all food to be absolutely fresh and printed with the time of day on it or are happy with reheated items, etc.

If you just wanted people to say cook more and freeze half and buy bigger pans so you can cook more at once, you really didn't need to ask anything because that would be obvious.

It's not about being English/Irish/Scots/Welsh (or any of the other nationalities and ethnicities in the UK or Ireland). It's about asking for some kind of 'hook' for the suggestions to make them appropriate for you and not just a generic 'have you considered buying a big pot?'.

why are you cooking? Why isn't your partner doing the cooking - at least once a day?