Im fed up having shite dinners

[ssd]

Am mid 50s, working on my feet all day. Im just tired. There was very limited choice and i didnt enjoy what i made.

Oh well.

Poor thing OP. I can relate to this but it's important that you find a way to eat well otherwise the tiredness becomes a bit of a vicious cycle.

I would recommend batch cooking and freezing in portions if you can. I do this with inexpensive, healthy one-pot meals like lentil stew, chicken curry, fish pie. It takes a bit of time but if you have the freezer space then one weekend of cooking can last you all month. Then you just stick one in the microwave when you get in and it's ready fast - most don't even need defrosting if you cook them thoroughly enough. If you go for recipes with vegetables in (e.g. spinach and tomato in the fish pie) then there's no need to make anything else to get a balanced meal.

Do you live alone? Can you do anything else that feels soothing when you get in? I have a weighted blanket that I like to get under.

I can't have cereal in because I scoff it, but that's my own issues (mmmm crunchy nut mmmm- or granola for that matter.)

I think that the real issue with feeling exhausted for me was housework. I had nothing clean to eat from at times.
Literally rested, didn't always sleep, in spite of being tired, and worked.

I long to live on my own so I can just eat cereal.

My other half and DD are fussy c*&^s who will never eat the same thing and change their minds on what they will/won't eat from one week to the next, normally the day after I've done the shopping.

I live for all inclusive holidays where feeding them is someone else's problem and we don't even have to discuss where we're going for dinner.

Really simple mozzarella chicken recipe:

• place chicken breast/s in oven proof dish,


• cover with passatta


• rip apart some ham and sprinkle over the top.


• Cut up mozzarella ball and place on top


• cook at 180 degrees until chicken cooked through


• eat with microwavable rice (2 mins) and veg.

Cornflakes with ice cold milk. The food you forgotten you loved. 😍

If you want to get good at something, then practice.
I'm not trying to dismiss you with some glib comment.

• 2 years ago I was poor and could only afford chopped tomatoes in a tin with pasta (Fusilli).
• Then I changed that chopped tomatoes for tomatoes with herbs.
• Then I read the ingredients and started adding my own herbs.
• Then I diversified and added chorizo, green olives and celery.
• Then I got poor again and reduced that to onions.
• Then I added spinach as a green vegetable.
• Then I got into chilly, adding Sri Racha and Sweet Chilly. A wonderful mix.
• For 1 year I didn't change that recipe.
• Then I discovered Aduna Moringa from an African friend. A powdered green spice that made the tomato taste like curry.
• Then I added Turmeric to fight my arthritic knee. It also had 30% black pepper included inside that gave the dish an extra "kick".

The point is, at every stage I loved the food but it evolved over time. If you want amazing food, then make it for yourself. Nobody in the world knows your tastes better than you do. Failing that, find an expensive Chinese or Indian restaurant 😂If they're not up to your standards then visit the country and eat the real deal. You get what you pay for (or what you practice).

I like this too. Tortellini, pesto, cook some peas and add those, grated cheese, avocado on the side for extra vitamins. Lovely!

I feel your pain.
DH and I often commiserate about needing to eat every day, and feed the sprogs. It's so BOOOORING sometimes, having to think of meals and prep and cook them.
Some days I really CBA so get takeaway, but try not to do it often.

I know you don't want to do prep but our quickest "go to" is tuna mayo pasta. You could do it with those low carb noodles too, except that (IME) they need a lot of rinsing first (=prep); or instant noodles (plain). One portion of pasta/noodles, heated up and then drained, chuck in a tablespoon of mayo and a small tin of tuna, add peas if you can be arsed to microwave them (or put them in with the pasta if you're actually cooking some), and stir it all together. Cheap, nutritious, tastes better if you add in e.g. capers, garlic-flavoured something (salt, oil, mayo, whatever).
No.1 son can now cook this too (and did last night), and it's a family favourite.

If I'm on my own though, I'll almost never cook - cheese and crackers/cheese on toast/ salad and grated cheese will do for me.

All my weekday meals take around 5 mins of prep time and I try to eat very healthily/low cal.

I spend about an hour on a weekend doing some batch cooking - usually roast veg, stirfry veg and/or a mixed salad, and use that early in the week while it's fresh, then switch to longer life or frozen. Sometimes I'll make my own soup or curry and batch cook some rice to freeze, other times I'll buy premade. So except for fish and eggs, everything just needs heating up.

1. A tin of tuna, tin of mixed beans and salad or precooked rice
2. Pan fried salmon fillet on top of salad or veg. (you could use any fillet of protein, I don't eat meat though)
3. Soup and wholegrain roll
4. Curry and rice
5. Scrambled eggs and beans on toast

I save the fun and interesting food for weekends when I have more time to think about it!

Best thing for me was to buy some good glass freezer boxes and whenever I cook, cook extra quantities. I basically end up doing a batch cook once or twice a week to keep the freezer stocked; the rest of the time, I mostly pull things out of the freezer in the morning while putting the rice cooker on.

I know how you feel I have some quick comfort meals for when I can't be arsed!

The aldi flavoured microwave rice packs are good I just add some sliced veg/salad stuff once cooked for my own lazy buddy bowl sometimes with a fried egg.

Cheesy baked beans with some chili flakes is another favourite done in the microwave. Have with or without toast.

3 egg Omelette mega quick minimum effort about 50p to make chuck in anything to hand.

Pasta and pesto with some peas

Pasta with roast veg and tomatostir through sauce- sainsburys sell bags of frozen roast veg just microwave or fry

This takes a fortnightly Tesco trip and then 4 minutes prep every day; it is my ‘go to’ for those weeks when I am working flat out.

Next to the flavoured packet rice pouches in tescos are packet lentils of various flavours. Get a bunch of both. Then buy some tins of mixed beans in water (or just red kidney beans). And buy some ready cooked protein (salmon, sliced chicken, salami, chorizo) and some long-life tortillas, and whatever sauce you fancy (Nando’s hot is our choice). Grated cheese, too, if you like dairy, maybe some soured cream.

Every other evening microwave one rice and one lentil pouch, and mix together along with the protein and sauce and mixed beans. Make into a wrap or eat as is, with cheese or cream or whatever you have to hand on top. You will have enough to put in fridge for next day to eat cold (maybe with a side of cold baked beans).

because I don’t like thinking about this stuff, I always buy just the Mexican flavoured lentils and the wholewheat rice, and microwave just that every time. One of my DC fries onions and peppers and then stirs in the same lentil/rice base, but that’s just a faff too far for me.

When I lived alone decades ago quiche, ready made salad and bought potato salad.

Tin of buitoni ravioli and toast.

If you want to not think about food after a long day at work, try to get into weekly meal planning. Honestly, it's a bit of effort at the start, but it's changed my life.

On a day when you're off work, just sit down and plan out your meals for the week. Order an online shop with everything you need.

It requires some thought at first, but once you get into the groove it really is life changing and saves so much energy during the week.

You sound absolutely knackered and fed up to the back teeth OP. I honestly think sometimes a tin of beans or soup with wholegrain toast (plenty of butter) is actually nicer than a takeaway.
It fills you up, you've still had a hot dinner and it's cheap as an added bonus.
Only need a few minutes with microwave and toaster.
If you're feeling particularly energetic boil a couple of eggs.
If you buy a heap of yoghurt and fruit (and chocolate) on your day off you have something for afterwards too.
When you're on your knees, why not?

If you want to get good at something, then practice. I'm not trying to dismiss you with some glib comment. • 2 years ago I was poor and could only afford chopped tomatoes in a tin with pasta (Fusilli). • Then I changed that chopped tomatoes for tomatoes with herbs. • Then I read the ingredients and started adding my own herbs. • Then I diversified and added chorizo, green olives and celery. • Then I got poor again and reduced that to onions. • Then I added spinach as a green vegetable. • Then I got into chilly, adding Sri Racha and Sweet Chilly. A wonderful mix. • For 1 year I didn't change that recipe. • Then I discovered Aduna Moringa from an African friend. A powdered green spice that made the tomato taste like curry. • Then I added Turmeric to fight my arthritic knee. It also had 30% black pepper included inside that gave the dish an extra "kick". The point is, at every stage I loved the food but it evolved over time. If you want amazing food, then make it for yourself. Nobody in the world knows your tastes better than you do. Failing that, find an expensive Chinese or Indian restaurant 😂If they're not up to your standards then visit the country and eat the real deal. You get what you

Wtf

when i was 19 and coming home late my go to meal was a fried egg sandwich - i havent had one for years

i am sure another day would be better @ssd

I would just buy some fresh ready soups, have ingredients in for a nice toasty or sandwich, add cheese or fruit, yogurt.

most supermarkets also sell nice pre made individual quiches, mixed pre prepped salads or veg pots.

get a fresh stuffed pasta and ready done sauce.

That would cover most week day evenings, and get something in you can make extra with at the weekend so you have something leftover or can add to freezer as back up.

She also said she had a long commute, so is far more likely to work 8.30-4.30 and not get home until after 5.15, or could be even later, if it's an hour commute.

So knackered, and not home by 4pm.

But I also agree with PP, it's also the drudge of having to think about what to eat, do the shopping and prep, and then not feel like eating it once it's made. It's all so tedious after many years of it. My husband started doing it during the pandemic as I was ill with long Covid and although he started well, with meals cooked from scratch, we've ended up a selection of ready meals on rotation, so he lasted about a year!

Stir a big dollop of Boursin into pasta. Have with bought salad.

1/2 bag of prepped caesar salad and a shredded chicken breast, with French bread.

Pate, cheese, tomatoes, pickles - instant plough man's

keep some part-baked rolls in the cupboard

Nigel Slater's 5 minute meals.

Some great ideas on this thread - taking notes....

Same here. I work long hours and have two young DC. During the week its basic meals, the suburban special meat & three veg (chops, sausages etc) or a salad on the warmer days and I will do a stir fry once a week, otherwise its pasta, soup, toast, fish fingers n chips etc. Anything that involves more than chopping up some veg and cooking / frying some meat is too much effort. Its boring as hell but I dont have the energy to cook anything more fancy or the money to afford Hello Fresh.

At the weekends I will push the boat out, make a lasagne, casserole, nachoes, buritos, burgers.

When I lived alone, doing 12 hour days, I used to batch cook one weekend and bung it in those foil containers for freezing. I’d make a huge chilli, a bolognaise, a cottage pie, fish pie and a chicken fried rice. I’d make maybe 6 portions of each that would all go in the freezer (and I’d have a takeaway that night!)

In the morning I’d get one out, then when I got home from work bung it in the oven for half an hour. No faffing. They’d last me 3 or 4 weeks.

yes it got boring, but it was so much easier (I also used to have a junk night on a Friday - orange tea in front of the telly in my PJs)

You could make a salad in the morning - I wash the salad ingredients so it's fiddly rather than time- consuming. Then you've got your healthy bit covered - ham/ sausage/ chips/ eggs/ cheese whatever with it.