Sunday dinner ... Guilt.

[Rabbitheadlights]

Asking really to find out what the hell is wrong with me? I make a roast on a Sunday EVERY week and not just a basic one either, Rain or Shine, hell or high water in sickness and health.

But my kids don't really care they can take it or leave it.

So why if I don't do it, do I feel this weird guilty type feeling, asthough I'm letting them down somehow? It's ridiculous!

Rarely

God I really want lasagne now. But yes that is a bit of a faff and takes much longer than a simple roast. I made a roast chicken yesterday because it was what i felt like making. We had literally just got home holiday so I used the shove in oven veg at M&S. It hit the spot.

For christmas for me the making of a Christmas roast is the cranberry sauce and bread sauce. Every year I wonder why I don;t make these things any other time than Christmas but for some reason never do.

No roasts here. Two kids play rugby on a Sunday and the older one works in our local cafe, so no time to cook and no guarantee of who is going to be around anyway.

I have some serious food issues from my childhood, and find it very difficult to plan meals in advance which is what you need to do for a roast, I can just about cope with feeding everyone as long as I can decided on the day to adapt or change what we are having.

Omg, the same, it was so weird, and bf would always insist we went, the heatwaves were the worst, we'd be declining BBQ invites to sit eating full roast dinner. They were strict Catholic so I always assumed it was a tradition somehow linked to their religion. My family did often have roast dinner when I was growing up but it didn't feel like an intense ritual like it was for them where the family must stop whatever they were doing and assemble for the weekly meal.

DH does a roast every Sunday. I think it helps that he doesn't have to think what to cook.

A Sunday roast should be a way to occupy the day when you have nothing else planned, rather than a rigid obligation to organise your weekend around.

For me, that makes it a ~6 times a year affair (more often during during lockdown!). It’s a huge waste of money and an animal’s life to deliver an expensive, time consuming meal - unless it’s wanted and celebrated.

I find a roast too tying to the house - it can take the whole day over!
I'd rather go for a walk and then to the village for coffee then come home and rustle up dinner within an hour. Tonight we're have morrocan lamb tagine and it will be delicious.

We tended always to have a roast at 7pm ish because otherwise it took out too much of the day. I would never punctuate Sunday with it since the early 90s because there has always been too much to do. Lunch has ways been a picky do it yourself affair in this house.

Historically and as a child we had it at lunchtime, after church. There were no shops open or much else to do in those days and pubs were open only at lunchtime and in the evenings for shorter hours on a Sunday too.

I cook a roast every Sunday unless we go to my mums and she cooks one. DS doesn't eat it (doesn't eat anything really), DD1 doesn't eat roast meat and when I cook it I usually don't fancy eating it.
DH and DD2 like it though. Seems a bit pointless but if I don't cook a roast I'd only have to think of something else.
And it's a tradition but I don't think it would feel like Sunday without a roast.

I generally make a (big) roast on a Sunday simply because I like doing it and having all the leftovers makes meals for Mon/Tue (and sometimes even Wed
If the joint was big enough) really easy when I'm working and don't have as much time.

It's something my mother used to do and I can get quite creative with the leftovers so meals don't feel samey.

(And no, it's not a mythical MN chicken that lasts forever, if I cook chicken I'll usually roast off two to get enough meat for several days, otherwise a rib of beef or a large loin of pork).

So it’s a tradition to make a weekly meal that only 2/5 of your family eat? What a great tradition.

Could you not start a new one with a meal everyone can enjoy?

I love a roast dinner, what time shall I come round? 😋

We probably have 1 about twice a month, today DH is cooking a curry though so all good! I like to mix up though, sometimes a pie with veg, chicken and parsnip gratin is a lovely winter favourite. O

Just to add I also find it really easy to cook like other posters have said.

I've done so many I'm on autopilot and it is imho a lot easier than other meals as most of the time it's just left to it's own devices in the oven.

I probably only spend about 20/30 min tops actually preparing/cooking.

My DC love a roast. We have a Sunday roast when they're not playing rugby.

If you want to simplify just cut back on the veggie options or Yorkshire puddings.

I do find doing the meat useful though as that cover at least another meal during the week

I understand, OP. I do them infrequently, but deep down i'd like it to be a 'thing'; for my children to look back as grown ups to Mum's Roast Dinners. At the moment, they're only small though so it makes a lot of work for 2 adult meals and two small portions.

Having said that, my mum did them every week without fail and they were nothing special, bless her.

Quit being a mug op.

the actual definition of madness is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting a different result.

leave your ungrateful family to fend for themselves.

I think some off us have been brought with a roast on Sunday, because it's just been done for generations. So it's become a habit.

We've just decided that roast will been just done when we want/fancy one. Although that means I have to make another meal as Monday's were always leftovers.

I also think because it's been so hot this year we haven't wanted one.

My ds is 17 and loves a Sunday roast. Always has. He actually complains the occasional weeks when I don't do one. He loves Dominoes too but a roast wins hands down. Myself and dh also love roast dinners, they are my favourite meal.

I couldn’t manage to eat a roast every Sunday, let alone cook one. It’s only ever been once every month or two for my family, and only really in the autumn and winter.

My kids love a roast, but they certainly wouldn’t want or expect one every weekend.

Dont feel guilty!

Same here. If my kids loved a roast I'd make more of an effort but the don't so I don't.

I had a bit of a love / hate with roasts growing up. They felt like such a chore sometimes (always had to be dead on 3pm week in, week out!) Doesn't help that I lived at home until I was in my 20's and the tradition was still going strong. However it was often the only meal we were all there for due to work / after school clubs / younger siblings who ate earlier and teens who would eat warmed up later etc. So I respect my mum for getting us all together at the same time and for being so tireless in her pursuit of that one family dinner a week.

I know it sounds a but trite but I'd give anything to have one of my mums roasts. She wasn't much of a cook but I understand what the weekly roast symbolised to her and why she always made the effort. Miss her loads. 😢

I do a Sunday roast every week. I don't really do it for the kids I cook because I enjoy it. I find it draws the teenagers home and is a good way of connecting.

See also: Songs of Praise and the Antiques Roadshow.

DP is a trained chef (though never cooks)

LTB!!!

I thought the best thing about being married to a chef was the food!
I’m actually shocked!!

Why not just have a roast every other week or once a month instead.

I love a roast and would never moan about it but I think I love them so much because they’re such a treat.

I usually do them about once a month and never in the lead up to Christmas or Easter.

Stop being a martyr and get your DH to cook something on a Sunday and he can think of something different.

I bet after a few weeks of no roasts the kids will be begging you for them.

Every week without fail? So, even that week in summer where it was 40 degrees and it was too hot to move and we had to black out our windows and stuff, you cooked a Sunday Dinner?

We have a Sunday roast perhaps once a month, but we have it in the evening rather than during the day. It frees up so much time to do what we want to do. Veg can be prepped beforehand, so the only thing I have to stress about is the gravy.

We're F1 fans, and we try to make a dish from the country that the race is in that weekend. Today we are having Mexican (OH is in charge of that) and last weekend we had a pot roast. Some of the countries get challenging, but it breaks the monotony of roasts every weekend for us.