Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

How do I tell dh that he's a REALLY bad cook?

125 replies

Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 20:14

I don't know what he does to everything to make it so shit.

Of course I'm grateful for him cooking sometimes (not often, thankfully), but it's getting to a point where I dread him cooking.

We are beyond skint at the moment, and he has used up so many things in one really crap dish, and I'm fuming. Not only that, but I have to sit and eat it and pretend it's nice because I don't want to hurt his feelings.

What do I do? He's so proud and chest puffy-outy when he does it, and generally he's an ok partner. But mother of God 🤮

He can cook a really good steak, tbf. But those days are gone for a while!

OP posts:
Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 06/05/2023 21:09

This has been the best thread of all times. Our poor husbands 😂

Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:13

I'm having to bite my lip not to laugh out loud. It doesn't help that he's in a REALLY bad mood.

Oh my god. What if he's reading the thread right now?? 😳

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:15

Bluebells1970 · 06/05/2023 21:06

DH is an awful cook. Awful. He can burn water. A jacket potato is either raw or over cooked. Salad cut up as if he's feeding it to a horse.

So we agree that I stick to my skillset (cooking) and he sticks to his (clearing my mess up).

Tell him straight, no more cooking. It's a lovely effort but wasteful of good food.

"salad cut up as if he's feeding it to a horse"

🤣🤣🤣

OP posts:
Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 06/05/2023 21:15

Maybe he is also disappointed with his mash???
how would he find out?

Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:17

VanGoghsDog · 06/05/2023 21:07

My last two boyfriends and my current one have all been terrible cooks. None think they need to follow a recipe, suggesting it makes them scoff.

I'm a reasonable cook so it annoys me that I have to eat terrible food.

Current bf, I gave him a large gammon I bought for Easter but ended up not able to use. He told me he cooked it in the slow cooker in bisto gravy from granules, with veg.

He's a bit better than the other two because he does take instruction. However, I once left him with all the ingredients for one of those meal boxes, and the instruction sheet, while I had a shower.
When I came down he told me couldn't find the cheese. I suggested that cheese was an odd ingredient for a Thai curry and I wasn't surprised there wasn't any, why did he need it? He said it was in the recipe.....turned out he had followed half the instructions then picked up a different card from somewhere else for a different recipe and started following that without realising it was completely different.

Anyway, the only success I have had is to get them to be good at a couple of things. Chili is a good one, big fry up, that sort of thing. So you can just say "why don't you make your chili tonight?" And be reasonably confident!

He didn't even know he'd inadvertently changed recipes half way through 😂😂

Dear god. If I had my time again, I would never live with another one.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:17

Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 06/05/2023 21:15

Maybe he is also disappointed with his mash???
how would he find out?

He fucking well should be!

OP posts:
PalmLady · 06/05/2023 21:18

My sympathies.
My husband made a beef spaghetti Bolognese and added a tin of tuna because "there wasn't enough mince".

He also made a 'risotto' with basmati rice and 5 minutes before serving he poured in some extra rice to "soak up the excess moisture".

He also boiled penne pasta for an hour when me and the children were late home because he didn't want it to get cold.

I eat most of the weird meals I'm served apart from the beef/tuna combo. That was a new level of bad.

Haveallthesongsbeenwritten · 06/05/2023 21:21

PalmLady · 06/05/2023 21:18

My sympathies.
My husband made a beef spaghetti Bolognese and added a tin of tuna because "there wasn't enough mince".

He also made a 'risotto' with basmati rice and 5 minutes before serving he poured in some extra rice to "soak up the excess moisture".

He also boiled penne pasta for an hour when me and the children were late home because he didn't want it to get cold.

I eat most of the weird meals I'm served apart from the beef/tuna combo. That was a new level of bad.

Bless him he did not want to get it cold! I could not be annoyed with that. Its actually sweet to think it would keep it warm

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 06/05/2023 21:21

How do you fuck up mash??

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 06/05/2023 21:26

Blimey. My husband can his hand to almost anything around the house but the one big exception is cooking. He has no interest in cooking or ingredients. Food is fuel to him and dealing with raw ingredients is an ordeal. Fortunately, I am a good cook and I like cooking, food shopping and meal planning, so for over 40 years I've taken charge of all of that. If I lost the use of my limbs, we'd live on beans on toast and ready meals, I expect. Would be much better than some of the disasters described here!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 06/05/2023 21:26

*turn

Tiredmummaoftwo · 06/05/2023 21:27

Sorry OP but this just me laugh so much.

Probably because I'm in the exact same situation. I read it out loud to my DH and we had a chuckle because he knows I feel this way.

I just ask him to stick to cooking steak, BBQs and the odd roast dinner 🤣

Boxe · 06/05/2023 21:29

The fact that he made pastry makes me think he thinks he’s very competent.

The mix of confidence and inability is what gets me.

My sympathies, OP. My husband is a good cook and tends to stick to fairly simple meals but does them well.

However, if he’s cooking just for himself he cracks out some weird combos. Last week he had a sausage, fried eggs, a boiled potato, brussels sprouts, some smoked cheese, and hummus for dinner.

IfICouldIStillWouldNot · 06/05/2023 21:29

He likes the food?

Can you say it's a clash in preference/taste?

Recipe boxes for a while? He can't mess those up and will pick up skills as he goes?

Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:30

PalmLady · 06/05/2023 21:18

My sympathies.
My husband made a beef spaghetti Bolognese and added a tin of tuna because "there wasn't enough mince".

He also made a 'risotto' with basmati rice and 5 minutes before serving he poured in some extra rice to "soak up the excess moisture".

He also boiled penne pasta for an hour when me and the children were late home because he didn't want it to get cold.

I eat most of the weird meals I'm served apart from the beef/tuna combo. That was a new level of bad.

Sweet baby jesus. Yours has beaten mine hands down.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:31

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 06/05/2023 21:21

How do you fuck up mash??

EXACTLY!!!

OP posts:
IfICouldIStillWouldNot · 06/05/2023 21:32

PalmLady · 06/05/2023 21:18

My sympathies.
My husband made a beef spaghetti Bolognese and added a tin of tuna because "there wasn't enough mince".

He also made a 'risotto' with basmati rice and 5 minutes before serving he poured in some extra rice to "soak up the excess moisture".

He also boiled penne pasta for an hour when me and the children were late home because he didn't want it to get cold.

I eat most of the weird meals I'm served apart from the beef/tuna combo. That was a new level of bad.

@PalmLady you are a saint for staying in this marriage.

Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:33

IfICouldIStillWouldNot · 06/05/2023 21:29

He likes the food?

Can you say it's a clash in preference/taste?

Recipe boxes for a while? He can't mess those up and will pick up skills as he goes?

He can't possibly like it. It's shit 😂

Whoever said that he has to be competent, that's not strictly true. I can make pastry if I have to, but it's wank. Therefore I don't make it 🤣

OP posts:
Franklin2000 · 06/05/2023 21:34

DH can cook and is quite good at it but he likes to be inventive - I see your quiche and raise you a liver and kidney pie. I shit you not. Jesus, who even thinks of that?? And he also does (almost) all meat rare. I’m talking quacking, mooing, you name it. I’ve been vegetarian for 3 years, so I cook for myself now 😂. Maybe that could be your way out, op?!!

Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:35

IfICouldIStillWouldNot · 06/05/2023 21:32

@PalmLady you are a saint for staying in this marriage.

Show quote history

Agreed. Tuna in a bolognese is a new low.

Although sometimes dh makes fried potatoes that he calls 'discs'. They are also shit, and taste of oil and frying pan.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:36

Franklin2000 · 06/05/2023 21:34

DH can cook and is quite good at it but he likes to be inventive - I see your quiche and raise you a liver and kidney pie. I shit you not. Jesus, who even thinks of that?? And he also does (almost) all meat rare. I’m talking quacking, mooing, you name it. I’ve been vegetarian for 3 years, so I cook for myself now 😂. Maybe that could be your way out, op?!!

Weirdly, I am trying to cut down on meat a lot. I've gone off it a bit, and it's too expensive. This really might be an option, he would never go veggie in a million years!

OP posts:
Original poster
Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:37

Especially now I've read about a liver and kidney pie 🤮🤮🤮

OP posts:
DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 06/05/2023 21:37

Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:31

EXACTLY!!!

Show quote history

Did he add milk? It's completely unnecessary. Butter, salt and pepper are all you need.

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 06/05/2023 21:37

Or butter substitute.

Boxe · 06/05/2023 21:37

Ohmygodmakeitstop · 06/05/2023 21:33

He can't possibly like it. It's shit 😂

Whoever said that he has to be competent, that's not strictly true. I can make pastry if I have to, but it's wank. Therefore I don't make it 🤣

Show quote history

No, I said he thinks he’s competent when he clearly is not. That’s more dangerous- like those tone deaf people who take up karaoke.