Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I can't cook in my own home

808 replies

Bambambino1 · 10/05/2023 15:41

I am sympathetic to my DH here but, this is getting ridiculous. I'm just keen to hear what others think about this and how you'd handle it.

Bit of background, my DH hates all food smells. Is stresses him out just thinking about it. I think more so than normal people (you know what I mean). On that basis, we pretty much only have oven cooked meals and pretty much the same thing most nights. He likes to eat a lot of fruit and veg separately to his main meals, but I'm not personally very good at that (so I'm almost certainly not getting the nutrients I need!)

We've been together 11 years. So for 11 years now I've pretty much not been able to do anything at all that involves frying food or cooking anything that smells bad. I've suggested an air fryer but apparently that makes the house smell. Slow cooker definitely a no-go on that basis. I can put a pizza in the oven, but not really make anything from scratch! He's basically in charge in the kitchen.

To clarify, this isn't a control thing on his part. He's just insistent that food smells will give him a mental breakdown, and he says this is linked to his mental health. I don't believe it's as bad as he says (maybe that's unreasonable of me), I just think he's almost convinced himself of it. We've argued today because I want to cook something tomorrow when he's in the office. He got very worked up about this because of how the house will smell. I said he can open windows, use the extractor fan, burn incense...I don't care what we do, I just want to cook something!!

Just, I don't want to go though my whole life not using my kitchen and cooking anything ever?!

I was just planning on cooking tomorrow when he was out anyway, and see how he copes when he gets home. Is that wrong?

Sorry, I do appreciate how this sounds but it's a genuine problem!

OP posts:
determinedtomakethiswork · 10/05/2023 18:06

What happens on Christmas Day? Do you have to eat open ready food then? How does he think that doesn't smell anyway? Everything smells if you cook it. Does he drink coffee or tea? What about perfume and soap, does he dislike the smell of them?

What if you were to cook something that he really enjoys eating like cake? Does he have a very restricted diet anyway and this is a way of allowing that to happen?

TomatoSandwiches · 10/05/2023 18:07

He has essentially turned his problem into yours and your sons, start cooking as you wish and he will be forced to find a solution, currently he is controlling you to solve it, it's not working for you and he won't try anything else until his life is inconvenienced again.
Harsh but true.

WallaceinAnderland · 10/05/2023 18:08

If he was genuinely going to have a mental health episode then it would happen outside of the house as well as inside. I think he is just controlling what everyone eats.

Sensible option would be to say that from now on you will cook what you want one day a week and he can absent himself if he feels he needs to. If it's that much of a problem to him, he can seek help.

Take some control. Don't let him bully you.

BetterFuture1985 · 10/05/2023 18:09

matchalattewithsoy · 10/05/2023 15:45

Even if he is it's unreasonable to control what his partner makes.

You know that's basically the same as saying it's okay to chain smoke at home if your partner is asthmatic?

HelloCanYouHearMe · 10/05/2023 18:09

This sounds a bit like my ExFIL. Wouldn't have any food in the house that he didnt like the smell of. Poor ExMIL couldnt cook anything with spices or garlic and takeaways were an absolute no.

He wasnt nurodivergent, he was just a massive twat

PickAChew · 10/05/2023 18:09

He needs to find coping mechanisms that don't involve giving you an earful for cooking healthy food. End of.

PickAChew · 10/05/2023 18:10

BetterFuture1985 · 10/05/2023 18:09

You know that's basically the same as saying it's okay to chain smoke at home if your partner is asthmatic?

Smoking is not a healthy and essential activity. Eating is. The two are not the same at all.

Ponderingwindow · 10/05/2023 18:11

my DH cooks outside even in the winter due to my allergies. He sometimes really wants particular foods that he can’t just get from a restaurant, which is another solution we use. He has been doing it in some pretty spartan conditions, so we are improving the situation.

Bluebells1970 · 10/05/2023 18:11

I would tell him you're cooking, and he has the option to sit outside while you're doing so. But don't engage in any kind of negotiation. This is YOUR home too.

BittenontheBum · 10/05/2023 18:12

It smacks of dictatorship as much as you say not OP.
People have offered recommendations for various possible solutions. This is mine. Chefs Candles.
They are relatively cheap and are very efficient at removing smells (cooking, tobacco smoke, weed smell) not just masking them.
Good luck going forward 💐

LudicrouslyCapaciousBag · 10/05/2023 18:13

BetterFuture1985 · 10/05/2023 18:09

You know that's basically the same as saying it's okay to chain smoke at home if your partner is asthmatic?

It basically is not in the slightest.

theDudesmummy · 10/05/2023 18:13

@BetterFuture1985 it's really really not the same. Cigarettes are not essential for life, and are not a vital part of children and adults' social world, heritage and development. Food and cooking are.

My DH smokes, and I badly at the smell of smoke. We also have a child in the home. So he smokes outside and I really don't think I am in any way unreasonable to "make" him to (I don't really have to make him, he does it himself, of course). That's not the same as preventing someone from cooking and eating what they want, or preventing a child from seeing and understanding the pleasures of cooking and the role of meals in normal family life.

ohdearmynamechangedagain · 10/05/2023 18:14

Two words: Exposure therapy.

His lack of willingness to even attempt tackling his issues would be a deal-breaker for me. I don't doubt his issues are real, but fuck me, man, at least try and let your family live a normal life.

theDudesmummy · 10/05/2023 18:15

*cough badly that should say

GabriellaMontez · 10/05/2023 18:15

He can compromise by going for a walk a few times a week while you cook.

No idea why you've put up with this. Especially as he steadfastly refuses to seek treatment.

Megifer · 10/05/2023 18:15

BetterFuture1985 · 10/05/2023 18:09

You know that's basically the same as saying it's okay to chain smoke at home if your partner is asthmatic?

Has someone left the gate open at Moot Point Farm again?

MichelleScarn · 10/05/2023 18:16

AhNowTed · 10/05/2023 15:46

He's being absolutely ridiculous and incredibly self-absorbed and selfish.

Absolutely! And To clarify, this isn't a control thing on his part. He's just insistent that food smells will give him a mental breakdown, and he says this is linked to his mental health.
This is also absolutely controlling behaviour, and to add he controls where you eat if out.
He sounds a horrible, horrible person, doing this under the guise of 'I'll be unwell if you don't do what I tell you' complete ick from this!!

Cornettoninja · 10/05/2023 18:16

BetterFuture1985 · 10/05/2023 18:09

You know that's basically the same as saying it's okay to chain smoke at home if your partner is asthmatic?

No, no it isn’t.

BananaPalm · 10/05/2023 18:16

ohdearmynamechangedagain · 10/05/2023 18:14

Two words: Exposure therapy.

His lack of willingness to even attempt tackling his issues would be a deal-breaker for me. I don't doubt his issues are real, but fuck me, man, at least try and let your family live a normal life.

This 100%!

FearMe · 10/05/2023 18:17

As we'd say in our house, that would be the autism.
Sounds like he has sensory issues and has never worked on finding ways to get around them.

diamondpony80 · 10/05/2023 18:17

ThatFraggle · 10/05/2023 15:45

But tbh, at the dating stage this would have been a deal-breaker.

This, definitely! I'm not a big fan of cooking, but I love food and would hate to never be able to cook at all. I couldn't live in a house with someone like that.

Batalax · 10/05/2023 18:18

By giving in you are enabling him. You are also setting your ds up for similar problems so I’d use that angle to ensure he gets help. Say you can cope with it yourself but when it is going to affect your child, then something has to change. 2xweek is a good compromise.

Secondwindplease · 10/05/2023 18:19

This is his issue to address, not yours. Get cooking.

We have both neurodiversity and mental issues conditions in our house - none of it is a free pass to get your own way. I honestly think the pendulum has swung too far on this.

Hotcrossbunnyy · 10/05/2023 18:19

he goes out while you cook and eat. Simple as that. His problems cannot dictate your life. I work with SEN kids so I’m extremely amenable to adapting to sensory issues but not with an adult who doesn’t want help.

Florenz · 10/05/2023 18:21

Why do so many people nowadays have these so-called "MH issues" that people are supposed to pay any heed to?

Swipe left for the next trending thread