Non-stop food shop driving me mad

[ZiggySdust]

I’m amazed at how much time I think about FOOD: meal planning, Tesco orders, top-up shops, gluten-free options, meat-free options, fussy child options, budgeting requirements, calorie deficit, calorie surfeit, excess sugar, excess fat, excess salt, too UPF, not too UPF, possibly carcinogenic and so on and so on. It is exhausting, mind-numbingly boring and takes up WAY too much headspace. My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t really seem to give a shit, and is busy in life achieving, being all impressive and whatnot.. .no doubt because he has the headspace to do so. Just me? What could I achieve if I wasn't constantly writing effing food plans and doing effing Tesco orders and top-up shops?

@Lilibert456 OMG yes, hard relate! Cheeky feckers the lot of them.

@ZiggySdust - I feel you, my sister! One pescatarian, one with autism with substantial sensory issues about food, one with gut issues, one who only wants meat and potatoes while the rest don’t like either meat or potatoes (except crisps).

The one whose left home is horrified by how much bloody work feeding yourself is.

“I don’t fancy that today” = “I don’t care that you made a food I usually love, which makes me an asshole and no jury would convict if you stabbed me”

Also feeling this @Passthecake30
I ask for ideas from people or if they need anything I get blank faces… and then they declare “there’s nothing to eat….!”
Gah!!

I agree. For me, it’s not just food - it’s food plus all the other house and life admin. And it’s just me, so no one else to share the load. Teen dd helps but ultimately I am the adult and need to make sure we have something to eat, etc. it really gets me down as I juggle it with a full on job.

I am the exact same op. But also i have the frustration of the fridge door list that only i bother with.

Add defrosting to the list. Deciding at 7.30am what others would like for dinner and taking it out the freezer to defrost in time for dinner.
I have been known to get up in the night for a pee and then take something out the freezer for the slow cooker the next day. I do all the shopping. Dh opens the fridge or freezer in amazement as he never knows whats in there. It must feel like Christmas every day to him. For me, i know everything down to the last ice cube.

I feel your pain
My least favourite chore of the week is menu planning. For me it's not cooking (although I hate that too) but planning that's the worst.
Someone always pulls their nose up, yet they never have meal ideas to contribute.
They all have different schedules. And likes/ dislikes.
I sit in front of a blank piece of paper for ages, then end up with the same meals anyway!
Lockdown was horendous because i suddenly had to provide 7 lunches for 5 people each week too....
Effing hate it

I have a few meals on a cycle so I don't plan more than topping up ingredients I need. I planned and know we get all we need when I created the meal cycle. I then batch cook and freeze a lot of it to save time. It's boring but it works

My people 😭. I hate bloody choosing what everyone wants to eat, never any suggestions just, there is nothing to eat or I don't like that.
I daydream about being alone and would just eat cereal/chocolate and scrambled eggs.
It is so stressful.

Except that one time you were sure there was another block of cheese in there, so didnt buy any, then there wasn't and it ran out, and you realise exactly how much brain space it takes to know what's running low, what cereals we need, is there a spare toothpaste, have we got a lemon, when were the kids' duvets last changed, when is the next sunny day for drying, are their school trousers suddenly too short, have you got any in the next size....
But everyone's pissed off cos you've run out of cheese.

I may be projecting somewhat...

Op I take 15 mins twice a week to plan the meals, try and make sure there's a fish and/ or veggie meal in there and that's the only restrictions, but it still takes a lot of headspace. Once it's planned I just shop to the list. Write down anything we run out of asap or it gets forgotten.

Same here including various permutations of ASD, dietary restrictions and so on. Some nights there might be freshly woven lentils but tonight I cooked a tray of sausages, DH and I had them with spuds and veg, Ds2 with oven chips and Ds1 will have his in a sandwich. Jug of bisto made for those of us who like it.

Btw I recommend writing down a list of your normal meals, on your phone or on post-its etc, then you just select from those. The excitement when a rare new recipe makes it onto the list!

Oh yeah I'm so over it. I don't think the perimenopause help with it all tbh. Apparently your desire to "nurture" drops off a bit and you go a bit Shirley Valentine.

I work in a school so often have a school dinner at lunch and don't want much at home in the evening. But I've still got one DS at home. Then when the other one is home from uni he wants nice family meals. I can't be arsed anymore. I've just left DH to it really as luckiy he likes cooking and is good at it. It's the planning I hate the most. And if I hear anyone else sigh or look pissed off when I reply to their question "What's for tea?" I swear I'll throw their tea at them. Even DH has taken to doing that. Which is what started me thinking "well, let him sort it then." So I've just taken a step RIGHT back. Very liberating.

Tonight I'm in on my own, DS and DH have gone to the match. I've had a big lunch at school so I've just had 2 slices of peanut butter on toasts, some sweet chilli crisps and I'm debating between a white chocolate magnum or a piece of fruit. I don't know who I'm trying to kid, my brain already knows the magnum will win.

THere was never this angst in the old days I'm sure when there was a weekly plan for everything. eg always fish on Fridays, roast dinner on Sundays. Probably leftovers on Mondays. That's 3 days taken care of already. It might get boring but if it's nutritionally balanced what does it matter. I think we put far too much pressure on ourselves these days to cook interesting things in the evening even though most of us aren't housewives anymore.

I was waiting for the kettle to boil there, its a fast boil one, and in the 45 seconds i had i took chicken thighs out the freezer, checked we had a sauce and nan bread and wrote popadums on the fridge list.
Then made my cuppa 45 seconds later.
Its an art really.
No one noticed....

My mum and dad shopped almost every day @CurlyhairedAssassin , the freezer was a tiny compartment in the top of the fridge. And i was a fussy bugger, probably glad to see the back of me at 18

This is hilarious

I don't think the perimenopause help with it all tbh. Apparently your desire to "nurture" drops off a bit and you go a bit Shirley Valentine.

Interesting @CurlyhairedAssassin - this definitely resonates!