To give up on dinners entirely?

[Goodgravythisisfantastic]

So bloody sick of thinking about food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, every day, every week, every month. Who cares?

Tonight we had beans on toast with sausages and fried egg. Son (nearly 3) ecstatically happy. I realised everyone is happier with the simpler meals and I'm happier for cooking them.

I'm ready to give up and cook only beans on toast, baked potatoes, tuna pasta, fish finger sandwiches, toasties with soup, and chicken burgers.

YABU- stop being lazy and cook a decent meal ffs
YANBU- embrace the lazy dinners. Everyone's happier. In fact here are some lazy dinner ideas of my own...

Thanks in advance! 😴🥱🥔🥪🍳🌭🫘

@RhiannonTheRed
Watch you don't fall out of the window in your ivory tower while your looking down on everyone.

I love a varied diet and can get very bored of either eating, or of cooking the same meals each week.

We have fresh baked sourdough bread every day (I make 2 loaves every 2 days). I make various types of porridge in the mornings, from cold porridge with water and variety of fruits, nuts, seeds and honey, to overnight oats with full fat yogurts.

Today I foraged wild garlic, nettles and mushrooms and made a soup, which we had for lunch.

I make pies, my own pasta, risottos, beautiful italian sauces, roasts, scratch made curries, puddings, cakes etc etc.

It really helps when I write a menu for the week, then the shopping is easier and the mental load is lessened.

Then there are times that I can absolutely not be arsed with anything and eat cereal and toast all day.

I have to be in the mood. It is either all or nothing for me. Mind you, I've just been diagnosed ADHD. So that might have something to do with it.

This thread is absolute madness!

I know about food, I’m not bad at cooking and I care that my family get an overall balanced diet.

There is nothing that you could say to persuade me that the endless planning and preparing of meals to take into account exactly who is likely to eat what (no doubt a symptom of my awful parenting), how much time I have to prep on whichever day of the week and who can eat when according to work and club schedules is anything other than one set of chores amongst all the others that seem to fall to me as my household’s vagina-owning adult. But of course Food=Love and all that so if you don’t love doing it you clearly don’t love yourself or your family enough.

I also laughed the hollow laugh of recognition; my 7y.o once had an assignment - turn family/people you know into superheroes, based on their amazing attributes.

tadaaaa - my alterego -‘Dinnerlady’

Amazing to be at once vaguely proud and thoroughly depressed. At least my epitaph will be cheap to chisel.

I recall when we were teenagers and my DM couldn’t be bothered cooking she got breaded lemon sole and oven chips and peas. For some reason this was a step above fish fingers (which I love!). I sometimes even do sausages or Linda McCartney sausages but they seem to have changed the recipe.

I agree. I buy them...still add salt pepper and bit of butter though 🫢

You're not happier with simpler meals, you're just happy your son is happy eating junk food and you want approval. Fish finger sandwiches? You can't do fish fingers with boiled peas? Chicken burgers? How does that work? Are you grilling a chicken breast? Baked potato and tuna pasta, can't see a problem. But do you hate vegetables? Would it really be so difficult to include a vegetable in every meal? Just throw out or limit the junk food and put a meal out every evening. There are a surprising number of people, including children, who love vegetables. And all children eat (pretty much anything) when hungry. Your son is under 3. Absolutely down to you if he doesn't like vegetables. Absolutely down to you, if he views special occasions, like Birthday Parties, as the occasions when he can eat unhealthily, rather than every day. Your child. Your choice. Your values.

Hahahahahaha

Do you genuinely think that list is the entirety of what we eat? Ever? For the rest of our lives?

There are a few absolute crackpots on this thread.

Anyway he's not keen on lettuce on his fish finger sandwiches so I put rusty nails on it. You know, for the iron.

www.myogenes.com/the-scientific-reason-why-you-may-not-like-green-veg/
There are genetic reasons why some vegetables in particular may taste bitter to some people. Technically yes that would be down to the genes of the parents, but I wouldn't say it was their fault!

@OldPerson what's wrong with a fish finger sandwich?
I tend to use wraps rather than bread but my fish finger sandwich would have lettuce, tomato, cucumber, raw peppers and onion in there too.
(Usually ends up falling out the wrap and I eat it all separately 😂 I just can't fold wraps in a good way).
So salad rather than vegetables - but not exactly junk food 🙄

I had a beans, egg and plantain (which is like sweet potatoish looks like a banana) for dinner today 😄
Usually have on the weekends for breakfast.
As long as you're eating and kids 😀

Fish finger sandwiches with mayo and chilli sauce, i think i will have that tomorrow 😀

@MarkWithaC haha yes celery should be banned! 😂
Agree about the red meat, as protein other quick things we have with this type of dinner are:
smoked mackerel / kippers
sardines / tuna
smoked salmon
cheeses
sliced turkey (the one you buy pre-cooked)
poached egg or omelette
chickpeas / beans

Peperonata sounds amazing 😃 if I'm not in a cooking mood and wanted something warm with it, I'd probably buy soup and have that with everything else 😅
Another quick dinner we sometimes have is pasta e fagioli / pasta e ceci, but not with a lot of ingredients, just pasta, chickpeas / borlotti beans, rosemary, a bit of passata or tomato paste if you like, and pancetta cubes or onion if we're feeling fancy😊

I just had Katsu curry. Jar of sauce, some breaded chicken, rice and some salad. It was so simple yet so good.

Food doesn't have to be complicated or take lots of prep to be amazing. Sometimes you just need fish fingers or a fried egg.

Apparently when chefs are at home they mostly make really simple stuff - eggs, toast etc.

We’re just like them (minus the amazing cooking at work bit)!

You know you can do both, right?

It doesn't have to be home cooked from scratch gourmet artisan while food for every meal, likewise you don't have to just go with the beige crap. You can do a combination, find the happy medium.

This isn't rocket science.

I've went from being a mad foodie to waffles and spaghetti hoops being my fav meal right now! Can't be arsed cooking, don't enjoy food as much as I used to, not sure if it's cause I lost my taste buds during COVID (and don't feel they've been the same since) or the delightful Perimenopause but food just doesn't excite me very much anymore. If I'm cooking it's mince and potatoes or tacos or pasta. I'd also happily live on tea and biscuits and cherries, oranges and melon. Toast and tuna for lunch

I batch cook, it makes life so much easier

I did it all for so many years but during lockdown I just lost the ability.I was doing other things that I found more interesting. Still managed to feed myself and adult daughter. Lately though, I'm just too tired.Daughter sorts herself,we don't like each other's food that much.
I have bad ibs and some days survive on whatever doesn't make me ill. Some days I just want to go out for a roast dinner though.
Making one is beyond me!

@Petris123

you don’t need all that different stuff

Funnily enough, this was in Scotland/Scottish people!

@OldPerson

aye, some of us value having a life over slaving away in the kitchen for hours cooking from scratch every single day!

@RhiannonTheRed

do they? Hope you enjoy spending hours in the kitchen…life is short you know!

Here it's 'shit wi sugar on'