I hate food

[LottieMary]

Two children under 4. They seem to need to eat early around 5 and my husband likes to eat later around 7-8 so I’m basically doing tea time for about 3 hours a day which is torturous.
I hate food so much. I dislike planning for it, shopping for it, cooking it. I don’t particularly want to eat it - i find myself eating just because ‘it’s mealtime’ and hate the amount of weight I carry (16 stone/5’10) . If I say I’m not hungry it seems to trigger something in husband who’s then ‘really worried’ about me.
im not a great eater; picky, don’t like a lot of variety. I’d happily have pizza or cheese pasta every day but am very concerned about my children picking up habits that make them unwell in some way.

I kept my mealtimes the same as the Dc when they were small. DH’s was
plated up and reheated later. No way I would be cooking twice, weekends or if DH working from home he would eat with us at 5pm

If people are reheating meals for later, what sort of meals do you have? I get it for things like bolognese or other ‘one pot’ type stuff, but otherwise doesn’t it go a bit rank? Yesterday we had steak, corn on the cob, broccoli and garlic and rosemary potatoes, I can’t imagine eating that reheated!

I would try and only cook once. So either you reheat food for your husband later or you reheat a previous days’ food for the kids. If you can make double the amount of food and freeze it sometimes that might help too.

This.

Make a casserole in a slow cooker, or a pasta sauce, feed your dcs and then reheat for you & DH.

Or Food for DCs is pretty easy. My DS when at primary school ate basically.....

Fish fingers, chips and peas
Sausages, mash and French beans
Tomato & bacon pasta
Chicken fajitas with salad
Spaghetti & meatballs
Pork chop & sweetcorn with couscous
Cheese & tomato omelette & chips

I could make any of these in 15 minutes.

That leaves you free to have a decent ready meal or a takeaway or persuade your DH to cook on the days you don't want to.

Cook one meal at 5 anyone not eating can reheat or make their own.

I'd try to eat three meals a day at set times. Make t a routine

Which is why you wouldnt do a meal like that if you were in OPs position would you

The point is you plan meals around your lifestyle and routines, she has kids that need to eat early and then the adults eat later so you wouldnt cook a dish earlier on that cant be (or wont taste as good) reheated, you would do dishes like stews, curries, chillis, bolgnese, soups, pies, etc that can be reheated.

Yeah I guess so. I just wouldn’t really enjoy one pot type stuff every day and I think my family would get a bit sick of it too. Then again my DH does the majority of the cooking as he works from home so it’s not something I have to stress about too much. Everyone has to do what’s right/convenient for them.

I should add that when we were in the OPs position (kids eating earlier and us later) we did it differently in that I (at the time I was home earlier) cooked for the kids at 5ish and then DH cooked for us at 8-9 ish because neither of us would have wanted reheated food every day. That’s what worked for us. Now they’re a bit older (10, 9 and 4) we all eat together at around 6.30pm, depending on what activities everyone has in the evening.
I would absolutely never have cooked twice, that’s why DH and I shared the cooking. Maybe the OP’s DH could cook for the 2 of them if he wants to eat later?

I think there's a couple of things going on here where you could make life a lot easier for yourself

Plan your weeks meals & ensure that for at least 2 if not 3 meals you can double cook & have it 2 nights in a row. Things like beef stew, mild chicken & veg curry, chicken pie, cottage pie, bolognaise, fish pie, chicken casserole, mild chilli, lasagne etc

Serve dc theirs at 5pm & have yours & dhs ready to heat up whenever you're ready to eat

Share the cooking with your dh. He should be cooking a couple of nights a week

Build up a stock of small portions of dinners your dc will eat & freeze them. That way you have a quick hassle free proper dinner for them. Freeing you & dh up to have something you enjoy from time to time - a spicier dish, a takeaway or a supermarket ready meal deal etc

Focus on your own health & prioritise that. Even at 5ft 10" at 16 stone you're overweight & I'm sure you know that. You will feel better & have more energy if you tackle that & start eating healthily & properly. And it's a far better example for your dc too.

This doesn't mean starve yourself. It means being mindful to eat 3 proper nutritious meals each day. They can be v simple. I have lost 2.5 stones this year & generally only by eating mindfully & healthily. No fad diets.

A general I have weetabix for breakfast.
Soup for lunch. Either supermarket fresh tub or canteen in work or at least once a week I roast all the left over veg in the fridge &,add herbs & spices & stock & blend- gives us lunches for 2 or 3 days. I have mine with brown soda bread & real butter.

Dinner is something like fish, steamed potatoes with butter & salt & pepper & peas; or chicken & veg Curry - rice & naan for dh & dc, cauliflower rice for me; caesar salad kit from supermarket. Add extra such as tomato, Avocado, chicken or ham or hard boiled egg. Sparing on t by the dressing

Roast veg with herby chicken- one tray pan roast etc

Good luck!