Eating like a king at the weekend, pauper during the week

[Cravingasimplelife]

Not a pauper really, but, does anyone else spend more money/make *Better meals at the weekend and spend much less on dinners during the week.
Never really used to think like this until food and everything else became more expensive.
Now, we tend to either have a takeaway Fri or Saturday night (pizza usually) or I make a tachos/fajitas/curry type meal. Saturday and Sunday weve either had a lunch out or I make two better meals..meat based usually-lasagna, slow cooker stews, roast.
Then during the week I make simple pasta or just cheesy beans on toast, jacket potatoes with tuna etc.
Dd and Dh have cooked lunches at school/work, so I don’t feel too bad about giving something easy/cold type food during the week
Do others do this or is it weird?

My sister's the same. 2 adult children but always has to be home to cook their dinner ect. Comes a time when you have to let them get on with it themselves. Grandchildren are a different story though lol

Sorry OP but it made me think of this

We probably do the same but think it’’s more because there was a much re time at weekends, it’s so busy in the week with work/pick ups/bed time that we haven’t time to faff and we’re so backed at the end of the day we want something quick and easy to make and eat

Grocery shopping hasn't changed much for us (average earners x2) but the meals out and takeaways are every 2 weeks max and it's either takeaway OR a meal out.

I would go so far as to say, we have a great week long menu. I take a lot of pride in cooking (and eating) nice food. We do have freezer buffets, and our DDs love it! I am meh about it but it feeds our hungry family of 4 and feels like a "treat" at a third of the price of a takeaway 😊 this is roughly every 2 weeks.

I cannot emphasise the positive impact of 2-day dinners. Me and DH work FT and love the big pots we make fresh of fav meals. The next day, they are just warmed up, still fresh, healthy and tasty.

I think it's a sensible way to live. I thought originally you meant in respect of dieting - but I see it's both a cost / time thing - and that makes a lot of sense. Often when your children are young and/or you are working full time things can be a bit rushed in the week - so soup and cheese on toast etc makes a quick meal - but also makes sense cost wise. Then you have something to look forward to at the weekend .

Yes, we do. We started a few years ago when I was on maternity leave with DD2 having a few very cheap dinners during the week. Jacket potato and beans, egg on toast, pasta and pesto with some peas, frittata with whatever veg we have in the fridge, soup etc are all typical weekday meals for us. We only eat meat a couple of times a week for the same reason (cost.) It's become our normal routine to be honest both for the purpose of saving money and also it's just quicker and simpler on weeknights when we have been at work, school, clubs in the evening etc.

Anything more involved or fancier we save for the weekend. We don't tend to have takeaways very often, maybe every few months as they are absolutely extortionate around here. E.g. a takeaway pizza meal for the 4 of us would easily cost over £30....probably more....I haven't checked in a while. We get pizzas from the supermarket for under a tenner instead.

But at the weekend we do have more time so I'm happy to spend longer cooking. We often have a roast dinner on a Sunday or a lasagne or cottage pie.

It is your choice to be a slave to the men in your life.

You choose to be a martyr.

Many women choose to be with a man who shares the cooking or won’t put up with the men in their lives moaning about it.

Totally normal. You tend to have more time at the weekend and people are more likely to be around. Plus things feel more treat like when you ring the changes. Days should feel different!

So where are the women rushing home to cook dinner for their 40 year old daughters?
Its always sons.

You're not being unreasonable per se but I wouldn't want to do this. As a vegan family also have to do a bit more to make sure we get the nutrients in. Having said that DH cooks so if it was me maybe it would be more like what you describe 😂Sounds like it's working for you through, weeknights can be crazy!

I recently had to put my foot down with a friend who was moaning about how she didn't eat what she liked as she 'had to' cook what her son preferred. I think she's coming round to now cooking her own preferred dishes and telling her (30 year old and living at home) son he can eat it or leave it.

I work weekends so I tend to wait until I've got two days off concurrently and then wheel out the more expensive or more elaborate food. Work nights I'm not home until 10.30 so it's quick, easy or slow cook food those days, when I'm off I can faff in the kitchen and make something nicer. But then I've only got myself to please, if the dog starts demanding I make certain things she can go and live in the garden.

Somewhat - but it's more I don't have time midweek than thinking so much about cost.

It's just me mostly. And I get in around 7 after work. So I reheat sauces I've batch cooked or throw meat/fish into a jar of sauce with freshly cooked pasta/rice, a stir fry if I've thought ahead and chopped things night before, things that can go in the oven and let me do housework/finish work emails while it cooks etc.

At the weekend, I have time to make things like a steak dinner, small roasts, steak or bake fish, make a stuffing for roasted veggies, spend time stirring a risotto..the more involved type meals.

We tend to do this but only due to work/childcare so it's faster and easier meals weekdays rather than it being dictated by the cost.

I've only got myself and a mix and match of teens/young adult daughters. I tend to do something quick on days I finish late - mainly because I can't be bothered by that point and better meals on my day off/weekends. We rarely have take aways because of where we live as nowhere delivers here.

Definitely wasn't rushing home to cook for dd even when she was at home - I just had to stay out of her way while she cooked for herself. I left (for a 4 year posting overseas) when she was 17, she left in August for uni overseas and now DH is home alone.

But she fed herself since she was 14, discovered spice and also a need for loads of protein for sport - she is a very serious athlete and has represented the country in 2 completely different sports already and is currently on a 3rd national team (she left the original sport a couple of years ago but is doing the other 2 together still).

Depends what I'm doing on the weekend. If I'm just staying home then I'll cook things that take more time/effort, but if I'm going out in the evening (local team plays ice hockey often on Sunday evenings) then it'll be something quick, or leftovers, or fend for yourself day.
During the week its usually something quick but sometimes I feel like cooking and will do something more complicated, sometimes I even come home from work and immediately start baking a cake - depends on my mood.

I don’t think that eating a takeaway pizza or similar every weekend is eating like a King. Quite the opposite.

When do the men in your life cook what you fancy for you? Considering your username it doesn’t happen often.

I think takeaways for us are a weekend thing because it’s more of a treat. But during the week we eat same as weekend other than anything that’s complex to cook. Like it’s not the expense that dictates what is a weekday meal, more of speed in cooking eg. we all have fillet steak with baked potatoes/chips, once a week during work days, because it’s quick and easy and a full roast with all the sides on Sunday because it takes my husband a good couple of hours to cook it all.

I eat too much really.

Damn that snack machine right beside my desk at work

I see that poster hasn't come back to read all the scathing replies

This for us. I think it’s more a time / energy constraint than anything else

@Cravingasimplelife I do this, but it's less about money and more about being quite time poor in the week. DD also has cooked dinners at school so I'm not averse to giving her a tin of soup with a chunk of cheese and some bread, for example, on a night where we've been doing an after school activity. On weekends I'll knock up lasagnes, roasts, and the stuff I cook from scratch. But then I do freeze a lot and we eat that through the week.

Reminds me of my Gran telling me that the doctor told her to do bovril on toast for my grandfather as it was a good substitute for a cooked meal, when she was really sick with flu. She only told me as I was having the same one day, not because she thought it was unreasonable.

We tend to have a pasta pesto night or bacon and sausages type dinner (mainly as dh cooks these himself and it’s handy as he’s in later)

I tend to make a big stew or some bolognese as it’s cheaper on a Sunday to eat non and Tues (but yes we would have steak or similar on a Sunday)

I’d cut out pizza and takeaway and pub lunches before stripping the midweek dinners.