I'm sick of running the 24hr "Corona Cafe" !

[Pebbles574]

DH and two young adult DSs at home and I am just TOTALLY fed up with all the food shopping (online), delivery & putting away, stocking, checking and constantly restocking the fridge, freezer and larder and the ENDLESS meals, snacks, cups of tea and coffee etc etc.

We take it in turns to cook dinner, but the mental load is still mine ("what shall I cook"/ "I don't know what to make"/ "how do a defrost XYZ" etc).

Also, I have a food intolerance which means that I can't eat a lot of ready meal type food (including soups and pasta sauces) so I tend to make stuff from scratch for me. But I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO DOES THIS!
So for example today I made a huge batch of bacon, tomato and lentil soup which I thought would see me well into next week for lunches.
I said there was a small bowl each for lunch today, but to leave the rest to cool.
Then I came downstairs to find them all having massive bowls and seconds, emptying the pan and finishing off the loaf of bread which only just arrived this morning!

And it’s a constant round of nagging to get people to load and empty the dishwasher, and anything that needs handwashing just gets left on the side.

I really am totally fed up!

Anyone else want to rant too?

DH is bored tonight so the meatballs which had been delivered with a short date so I had frozen, and then defrosted for today's dinner, are now going to spoil. Gah! 😡

Should add that I meal plan for the week when I do shopping and I ask my partner to come up with ideas for what we eat too. The young men boys/ are sadly pretty typical in lots of moaning, doing a shit job in the hope to not have to do it again: or get away with it, so it’s been a long haul, and continues but we do see progress and they’re just not getting away with it, helps that my partner pulls his weight.

Just don't clean up. Leave a note. Wash up etc. And do not do it for 3 days. It works

Was thinking just this recently too! Constant thinking what to eat, shopping for it, cooking it and repeat. So fed up.

I like the sound of your soup @Pebbles574, have you got a recipe?

I’m tempted by paper plates. Clean kitchen, make food, hence more mess and repeat all day.

I hear you op! It's like groundhog day, am all out of new ideas and my lovely new kitchen has now become a battleground in my mind. I've just served up Chinese chicken noodles with oyster sauce. It was all kinds of wrong as I forgot several ingredients and overdone the noodles. Beyond caring and have opened the wine.

I've started sending DH food shopping. Very effective. He can call me but he usually only does this if there's a great offer or a totally no substitution item. We write the list together. Do not offer to make food.

Not putting dishes in the dishwasher.
Or asking, is the dishwasher empty? I don’t know, how about opening the door to check?
Wet towels on the bedroom/bathroom floor.
Empty bottles/jars/packets put back in the cupboard (three empty crisp bags yesterday).
Leaving lights and tv and PlayStation on when they come down for dinner. Or sometimes when they go to school. Then harrumphing loudly and flouncing off when I dispatch them to their room to switch things off.
Having to request, in full, that plates, cereal bowls, glasses, cups, sweet wrappers, crisp bags, any receptacle that sweets or crisps may have been decanted into, and dirty washing must be brought out of rooms and placed in an appropriate area/appliance. If I fail to specify every item, they adopt an attitude of disdain and berate me for not asking for whatever it is they’ve forgotten.

I could go on...

I hear you OP! I’ve got 4DC. 3 are teenagers and eat constantly. DH also eats a lot! I cook twice in the evenings. One meal for DC and one meal for me and DH as I’m a celiac so I make my meals Gluten Free. Sunday’s I cook a large GF meal for all of us plus a GF pudding. I shop and put away all the food. I am in charge of 99% of the life/ house work. I am feeling like it’s Groundhog Day every day at the moment and I’m sick of everyone constant mess, plates and washing everywhere. I could quite happily move to a remote island on my own at the moment!

I feel very lucky after reading this since my DP is likely better in the kitchen than I am and we are sharing all housework (which took some training) since we are both working. However this thread made me realise that it is time to start asking a bit more from my DC. He is nearly nine and learning how to fill the dishwasher tonight.

I thought the other day the idea of the quarantine hotel was nice. But only if I was all alone. Bliss for 14 days. Quite happy with some airplane food being delivered.

Middersweekly, my DH is coeliac so I also make everything from scratch too. He doesn't help and yesterday watched cricket and rugby while I did cooking and house work. He "does the shopping" but is fairly rubbish so I'm constantly traipsing off to the shops so I can actually make a meal. He buys ice cream, booze, broccoli and roasts (broccoli disagrees with me).

Only DH and me unless dd’s home from uni . I’m expected to cook - DH works in office all day till about 2.30 . I wfh full time 4 days a week . I offset this by leaving him to do some shopping . We have a fruit/veg delivery once a fortnight and an online supermarket shop one a month - - this goes up if dd is home . If I feel too tired - my work is to do with figures and is intense as I have lots of meetings - or sick ( I suffer from a chronic illness) , DH won’t cook , he’ll buy ready meals or takeaways. I know he can cook as he used to cook in his old job so it’s not that . I’d love him to one day cook a meal , even something simple like beans on toast would do 🙃

Err...why are you buying and cooking food for your adult offspring?

Surely they at the very least are paying for their share of the food?

I'm with you. Hello Fresh has saved the peace in my family. Yes, it's more expensive than plain grocery shopping, but it's less than a third of the cost of a takeaway. My teens can be told to cook and I don't have to give it another thought. Plus they are learning how to cook.

Do not, under any circs, make any meals other than dinner, and do not make snacks or hot drinks for anyone.

I could have written all your posts over the last year. 3 teens here and a DH who tho is working from home is code for making a mess.

I've stopped cooking two meals a day, lunch is sandwiches or soup and I even added in some ready meals on my last order to stop the winging. Slow cooker has been a saviour a couple of times a week and takeaway kicks in at least twice as we have found a cheap Chinese and do a Sunday special at the Indian. I gave up baking when they went back to school in September and have just done the odd thing since then.

Bonus is there Is less washing here except for towels and hoodies which have gone up. I school uniform or PE kits.
I have no idea how I will get back in to a routine when everything opens up again.

All this time I've been working too.

I love cooking but it’s turned into a bloody chore catering for the house. DH gets takeaway when it’s his turn to cook, meaning that food for dinners I had planned sits there until I use it or put it in the freezer. All ‘I don’t fancy x, y or z, let’s get in a curry’. What he’s really saying is that he can’t be fucked to cook a meal. DC only descend from their rooms when dinner is presented for them. It truly upsets me that I’m coming to hate cooking now because it feels like yet another job for me to do, rather than something which gives me pleasure.

I hope you bollocked them about the soup. Plus I hope you made them make you another batch?

I hear ya! I feel your pain!

Even worse here as I cook every meal. I’m way to tired to walk people through what to do o step by step. I give up and just f do it.

I’m sick of it, even though I have two helpful pre-teens who do the dishwasher, laundry and food prep when asked and DH always tidies up when I’ve cooked.

It’s just so boring checking out what’s in cupboards/fridge/freezer, planning the meals and snacks around dietary requirements (nothing fancy, just making sure we do eat some fruit and veg and don’t live off pasta), booking the delivery slot far enough ahead to get a time that doesn’t clash with work, making sure the running list in the kitchen is added to the supermarket order just before the cut off, putting all the food away in the right places and isn’t frozen when we need it fresh, getting out all the sodding utensils and pans and herbs and the standing there making the thing for hike being asked to fix the WiFi or deal with a work call.

@thefirstmrsrochester DH gets takeaway when it’s his turn to cook

Oh no - don't let him get away with that! If DH does this (takeaway when it's his turn to cook) then his 'shift' moves to the following night!

Tell your husband to take a turn ordering and make them all sit down and meal plan with you. Enough of that crap.

I thought I was on Mumsnet and not MartyrNet..
If you're sick of cooking 100 meals per day and being treated like a skivvy by your teen and adult family members then stop doing it. They won't starve. 'Oh I also have to..' - no you don't, you're not a slave.

Totally. It's like that here. I hate it