I'm starting to hate cooking, please help me feed my family!

[whateverfloatsyourboat]

I feel like I spend my whole time thinking about what we're going to eat, shopping for it and cooking the wretched meals - including spending 18mo's short naptimes chopping vegs and doing as much prep as I can.

I'm really fed up with it. But want to feed my kids healthy food. Can anyone help me with some ideas that mean I don't have to cook every day? Or some healthy, super-quick ideas for lazy evenings?

It's so hard to cook anything while 18mo is awake, he's always hanging off my legs or scaling bookcases. Dh works till very late every night.

I often have a cooking day eg Sunday when i make a lot of wholerice (keep in fridge or freeze in smallish pots to be taken out the night before) the same with a veg or meat stew or soup but def freeze those!.

I do what ppeatfruit does....write off a large chunk of Sunday afternoon preparing at least three evening meals for the following week and freezing what is to be eaten last.
We have a Sunday roast usually and I use up the cooked meat from that in some form (usually soup).

Me too, not so much the preparation of it but the thinking of what to have. DH will eat anything (except cuttlefish and squid in its own ink), DD is very fussy and so am I to a point. I tend to compromise with her and avoid cuttlefish with him. Every week is like groundhog day and it's not to do with lack of time on my part, rather lack of motivation and laziness

A good healthy lazy supper is dips with crudites and ryvitas the Dcs like the finger foods as well.

Presumably DH could do some cooking at the weekend to keep for the week? Most working parents do.

Now its getting colder, you can do easy casseroles. If you have a slow cooker, even better! They're are loads of simple recipes around (meat, veg, herbs, stock)

Try to menu plan for the week and do the shop in one go.

If I'm making mince, I usually make a big batch and then freeze some portions so I can do pastas or shepherds pies with it.

Some of my quick recipes are
pasta, pesto, green beans
chicken drumsticks with some marinade and potatoes chucked in the oven (serve with veg)
stir fry using supermarket prepped veg packs and chicken

Go on the bbcgoodfood website under their 'ready in under 20mins' section. Its brilliant.

Also search for 'one pot' recipes. They are a life saver for me

I feel the same way but I do have more time than you at the moment. That will change when dc4 turns up in 6 months so I'm watching this thread.

One meal that I make is a big pot of tomato soup and freeze individual portions for dd2 for her nursery. Then defrost night before for the next day. That's as far as it goes for me.

I have been meaning to menu plan since I got married nearly 13 years ago

PPeat, my DH would think that was a starter I'm afraid. He has a remarkably fast metabolism and truly needs a lot of food. DD would laugh at the veg crudites too.

I totally understand. I love cooking but sometimes, it does just start to feel like a very boring and time consuming chore.

A few things we've done include:

• DH tries realy hard to be in charge of dinner at least once a week (he is not a comfortable cook and it's hard for him. He does loads around the house otherwise).
• I sometimes buy "convenience" vegetables in the form of packets of ready chopped and prepared veg or bags of baby vegetables that can just be bored into a pot without peeling or chopping
• Similarly, I invest in a combination of frozen peas, carrots, corn or spinach for easy cooking.
• Make large batches of some foods and store in the freezer in convenient sized portions. Stews, soups and mince all work well for this.
• Recently, we've started eating Waitrose fish finger things - supposedly high quality and very easy to prepare.

that would be "poured into a pot". I really must use the review function.

I am doing one of my quickie meals tonight- a bag of chopped sweet potato and butternut squash, to which I add chicken stock, thyme and single cream (at the end).
Have abought a nice Gail's Bakery loaf too

Salmon or tuna fillets with veg and couscous is easy too

DH and I work long hours, so only have max 35 mins each evening to cook for us and DD. Hence I have a set routine each week - if I cook, say, 6 dinners a week, then:

• 1 day is pasta or risotto night
• 1 day is eggs or cheeseboard night
• 1 night is jacket potato with filling
• 1 night is fish or veggie night
• i night is meat night.

For each of the above, I have 5 or 6 options written down on a sheet on the fridge. These options do not take more than 30 mins, e.g.:

Pasta/risotto night: Pasta pesto, pasta carbonara, Pasta ragu, Pasta with tuna and capers, mushrooms risotto (frozen pre-chopped mushrooms), seafood risotto (using a bag of frozen mixed seafood), risotto with peas (frozen) and lemon...

Meat night: chicken and cashew nuts stir fry with onion, lemon and garlic pan-fried chicken or turkey, chicken miso and noodle soup, chicken with wholegrain mustard, pan-fried pork chops, pork escalope with balsamic vinegar, thin beef steaks or burgers.

and so on. Each night I also pick two veg, one raw and one cooked, to complement the above, e.g.:

• Raw: bag of salad, cherry toms, carrot/cucumber/pepper sticks, tin of sweetcorn
• Cooked: roasted peppers (you can buy these frozen), frozen spinach with garlic and olive oil, cauliflower or broccoli steamed in the microwave while the main mean cooks, frozen peas or broad beans, roasted courgette or aubergine (bought frozen, already roasted), pan-fried pak choi in garlic ginger or soya sauce (this takes longer than the rest so I only make it if the main meal takes minutes, e.g. scrambled eggs).

Fruit is the only pudding offered.

If anything takes more than 30 mins to prepare (e.g. lasagne, lentil/meat stew etc), then we only eat it at weekends when I have a bit more time or extra help from DH.

It takes some time to get this military routine going, but once you are used to it it's much easier than it sounds - I have even got seasonal menus so that we change the options reasonably often and we do not get bored. I also buy the good food magazine, who has always a section at the beginning with meals that take 3 mins or less - so I can increase my options.

To cut the time even more, I use the following:

• pan fry meat in strips if possible, as it takes less time than whole escalopes; I ask my butcher to chop the meat when I buy it so I do not need to chop it myself in the evening;
• buy big bunches of herbs at the weekend, wash them, and freeze them. In this way you do not need to wash and chop during the week
• you can buy tubes of chopped garlic and ginger which cut prep time
• bags of washed salad rock. Get frozen vegetables at Waitorse/ocado: they have much more variety than Iceland!
• Use tofu/prawns in stir fries, they take seconds to cook
• Do not use the oven during the week; by the time you have got it warmed up and the food is cooked, it takes an hour or so. Save it for the weekend!

minerv - you are inspiriational, been meaning to do this for years,

what do you do on egg night?

or veg night (despite previously being a veg for years I seem to have forgotten all veggie ideas - prob just ate pasta and tomatos as we still do every 3 days, or so it seems.

kreecher I assume yr DH is not following the Paul Mckenna diet then !!

Thank you everyone - for great suggestions and for the understanding. I need to get organised, obviously! Am also reading up on the 'cook once, eat twice' / 'planned leftovers' approach...

Like previous posters, I try to always cook a bit in advance to have things ready in the freezer. Also, if really not fancying that or nothing in freezer, then make a quick spaghetti with tomato sauce. Takes only 15-20 minutes in total. In the time that I boil the water for the spaghetti, I finely chop an onion, thinly slice some celery and grate a carrot, this I fry for a few minutes in some olive oil until it starts browning then add 2 cans of whole or chopped plum tomatoes and let cook on low fire. Once pasta is ready I use blender to make sauce smooth, mix with pasta, bit of grated parmesan and you have a very quick, cheap and tasty dinner. Instead of plain tomato sauce you could add mince meat to the initial vegetable mix and you end up with bolognese but this takes about 10 minutes extra to cook.
I think that we all have those times that we really can't be bothered to cook but simply have to and other times we just love cooking ... With this weather I am going to make a whole lot of big chunky soups to freeze I think.

someone asked for veg/ egg night options:

• Egg: some variety of egg on toast, soft-boiled egg and soldiers, boiled egg and avocado/mayo salad (or whatever salad!), some kind of omelette, egg florentine (half a toasted muffin, spinach, poached egg), boiled and whatever veg thrown in, bastardised huevos alla manchega (practically boiled egg sauteed in tomato and herbs sauce yum), boiled eggs filled with a mixture of their own boiled yolk, mayo, parsley caper and anchovies.

• Veg: noodle soup with veg and tofu, chickpea curry (red or green thai curry paste and coconut milk), veg and cashew nut stir fry with soya and oyster sauce and a pouch of rice, potato curry, stir fry of mixed wild mushrooms (frozen!) garlic and parsley served with quick cook polenta and shavings of parmesan (Or pretty much any medley of veg with polenta and shavings of parmesan), panzanella, lentil soup made in a pressure cooker served with bread, grilled portobello mushrooms topped with spinach and grilled cheese (halloumi), cous cous with roasted veg (frozen) roasted pine nuts, slices of goat's cheese and whatever herbs you have got hanging around, veggie pizzas made on pitta bread or slices of nice bread, bruschettas in the summer, Goat cheese and sundried tomatoes warm quesadillas (or cheese and tomato), and about a million salads...

minerv - that was me and a bg thank you, I've written these all do and am going to start a weekly rota!

Hey,
I have a very fussy husband when it comes to food. I have 2 kids they eat anything really. But my husband won't eat it even if it don't look good. His not only a fussy eater he also has OCD which is hard to manage with kids. He does help sometimes. Lol I think what we need is a timetable of what to make all week then do the weekly shopping for it to make our life's easier.

Make enough of something for two days, eg chilli (day one with rice, day to as loaded wedges) or stew (day one with baby potatoes and broccoli, day two with crusty bread) for example.
Have some super simple quick meals eg supermarket filed pasta with a tub of ready made sauce and salad / garlic bread.
Use pre prepared veg to save peeling and chopping. Frozen chopped onions can be a real time saver.
Have occasional picnic dinners.. cooked meats / hard boiled eggs / cheeses / with various salads and fresh bread (get part baked if you can’t get to the store on the day.. it only takes 10 minutes in the oven.

For years I used to rush in the door from work, picking up young DC from childminders and then cook dinner. It's hard to imagine now since I've been working from home for 4 years and pace has slowed right down. Still dinner must be made and some days its a massive effort.

I give DC carrot sticks, cucumber, sugar snaps, pepper slices etc to munch on while I cooked dinner - so that was veg sorted already. I started this from a really young age and will still do it now. This took the pressure off on nights when I didn't feel much like cooking.

These day I seem to run out of cooking steam about one week a month. I have some go to/fall back super simple recipes for these days/nights:

Katsu sauce with fish fingers & rice (sauce can freeze);
Cheesy tomato pasta - everyones fav & really quick - I use the tinned cherry tomatoes if I'm feeling fancy;
Quesadillas - use wraps and eveyone can have bespoke fillings - leftover meat/chicken, mayo, chilli sauce, sweet corn, finely chopped broccolli, jalapenos, onion, grated cheese. Top with some rocket or chopped lettuce

Did you know you can freeze raw pizza dough? Make a big batch and freeze in in the portion sizes you prefer. I like this one with semolina:

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/pizza-dough/

Beans on toast or scrambled eggs on toast is a good backup.

BlingLoving what are the Waitrose fish fingers called please??

I’ve been doing this for sixteen years. It’s BY FAR the worst part of parenting.

Fasten your seatbelt. You’ve got another 14 years!