I loathe cooking. Help me enjoy it.

[MrsDavidBowie]

I am 53 and detest cooking. If I was on my own I would live on cheese and salad.

I have a dh who doesn't cook, a dd17 who would live on salad and pasta and a Ds 14 who likes meat and veg but avoids eggs and cheese.

I panic every day about what to cook.
I can do lasagne, roast chicken, bolognese and casseroles, but want some new recipes that we all can cook.

I have a few cookery books but they:re quite old and I am not inspired.

Fgs I am an intelligent woman but have a mental block when it comes to cooking.

I am no help but completely empathise. I am really not that bothered about food and hate the whole thing of churning it out. I need more enthusiasm and ideas.

Life is too short to do something you 'detest'. Do the bare minimum you can and have a happy life OP.

Everyone in your house is old enough to sort themselves out.

I loathe cooking too. Loathe it. I wish I could have meals on wheels tbh

I like the bbc Good Food magazine and website for ideas.

I'm a big fan of gadgets.
Toastie maker, raclette machine, slow cooker, wok, soup maker all get used at least once a fortnight. Kitchenaid several times a week, fondue machine several times a year, barbeque most weeks in the summer. Somehow it's enough of a novelty that I'm rarely faced with the same old fridge- cooker- wtf drudge.

I LOVE cooking and am quite good when it's something interesting, I have time and I can play about, but I loathe 'dinners' - the monotony and the trial of finding something that everyone would like. And then it being rejected anyway.

I agree that life is too short.

I think you should share the load. The DC are old enough to join in; I suspect your DH is too. Can you all sit down together, and agree a rota / meal plan type thing? For basic dinners, for people who have never cooked at all, I think that Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food is a great book.

My other thing is batch cooking - making a load of eg soups, pasta sauces, mince-based dishes and freezing them.

The things you say you can cook are quite fiddly and time-consuming to prepare, if you don't like pottering round the kitchen for ages.

I love jacket potatoes because they're delicious with little effort (and I got a bag of potatoes from my farmer neighbour!).

Garlic mushrooms with your choice of carbs, quick and very yummy.

Think bolognese but without the meat as the basis for pasta sauces: so onion, garlic (from tube if you prefer!), tomatoes (tinned and puree), herbs as absolute basic then add whatever you have. I always put carrot and celery in if I have them, then peppers, mushrooms, any other veg, maybe tuna, peas or sweetcorn. Olives?

Cheese to grate on top for those who like it. I couldn't live without cheese.

Do you have a local library? I browse the recipe books there for inspiration. Maybe you'll find a book specifically about quick meals.

What do you like eating? Make that. :)

Do you meal plan? It might help to not be trying to think on the day of ideas, perhaps make up a big list of reciepes/meals your family likes and pick off the list now and then, you oculd ask your DCs to add what they like to the list. I rotate the carbs, one meal it's potato based, next pasta, next rice, next pastry or bread (as in pizza), and then try to find a meal to go with it. (I'm sure the low carbers will tell you this is the road to hell/plus sized clothes, but it works for me and stops meals feeling too repeatitive)

Do you do stir fry/chinese/thai food or currys? they seem to be missing off your list but if you cheat and use jars/bought pastes for the sauces they are quick meals.

Mushroom risotto is also quick/minimum fuss (your DS can just not add cheese on the top if you all do)

pesto and cream makes a v quick pasta sauce, add peppers, onions, green beans, chilli, olives, smoked salmon or bacon, or whatever else you've got to make a meal out of it.

I also plan one veggie meal a week (which also keeps down your food bills) current favs are stuffed peppers served with salad (although I grate some cheese on top before grilling and sometimes add chilli as we like heat in this house) or ratatouille (although this wouldn't suit your cheese hating DS) or we just do a veg stir fry. I try to make sure there's at least 2 veg (not counting onions or potatoes) on the plate each meal.

Basically, plan in advance so you're not looking in the fridge for inspiration and not finding it! Good luck.

I like to eat seasonal food to enjoy stuff at its tastiest and ring the changes a bit, too.

Ham, leeks and cheese is my favourite combination of flavours for this time of year.

Thank you for your great replies. Glad others feel like me.

rosesareredvioletsarepurple I like your philosophy.

I like the BBC Good food site. And yes to local library.

Mary love your ideas.

Yes, we are going to have a family chat about food/meal planning/everyone cooking. To be fair dd is very self sufficient and ds can make a bacon sandwich .

It's one reason why I cba to have people round...would rather go out.
I can cook chilli and I do a mean risotto...forgot about those.

I have just had risotto for lunch, pudding of lunch and supper. Can't get enough of it!

And just think, after your family chat, you could be enjoying bacon sandwiches once a week, every week. I'm a teensy bit jealous! :o

My friend's SM used to do baked potatoes every night, with different toppings or (usually heated up) accompaniments. I used to think she was the last word in sophistication...

But yeah, if you don't like cooking, don't do it. Jackets and bits are acceptable - hell, sandwiches are acceptable, we're very hung up on 'hot dinners' in our country.

And if everyone takes a turn... and you get a takeaway one night ... and go out another ... you'll only have to bake 4 jackets and grate some cheese once a week