Anyone else worn down by deciding what to make for dinner daily

[MyBusyUser]

I honestly think one of the most draining parts of ordinary life is having to come up with dinner every single day forever. Not even the cooking necessarily — the deciding. What everyone will eat, what we’ve already had this week, what’s actually in the fridge, whether I can be bothered, whether there’s time. Please tell me I’m not the only person weirdly worn down by the constant “what’s for dinner?” problem.

I hated cooking when my kids were small. As soon as they were old enough they cooked themselves.

These days I get a jacket potatoe with salad or veg. Every night, 7 days a week.

@MyBusyUser I hate, hate, hate it. I have been planning, shopping for, and preparing meals for over 50 years and I am SO SICK OF IT. Husband and daughter will do dinner if requested but that's sausages, pizza, or a ready meal. I dream of being alone and maybe only cooking once a week, and living on toast, fruit, and cheese.

Oh my yes

It's absolutely draining

Chicken fried rice tonight 👍

So wearing. Every, single day…when DC leave I’m on cheese boards and salads

I only eat when I want food and if I want food it's not boring to have it

I know you didn't ask me but I have dozens of meals I cook and wouldn't even eat the same thing twice in a month. Appreciate it's about what you/your family will eat.

Cottage pie
Chicken pie
Steak pie
Spag bol
Carbonara
Burgers
Flatbread with tzatziki, some sort of meat and salad
Stir fry
Butter chicken
Lemon chicken
Boursin pasta with bacon and spinach
Slow cooker beef curry
Tandoori chicken coconut curry
Feta and cherry tomato pasta
Gyros
Chicken supreme
Lasagne
Marry me chicken
Traybakes
Creamy chicken, mushroom and parmesan pasta
Prawn and chorizo linguine
Enchiladas
Fajitas
Quesadillas
Taco bowl
Chicken chow mein
Beef bourginon
Coq au vin
Spaghetti and meatballs
Paella
Chicken fajita pasta
Chicken alfredo pasta
Creamy salmon pasta
Risottos
Cheesy broccoli pasta bake
Sausage casserole
Honey mustard chicken
Hunters chicken
Ham, parsley sauce, new potatoes, veg
Beef in black bean sauce, veg, rice/noodles
Pesto pasta
Sausage, mash and veg
Slow cooker sundried tomato pesto chicken
Gammon, egg and chips
Salmon, wild rice and asparagus
Jacket potato with various toppings
Chilli
Steak
Baguettes with various hot or cold fillings
Salads
Soups
Fishcake
DIY pizza
Battered fish/scampi, chips, peas
Something on toast
Mac and cheese pasta bake
Homemade nandos style dish
Southern fried chicken and salad wraps

Some are basic, some are more time consuming, but I'm never stuck for ideas. I've built up a huge amount of recipes over the years through social media pages I follow, trying subscription meal kit services and buying recipe books.

“What do you want for dinner?”.
“I don’t know. What do you want for dinner?”

Every day for eternity.

I write a menu for the week then do an online shop. Been doing this for about 20 years. Sometimes stuff comes up and we deviate from the menu a bit but at least I always know there is something for tea when we get in. I like writing the menu with some cook books on my knee for inspiration but sometimes I’m in a rush and I just repeat a recent weeks menu.

Yes, back when dc were younger I was really good at sitting down and planning the weeks meals and writing a shopping list of what we needed, gradually I became burnt out with it and have just been kind of winging it ever since, I have a rough idea of a couple of meals to prepare for that week but it results in very similar dishes being made every week and using things from the freezer more than I’d like, I enjoy cooking in itself but the thought that goes into it is not as enjoyable.

I keep meaning to write up a 3/4 week menu to take away some of the mental load of having to think of meals so often, but that is a task in itself and I’ve not got around to it yet even though I think it would help a lot and provide enough variety for the family to not get fed up of the same things all the time.

No one ever warned me that coming up with things to eat every day for the rest of my life would become such a chore!

🤣

I would live on cheese & crisps if it was just me but have to do the meal plan thing as well. It helps if you can make a list of meals (with ingredients written down) that you pick for the week

The thing I don’t get about meal planning - is what if you get to that evening and just don’t fancy what you’ve planned to eat?! Do you force feed yourself?!

Luckily DH is equally baffled by the idea of meal planning.

I rotate 3 proteins, chicken, fish, steak. I bulk buy all 3 for the freezer and take out one thing to defrost each morning. I have big bags of potatoes, rice and lentils and rotate them as well. I've got peas in the freezer and buy fresh veg as and when and pick one each night. Sometimes when we can't be bothered we'll just have an omelette.

Sorted.

I battled with this when I was depressed, but I solved it by finding an old diary with a note on what dinner I had made for most of a year, so lots of ideas . I also invested in some student cookbooks- they have the unique selling points of being easy to cook, don't use too many complex ingredient and tend to be economic- they were a huge help.

My attempts at meal planning often fail because my DH thinks like this too and it drives me nuts! I put together a plan for the week, ask everyone for requests each so we all contribute (DH and I usually eat something different to the DC during the week so it’s quite a big task), get all the food in and then he’ll say he’s not really sure he fancies that anymore 😤

For me personally, I would just eat it anyway…we don’t pick horrible meals that we don’t like so no force feeding required, but DH wants a meal that will “hit the spot” every night, even if it means going out to the shop again and buying more food we don’t need to do a different meal which bothers me too as I also try to stick to a budget. It does make me wonder why I bother sometimes. He does a fair bit of the cooking though so there is that.

Oh this is definitely me sometimes! But meal planning forces me to eat it otherwise I'd just get a takeaway 😂 it's been a huge help with keeping me on track with my weight loss. It definitely isn't for everyone but for people like OP who dread having to think of things, meal planning one day a week removes that daily headache

I must be weird because it’s one of the things I enjoy! I like looking in the fridge, freezer, cupboards and seeing what I can make that evening. Often I’ll do 2 different meals for me and my husband because we have hugely different tastes - I don’t bother asking him what he wants as he will say he doesn’t know 😂. Might be easier for me as we don’t eat meat I don’t know. I have a very well stocked kitchen as I love cooking

Found my thread!

Yesterday my DH and I realised that we both have the same thought at the same time around 4.30ish, which is ‘oh fuck what are we having for tea tonight’

I agree with someone who up thread said it’s the different variables you have to take into account - timings of hobbies, what’s in the fridge that needs using up, likes and dislikes, and allergies in our house. It’s like a puzzle.

The best night is Friday night which is strictly freezer baige food

I don’t mind cooking, I like eating, it’s definitely the deciding that I don’t like! Meal planning, especially having the same meals on rotation seems completely joyless.
I usually don’t need to deal with fussiness as ds and dp will mainly eat anything, they definitely aren’t daft enough to complain if someone else has cooked for them. They are no good at choosing what they want though and are very predictable if they cook so I think they suffer the same problem!

That’s sounds incredibly stressful. I’m so sorry for your loss. Just remember that your cat felted so loved and had a lovely life with you 💐

I don’t think it’s weird. It means everyone is going to get one of their favourites every week, and she doesn’t have to do the thinking about what to cook every day.