Husband says he's 'relieved' when we have a ready meal instead of me cooking

[Coralinea]

My husband and I sometimes cook from scratch, and sometimes have a ready meal (for the oven, such as a fish pie).

I've always really liked cooking. If we cook anything from scratch, it's normally me who cooks, and we normally eat a bit later (closer to 8pm than 7pm) because of the prep. I like making things like curries and pasta bakes, and I experiment with new things.

The other day, my husband said he feels 'relieved' when we have a ready meal, because we eat earlier and there's no clanking around of pans and extra washing up (though we have a big dishwasher that does most of this).

AIBU to feel really annoyed he said this, and to feel like I just don't want to cook for him anymore? I feel like if it's not ready before 7.30, then he's annoyed it's 'late' and would prefer a ready meal.

I agree batch cooking would solve both complaints, however what time do you want to eat?

It's a shame he's sucking all the joy out of cooking and eating, they're both fundamental pleasures in life and daily ready meals are expensive and just putting shit into your body. I would be really disappointed in him.

This thread is hilarious - so much judgement on all sides. Who cares when other people eat tea/dinner?

I think it's just when you get hungry. Most people who work (yes not all) tend to have a fairly standard lunch timing around 12 or 1pm, so most people would be pretty hungry by 8pm...

How is expressing a preference to eat earlier sucking all the joy out of food?

You would be disappointed if your husband expressed his preference for meal times?

This thread is MN personified (so much so I have no doubt it’s getting laughed about on Tattle), we have class wars, eating too much/too little, even shoes on and off in the house. Starting to fill up a MN bingo card over here

So much pearl clutching that people might - shock horror - do something different to you

@CheeseSandwichRiskAssessment you know what else sucks joy out of food? having someone insist on cooking for you when you're happy with a ready meal, having to wait hours for said food and then being expected to be thankful for a meal you did not ask for, want and had to wait for

We eat around 5.30pm.We like to watch a film and TV in the evening plus dh is up at 4.30am for work so we go to bed earlier than average.

And also I don't see how class is even applicable today, bar some teeny residual legacy?!

Bankers, lawyers, consultants, government, etc (2 of which describe my DH's and my industry) – they have the same stomachs as everyone.

If you eat at 1pm then most people would be hungry by 8pm. I'd be ravenous by then especially in winter.

Well it's not a normal day on MN when someone can't make sure the plebs know they are working class and will never rise to the heady heights of being middle class enough to know the myriad of rules they invent

I'm confused now though because we eat our dinner any time between 6 and 8:30pm depending on work, exercise etc etc, so if we are going swimming later we might eat at 6 to make sure it's soon enough before swimming

So am I working class one day and middle class the next or is just all a big pile of bollocks invented for some to sneer at others...

We moved from London to East Midlands and cannot get over how so many people here eat so early.

Lots of restaurants close at 9pm and some even close at 8! So if we want to eat out we have no choice but to eat early.

When we walk past restaurants they are often packed between about 5 and 6.30 but then after that pretty empty.

Completely agree.

What??

I used to have a housemate who would always cook for us all (we all chipped in for buying the food but she really enjoyed cooking plus got home from work earliest so made majority of meals), it was lovely of her to feed the household but she would often cook elaborate meals which weren’t ready until late and left loads of washing up/ cleaning which obviously the rest of us had to do. Honestly I used to look forward to the evenings she had other plans and was not cooking or us all and I could just have beans on toast or similar as it meant I could eat earlier and wouldn’t have to do all the cleaning. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her food, it was just after a long day at work I was usually tired and hungry and so preferred the opportunity to eat earlier and not have to do loads of washing up to do afterwards.

Could you do a large slow cooker of savoury mince, make one half a chilli adding beans etc and the other half into a cottage pie or just savoury mince with pasta or jacket potato. Freeze in potions for the week days and do more leisurely cooking at weekends. Same with a big curry,portion and freeze.

Portions not potions!😬

Potions would be so much cooler though tbf. Less washing up too probably.

I think experimental stuff that requires clanking of multiple pots and pans is too much during the week, yes.

Doesn't have to be ready meals though, surely you could just make a quick, normal dinner that isn't experimental, doesn't require a lot of washing up, and doesn't take long so doesn't need be a later dinner time?

Also, ready meals in the oven seems a bit OTT. Do you have a microwave? Much quicker and more energy efficient.

Definitely less washing up!

Tell him to sort out his own dinner.

I don’t think it’s very good for you eating late. I couldn’t eat that late because I would get reflux when I went to bed. I make dinner for 5pm because I am following the 16:8 fast but I like to get dinner over with and the dishwasher loaded etc so that I can relax properly in the evening.

@mydogisthebest I live in the depths of north with sheep as my neighbours, and local restaurants stay open to at least 11pm for last orders...so I call in question the validity of your claims :P

Really? Because I lived in the West Midlands for 15 years and I've never seen restaurants closing at 8 or 9pm, or seen them empty after 6:30 unless its a momentary lull before the next set of reservations

Seems odd that only slightly east there would be such a massive change....

You might think it but that doesn't make it true. There's no evidence to suggest eating late has any affect on your health

And in terms of your health if the options are eat late but a homecooked meal or eat a ready meal early, obviously eating a homecooked meal is better for your health

Well if you enjoy cooking carry on! He couid have a micro meal and you could just batch freeze the rest.
my husband cooks a lot and do find it a lot of work. He does tidy up after self but it generally creates loads of dishes so dishwasher is always going. Similarly to your oh, on a takeaway night I do think.. great no dishes

I mean I live in Norfolk which is even more east and also one of the most backward counties in Britain and even our restaurants open till 11pm. No shops on a Sunday but the restaurants do open till normal time

Even more odd there's this band of country where no one eats put past 6.30pm