Dealing with family dinner every day for the rest of your life!

[Anonymous]

Why isn’t your DH cooking?? Mine does all the cooking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes we have dessert/snack food for dinner. Especially on family movie nights. Who cares?

Every Friday, DH and I eat charcuterie board foods for dinner. Kids get fast food. 6 other nights are home cooked, so it works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least they pretended to like it, OP!
I feel you; it’s awful. I’m counting the days until I am responsible only for feeding myself.

And then they come home from college for breaks, and you have to cook for them again!

My son cooks for me now. He likes it. He was home from college for four weeks and he made dinner 2-3 days a week and we sometimes had leftovers. If your kids are home from college, they should have time to research a few meals and buy the ingredients.

This is my goal.

[Anonymous]

This has been a problem in our house for so long. My kids are in high school now, so the end is in sight. The big problem is that everyone wants to have a hand in deciding what we eat every night. I am very tired of the whining and bickering over what we're having.

I do all of my meal planning and shopping on Sundays and then make a list on our kitchen white board of all of the available meals for the week. Everyone gets a day to pick from the list. Anyone who doesn't like it can eat ramen or nuke some frozen food.

The main flaw in this plan is when someone makes their choice 30 minutes before dinner and the needed protein is frozen solid.

DH and DCs are good about helping with the actual cooking, but the mental load is all on me.

[Anonymous]

I have been working hard to get promoted over the past three months and I cook for my family (DH and I plus two young kids) every single day. What I did was stick to only three meals that I rotate, making each last over two days:

Chicken breast diced up and sauted with butter and olive oil and then add rice or bulgur or freekeh (we are Arabs) and then add hot water and better than bouillon along with Arab spices. If I have canned chickpeas I throw in as well. Serve with frozen Costco veggies first day and second day make a salad with leftover chicken and rice.

I sauté frozen cauliflower rice and add ground beef and then add rao marinara larger size from Costco and then add pasta. First day I don’t make veggie bc we have cauliflower rice but second day I make a salad.

Mujaddara: lentils and rice or bulgur with fried onions on top. We also eat this over two days. Make salad both days or frozen veggies or steamed broccoli.

I have been making these three meals only and I’m not proud of it because I’m a good cook but it is what it is and I’m doing my best to feed my family healthy food while working hard for a promotion.

[Anonymous]

I’ve just really, really lowered my standards (despite loving to cook) and introduced more processed foods than I would like:

-frozen meatballs + jarred sauce + refrigerated ravioli or tortellinis (because they cook fast) + bagged salad
-thinly sliced meat for stir fry (cooks very quickly) + bag of frozen stir fry veggies + those steamable bags of rice made in the microwave
-bagged soup mixes (the brand is “Bear” something or other)- I do a minestrone one or a chicken soup one (adding shredded rotisserie chicken at the end) + bagged salad + good store bought bread or rolls of some sort
-some “sheet pan” meals- we do an Italian chicken one, or one with smoked sausage + potatoes. Most of the items can be chopped the night before. Also does not take long to cook
-Zatarain’s mixes (dirty rice etc) + bagged salad or frozen veggie
-pot pie with frozen pie crusts + frozen mixed veg + rotisserie chicken. I just make the sauce and assemble.
-super easy baked pasta (1lb pasta + jarred sauce + 1lb protein + pre shredded cheese, bake 30min) + bagged salad
-basic tacos of course (really just have to brown the meat, and set out toppings. I even buy the pre shredded lettuce and cheese etc)
-grilled cheese (I do a bunch at once in the oven) + boxed tomato soup
-pot roast or turkey breast in the slow cooker + premade mashed potatoes from the refrigerated section

I cook on the weekends when I have more time. I try to have something ready for Monday, as well. I also TRY to make extra items to freeze (for example if I make one lasagna, I make an extra to freeze for next week)

I also really try to enlist DH to grill at least once a week, even in the cooler months. Burgers, steaks etc. then I just have to prep some easy sides.

[Anonymous]

Yes you need to lower standards.
PB&J sandwiches anyone?
Take out.
Drive thru.
Don't stress.

[Anonymous]

Now that my kid has moved out, I cook a big meal or two on the weekends and eat it all week. Usually, I eat the salad kits for fresh veg. This week, it’s low cal Gen Tso’s chicken and tortellini soup. I’ll steam broccoli on the days I eat the Chinese dish. I work 60+ hour weeks, so I’ve gotten over my dislike of eating the same food for a week. Freezer meals that get done in a crockpot would be good for feeding a family during the week.

[Anonymous]

We have a personal chef.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

So that's one or two nights when they could cook.

Or they could prep something on the weekend that gets stuck in the oven an hour or before dinner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

I have four kids all in their twenties, and with the wisdom of experience, I repeat my advice. Cut back.

[Anonymous]

I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

[Anonymous]

We eat dinner with our 3 small kids every night.

Things that get old
- them whining about dinner
- not using silverware and trying to eat with hands
- not sitting in their seats
- fighting or kicking each other or arguing.

It’s basically like slow torture. But I will say that my children are the absolute best behaved and most mannered kids when we’re in public or at dinner events. They also are more adventurous eaters than their peers. My parents ate dinner with us every night as well and it was something I looked for in a husband whether his family ate together too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

Np. I’m not eating lettuce. I eat spring mix- arugula, romaine and spinach. What’s the purpose of eating lettuce?!? It has almost no nutritional value.