I am DONE cooking for my family

[Anonymous]

I hear you. I loathe cooking weeknight meals for my picky eating family. Every now and then I hit upon a recipe they like, but more often than not I have one or two at the table picking at their plate making faces at what I have cooked for them. If I left it up to my husband we would have McDonalds for 5 dinners a week.

[Anonymous]

This is how my mom felt about cooking and I never understood it until the last few years with my kids. Total ingrates. I make chicken pot pie from scratch, including the crust, for crying out loud!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Throw a hot pocket in front of them and tell them to knock themselves out.

Cook lovely things for yourself. Enjoy the flavor and nourishment.

Who the f does this? Dirtying a bunch of dishes and wasting ingredients to cook one portion for one person? That is ridiculous advice.

I will make myself a nice meal, happily do the dishes and savor the leftovers, thanks.

You enjoy Applebees or Chipotle or whatever passes for food in your house.

I enjoy cooking add well and will happily wash the 2-3 dishes that get dirty in the process of making something reasonably healthy, made with real ingredients, and tastes good. Chili dirties one pot and is healthy and delicious. I made chicken and dumplings this weekend for the first time and it dirtied one bowl and one pot and I've had it for lunch every day this wee. Every Sunday i cook two entrees or ssoups, plus 2-3 vegetables to have throughout the week for easy go to meals. It's minimal effort for maximum payoff and all the food is made with fresh vegetables and from scratch. Sometimes there's enough to freeze for another week.

OP my mom cooked for us and if we didn't like what she made we were invited to make ourselves a pbj. Give your kids that choice, and after a few days they'll be sick of pbj and suddenly your food won't be so bad. You need to get your husband on board with not eating or though. Pack snack bags with fruit and cheese and crackers and water so they're not "starving." ps no one in this country is actually starving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Throw a hot pocket in front of them and tell them to knock themselves out.

Cook lovely things for yourself. Enjoy the flavor and nourishment.

Who the f does this? Dirtying a bunch of dishes and wasting ingredients to cook one portion for one person? That is ridiculous advice.

Uh, single people who want to eat well and nutritionally? What did you eat when you were single? Or did you go from your mama's trailer straight to your DH's?

[Anonymous]

Raisin bran for dinner tonight.....dig in!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Throw a hot pocket in front of them and tell them to knock themselves out.

Cook lovely things for yourself. Enjoy the flavor and nourishment.

Who the f does this? Dirtying a bunch of dishes and wasting ingredients to cook one portion for one person? That is ridiculous advice.

I will make myself a nice meal, happily do the dishes and savor the leftovers, thanks.

You enjoy Applebees or Chipotle or whatever passes for food in your house.

I enjoy cooking add well and will happily wash the 2-3 dishes that get dirty in the process of making something reasonably healthy, made with real ingredients, and tastes good. Chili dirties one pot and is healthy and delicious. I made chicken and dumplings this weekend for the first time and it dirtied one bowl and one pot and I've had it for lunch every day this wee. Every Sunday i cook two entrees or ssoups, plus 2-3 vegetables to have throughout the week for easy go to meals. It's minimal effort for maximum payoff and all the food is made with fresh vegetables and from scratch. Sometimes there's enough to freeze for another week.

OP my mom cooked for us and if we didn't like what she made we were invited to make ourselves a pbj. Give your kids that choice, and after a few days they'll be sick of pbj and suddenly your food won't be so bad. You need to get your husband on board with not eating or though. Pack snack bags with fruit and cheese and crackers and water so they're not "starving." ps no one in this country is actually starving.

I love to cook, and I cook well but I cannot make chicken and dumplings in a single pot and a single bowl. What about a cutting board, utensils, knives, measuring spoons, etc? To say you only dirty a bowl and a pot really oversimplifies the fact that cooking from scratch does involve some degree of effort.

[Anonymous]

What year is this? Does nobody's husband cook?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What year is this? Does nobody's husband cook?

no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cooking is a waste of time and energy. And then there's the clean up, ugh! I throw some chicken or fish in the oven and a bag of vegetables in the microwave to steam. Sometimes rice or pasta to go with it. I will occasionally make a stew or soup soup (that only I eat, kids won't touch). That's the extent of my cooking.

Wow. I feel sad for your kids. We try to eat a variety of ethnic foods. I don't enjoy cooking, either (I only knew how to use the microwave), but I enjoy eating different foods and want my kids to enjoy it, too, so I learned. Sure, sometimes they don't like it the first or second time, or never, but often times they come to like it. It makes going out to eat or going over to someone's house for dinner a lot easier. My DH does the cleanup if I cook.

Be adventurous. Try something different. We expose our kids to so many different experiences. I include food in this category.

[Anonymous]

NP- shut the f up 19:53.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. I loathe cooking weeknight meals for my picky eating family. Every now and then I hit upon a recipe they like, but more often than not I have one or two at the table picking at their plate making faces at what I have cooked for them. If I left it up to my husband we would have McDonalds for 5 dinners a week.

My kids don't always like what I cook, either. But we have a rule, if someone cooks for you, say thank you, and don't make a face. It's very rude. This includes if your parent cooks for you. I tell my kids - if you made me a drawing and I said, "ew" or "that's not very pretty", would it not hurt your feelings?

They are 6 and 9 now so it's sunk in. I can still tell when they don't like something, but they've learned to not make a face and shut up and eat it. I'm not cooking anything else, and they are not eating anything else other than what I cooked. So, the alternative is to go hungry.

[Anonymous]

Someone a while back on DCUM mentioned Blue Apron or HelloFresh - I looked into it: about $60 gets you ingredients and how-to for 3 meals for 2 people. I was hardcore McD's or microwave from the freezer. Now, 3 days a week I make healthy and as my teen says, restaurant quality meals. Then I can slum it guilt-free the other four days. Half the time I'm the only one to really savor it. But if they don't want it, hey, I have leftovers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP- shut the f up 19:53.

Why? Hit a nerve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP- shut the f up 19:53.

She doesn't need to shut up anymore than anyone else does. I agree with her. And what's with the profanity?

You come across as just about given up on everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I love to cook, and I cook well but I cannot make chicken and dumplings in a single pot and a single bowl. What about a cutting board, utensils, knives, measuring spoons, etc? To say you only dirty a bowl and a pot really oversimplifies the fact that cooking from scratch does involve some degree of effort.

I could make chicken and dumplings with a pot, a bowl, a knife, and a spoon, plus a measuring cup and a measuring spoon that don't really need washing because they're only for dry ingredients. I probably wouldn't, but I could.

But I agree with the OP -- it's not the dishwashing that gets me down, it's the complaining.