if your parents/in-laws are near-by, how often do they bring you home cooked meals?

[Anonymous]

Are they American? My MIL is not and although she doesn’t live close by I could totally see her doing this if she did.

[Anonymous]

My MIL has been cooking for us and also SIL (DH's sister) for the past 2 months. DH or BIL pick up the food from them. It has been very convenient as both DH and I are working from home with a 2 yr old and I am pregnant. All three households are bubbling as best as we can just in case we need help when the baby comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they American? My MIL is not and although she doesn’t live close by I could totally see her doing this if she did.

By American do you mean WASP? Because most other groups are pretty generous and functional as far as cooking food and giving it to friends and family is concerned.

[Anonymous]

I think this is common for Asians. My grandma was a great cook and would make batches of food for my mom, and then for me when I went I lived closer. My mom gives my brother food she makes, but I live a little too far for her to do that now.

[Anonymous]

Once or twice a week. They eat with us then too.

One of my friends has her MIL drop by and leave dinner once a week. We all have babies and toddlers and it seems so nice to have someone do something for us.

[Anonymous]

Is this a joke? If we were sick they would help provide food, and if they were sick we would provide food for them as needed. Outside of that, we’re all adults who meal plan and cook for our families.

I mean, it’s nice if people want to do this but it shouldn’t be any kind of expectation.

[Anonymous]

When we had newborns we’d get meals, otherwise never. We frequently host for dinner and same for our families hosting us for dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never, which seems like the right amount.

Ditto. I’m a grown adult and can cook for myself. I do enjoy having them over for meals though and cooking for them.

[Anonymous]

When we are (really) sick. They also bake. My mom brought food over weekly almost during the shutdown mostly to be able to at least see and talk to us through the door or in the driveway with masks on

[Anonymous]

I take my parents a home-cooked meal at least once a week and they come over for Sunday dinners. My FIL lives with us so he gets a home-cooked meal 3 times a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom cooks on the weekend and also takes my oldest kid for a day. When i pick the kid up we usually get soup for a couple days and an entree for the kids lunches for the week. It started when i was pregnant with the second and really out of energy and she just kept going. I always say not to bother but she enjoys it and we have long conversations about the menu for the kids before she goes shopping. Sometimes they come over for dinner and bring the food with them. Sometimes we go over and bring food. If i'm at the store, ill check of they need something. We dont keep score on who did what. My grandmother did the same for my mom too and I'll pitch in with grandkids and cooking when my daughters are older if they dont mind.

Do you call it an “entree” when you’re discussing it?!

[Anonymous]

Never.
It would be up to me to do that for them.

[Anonymous]

I think there’s a big range of ages of our parents. Mine are 60 and very active. I think they just see that we’re a bit overwhelmed with working full time and our baby and toddler so they help a lot. Frankly if they didn’t help, I don’t think we’d have enough time to see them as much. They often bring over dinner and then help read to the kids before bed. That frees us up to do chores and fix things around the house (something is always broken!)

If they were 80 we’d probably be bringing them food.

[Anonymous]

My mom’s special recipe is spaghetti and meatballs. Her sauce simmers all day, so when she makes it every six weeks or so, she makes extra and brings me a freezer bag full of the good stuff. That’s about it - generally I am bringing food to the elderly members of my family and not the other way around.

[Anonymous]

My parents live nearby and we have dinner with them once a week at one of our homes. When I’ve had babies my mother will take charge for a week to ten days.