I am DONE cooking for my family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

1. Why is it wasteful if you don't throw out any leftovers? I hate wasting food. We eat leftovers if there are any.
2. Elaborate doesn't mean it has to be unhealthy. A Nutritionist I met told me that things like butter don't make you fat. It's the processed crap that is making us fat.
2. Inefficiency is a matter of perspective. Cooking together with friends and family can be a social and bonding experience. It may be "time" inefficient, but it has other purposes

Food is fuel. You could heat your home by burning oriental rugs and midcentury danish furniture, too. If you look at either scenario in terms of $/joule you will see it is both inefficient and wasteful to eat elaborate food.

How boring you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

What do you do with all the free time you save by not cooking? Am I right to guess "exercise compulsively"?

I don't really have the energy for that. Increasing my intake so I could spend time on a treadmill is even more of a wasteful wash.

So describe your life. What do you consider a meaningful use of your time?

Anything that involves helping others. Outside of those moments, my life is devoid of meaning. What a depressing question.

[Anonymous]

I consider cooking healthy food one of the myriad ways I nurture and help my children. Sorry you think it's a waste of time (not really).

[Anonymous]

Back to the original post. If you are taking the time to prepare a meal for your family they should appreciate it - eat it, say thank you, help with clean-up. Period. This is basic good manners that all children CAN learn - the trick is not to allow the pickiness in the first place. I try to involve my kids in meal planning and preparation so that they are pleased with the outcome. Somehow i have drilled it into their heads that it is not acceptable to complain about food that someone has prepared and served for them. It has been a long slow journey believe me.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to continue to cook for an unappreciative audience! Also have no idea why this thread got derailed. The point is NOT who has the superior grocery cart. The point is teaching your kids how to be polite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the original post. If you are taking the time to prepare a meal for your family they should appreciate it - eat it, say thank you, help with clean-up. Period. This is basic good manners that all children CAN learn - the trick is not to allow the pickiness in the first place. I try to involve my kids in meal planning and preparation so that they are pleased with the outcome. Somehow i have drilled it into their heads that it is not acceptable to complain about food that someone has prepared and served for them. It has been a long slow journey believe me.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to continue to cook for an unappreciative audience! Also have no idea why this thread got derailed. The point is NOT who has the superior grocery cart. The point is teaching your kids how to be polite.

+10000

I have the same issue as OP. I really appreciated this.

[Anonymous]

Kind of. In our family we have taught that you can't complain or criticize the food, but I'm not on board with "not allowing the pickiness." They are who they are; I have one very picky one and two not. They have to try a bite, they have to be polite, but if they hate something they can make a PB sandwich or cereal.

I am very sympathetic to you, OP. At times when mine were younger I just felt like going on strike. It will probably get better.

[Anonymous]

I feel you, OP

I do a combination of meals that the kids will definitely eat and some meals where they may or may not eat. They're required to have one bite of everything (we keep it pretty positive, talk about what different foods help us with, talk about trying thing and then deciding whether or not to like them, etc).

I don't short order cook. If they eat all of their vegetables they are allowed "dessert" (fruit, cereal, ice cream, English Muffins with jelly, cookies, etc).

It didn't just happen that way overnight. Our second kid was very picky and had issues with rumination - he fell clear off the growth charts and his growth curve. He's doing much better now.

[Anonymous]

I don't cook- I do the rest of the clean up and home clean up and laundry.

But every night when my dh serves dinner, we come to the table in a timely fashion and the kids either compliment him or are silent. The kids are very little and learning etiquette. They are encouraged not to share any negative feedback until the meal is over. Many nights we all clap our hands and say 'yay daddy this is awesome!' I think my mum cooked a lot of thankless dinners so I always try to be complimentary and thankful and teach the kids to be the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Either way it's one dish and one spoon. Food is just calories to me.

If I weren't heating up the soup, I wouldn't bother with the bowl. Eat the cold soup straight out of the can. Then you only have to wash the spoon.

When I eat it cold it's because I've poured into into a bowl intending to heat it up, but then can't be bothered to take the extra step of heating it up. I am exceptionally lazy when it comes to food. I have a hard time reconciling the notion of doing more work for something that is ultimately just going to make you fat.

goddamn, that is gross

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

1. Why is it wasteful if you don't throw out any leftovers? I hate wasting food. We eat leftovers if there are any.
2. Elaborate doesn't mean it has to be unhealthy. A Nutritionist I met told me that things like butter don't make you fat. It's the processed crap that is making us fat.
2. Inefficiency is a matter of perspective. Cooking together with friends and family can be a social and bonding experience. It may be "time" inefficient, but it has other purposes

Food is fuel. You could heat your home by burning oriental rugs and midcentury danish furniture, too. If you look at either scenario in terms of $/joule you will see it is both inefficient and wasteful to eat elaborate food.

Do you have Asperger's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

It's not wasteful, inefficient and fattening. It's just not something you want to do. Your black and white thinking, paired with insults, can't be winning you a lot of friends.

Dude, don't be so harsh on PP. She's pretty much admitted she has an eating disorder. Telling her no one likes her really isn't very nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

1. Why is it wasteful if you don't throw out any leftovers? I hate wasting food. We eat leftovers if there are any.
2. Elaborate doesn't mean it has to be unhealthy. A Nutritionist I met told me that things like butter don't make you fat. It's the processed crap that is making us fat.
2. Inefficiency is a matter of perspective. Cooking together with friends and family can be a social and bonding experience. It may be "time" inefficient, but it has other purposes

Food is fuel. You could heat your home by burning oriental rugs and midcentury danish furniture, too. If you look at either scenario in terms of $/joule you will see it is both inefficient and wasteful to eat elaborate food.

Do you have Asperger's?

I think I might.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

It's not wasteful, inefficient and fattening. It's just not something you want to do. Your black and white thinking, paired with insults, can't be winning you a lot of friends.

Dude, don't be so harsh on PP. She's pretty much admitted she has an eating disorder. Telling her no one likes her really isn't very nice.

But it's likely very true. Having an eating disorder is not an excuse to be rude to those of us who don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

It's not wasteful, inefficient and fattening. It's just not something you want to do. Your black and white thinking, paired with insults, can't be winning you a lot of friends.

Dude, don't be so harsh on PP. She's pretty much admitted she has an eating disorder. Telling her no one likes her really isn't very nice.

But it's likely very true. Having an eating disorder is not an excuse to be rude to those of us who don't.

Where was I rude?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm shallow and vain. I'd rather exist on half a dozen boring snacks/meals that require little effort than be the type of person who slaves over a lasagna pan and has a tire around their waist. To each her own.

Those are the two options? Eat cold canned soup and be thin, or cook good-tasting food and be fat?

To each their own, yes, but if you think of food as something you have to consume as little as possible of, with as little enjoyment as possible, lest you get fat, that's a sign of an eating disorder.

I am a very black and white thinker. It works for me. I'd live on soylent if it didn't cost more than what I already spend on food. Cooking elaborate meals is wasteful, inefficient and fattening. I just can't make sense of it.

What do you do with all the free time you save by not cooking? Am I right to guess "exercise compulsively"?

I don't really have the energy for that. Increasing my intake so I could spend time on a treadmill is even more of a wasteful wash.

So describe your life. What do you consider a meaningful use of your time?

Anything that involves helping others. Outside of those moments, my life is devoid of meaning. What a depressing question.

PP, I have thought something like the way you do. But I want to mention something. YOUR life has value and meaning intrinsically. You are part of the beautiful system that is life on this planet. (I was going to say this beautiful creation, but that would make it sound like I believe in a creator, which I don't.) It doesn't DO anything, but is worthwhile just for how incredible it is. Take a basic biology course if you need a refresher in wonder.

Why is it meaningful to help others? You help them because you don't want them to suffer. Likewise, you shouldn't suffer. Please value yourself as much as anyone else, and allow yourself things that bring you pleasure. Don't look too hard for meaning. You are a biological wonder. Enjoying our planet and taking care of it (whichever part you want to care for) is meaning enough. Some care for other people, some care for animals, some care for the planet itself. Some just work on understanding natural systems so others can be better caretakers. Some make things of beauty. Some do their best just by avoiding harm to others, and avoiding harm to the planet to the extent they can.

PP, try to allow others help you as you would like to help others.