Anonymous wrote:NYT recently did an article about what their Food staff cook when they don't feel like cooking:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/dining/quick-easy-recipes-staff-picks.html

(Not a bad list of ideas, even if you don't subscribe to get the actual recipes.)

This post was sponsored by the chile crisp lobby.

We often do a no-cook night. Oven baguette, good cheeses, crudités, boiled eggs, salami or prosciutto. Honey and butter for dessert. Everyone loves it.

NYT recently did an article about what their Food staff cook when they don't feel like cooking:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/dining/quick-easy-recipes-staff-picks.html

(Not a bad list of ideas, even if you don't subscribe to get the actual recipes.)

If your kids are old enough, you should set up a cooking schedule. Each person in my home needs to cook one meal a week.

- must have a protein
- must have a vegetable (fruit if it’s breakfast for dinner)
- can’t be a frozen meal

When I cook I put in my audio book so it doesn’t seem as much of a chore.

How old are the kids? At some point, start instituting "on your own" dinner nights.

I feel you though OP.

I only do dinner, and I think some days if asked I would chose death over a life of meal planning and cooking. It is the most in enjoyable, monotonous, unappreciated task.

For my birthday this year, I am asking my husband to take care of dinner for a week. The planning, the buying and the cooking.

I went through this recently and started doing really 'cheater' cooking:

-lots of bag salads with things like baked fish that is either pre-seasoned or just uses lemon + herbs, baked chicken breasts, super basic spaghetti with pre-made meatballs
-a giant pot of stew that we get 2-3 days out of
-rotisserie chicken + steamed 'ready to go/pre-cut' veggies
-fish tacos that are just frozen battered fish + soft tacos + pre-made slaw and everyone assembled their own
-stir-fry with pre-prepped veggies
-cans of soup with a couple extra veggies or protein added in, or with a sandwich on the side

I also unloaded 2 days per week on DH, but they can be as simple as he wants as long as there is a veg and a protein. 99% of the time he does stir fry with chicken, chilli, or burgers/sausages. It also helps to cook a large pot of pasta or rice and then use it for 2-3 meals in a row.

We pick up a lot of pre-made hearty salads for lunches, and only do hot cooked breakfast on the weekend. M-F it is cereal, instant oatmeal, toast or yogurt.

Anonymous wrote:I don't cook breakfast or lunch and I'm still sick of cooking. ugh.

lol! I hear you!

When I feel like this I order a rotisserie chicken, Stouffers frozen Mac & Cheese, and some deli coleslaw. I'm a chef.

I feel you OP! Some ways we make it work (will depend on age of kids):
- Only cook for dinner; leftovers, sandwiches, yogurt, etc can be eaten for lunch
- Takeout or restaurants about 2x per week for dinner
- at least one "Potluck" dinner where everyone just eats what they want from the fridge
- Go-tos: fajitas, BLTs, pasta and sauce, omelets for dinner

Anonymous wrote:I don't cook breakfast or lunch and I'm still sick of cooking. ugh.

same here. It's become drudgery. For me it's the combination of not eating out like we used to plus winter cooking. In the summer, we grill much of the time.

I didn’t realize anyone “made” breakfast. We toast bagels, pour cereal or spoon yogurt. That’s it.

Our emergency dinners:
Breakfast for dinner
Pasta with jarred sauce and (previously frozen) meatballs
Grilled cheese (people can individualize)
mac and cheese

one thing that we do is make pizza - I buy Molinaro's at Costco. It is a 4 pack of pizza shells and comes with 4 packs of sauce. We just put cheese and anything else we have (olives, onions, oregano, etc.). It also comes with a plastic bag for storage. Quick and easy! I am so sick of cooking too!

I have gone through this (multiple times) over the last several months - home with 3 tween/teens and DH. I rarely make breakfast -- mostly on the weekends when I can bake something. Lunch is usually leftovers or whatever you can make in the brief lunch break, but sometimes I'll make soup if I'm inspired. When I'm in a dinner rut we'll do more take out, but from different places -- I'm also sick of eating the same thing! Different grocery stores help too -- I rotate between Safeway, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Costco. If one part of the meal can be "done" I'm more motivated to work on the other parts.