Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me realize how little I will cook once my kids go to college (2 years away). I love cooking dinner but will need to find another hobby.

My kids are both in college but I still cook a few nights a week for me and DH. It's been challenging to relearn cooking smaller amounts for two people. And I can experiment more with things the kids don't like. We do get take out more when it's just us, mainly because the bill for two people feels more worth it than the cost for four people.

This is us as empty nesters. I cook maybe 2-3 times a week, and we eat out or order out 2-3 times, and then once or twice we just sort of fend for ourselves with leftovers. It's lovely, and I really appreciate it after the kids have been home for the summer and want to know "whats for dinner" around 5 pm. I do enjoy being more creative when I do cook. The kids are pretty good eaters, but I gave up going to a lot of effort on new things when I realized that they'd prefer the same 4-5 simple things in rotation vs. the fancy new thing I labored over.

Anonymous wrote:Whole Foods hot bar or salad bar.

That is so gross.

Anonymous wrote:A coworker and I used to differentiate between cooking and preparing. Preparing is opening the jar and pouring sauce on pasta. Cooking involves making the sauce. I "cook" on Sundays. The rest of the week is pretty much preparing.

I call it “meal assembly.”

-Pre marinated meat and veggies tossed into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 400 degrees
-sautée onions and ground beef and dump a jar of raos in the pan, while boiling the pasta on the back burner
-Trader Joe’s frozen teriyaki chicken + cauliflower fried rice
-breakfast for dinner

We don’t actually eat out or get takeout more than 1-2x a week but I’m not making gourmet meals from scratch over here

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I work full time and I hate to cook. We do meals that would curl most of your toes LOL. I just want the kids fed and I don't want to kill myself over a meal the kids are going to complain about anyway. This is just the stage of life we are in now I guess.

I had a mom like you and by high school I was reading cookbooks and experimenting by making gourmet meals. I felt cheated by a childhood of Stouffers frozen dinners.

Was your dad around? Sounds like he should’ve helped out

Anonymous wrote:This is enlightening, for those who do minimal cooking, how do you avoid weight gain?

Frankly, I cook most nights, I like it, and know how to whip up a meal in less than 30 minutes (the amount of time it takes to decide and wait for takeout).

Takeout usually involves wood-fired pizza once or twice a month. My DH usually goes rogue for lunch and orders from other places, but almost always regrets it as the food is usually low quality food and high in sodium, and we’re not used to it. Once you get used to eating home cooked meals, fast food is not as appetizing.

It’s not hard to not gain weight. It’s not like everyone is getting Big Macs. What a weird comment

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I work full time and I hate to cook. We do meals that would curl most of your toes LOL. I just want the kids fed and I don't want to kill myself over a meal the kids are going to complain about anyway. This is just the stage of life we are in now I guess.

I had a mom like you and by high school I was reading cookbooks and experimenting by making gourmet meals. I felt cheated by a childhood of Stouffers frozen dinners.

I only had homemade food always. I still get guilty pleasure off instant mashed potatoes! They were a rare treat. Stouffers was unheard-of. We had to save money so everything was scratch.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I work full time and I hate to cook. We do meals that would curl most of your toes LOL. I just want the kids fed and I don't want to kill myself over a meal the kids are going to complain about anyway. This is just the stage of life we are in now I guess.

I had a mom like you and by high school I was reading cookbooks and experimenting by making gourmet meals. I felt cheated by a childhood of Stouffers frozen dinners.

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me realize how little I will cook once my kids go to college (2 years away). I love cooking dinner but will need to find another hobby.

Funny - because I have been looking forward to the empty nest so that I have more time to cook!

I hate leftovers (other than soups/stews/chili), so it’s take out 2-3x a week, “real meals” 3x, and frozen something (like chicken tender) with veggie on the side once a week. I tried meal prep and I just don’t like the texture of most reheated foods.

I could approx 5 nights a week. The other two are usually takeout/fast casual. Maybe twice a month eating at a sit down restaurant.

I will miss my children very much when they go to college, but I will be super excited to get to have popcorn or cheese and crackers for dinner.

I try to make dinners, but I know I only realistically have 2-3 nights capacity within me with work and all the exhaustion. I use Meal Mate DC's personal chef meal prep service to supplement because I know otherwise, my family would end up ordering out or eating some terrible concoction I manage to throw together. It helps to have a mix, because sometimes I do still want to cook up something. I've been thinking about their kitchen coaching program for a bit, maybe it would help me with building some systems or skills to be able to manage meals more effectively without getting burnt out after one night of cooking.

This is enlightening, for those who do minimal cooking, how do you avoid weight gain?

Frankly, I cook most nights, I like it, and know how to whip up a meal in less than 30 minutes (the amount of time it takes to decide and wait for takeout).

Takeout usually involves wood-fired pizza once or twice a month. My DH usually goes rogue for lunch and orders from other places, but almost always regrets it as the food is usually low quality food and high in sodium, and we’re not used to it. Once you get used to eating home cooked meals, fast food is not as appetizing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I meal plan for and make 3 substantial meals every week that consist of a main, a side and a vegetable. Typically there are leftovers that cover one or 2 nights or I’ll make omelettes or grilled cheeses on the 5th night. I just don’t have the focus to plan any more than that. We get takeout Friday and Saturday nights.

I’d love to sign up for a healthy meal or prep service but it’s just not in the budget.

My kids are 3 years away from leaving the nest and I can’t wait to not have to worry about food for other people. Sorry DH…

I count that as cooking (or leftovers) every night. Meal planning is just organized leftovers. I do disorganized leftovers but probably cook significant meals 6-7 times a week (this is to cover 7 dinners for my whole family, plus 2 lunches ditto, plus 5 lunches just for me).

I’ve started using green chef recipe cards (I don’t order the boxes; it’s not hard to grocery shop and I can’t afford their markup anyway) to get new meal ideas that are less hodgepodge but are quick and easy — highly recommend for anyone in need of meal ideas.

Are the recipe cards on line?

They are! Enjoy: https://www.greenchef.com/weekly-menu

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This OP and I agree with the above! Sandwiches are cooking. Heck, even putting a Costco lasagna in the oven and putting some vinaigrette on grocery store salad mix counts as making dinner in my book. Microwaving it is borderline

Really…

If they cut a bagel open, it is baking!