Anyone else HATE to cook?

[Missy1961]

Food shopping, cooking, laundry, diapers -- I'm all-purpose

You've got a lucky wife!

I like to cook. I'm only cooking for 2--me & Dad--but he's a pain. Doesn't want to try new things (which I guess is really OK, he is 81 after all), but I am sick of the same old things. But one of our favorite things isn't hard--breaded & baked chicken cutlets, corn & sweet potatoes of some kind (usually baked). Takes about 5 minutes to dredge the chicken in flour (that I've mixed some poultry seasoning in), dip in milk & then breadcrumbs. I put them on a baking sheet that I've sprayed with Pam, drizzle a little oil on top (but you can skip that). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, turn, bake for 15 minutes more. I've served it to my 8 yr old niece & 4 yr old niece--they love it. Sometimes I make a little honey mustard sauce by mixing honey & dijon mustard.

And I love to bake! I haven't done much baking lately, but I do love it.

 

[Ranatra]

I love to cook! I love trying different and new things! I don't like boring meals.
I also love to bake. Pies, cakes, cookies, nutrolls, whatever!

I think the difference might be, I'm home during the day. (fulltime caretaker of my Mom) Those of you that work out of the house all day, it's just more work for you.
I enjoy it, it gives me something else to do and plan for.

 

[TurboKitty]

I am not much of a baker but I like to cook.

Something I made this week that went over well was fried rice. Made up about 2/3 of a cup of plain old white rice, cut up 2 two pork chops into strips, then into fork sized pieces and cooked them in canola oil flavored with soy sauce. Threw in a half a carrot, cut in really small dice, about 1/2 cup cabbage, cut very thin and about 1 1/2 inches long, and one egg, well beaten in a bowl. Stirred all that up together and added the rice. Stirred more, chucked in three minced cloves of garlic and more soy sauce unil the rice was all a brown color. I topped it with chopped scallions. DH said he liked it because the veggies didn't taste like veggies. DS and DD loved the meat part of this and picked all the reamining meat from the leftovers. Whole thing, including cooking the rice took less than an hour.

I've also done similar with a package of cooked Ramen noodles in place of the rice, though I usually add 1 to 2 tsp of sugar also to make it taste like lo mein (soft fried noodles) and chicken.

 

[Bob Slydell]

You've got a lucky wife!

Thanks I consider myself a lucky husband as well.

I like to cook. I'm only cooking for 2--me & Dad--but he's a pain. Doesn't want to try new things (which I guess is really OK, he is 81 after all), but I am sick of the same old things.

Kind of sounds like cooking for a 6 year old as well

 

[Bearvet]

A few years ago a friend gave me a subscription to "Quick Cooking" magazine (they've recently changed the name to "Simple & Delicious"). It's been a huge help in finding new things to try that are easy to make. Some of the topics include: Five ingredients or less, 30 minutes to the table, crock pot recipes, skillet suppers, etc. I usually modify recipes (leave out onions, etc) and have had a lot of success.

My kids dislike casseroles too, but I've found one for "Nacho pie" using crescent roll dough as the crust, Doritos, taco meat, sour cream and cheese. It's a favorite now at our house.

Whenever I can't think of meals to prepare, I go through a few of these magazines and my weekly list is complete. I highly recommend it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't "HATE" to cook per se.

BUT--I don't get all the fuss. Some people go ga ga when they prepare and awesome meal. I just don't. Just cook it and get it done!

Now baking--that I love to do. I don't do it very often...but when I am making a recipe, I feel like all those crazy chefs on tv do when they go crazy over their meals.

We have spaghetti...quite a bit!

 

[Chattyaholic]

I don't absolutely hate it, but don't really enjoy it either.

But I'm cooking again now that DH and I are "eating healthier."

Made an omelet this morning out of egg beaters, filled with chopped peppers (green, yellow, red and orange), mushrooms, 1 slice lean turkey breast and a tiny amount of reduced fat cheese.

Last night I cooked chicken breast tenders, sprinkled with lemon pepper and parmesan herb seasonings, along with green beans.

I just bought "The Biggest Loser" book and the companion cookbook, and have found some interesting recipes in them to try. I find it's easier to cook when I have some new recipes to try.

 

[KristinBelle]

Use to hate cooking, so we always ate out or did take-out. For finanacial reasons I started cooking and now I love it. I really want to go to cooking school one day.

 

[cassi06403]

I don't exactly HATE to cook - I'm just not very good at it. DH does most the cooking at our house. BUT if I want something with vegetables or something carb-friendly, I have to do it myself.

Last night was a good example of how it usually goes... I decided I was going to make Smashed Cauliflower with Cheese (saw Rachel Ray do it on tv) and cook some chicken in a pan with some seasoning. My goodness keeping track of two pans was a challenge! Not to mention my "flipping chicken pieces in a pan with a spatula" skills need to be worked on. Somehow the spatula ended up in DH's hand (flipping my chicken) while I rechecked the recipe I printed out for the cauliflower. Yes, I needed a recipe to cook cauliflower.

It's a wonder DH even lets me into the kitchen.

I do have a couple of meals I make very well - they all involve the oven. I can handle the oven - it's the stove that messes me up! Baked ziti here I come!

 

[Christine]

Oh, here's another "easy" one that I made last night!

I bought a small pork tenderloin (you can get the seasoned or unseasoned ones). I cut it up so it is in long, thin strips and I stir-fry this. In a separate pan, I stir fry peppers and onions and sprinkle in a little fajita seasoning. I make rice on the side. We then have "fajitas" or more like the fajita burritos at Chipotle. Add sour cream, salsa, whatever. Very easy and the kids like it.

 

[ButchJohnson]

I've just gotten to the point where I absolutely DREAD coming up with what to cook for dinner every night. Its bad enough trying to decide what I'm in the mood for, but then to consider the whole family, ugh. Fortunately, my husband has always done a lot of the cooking. Unfortunatelty, his hours are changing at work to where he will be home after the dinner hour so now it will be my FULL TIME job.

I just find cooking so drab and boring. Its not that I can't do it, I just don't want to do it. I hate anything that takes a long time, I guess because time is something I don't have a lot of. I'll cook a lot at the holidays as we do a lot of entertaining, and I just hate it. I do love the parties, so I do it, but not happily.

Anyone else? What kinds of meals do you make for your family to break up the variety and make life easier?

(btw oddly enough I love to bake!! I could bake for hours, and amazingly could find lots of time to bake!)

Do you work a regular job too or just stay at home?

 

[Steffi]

I don't really hate to cook, it's the meal planning that I hate. Cooking is the easy part, but coming up with a healthy meal that we all enjoy - that's a real challenge! (And I have a very small family, I can't imagine throwing a few more mouths to please into the bunch.)

I'd love it if I got a list at the beginning of the week telling me everything I'm supposed to make for supper all week and everything I'd need to buy to make it all. One of those Dinner Done places would be great, but I check the menu every month and the stuff seems kind of fancy for my family's very basic tastes.

 

[JunieJay]

A few years ago a friend gave me a subscription to "Quick Cooking" magazine (they've recently changed the name to "Simple & Delicious"). It's been a huge help in finding new things to try that are easy to make. Some of the topics include: Five ingredients or less, 30 minutes to the table, crock pot recipes, skillet suppers, etc. I usually modify recipes (leave out onions, etc) and have had a lot of success.

My kids dislike casseroles too, but I've found one for "Nacho pie" using crescent roll dough as the crust, Doritos, taco meat, sour cream and cheese. It's a favorite now at our house.

Whenever I can't think of meals to prepare, I go through a few of these magazines and my weekly list is complete. I highly recommend it.

I'm going to look into this magazine. 5 ingredients or less sounds right up my alley.

 

[TimeforMe]

OMG! I can't believe you posted this as this has been a MAJOR issue in my house lately. For some reason, since the holidays when I get home from work I am sooooooo exhausted that I need to actually lay down for a bit and I usually fall asleep. Cooking is the absolute last thing I feel like doing. We've been getting take out way too much, but I just can't bring myself to put together a meal every night of the week.

DD is home from college and DS is still home so I like to have somewhat healthy meals for all of us, but I dread the thought of coming home every night and cooking. I'm actually considering going to one of those places that you prepare a week's worth of meals (for a fee, of course) and then freeze them. I've got to come up with something.

Glad I'm not alone in this.

 

[JunieJay]

Do you work a regular job too or just stay at home?

I work full time outside the home. Fortunately, my commute is very easy (I walk to work!) so its not like I'm fighting traffic to get home every night. I had a job like that for years and really hated cooking then, a lot more than I do now. Now when I think that I have to go home after a long day of work and cook, I can put things in perspective by thinking about the fact I no longer have the long commute on top of it.

 

[JunieJay]

OMG! I can't believe you posted this as this has been a MAJOR issue in my house lately. For some reason, since the holidays when I get home from work I am sooooooo exhausted that I need to actually lay down for a bit and I usually fall asleep. Cooking is the absolute last thing I feel like doing. We've been getting take out way too much, but I just bring myself to put together a meal every night of the week.

DD is home from college and DS is still home so I like to have somewhat healthy meals for all of us, but I dread the thought of coming home every night and cooking. I'm actually considering going to one of those places that you prepare a week's worth of meals (for a fee, of course) and then freeze them. I've got to come up with something.

Glad I'm not alone in this.

I am doing this next month!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[minnieandme]

I'm beginning to hate cooking too. It's not really the actual cooking I hate, it's finding something to cook that everyone will like as DS8 is so darn picky. When I was on vacation for 2 weeks (just came back to work) I think I cooked 3 times. I loved it. On the nights I didn't cook, I told DS's they're on their own. There's plenty of food in the house that they can find something to eat. I didn't care if it was a sandwich or ramen noodles.

 

[rgf207]

I love to cook. My wife says she's spoiled because she hasn't cooked a meal for me since we've been married. My dream is to open my own restaurant

 

[Saphire]

I've just gotten to the point where I absolutely DREAD coming up with what to cook for dinner every night.

There is the problem. Who wants to use up the mental energy to figure it out each and every day? I plan the menu for the week and then shop. Then every day I know what is for dinner. It really does make it easier, and cuts down on take-out or just making the same old thing again. I usually try to make something new every week by looking online or in my cookbooks. I make a list of everything I need for my one shopping trip. No more running to the store 3-4 times a week. Knowing what you are having every day is great, though my co-workers laugh at me. (But I got a few to try it my way, and they love it!)

 

[TimeforMe]

I am doing this next month!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

Yes, please do!