Anyone else hate to cook?

[bianca]

When you were 12 you did all the cooking for your family 7 days a week?! My daughter just turned 12

Totally true! My Mom was more interested in her social life. I occasionally see my old neighbor (who is now in her late 70’s) and she still talks about how weird it was that I would get off the bus in the afternoon and discuss with her what I was making for dinner that night. When I left home at 18, being the oldest, my brother said they were all on their own and he hadn’t appreciated all that I had done. Not every family lived like the Brady Bunch. Needless to say, my mother has been dead for 20 years and there is no part of me that misses her.

 

[Moliphino]

For me it depends on the circumstances and what I'm cooking. Sometimes I enjoy cooking, other times it's a chore.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I am not a huge cook but I do like to serve a healthy meal to my family most nights I’m not at work. My husband is a culinary professional and the last thing he wants to do when he comes home after a long day that starts really early is get involved in lengthy meal prep. So we stick with basic and simple cooking (like our parents did), but it can be a challenge coming up with ideas repeatedly. I do most of the shopping and planning, DH usually executes, and we both do clean up, or the other one will clean up from whoever cooked, if pooped, etc. Sometimes I do everything, or sometimes he does everything, it just depends on how our week goes. (We both work long hours.)

Over the past couple of years we’ve gotten a lot of ideas/recipes on Instagram. We like that it’s not just a bunch of words on a paper, or just a picture; there’s a whole video showing you how to do it, in less than 30 seconds, lol. People have a lot of great ideas! One of our big takeaways from that is how to make a [relatively] healthy pasta dish, without meat even, by just cleaning out your fridge. I did this last week (literally) emptied out vegetable bin in fridge, made a quick pasta sauce with olive oil, fresh garlic, red onion, two containers of grape tomatoes smushed, mushrooms, spinach, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese and served it over spaghetti. Took all of 20 or 30 minutes and everyone really liked it.



We’ve made so many things fairly easily from these videos. If you hate to cook, give that a try! The one drawback I will say (that might ruin it for some people) is that I think that some recipes use way too much cheese and other high fat ingredients like butter, cream cheese, bacon or other cheeses. We tend to skip over those recipes. And not that we never use them, but man, some use A LOT! Once in a while is ok, but you wouldn’t want a steady diet of that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My wife stayed home until the youngest was in school all day to which she worked evening shift so I could be home with them and she had flexibility to be home when they were sick, when there was no school, and summers. She cooked every day almost except for when we had to go somewhere. Going out to eat just to eat was not an option being 35ish miles away from anything.

Grew up with mom cooking every night as well.

If I didn't cook, I would die of starvation as I don't know how to eat anything but actual real non-processed food.

I don't have the space to make cooking pleasant so I just bulk cook. I may eat the same thing for a week or more, but it's pork chops, chicken breast, and beef, mostly also raised in my family, or what use to be my family as I'm by myself now. I eat a lot of Italian and make a lot of soup in the winter, usually always stuffed pepper soup which also all comes from myself, family, or a farm.

It seems obvious that if you cooked and not just cooked at home but cooked with real foods rather than popping chicken nuggets in an air fryer, it would be far healthier. However I am confused at how I seem to be no different healthwise with eating I'd say 70% real food and basically only drink water to coworkers who I know eat fast food every night and machine cuisine or the wheel of death or whatever you call vending machine food every day for lunch while they've swigged down two 2 liter bottles of Pepsi or Mountain Dew every shift.

Switching from my amateur cook to my cardiac health professional cap here, since this did veer off a little.

You can not see inside their coronary arteries. Full stop.

I agree. The whole cholesterol and such blood numbers that they say you should eat better, I believe has very little to do with reducing said numbers. Exercise changes those because for most people I believe they are high just from genetics. Your body produces cholesterol and exercise is the way to reduce it.

Not so fast…

That's why I bulk cook. I'll throw 40 pork chops on the grill and into the freezer with bundles and bundles of asparagus pre cooked. I'll cook up a whole bag of potatoes cubed and/or sliced up in the air fryer and toss them in a bag in the freezer to pull out and give a quick reheat in the air fryer or take to work.

I use to have more time on weekends but I'm driving and picking up my daughter from school and taking her back every weekend now. Saturdays is running to the store to stock her up for the week. And running to the store isn't just a quick thing living in the middle of nowhere so that's half the day. She lives with mom who is usually working weekends and my place sucks so I get to hang out and watch movies with her on Saturday so I'm not home to cook when I did most of my bulk cooking.

Funny story, I was out tending the grill when a young girl comes by selling electric rates through the neighborhood. She says, "wow, you having a party?" Ah no, this is all for me. I had 2 sirloins going on the grill along with 8 burgers, 4 sausage patties, package of pork chops, couple chicken breast, small pan of mushrooms and a dozen ears of corn going and one nice Ribeye which was the meal for that night.

Have you considered some fish?

So everyone is going to be a little different. One of the things we know more recently about coronary artery disease, which often happens from fat circulating in your blood over time, clogging up those little arteries that supply the heart muscle itself with oxygen, is that there is a component of inflammation. Crappy diets enhance inflammation. Whole foods and good foods like those from a Mediterranean diet (and that we seem to have largely gotten away from), reduce it. (You might be surprised to learn that even things like brown sodas can cause inflammation, so it’s not just all the sugar and calories that are really awful for you; even the diet sodas can cause inflammation.)

There were studies done during the Vietnam era that looked at the coronary arteries of young men killed in that war. They showed that the coronary arteries of American soldiers had the beginnings of coronary artery disease, whereas the Vietnamese soldiers really did not. Those were the first clues that something was going on with the American diet. And that was in the 1960s. Things have gotten so much worse since then - think Super Size. Portion sizes have doubled, and heart disease is the number one cause of death here. Yet we’re still not paying a lot of attention to things like cholesterol (fat) management, and what we eat, what our children eat, etc. Mix in some family history and it can be a silent problem. (Our family is not immune, either, believe me.)

Regularly I see people coming in with heart attacks who did all the right things, and some who did not. I/we never place blame, we just try to teach, going forward, how to best manage disease, but oftentimes people go back to old habits after a while because it’s so ingrained in us as a society how we eat. Small changes can go a long way. And that’s all I’ll say right now as I have to get my day started. But @mrogers just wanted to respond to this because there could be as much fat in the burgers, sausage, pork chops and ribeyes you eat as there is in your coworker’s fast food. But in seeing your posts about cooking and such, I think you are definitely on the right track cooking your own meals and mixing it up and all that (like the soup). And I know you exercise on your bike, which is great. We’re a bit older than you and have had to look at these issues ourselves, too, so not trying to criticize, just commenting about it with my knowledge and background caring for people who have coronary artery disease and other cardiac problems.

 

[georgina]

I don't enjoy cooking, and I don't consider myself a good cook, but I cook dinner most nights because I prefer healthy food to processed or fast food. I only make easy, simple recipes with few ingredients. Trying to add more meatless meals. Tonight is pork tenderloin, acorn squash, and green salad. Last night was Costco vegetable soup and salad because I was not home to cook before dinner time and needed something quick. I try to have fish and steamed broccoli at least once a week. Also make a spinach and mushroom frittata frequently for dinner.

I am very boring - I make the same green salad almost every night, with spring mix, tomato, bell pepper, sometimes avocado. DH adds raw onions and celery to his. I don't mind leftovers - when I make pasta and vegetables, there is always enough for another meal. I also do a beans and rice and peppers that usually makes enough for 2 meals.

 

[RangerPooh]

I don't like to cook. Occasionally I enjoy it, but it's just tedious. I grew up just like the original poster, but learned to improve upon my parents cooking by adding seasoning. What I miss is having time to cook. Between arriving home form work and heading to scouts I have 30-70 minutes. So some nights hot dogs or mac and cheese is as good as it gets. Tonight for instance, I forgot to take something out to thaw.

I wish that I was a better cook, more creative, and had time to cook.

 

[fla4fun]

I agree. The whole cholesterol and such blood numbers that they say you should eat better, I believe has very little to do with reducing said numbers. Exercise changes those because for most people I believe they are high just from genetics. Your body produces cholesterol and exercise is the way to reduce it.

My grandmother had sky high cholesterol her whole life. She ate a very restricted diet and tried hard to get it to come down (this was in the years before there were medications to help) only to have the doctors accuse her of cheating on her diet. She didn’t. Finally, after she turned 80, her doctor at the time said, you know, you have been depriving yourself for years trying to get this under control. At your age, if you decide you want a little cheese now and then, go for it. So she stopped the restrictive diet and just ate normally. Her numbers didn’t change at all, up or down, and she lived to be 91. We always felt bad that she had spent her whole life depriving herself when it didn’t appear to make a difference.

As far as cooking, I don’t love or hate it. It’s just something that must be done. I prefer recipes I can put together and then just stick in the oven, or simmer in a pot, and not have to pay a lot of attention. For example, stick some chicken in the oven and some potatoes on to boil, and at the last minute steam a veg in the microwave. That is about as ambitious as I get these days.

I used to love to bake when I was young, but I don’t enjoy that like I used to. Sometimes it feels like an effort to do nothing more than make a boxed cake mix.

 

[disneyseniors]

I much prefer baking and always did. I'm finding after almost 58 years of marriage, the fun of cooking has lost its allure for sure. We always have gone out for fun periodically but definitely go out more now.

The weird thing: I LOVE reading cookbooks and recipes in magazines and papers.
I would sooner sit down with a cookbook than a novel for sure.

The last couple of years we've been snowbirding in someone else's condo. She has a huge amount of different topic cookbooks as part of the decor. For those 3 months, I'm in heaven... between looking at the ocean and reading cookbooks.

LOL, I agree with cooking having lost it's allure. We've been married 54 years and I feel the same way. It seems that I always cook the same things, mostly because they are easier and I've done them before. I am so lucky that my husband never complains and always has good suggestions when I can't come up with something. My favorite suggestion from him is to go out to eat!! We are both retired and go out to eat at least 2 times a week. It used to be more, but with the high cost of meals, we have cut back
Cooking was needed when the kids were home. Now it is a chore, but someone has to do it. My husband doesn't cook and I don't care. He does everything else around the house and yard.

 

[DVCjj]

LOL, I agree with cooking having lost it's allure. We've been married 54 years and I feel the same way. It seems that I always cook the same things, mostly because they are easier and I've done them before. I am so lucky that my husband never complains and always has good suggestions when I can't come up with something. My favorite suggestion from him is to go out to eat!! We are both retired and go out to eat at least 2 times a week. It used to be more, but with the high cost of meals, we have cut back
Cooking was needed when the kids were home. Now it is a chore, but someone has to do it. My husband doesn't cook and I don't care. He does everything else around the house and yard.

disneyseniors: I could have literally copied your EXACT post. Word for Word. You made my day because I chuckled as I read it.

 

[robinb]

I really enjoy cooking and meal planning. I know, I'm weird. I am NOT a fan of leftovers, so I cook something new every night. Breakfast is super easy as is lunch (leftovers from the day before or soup/chili that I have in my freezer). My DH and I are carnivores, so we usually have something with meat, then a green vegetable, a starch (usually potatoes or rice) and a salad. The green veg and starch are usually super easy and sometimes the salad is the hardest thing to make since I enjoy salads that are fancier than just lettuce and grape tomatoes. I make my own salad dressing.

Sometimes cooking can be a chore, especially on "foraging day" when I go to Costco and the grocery store and come back hours later mentally and physically exhausted. On those days I plan something easy to make that I can just throw together. This last week I made: Steak Au Poivre (my DH's request), Air Fryer Baked Potato, Garlicy Swiss Chard, Salad with Apples and Craisins, Pasta Fajioli (had it for lunch), Spicy Pork Brussels Bowls, Instapot Brown Rice, a Mexican themed salad, Burgers (no buns), green beans and microwaved Little Potato Company lemon/herb potatoes (last nigh was a quicky meal). Tonight is Air Fryer Chicken Schnitzel and Fattoush Salad. My Dh is leaving for Thanksgiving tonight so I don't have to bulk up meals for just me. I'm also still doing Weight Watchers so most things are healthy.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

I hate it! My mom wasn’t the greatest cook either and she never taught me anything. I got married at 19 and found myself having to cook every night. We were renovating our 130+ year old house and definitely didn’t have money to eat out. Now 41 years later not much has changed. I still cook practically every night. My husband is a very picky eater so it’s the same thing all the time. I swear I buy the same groceries over and over. We do eat left overs though cause that’s the only way I get a night off because we still rarely go out to eat. Plus I’ve never had a dishwasher so there’s all that too. I’ve told my husband many times that the best part of going on a vacation to me is not having to cook or wash dishes afterwards. He doesn’t have a clue. He just sits around waiting for his dinner, eats, and falls asleep.

 

[CdnCarrie]

That's why I bulk cook. I'll throw 40 pork chops on the grill and into the freezer with bundles and bundles of asparagus pre cooked. I'll cook up a whole bag of potatoes cubed and/or sliced up in the air fryer and toss them in a bag in the freezer to pull out and give a quick reheat in the air fryer or take to work.

I use to have more time on weekends but I'm driving and picking up my daughter from school and taking her back every weekend now. Saturdays is running to the store to stock her up for the week. And running to the store isn't just a quick thing living in the middle of nowhere so that's half the day. She lives with mom who is usually working weekends and my place sucks so I get to hang out and watch movies with her on Saturday so I'm not home to cook when I did most of my bulk cooking.

Funny story, I was out tending the grill when a young girl comes by selling electric rates through the neighborhood. She says, "wow, you having a party?" Ah no, this is all for me. I had 2 sirloins going on the grill along with 8 burgers, 4 sausage patties, package of pork chops, couple chicken breast, small pan of mushrooms and a dozen ears of corn going and one nice Ribeye which was the meal for that night.

Doesn't some of that get freezer burnt before you eat it all?

 

[DisneyHardin]

I hate cooking. I do it because we aren't going to eat out for every meal, but I don't enjoy any part of it. I am a very basic cook - we eat things like burgers, chicken breasts, tacos, pork chops, etc usually with a starch and a veggie (usually salad).

 

[disykat]

One of my sons was not very interested in cooking and I realized I hadn't really taught him how. (My other son liked to cook so he was usually the one in the kitchen with me.) One time at dinner before he left home we had this big conversation about the "formula" to use to make pretty much anything. Pick your protein and vegetables and then decide what flavor profile, your cooking method, and whether you want it with a carb like pasta or rice, mixed into some eggs, on a salad, stuffed into a potato, in broth for soup, etc, etc. I was just trying to demystify it for him. He's 30 now and my sister in law visited him recently. He was apparently making her a breakfast of sort of a potato skillet dish with eggs and veggies and spouted off our whole conversation almost word for word. Apparently his wife was rolling her eyes in the background. I've created a monster! Sorry DIL!

 

[Kitty 34]

I don't mind cooking but I certainly am not a gourmet or try something new type of cook. I have a 3-4 week cycle of things I cook. Next week's turkey will break that cycle!!

 

[mrodgers]

Doesn't some of that get freezer burnt before you eat it all?

Not really because I make one thing, then tend to eat it until it's gone, then make something else. I vacuum seal a lot and just cut the bag open to remove what I want and reseal it up. Doesn't take me long to eat what I make. Pork chops for example are pretty small. 30 chops but I'll eat 1.5 to 2 chops with some asparagus. That's gone in less than 2 weeks. Pound and a half of spaghetti I'll eat for dinner then package up 6 containers. Gone within 2 weeks.

I only have a tiny freezer on top of my old school style refrigerator so can't fit much anyways.

 

[Rick195275]

Totally true! My Mom was more interested in her social life. I occasionally see my old neighbor (who is now in her late 70’s) and she still talks about how weird it was that I would get off the bus in the afternoon and discuss with her what I was making for dinner that night. When I left home at 18, being the oldest, my brother said they were all on their own and he hadn’t appreciated all that I had done. Not every family lived like the Brady Bunch. Needless to say, my mother has been dead for 20 years and there is no part of me that misses her.

Well when you go and put it that way I can’t in good conscience make my 12 year old the cook. But seriously, I’m sorry that was your relationship with your mom, I know what that’s like

 

[2Lunds]

I do like to cook - but I HATE cooking in my tiny condo kitchen. There is never enough counter space, I'm always moving things out of the way, and it drives me nuts.

 

[Colleen27]

I go through phases. Once in a while I get in a mood where really like cooking, especially if I'm trying new recipes that sound interesting. Sometimes it is my least favorite chore. My mom was not much of a cook - very much the stereotype of bland American food, lots of shake-n-bake and hamburger helper and such just for lack of time (her special occasion meals were wonderful, weeknight dinners not so much) - and I think I got my attitude toward daily cooking as an irritation from her. Fortunately I have a kid who loves to cook, so I can usually get a couple nights a week of not having to cook at all or only assisting her in the kitchen. And she's not only a better cook than me, she's also amassed a fascinating collection of cookbooks so she has a pretty good range of personal favorites.

 

[jo-jo]

LOL, I agree with cooking having lost it's allure. We've been married 54 years and I feel the same way. It seems that I always cook the same things, mostly because they are easier and I've done them before. I am so lucky that my husband never complains and always has good suggestions when I can't come up with something. My favorite suggestion from him is to go out to eat!! We are both retired and go out to eat at least 2 times a week. It used to be more, but with the high cost of meals, we have cut back
Cooking was needed when the kids were home. Now it is a chore, but someone has to do it. My husband doesn't cook and I don't care. He does everything else around the house and yard.

Congratulation ! You hardly ever hear that number

When kids were young, my youngest was a really tough toddler. We used to eat one handed because the other hand was holding his leg while he was sitting in highchair. Anyway, I made mac and cheese every week , maybe even twice a week, because toddler would eat it and I would have 5 mins of peace. After about a year, DH says to me....you know I really don't like mac and cheese......A YEAR, he waited a year to tell me.

All my life, I cooked about 20 meals. Over and over and over again. Some a few times a year, some weekly. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm depressed. How boring .