Lost the will to cook.

MonkeyGirl

I feel exactly the same as you Triker. I can't offer any help I'm afraid I'll just give you some hugs :grouphug:. As we are in the same boat if you ever want to pm me feel free to.

MonkeyGirl

Triker

Thanks for the ongoing support, I really feel like Austin Powers when he lost his mojo.........cept I've lost my cookingjo!!!!Also I cannot seem get any smileys or bold writing on my replies, so I'm sending a big hug right back to all of you for being so supportive.

MATH

I'm glad someone else feels like this too:j I recently confessed to someone at church that if I never cooked another meal I wouldn't miss it. "BBBBUT you're a fantabulous cook" they said, another overheard me and started verbally chucking meal ideas and 'exciting' recipes at me as if I was just stuck for ideas. Just becasue you can do something doesn't mean you will enjoy it and I have more cookery books than Waterstones and three huge ring binders of recipes all seasonally filed LOL. To be fair I used to enjoy cooking but 15years of continually dragging HM meals to the table has taken the shine off the gilt abit so I've come to the conclusion if I don't feel like cooking one night oven chips and toast will have to do. I'm sure the urge will come back soon enough!

Philippa36

Thriftylady wrote:

I don't know if this makes sense, but I'll give it a go. I love cooking, baking, pottering about the kitchen, it brings me a lot of pleasure. BUT when its a necessity, (e.g. midweek, he's on his way home from work, tired, hungry, would love to just have dinner waiting for him) then it takes the pleasure out of it. So, quite often I don't particularly enjoy making tonights dinner, but could easily spend the afternoon making soups and casseroles to have some other time. Told you it might not make sense !!

I feel exactly the same way about cooking. My o/h accuses me of not liking cooking but I do, just not the same old having to get the meal on the table day in day out. I'm rubbish at planning meals too, but I will happily spend hours batch cooking, or cooking for the freezer. I'm not sure what the difference is, but there definitely is a difference ~ to me anyway

thriftlady_2

We all have times like this I reckon.I've got some leftover chicken that I was going to concoct into a wonderful thai-inspired broth for tonight but I just can't be bothered today(already spent all day baking) so we're goig to have chicken sandwiches:D

Sometimes we're so busy trying to come up with 'new and exciting' that we forget that 'old and simple' is good too.

Why not try assigning categories of meals to each day of the week.Say,
Mon-Soup and sandwich night
Tue-something and chips
Wed-Cold meat and salad
Thur- Baked potato night
Fri-Night off -get someone else to do it:D
Sat- hm pizza night
Sun-Meat and 2 veg

Tondella

Nigel Slater himself states in his book "appetite" that you needn't cook every day, and that beans on toast can be just as pleasurable as a lavish dinner if you're in the mood for it. I always have some mozzarella in the fridge for when i can't be bothered to make anything but pizza.

Quasar

I always have to struggle to get cooking. Now that sounds blasphemous coming from an Italian :eek: but there we are.

Living alone, I find very little incentive to cook elaborate dishes. I'd sooner prepare a quick salad and a grilled steak or chicken or some fish. Or cook some pasta with a quick tomato sauce.

I have cut down on takeaways not so much on financial grounds as on health grounds, because whichever way we cut it, home cooking with fresh ingredients is miles healthier than convenience foods or takeaways.

Sometimes I have guests and it takes me hours to decide what to cook and then get going...:rolleyes:

exlibris

I know how you feel too Triker! I found that the MSE mantra of meal planning added to my freezer helped. The meal plan was for just a week at first as I couldn't cope with longer but I am now up to a month of meals in freezer. Having said that I must make the veg lasagnes I have had the ingredients for since last weekend!

Floss

Tondella wrote:

Nigel Slater himself states in his book "appetite" that you needn't cook every day, and that beans on toast can be just as pleasurable as a lavish dinner if you're in the mood for it.

When me & my OH were still in the first flush of love (:o ) he was travelling a heck of a lot, 20+weeks a year out of UK, and the rest in UK. I wanted to make a really nice meal one time when he came home from a 3-week USA trip, but he just wanted beans on toast. Well, he got his beans on toast, with added worcester sauce & grated cheese, by candlelight!

Maybe pretending its a date with your lover (rather than the family) might help with getting your cookingjo back - I find i can cook for us in that way rather than feeding a DS when he gets in from college, OH is always very appreciative too, which always helps!

Kool_Kool

I also live alone and cooking has never been one of my priorities. However I agree with Quasar that home cooking is healthier as well as cheaper. I have some recipe books and sometimes try my hand at new dishes with good results, but after a long day's work I just want to relax and not get going in the kitchen.

I have thought of having big cooking sessions then freeze what can be frozen etc for future use, but because my flat is so small I don't have space for a proper freezer...