Dinnertime blues

cat64

Hi everyone, I've just been looking at some of the recipe threads and found some really tasty ones. I really have got into a rut with my cooking - a lot of the time OH cooks (but he's beginning to moan about having to cook when he gets in from work when I'm at home most days, and I suppose I can see his point:o ).

Trouble is I just never know what to cook! I see all these lovely recipes and think I'll give them a go but end up always sticking to things like chilli, spag bog, pizza (not HM sorry) or sometimes we just rely on ready meals which are expensive for a family of 6 but at least they get eaten. Nobody ever seems to like the same things, my 17year old lives on cereal as all he really wants to eat is McDonalds (I know I know I've gone wrong somewhere) and doesn't like much that we cook at home at all.

Funny thing is, I love baking and making puddings, probably because most of the time these are enjoyed and appreciated. Just wish I could say the same for meals.

Any advice very welcome.

Tracey04

if you like baking etc, why not make things like savoury pies ie mince plate pie, steak and kidney pudding, dumplings, sausage plait.

lostfarmer

I think meal planning may be the way forward?

Often we used to spend so much time deciding what we wanted for tea that we were too late to cook it by the time we'd made our minds up!

Now we plan a week in advance- all sorted and nice to look forward to your favourites! Maybe you could do a plan and ask your kids to nominate a meal in turn on a couple of the days (within limits!), getting everyone involved?

Bogof_Babe

I know what you mean, sometimes it is so hard to get inspired or motivated isn't it?

What I do now is make something for tea as my first job of the morning, while I am still feeling fresh and energetic. I keep it in the fridge once it's cool, and just have to stick it in the oven half an hour before we want to eat. That way I'm not having to fuss around in the kitchen when the evening relaxation period is underway. It gets all the messy washing up out of the way too, except for the plates we eat off and a casserole dish.

Tonight we are having leek & potato bake (in cheese sauce) that I did this morning, with a couple of pasties that I will put in the oven alongside it.

The trick is to identify your most productive time of day, and use it to sort out what you have that needs using up, then experiment from there.

Penelope_Penguin

Same thing happened to me. I love cooking, but am very busy atm, so would just grab the nearest thing (HM, though) from the freezer.

I started menu planning, and haven't looked back. We still have the easy standbys (spaghetti, chilli, pizza) for the busy w*** days, but have some new dishes every week.

Penny. x

savingsara_2

Oh dear, you and me both, and there's only me and OH....he doesn't cook mind you :rotfl:

We both love eating, but I dread dinnertimes - he'll eat what I put in front of him, but he's not very adventurous. Couldn't give him anything new-fangled like couscous for example.

Having had:-

Saturday - HM chilli con carne & brown rice
Sunday - our annual takeaway, yippee (but I had to go for it!:rolleyes: )
Monday - cumberland sausage, mash and carrots with leftover roast beef gravy (cooked some onions to go in it) out of the freezer in true money-saver style
Tuesday remainder of chilli with some baked beans from lunchtime added, wholemeal pasta and garlic bread. Followed by pannetone bread and butter pud, which was yummy.

No doubt had pud of some sort on other nights, but I can't remember what.

Right up to an hour ago I was thinking, what the heck are we going to have tonight. I've got some chicken fillets out, so I think it will be crispy chicken (floured, egged and covered in crushed crisps). There's time to change my mind yet tho :rolleyes:

Tomorrow's just another day, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it....

CLARABEL

aaaaahhhh..i feel like this too....

cooking rut.
can't be bothered.
don't really want to cook....

ho hum:beer:

eamon

You've got to be prepared to improvise.
Yesterday (last night) I took a pork chop from the freezer. Also yesterday I made potato salad (can't stand the shop stuff). However on the way home from work I had my head round spicy bean burgers & pitta bread for dinner as I'd forgotten about the pork chop. So instead I had grilled chop, potato salad & nuked broccolli, delicious. Whilst that was cooking I made a huge batch of leek & potato soup (cooks in 10mins in the pressure cooker). So I'm having soup for lunch tomorrow & will freeze the rest. At the moment the bread maker is on!

yours

Eamon

TAG

I suffer with a severe lack of motivation and inspiration on the 'what's for tea tonight' front.:o

Really bad at the moment cos of all the hot weather. It means my beloved slow cooker hasn't seen daylight for 2 or 3 weeks.:eek: I love it. Chop it, chuck it in and go and do something less boring instead.

Reading that back, anyone would think that I hate cooking :rolleyes:

Queenie

You could always read Penny Pinchers menu plan thread to gain inspiration. They've all be indexed so you could go back to when they were set up and take inspiration from everyone who posts there.

By the time you've multiplied the number of weeks it's been running by the number of people who post on there ... must equate to nearly 3yrs worth of ready made menu plans by now (?)

belfastgirl23

Could you and your husband do a cook up at the weekend for the freezer? If he basically enjoys cooking but just hates the hassle of coming home to do it then this might help. Getting others in the family involved and agreeing to what to eat would also help a good bit as well. But def meal planning is the way to go!