Help me, I finally admitted to myself that I hate to cook - Page 2

[joyluc]

I think "what's for dinner?" is the most boring question in the world. My DH and I work the same number of hours but I am always the one who is thinking about dinner and I start it 15 to 20 minutes after I get home because I don't want to eat at 8:00. I can cook well and sometimes I like it but not when I am tired from a long day at work and DH and DS are playing video games or doing whatever they like while I am in the kitchen. There are often dirty dishes so once I get the food started I start doing dishes, recently I have burned dinner because I was trying to get the dishes finished. I know I need to get a better attitude and I have talked to DH but nothing has changed yet.

[linguistmama]

Like many other posters I'm fine with some baking, but I'm not into cooking. In order for me to cook it has to be simple, just a few steps and ingredients. I recently bought a 7 qt crock pot so that I can make 2 nights worth of dinner and still have a little bit for the freezer. That way I only make dinner half as much and then there will be extra in the freezer for when I can't handle cooking. I also keep quick, easy things on hand like raw veggies. Are there easy GFCF foods that you could keep on hand?

[flowmom]

First, you have to start with a clean kitchen with empty counters and an empty sink and dishwasher. If you don't do this then it gets overwhelming FAST. If your dishwasher is empty and open then you can put dirty stuff in there as you go. Don't be perfectionistic about washing pots by hand etc. - just put anything in there that is dishwasher-safe.

It sounds like you are the perfect candidate for freezer meals. You can pre-assemble dishes in batches and freeze then uncooked, then defrost the night before and freshly cook them that night. Same amount of mess but you can prep many meals at once. You can get freezer meal e-books for pretty cheap. Another mess-saver is crock-potting -- prep it in the morning and clean up then = no mess at night.

Also, it makes such a difference to start the evening meal in the morning. Just getting the ball rolling with prepping veggies or whatever makes it feel like less of a chore in the evening, esp. if you can clean up afterwards.

Home cooking is frugal, healthy, and so valuable for children to experience. Due to my dh being on a super difficult diet (waaay worse than GFCF) I've had to develop shopping and cooking routines and make dinner every night. I've got a long way to go to make it more efficient, but I am enjoying the process more.

Finally, if my dh is home, he knows that he has to look after the kids between 5 and 6 PM to make it easier on me .

[flowmom]

Another great strategy is to cook double portions every night -- e.g. one night you prep 2x as much salad as you need, then next night you make 2x as much chili as you need -- so that you are basically only prepping one part of dinner each night, not trying to prepare the whole thing each night.

Now maybe I should follow my own advice .