I Am over It!

I hear you! Deep down, I really enjoy cooking, but let's face it, when you have kids it is a chore, and like all other chores it gets monotonous :(
Two suggestions:
Have the kids involved as much as possible. My kids were most interested and helpful between the ages of 4 and 12.
And I know this sounds crazy, but host a dinner party or bbq for some family and/or friends. Keep it small, casual (you don't want to ADD stress!) There's something about entertaining that always gets me excited about cooking again. My son graduated from high school last week and it was the first time we'd had people over since Christmas! It was so much fun and I have truly found myself enjoying my kitchen again. I even made a carrot cake yesterday, mmmm :)
But don't feel bad about ordering out if you need to, we ALL need a break sometime!

Ditto!

Then I just don't cook.
Or I buy, pre-made meals from Costco, that I just have to heat up and not think about.

However, I have this 'rule' that EVERY Friday, is a no-cooking day, for *me.*
That is me giving myself a day off from cooking.
On those nights, the family eats leftovers, or buys some take out, or my Hubby will make something for the kids and himself.
That is the end of the week, and psychologically, it just eases my mind of the hated cooking, which I sometimes feel. And it is my, own treat to myself, sort of.

**Do they have Schwan's in Hawaii? I'm gonna look....

Schwan's. They deliver to my house every other Wednesday. :)

I order Boneless skinless chicken breasts which I do have to cook, but they are soooo good.

Pre-cooked items that we like:
Turkey and mashed potatoes
Blackened chicken alfredo
Tortilla Soup
Shrimp (don't remember what kind, but it's great!)
All kinds of fish
Roasted chicken
The very best corn I've ever had
Biscuits
Apple Tarts of some sort that we eat for breakfast
Taquitos - they're crunchy even when microwaved!
Chipolte mini-tacos
Summer Sausage
Pizza
I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of any right now.

We actually save money using Schwan's because we rarely eat fast food now, and only eat out at restaurants about once a week. The chicken breasts are much better than what we find a grocery stores. They also have specials all the time

We eat cold food! Seriously!

I call it 'Munchies Night'...
Salami and cheese
Sliced Apple and or Pears
Olives
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Baguette dipped in olive oil
Celery
Radishes
Carrots

Ya know...finger foods! It is my go to meal when I have had enough!

Sometimes we do 'Super Shaggy Sandwiches'...
French Bread
Cream Cheese
Turkey
Ham
Roast Beef
Any and all veggies you like!

Easy and a great summer time food!

Vegetable Pizza...
Bobolli (sp?) or other pre-made pizza crust
Cream cheese
Shredded carrots and cucumbers
black olives
cheese
salt and pepper

Totally tasty!

~I recommend you adopt the rule that who ever cooks doesn't clean!

My hubby has worked swing for the last 9 months so I feel your pain!! He has just switched to days for the summer :)
I bought him a very cool, high tech bbq for his 40th bday ~ pretty much every nice evening since he has bbq'd dinner!!!!!! Can you get your hubby to grill?
I also make a menu for the week on Sunday. I make hubby and older son pick out dinner for a night (little one would want chicken nuggets!) and it helps me to grocery shop and ease the "what should we have for dinner" every night when we get home.

I read somewhere that the average family cooks only 6 different recipes. I can see how that would be boring. My wife and I both cook. When she tells me she's had enough of cooking, I cook dinner. I only object if she tells me, "I'm hungry. I don't feel like cooking." I'd like a little more notice than that.

If you want something different to cook and you want to try something some other family likes ask your friends for their favorite recipes, or go to an estate sale or two. Look through the cook books they have for sale. If you find a cook book with several smudged pages, buy it. The smudged pages indicate recipes they liked. When you get the cook book home, tear out the smudged pages and put them in your cook book. Try them and see if you like them. If you do you have found a winner. If you don't, throw away the recipe.

Tell your husband you want him to cook for the next one or two or what ever works for you nights so you can have a break.

If your husband claims to not know how to cook, then he should learn. Give hm a simple recipe out of a cook book with all the ingredients out on the counter and tell him to read and follow the recipe.

If he does, then you have a good partner. If he doesn't then you have to evaluate his why and take it from there. BE SURE to thank him for trying. Even if he doesn't do as good a job as you do (DUH!!) BE SURE to thank him.

Good luck to you and yours.

Buy a really cool grill for your DH. ;)
Seriously, I did that once 8 years ago and it has been working ever since!

You may want to give something like Dinner by Design a try (if they have that in your area). You would spend about 2-3 hours assembling and preparing the meals to be stored in the freezer. Thaw as you need them and all you have to do is cook it.

There is only my son and me in our home, and I can't even imagine cooking for more than that on a daily basis. I am soooo burned out on food also. So, I just don't cook. LOL Since my son is 15, I can get away with that.

One nights that I don't want to cook we have cereal or sandwiches. I keep some frozen meals, like Bertolli or PF Chang, in the freezer - when I find them on sale :) for a quickie meal - just add a veggie and call it dinner.

I also double cook on weekends about once a month - a big batch of spaghetti sauce so I can freeze enough for two more meals, beans and rice, etc.

When he was younger, and I was more concerned with cooking every night, I learned to love the "Semi Home Made" theory of cooking. Also used Rachel Ray's 30 minutes meals - at least it shortened my cooking time.

I don't have any great suggestions, really. Just wanted to commiserate. Oh, and this reminds me, I do need to go feed the boy. Dang - it looks like a sandwich night again. LOL

God Bless

@ SH. - yes Hawaii has Schwans! I saw trucks a few times when I lived in Honolulu. I only noticed them because Schwans headquarters is located near where I grew up.

S., I feel the same way. I even have a brand new kitchen to work with, so I should be happy to be cooking, right? Blah.......
Schwans has salmon filets and rice pilaf. Easy to cook and healthy! Their buffalo wings are yummy too. Not as healthy, but we do eat them with a giant salad.

When I don't want to cook, I make spaghetti and a giant salad. We are salad freaks in this house.

On the days where I just can't bear to do ANY cooking, we go out! Ahhhhh.

Your Question: So, what do you do when you are fed up with cooking?
My Answer: Eat out. = )

Dear S.-

when I worked outside the home (only 3 kids at that point) I tried to cook 'double' on some nights...and freeze a second dinner. Then, on another date, it was defrost and re heat. I also did quite a bit in the crock pot...and made many a salad as a side...

I also made (and froze) batches of soup...and some nights soup and sammie was JUST FINE!!

Same with spaghetti sauce...or lasagna...made double (or more) and froze it...I feel your pain!

Best luck!
michele/cat

We do have duel cooks in our household but one thing that helps is in a meal we have the cook and the prep cook. So Troy is our stir fry cook, so I cut up all the aromatics, veggies, meat and measure out the sauces. He cooks it. I usually cook Italian so he preps the tomatoes, herbs, etc and I make the sauce. It is so much fun when you cook together.

My ex was useless but because of that my two oldest are amazing cooks since they started out as my prep cooks and learned everything I know. It is a good way to spend time with your kids and teach them something.

when i dont want to cook i just do a soup and grilled cheese to make sure the kids eat....other than that everyone is on their own....im with the idea of delivery once a week....especially wednesday right in the middle of the week....good idea!!!

I do the super easy stuff, like quesadillas, grilled cheese, grilled lunch meat and cheese, premade salad mix, loaded baked potatoes, coney dogs, microwave nachos, breakfast (french toast, pancakes, or waffles), egg in a hole, ect..

We ate at Chipotle everyday last summer.

I hear you! Lately I've been telling the kids cooking instructions from the couch, lol! Rice, beans, grated cheese and spinach salad for us tonight. It was really warm here and the last thing I wanted to do was cook. So we ate very simply, and late. As long as they're getting good nutrition, I'm not going to fuss about presentation!

I keep some frozen foods in the freezer for nights I really don't feel like cooking, and a few take out menus in my kitchen junk drawer.

Costco has some delicious cheese ravioli that take only 3 min to cook (after the water is boiled.) They also have some awesome potstickers that can either be fried, boiled, or microwaved.

Frozen pizzas are ok every once in a while. We love the Kashi and Market Pantry (Target's Generic brand) pizzas.

I feel the same way. All of the kids don't want the same thing and it's hard to come up with something everyone likes sometimes. Target has really good chicken strips in a bag with lots of good seasonings on them. Just pull them out and fry them up and stuff them in wraps with lettuce,onion,tomato& cheese.

My sister did a program where she went there once a week and put together foods that she could store in the freezer ready to go and then heat and eat after work ... no fuss no muss... spent the same there as she would at the grocery store for simmilar things, you pay for what you make. She would then grocery for simple things like breakfast foods, snacks, quick meal type things and actually cooked something only on the weekends if she felt like it ... I do not remember what it was called but you could find somthing like that to do.

we do hot dogs and i fry french fries.
chicken nuggets in the oven.
sandwiches/subs homemade with chips or veggie or fruit
breakfast for dinner
dollar menu at mcd's (this is cheaper than buying something at the store)
go to a restaurant that has free kids on a certain night

Amy's Roasted Veggie Pizza (frozen) and add some bay shrimp and feta. It's a doable dinner for nights when dinner doesn't feel so 'doable'.

And sometimes, we just pick up some take-out. Especially when we are burned out on other 'easy' options. (Think Gardenburgers, salmon and veg, etc.)