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I like cooking, but there are a lot of negatives with it. Mostly, time it takes and energy costs associated. If I can buy some already cooked dehydrated sweet potatoes that I can throw into a shaker and take with me, instead of baking for 1 and 1/2 hrs and getting yam juice all over my leather seats I will do it.
I'm not sure I want to know how someone gets potato juice on their leather seats. Dehydrated sweet potatoes? No; just no. I only bake potatoes when I have something else in the oven. I'm not going to use the electric oven for an hour to bake a couple of potatoes. Baked potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
This is assuming your family will eat leftovers or stuff they have to heat up. I could have a fridge full of cooked food and still "nothing to eat" according to my family. We throw out a ton of food.
What do they eat because any purchased fast or processed food is essentially the same thing as leftovers. Who's paying for all of this wasted food that's getting thrown out? Are you that comfortable about throwing away your money?
Your family members won't throw a big slice of homemade lasagna in the microwave for 3 minutes but will drive to restaurant, deal with traffic, wait for the food, and then drive back?
I'm not picking on you. I find this so odd from when I was raised. Having food period was a blessing and we were taught to not look down on perfectly good food that our culture calls "leftovers." My mother would have laughed if we thought we couldn't be bothered to heat up food for a few minutes. We rarely threw out food.
It hasn't declined for me. I prepare all of my own meals, and hate restaurants. I might grab a cheeseburger from Mcdonald's or order from Pizza Hut, but even that's very rare. Besides, I like to cook.
We eat out 4-5 nights a week, takeout/eat at home the other nights. Probably 4 meals cooked at home per month. I like variety, I like good food. We do not eat at fast food or "Chili's, Outback, Friday's" type places. As a line item, this costs me $500 a week without thinking too hard about it. It could hit $600-750 if we hit nicer places that week.
It kills me that 25K a year is being spent but it does and has for almost 20 years now. Two working parents, income is there to pay for the luxury but it is still a big number
"The percentage of dinners eaten at home that were actually made at home in the U.S."
Maybe the percentage is what it is because it counts as "made at home" even if it's frozen chicken fingers and mac and cheese out of a box....people think they've made homemade cookies when they have used frozen dough....
There is a gamut from everything homemade including baking the bread yourself and using veggies you canned yourself to heating up soup out of a can.
What do they eat because any purchased fast or processed food is essentially the same thing as leftovers. Who's paying for all of this wasted food that's getting thrown out? Are you that comfortable about throwing away your money?
It is my DH who is the main breadwinner and he doesn't care. I do care but I just try to look for sales and coupon to keep food costs down.
He won't go out and get something, he doesn't cook either. I'll either make suggestions until something sounds good and prepare it for him, sometimes he will convince me into picking something up or order a pizza or just eat a bowl of cereal or popcorn. But if he is not in the mood for leftovers, he is not eating it. There are nights when he will go hungry rather than eat what is in the fridge.
I think it is a throwback to growing up and he didn't have a choice in what to eat, his parents are very frugal and will eat food until it is gone. He hated it. He graduated from college with a good job and didn't have to be frugal so he ate out pretty much every meal. For almost 20 years he never had to eat leftovers or meal plan or even really grocery shop so he thinks going back to cooking and leftovers will be like his childhood. It isn't something that is going away.
I don't like to eat out and when I do I'd rather eat something that I don't make at home. Sadly most of the times I eat out I am disappointed with the food.
Lucky for me I love to cook…heck nothing makes me happier than cooking for a whole crew of people, lol. I don't have kids of my own but my stepdaughter and the two grands come for Sunday breakfast(feast) every week when my DH and I are in TN.
I grew up with a single working mother. She taught me to cook and if she didn't get something started in the crockpot before work then I started dinner before she got home. She would leave me detailed instructions. She is where I got my love of cooking from. Many times we had friends for dinner.
As for the pizza thing…I love homemade pizza….my husband likes Tombstone Ah well…at least he is easy, lol.
Now I cook up multiple meals at once and freeze smaller portions. At any given time I can give my husband a choice of at least 5 things he can have that evening. My granddaughter also loves what my husband calls the "Lisa list" Right now I can make you a choice of 16 different things that are either easy to make or are in the freezer. More if I add in breakfast foods for dinner which we call Brinner.
As for kids cooking I have seen some odd things. My nieces don't know how to cook because their parents take over and don't want them in the kitchen. I find that sad. When I go up to NY my youngest niece always wants to help me in the kitchen. I always make sure I have some easy meals to teach her. She even e-mails me and calls me for recipes. My granddaughter cooks with me all the time. Even my grandson will help with the desserts. Granted it takes time and patience to teach kids how to cook but if I can pass on my love of cooking then I will
I don't make gourmet meals all the time but I do make what my husband and the kids like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolinaPig
I don't mind the actual cooking but planning, buying and actually making it before it goes bad is the problem. My DH is a very specific mood eater and I'm just mentally DONE with cooking before it ever begins. The deciding what to eat is demoralizing. Even when we plan the week out, he will change his mind and I never know what he wants until 30 minutes before dinner and we usually don't have the ingredients for the very specific entree/side dishes combos he has to have. My personal favorite is when he is annoyed that we don't have something that we literally haven't eaten in a couple of years.
Whoever said it is really defeating to spend so much time and effort to cook when it isn't appreciated hit the nail on the head for this family. I want to cook more, I used to love to cook and try out new things but seriously the nightly, "What is for dinner?" is enough to make me break down in tears some days.
So no, I don't really cook a lot these days. I'm not lazy or don't know how to cook, I'm just broken.
Aww…that stinks. I would get very discouraged and probably turn mean if I had picky eaters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolinaPig
This is assuming your family will eat leftovers or stuff they have to heat up. I could have a fridge full of cooked food and still "nothing to eat" according to my family. We throw out a ton of food.
My stepdaughter has the same problem with her kids. She will tell me what they won't eat but they will eat it at my house and even ask for it.
What do they eat because any purchased fast or processed food is essentially the same thing as leftovers. Who's paying for all of this wasted food that's getting thrown out? Are you that comfortable about throwing away your money?
Your family members won't throw a big slice of homemade lasagna in the microwave for 3 minutes but will drive to restaurant, deal with traffic, wait for the food, and then drive back?
I'm not picking on you. I find this so odd from when I was raised. Having food period was a blessing and we were taught to not look down on perfectly good food that our culture calls "leftovers." My mother would have laughed if we thought we couldn't be bothered to heat up food for a few minutes. We rarely threw out food.
Is our society taking having food for granted?
Some people do. When I look in the refrigerator, I see leftovers, salad fixings and the ingredients to make something new. Others see the need to run out for Chinese or order pizza.
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Right now I can make you a choice of 16 different things that are either easy to make or are in the freezer.
More if I add in breakfast foods for dinner which we call Brinner.
. I find that sad. When I go up to NY my youngest niece always wants to help me in the kitchen. I always make sure I have some easy meals to teach her. She even e-mails me and calls me for recipes. My granddaughter cooks with me all the time.
