So...tired...of...cooking...

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
So...tired...of...cooking...
11
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 4:22pm

Ack! I'm sick of cooking 3 meals a day! I'm tired of doing dishes! Ack! How did my mother stand it?

It feels like whenever I think I've gotten a bit ahead, all the food gets eaten, all the dishes get used, and I have to start over. Every time I cook a batch of muffins, it's gone in 2 days. Who's eating 6 muffins a day? And I made some chocolate chip banana bread yesterday, and took one over to my sisters' on my way home from work. When I got home from work, half of the other one was gone! Fi had nibbled away at it. How do you eat 1/2 a loaf of banana bread without noticing?

And every night, Fi or I cook dinner, and it takes more time to cook than to eat!

On the other hand, we've saved quite a bit of money eating in rather than going out, but I think I am going to go nuts. It's mostly the dishes that get to me, because I like to cook. What also gets me is that Fi outweighs me by only 50 pounds, yet eats double the amount I do. Where is it going? Seriously, where? Is he going to hibernate sometime soon? (That'd be cool - 4 months without having to do dishes).

I am so starting to want a dishwasher and a microwave. Who was the nutso who thought that the counter space would be better occupied by her mixmaster than by a microwave? (Oh, yeah, that'd be me).

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-25-2004
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 4:46pm

I'm with you all the way.

Except for me it's the opposite - I don't mind doing the dishes so much but sometimes I really can't stand cooking! By the time I get home (after 6) and do the other errands around the house I just have NO energy left to cook, I just want to lay down - I hate it.

The ONLY thing that I hate more than cooking is DH cooking! rotfl. He makes SUCH a mess while cooking that it seriously looks like a bomb went off when he's done. When I cook I clean as I go along so that when I'm done cooking all that's left to clean are the dinner dishes and whatever pan is used. NOT DH, everthing stays out and food splattered everywhere.

I secretly think he does it on purpose so I won't ask him to cook so often - because he knows I don't like cleaning afterwards. :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 6:22pm


I'm not sure if this would help, and I know it might not work for all meals, but we buy packs of paper plates in bulk (so it's cheaper) and use those for most meals during the week. Sometimes when I make Ds and I sandwiches for lunch, I just put a paper towel down on the table in front of each of our seats and place the sandwich on that.

For pots/pans, I try to cook lots of things in one pot or pan. Cassaroles and things work well for this, also crock-pot cooking. Sometimes if you cook a large cassarole or meal, you will have leftovers for another night. Pair that with the use of paper plates, and you've got yourself an easy meal.

When I was growing up, we always used paper plates. It was my Dad's routine to stand up at the end of a meal, gather the used paper plates, pat my Mom on the shoulder and say, "Don't get up, Hon. I'll do the dishes", and then he'd toss them in the trash. LOL! :-D Like I said, though, it won't work for some meals. As kids, my brother and I used to laugh when my Mom would serve something that required a lot of cutting (like extra well-done steak) on a paper plate. We'd cut and cut at our meat until we eventually cut through the plate and the table was visible. Then we'd make ourselves sound like a dish detergent commercial by saying, "Wow Mom! These plates are so clean I can see the table right through them!" LOL! :-D

Pat

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-05-2004
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 6:25pm


I think our Dh's were made from the same mold when it comes to cooking. It's always boggled my mind how messy my Dh can be in the kitchen.

The funny thing is...when I cook, I clean the dishes, and when he cooks and makes a big mess, he still gets up from the table and says, "Nice meal, Hon...thanks!" and walks off, leaving me with the dishes. LOL!! Men! :-D

Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 7:08pm

I definitely agree on the dishwasher. If you have the space for it, a freestanding one that you hook up every night is awesome. DH and I got one when we had our second child because with 2 kids it was just outrageous to keep doing dishes all the time. We had it for a year before we moved and had to sell it, and we were able to sell it for the same price we paid for it.

But if it were just the 2 of us, I could stand it.

If you are new to cooking all your food at home, my best advice is to save your energy for the things that are worth it, like dinner, and do as little as you can for the others. Forget about the muffins until you have the energy to deal with them! ;)

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2004
Wed, 01-26-2005 - 8:13pm

Oh God, I've *sooooooo* been there. I get so sick of cooking, it's not even funny. And it's only dh and I! I don't know how my mother, grandmothers, and back in time ad nauseum ever did it.

But - like you said originally - we have saved a lot of money by not going out. That helps. And I'm *trying* to learn how to like cooking. Really.

:)

Kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Thu, 01-27-2005 - 11:03am

It's so funny to realize that generations of women did this, some of them without ovens or for way more people, and I'm complaining about cooking for 2. (Actually, what's really funny is that I'm complaining about this, and I worked for a catering company as kitchen help for 4 years, and they taught me to cook, as did my mother)

I had a thought:
Maybe men learn this in school - it's what they get taught in those classes where they separate the boys and the girls, or something -

when cooking, use every single pot you own. Keep them all on the counter, so they get splattered with oil. Use a little pot, then halfway through cooking, realize you needed a bigger pot. Use lots of cheese. Let it melt places. Use as many small appliances as possible, appliances are cool! Bonus points if you burn out the motor. (My dad did this to the blender and the food processor). If you have to wash the dishes, put them all back in strange places, and put the things she uses the most really high up, especially if she's short, like me. (I found mixing bowls in with the canned foods once.) Get water everywhere. Put any leftovers back in the fridge in the largest possible container even if there is only a tiny amount left.
Oh well. He finds the way I cook weird, too.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 01-27-2005 - 3:13pm

Wow, I'd be tired of cooking too if I did all that! LOL

I don't like to cook, so I only cook once a day TOPS. For breakfast, I might fry an egg, but I'm much more likely to eat a boiled egg (I can boil half a dozen at a time, put them back in the fridge, and have eggs for breakfast for a week without dirtying another dish), leftovers from last night's dinner, or a piece of toast. For lunch, we nearly always have leftovers, though sometimes I'll fry a grilled cheese sandwich for the kids or something very, very simple. At dinner, I only prepare one full dish--then add frozen or canned veggies, and a baked potato or other simple side dish to complement. I do not do anything special to prepare the side dishes--just heat (as appropriate) and serve. I always prepare a lot of the main dish, as it becomes breakfasts and lunches for several days.

Additionally, at least once a week, because I cook so much at once, we have a "smorgasbord" night, where we pull everything out, everyone loads their plates, and reheats in the microwave. If there is a lot of something left and it seems like it might go bad before we eat it all, I freeze some and then there are always frozen meals for nights when I just can't stand to get up and cook.

We have a dishwasher, and I don't mind washing them, but a friend I know who hates dishes uses very few without using paper--they simply each hold on to a plate all day and eat off the same plate and drink out of the same glass all day long. When I've been there overnight, I've known them to go searching for last night's coffee cup to drink that morning's coffee out of. They have made such a habit of this, that they don't even think about it. If one of them can't find their own plate, or if they need a bowl and have only a plate, they'll just eat off of someone else's plate. Getting a fresh plate out of the cupboard is almost never done. It helps that they are vegan, so there is little chance of food spoiling on the plates, but if this is a concern, simply rinse the residue with hot water and set back on the table for later use.

Cooking (in my house as well) is always done with as few dishes as possible. When things can be rinsed and put away immediately, I do that as well--measuring cups used only for water or milk or flour, for example.

These are just a few ideas that can streamline your process. It will get easier as you get used to it and start to discover ways to simplify. Other things you can do is to simplify recipes. For example, I never mix items in separate dishes and then combine. If it calls for that, I'll mix, for example, all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and then add the wet ingredients all at once and mix again, reducing my clean-up by one dish. Just little things, but they add up.

Good job, by the way, on your determination to save money. It will be so worth it. Another thing that helps me with tasks I dislike (shaving my husband's head, for example), is to look at it in terms of hourly wage. Calculate how much you save by eating a meal at home. Then calculate how long it takes you to cook and clean it. Then subtract the amount of time you would spend in the car going to a restaurant and then waiting for your meal. Divide your money savings by the difference. This is your TAX-FREE hourly wage. Remember that to earn the same net hourly wage at your job, you would probably have to make nearly twice as much gross (taxes, commute time, gasoline, etc.), and you haven't even accounted for the gasoline savings by not running out somewhere. My hourly wage for shaving dh's head (as opposed to going to the hair dresser) is somewhere in the realm of $50 an hour. I'll wield a razor for that! LOL Cooking and cleaning may not yield quite the same savings, but it might still make you feel better. And of course, you're getting better nutrition, teaching your children valuable skills, and paying down your debt. What a deal! LOL

Hope you feel better about it soon. Blessings,

Heather

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Thu, 01-27-2005 - 10:36pm
I get like that too. I get "cooked out". But I keep on a truckin lol. I just remind myself how much healthier it is for my family that I cook and how much money I'm saving by cooking instead of going out to eat. Although it would be nice if some people would hep me out so I don't get so burnt out.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 01-28-2005 - 12:32pm

I just saw the movie "Supersize Me" last night, so I don't think I will ever look at a quick fastfood burger the same again. Not that I ever eat them anyway, but HOLY CRAP... my kids will NOT be eating at McD's EVER, I don't care if they beg and plead. I grew up without all that crap, and so can they (I came from a very small, isolated town that didn't even get a McDonald's til 1999 - 3 years after I had already left).

I know what you mean about baked goods not being able to last. My DBF is just as bad. If I bake a batch of muffins, they are gone within a couple of days. When I ask where they all went, DBF asks me what I was planning to do with them - LOOK at them, or EAT them? LOL.... ok, EAT them, but I would still like them to last more than 24-48 hours. He just doesn't get it.

And there's no rule that says a good home cooked meal has to take all day, like Grandma used to do. On a workday, stir-frys can be your best friend. Chop up some meat (5 minutes), add some mixed frozen veggies, and a sauce of your choice. If desired, have a pot of instant rice cooking in the meantime. You get a healthy meal and you dirty up only one or two pans. I'm a bit of an environmentalist, so I have to say I don't agree with the paper plate idea, but dishwashing doesn't have to take forever either. As soon as you are done with a dish, rinse it. There will be less scrubbing and elbow grease required when you actually get around to washing. And don't feel too bad - I have a friend who recently confessed to me that she hasn't done dishes since Thanksgiving. :/

As for the person who said her kitchen blows up when her DH cooks, LOL - I used to have a male roommate who could heat a can of soup and leave a war field in his wake - the top of the can would be left stuck to the electric can opener, dripping of course, then there would be a trail from the can to the pot (then the can left on the counter), then of course the pot would bubble all over the stove, then there would be more dripping as the soup was transferred from the pot to a bowl, the soup-covered ladle would be left in a pool on the counter, there would be paper towels everywhere, and the guy would still manage to slop what was LEFT of the soup all down the front of his shirt as he was eating. MEN.











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Avatar for gidgetgirl
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 01-28-2005 - 3:57pm

Oh my- this is TOO funny. I've been married 9 months and while DH doesn't cook, his "chore" is to load and unload the dishwasher and meal cleanup about 1/2 the time, so I am totally LMBO at-
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Put any leftovers back in the fridge in the largest possible container even if there is only a tiny amount left. >>

Gidget

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