I hate to cook, need advice

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
I hate to cook, need advice
5
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 11:13am
Hi, I am one to not get to motivated at cooking meals for my family. DH is rarely home for supper, so I've fallen in a rut of giving the kids "kid friendly" food that doesn't take long to prepare. I admit that I should have introduced the "right" foods when they were little but didn't have much energy after my 3rd dd came along 18 mo after my second child. My kids eat well, but we are stuck on typical kid stuff like mac n cheese, hot dogs, corn dogs, hamburgers, pancakes/waffles, scrambled eggs, spaghetti. They eat fruit well but hate veges except for corn. I give them a multivitamin and they are within normal range for growth curve. I just don't like to cook! I'm afraid I'm setting a bad example for my kids. Help!
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-08-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 11:55am

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 12:08pm
Lurker here with opinion. I don't hate to cook, but with 7 kids and so much going on I do not have a lot of time. I use my crockpot quite a bit. You can probably buy one pretty cheap and you just throw some stuff in and at dinner time its ready. There are a ton of easy recipe on the crockpot website on this board so you would have quite a bit to start with. One that is easy is crockpot lasagna. it has noodles and cheese and sauce so when you serve it you just have to add either a veggie or some garlic bread. Just an idea for you. Christina

PS you sound like a great mom to me.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 1:12pm
Thank you very much for your replies! I guess i am a little too hard on myself lately!
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2004
Thu, 09-16-2004 - 7:15pm
I think we all do that, be really hard on ourselves I mean. *smile* I was going to say what tamayoco said, I always use my crockpot. I didn't ever use it before except for roast beef, but I tell you it is so easy. Just throw stuff in it in the morning and it's done whenever you want dinner (can even leave some for DH). My mom just tells me to put it on High for a few hours to kill the bacteria in meat. I have a few recipes if you'd like that my family likes. Good luck! :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-03-2004
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 11:57am
I totally understand!! Feel the same way, plus very guilty at times that I'm not whipping up 3 course meals for my kids. Sometimes even boiling the pasta feels like a mission.

I have found tho' that if I make more than I need, and either freeze the rest, or use it for the next meal in some other way (ie if I have roast chicken for dinner, I can make a chicken salad for lunch the following day...)

You might also try roasting - I find it easy to throw a few things together, and pop it in the oven. Slice a tomato or two, toss a couple of lettuce leaves and voila... a "fancy" meal.

You might also try sneaking some veggies into the burger...

But in the end, I wish I could have a live-in chef... LOL