I Don't Like Planning Meals. - Page 3

Enufstuff · ‎03-12-2010

@CrazyKittyLvr2 After providing three meals a day for a family of 7 since the 70's, I am tired and so over it. It has gotten very old. In the 60's, 70's and 80's I loved cooking and

was adventurous, introducing my family to many kinds of ethnic foods. They ate everything and my first husband loved everything I made. I have a big cookbook collection.

Now there are just three of us, but I have lost interest.I used to bake something every week, now it is probably once a month.

I certainly don't need the empty calories even though I do like the

things that I occassionally bake.

This is my second husband and he is very picky, so I don't

make a lot of the things that I used to make. He won't eat salads or anything with peppers in it. He won't eat chili. When

we have pasta, he will not have tomato sauce. He eats it with

butter and cheese like a toddler. When my son and I want chili

or something DH does not like, I have something else for him.

I try to keep dinners simple. At least once a week, I make

soup,a casserole or pasta meal that we can have for two nights.

Last week I roasted a 6lb. chicken and had leftovers the next night. I still had enough left to make chicken salad for

sandwiches. Then I made chicken soup.

If it is a sandwich night, I might make Ranch dip with a tray of assorted vegetables. Maybe once a week, we have take out or something simple like grilled cheese sandwiches.

After about 30 years, I have rediscovered "Shake n Bake".

Tomorrow I will use it on chicken. I also use it on pork chops.

I try to buy meats and poultry on sale and build my meals

that way. Tonight is turkey cutlets and taboule salad. Tomorrow is chicken cooked with Shake n Bake, rice and

butternut squash.

The next night I will make English muffin pizzas.

Then, I will thaw out a pork roast and have green beans and potatoes and applesauce. We will get two meals from that.

Next will be pea soup.

I don't mind making a meal when I can just bake everything together. When I make meatloaf, I bake potatoes

and in a casserole dish I bake carrots in water with a little basil.

My goal is to not cook every night.

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@PA Mom-mom wrote:
@CrazyKittyLvr2 I signed up for Allrecipes emails and receive at least two emails per day with meal suggestions. I keep them handy for when my DD calls me to say she needs ideas for supper. They are often quite good, and I have made several suggested dinners. The other thing I've been doing lately is going back to my much older cookbooks and revisiting recipes I have not made in years.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Allrecipes is free and they'll send you any types of recipes from sweets to chicken dishes to one dish meals or a daily suggestion and they're all good. I use them a lot.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

Pooky1 · ‎12-23-2015

A long time ago the first few years together my wife would say what to you want for dinner and I would say I don't know what do you want and it

Would go back and forth. Well 22 years later she is a Hugh planner with dinner. She has menus planned and written to a the beginning of 2023. She has Alot of cookbooks and we get our moneys worth. She cooks very good.

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

@drizzellla wrote:
So now when I am asked - What's for dinner? My reply is - freezer surprise. Some how we have take out for dinner.

My reply would have been.....

"fix whatever you want."

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

ScrapHappy · ‎03-28-2010

@drizzellla wrote:
I can NOT STAND when the question is asked - What's for dinner?

I am so tired of trying to figure something out. We each have our own different quirks. And I am tired of working around them.

Then when I do spend hours making lasagna. They didn't like the susage so all 9 pounds of it went in the trash.

I made shredded chicken breast, bowtie pasta and cheese casserole. They didn't like it - too much cheese. My husband said next time add spinach and mushrooms. My son does not eat mushrooms.

So now when I am asked - What's for dinner? My reply is - freezer surprise. Some how we have take out for dinner.

I don't get the question "What's for dinner that often," but when I find myself lacking of ideas (which is often), I will ask my husband what would he like for dinner. His response, "what are my choices." I really have to stop asking because it drives me nuts. Like I'm a waitress and give him a run down of the menu.

Desertdi · ‎03-13-2010

I used to ask my husband what he'd like .....and the reply was always something like "pheasant" or "beef wellington".

I quit asking.

♥Surface of the Sun♥

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

I have been planning meals for 55 years, and it doesn't seem to be a big deal to me. I start with a protein: beef, chicken, fish, poultry. Then decide how I want to cook it. Lazy days, canned salmon, tuna or chicken will do.

Do I want it with rice, as a sandwich, as a soup or stew, braised, sauteed, Instant Pot, roasted, grilled, smoked etc.? Flavorings? Mexican, Italian, Asian, Middle Eastern or USA?

Sides? Need a veggie or fruit, what's on hand, there are always canned Le Sueur Peas or Green Beans and always apples or oranges for nutrition. We always have sweet potatoes that are a snap in the Instant Pot and supposed to be good for you, or some cabbage for a slaw.

I can always come up with something. If we're tired, sandwich from meats to PJB, cottage cheees and fruit, spaghetti with jarred sauce and cottage cheese on top, or an Amy's Medican dinner!

I ususally plan the first four days' menues of the week for healthy and to use up what we have, then it's leftovers or quick food on the weekends, something in the oven or instant pot while church on Sunday.

CrazyKittyLvr2 · ‎05-11-2013

I try to make something so that any leftovers can be morphed into a somewhat different meal with minimal effort.

Leftover meatbals & sauce from Mon. become meatball subs on Wed.

We don't mind leftovers as long as it isn't days of them.

Years ago my niece's 16 r. old step-son announced, "I don't eat leftovers." My niece did all the cooking. She told him if he wanted to hand over money towardfood and cook a whole new meal a couple nights a week, great, no leftovers. His tuned changed.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@drizzellla wrote:
I can NOT STAND when the question is asked - What's for dinner?

I am so tired of trying to figure something out. We each have our own different quirks. And I am tired of working around them.

Then when I do spend hours making lasagna. They didn't like the susage so all 9 pounds of it went in the trash.

I made shredded chicken breast, bowtie pasta and cheese casserole. They didn't like it - too much cheese. My husband said next time add spinach and mushrooms. My son does not eat mushrooms.

So now when I am asked - What's for dinner? My reply is - freezer surprise. Some how we have take out for dinner.

@drizzellla Wow you are too kind. My mom? She cooked and we ate or we got our own cereal or sandwich! LOL!!! You could be picky about food, but you were on your own if you were.

PINKdogWOOD · ‎05-13-2010

@CrazyKittyLvr2 I hear you loud and clear. I'm 68 yrs old, it is mind boggling to think about how many meals I have thought up and cooked in some manner. I've become weary of it but I still do it every single night.