What's the biggest pain in the butt when it comes to cooking at home?

MynameisChester

I read that cooking healthy meals at home has many advantages that will help lose weight. You control the ingredients, portion size, etc. But why don't people cook more? Please share your thoughts!=)

mommazach

Time and energy. I cook at least 8 meals a week at home. We hardly ever go out to eat. That being said, I'm a full time mother of 6, with only 4 of them still at home. Finding quick meals that are nutritious is a huge help to me. I've also instituted chore charts for my littles. The 17 and 16 year olds get $5 a day when I don't cook, but they have to make meals that I can eat too. The 11 and 5 year olds get to help and make $1 per side if they do. I find it a huge help to be able to work out and then cook, but we don't eat until late if I do that. I also have found several crock pot recipes that I use periodically throughout the week so that I can fit in the time for a good meal and a good workout. Getting up earlier won't work for me as I have to be to the office at 630 in the morning. Pinterest is my favorite place to find easy meals with my diet specifications.

VioletRojo

I know only one person that doesn't cook regularly: she and her husband eat out for every meal. I cook all but two meals every week. It's not hard or complicated, you just need a little planning and organization.

cwolfman13

My thoughts are that many people these days just don't even know how.

Personally, I love cooking and don't find it to be a chore. My wife and I split cooking nights which keeps ideas fresh and also one person isn't doing all of the cooking, all of the time. Most of our dinners take all of 15-20 minutes to prepare from scratch.

But yeah...basically the art of cooking is a lost one. My buddy called me a couple weekends ago because he was watching his kids while his wife was out with the ladies...he wanted to grill them hamburgers...and then he called me in a panic that he bought all of the stuff, but didn't actually know what to do with it...I srsly though he was trolling my cell phone...but no...he didn't even know how to grill a burger. Fortunately he doesn't live that far away so I went over and showed him how to make a patty and throw it on some fire and flip and add cheese and done.

kpeterson539

For me, as a single person, cooking every meal tends to be a chore, although I do enjoy cooking. Yes, that is a contradiction but it's mostly because of the clean up that I don't like. This is why I spend my Sunday mornings food prepping for the entire week. This way my kitchen gets messed up once and then cleaned.

eeejer

There is no downside except trying to find tupperware for all the extra meals I make. There is also no excuse. The time you spend going out and getting food is more than enough to make your own.

dbanks80

When my kids were little cooking was a chore because they were big in sports and I didn't have a lot of time. Now that they are grown I love to cook. I love trying recipes and experimenting with different things. But it takes planning, organization and time.

zyxst

Cost for me.

rainbowbow

Since moving to a country with practically 0 convineince foods.... It's been hard to adjust to cooking every day for every meal.

The only thing that sucks (other than the time, which, okay, it's not that bad) is the fact that i dirty every damn dish in my house every day.

But some things i can think of:
fresh foods must be used quickly whereas convenience foods don't
fresh foods take longer to cook than convenience foods
fresh foods can cost more than some convenience foods (atleast if you don't know how to shop)
fresh foods require meal planning whereas convenience foods are already prepared
fresh foods are difficult to portion control whereas convenience foods are already portioned out
fresh foods require knowledge of preparation whereas convenience foods don't


So, yeah. I don't know. I've made it work and i can honestly say it's not so bad. I DO miss some frozen lunches like amy's, lean cuisine, etc. but i think my dinners and breakfasts now are more tasty than before. For some reason at lunch time i'm just not feeling like doing a damn thing!

DaisyHamilton

kpeterson539 wrote: »

For me, as a single person, cooking every meal tends to be a chore, although I do enjoy cooking. Yes, that is a contradiction but it's mostly because of the clean up that I don't like. This is why I spend my Sunday mornings food prepping for the entire week. This way my kitchen gets messed up once and then cleaned.

This. I'm married, but my husband is active duty military overseas right now, so I'm cooking for just myself. I like cooking, but the hassle of having to clean up afterward is what keeps me from cooking as often. That being said, I don't eat out. About once a week I'll visit family and they'll cook dinner, or I'll meal prep for a few days ahead. I've also had "simple" meals ie sandwiches, frozen meals, leftovers, etc when I want something from home but don't want to cook.

lemurcat12

I cook all the time, so I guess the question doesn't apply to me so well. When I don't, the main reasons are either poor planning--I have to make time to cook lunches ahead or if I am at work past dinner time I have to bring it--or social life (my friends like to go out to dinner on the weekends).

What made cooking go from seeming like a time consuming chore to something fun and easy (this transition happened about 15 or more years ago) was probably simply becoming more confident and experienced in the kitchen, but also learning that I could just wing it with the ingredients I had at home vs. having to cook from a recipe and stop at the store first. This also solved my problem with buying things and having them go bad. Now, since I use what I have, I never have vegetables or other perishables go bad. (Learning to use up my CSA boxes also was an interesting experience.)

AddieOverhaul

I don't mind cooking but when I slack off on it it's because of time and energy. While working full time and taking night classes, and going to my boyfriend's place on weekends an hour away from my place - meal prep is hard to make time for. Plus I don't have a dishwasher so ugh...so many dishes. I am doing better with it now though. I just have to really think ahead and plan things out before I go shopping, and force myself to cook even if I'm tired and just want to sit on the couch.

Summerberry1012

Shopping and the cleanup after. Otherwise I enjoy the actual cooking part. But it does take a certain degree of planning otherwise life gets busy and it's easy to just grab something quick. It did get easier over time once I developed some go-to meals the hubby and I liked.

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

I'm single and live alone. Yet, when I cook I make enough for forty two people. Seriously, I made a pot of chicken and rice Thursday night that's still half used in the fridge.
Where did I stash all my single-serve Tupperware?!?

macgurlnet

kpeterson539 wrote: »

For me, as a single person, cooking every meal tends to be a chore, although I do enjoy cooking. Yes, that is a contradiction but it's mostly because of the clean up that I don't like. This is why I spend my Sunday mornings food prepping for the entire week. This way my kitchen gets messed up once and then cleaned.

This. I don't find it to be fun to cook one portion of something every single night. I'll batch cook on weekends, including some Fridays and have a freshly-cooked meal 3 nights a week, then. The rest is portioned out in the freezer to be reheated.

It's much more satisfying to cook up a pound of hamburger, a jar of pasta sauce and a box of pasta, eat one serving and freeze 5, compared to portioning out the meat into 5-6 smaller portions, freezing it all, thawing what I need, making sure excess sauce is portioned out and frozen, etc.

~Lyssa

sardelsa

Having a toddler and a newborn.. finding a time when they are both settled is difficult. But otherwise I love cooking, as long as someone else does the dishes

kirstenb13

I cook probably 19 dinners out of 20 I eat, but sometimes I got so tired of my same old recipes but can't find any good and healthy new ones with produce that's in season etc. so I start to slack off a little and just make a salad or something simple. But since I don't like frozen convenience type food, I have no choice really so I try to get out of my rut and try new things from time to time. (And I also don't like re-heated food so I always just cook for one meal)

Francl27

I honestly didn't even bother learning to cook until I started MFP. The extent of my cooking before was fried eggs, pasta, and cooking plain meat in a pan. Just didn't see the point of learning when I could just eat out or have some convenience food at home.

Now I cook most nights but the main pains in the butt are

- figuring out something that I feel like eating AND fits my calories AND that everyone else will eat too
- timing everything so the main and sides are ready at the same time (still failing often)
- clean up sucks (plus cleaning the table and clearing the table and putting leftovers away)
- my kitchen isn't that big and counter space can be limited
- and frankly having to weigh every ingredients and use the recipe builder here.

Cooking for myself at lunch is a breeze and much more enjoyable than making dinner for everyone, frankly.

jemhh

Doing the dishes.

My husband cooks most of our meals M-F right now because he gets off work earlier. I do the meal planning and post-meal cleanup.

Madelinec117

I love to cook and believe in taking advantage of microwave, pressure cooker and slow cooker. My husband loves when I cook roasts in the oven or beans in the pressure cooker. Both allow plenty of time to do other things intermittently while the food cooks.

Biggest drawback to cooking is when my husband eats his food and the foods I have prepared for myself, but I don't say anything, just plan to replenish the supply sooner.

Meganthedogmom

I think a lot of people convince themselves they don't have time.

For me, I cook Monday-Friday after working all day, and commuting 35-45 minutes home. It's not that big of a deal. Can it be tiresome? Sometimes, but only if I've had a rough/long day.

Many people I work with are amazed when they find out I go home and cook dinner each night... Like I'm not supposed to do that just because I don't have kids. For the most part, I enjoy cooking. And I definitely enjoy eating my food, and the appreciation I get when I cook for someone else.

zdyb23456

I really only cook dinners. Breakfast is cereal (or the husband does eggs and toast for the kids). Lunches are typical school lunches - pb&j, fruit, small treat.

We usually eat out 1 meal a week, so I cook about 6 meals. I try to prepare ahead of time when I can i.e. prep a meatloaf when I'm baking bread on my day off from work. I keep meals simple - protein, starch, vegetables i.e. chicken, rice, green beans.

When my husband is gone, I cook once on the weekend portion into Tupperware and reheat the leftovers all week. I rarely eat out when he's gone.

It took me a long time to get to this point. We used to eat out all the time. Then I decided to cut back so we could save money. I wasted a lot of money figuring out how to cook at home. Over time I got a lot better at planning meals to be healthy and economical.

JagZag

The biggest pain to me is deciding what to cook everyday. I have to start thinking about it the night before. Usually right after I've had dinner and I'm not at all hungry, so nothing sounds good to me. Trying to figure out what to cook that my husband likes and I can eat as well can be trying. Figuring out a variety of meals so that dinner isn't boring to either of us. I've tried meal planning but it never seems to work out right. Either I don't have something that I need or I don't feel like eating what's on the plan for that day, or I don't want to go to the grocery for whatever reason.

positivepowers

I love to cook but I hate cooking for one. I'm used to cooking for a large family, now it's just me and occasionally my youngest (adult) son. I found myself slipping into bad habits, such as eating cereal and snack cakes or going out to restaurants for dinner because it was just too much trouble. I rejoined a packaged meal program so that I have hot, varied meals everyday, and they deliver, which is a bonus. All I have to do is add a few veggies and I have a decent meal for one.

Gisel2015

I don't like to cook and I never did. For me is more of a chore than a pleasure, but I do it all the time, three times a day. We eat out twice a week.

I have been cooking for 53 years and I wish I could share the responsibilities with my husband. BUT, he is zilch in the kitchen and not interested in learning either. When the kids were home he would BBQ once or twice a week, but now that it is only the two of us that is out of the question. I really have to push him to do it. But he does help in setting and cleaning the table after meals and loading the dishwasher. I give him credit for that.

Another pain in the butt, and as @Francl27 put it, is the cleaning because I do use a lot of pots and pans for my cooking. Followed very closely but the weighting, tracking, and logging and making sure that I am within my calorie goal.

I am glad that I am not the only one feeling this way. Misery does love company... Sorry, I need to close because I have to cook dinner

Lounmoun

MynameisChester wrote: »

I read that cooking healthy meals at home has many advantages that will help lose weight. You control the ingredients, portion size, etc. But why don't people cook more? Please share your thoughts!=)

I cook every day. It is necessary and I enjoy planning meals and cooking.
The only thing I dislike is the dirty dishes.

jessasweightlossjourney

I cook everyday as well just hate the dishes haha

shadowfax_c11

I cook almost every day. The only thing I really hate is the part where I have to clean up after. I find it is easier and cheaper to cook my own food and it allows me to plan for leftovers to make lunch for work the next day. Also it allows me to easily tailor my meals to the calorie allowance I have for that day since I use Fitbit to determine that on a day to day basis.

I get carry out a couple of times a week and often if I break down and order or buy pre-made food it is because I have let myself get too hungry and tired after work or because I am on the road all day trimming hooves and need to eat.

pomegranatecloud

I cook, but it's time consuming, and I don't particularly enjoy cooking. I also hate the clean up.

bbilliethecat

JagZag wrote: »

The biggest pain to me is deciding what to cook everyday. I have to start thinking about it the night before. Usually right after I've had dinner and I'm not at all hungry, so nothing sounds good to me. Trying to figure out what to cook that my husband likes and I can eat as well can be trying. Figuring out a variety of meals so that dinner isn't boring either.

yeah, drainer . so to overcome this, i cook 4-5 dishes on sunday, portion them all out to 4-5 containers each, freeze, and then forget what i made . so everytime i take out a container, i never know what it'll be . and following sunday i'll do 4-5 further different recipes, so it's even more of a jumble . some sundays i'll just do 1-2 recipes since i'll have so many spares . but then i'm basically assured lunch and dinner at home are taken care of . breakfast is skipped, and snacks are throughout the day . lunch out is a sandwich .

lmhbuss

My husband became a stay at home dad about 4 months ago. In that role he has taken on the chore of meal prep during the week ( I cook on the weekends...it's his Monday through Friday job, he deserves the weekend off). Watching him learn to cook has been fascinating. I realized that it really is a skill set that few today have. He has had to learn everything from the ground up...like how to boil pasta even. I thought his brain was going to explode when I taught him how to make a sauce from scratch for stir fry. He was just amazed at how easy it was and that it didn't require one of those little packets from the store.