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

joram172

Time is the big thing.

MynameisChester wrote: »

ejbronte wrote: »

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.

My brother, who is a wonderful cook, and who taught me many things, included an important one when I first started cooking for my parents: Clean as you go. I practice this religiously and when I'm done, there's no mess to clean afterward.

This is what I do too! Anyone else do this or have other strateigies to share that makes cleaning more tolerable, or dare I say even enjoyable?

That is pretty much the only way to make it tolerable. Otherwise it is just depressing to start on the mountain of cleaning to do after.

shadowfax_c11

MynameisChester wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the insightful answers! So I see that some of the unanimous pain points are:

1) Lack of time
2) Lack of energy
3) Challenge deciding what to make daily
4) People really hate cleaning!
5) Family member may not like what you make

It seems to boil down to lack of time and energy. It really appears to be the story of our lives when it comes to anything! For simplification purposes, let's just say cleaning is still part of the cooking process. After all, it does take time and energy. So what do you all think is the best way to make the best use of time and energy when it comes to meal planning, cooking, and cleaning? Should you:

A) buy pre-cut produce or just cut all your produce in the beginning of the week so the ingredients are "restaurant ready" and you can start cooking right away?
B. learn more general recipe "templates" or "guidelines" so you can easily make substitutions ie: recipe calls for 1 cup green leafy veggie, 2 tablespoon fat, 1 cup starch, 4 oz protein?
C) Organize and simplify your kitchen? Maybe you have too many pots, pans, plates that you don't use daily causing you to wash too many unnecessary items?

Thanks again everyone for sharing! I would love to hear your thoughts!

I used to cook professionally so I picked up a lot of habits and preferences in restaurant kitchens.

A) I keep a stock of frozen veggies. Easy to weigh out what I need and toss them into whatever I am making when I don't want to spend time processing whole food. I also buy fresh veg in bulk when I can and process it all and freeze what I a not going to use fresh. This can be a big money saver if you have a large freezer and access to good farmers markets in the summer.

I almost never follow a recipe. With a basic set of cooking skills (IE: you know how to use a scale, and measuring cups and spoons and boil water) a decent selection of measuring devices and cooking tools and a variety of herbs and spices, you can cook a lot of very simple and delicious foods. Don't be afraid to follow your senses and experiment.

One pot cooking is also a great way to go. Soups, stir frys and roasted meat and veg combos can be done in one pan/pot/skillet and save on clean up.

C) Simple is good but there are some gadgets that really do make the job easier and quicker and are worth having. For me my favorite kitchen gadgets are my Food scale and immersion blender. A good set of stainless steel pots, cast iron skillets and my egg poacher which I use a few times a month and love. A set of measuring spoons and cups, a dough cutter, good chef's knife and cutting mats are the tools I use almost every day.

Gisel2015

moniyq1994 wrote: »

For me I also think how you feel about cooking starts when your a kid. My mother cooked almost every day so I grew up on home-cooked meals and when I turned 16 she started teaching me to cook certain meals so she could have breaks from cooking on certain nights. Now I'm 22 and I developed a love for cooking and cook dinner nearly every night. However the biggest pain in the butt thing is my Fiancee he is extremely picky he hates almost all vegetable and fruits and if he does like them he likes them only one way and its a chore just to get him to eat those. I've learned how to use/create recipes that i can cook and then add the veggies or fruit to after separating his share. Ive become quite adept at this. His grandmother also makes cooking a pain in the butt because she doesnt allow cooking after 5 o'clock and i can only use the oven once a week and the stove top is broken so im limited to a foreman grill, an electric skillet, a toaster over, and the microwave. I've had to get really creative (i use the toaster oven as a mini oven often makes heavenly baked stuffed pork-chops) as for time im pretty good at planning a mix of quick and easy meals (ex hot dogs and homemade fries; i buy these yummy minimally processed mushroom and Swiss chicken hot dogs comes in 4 pack so 4 meals yay!!) and doing more complicated involved meals most of the time i cook from scratch but not always. I used to hate clean up till i discovered that listening to music while doing it makes it fun and the fiancee gets a kick out of watching me sing and dance while doing dishes and ect, LOL pus i try to clean up as much as I can while cooking

Not really, at least not for me. My mother always cooked healthy home-meals and she was a good one. She died when I was 19 years old and I took over the kitchen, the shopping and cooking responsibilities. I didn't like it then and I don't like now, 53 years later, either. I don't have the "I like to cook gene," but I do it every day and I am also a decent (a very good one according to my not picky husband), cook. As I said before, for me it is more of a chore than a pleasure.

CooCooPuff

BZAH10 wrote: »

The worst part for me is going to the grocery store. I love to cook and I'm pretty good at it. I'll make whatever as long as I have the ingredients, so if someone else does the shopping I'll do the cooking. Plus, husband always cleans up afterwards so that's nice.

My sister hates going to the grocery store as well. It's weird to me; I love a trip to it.

lorrpb

For me, the biggest pain is all the prep in recipes that have lots of ingredients, such as lots of chopping, etc. It's just time consuming. I don't use this an excuse not to cook healthy meals at home. I fix things with a few ingredients & limited prep--like grilled marinated chicken or steak & veggies, or can be made in large batches for freezing like soups & pasta sauce. Since hubby doesn't like to cook, he makes us a tasty salad every night.

The next biggest pain is the clean up, so our deal is: I cook, he cleans up.

Amerane

Dishes are my enemy. I love cooking, but I grew up in a household where the person doing the cooking doesn't have to clean up, and since I did a lot of the cooking I didn't have to do dishes very often. Ever since I moved out though, it's been the one thing that keeps me from cooking sometimes.

pie_eyes

The dishes afterward

brb_2013

It's definitely time and energy for me as well. Right now I'm working anywhere from 55-65 hours a week, and my evenings and weekends are so precious. I do cook most nights of the week, at least dinner. I home cook a few lunches for my husband (chicken to add to left over noodles or rice basically).

I dream of a change in jobs where I can be working closer to 30 hours a week. My husband and I are getting our finances in place to make that work, but until debts are paid off I will be happy with cooking about half of the food I eat. The rest is okay for now. Like I particularly don't like drinking slim fast shakes, but for my job and my time it's just too perfect. Ideally I'd have made my own smoothie and brought it to work. Someday soon I will be able to make it a priority. Until then I do my best with the energy I have. Wouldn't make myself emotionally drained to have better food, and hands on time with my hubby is a cure all for my stressful days

fishshark

watching my husband eat whatever he wants and any mount. I can and want to eat a bigger portion the. he doesn. unfortunately im not an athlete so he burns waaaaaay more then he does. and having to pre weigh/log all my stuff and keep it seperste then his stuff

kommodevaran

I can't recommend dishwasher enough! Doing dishes has become almost fun, at least rewarding. It was one of the things that held me back too.

I have a system resembling Lounmoun's, in fact, I think she inspired me I rotate weekly dinner themes, which are basically protein+starch+vegetable (most days), 2-4 varieties per weekday, and a selection of 12+ soups/casseroles, that I go through every 12 weeks. I don't have to reinvent the wheel; at most, any new recipes will be tested once a week.

ETA: I have noticed that I have more energy, also for cooking, after I started eating better. Being tired was prohibitive to eating well; a vicious cycle.

Gamliela

I do 14 meals a week cooked even in summertime. Making sure I have the food to do that is the hardest part for me. I do fresh veg and meat, fish. Make bread too. I'm ok with feeding people and myself.

perkymommy

I love to cook! I've gotten used to preparing my own meal separate from the rest of the family usually but not always. I've actually incorporated better foods for the rest of the family too.

MynameisChester

A dishwasher takes care of a lot of cleaning woes imo. For the ones who hate dishwashing, do you not use a dishwasher at home? There are also countertop dishwashers available if you can't fit one under your sink.

klkateri

I hate the cleaning up and the prep work. I try to find things to cook that don't involve a lot of work but it seems there are always a ton of dishes and even with a dishwasher, its a pain.

cross2bear

I cook everyday too, and I love it! Its my creative outlet. When I have anxious times, I would bake - thus, my attendance at MFP!! So I dont bake anymore, and have found other outlets for stress - like cleaning things! Cooking at home does take time and organization, and if you are not keen on doing those things, you wont enjoy it. I think also that people just dont know how to cook - back in the age of dinosaurs when I was in high school, there was home economics and the girls were taught to cook, (the boys got shop or auto mechanics). I look at my daughter who has an empty fridge, as she either eats at work or goes out - I tell her if you can read, you can cook!

lemurcat12

The things that have helped me not see cooking as a burden and to really enjoy it:

(1) This is the biggest -- not worrying about recipes and feeling comfortable being creative with what I have on hand, and also getting so I will have on hand what I need. This is really just experience.

(2) Good knife -- key to making chopping fun. Also, doing a kind of mise en place where I chop at the beginning (or immediately after dealing with something that requires more time, as discussed in (4)) and don't get into a mess where something isn't ready to go when I need it. I like chopping now (I also tend to listen to music or a podcast when doing it).

(3) Learning to clean as I go and avoid unnecessary mess.

(4) Learning to plan in advance what steps I will take and how long it will take -- if I have a meat that requires more time I don't start it after getting home late on a weekday, but make sure I have quicker cooking lean proteins on hand. I usually think about what I will make on the way home from work and if I am going to have something that takes a bit more like like roasted chicken breasts (on the bone) or roasted sweet potato/potato or rice in the rice cooker (rare), I start that immediately upon walking in. I then have time to do the things that require less cooking time, like chopping veg and cooking them. If I am short on time I have go-tos that I know are fast (like a big omelet or a pasta with a fast sauce of lean meat and veg) and usually have something available I can use to throw one of those together. I'll think through "oh, too late to mess with potatoes, lentils cook much faster."

I realize some avoid (4) by preplanning way ahead, but my schedule tends to be unpredictable and I for some reason hate feeling tied to a plan anyway, so learning to work on the fly has been a salvation for me.

chocolate_owl

MynameisChester wrote: »

A dishwasher takes care of a lot of cleaning woes imo. For the ones who hate dishwashing, do you not use a dishwasher at home? There are also countertop dishwashers available if you can't fit one under your sink.

I use my dishwasher for every single thing that can go in there, but things like knives, nonstick pots/pans, cast iron skillets, large mixing bowls, etc. still have to be cleaned by hand, and that's the bulk of what I'm dirtying up when cooking. The dishwasher is great for daily use things like mugs, plates, and tupperware, but it doesn't help much when I make a complicated dish. At the end of that, a it looks like a bomb's gone off in my kitchen...

kimdawnhayden

kommodevaran wrote: »

kimdawnhayden wrote: »

Just thinking of what to cook that everyone will like or eat. I'm trying to eat healthy and honestly I'll eat whatever is put in front of me. But hubby and kids are picky.

You could try to ask them what they want

I do sometimes. They all three want something different and it'd probably be chicken fingers, pizza, or wings.

mom22dogs

For me, I'm disabled and single, so standing at the stove or even standing to prep things gets tiring. I try to use my crockpot as much as I can, microwave, and oven. I try to stay away from things that require you to sautee or cook in a pan on the stove. Clean up is also harder for me, so I try not to dirty too many dishes. I've found that if I can mass cook chicken or pork, beef, or whatever, in the crockpot, then have a veg or two in the microwave, it makes things much easier for me.

I don't mind cooking, but it's physically demanding for me, and time consuming.

huanu

I cook all our meals from scratch. I enjoy cooking and really resent paying money now on crappy takeout or in restaurants when I know I could cook it for much less! I find that having a wide range of ingredients and spices on hand makes meal prep much easier. I also freeze many meals so we always have a selection to choose from in short notice.
The biggest pain for me is that one of my kids loves noodles and rice and my other hates it but loves potatoes! One loves chicken and one hates it. So trying to make versatile dishes that we can all enjoy can get tricky.
Also I find it hard to limit portion control when making meals. I wish I could keep my meals more conservative but often I make too much and then we end up eating way too large portions!! I figure if I'm messing up pots or pans or countertops then I might as well make enough... then the problem becomes eating the extra lol!