Eating separately...

hbunting86

Haha I'd have a little experiment...

Eat separately for a while - but make a pact to keep your food receipts.

Then at the end of the month tell him you want the difference to go and buy yourself something nice. Hopefully then he'll see how much money he's needlessly wasting on groceries, and could buy other things instead.

But, as others have said long term I'd be of the 'take it or leave it' camp. It's just not feasible, not to mention exhausting and expensive to come up with a literally different meal idea for every day of the month. Herbs and spices are cheap and make the world of difference to basic ingredients - trust me, I'm a student so I HAVE to get creative on the cheap otherwise I'd literally go insane.

Also sure butter and cheese and cream make things taste nice... but they're very heavy and not to mention calorific. Granted, we all need fats but surely HIS tastebuds get bored with tasting things like that all of the time. Maybe reassure him that you're not going to make him eat salad every night...

Alternatively you could let him do the shopping/cooking for a month (and keep the receipts) and then you do the shopping/cooking for a month (also keep receipts) - see how that works out..

chelsearae85

^the experiment idea for a week or 2 and make note of what he eats so there is no cheating. if you do it let us know how it works out

Melysa1988

Trust me i know what your going through. Trying to make everyone happy with dinner is a challenge.
Please try this!

http://www.thesneakychef.com/free_recipe_doctors_choice_chili.php

DiamondEyes_x

You just buy your own food and cook for yourself, he'll soon realise he's being silly

BazAbroad

Cook double what u need and freeze the left overs, that way you are saving in the long run. Time and money.

Givemewings

My Nana used to hit my Papa over the head with a frying pan when he was being a pain in the @ss. Probably can't get away with that today though......

Lol at this

Givemewings

Errrmmmmm....ridiculous. He is behaving like a spoilt child in my opinion. If you are doing the cooking, I think he should just eat what he is given. To be honest, it will be make him healthier too. If he really won't budge, eat separately. The only problem with this is ....you can't just change your diet for a while, you need to make a lifestyle change, so eating separately would have to go on forever, do you want that? Maybe you could add some new recipes to the repertoire? Ask him what sort of thing he would like and try to do a health version or alternative?

JennetteMac

I'm amazed that anyone could vary their meals so much. I eat virtually the same thing every day, certainly every week there are repeats. Obviously i have no imagination.

Squeeks70

Real Simple has cooking ideas for the whole month.....on the other hand....have him involved in planning the menu....not eating the same thing more than once in a month....crazy....what about a grilled cheese sandwich? Or grilled chicken and a salad? If you are on MFP you obviously want to watch what you eat and eat healthy. So there will be meals that 'repeat'. Good luck!

SueGremlin

I do all the cooking in the house and I make separate meals for us every night. It took some practice both shopping and juggling all that food at once, but it's worked out great. There are a couple of meals that we can both eat, but for the most part, his diet is loaded with creamy sauces and salty meats. Bleah.
It was the best way to deal with it. Fortunately, however, he is good about eating what I make, if he complained that it was too monotonous and demanded that I make him something new every day, I'd tell him to shove it.

laurarpa

wow, my husband would starve. God bless the man, he will eat the SAME EXACT THING for 4 days in a row without complaining if I don't make other things. I try to freeze some stuff so we have more variety but I cook ahead a lot for the week on the weekend.

Your bf needs to grow up. I agree with the other suggestions - let him prep/cook the meals. If you are currently "sharing" the food bill, I'd nix that right away if you are going to separately buy/cook your meals.

ZambiNan

Rachel Ray did a great series of 20 "Make Ahead Meals" last fall- 20 meals with similar combinations of ingredients, but not the same by any means, and as a bonus, you can make most of them ahead of time! Send me a message and I can get you a pdf of the recipes.

joannafarrer

EVERYBODY eats the same thing more than once a month! If you are the one doing all the food shopping, preparation and cooking, then I agree with the others - he's being a bit of a spoilt brat (unless you don't go to work at all, in which case fair enough - but I doubt that). I do the cooking in my house, out of choice (I enjoy it and am better at it) and my husband and child get what they're given and don't complain. In fact, they both frequently request 'the same thing' again and again. If you have a decent size freezer, make large quantities of meals and freeze in separate small portions, to save you time on some days. I don't really know what to suggest to sort out your problem, however, as I think he's being entirely unreasonable and shouldn't be met halfway. I guess you have no choice but to prepare your own meals, but as others have said, this might jolt him into realising how much work it is, and you can certainly sit down and eat together, even if you're not eating the same thing. I often have a salad at lunchtime while my (not fact, but very large) husband ploughs through half a loaf of bread.

premiumchilenita

there's a lot of recipes I do that have mostly the same ingredients and end up tasting completely different. Try using different spices and sauces, cutting veggies in different ways and cooking them differently. I am Queen of turning left overs into a completely different meal and doesn't look like left overs at all. For example, if I don't finish potatoes from the night before, I cut them really small the next day and toss them in eggs and milk, and it becomes potato fritatas. Have fun with food, the same things doesn't have to be boring

And, besides that, don't show him that you plan the meals for a month. I'm sure he won't say "You made this 2 wks ago....I can't eat that."

Good luck, sometimes our battles with our significant other is about food, I feel for you, I am also challenged with the same. That's why mostly I don't tell him most things, I do the shopping, I cook and he doesn't know a thing unless he's watching over me (which he doesn't, can't be bothered I guess), sneaky sneaky :bigsmile:

CarolinaGirlinVA

I plan 2 weeks at a time and to make it easier I plan on 2 meals involving the following:
beef,
chicken,
pork,
pasta,
non-meat,
soup/stew/casserole,
leftovers.
I don't always do a set schedule (like chicken every Thursday), but I have enough meals planned that we can choose what we feel like eating. When planning, I have a binder with my favorite recipes and hand it to my husband and tell HIM to pick a few recipes. He feels like he has a say, but at the same time the binder has recipes I am ok with cooking. (this works for picking my kids clothes too...lol) Once we pick the recipes, they go in a file I leave in the kitchen so I don't have to go looking for them. I have found this saves us money with fewer trips to the store. Also answers the daily question of what's for dinner.

My first husband was really picky with stupid reason why he didn't like foods he had never tried. It looks like worms...seriously?? Are you 5? He always had a choice, what I cooked or PBJ. Trust me, PBJ got old after awhile.

Good luck!!
Sherry

LifeLongJourney

You could eat two different meals, but you don't have to eat separate from each other? Both of you can sit at the table, he can eat his meal and you can eat yours? Of course, this is all in the realization of the food bill, as you said. Personally I think he is being picky. I agrees with some of the posters here, that you two should both have separately food bills and separately pay. He pays for his own you pay for yours. It might not seem the most reasonable but by the way he is acting, it's hard to come up with any other choices.

Schnuddelbuddel

You know what? For some reason this didn't get out of my head since I read this last night. And I have to agree with one of the posters before me now: Ask yourself if it's worth it staying with your boyfriend because if this is already such a struggle, goodness only knows what else will come down the line.

Also, if you do eat different meals, try eat them at the same time at the same table. He might yet realise that you're eating very varied and might change his mind, tho I wouldn't hold out much hope. Men usually don't change like that. I know mine didn't. He's just keeping the side remarks on food to a minimum as he's realised he shouldn't project his pickiness onto our kids

Good luck anyway