Hate preparing food

ehimay10ins
ehimay10ins Posts: 57 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am a mom and wife. I make breakfast for everyone in the morning (or at least over see the process). I make lunch for 2 of my kids, and sometimes my husband. I make dinner every night for everyone.

I dont want to make my OWN lunch. I want a break. I end up spending lots of money eating out and I usually make good decision but every so often I slip up.

any suggestions other than just "suck it up"?
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Replies

  • tzur21
    tzur21 Posts: 29
    I hear you! I have 4 kids ages 4-14 and work f/t, as does my husband. I hate making lunch, and all 4 kids bring (refusing to buy the yucky lunchroom food any day other than Friday - pizza day. Making Thursdays nights my favorite weeknight b/c I don't have to make lunch.

    What I do is practically make my lunch at work. Today I shoved a head of romaine lettuce (whole), and empty tupperware, dressing, and a frozen veggie burger in my lunch bag. I make the salad at my desk. I also brought a low cal protein bar and a single serving wholly quacomole. I try to leave a bag of frozen steam in the bag vegetables and if I'm hungry around 2:00 I microwave that.

    Not sure if this helps.
  • lattarulol
    lattarulol Posts: 123 Member
    Eat what the kids eat and do it all at once.. Or, make extra dinner and pack that for the next day.
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,342 Member
    Eat what the kids eat and do it all at once.. Or, make extra dinner and pack that for the next day.

    I agree with this^^ just make a little more dinner. When I cook dinner I cook a lot and make freezer meals, especially if it's spaghetti with veggies because you can make a lot easily and it freezes well.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    Get your husband to make dinner some nights.
  • missADS1981
    missADS1981 Posts: 364 Member
    if you want to succeed with nutrition and diet you'll have to work to find the time to prep meals otherwise you run the risk of not knowing what you are buying at a restaraunt. Grilled chicken in a restarauant can be made with tons of different oils, salt, etc. at least at home i know how my food is made and what is going in it.

    it doesn't take alot of time to make a batch of grilld chicken, a bunch of cut sweet potatoes, etc. i make all my meals for the week in under 2 hours on a sunday.
  • Cheeky_0102
    Cheeky_0102 Posts: 408 Member
    I work in my house, so a different boat, but when i worked in an office i would keep tuna or salmon, crackers or rice cakes, a bag of apples. some cheese, almond butter, a clamshell of salad and hummus at work... any combination of these foods worked for a meal. Cheese and apples. Apples and hummus, tuna on salad. tuna and hummus on rice cakes.

    not exciting, but at least i didn't have to think to hard about it.

    I did eat out more than i meant too, probably because my lunch was too boring.

    these days i eat either apples and almond butter, a bowl of cereal, a quesadilla, eggs... but I'm at my house so i can do whatever i want
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Ditto the 'eat what the kids eat/your husband eat or make extra dinner'
  • PlayerHatinDogooder
    PlayerHatinDogooder Posts: 1,018 Member
    You have two options

    1. Hire a personal chef

    2. Suck it up buttercup
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Do a large prep once a week. Chop your veggies, portion out meats, cook food for lunches, etc. Then, it's all grab and go for the rest of the week.

    Eat what your kids and husband eat. You don't need to eat special "diet" food. And if you're just eating healthy, then they should be too right?

    Make extra dinner and eat the left overs for lunch the next day.
  • ehimay10ins
    ehimay10ins Posts: 57 Member
    (again let me warn you that i may sound like a baby and maybe that's my problem and not the food)

    tzur21 - At one point i was making myself salad and maybe i should start that again, but i think i stopped because i was getting bored of lettuce

    lattarulol - I do eat the same dinner as my kids/husband, however, breakfast is not the same because it's usually something like a waffle or "bar" type item for the kids (nothing for my husband) and my kids take toast to school (i know VERY VERY nutritious, but there is a no nut policy and they're picky eaters.) I guess I could eat last night's dinner for lunch but again thats not exciting.

    I guess my issue is not even the prepping it's that I love food and want it to be exciting and pre- planing is not exciting and neither is the same lunch day after day or week after week.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    I hate cleaning floors.... so I made sacrifices elsewhere and hired a housekeeper. I suggest you hire a chef. If no... get back in the kitchen! :wink:
  • greenfalls107
    greenfalls107 Posts: 87 Member
    Last night while I was preparing dinner, my daughter and I worked on putting together a veggie/pasta salad. Getting it done while making dinner (waiting for pasta to boil, meat to brown, etc) I got things done without it seeming like extra work. We cut the cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, canned artichokes, corn and just mixed it all together while the johnny marzetti was baking. I find if I have things prepared that healthy I am more apt to eat them. I just scoop out a cup of the pasta salad and enjoy my lunch. No mess, no fuss.
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member


    I guess my issue is not even the prepping it's that I love food and want it to be exciting and pre- planing is not exciting and neither is the same lunch day after day or week after week.

    you shouldn't be getting your excitement from food....it's just fuel....

    that being said....I love a good exciting meal occasionally....

    Do you have a kitchen at work? Can you keep things in the fridge there if you do? not all salads have to have lettuce...

    what about a strawberry, avocado, walnut salad...

    or a feta, onion, pepper, olive salad....

    think outside the box...
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member


    I guess my issue is not even the prepping it's that I love food and want it to be exciting and pre- planing is not exciting and neither is the same lunch day after day or week after week.

    you shouldn't be getting your excitement from food....it's just fuel....

    3q8qw0.jpg
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
    Last night while I was preparing dinner, my daughter and I worked on putting together a veggie/pasta salad. Getting it done while making dinner (waiting for pasta to boil, meat to brown, etc) I got things done without it seeming like extra work. We cut the cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, canned artichokes, corn and just mixed it all together while the johnny marzetti was baking. I find if I have things prepared that healthy I am more apt to eat them. I just scoop out a cup of the pasta salad and enjoy my lunch. No mess, no fuss.

    THIS. I do the same thing. It's not unusual for me to have 2 things going on the stove so it all gets done at once. And I also agree that you must have healthy options already prepared to stick to your plan. My refrigerator is full of bowls of cut fruit, 2 or more healthy entree dishes that I've made, string cheese, hummus, salsa, etc. The trick is to make it just as convenient to reach for the healthy food as it is to reach for the unhealthy (and often convenience) food. I also find it helps to make it pretty :) Get glass food storage containers and nice fruit bowls if it's in your budget (and you can find lots of nice looking cheapies, too). Make it LOOK like something you want to eat.
  • IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym
    IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym Posts: 5,573 Member
    I just do food prep Sunday's and bake a ton of chicken and put it away for the rest of the week.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    In Soviet Russia, food hates preparing you.

    Sorry, I had to get that out.

    If you really feel the need to eat out for lunch a lot, just ask for half an order. Every restaurant I've been too (fast food withstanding) and asked to have this done are fine with doing it. Most even charge you less for the meal. This will help with portion control which tends to be the biggest obstacle to eating out regularly. If it's fast food you're talking about, just toss half of it as soon as you get it in order to get the same result.
  • Alex_is_Hawks
    Alex_is_Hawks Posts: 3,499 Member


    I guess my issue is not even the prepping it's that I love food and want it to be exciting and pre- planing is not exciting and neither is the same lunch day after day or week after week.

    you shouldn't be getting your excitement from food....it's just fuel....

    3q8qw0.jpg

    i was waiting for you my love....


    LOL
  • diliveslife
    diliveslife Posts: 42 Member
    I have been doing the prepping on Sunday thing lately (just these past two weeks) where I grilled a load of chicken for the week and roasted some veggies. I baked a few sweet potatoes and done. Today I am having lunch with my Dad so I am breaking the routine but that's okay every now and then as a treat. Before this I would buy stuff to make lunch at work. We have a refrigerator and a microwave, so I can make sandwiches or bring leftover dinner stuff. I like eating out too but like others have said, we don't know what all is going in it, and my biggest thing is that it's just getting too expensive. That's money that can go towards something better while I am putting something better in my body. It's hard to resist temptation though all the time and always be thinking of what you are going to make. I get it.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    soups, hotdogs, sandwiches, tuna- buy them and keep them on hand at house..........
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    tumblr_lstd7rjLxx1qb5gkjo1_500.jpg
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    I have a very busy life as well. What I like to do is take a weekend day and steal an hour or two then to prep meals. I will grill up chicken breasts and freeze them. Make a large salad I can just grab some of each morning. I will make my grits for the week. ETC.

    That way I can cook for everyone as usually during the week and I already have my stuff mostly ready.
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member

    I guess my issue is not even the prepping it's that I love food and want it to be exciting and pre- planing is not exciting and neither is the same lunch day after day or week after week.

    Hmmm--this might be too simple, but could you compile a bunch of mouthwatering recipes that you want to try so you have a central resource to pull from when you're planning for the week?
  • groundhawg
    groundhawg Posts: 121 Member
    http://onceamonthmom.com/

    This website saved me. I dont have kids, but my husband is a farmer those can be 14 hour days, life is always crazy and weather dependent, and I have a fulltime job too.

    I was already trying to practice making in bulk and freezing my food but then I found this website. Its 8.00$ a month and TOTALLY worth it.

    Choose your style of food, and it makes your grocery list for you, plans almost a month of meals, and then gives you step by step instructions (and I mean, step by step, it even tells you when to reuse pans to minimalize dishes).

    After one day (about 5 hours of prep, so send the kids to a movie), you have enough food for an entire month. You even print out labels that have reheating instructions n them. Its so genius and someone else did the work... well...except for the prep work. But its totally worth it, and really saved me a ton of time dyuring my month.

    Also I'm a total foodie. I LOVE FOOD. I mean, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE FOOD. its the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have YET to have a bad recipe on this site. They are all pretty tasty.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
    If you don't want to make your own lunch why not make extra dinner and take that for your lunch? Just pack up a serving once dinner is cooked and than what's left everyone can eat. Or, make two or three extra servings at dinner.. pack up each serving and pop in the freezer. That way you can just grab what you want in the morning for your lunch.
  • adopt321
    adopt321 Posts: 111
    Depending on the ages of your kids, ask them to pack or at least partially pack their own food. My kids would love this!
  • briabner
    briabner Posts: 427 Member
    Simplify breakfast like oatmeal, fruit and yogurt, milk and cereal. Make your kids pack their own lunches and or start showing them how to pack their own lunches if they are not old enough. Look up crock pot meals so that you can just dump everything in the crockpot and dinner will be hot and heady to eat when you get home. Then all you have to do is worry about packing you and your husbands lunch. I also pack my lunch before I go to bed. You may want to consider doing this too.
  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
    I do what ever I need to do for the sake of my family's health, and that includes looking after my own health. I am a single mom and I even make condiments from scratch. Yeah it sucks a bit to spend all my weekends making food for the week, but to me, it's worth it. I like how I feel knowing that I am serving and eating healthy food.

    When I want a minimum of prep, I just eat steak or pork chops and salads. Leftovers go in small dishes to be transported to school and work. It can be as hard or easy as you choose.
  • nvpixie
    nvpixie Posts: 483 Member
    I'm the same as you. My kids are 8 and 4. I taught my daughter to make pancakes (for dinner) last night. My goal is to teach her how to make several things so when I want a break, she can do it. It's going to take some practice for her and patience on my part, but eventually she'll get it. LOL

    Sometimes I just make myself the same thing I make my kids for lunch or at least make a point to prepare my lunch while I do theirs. I'm less likely to procrastinate.

    I also prepare a big salad at the beginning of the week so I can just go in and get some whenever I want it. It stores well in a storage bag or bowl with a few paper towels in there for a few days. The paper towels help to absorb the moisture so the lettuce doesn't get all soggy.

    When I'm having a rough day and don't feel like preparing a huge dinner, I always go for spaghetti (about once a week). It's easy and we all like it.

    A little effort at the beginning of the week helps a lot. Throwing a few chicken breasts on the grill is a lot easier if they're defrosted and/or marinated beforehand.
  • myfrogs11
    myfrogs11 Posts: 53 Member
    My issue is I don't have or make enough time in the mornings to make my lunch. So when I'm cleaning up dinner I always pack a whole meal of leftovers in a separate container, then in the morning I just grab it. Otherwise I'd be in the same boat, no time in the morning to put anything together, and then go spend tons of money and calories on other options.

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