Cooking? Enjoy it or hate it?

spdaphne
spdaphne Posts: 262 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm curious how many of you like cooking your meals? How many of you hate/dislike it?

Personally, I really enjoying cooking and finding ways to make my meals tasty and healthy. There's nothing more fun than when I'm excited to eat or look forward to my meals.
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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,412 Member
    This may be a self-limiting thread. :lol:

    If people don't like it I'm guessing they won't want to talk about it either.

    I like cooking. I don't love it, I live alone so I am a little limited and I keep it simple and easy. 30 minutes or less for most of my meals.
  • nickssweetheart
    nickssweetheart Posts: 874 Member
    I like cooking, but I hate cleaning up...so when I was in a relationship, I cooked every day and let him do the dishes! Now I'm single and I enjoy cooking and researching meals, but I also minimize cleanup and strategize with leftovers.

    At the moment I'm recovering from an ankle injury, so I'm not really even cooking. Just chopping and opening cans and microwaving. Yesterday I boiled some pasta which was the most cooking I've done since Friday (I still have all the ingredients for the lasagna I planned to make sitting in the fridge.) Anything simple that I can do sitting with my ankle elevated. I'm even getting my groceries delivered!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I enjoy cooking
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I love it. It's a huge stress reliever for me. Except when my kids are hanging off me while I'm trying to do it.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I love cooking! I used to love/hate cooking, but now I'm more confident I'm making healthy choices overall, and everything is delicious after my tastebuds came to life (last time I really messed up was 18 months ago, I think), so it's just fun and relaxing and exciting and grounding and empowering. I feel I've finally found something I master; at the same time I'm a bit embarrassed because I make such simple meals.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Love it...one of my hobbies.
  • suzihbe
    suzihbe Posts: 19 Member
    I dislike cooking. A lot of it is I don't have time for it; I work full time, I'm a full time student and I spend on average 1.5 hours commuting each day. It is a huge time suck for me and I am not good at it. I rarely cook things that turn out as intended. I stick to very basic things and eat a lot of the same foods, which for right now works for me. Also, my husband cooks for a living and that is a huge help.

    On the other hand I adore baking, but I can also whip something together and get it in the oven and walk away. Baking is a stress reliever to me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I love cooking, but am not always in the mood for it when I've worked a long day and am tired. Usually I do find it relaxing when I do it anyway, though, and I can usually find a way to get excited about it again. I do try to have leftovers on hand, though, for a particularly time-crunched day.

    Mostly I cook simple stuff, and realizing I could just figure out what seemed tasty from what was on hand, and that simple was fine, no recipes needed, was really the turning point in me finding it like work and something I did not understand or enjoy and me enjoying it -- happened when I decided to learn to cook in my late 20s. I occasionally do more complex stuff, but for everyday sorts of things mostly not.

    I find reading cookbooks fun and inspiring, though, although I hate following recipes (which is why the fact I've mostly given up baking is no hardship, although lately I've been thinking that it might be fun to bake bread again, and I do occasionally make a pizza crust).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    I like cooking. I find a little chopping and sauteing relaxing after a long, deadline-driven day; I generally leave more time-intensive cooking projects, like making a soup or casserole, for the weekends.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,211 Member
    I adore cooking. I was going to become a chef, but realised the toxic environment of commercial kitchens would soon burn that love out of me, so now it's a hobby. Doesn't mean that some nights i just don't feel like it though.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I love to cook and am good at it, but approach each meal in a sort of overall perfect storm of speed, taste and ease of clean-up. If it takes more than 30 minutes, it's a holiday affair only. All hail the Instant Pot, for putting more foods in my weeknight dinner rotation.
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    I really enjoy cooking and puttering around in the kitchen. But I get tired of it too. I work a full-time+ job and some nights opening a can of soup and microwaving a bag of veggies for me and a frozen dinner for hubby (he can't cook) is all I can manage.

    I try hard to do prep on the weekends but it doesn't always happen. I haven't been able to use my left arm for several months and have pretty much cleared out the freezer of all the pre-prepped meals. So we're doing the basic stuff right now mostly - protein, starch and veggie.

    I'm looking forward to being healed and getting back to playing in the kitchen.
  • Ryansworld84
    Ryansworld84 Posts: 83 Member
    Cooking is fine, cleaning is total hell :smiley:
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Ryansworld84 wrote: »
    Cooking is fine, cleaning is total hell :smiley:

    Learning to clean as you go changes everything!
  • TWRUNNER32
    TWRUNNER32 Posts: 62 Member
    I LOVE cooking. But i have a tiny, tiny kitchen. My oven is actually a convection oven that doubles as a microwave and i have no dishwasher or disposal lol.

    But i keep all my appliances on a metal shelf around the corner and have loads of cabinet space. So i suppose it’s a trade off.
  • Rita7Denise
    Rita7Denise Posts: 27 Member
    I dislike cooking which is made worse by the fact that my DH is terribly fussy over food. Has to be plain. this makes my life difficult to figure out what he will eat. I had made a chicken pot pie, chicken, corn and a crust cover. He asks "what is in this?" says it was so he can figure out how much to take. I think he would have refused to eat it had it had more veggies in it.
  • yasminchy
    yasminchy Posts: 26 Member
    I hate cooking but I love baking :D
  • yasminchy
    yasminchy Posts: 26 Member
    ZazieMFP wrote: »
    Don't like it. Never had. It's a chore, so I do it, as a duty because I want to eat well, the same way I clean the house or take the garbage out because I want to live in a clean place. If I were rich, I would hire a cook / caterer service, first thing.

    Amen! :D
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    Love it, but only once a week.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

    Unless you're rich and can afford a cook or eat out every night, I think it's best to make the most of it.

    I'm always on the lookout for simpke but different recipes to try to make cooking ibteresting and I don't mind the food prep or cleanup.

    It's part of the process but there are those days when I don't want to be bothrred and just boil a pack of instant ramen and thow some shrimp & veggies into the pot or just open a tin of sardines to eat w/some crackers.

    Just depends on my mood.
  • koslowkj
    koslowkj Posts: 188 Member
    I enjoy it. One thing I do hate is cooking for one. My boyfriend works nights so I usually cook 3-4 meals/week and we eat leftovers a lot. I like that with a little practice you can take recipes and make them your own fairly easily. That is also the reason I hate baking. :D

    Fun side story, my mother cooked a hot meal 5-6 days a week when I was growing up. This was after spending all day teaching teenagers how to cook (she was a home ec teacher and as the sewing classes went away they got replaced with foods classes). When I was about 21 she finally told me that she hated cooking and only did it to set a good example for my sister and me.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I have always liked cooking from a young age. I cook every day for my family. I like collecting recipes and trying new things somewhat. I think I am a good cook and it makes me happy to do it.
  • fuzzy_l0gic
    fuzzy_l0gic Posts: 69 Member
    I love it. Mostly because I can cook my favorite restaurant food a little "cleaner". For example, my homemade Chicken Alferdo last night had about 500 calories less than Olive Garden.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    koslowkj wrote: »
    I enjoy it. One thing I do hate is cooking for one. My boyfriend works nights so I usually cook 3-4 meals/week and we eat leftovers a lot. I like that with a little practice you can take recipes and make them your own fairly easily. That is also the reason I hate baking. :D

    Fun side story, my mother cooked a hot meal 5-6 days a week when I was growing up. This was after spending all day teaching teenagers how to cook (she was a home ec teacher and as the sewing classes went away they got replaced with foods classes). When I was about 21 she finally told me that she hated cooking and only did it to set a good example for my sister and me.

    It is interesting that your mother hated cooking. My mother also cooked every day when I was a child but less after I was a teen. As an adult I came to understand that she didn't really like doing it most of the time. I don't know how my siblings feel about cooking.
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    I just started liking it with a instant pot....fast clean up!
    Otherwise its suckey if you work full time. Hate cooking cleanup :s
  • dsboohead
    dsboohead Posts: 1,899 Member
    Instant pot or I can eat toast and peanut butter.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2018
    Cooking to me is just a regular daily chore like housework. I don't enjoy it, it's just something that has to be done.
  • ZRunner5Lulaica
    ZRunner5Lulaica Posts: 168 Member
    Love it. But it can get overwhelming if my work schedule doesn't keep with what I'm supposed to be working (I'm looking at you, 12 hour day and being shifted to closing). So I usually do 3 meals a wee that have 4-6 servings so I can pack leftovers for lunches or dinner another night.

    Thankfully, Hubby is pretty open to trying things, which is good since I like to have a decent variety in what we're having.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    edited January 2018
    I enjoy cooking (and baking) so much! I love playing with spices and seasonings and coming up with new flavors.

    I love the sights, scents and playing with colors and textures.

    I'm always browsing recipes sites and I checkout recipe books at the library. It's great putting my own spin on recipes.

    I have a lot of kitchen appliances and tools, plus I'm a sucker for those informericals. :p

    My dream is to grow everything I possibly can in my own backyard, but in the climate where I live that's not going to happen.

    Tonight I made "Egg Roll in a Bowl" with a homemade sauce. It was amazing and very yummy!

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