It is almost 4:00 in the afternoon. Which means in exactly 1 hour, my children are going to be chomping at the bit for something to eat. The thought of it makes me want to curl up and hide until dinner time is OVER! I keep thinking that someday I'll gain this strange desire to explore all that food has to offer. Lets just put it this way...I HATE all things cooking! (Moderate Baking Excluded) I hate the grocery stores especially with my very naughty children. I hate the prep. I hate the mess. The terminology?? example.... confit? a leek? And when I'm done, I don't usually enjoy eating what I've just slaved over. Either way, part of being the Mom is providing the food. My kids are picky. If I choose to make something "different", I have to be completely ready to battle it out with ALL FOUR of them. Then I spend about 45 minutes scooping bites into crying faces. After that I try to enjoy my now cold meal and the process of cleaning it up. Onto the other part of this challenge. Alex's diet needs to change. But how do you do that when you are cooking for four children and yourself as well? Either way, there is no avoiding it. I spent my morning at the grocery store with my two babies (no meal plan of course....that's just another thing I can't seem to pull together ahead of time). Most grocery carts only hold one child, leaving the 2 year old to walk with me. Just let your imagination run wild and that about sums it up. $130 later I am home with NO CLUE what to make for dinner. Is it possible to learn to love to cook? Well, until that strange day comes, I will just stare at websites like foodgawker.com. Or I'll become filthy rich and hire myself a personal chef :)
One idea - subscribe to kraft food magazine, it has lots of really good recipes that are easy, good, and not a lot of ingredients. I have tons of recipes out of the magazines that we eat on a regular basis. I'm thinking maybe start with some easy recipes, find some regulars your kids like, and go from there? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI totally hear you. I HATE cooking, I think it's a big waste of time. You spend hours in the kitchen to swollen something and poop it out, such a waste. I find that the many lds cook books my mom gave me from the different wards she's lived in are the best. easy, usually don't have ingredients like a leek. And what the heck is that anyway? I don't eat anything that involves a veg I've never had:) I just learned how to dice a tomatoe:) Who knew!
ReplyDeleteAnd usually the nights I go to the grocery store, Monday, I order pizzA for dinner that night;)
Oh man, I do not have this problem. My main issue is that the recipes I want to try are so dang expensive! Because they usually involve foreign cheeses :) I think the key is to go off your cravings. Maybe that will motivate you! lol! I always think its funny that some of the best cooks I know - hate to cook! For the sake of us who enjoy your baked beans and zuppa toscana - please dont give up on cooking!!!!! YUM!
ReplyDeleteI am with ya! It is so depressing to cook a meal and then have your children dislike every bite you airplane into their mouth. What I do that makes the grocery store somewhat easier is I make a menu for two weeks. I get out easy cook books and write down the meals and then what page to find them on out of the cook book. As I am making my menu I also am writing down a grocery list of ingredients I need to pick up. It makes life a little easier but people definitely don't like to be in the same aisle as me in the store with my four spirited children. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I am organized I do the 2 week menu planning and grocery shopping. It really is a huge stress relief. As soon as I've decided what I'm making for dinner I feel better. I try to know at least by 1:00 so it's not a scramble and so I can get out the appropriate meat to defrost. Most of my meals are pretty easy prep.
ReplyDeleteAs far as battling my kids at dinner, forget about it. They can either eat their dinner or not, it's their choice but if they don't there are no snacks or treats afterwards. Corbin doesn't eat his dinner sometimes which is fine, he gets breakfast in the morning. There are no tears or arguments, he knows the rules and he's fine with it. Sometimes he would just rather go hungry.
I love your posts. I love that you will post about things that a lot of us won't post about, but are feeling. I also hate to cook. I force myself to do it because I know I need to, but I don't love it. I hate that me and the girls eat alone because Justin isn't home, and the minute we sit down to eat I hear, " I don't like this!" Then after spending all that time preparing it, and fighting with them to eat it, I get to spend the next 2 hours cleaning up the mess. The joys of being the mommy!:)
ReplyDeleteI feel ya... however I actually do like to cook. It's just the cleanup that I dread! It stinks that I never get to eat my creation warm, and lots of times it's a total bust with the rest of the fam. I do find that having a meal plan before you go grocery shopping helps out so much. I know it's a pain to get one together but if you spend a few extra minutes beforehand it pays off. But yes, I feel your pain!! It's hard to cook for picky children!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the cooking, it is the cleaning that gets to me...oh and the planning. If someone would just tell me what to make and then clean it up I would think it a great time of the day.
ReplyDeleteI am very, VERY lucky. Cory does a LOT of clean up with me or even without me. In fact, just yesterday after baking cupcakes for the fall festival, he mentioned that the better tasting the food, the bigger the mess it makes. :-) I have found that with magazines (I get Rachael Ray's), if Samantha looks through the magazine and finds something she likes, she will usually eat it. (OR if she sees a chef on TV make it, because Hel-LO they are FAMOUS and on TV!). She is picky, but will usually it a different more separated version of what we're having. For example: hamburgers: on her plate will be a bun, a meat patty, a leaf of lettuce, some tomatoes, and occasionally a pickle. She eats them all separately instead of in traditional form (Cory once paid her $1 to eat a hot dog inside the bun), so I while I don't make a separate meal, I will separate things out and a no-thank you bite is required (it started out having to be a no-thank you lick). I think we all have things that we don't enjoy doing and never will (mine, is thankfully avoidable: sewing), but some you can learn to love. We should get together, I love cooking and usually try to do a two week dinner list (of main courses, I'm still not so good about making sides), and I'd be happy to loan you any of my magazines or other cookbooks. allrecipes.com is another great resource because you can type in the ingredients you have and it will spit out recipes that include them :-)
ReplyDeleteAmen on every level. Especially the part about not enjoying what I've just slaved over anyway. Unless I'm eating it at someone else's house, food just doesn't sound good. Even if I make a menu, nothing sounds good. And if I do find something I think will be nice to make, usually I can hardly eat more than 10 bites. Everything just tastes gross. And my kids don't want it. And I never know if Gene is actually going to be home for dinner or if he'll even be hungry (ER doctors' schedules are all whacked). So where's the motivation to cook?
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