What's Cooking?
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I hate to cook
So I'm 29 yrs old and I honestly hate to cook. I like to bake though so I'm not totally useless in the kitchen lol. I got married last month and I have this sense that I need to step it up for my husband. We have been living together for 4.5 year so the cooking situation isn't new. I do try to cook a few times a week the 3 night during the week that we can eat together but sometimes I just get lazy after work. The 2 work days he's not home I eat pasta or cereal. I just hate making the effort and I wish I could afford to have dinner meals delivered. Now that it's nice out my husband likes to grill and I can just throw some pre-packaged sides and veggies together...easy enough...but when it comes time to make an indoor meal it just sux. We don't eat out a lot either because we buy weekly groceries and don't like to waste more money on food. Any tips? I feel like I should be providing my husband with a healthy meal...
Re: I hate to cook
Using the crockpot is a great idea. I also like to prep things ahead when possible. For example, the other day I made a shrimp stir fry. When I was chopping up all the veggies, I chopped double what I needed and froze 1/2 for a future stir fry. It will be so easy one day to cook some rice and heat up the frozen vegetables. I wouldn't even have to take the time to add meat (although once cleaned the shrimp cooks in minutes).
It takes some planning, but I find on busy weeks that it works for me to cook a recipe that serves 4 (it's just me and DH), and then reheat the leftovers the next night. Also on a busy week, I'll cook something in a larger batch on the weekend and freeze some in double portions (ex., chili or soup). If I know I need something out of the freezer, I try to remember to take it out the night before and put it in the fridge. That way I might still need to defrost it for a bit in the microwave, but it's much faster.
Planning a weekly menu really helps me, too. I have a notebook where I usually write each day of the week, plus what's going on that day (so I remember whether or not I need a super fast meal). I decide what I want to make for each night, then I check to see what I have at home and go to the grocery store to buy what I still need. I definitely don't always feel like cooking when I come home, but it's a little more motivating when the decisions about what to eat are already made and I know I have the ingredients ready at home.
Finally, check out some monthly cooking magazines for recipes (I like Everyday Food, Food Network Magazine, and Cooking Light). Cooking from the current issue usually means the ingredients will be in season, and they have tons of quick and easy recipes that help me try new things.
Good luck!
Please explain to your mom it's 2012, and give your DH a big high-five for being awesome.
Crockpots are great if you don't like to cook. You can throw in a bunch of frozen stuff in the morning, and by dinner you have a wonderful meal, with leftovers. Whenever I make chicken in the crockpot I always cook it until it shreds and can eat it plain, in tacos, over rice, salads, etc. You can also make great soups and stews. Most crockpot meals are easily freezable, so you could always double the recipe and then freeze them for later.
If you like to bake there are a lot of easy meals as well. One of the easiest things to do is make foil packets with a meat and some veggies and bake it all together in the oven. Usually with the packet sealed tightly, meat is hard to overcook.
Breakfast is also easy to cook. Eggs, toast, some kind of meat, potatoes if you are feeling adventurous, and you have a great meal.
Salads are also an easy dinner. You could google one pan recipes, or under 30 minute recipes for some easy meals.
I'm not sure how you divide your household chores, but maybe you can ask your husband to do more of the cooking and you could take care of another area.
If it seems overwhelming to you, give yourself a weekly goal and then go from there. For example, you can start out making two meals a week with enough for leftovers, eat out one night a week, and eat simple meals the other two nights a week. You could build it up from there. Good luck!