End of home cooked meals

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
My mom told me she doesn't cook at home much anymore. Pizza even though she doesn't like it is the default because it's two meals. Subs is second and gyros if they're feeling fancy. Chinese takeout is also in the rotation. I don't know what else they have but they're not hurting the money want are says 53 years of cooking is enough... She'll be 79 this year.

Gives me hope that I won't have to cook meals in 20 years but by then it'll probably be pills like on the Jetsons or astronaut meals by then.

Anyone else have a wife give up on cooking meals?
 
There are places/services that provide good meals for elderly (and those that are unable to cook). Your parents don't have to settle for ordinary takeout.

local senior services might be able to point you to those services
 
My wife and I aren’t big into cooking. We probably cook one or two meals a week and do ubereats or doordash for most dinners. In this area, we have access to hundreds of restaurants, most of which are pretty good. Since I’ve been working from home due to Covid, I’ve also had to come up with a lunch solution so I subscribed to Freshly which delivers a box of refrigerated (not frozen) ready to heat meals every week. Works well for me and since neither of us are big on fast food type and tend to choose healthier options, I don’t see it being unhealthy either. Probably a bit more salt than ideal though.
 
My wife thinks cleaning the oven is dusting it, which the cleaning lady does! I cook 95% of the time, the other 5% is my daughter helping me! I do enjoy cooking, trying new stuff. I’m planning our Thanksgiving meal and cooking the turkey, dressing, sweet potato soufflé and a couple pies. She’ll complain that she doesn’t like sweet potatoes and wants cheesecake!:eek::D
 
My husband has about given up on cooking. I haven't, but I am not thrilled with it. We alternate, which means that we go out every other night. Because I'm trying to lose weight after a few years of not-so-great health (now all fixed), I've gotten him to cook at home once a week. We subscribe to HelloFresh, but that still involves cooking. Also, we're running out of low-cal options on their menu, which means we'll probably be suspending our subscription before too long. I don't know if we'll start again after I've gotten the weight off because the meals are pretty big for these two seniors. We can't get Freshly, which sounds nice (pre-prepared meals), because of where we live (of the "10 best" meal subscription services I found on the internet, only three deliver to our area and HelloFresh is the best by far)
 
My bride is an excellent cook, just like her mom. However, we split the cooking, since I enjoy cooking too.

Hey, I’m Italian, I closed many a ravioli with a fork and got in trouble for eating any scrap dough. My Mom was a very good cook and I learned from watching her cook and bake.
 
Didn't cook much when the kids lived at home. Never was a "good" cook and my skills have faded with the passage of time. Cook at home pretty frequently now. Instapot with an air fryer lid. Crock pot. Sous Vide and a good vacuum sealer. With the internet, recipes are a search away. Simple, mostly set it and come back when it's done. House smells great and not a lot of dishes to clean up afterwards. Another plus is the smoke alarm doesn't go off nearly as often as it used to.

For a day or two after an oil change there's a little extra flavor if I'm cooking.
 
My wife and I split the cooking almost 50/50, she probably does a little more than me. Whoever isn't cooking that night cleans the dishes. We go out to eat or get take out maybe once a week on average. One thing we like to do is make a big pot of soup, or chili, or whatever, and put it in mason jars and put it in the freezer. On a day that we don't feel like cooking, or don't have time, we'll take a few of those out and have them for dinner. Saves us money, and is 100 times more healthy than anything from a restaurant.
 
Nothing wrong with eating out or fast food. It's what you eat. I can eat healthy at most fast food restaurants if I so choose. If I cook at home it's a steak, salad or lettuce wrapped burger. If I eat out it's a steak, salad or lettuce wrapped burger.

Same same.
 
My wife rarely lets me eat out.

Since this covid started she is very big on eating at home.

She also thinks I can't cook for myself.... :yes:
 
I cook 95% of our meals for my partner and I and have all throughout our relationship (when we were doing long distance his idea of dinner was a plain baked potato. Yeah...). We go out/do delivery most Fridays just for fun (especially during the height of COVID to support local businesses) but otherwise it's all home cooked. Takes a lot of my time but I enjoy cooking mostly and it saves us a lot of money. For the price of 4-5 delivery meals for 2 I can cook and feed us well for 2 weeks. I don't scrimp on ingredients and price and it's still much much cheaper. I had friends in grad school who didn't cook and ate out basically every meal and I have no idea how they could afford that on our stipend.
 
I don't enjoy cooking, but I can cook enough to feed myself.
 
I'm on the other end of the spectrum. Tami and I cook dinner every night. I'm thinking I should take her out for a restaurant dinner more often.
 
We usually do 5 home cooked a week. Sometimes 6. Friday dinner is pizza night and we rotate around 3 chains for that. My wife does the cooking since I work longish hours and she is a stay at home mom. Or whatever the appropriate non offensive term is these days.
 
Groundpounder said:
. . . One thing we like to do is make a big pot of soup, or chili, or whatever, and put it in mason jars and put it in the freezer.
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@Groundpounder Jars ever crack or break from being frozen? Do you have to boil seal them first or just hand twist and freeze?

@NealRomeoGolf my wife is also a SAHM but doesn’t like food/cooking. She’ll make a pork roast. That’s it. No gravy, potatoes, corn salad etc. Hunk of meat. Or Brats. Whatever, she doesn’t think through meals or really out any time into it.

House is spotless (where she puts her time) and kids homework is done and they’re chaufered around etc.

When I cook, she’ll have a little and that’s it. I cook a lot more during covid and on weekends. I just don’t have the time with work and she, quite frankly, doesn’t care. She’s 100% about the 3-kids.
 
saracelica said:
Anyone else have a wife give up on cooking meals?
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My wife pretty much gave up cooking when she learned that I am a better cook than she is. And I don't mind because I like what I cook more than what she cooks. If she were the cook, we would probably be living on rice and carrots.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
We usually do 5 home cooked a week. Sometimes 6. Friday dinner is pizza night and we rotate around 3 chains for that. My wife does the cooking since I work longish hours and she is a stay at home mom. Or whatever the appropriate non offensive term is these days.
Click to expand...

Hahaha! I’ve been a full time mechanical engineer, a stay at home mom, a plain old “housewife” (no kids at home), a small business entrepreneur, a construction project manager, and a part time independent contractor while also “retired”. None of those roles were less valuable than the others so why should the labels offend me?
 
I had the only Jewish grandmother (Dad's mom) who not only couldn't cook, but her chicken soup was more like dish water. Mom, being the youngest of 7 kids, was the baby and didn't learn to cook either. On the other hand, her pastries were so good, she could have started a business. She was the classic "what are you making for dinner? A reservation" type. I'm one of those kids that could be taken to a restaurant at 4 and didn't cause trouble. Learned to order off the menu as soon as I could read. Needless to say I started doing all the cooking at home around 12. Everyone was happier.

I don't use glass jars - the heavy duty freezer/microwave containers (hefty, etc) and freezer zip bags. I make up a couple gallons or so of chicken soup every so often (when I'm down to a single quart in the freezer), load up the containers, and into the freezer in the basement. Same for stew and spaghetti sauce, altho I've become fond of Rao's marinara. Costco has it on sale every so often, so I stock up. [Costco also has lox at $12/lb - not as good as the nova lox at the deli, but it's not $36/lb, either!] Did the same for Dad when he was still alive. When I visited, I'd make a batch of stew, put it in individual zip locks in the freezer for him to pop into the microwave. Of course when he spent the summers with me (to get out of Phoenix summers) it was rare that I cooked - he'd rather go out to dinner. Most of the time, nothing fancy, a local diner for example. Made me happy because I was working full time and really didn't want to start cooking when I got home. Weekends, I'd cook.

Chicken parm is one of my go-to's. I don't understand why people find it so difficult. Grab boneless thighs or breasts, pound a bit flat, dredge in leftover breadcrumbs with grated parm, pan fry then cover with sauce and mozz then pop into the oven for 5 min to let the mozz melt. Serve with crunchy garlic bread and a salad. Total - maybe 20 min? Chicken stroganoff - well, I'm not doing that very often due to the high fat content...I really love the sour cream and butter.

No, I don't keep Kosher except during Passover. As I keep reminding my rabbi, you just can't make a decent grilled ham & cheese on matzo. Not even rye matzo.
 
I'm a single guy and while I'm a very good cook don't really have time. Found a company recently purchased by hello fresh that delivers pre made meals. Some are keto friendly, but all really healthy. I was extremely skeptical at first but have been really surprised.
 
One word for those who don't have the time or energy to cook.
"Nuwave" countertop convection oven. (I have no association with them). These have been around for more than ten years. We are on our third one. These are not like any other convection oven. What makes them different is the heating element on top. It makes chicken, pork chops, ribs - the the skins come out crispy as if they've been cooked in the oven or grille.

The best part is you can take any of these right out of the freezer (frozen), sprinkle some salt and pepper on top, put a piece of tin foil on the grate, 15 minutes a side and things come out crispy, juicy and perfectly cooked. No pans to wash either (ok, sometimes you need to wash the bottom tray). Of course you can cooked thawed food as well.

We buy the pre-made salad bowls. One bowl actually makes two salads.

Stupid quick, easy, healthy meals that require very little effort and very little cleanup. Added bonus - no need to plan ahead because you can take stuff right out of the freezer and have it ready to eat in 30 minutes.

Also, for those of us getting a little senile, no worry of ever leaving something on the stove and forgetting about it...

We're older and probably cook 80% of our meals in the Nuwave.
 
Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) said:
@Racerx you're just a bit NE of me. What’s the name of that company?
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Factor75. Weird name. They're out of Batavia but will deliver almost nationwide I think. Delivery has been there biggest problem so far. A scheduled Monday deliver got pushed to Tuesday a few occasions. Doesn't help my address isn't marked well and I'm not in a neighborhood.
 
saracelica said:
Anyone else have a wife give up on cooking meals?
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Good thing the younger generations learned that men can cook and don’t have to rely on their wives to cook food for them. Somehow we are the lazy ones, yet older men literally can’t make a lasagna.
 
Matthew Rogers said:
Good thing the younger generations learned that men can cook and don’t have to rely on their wives to cook food for them. Somehow we are the lazy ones, yet older men literally can’t make a lasagna.
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I'm older and make a mean lasagna. When the kids were home they always said if Bill's cooking we will wait, he is such a good cook...:rolleyes:
 
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We usually cook simple stuff (hamburger helper/Mac n cheese/spaghetti) most nights cause kids. However I did break it the InstaPot for the first time since we got it as a Christmas gift two years ago, lol. Made a pretty good pot roast and vegetables with 10 minutes of easy prep, and 50 minutes of cook time. Need to throw some more slow cooker/InstaPot meals together, especially in the upcoming colder months.
 
My wife retired at the end of August. She cooks more of the meals than she used to. We were around 50/50. When the kids were little I went to work early, then picked them up from daycare, then school. I cooked most of the dinners then as I was home earlier.

We cook for four and then have lunches (leftovers) for the next day; cheaper and healthier than eating out for lunch.

We both like to cook.



Wayne
 
When my wife was a SAHM, she cooked five nights a week, I cooked Saturday, Sunday we either went out or got carryout. When she started working part time, I cooked a second night, when she went full time, we each cooked three nights a week, and now that I'm 100% work from home, I cook four nights a week and she cooks two.

There's no reason for one member of a couple to do all the cooking.
 
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