I have long thought that the cooking channel was missing out on not having me host my show, I Hate To Cook But I Love To Eat. My show would be about resolving this dilemma that is most times misconstrued as laziness. Since cooking and meal prep is an issue for many seniors, maybe SOC needs a thread on easy-to-fix meals. What tips do you have? A grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup are one of my favorites. To make it healthier, I brush olive oil on one side of each slice of locally made old fashion bread and use two types of local cheese. For tomato soup, I use canned tomato juice and add a small can of tomato paste to thicken it, and then add spices like white pepper and hot paprika. Sometimes a bit of chili powder. I like it better than just microwaving a can of tomato soup that has all kinds of additives and its open, dump, and microwave preparation squelches the gourmet chef in me.
I enjoy cooking and my wife loves that. Not as much as I use to, but still can whip up a meal. Like last night: pork chop, fried potatoes and green beans. I cooked a whole lot when I was single/divorced. Took leftovers to work for lunch. Me and an electric skillet got along great.
My thought exactly, @Nancy Hart ! When I read what all @Faye Fox does when she is NOT cooking, then it made it easier to understand why she does not want to do whatever comprises actually cooking for her. The thread caught my attention immediately, because I also hate cooking, but like to eat food that tastes good; so there has to be a compromise in there somewhere, I guess. Both Bobby and I cook; but we often eat different things, and maybe even at different times. If we have one meal a day that we share, that is about as good as it gets, for us, and we are both comfortable with that. Even when I make meals, they are usually pretty simple ones, except for something like Thanksgiving dinner. Often we just have a sandwich of some sort and call it done. I make the Fiber Cake about once a week, so we have that when we want something sweet for a snack.
The pork chop I cooked last night, we shared. Actually, I made enough fried potatoes last night that I have some left over for breakfast this morning. When we go out for breakfast or dinner, or even do a pick-up, we seem to always have enough food left over for the next day. There are also times that we've ordered one meal at a restaurant for both of us.
I have been cooking since I was nine. I have grown tired of meal planning, grocery shopping, and having to determine what to prepare foe the next meal. My hubby is good cook, but he has not cooked in years and refuses to do so. Really hacks me off. We have never been much on eating out, and rarely order out except a pizza. Mainly, i hate trying to come with What to eat, not so much cooking i guess. Open for suggestions.
I agree with the meal planning, G. I love to cook but I get tired of always trying to figure out what to make. Sometimes I get in a rut, making the same things over and over. Also, I hate kitchen cleanup. I didn't used to mind it but these days I just get tired of standing in the damn kitchen.
Interesting comments that match up with what my senior married friends report. I despise the cleanup and go to great lengths not to make a mess or clean it up as I go. I don't fry ever. I do some browning, but with caution. For the most part, I don't even dirty many dishes. I eat my morning applesauce and protein shake from the cartoon and later yogurt and peanut butter also from the carton. Sometimes I go the extra mile and use a small dish so I can mix honey in the PB. While I hate to cook, I will sometimes put that aside to have healthier and better-tasting eats, but in no way do I get into time-consuming recipes and multi ingredients that require precision blending and culinary passion. I discovered just yesterday, the Lean Cuisine Spinach, cheese, and artichoke personal pizza. Easy to eat with just gums and very tasty with a hint of garlic. I could easily eat them every few days. Now that I have mastered the box folding technique and microwave time, I will buy more. Slightly off-topic (sort of like stopping to let the dog pee), but the final decision was made yesterday to not invest any more into dentures. Finally found a real experienced dentist that said my only hope was coughing, hacking, or choking up $75,000 for 10 more implants, jaw bone reconstruction, and then titanium teeth that are fixed together and screwed on the implants. They are almost as good as real teeth. At 71 and several K short, I will gum it for the rest of my life as many do. So necessity will require more chopping, cutting, pounding, perhaps cooking meals to a softer state, but my desire to eat outweighs my hatred of the culinary arts.
Hey!!! This ain't no reality show! But that recipe for tomato soup actually sounds pretty good. I l0ve to cook, but my soups mostly come in cans. And that grilled cheese sandwich!!!
I grew up in a household where was always had large home-cooked meals. Even after my parents split up and our mother worked, we rarely had take-out...the occasional KFC was a very rare treat. I did not learn to cook until I was out on my own, and I guess due to how I was raised, I was hooked on homemade meals. Even when my life was work/night classes/homework and nothing else, I would find time to cook a week's meals and put them up in the freezer. I'm the same way,and I love to cook. I wish I could force myself to at least write down some meal ideas rather than just react when it's time to eat. I got stuff in my freezer I need to use up, and I should be somewhat planning around what I already got.
Wasn't your husband a butcher? He's probably done more prep work than the rest of us would do in a dozen lifetimes.