Okay, y’all. Here’s the honest truth:
I kind of hate cooking.
Whew. Felt good to get that off my chest.
Some people enjoy it (allegedly), people like Jenny, but alas. I am not one of those people. Unfortunately, as the stay-at-home member of our household, pretty much all the cooking falls to me. And by “pretty much all”, I mean “ALL.”
I love baking, but we can’t live on cookies alone (I tried during the late ’90s and it wasn’t pretty) and everyone around here expects, like, three meals a day, so I do a lot of resentful, embittered cooking. Yeah, it tastes as good as it sounds.
Anyway, I’m trying to figure out a way to approach meal-planning that doesn’t make me want to cut someone, and along the way I’ve figured out the importance of stocking one’s freezer with “emergency food.”
My definition of “emergency food” is this: meal components that can be put together to form a meal or to round out a meal with minimal cooking.
There are a lot of things I make in batches and then freeze most/all of:
- pita bread
- cream scones (I keep a sweet version and a savory version on hand)
- pizza dough
- corn/flour tortillas (homemade or purchased)
- cooked bacon
- cookie dough
- granola
- “refried” beans
- French toast sticks
- small ciabatta rolls
Also, when I cook anything, I try to freeze leftovers instead of putting them in the fridge and hoping they get eaten. Most soups freeze beautifully, as do cooked meats. For example, when I make this roast pork, we’ll have it usually as a bowl meal the first night, and then I’ll freeze the rest. Later, I can pull a bag out of the freezer along with a bag of refried beans and tortillas, and most of the work is done for a burrito or taco night. Or instead I could grab some ciabatta rolls to go with it, add ham, cheese, and sliced dill pickles, and make Cuban sandwiches.
Or say it’s been a long week and I know come Thursday, I am not going to be able to wrangle JB and get dinner on the table. On those rough days, I can thaw some soup, bake some cheddar-parsley freezer scones to go with it, and slice fruit: dinner served and Mommy sane. Honestly, the only thing that keeps us from eating cereal four nights a week is my being able to improv something out of the freezer.
There are lots of people out there who do super-complex freezer cooking and I’m in awe of them, but I’m just not that motivated. Instead, I find that by focusing on keeping things really simple and trying to be creative with leftovers, we’re able to eat home-cooked food pretty much every night. And considering how much I seriously hate cooking, I think that’s a win.
Tell me: if you are also a cooking-hater, how do you survive putting meals together?
I hate cooking ….doesn’t mean I am a bad cook. Just by the time I get done making it..I don’t care to eat it.
I have not mastered the freezer thing….just makes me nervous. Chey and I are so sensitive to foods so we don’t eat leftovers. But that is what I have Timothy for…my human garbage disposal! Brian never eats leftovers and is rarely home for a home cooked meal. Yes I feel sorry for him but he would rather have McD’s or Taco Bell everyday…yuck!
I am just trying to get some new ideas on some simple dinners…I try and cook 3 nights during the week sometimes 4. On the other days the kids are on their own.
You will see at Christmas…I am a good cook.(Better knock on some wood) I love doing the big dinners for family. Just the everyday cooking bites…..
See, I totally get that, Stacy. Cooking for big events is kind of fun – the everyday kind is boring and relentless!
Ok, I do like to cook (for real!). But I still have a heck of a time getting a good dinner on the table consistently (4+ nights a week). I think all of the responsibilities of our lives get in the way! Thanks for the tips on freezer meals.