I’m sick to death of it.

I love, love love to cook, and the more adventurous the better - and I went and married a man who thinks living dangerously is buying a different brand of baked beans! So when he is out ( rare occasion) I can’t wait to get out the recipe books and cook something he wouldn’t even consider?‍?

I love cooking, it's baking I detest.
I will happily prepare vegetables, chop meat, make sauces, even conjure my own recipes.
There is goat meat in the fridge waiting to be turned into a curry.

Baking is torture, and I avoid it as well as I am able. I'm not saying I can't bake, I just loathe doing it.

DH's mother made wonderful cakes and biscuits, scones and shortbread. He misses all the wonderful sugary things. She even made her own brandy snaps for goodness sake.

I'm not making Christmas dinner this year, we are going to my son's pub as it's just going to be the two of us. I'm beginning to miss the prep and cooking already.

I agree with MissA; a sandwich and a cup of tea or a bowl of cereal is just fine. But twice a week, I have to cook for the GC (and DS & DIL) for after school and then I feel that I have to cook a "proper" meal. It's getting harder and harder to come up with something different, that everyone will like, and I'm always glad when school holidays mean I get a break for it. Just the planning and shopping is a chore. Trouble is, I've got a reputation in the family for being "a damned good cook" and I feel that I have to live up to it now. ?

grannyqueenie

I love cooking but I remember crying over the washing up. Thank goodness they invented dishwashers.

I hate any kind of food preparation, I even try and wriggle out of making cups of tea for people. I love eating though! If I won the lottery I would have my own chef on hand to prepare anything I fancied.

Has anyone else got to the stage where you really would like a cup of tea but you just can't be arsed to get up and go and make it? And so do without?

I was just going to post that!
I often sit here parched, but I'm too lazy to get up.

Crazed idea......sometimes men cook.

NanKate ' If only we could go to the carvery every week.' you say. Why not? A lot of people do. My daughter orders roast dinner for five from a local pub and goes to collect it, nearly every Sunday. It only costs around £20, so about the same as buying and cooking it!

It’s not that I actively dislike cooking, rather that I dislike cooking much of the food Mr C likes to eat because I then don’t want to eat it. I recall we used to enjoy the same meals, now we certainly don’t. Wonder how that happened?

I am a very lazy cook so dh does more of the day to day cooking. My biggest problem is my 'new' cooker which I haven't mastered even though I've had it two years. Why oh why has technology taken over. I was perfectly happy with an on and off button and a temperature gage. Now I can't tell whether I'm putting the grill on or cooker one or two. The hob is super sensitive and the least thing makes it decide to switch itself off. I could list many more excuses but will stop now

Another one here. I catered for a family of 5 for years. Even when there was just DH and me I still shopped for 5. Gradually I became less inclined to bother and when DH died, I went off proper food completely and that was it although I often knocked up a scratch meal for 5 or 6 friends. Now my basic menu consists of salmon, smoked salmon, eggs, avocados, salads, occasional soup, bread, lots of salted butter (?) yoghurt and a continuous supply of KitKats. I just can’t be arsed and I hardly if ever eat meat unless I’m out. Today I cooked a roast with loads of veggies & a crumble for DD & her family. I was exhausted and then I had all the washing up to do after they'd left! (I don’t have room for a dishwasher since downsizing) Never again .....

NanKate - I have every sympathy. There are many household chores I loathe and must do with gritted teeth - but cooking and baking are not in that category.

I not only enjoy cooking but find it therapeutic and comforting, even (as is sometimes the case) I don't eat the results.

I just baked a batch of mince pies and was sitting down to one, warm from the oven, with a cuppa when two friends walked in and that was the end of the pies! What they didn't eat, they took home.

So tomorrow I'll be knocking together another lot of fruit mince, zesting oranges, lemons and crumbling cashew nuts, choping cherries and so on to prepare for the next lot.

I probably won't be eating those either

You lovely Gransnetters I don’t feel such a lazy osity (don’t know if that is a real word) now. Many of you have described exactly how I feel.

When DH goes away, which is a rare happening, I down tools in the kitchen and like many of you live off sarnies, a poached egg, cereal fruit Greek yog and walnuts. In fact walnuts are my equivalent to other people’s crisps. We are lucky to have lots of cafes in our small town and I take myself off for a toasted sandwich and coffee and just read my book. The local Italian does some fab toasted paninis filled with Italian meats and veg.

Grannyq you gave me such a laugh.

Finally when alone I buy myself a pot of veggie Thai curry from Sainsbury’s and it is delicious and fresh, nothing like Vesta curries of the past.

I’m feeling decidedly chipper after your kind comments.

Finally in the summer when we had our 2 young grandsons staying at the end of the meal my eldest 8 said ‘You are such a good cook Nan’ the rest of the family burst out laughing. The meal was chicken nuggets, chips and peas !

I like to cook, but only when I am in the mood

Same with baking, if I have a spare hour I like to try out new recipes of cakes, biscuits etc.

But, day to day cooking of meals can become such a chore, so we end up with the spag bols, chilli etc. Sometimes other half is quite happy with Beans on toast ! phew

I remember when I was younger, and Mum saying she was fed up of thinking what to cook every day. It is only as I grew older I understood what she meant.

So I know exactly how you feel NanKate We have roast Beef yesterday, and I find now juggling everything so it is ready at the same time a real pain! Then there is the washing up afterwards

I’ve never been very interested in food.

I think to enjoy cooking, you have to enjoy eating.

If you feel like that then there are shortcuts that work. I’ve had to resort to some of these as standing in the kitchen preparing food really hurts my hip.

Had visitors staying last week so bought a ‘three bird roast’ from a well known supermarket and just popped that in the oven in its foil tray (100% recyclable) later added some frozen roast potatoes and ready prepared veg.

Simples!

Compromise ??

Where you are going wrong kate is not having as you cook.

With 5 children there was no option but to cook and it relieves the monotony to cook new things. And, since becoming gf I hate baking apart from Delia's all in one sponge.

I always double cook where possible so don't actually have to cook too often.

NanKate,your post could have been describing myself and my husband.I used to do all the cooking but like you am just so bored with it now.My husband does all the cooking and thankfully loves doing it,he manages to make even a sandwich look like a feast and not a couple of pieces of bread thrown together.I would eat cereal or a sandwich or eat out as often as possible if it was left to me?The first job my husband took back after recovering from surgery a couple of months ago was the cooking.I don’t think it was because the food I made was awful but probably my general grumpiness at cooking times?

Inkcog my husband cooks all the time as do other men I know.
Definitely the right idea Kittylester I do all the washing up which can be considerable as my husband never uses one pan where two will do. It's worth it though not having to shop or cook. I do sometimes feel guilty when I visit my family and can't be a traditional grandparent whisking up delicious meals. Soon passes though

kitty If you get fed up with Delia’s cake, you could try this Yotam Ottolenghi one.
I made it for a friend who is gf and just used extra ground almonds instead of the flour.
I didn’t bother with the chocolate icing either, but it’s a lovely cake
ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/clementine-almond-syrup-cake

That looks delicious ja - I'll give it a try, thank you!

Oh, that cake looks good Jane. Will it freeze (sans chocolate)?

I love baking when I’m in the mood but everyday cooking got the better of me. Like NanKate preparing veg and thinking of something and that bloody roast which makes soooo much washing up.....

Luckily, when he had to take early retirement my lovely DH said he’d take over. I’d done the first 30 years, he’d do the second. The hidden advantage is that, since he knows what he wants to cook, he does the shopping too!

Problem is, what happens when he’s done his 30 years and wants to hand it all back? How will I cope? Occasionally he gets fed up or is too tired or busy and I have to take over and I really have to concentrate on what to do and how - and there’s still another 10 years to go!

I started cooking at 8 years old and was well and truly fed up by the time DH retired, he took over the cooking and the housework and I retired.
Yesterday DS and GD visited so DH cooked 1.5 kilos of mince because he thought they would stay for dinner, they went home and it was frozen in meal size portions. Lazy meals taken care of over Christmas now ?