What would you like for dinner, dear?

My culinary expertise tonight is going to produce

A buttered slice of sourdough bread topped with
Chickenliver pâté topped with
A slice or two of tomato topped with
Soft goats cheese topped with
A sliced gherkin!

I might even run to a lettuce leaf on the side , but that requires thinking about! ( I'm not a rabbit)

Mamie, ha! Dream on.

Feeling lucky in the cooking department. DH has mild dementia and after years of being a meat and 2 veg only sort of a guy how now forgotten what he doesn't like so eats whatever is put infront of him!

Like lots of GN people I enjoy cooking but just get fed up of thinking about it every day. I get the same response when I ask what I should cook which is "you know me I'm not fussy". Which is true to be honest but he will only cook if I suggest we have a homemade curry. I do cut recipes out to try them and if they are no good they don't get made again. Lunch is definitely a DIY affair although once when MIL was staying she was horrified that DH had to get his own. I confess I feel vaguely dissatisfied if we have a ready meal as though we haven't eaten properly!

I'm lucky because I still enjoy cooking but do find it hard to cook for just two people. For years I cooked for four children plus lodgers and still find it hard to scale down. Result: we're both overweight.

My grouch is that my husband doesn't like many vegetables, particularly brassicas and salads, so we tend to have peas and carrots. His favourites are pork chops and pasta in meaty sauce, and he is happy to eat the same for a couple of days so I can cook something with more veg for myself.

His only culinary skill is heating up soup, so I buy a large selection of tinned soups (which he loves) and he can "make" his own lunch.

Are we alone in quite liking leftovers? We have a roast regularly and then have it cold with jacket potatoes, in sandwiches, heated in gravy or as risotto. I'd take leftover roast over ready meals any day.

Sorry jenwren I don't recognise the concept of "the lady of the house". We both cook, clean, garden, carry logs and share the jobs that have to be done. Surely that is what most people do?

We don't, jenwren

Must be the main reason I love my single life is not having to plan meals. I did briefly dip my toe back into the relationship game but it drove me round the bend when we had finished one meal, him asking what is on menu for the next meal! My other thought is when you are both retired when does the lady of the house get a day of?

I have never asked anyone what they want for dinner! I know if there is something they can't eat and we don't have any fussy eaters so they used to get what was put in front of them.

In retirement DH decided to cook and he does all the shopping too. Over time he has improved immensely and now doesn't need the recipe book as much as he did. He is learning to look and see what needs using up and make something with it. The freezer is no longer bulging with things he 'might use sometime' but he has yet to learn I don't need as much as him so we need to work on that.

Dinner is the only meal we eat together as we are on different timescales foodwise. That works too.

So now I spend my time doing things I never did before retirement which DH is not so physically fit for. It works for us.

I hated cooking when children were young, but started to enjoy it more when they were older and also money wasn't so tight. I like experimenting, but rarely get the chance to cook now as DH does all the cooking, he enjoys it but worries that he is taking over. I still make bread, cakes, jams & chutneys, so we balance out. That said he is currently in he kitchen making scones, which he is very good at!

Leonora and Galen The one thing I dread is having no one to 'tuck in with glee' I fear that if my earth mother ethos ever deserts me I'll live off toast!

Leonora I'm the same except my dh died 13 years ago and I'm in England.Due to arthritis I have to use Ocado and it's the same with them.

big freezer cook every month or so fresh fruit and veg microwave .

I was so lucky with my husband. He loved my cooking, and I sort of, 'lived to cook'.
So after our three grown up children had all started independent living,
we went to live in France, so that I could experience their cuisine methods first hand.
Sadly, he died three months ago; and now I just can't be bothered to cook for one.
How I miss the fun of our meals together.

I find the supermarkets don't sell fresh foodstuffs in portions suitable for a single meal, and find myself left, at the end of the week, with lots of past their 'eat by' bits and bobs. Even home made soup palls after a few weeks, and the freezer is bulging at the seams.
I should explain that I haven't a car, so I have my week's shopping delivered by Tesco.
I find that if I order, for example one or two carrots, they send me the largest ones they can find. The record was a leek that weighed in at twenty ounces.

Anyway, I would so love to have my DH back, tucking in, full of glee again.

My DH seems to have an ever narrowing list of food that he likes. I can't make anything with tomatoes, onions, spices, mushrooms, broccoli, fish, lamb, pork, pasta, any 'foreign' food for him - you can see how this is a problem so I get plain ready meals for him and cook for me!

I don't mind cooking anything but making the decision what is more difficult. When I was younger with children, work etc I planned ahead. Sat down, when in the mood, and wrote meals in my diary for (sometimes) months ahead, so that when I wasn't in the mood the ideas were there. I tried to balance different types of meat, fish, veg dishes, rice, pasta etc each week and week to week. It's much easier to do this over a period of time - I rotated the roast - beef, pork, lamb, chicken. Put pasta down somewhere each week then investigated pasta recipes (in my many cookery books) for variety, same with rice. Throw in a couple of fish days and veg dishes. Job done. Shopping list easy.

I didn't always cook what was decreed for each day - sometimes didn't feel like it - but I could then flick forward a week or so and find something I did fancy.

This worked. Don't know why I don't do it now

KateK booking a hotel for Easter Sunday is a tempting idea if I can persuade 'im indoors' to go for it. As for giving my son a takeaway, he has a two hour drive to get to us - if I started giving him takeaway for lunch I'd never see him here again!

So I am not alone then!!!
I used to love to cook, bake and always followed latest trend/fad, have a groaning shelf of recipe books.
But 18 months ago DH was diagnosed with gall stones. And had to spend a few days in hospital, I know men are a little bit soppy when it comes to pain but poor love he was literally bent double and it was a very scary experience. Low fat diet recommended and it is a bloomin nightmare we spend ages reading labels on packets/cartons and have had to give up lots of things we used to love. But on a positive front we have both dropped about 18lbs, not been a size 10/12 since my forties but I could literally kill for a bacon butty or cheese on toast now and again.

yes, my OH has got fussier as has got older, now only wants plain boring food, even when we eat out, which is rare, he prefers a supermarket canteen to a nice restaurant. Miss cooking for my kids who alway appreciated my food, only cooking joy now is when they come to dinner.
ladies we all seem to be signing off the same hym sheet here LOL

Its interesting, we are away in Cambodia and Laos for 3 to 4 months over the winter and all my meals are cooked for me. Towards the end of our time away I am really looking forward to shopping and cooking meals again, but you can bet that within 3 weeks of being home I am fed up with it. When at home we both sorourselves out for breakfast and lunch and I do the evening meal....except on Monday! When he plans, shops and cooks dinner and he is getting better at it

It seems to me reading this that some of you don't have a cooking problem you have a husband problem, with many of them apparently suffering from a chronic attack of learned helplessness.
On a more serious note I quite often read on Mumsnet of elderly fathers and FiLs unable to cook anything at all when left on their own. Surely basic cookery is an essential life skill?

So glad I read this, I felt bad about hating cooking , but see I am not alone. Of course I did it every day when the children were at home. I even kept going after I retired and OH was still working.

Now I get the same response as Rosesarered, or the one that irritates me more is "something light" !!

He has never cooked and has no idea about cooking hygiene, so I happily buy from M&S , especially the Dine In meals. I love the fact that vegs come in their own little containers so no boiling, or boiling dry , in my case

The tins of chicken curry go down well also the tins of steak that I top with puff pastry make a very nice steak pie.

Merlotgran, he makes his own lunch as we used to argue about what time to eat, never mind what to eat!! Everyday he has a toasted corned beef and cheese sandwich and a cup a soup! I please myself and usually go out with friends at least once a week for lunch with friends.
We also go out together at least once a week too, not expensive places, maybe the Carvery , Brewers Fayre or a fantastic fish and chip shop at the harbour.

Some years ago my husband decided that he would go veggie, up and till thing dinners were casseroles, shepherd pies, meat pies, all the nice things really and I considered myself a decent cook, now we are on our own I too eat mainly veg with fish now and again (he doesn't like fish). Really depressing at times.

shopping

I'm fed up with making decisions about meals. DH just says 'meat' when I ask which is very helpful. He doesn't believe in planning ahead which I want to do, especially with working full time. When I try to do that you can bet he will decide he doesn't want it. Half time feel like coming home to run a cafe because everyone wants different. So end up showing and cooking most days.