What would you like for dinner, dear?

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I do realise how lucky I am. My OH loves cooking and shopping for food and, he cleans up after. He will be going away for a week with friends soon, I will eat out/ eat at Daughters/ eat at friends.

I live on my own so I am not bothered what I have to eat but on the whole I plan ahead- much less hassle.

I do most of the cooking so what I want goes. OH can cook but his timing is dreadful.

Yes, my DM used to say "sh@@@ and sugar", pensionpat. Not bad for a woman who claimed not to swear!

When, as children we asked what was for tea the reply was "s@@@ with egg on". She was the Mrs Brown of her day.

Annsixty I sympathise. My husband & I live apart in different towns but we visit. Recently, fed up of only being valued for my apple pies and ginger cakes, and having my spinach & feta pie sneered at I refused to go to the other house when one of our sons and his family were visiting, because I think he only wanted me there to cook and make beds. He rang me up, all nervous, saying, "What am I going to feed them on?" I think he realised for the first time in 51 years of marriage the anxieties and work involved in catering for the family. I have married friends who seem obsessed with food. One phones me up in advance of a visit to enquire what the menu is! And I'm a good cook: WHEN IN THE MOOD, which is not often these days. Man does not live by bread alone!

One thing that has surprised me about retirement has been DH's new enthusiasm about cooking. I've had a full time contract for the last 4 months, now finished, and he took over the shopping and cooking with relish. Spends a lot of his day researching recipes! I've had to persuade him to let me cook every other day, and I never thought I would be doing that, just so that I can occasionally have the simpler meals I like.

jalima My mum always used to say "Bread and point at it". I just get a blank look from my family when I try it.

Good idea Kitty to start the other dinner thread. I could use some ideas.

jalima that reminded me, my Mother used to say ' a bite of the pantry door' or 'I haven't christened it yet' when asked what was for dinner,she wasn't a planner aheader (neither am I.)

We could try to start another one?

kittylester I am a newbie here. Needed someone to chat to when OH had problems (Mother and favourite dog died same week), and just seem to have stayed ?

When I used to ask DM what was for dinner when I was a child she used to answer: 'Three kicks at the pantry door'

I now know how she felt!

We had a thread like that Tizliz years ago and it ran for ages - maybe it had run its course before you started yours.

I've discovered Morrison's ready to mix pizza base. One bag is enough for two smallish pizzas. You add luke warm water, knead, divide in two and rollout, leave to rise for a while then add your desired topping (I always go for cheese and tomato) and wop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200. Mmm. Delicious and filling with a green salad. Much better than bought pizza and it has the added advantage of making you feel as though you have done some 'home cooking'. Even my picky DH likes it.

Pippa000, Ria from Butterflies is my heroine. Will never forget her custard with an identity crisis. Happens to me all the time!

You could buy a tin of alphabet spaghetti and spell out the words

"Oh anything,"

Just for a laugh.

kittylester I started that thread in the hope for some inspiration! But I found that either people cook the same as me or are far too adventurous. I do try and have a limit of 45 mins in the kitchen unless I am batch cooking for the freezer.

We had a thread where we said what we were having for dinner. I really enjoyed that for giving me new things to try/adapt/think about.

Reading through this I am reminded of the TV series years ago called Butterflies with Wendy Craig, and her kitchen 'adventures'.

DH always cooks on Saturday evening, unless we are out, but it takes the other seven days for him to think of what to have, check the ingredients cupboard, and make a final decision, if it took me that long we would never eat.

There are toastie bags and... Lakeland toastie bags, have not had cheese trickle out so far ( but if it did, it wouldn't be wasted, I should scoop it out and yum it down on the spot.)

DH eats most things without a word of complaint but I do hit a wall sometimes when I couldn't be bothered thinking about what to eat.

Easter week will be the usual test of my patience and culinary ingenuity? All the family to stay including one vegetarian, one who doesn't eat red meat, one child who eats practically nothing and whose tastes will very from one meal to the next, one child who eats not a great deal and who is rather fussy about a range of things most children like (I mean, how many children don't like baked beans and pasta in tomato sauce?). The only thing they all eat without complaint is pizza....and I'm not a fan myself.

I usually end up making 3 or 4 separate meals each time ?