QOTD #43: How do you decide on cooking?

theres no rhyme or reason to it. a lot of time they cook because im home late. as far as menu normally we sit down as a family togeather on Friday and discuss the week and meals

 

No meal plan, no system, we buy 3-4 days at a time depending on what's in season and what looks good. I do most of the cooking because I'm better at it and get home first. My wife will cook on the weekends, occasionally.

For the most part, we make up a plan at the store based on what looks good. Fresh anything in Colorado is hit or miss, there's no telling what is going to look good.

 

No meal plan or system. I do the shopping and all the cooking, because Mrs. Levite doesn't like to shop and can't cook worth a damn, whereas I don't mind shopping and I love to cook, and am fairly good at it. I cook according to what I feel like cooking, mostly. Sometimes Mrs. Levite or Little Levite will make a request. But mostly, I cook, they eat.

 

I rarely cook. BabyDaddy enjoys it, so I let him. He enjoys it when I do cook, but the recipes I know, I learned from my Mom or Mamaw. Therefore they are fatty and cheesy. Very Midwestern. If we want to eat healthy, we eat his Asian inspired dishes he learned from his Japanese family.

We have no plan or system. It's usually whatever DaddySquirrel feels like cooking. Since we don't stray too far from our usual meals, we tend to have the groceries in the house.

If it were up to me, we'd have cereal every night.

 

Very few meals are planned in advance. On weekdays my wife & I usually discuss what meat to have the night before or early in the morning. I'm the 'basic meals' cook, which means I usually cook, but some dishes are 'hers' and some are 'mine.' She does enjoy searching through the CBs for new recipes to try.

Edit--One reason we don't try many new recipes during the week is my wifes hates grocery shopping in general, and I seriously hate going to the grocery store for just a few items. Which is tupid on our part since we could literally walk to two large grocery stores. Inevitably some of the key ingredients in new recipes will be things we don't have.

 

Eden and I make separate meals. Since I don't really like cooking for just myself, I use the microwave a lot. I have a few staple items, and I end up eating similar meals each night. Usually frozen veggies, and I'll alternate between mushroom burgers, fake buffalo "chicken" patties (not especially healthy, but damn, they're yummy), or pasta. Now that it's getting colder, I've been eating more soups: vegetable, minestrone, mushroom, black bean, or broccoli. If I'm feeling frisky, I'll bake some tofu.

I mostly save recipes and "fancy" cooking for holidays. Our grocery trips are generally once a week, and on my part it's, "buy the stuff I usually eat, maybe some other things that sound good." Planning consists of, "hey, you wanna do tacos on Sunday?" or something similar if we're going to eat a weekend dinner together.

When I do cook for myself, it's usually pretty simple...throw some veggies and sauce in with some pasta, or mix something in with rice or asian noodles or whatever. I'll follow recipes for holidays, but not super-precisely...I taste and add stuff along the way, and it generally works pretty well. Desserts are the exception, since I've found I can't stray too far off course from my mom's and grandpa's recipes.

 

Another reason I don't cook is because THIS happens when I try to bake a frozen pizza:

 

For me, all too often I get way too hungry and then I eat whatever shit I can find. Or we get carryout. Usually not healthy.

 

"...
some dishes are 'hers' and some are 'mine.'
..."

What I mean is their are certain dishes that she cooks and certain ones that I cook. The only time we eat separate things is when we're dividing out not-enough-for-two leftovers. There are odd times when one of us will be out late and/or have already ate.

 

She buys ingredients and writes meal plans on a dry wipe board on the fridge.

If she's well, she cooks while I'm at work, and we eat what she planned.

If she's unwell, I use the ingredients to cook something else, usually. Not wantonly, but because getting home at six in the evening or later doesn't leave time to cook for long.

 

We have a helper that cooks most of our meals. We plan out the menu and she does the shopping. I cook on most weekends and decide what to make on a whim.