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<p>Canning is another thing I don’t get! What is there that I need to grow and can that I can’t get in my grocery store? As you can guess, I don’t have a garden :)</p>
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<p>I agree with you completely and we made / make a special effort to do so – so no one eats alone. It’s just that it’s the eating as a family that is the focus, not the food itself.
I guess this means none of you are coming over for dinner. We’ll go out instead!</p>
<p>I fail as a homemaker, and as a woman 
I know I should have meal plans and family dinner. It’s my job.
We actually had a rare family dinner tonight, with 6 of the 7 now left at home. I made spaghetti with a migraine. Angry spaghetti.</p>
<p>I always have pork tenderloin and some CSA veggies in the freezer and can work miracles. But I almost always have something homemade in the freezer, too. I jokingly blame some of this desire to cook (and repair and build and grow) on Martha Stewart. Okay, and Ina. And my grandmother.</p>
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<p>If I were at home full time, I would feel that it’s my job. But my H and I both work, and we’re pretty egalitarian about stuff, and having worked in the food business for many years professionally (not as a chef, obviously, LOL), it frosts me to no end that food preparation is still a “woman’s duty.” I really don’t feel bad that I don’t love to cook. I do other things well. Men don’t feel bad if they don’t love to cook, so why should I?</p>
<p>The reason I “cook” breakfast during the week - even just my own - is because I like variety and if I’m going to eat, I DO want it to be delicious! Cereal is ok, toast is ok (although don’t know when I last had toast), but il much rather use my calories on cooked oatmeal with various toppings, muffins that I know are not full of sugar (as many store ones are), a quick omelet or scrambled eggs that will be protein and veggie filled, etc. I’m not Suzy homemaker - and most days I actually pack this breakfast up and take it to work with me, but this woman cannot live on cereal and toast alone!!!</p>
<p>I follow the look back philosophy. For the family, as long as when you look back over some time period, most of what they got was healthy enough, that’s good enough. After all, fresh fruits and veggies are convenience foods, too. I don’t obsess.</p>
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Well, for one, there’s my mother’s 14 day sweet pickles. There’s nothing like them at the grocery store. I can’t stand eating the pickles from the grocery store. There’s no point in eating them. But my mother’s…I could eat the whole jar in one sitting. I just found a pickle man at my local weekly produce market who makes sweet pickles almost as good as my mother.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, freezing corn is far superior than the huge yellow corn kernels they sell at the supermarket. That’s the kind of corn we fed to the cows, and I refuse to eat that. I was raised on homegrown corn, and nothing, I mean nothing, can beat Silver Queen corn.</p>
<p>And speaking of good quality food, did you know that tomatoes are actually supposed to be red inside? Juicy red? Supermarkets don’t have them. Again, I was raised on red tomatoes, not dark pink, and there is a difference. I finally found a market that has the very best tomatoes. They have someone take tissue samples every two weeks so they know how to tweak the growing process. And, get this, they are much cheaper than those at the supermarket.</p>
<p>abasket - I like Greek yogurt with a banana or blueberries, and then I’ll eat an apple or grapes in the car on my way to work. No cooking required. There are weeks I don’t touch any appliance except the microwave. I wish I were disciplined enough to do “major cooking” on the weekends and then eat leftovers all week. As it stands, my H and S are out of town and it’s just my D and me. She made a dish on Monday that lasted for several days and another on Thursday that we’re still eating from. I love nothing more than when it’s time for dinner - we just grab a plate and microwave and sit down together. It’s so totally fine with me. I think it is a blessing that I am not terribly picky because it would be awful if I <em>were</em> picky!</p>
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<p>I felt exactly the same way until I retired. I am now in the process of learning how to cook. I’m even starting to embrace the “cooking is way to demonstrate love” mentally, whipping up a peach pie (fresh peaches of course), or an apple crisp, just because someone slightly hinted that maybe they would be open to eating it.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anything magical or lovey-dovey about preparing meals, though making a kid’s favorites when they are in town does give me pleasure - especially when they are grateful. A lot of what I cook is simply not available to buy - things I learned to do in various countries I’ve lived in, or fresh grilled stuff. </p>
<p>I do believe in family meals, but I think every family has to do what works for them. There’s nothing wrong with family meals featuring take out. Since I work at home and for many years less than full time I ended up doing most of the cooking - I find it relaxing and often will have something in the oven while I’m at my drafting table. Dh actually does most of the breakfast in our house including delicious waffles on Saturdays. </p>
<p>I don’t really get canning, but I love fresh tomatoes and silver queen corner when the farmer’s market carries it. I’ve grown my own tomatoes in the past, but unfortunately my neighbor’s trees have gotten so tall I have almost no sun left in my yard. I do grow fresh herbs.</p>
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<p>Not liking to cook or worse, not knowing how to cook is becoming less acceptable even for men in my generation and younger. Especially if one hopes to be somewhat competitive in the dating scene here in the urban NE. </p>
<p>While I’ve progressed to not poisoning others with some dishes despite causing an explosion at 15 while trying to cook an anniversary meal for my parents, I still have friends/relatives sign waivers of liability before cooking for them so I’m not legally responsible if they end up in the hospital on account of my culinary skills…or the lack thereof. :)</p>
<p>Personally, I view people who cook in the same light I admire good artists, musicians, etc. <em>Cue Wayne’s World “I’m not worthy!”</em></p>
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<p>I am the same way. I can subsist for months on the same thing if living/social situations allowed for storing massive quantities of massive stocks of stew type meals. </p>
<p>While I do it to an extent, I have to be considerate of my roommate/tenant in sharing our fridge. I don’t want to be like someone I knew who ticked off his roommate one time because he stuffed their fridge/kitchen full of steak, 2-liter bottles of soda, potatoes, macaroni, and boxes of tomato soup all gotten while on sale. He had enough for 3 months worth of steak dinners.</p>
<p>Why do I can? Partly because it’s just a stress relieving hobby for me for some reason. I also have peach trees and all the peaches ripened at one time. There is no way you can tell me store bought peach jam is better than mine. I also made peach salsa which is so yummy with grilled pork chops. I have delicious homegrown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, etc </p>
<p>I make more unusual things that I have either grown or gotten at our local farmers stand. Eggplant caponata, corn relish, tomato salsa, peach salsa, watermelon pickles - none of that is available in stores. I also make killer spaghetti sauce and beef vegetable soup. I work, I’m busy and some nights it’s nice to just open the jar and have a homemade dinner. Of course we eat out, but sometimes I don’t want to sit in a restaurant.</p>
<p>I’m also trying to be a bit more self sufficient. We’ve had storms blow through here that have knocked my area on it’s butt for a week or more. I joke - if another hurricane comes through I’ll be sitting pretty eating watermelon pickles out of a jar. What I’m doing was considered common sense not too long ago in this country.</p>
<p>I just like cooking, I’m interested in it and I believe it’s healthier and less expensive. And I have a feeling you wouldn’t mind coming over for dinner one night.</p>
<p>Bookmarking this thread</p>
<p>I love this thread. It is so nice to see I am not alone in not enjoying cooking. Every so often I decide that cooking will be a fun and creative endeavor, and I pick out new recipes, but I am almost always unhappy with the results. Part of the problem is that I usually cannot bring myself to cook foods that are obviously unhealthy. Don’t get me wrong, I will EAT unhealthy things. I just do not want to COOK them! If I am cooking, I feel my goal is to make healthy meals for my family, healthier than what we would get if we just went out, or brought in, but healthy stuff seems to be a challenge to make, and have it be something everyone really likes. It’s also harder to just have things on hand for. So, then we end up getting take out, or going out much too often.
I think we should have neighborhood cooks. You know there has to be a couple people nearby that love to cook. If we could just all chip in the funds and they could stay home and cook so dinner for the neighborhood would be ready when we all got home, wouldn’t that be great!</p>
<p>It’s okay not to enjoy cooking. Some of us just do.<br>
What helps is to get past the fancy, challenging recipes. </p>
<p>When we have the holiday recipe threads, it always jumps out at me how unhealthy a lot of it is- don’t get me wrong, go ahead. It’s just that a baked sweet potato is, to me, as delicious as all the butter, marshmallow and brown sugar is to others. You just pop it in the microwave or the oven. </p>
<p>And, I read package labels and freak.</p>
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<p>I’ve heard of neighborhoods doing something like this, where each household cooks a meal for everyone one night a week (either they all eat together, or each family takes home their portion). Another option is to do a “meal exchange” in the way people do cookie exchanges at Christmastime, so you can stock your freezer with a variety of ready-to-eat home-cooked meals.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d love to cook dinner in exchange for having my house cleaned!</p>
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<p>I agree. Those things feel really useless to me. I can get enough unneeded fat and sugar and carbs in my life naturally. I don’t need to go out of my way to make it. And I never got the concept of cookie exchanges either. It’s not as though cookies are such an exotic rarity that I need to go make them and exchange with friends. Same with bake sales. Everyone’s trying to lose weight, so here’s a great idea – have a fundraiser to encourage us to eat foods none of us really need to have. Sometimes women are our own worst enemies. </p>
<p>And don’t get me started on the useless of women’s magazine recipes! Shouldn’t I be training my palate to like plain broccoli, cauliflower, etc. made in the microwave instead of these complicated side dishes?</p>
<p>Now something I don’t understand is how one equates a lack of variety in cooking techniques with healthful eating. Granted, I understand that not everyone of us has such a limited palette, but variety and skills are not the problem. In fact a lot of obesity in this country can be attributed to the fact that our culture has forgotten how to cook. Healthy, tasteful meal preparation takes time and thought. Forget how to cook and it’s a good chance that you will rely on fast food and convenience food. Salt, sugar and unhealthy fats are at issue…not skill, palette or technique.</p>
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<p>See, actually I think it doesn’t. Look at any women’s magazine and what they suggest for dinner recipes. A dozen ingredients, you’ve got to chop this and saut</p>
<p>You have a limited palette and you do not like to cook. I love to cook yet I still manage to eat in a simple and healthy fashion. I have techniques and skills that enable me to prepare dishes on the fly, that are full of nutrients, texture and flavor. My weekly meals are more complicated but I do not spend more than a half hour a half hour at the stove most evenings. It’s not like there are just two ways to go… “womens magazine recipes” or the George Foreman grill. Skills and techniques in themselves are not harmful. In short, for those of us who have more sophisticated palettes, skills and techniques are essential.</p>