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How do people cook dinner every single night

Cooking for 7 people every night is getting boring FAST. Especially because half of them make a gigantic fuss about eating it. Idk what to even make anymore. Do people make the same food every week? We are normally an instant noodles family and trying to change that is really rough

Like tonight I’m making a pasta bake thing i found online but prepping the veges for this many people takes forever
nacnud · 31-35, M
If you have access to freeze stuff batch cooking a few different meals on a couple of days can work well. It does depend on how many you are cooking for. I do this a lot as don't always have time or energy to cook every day.

For veg depending on price it can sometimes be easier to buy frozen.

A big time saver is if you have access to it is a slow cooker as it is the case of adding everything in and leave it running until done. Serve with bread or rice when done. They are also good to use up spare veg and for meat options regular cuts are fine.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@nacnud those frozen veggies make it so much easier to manage. We do home delivery from Walmart and buy pound bags of dozens of veggies, even chopped onions and peppers.
SteelHands · 61-69, M
[i]I'm hiyup. I married a skinny bird but even she had a ma that knew a few things about keeping the dishes covered once a day. This work horse and sons needed to solve that problem too. Here's a couple recollections how we did it.


Between us we figured it out. Took us years before we had some pretty meals before us but at least we ate. One hour to an hour and a half increments can be scattered across days. Get big cookware use tupperware limit serving sizes and don't throw out leftovers use that fridge. Accept the fact that peanut butter or grille cheeses are going to get used as supplimental offers for the picky or they won't get to eat. Never let the junk food take up space in the pantry.

Stop wasting money on the easy prep frozen stuff that's got low nutritional value.
Buy bakery bread from the day old rack it takes longer to digest. Use hamburger helper. Eggs can be stretched with milk. Potatoes are economical. Dry beans make thick soup. Soup over rice is nice. Home made pizza is costly but 3 to 5 times as filling if you make it right. Flour makes gravy and a roast sliced up thinly mixed with plenty of broulet or heavy gravy and cooked carrots and cubed potatoes over a few slices of bread is a feast. You don't have to rob banks to buy provisions but you will need a family donate meal fund. Feeding a crowd isn't that hard but telling the lambs pissin away dollars on pork rind chips & flaming hots won't stave off hunger all day every day. This is a group effort you can cooperate and put your coins and singles in the can or feel hungry more often tell them.

Big pot of chili to reheat.
Big pot of spaghetti.
Big pot of sloppy Joe.
Big pot of hamburger helper.
Big pot of meaty soup or beef stew.
Big pot of cheesy mac
Tray of chops and boiled taters.
Tray of chicken and mash potatoes
Sale meats pot roasts with American fries.
Waffles and ground pork sausages.


Taters, greens, [/i]
Chili is easy but spghetti is hard to clean up after. I make hamburger helper homemade in one pot. That way you don't have to drain the pasta and wash the extra pan and strainer. Chicken I would bbq. @SteelHands
SteelHands · 61-69, M
@Spoiledbrat Grateful fam a ya. Even if they only say it by greezn down chow we know they are. That's where we learned ryte?
Penny · 46-50, F
Prep vegies and meats like do washing and cutting early beforehand so when youre ready to cook you just needto cook and season. Less mess afterwards to clean up that way too.
redredred · M
Awhile ago I did all the cooking for six, three adults and three kids. I’d bake a big lasagna on the weekend and drag it out for reruns 1or 2 nights in he week following. Ditto foe a roast chicken. The leftover chicken would reappear of open-faced sandwiches with gravy and then I’d make a big pot of chicken soup.

Pasta with red sauce or with oil and garlic or with pesto could happen twice in a week. Fish, steamed, grilled or baked about once a week worked well. Premade, prewashed salad only needed tomatoes or cucumbers meet the need.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
Get a rice cooker and give the pasta a break occasionally, and potatoes to give the rice an occasional break :)
CrazyMusicLover · 31-35
I've grown up on eating bread for dinner so I'm not even used to cooked dinners, it's a bit of an odd concept to me. 😅 So cooking dinner is a bit of an event for me, not something usual.
CrazyMusicLover · 31-35
@Elessar It's more like one week there's a lot of ham every day (we don't tend to eat at night here 🤭...well, normally, I just had a piece of ham and a cheese a while ago) and then two weeks without ham maybe. The thing is that if you buy ham, you need to finish it otherwise it will go bad. So that's why I eat it in such manner.

I'm just trying whatever works. I ate fried bacon yesterday because I was so hungry. Luckily, it seems less things hurt today so I had some pasta and even some sweet pastry that I was almost sure it would "tear my tongue apart" 😅 Surprisingly, it didn't.
Elessar · 26-30, M
@CrazyMusicLover Oh yeah. I mean, unless you have a small slicer at home and one of those vacuum sealing machines that you can buy at Lidl for like €35 😌 Generally when I buy it already sliced I go with smallish amounts, like 100g that wouldn't survive the immediate next meal, not to incur in the problem. Raw ham especially gets spoiled fast, when cut (or I'm just hypersensitive to it?)

Aw, and how about softer breads? Like:
Which also goes great with hams and cheeses? 🥴
CrazyMusicLover · 31-35
@Elessar Yes! something like this I had for lunch. 😁 But it was sweet.
I have 6 people in my house.
There used to be more. I totally get where you are coming from

This is what I do, sometimes.
When I buy groceries I buy based on the meals I plan to make, like most people. But when I get home I take an hour to prep and chop all the vegetables. If Im really concerned about time, I even separate them out into amounts or combinations as they will be used, depending on what it is for.

Or, more than likely., I will cut up a bunch of whatever I'm using that night to make dinner and save the rest because I know I'll use it later. Later me is grateful, present me is pretty annoyed about this still.

If I'm making something I know everyone likes, I will make. twice as much and freeze one half for later.

I always make sure there is food for people who are picky as fuck to grab and eat rather than eat a meal with the rest of us. Often times I am that person. it's a selfish endeavor maybe, but it works for me.
meggie · F
My partner and I mostly eat the same, but tonight for instance, he's having king prawns and I'm having tuna fishcakes. I'll make a vegetable stirfry and have my half with the fishcakes and he'll add his prawns to his half. Quick and easy. Or yiu can do the same with pasta or noodles too.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@meggie

[quote] I'll make a vegetable stirfry [/quote]

60 years ago I had the benefit in college of a Filipino roommate who was so impressive with his stirfrys that it's still a weekly option to this day.
Another easy meal is meatloaf.
ineedadrink · 51-55, M
In my world there are usually two choices, take it or leave it but no complaining about it.
I find it handy to cook something big that will last several days.
Jenny1234 · 51-55, F
I cook for my family every night except I give myself one night off each week

We do a lot of salads veggies and simple meals that don’t take more than 30 minutes. And while I’m cooking that night meal, I think ahead to the next night and pull out what I’m going to need for defrosting or setting aside.
Dawgsfan3 · 41-45, M
I’d say look on the food network website. My favorite chefs there are Alton Brown & Rachael Ray. They’d have creative meal ideas
Mordechai · 31-35, M
I just choose a protein, salad and carbs or mono fats. But I only have to do it for me 😬
I've worked in restaurants and oof it's a lot.
ninalanyon · 61-69, T
Take it in turns then you would only have to cook once a week.
hannahJ · F
@ninalanyon I think the majority of our meals would be inedible if we did that
ninalanyon · 61-69, T
@hannahJ That's the reason that No. 1 son cooks, he doesn't trust his brothers!
Jimmy2016 · 61-69, M
that's what the Micro Wave is for.........Quick and easy..........Salad is also quick and easy.........
lpthehermit · 56-60, M
create a menu for each day of week\month and stick to it.
lumberjackslam · 41-45, M
I am single so I need a knife.
You need a Cuisinart.
Hanginginthere · 31-35, M
the smartest way to do it, is to cook at the beginning of the week and then freeze most of it that way there is food ready to eat throughout the week, more cost effective that way
I meal plan at least two weeks ahead and shop accordingly, usually when something is on sale, and stick it in the freezer until I'm ready for it.
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hannahJ · F
@caccoon thats the plan eventually but not realistic right now

 
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