On the topic of stuff I don't want to do: Cook dinner

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Saturday night I tried really hard to get out of cooking dinner. No, I'm not perpetually steam-drenched, hunched over the stove every night, just looking for one night off. I have just about every night off because Nick cooks most of the time, and when it's my turn, I tap into my arsenal of delivery services.

This is not how my mama raised me.

Saturday night, I did, very begrudgingly, grate carrots and sauté bokchoy and glaze chicken. Nick said, "You don't seem to like cooking." But... but... but, I wanted to defend myself, I know how to cook; I used to cook; I used to like cooking.

Things change.

For example, kids. Feeding kids for the last 4.5 years has consumed me, no apology for the pun. My obsession with managing their growth and nutrition is totally separate from cooking. It's a mental tally of macronutrients and micronutrients; it's creating the perfect veggie snack plate with every cucumber slice salted; it's composing and blending superfood smoothies every day, remembering which ingredients are rejected; it's pushing fluids for congestion, constipation, that extra hour playing outside. Drink your milk, drink your water, drink your juice, eat your popsicle, as many popsicles as you want.

So, feeding kids drains a great deal of mental energy from my brain bucket. Also, it's hard to care about cooking when I don't care much about eating, thanks to new prescription medications meant to make me indifferent to eating. Add OCD to that, which makes the messiness of cooking just a little uncomfortable even on the best days, and you get a good recipe for No Thanks.

I really can't believe I have only just realized and accepted this truth -- I don't want to cook dinner. Everyone says that, right? We are weary, in a rut, uninspired, overtired? But now I am admitting this is a fundamental thing about myself: I do not want to cook dinner, as a rule.

I do, however, recognize my responsibility to share the task with my very patient and saintly husband. Now that I can admit I don't want to do it, I can employ some easy dinner solutions instead of (a) making and abandoning ambitious cooking plans; or (b) looking for excuses to order delivery instead of cooking.

Easy stuff to make for dinner

  • Recipes that involve dumping 3-5 things in a Crock Pot, baking dish, or salad bowl
  • A salad mix + protein + bread
  • Sandwiches
  • Breakfast for dinner
As you can see, my cooking interests are about equivalent to a college student ready to mature beyond Taco Bell and Papa John's.

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