So I won’t be as pressed for time on weekday evenings, every weekend I cook the next week’s meals. Last weekend, it was lasagna and savory garlic monkeybread, enchiladas and something else (it’s long gone, whatever it was, so I don’t remember). This weekend, I’ll be making stuffed poblanos, probably a ham and cheese quiche and homemade pizza. But, every single weekend, everytime I’ve finished my marathon cooking session (which really only takes 3-4 hours), the last thing I want to do is eat the food I’ve cooked. It doesn’t matter how much I like my own food - I just don’t want it after spending so long making it.
Anybody else have this problem, or is it just me? And if you have the same issue, what do you order instead of the food you’ve made?
Sometimes it’s just exhaustion. A quick meal doesn’t affect me but if I’ve spent hours in the kitchen, usually cooking for family, when veryone sits down I usually just want a glass of wine.
Sometimes though after making lasagna I’ll crave a steak or fish or anything other than red sauce. I think in these cases it’s just sensory overload. I love lasagna, but after being aound it for 4 hours - blech!
I feel just the same! I explained this to my husband recently. For me, it has to do with smelling and tasting the same thing (or ingredients of the same things) for too long. My appetite is easily exhausted.
If it’s a recipe that goes together quickly, that does not have strong smells while being made, or that I don’t get all over my hands while making it, the effect is weaker. Quiche is a good one that way. Anything that’s mostly vegetables and cooks quickly or not at all is good, since most vegetables don’t have strong odors before they’re cooked. Lentil salad is good that way. Lentil soup, conversely, by the time it’s cooked, has usually worn out its welcome with my nose and goes straight into the fridge and freezer.
If it has a strong enough smell and takes a long time to cook, even if I’m not the one who cooked it, I’m tired of it.
Not only cooking days, but any other busy or high-stress day. Having something in the freezer or available by phone it the only way to go. This is why there is always a menu to a delivery pizza place on the fridge.
This. I learned this lesson when young and helped with dinner; by the time I had the meatloaf all made, or the potatoes all mashed, I didn’t want it anymore. And I’m still that way. It might be self-defense, though, as I’ve worked in restaurants and kitchens quite a bit.
I recently read a few articles lately claiming that just thinking about eating something for a few minutes can both lessen your desire for it and cause your body to sugar-dump and make you feel hungry, whether you are or not. (Different articles claiming different things; they just seemed to both kind of apply here)
I’d never cook a thing if I felt like this. The big payoff after spending all day cooking is getting to EAT what I cook. About the closest I’ve ever come to this is when I snacked too much on the raw ingredients, and was simply full. I still ate the food though!
I can’t imagine going through the trouble of cooking if my mouth was watering at the end of it.
Neither would I, if we could afford to eat out all the time and/or my husband was willing to take on even more of the cooking than he does already. I’d rather cook rarely if at all.
Oh, I love cooking. I love playing with food. But seriously, after an hour or two or more playing with a chili or soup or roast or whatever, I’m mentally over it. Plus I’ve probably been snacking on it forever; it’s burnout by the time it’s all finished.
For sure I may have less appetite for quantity when I’ve spent hours smelling, tasting, and drinking in the kitchen – but I’ve never gotten to the point of wanting to eat something else. If you’re spending a significant time in the kitchen, the result is generally going to be worthwhile.
Not really after cooking since I’m usually cooking dessert anyway. What I have a horrible habit of doing is picking up some drive-through on the way home from buying $100 in food at the grocery store though.
Yeah, this is me, especially when baking cookies. I eat a lot of the dough, especially when licking the beaters (my mom is able to get them super clean with a spatula, but I have no idea how–mine always have a ton of dough on them even after a thorough scraping).
Anyway, this constant tasting invariably leads to me thinking, half an hour later when I’m actually baking the cookies, “damn, I don’t actually want any cookies anymore, I’ve just filled up on dough.”
I think this is somewhat dependent on how much effort the food takes to make. If it’s something that doesn’t take a whole lot of work, it’s all gravy. If it’s more labor-intensive, yeah, I get tired of it. Time is also a factor: when I make chili, there’s about a half an hour’s worth of work, but then about 7+ hours of just letting it sit on the stove (and maybe stirring it every once in awhile), so I’m more than okay with having a big heaping bowl come dinnertime.
But even if I do get tired of it, give me about an hour or so of relaxation and rest, and the urge to indulge will return once more.
That’s how I am at work. I barely eat lunch because of the sensory overload, and it stays with me through the afternoon after I’m home into dinnertime. Oh, I’ll eat whatever I make for dinner, but 3 times out of 4 it’s force of habit + keeping SO company, not because I’m physically hungry.
Spent the afternoon cooking and baking for Christmas then sent the kid down the road for takeaways. After spending four or five hours in the kitchen I couldn’t have produced anything more complex than toast and couldn’t face even that much more effort.
My parents dropped in and mum, instead of her usual lecture on ‘junk’ food, admitted she’d just done exactly the same thing.
For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me (not that you work at a pizza place - that the night before Thanksgiving is your busiest night).
Usually the night that I do all the cooking is the only night of the week I want takeout - I like my food, but after so many hours of effort, don’t generally want it until the next day. It’s as though I need a break from it.
And I’m still that way. It might be self-defense, though, as I’ve worked in restaurants and kitchens quite a bit.