How many people here hate to cook/rarely cook?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am personally very interested in food. I am a good cook, and I love to bake. I know that there are people who hate to cook, and I assume, given the vast number of packaged and frozen foods, takeout, and delivery places available, that there are probably people who never, or almost never, make anything from scratch. I would like to hear from these people.

My husband is almost entirely uninterested in food, doesn’t really notice what he puts in his mouth, and has very few preferences. I find this fascinating and occasionally frustrating, as a food-driven person.

Do you like food? Are you interested in it? What do you eat regularly? Do you order out often, and what do you get? Do you like to cook, but don’t have enough time? What in particular do you dislike about cooking- shopping, the cooking itself, cleanup (oh, for a self-cleaning kitchen!)? If there were People Kibble, would you happily exist on it?

I welcome any kind of answer, although I’d prefer chatty ones.

2

I enjoy eating interesting food, but my interest ends there. I used to enjoy cooking, but I’ve lost interest in all but basic maintenance cooking these days. Not sure why that is…maybe because my husband isn’t particularly adventurous. My son is a fearless and wonderful cook. He does some really great things. I bought him nice cookware and knives for Christmas, and he uses them quite a bit. His roommates are in the restaurant biz so I think they eat pretty damn good for a bunch of single guys in the city.

Things I don’t mind trying to cook: Simple appetizers, pasta dishes, and the occasional soup.

3

I am a perfectly competent cook – and there are a few things I make that are pretty damn good – but I have zero interest in it. I can – and do – eat exactly the same lunch every day for years on end – and have been eating pretty much the same dinner every night for about eight months now. (Salad: Romaine lettuce, half a cuke [sliced], slices of broiled chicken breast, a sprinkling of gorgonzola, some Italian dressing.)

4

I eat out far more then I eat at home. I like good food. I’m simply to lazy to cook it myself. I have a decent selection of resturants in my area. I’m willing to go anywhere within an hour of my house. I save a ton of money when I decide to go grocery shopping instead of eating out.

5

I like to cook but as a single person I rarely do. It’s just too much work for just me, and if I cook a chicken, then I get to (have to) eat chicken for a week. I eat out a lot and eat a lot of frozen food. I do try to eat my veggies, but I prefer them raw so no cooking there either.

6

I can cook a few simple meals, but mostly I eat the easy stuff - frozen dishes, sandwiches, cereal. It takes a long time to prep and cook a meal, and only a few minutes to eat it, then you have to finish with cleaning up. It’s a letdown. I live alone, so it’s rather pointless to cook everyday for one person.
There are some great recipes I’d love to try, but they require all kinds of ingredients that would end up being wasted, and I don’t have the money for that.
I’ll stick to my Hot Pockets and Cheerios and enjoy my grandmother’s made-from-scratch meals when I can.

7

Other than instant & frozen things, I think the only thing I have ever cooked was spaghetti. I love food (& have won eating contests.) However, I have never had any interest in preparing food.

Anyway, I was single for a lot of years & ate out almost every night (not fast food.) When I married, other than fish & seafood, which I hate, I would devour whatever my wife prepared. (I did the dishes & took her out for dinner many times, so nobody dump on me for making her do all the cooking.) Now that I am single again, I am back to eating out all the time. I like to try everything on the menu (not all in one sitting.) I’ll even try fish & seafood every year or so, but I’ve never liked it. I sometimes order out for pizza & Chinese.

8

I don’t think the reward is worth the effort put forth in creating a good meal. A couple hours of slavery for a twenty-minute dining experience? No, thanks.

When I’m voted in to cook dinner for the household, I make quick-and-easy meals. They may not taste so yummy, but I no longer try to shrug off the chore so much. Spaghetti and precooked meatballs don’t make that bad of a meal. At least, not as bad of a time as one period early in my cooking career: fish sticks. Every. Single. Night. For about a month. I refuse to eat them now. (Which should be a given, since I’m no longer 5 years old, but anyways…)

I enjoy good food. Sometimes. I’m sort of a picky eater, so my food preferences are not those of an average adult (erm, of those whose eating habits I’ve observed). I relate more food-wise with the kindergarten age group than anyone else. Except those aforementioned fish sticks. Never again!

9

I love cooking interesting food for dinner parties. I also love making desserts. However, I dislike cooking mundane food for everyday eating, I’m usually trying to lose weight and I have very little spare time, so this means I cook rarely.

I’m going to make an effort next year to cook more, as it’s much less expensive and has the possibility of being healthier, but I’m not particularly looking forward to it.

10

My MIL used to give me a certain deafening silence when she asks what I’m making for dinner and I tell her “nothing.” I cook 3 or 4 nights a week and do leftovers or go out (usually fast food) the other nights. Hey…Mr. K knows where the kitchen is if he has more energy at the end of the day. It’s a lot of work. I’d much rather pay someone else to do it for me.

11

I used to hate to cook all my life. I got it from my mother, who basically slapped together anything and threw it on the table- here, eat. She only cooked a couple of times a week and we had leftovers otherwise.

Now I like to cook, but I don’t think I will ever love it.

12

I provided the spread for a party on Saturday night. I made the following. Everything was made from scratch except what’s in gray, which was store-bought.

  • Scandinavian-style gravlax (cured salmon) and tarragon mustard

  • tzatziki with pita chips

  • tomatillo guacamole with tortilla chips

  • chicken liver pate, two kinds (apple brandy and herb and onion), with a baguette

  • avocado and tuna tartare tostada bites with avocado butter on tortilla chips (adapted from a Bobby Flay recipe)

  • mini-bruschetta (toasted baguette bites), two kinds (tomato-basil-garlic-parmesan with anchovy butter, and hearts of palm-red onion-mayo)

  • Indonesian satay (chicken skewers) with peanut sauce

  • Thai-style fresh rolls (unfried spring rolls) with cucumber, carrot, lettuce, rice noodles, and Dungeness crab, basil, a bit of lime, and a sweet-hot dipping sauce

  • deep-fried crispy pakora, two kinds, eggplant and onion ring, with mango chutney

I also had strawberries dipped in chocolate, but I forgot to bring them to the party. Oops.

I cooked for three days and planned for three days before that. Turned out great; everyone was hugely enthusiastic. And yeah, it was a lot of work, but I thought it was totally worth it.

I understand why some people don’t like to go to all the effort, but I really enjoy it.

13

You didn’t make your own baguettes and chutney! For shame!

I just baked six loaves of bread. I’m a little obsessive-compulsive.

14

I am a person who loves food, but I hate to cook and I rarely do it.

I find the entire process tedious from beginning to end – the shopping, the preparation, and the cleaning up, not to mention that actual waiting around while something cooks. I would rather eat breakfast cereal than cook dinner. I would rather eat slightly stale breakfast cereal out of the box with no milk, standing at the counter, than cook dinner. I dislike cooking so much that we never have frozen food because that involves taking food and putting it in some sort of oven, and that is cooking.

We do like to eat out, and we eat out often. Also, I feel fortunate to live and work in neighborhoods with countless speciality shops and ethnic delis – there are a lot of prepared foods available on my daily route that are high-quality, fresh, and interesting (I found a great pasta salad with rabbit and white truffle the other day, which is a good balance for the days that I eat breakfast cereal w/o milk for dinner), and enough variety that we can go quite a while before we have a repeat a menu. My absolute threshold for contributing some sort of kitchen labor is assembling a salad.

On the other hand, I really enjoy baking. I think I am pretty good at it, and I have developed an extensive repertoire of fancy desserts. I usually only bake when I am entertaining – either at our home or bringing dessert to another event, but that’s because I would rather not have sweets around the house. If it weren’t for avoiding the temptation of having too many sweets, I would bake all the time for the fun of it. Cooking and baking feel like two completely different activities to me – one I find deathly dull, and the other I enjoy as a hobby. Weird, huh?

15

Preach it! If I had a perfectly stocked kitchen, then on the occasion I really DO feel like cooking, it would all be there and I could create something fabulous. But once I have to make a list and go to the store, the moment has passed and I’m reaching for some boring crap that’s already laying around.

16

Do you like food?
Yes, very much.

Are you interested in it?
Enough to care about what I’m putting in my mouth, but not enough to watch a cooking show.

What do you eat regularly?
Mostly frozen and boxed stuff – Stouffer’s, Rice-A-Roni and Pasta Roni, frozen pizza, frozen pierogies, Kraft mac & cheese, etc. I also have a regular dish that’s kind of a non-baked tuna casserole: tuna, cream of mushroom soup, and rice.

I can eat the same thing for lunch day in and day out, but I like some variety at dinnertime. Go figure.

Do you order out often, and what do you get?
I almost never order out, unless you count lunches at work. Maybe once or twice a year I’ll get a pizza delivered for dinner, but that’s about it. I don’t eat out very often, either – usually just with friends, a couple times a month. Sometimes if I’m feeling lazy and there’s nothing in the house I want to eat I’ll get Subway for dinner. I’m pretty good about avoiding other fast-food places, though.

Do you like to cook, but don’t have enough time?
Nope: I have enough time, I just don’t like to cook enough.

What in particular do you dislike about cooking- shopping, the cooking itself, cleanup (oh, for a self-cleaning kitchen!)?
Shopping doesn’t bother me, but like many others have said the prep, cooking, and cleanup are too much bother (especially for me, as I live alone). I know that if I cooked, the food I ate would probably be healthier (and I think cheaper in the long run, too), but frankly those don’t seem like good enough reasons. :wink:

I also have a distinct lack of creativity when it comes to making my own food. When I do cook for myself I don’t get far beyond chicken breasts, pasta, or macaroni & cheese (I like to make mine with pepperjack). I don’t like to experiment much, because what if it doesn’t work? Not only will I have just wasted that food and effort, but I’ll still have to make something to eat!

(Oh, and while I use my oven for a lot of things, I never bake.)

If there were People Kibble, would you happily exist on it?
No way! Like I said, I enjoy food and I care about what goes in my mouth. :slight_smile:

17

I don’t particuarly like cooking, but I usually make something rather than eating out. Eating out often is expensive. I’d rather make boring food at home most of the time and then really enjoy eating out once/twice a month.

18

The neighbor came over and asked my roommate/landlord if she could use his oven to cook another dish as she prepared for Thanksgiving.

Him: “I think it works.” It turned out he wasn’t kidding.

Cooking means time doing things like shopping in a grocery store, cutting up things, making sure not to burn things. You can take over an hour to prepare a meal!!

I use my oven for cooking Marie Callendar’s lasagna. I’ve even stopped cooking Lipton noodles on the stove, because I’ve discovered the microwave will do it fine, and never boils over or heats up the whole end of the house.

I think this all comes down to the “romance” of food. If you’re entranced by the idea of a good meal, you’ll count the time and effort as a welcome part of the process. There’s often the part of “taking care of my wonderful family”, especially on many women’s parts. It’s the same as “how can you spend all day working on that old car?” Well, if you like the idea of having a restored car and being able to brag that you did the work yourself, it’s not a lot of trouble. Plus, a lot of men like the idea of working with the tools anyway.

I don’t have a romance with food. “Mmmm. Not hungry any more. Food good. Grunt.”

19

Do you like food?
I love it! I’m not picky either. However, often hunger seems inconvenient and I just wish I could skip it.

Are you interested in it?

Beyond enjoying good tasting food, no, I guess not. I am vulnerable to the endless news stories about healthy food, and I do try to eat healthy and am getting better all the time. ( I wish they’d stop changing the healthy foods around though)

What do you eat regularly?

exactly the same thing every day for breakfast (omelet w/ red peppers) and lunch (spinach salad w/ other veggies, bleu cheese and chicken breast). I would also eat the same thing for dinner every night if my husband didn’t protest (salmon and broccoli, white wine) We eat out for dinner a lot, often fast food :blush:

Do you order out often, and what do you get?

I LOVE to eat out, but with three kids, that’s more trouble than it’s worth. We get out without the kids slightly less than once a month. Dinner out at a nice restaurant is the ONLY present I want for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. We can easily drop more than $100 on these dinners if we’re not careful, which is why we do it so infrequently. Usually we get a first course, main course (usually seafood if it looks good) and ALWAYS dessert.

I hope we’re richer when the kids move out and can eat out more.
**Do you like to cook, but don’t have enough time? **

Well, I do find it ridiculously time consuming, but I don’t like it period
What in particular do you dislike about cooking- shopping, the cooking itself, cleanup/

All of it! Especially the necessity of planning. And I really hate grocery shopping.

As regards dinner, I hate the time of day. When I’m smart I make dinner ahead, because by the normal dinner preparation time (4-6) I am entering the trough of my daily energy.

If there were People Kibble, would you happily exist on it?
I wouldn’t exist on it, but I’d like to have it as an option for busy days. What I really want is Kiddie Kibble. Here you go kids! You pour it out of a box, it has everything they need, and it’s all they get. Cooking for kids is especially unrewarding.
Cooking is tied up for me with food and self care issues in general. I have been at times a compulsive overeater and bulimic (not bulimic anymore at all, mostly fixed eating compulsively). Cooking is such a complex activity for me, I would often find myself angrily thinking “I don’t have an eating disorder, I have a COOKING disorder” which doesn’t seem far off, since I’ve mostly solved my eating problems by planning better for cooking (and simplifying by eating the same things for breakfast and lunch).

I could happily dispense with all cooking forever and never never miss it. Where’s my chef?

20

Do you like food?
Yes, very much, but my husband does all the cooking.

Are you interested in it?
Yes, I’ll watch cooking shows with my husband to point out/ prevent.
What do you eat regularly?
I have very low tastes in food sometimes. I like Hamburger Helper and grilled cheese and tatertots. My husband made stuffed steak last night and is grilling shrimp tonight. I’ll need some CreamOWheat in the morning. And white toast with butter.

Do you order out often, and what do you get?
Rarely do we order out and then just for pizza when the mood strikes.
Do you like to cook, but don’t have enough time?
I have time, but my husband does all the cooking and shopping.
What in particular do you dislike about cooking- shopping, the cooking itself, cleanup (oh, for a self-cleaning kitchen!)?
I don’t dislike it—I cooked for my family for many years, but with my remarriage to Drachillix, who always cooked for himself, he just does al the cooking. He likes it and is better at it. He shops because he cooks.

If there were People Kibble, would you happily exist on it?
That’s just crazy talk.