How often do you cook every week?

Pinknights · August 2014

I usually only cook about twice a week since having my 6.5 month year old. But I'm wondering if it becomes easier when they get a little older?

dizzycooks · August 2014

I cook three meals daily (well if cereal, oatmeal and toast count as cooking). My secret? Meal planning, grocery shopping and being cheap. We eat out maybe twice a month. I keep things like spaghetti and pbj on hand for days that suck. We also eat leftovers so that helps.

jillyjill1026sr · August 2014

We eat out 1-2 times per month. When DD was younger, I'd either prep during her nap, use the crockpot, or put her in her Jumperoo while I made dinner. Not every dinner is a fancy dinner and that's ok.

kcisthebombdotcom · August 2014

It does get easier but I still don't cook every night. I do three nice meals, one easy meal like breakfast for dinner/sloppy joes, two leftover nights and we go out to eat every Friday night.

zbeesma86 · August 2014

I'd say 3-4 nights a week. DH cooks 2 nights.

I've really gotten into cooking more and more. I used to be weird about it because I had never really done it much. I was a frozen meal junkie in college. But now that I'm cooking and learning flavor profiles, and Z and DH are eating it and liking it! Makes me like and want to cook.

SallyAnneS · August 2014

I said 2-3, Dh does a lot of the cooking as I work evenings. Between us we do about 6 home cooked dinners a week and maybe pizza the other night. Bfst and lunch are "cooked" at home as well.

penguingrrl · August 2014

I cook 6 nights a week and we do takeout once. There are definitely times we fall back on things like sandwiches or cereal for dinner, but that's very rare (maybe once a month, usually less).

I plan a menu and shop over the weekend, which helps keep me organized and motivated. I plan 6 meals and DH and I usually decide the morning of or the night before which we're in the mood for. I really try to balance out nutrients, so we plan 3-4 nights of chicken (and usually it's 1-2 grilled, some sauteed, some baked to change it up), one night of fish and 2-3 meatless nights and try to mix up our grains and vegetables so we don't get tired of things and get a variety of types of nutrients.

I do keep some homemade tomato sauce in the freezer all the time, so on a night that time is likely to be tight and I would be tempted to do take out that's ready and takes less time than ordering and picking up take out. I also keep a big bag of frozen California mix veggies so sometimes I do pasta and sautee veggies with beans or chickpeas in olive oil and garlic and mix them in. It takes less time than cooking pasta and is a reasonably balanced dinner.

When my kids were babies it was much harder and the only motivator then was that we were dead broke and had to cook. We definitely had sandwiches and stuff more frequently then than we do now. My youngest is finally willing to sit and watch TV while I cook (this is a recent development) and that has seriously saved my sanity since until then he always did his best to climb onto the stove or do other similarly dangerous things.

If my kids were willing to eat crockpot meals I would definitely be able to cut my work down because I could make a huge crockpot full of something and eat 1/2 one night and freeze the rest for another night. I used to do that twice a week and save the leftovers for 2-3 weeks down the line so we weren't tired of the flavors. Alas, my children will not eat their foods mixed together or with any type of sauce on them. Emma won't even eat tomato sauce on pasta, which breaks my heart.

hlm184 · August 2014

4ish. Usually one or two of those provide sufficient leftovers for the other night.

I love to cook but I've been making it easy on myself. Usually at least one night is a crockpot meal and I've got some quick and easy go-to meals these days.

alli2672 · August 2014

I actually thought it was easier when the kids were younger because I could make a recipe for 4, and it would last two nights. So, I would cook 2-3 nights/wk, have leftovers 2-3 nights/wk, and go out once or twice.
Now, the kids eat so much food that I often have to make a recipe for 4 and add a pretty substantial side just to make one meal. If I want enough for lunch the next day, then I have to double the recipe. We never seem to have leftovers anymore.

My kids are 2, 4, and 6 now. I have absolutely no idea what I will do when they are teenagers. Maybe we will have to buy a farm.

raraavis28 · August 2014

I said 5-6, since I pretty much plan to cook every day, but usually do at least one meatloaf, casserole, or crock pot roast that can stretch for a couple days, so there's at least one leftovers night a week typically. Sometimes we'll get pizza or have dinner at one of our parents' houses, but we eat out very rarely.

Like dizzy, I rely on meal-planning. I try to plan 7-10 meals out and grocery shop accordingly. It helps b/c I have the hardest time not so much cooking but coming up with ideas.

penguingrrl · August 2014

alli2672 said:

I actually thought it was easier when the kids were younger because I could make a recipe for 4, and it would last two nights. So, I would cook 2-3 nights/wk, have leftovers 2-3 nights/wk, and go out once or twice.
Now, the kids eat so much food that I often have to make a recipe for 4 and add a pretty substantial side just to make one meal. If I want enough for lunch the next day, then I have to double the recipe. We never seem to have leftovers anymore.

My kids are 2, 4, and 6 now. I have absolutely no idea what I will do when they are teenagers. Maybe we will have to buy a farm.

I had to stop with meals for "4" by the time my oldest was 2. The girl is thin as a rail and eats like a teenage boy! I shudder to think of what my grocery bills will look like in ten years, when the kids are 17, 15 and 11!

jensriot · August 2014

I said every night. We do get takeout if we feel like it maybe twice a month. We also have date night 1-2 nights a month, so it's more like 6 I guess. I meal plan and I'm cheap, so eating at home just makes sense to me. It's not always fancy either.

penguingrrl · August 2014

Oh, and one thing I do fairly often to cut time on weeknights is grill a bunch of chicken over the weekend so I just have to reheat that and make rice or couscous and veggies to go with it on weeknights. I'll get 4-5 lbs of chicken, make 2-3 marinates and throw it on the grill along when I'm already grilling (I do that most weekends) and then put it in the fridge.

Even when it's not grilling season I'll prep the chicken in marinates as soon as I get home from grocery shopping so that it's ready to go and I don't have to remember during nap time or carve out other time during the day.

Andrewsgal · August 2014

I have really slacked off, we have been eating out or picking up food 3/4 times a week. I went grocery shopping today and planned for a weeks worth of meals so I am determined to cook at home at least 5 days a week.

minerswife17 · August 2014

I cook 6-7 times a week. We rarely eat out/take out.

orangegoggles · August 2014

We usually eat home cooked dinner 4 times. Friday is usually pizza or out to eat and Sat. is whatever we didn't do Fri Then usually mid week I pick up Chinese, panera bread or chipotle, especially when I'm working.

chardonnay24 · August 2014

I cook 4-5 nights a week. We usually eat at each of our parents' homes once a week and we sometimes eat out, go to a party, or have take out once a week.

Spin313 · August 2014

I said four, but that's not exactly accurate. I usually do 3-4 meat/chicken meals per week and 1-2 pasta nights. We usually do pizza (or eat out) once a week. Any other nights, I still "cook" but it's reheating leftovers or making something quick, like hotdogs, BFD, or sandwiches.

sophie206 · August 2014

I said 5-6 times. We almost always get take-out on Fridays. And then a few times a week it's something simple, but still prepped and cooked at home. Like last night it was just too hot to cook so we had rotisserie chicken, rice and a green salad. Super simple but still healthy and inexpensive. Honestly unless it's delivery, it's more work to load my 4 and 1 year old in and out of the car to pick-up take-out and DH is always too tired after work that he just wants to come straight home. Restaurants are a constant juggling of the baby and potty trips, entertaining, etc the 4 year old that it's just not fun to eat out right now!

eaglesfan700 · August 2014

I cook 5-6 nights a week. Meal planning helps a ton. If I am doing something that involves a lot of prep work, I will try to do some of it while DD2 is sleeping

bumpuser924057 · August 2014

On average, about four times a week, but lately it's been more like five because I'm working on losing weight and takeout sucks for that. Fridays are pizza, but it's homemade. Weekends I often don't end up cooking and we just grab leftovers or takeout both days.

jjt616 · August 2014

I voted 5-6. I try to do one really nice dinner a week but the others are crockpot meals and/or easy meals. We have been grilling out a lot lately. I would like to start cooking nicer meals and new recipes but right now this is the best I can do. DH doesn't care as long as there is food

.

ToastieSimons · August 2014

I have a lot of food intolerances so it's next to impossible to go out to eat.

But I do treat my boys to mcdonald's 1-2x/month

And DH is allowed to by lunch 1-2x/month.

Other than that it's all home cooking.

mandymack · August 2014

I cook breakfast for all of us every single day, lunches are just me and the kids here at home (DH takes a lunch from home) and are simple ham/cheese/fruit/veg/chips, and I cook 6 nights a week.

We always have leftovers one night and it's rare we go out because of DH's work hours.

I'm a meal planning fanatic which always helps my family KNOW what's for dinner each week. Also, I love to pre-make and freeze enchiladas, casseroles, soups, red sauce, meatballs, meatloaf, calzones, lasagnas & stuffed shells so at least one or more meals each week requires me to thaw something and bake it. My husband has a huge smoker and smokes off a dozen chicken breasts or so every few weeks that I use in a million ways as well as freeze.

Hang in there, I think - like with everything in life - you will get into a groove and some things like cooking dinner will get easier.

HBirdie · August 2014

SS- I don't do any of the cooking in my house. My husband does. He works, I SAH, but I am not a good cook and he really enjoys it. I bake, though! I do the meal planning and we shop together, and I'll help him cook sometimes but I never cook a meal by myself.

eta: Maybe this poll was about how much you eat at home vs. eating out, and not who's actually doing the cooking? Oops. Well, we only eat out maybe twice a month. And we have one leftover/eat what you can find day a week (aka pancakes or cereal or something), usually. So we eat at home most of the time.

Court0026 · August 2014

5-6 but only because we eat leftovers 1-2 nights. We maybe go out once a month as a family. It isn't that we don't want to. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to just pick up food, but with O's food allergies, it is complicated.

jnksmom · August 2014

I cook 4-5 nights a week most weeks. We eat out 1-2 nights a week and Sunday is fend for yourself. We eat out after church and usually have a bigger meal so we just eat something small for dinner.

Want a personalized experience?

How often do you cook every week?

How often do you cook every week? 139 votes

Re: How often do you cook every week?

eclaire 9.10.06 diggy 6.2.11

Choose Another Board

Search Boards