My home consists of me, my wife and two adult college kids ( one away in Montana, the other at home).
All of us vegetarians ( my wife a recent vegan).
My additional restrictions are carbs ( not that I cant have them, I just cant overload like the good old days).
With all that said, I am the primary chef, cook, dinner preparer, recipe introducer (although I am welcome to suggestions), food shopper and meal planner.
My main shopping day is Sunday morning (7am , right when the store opens so I dont have to wait on lines ( I hate lines and wasting time) honestly I wish they opened earlier).
Usually Friday or Saturday of each week I begin to ask what everyone wants for dinner each week (I try to limit it to One pasta, and One sandwich-like dinner ( burger, bahn mi ,hoagie ...). If they dont provide me with any suggestions or not enough suggestions than i will fill in the vacancies with either what I want, what I think they may want or somethings that may use similar ingredients so I can limit what I buy at the store. I also try to introduce at least one new thing each week, to keep the meals interesting and for my cooking enjoyment.
As mentioned above, there are some restrictions I have to follow ( vegan, low carbs). My wife is not a huge fan of soups, but will east them. She ( and my son) are also not fans of spicy foods. Since I love cooking, I dont mind the different rules. I have no problems being a " short order cook" and personalizing every dish. Ideally I try to make it so everyone will eat the same exact thing, but It doesnt always work out that way. We have a well stocked freezer, fridge, so at any time if someone doesnt like what we are having, or chooses not to eat what we are eating, they are always welcome that something up themselves at any time.
My wife will make suggestions on new recipes to try. usually this happens by her showing me the recipe first since , in most cases, I can usually get a pretty good idea if we will like it just by reading ( and without going through the hassle of preparing it just to find out we have to order in pizza because it tasted like crap). If it looks good I will prepare it. If it goes over well then it would be added to our selection of recipes to choose from. Usually they are honest about how much they like or dislike what i make. My wife and I have been together 30+ years and my kids are in their 20's so after that much time cooking for them, I have developed quite a selection over the years and i know what is a hit and what is a crapper. If it is something new, Im one of those people who quietly watch who is taking seconds, or who is eating over what. If there are leftovers, I quietly pay attention to who is eating the left overs the next day, or are they pushed to the back of the fridge, ultimately becoming the chickens next meal ( the chickens are my best audience, they love everything and never complain).
My work schedule gives me 2 nights that I get home on the late side with no time to cook dinner unless I want to eat at 9pm. For this, I usually prepare food on my days off for those nights. My wife will heat them up ( she is a self admitting poor cook who is capable of heating things up). On occasion she will try a new recipe and run it by us ( she is always looking for new vegan things to eat). Being a vegan, she also does the specialty shopping in that area ( whole foods, trader joes) so she will often come back with a new product and ask if I can do something with it ( or it may even be an already prepared frozen vegan meal). I must admit, the stuff taste a lot better now than back in the day when all you can get is a slab of tofu. I dont mind the vegan stuff because it provides a new challenge for me. Trying to make something taste good. I can honestly say that it doesnt always work out, but the selection of vegan meat products, cheeses are getting better and better .
Inspiration for new ideas come from the internet ( and all of you fine folks), Magazines, cookbooks, cooking shows (although I have not watched them as frequently as I had in the past), and going out to eat. I dont travel internationally much (or at all), so i make it a point to try different cuisines as often as i can. When there is a certain dish, spice or ingredient i like, I will remember it, find it somewhere, and give it a go myself either trying to create the exact dish myself, or just researching the ingredient ( cuisine) which opens a whole new direction for me to explore. Im one of those people who goes to a restaurant , orders something, and if i like it enough, I will always order the same thing from that restaurant every time. My wife will order other stuff and i will taste hers. If i like it more than my traditional every time dish, then i will then order that the next time and it will become my new favorite dish, but i always like one safe dish. I also have no problems ordering a third (extra ) dish to try, knowing I will likely take it home ( I won't stuff my face), but I like variety and trying new things.
Other things that decide what we will eat are time of year ,whats available, whats ripe in the garden. I have a weakness for farmers markets, specialty food stores and even new supermarkets. Our consistency weekly shopping will be me at one super market to get the stuff for dinners, My wife at another market to get snacks for the house, cleaning supplies whatever she needs for the house. She will also do the trader joes/ whole foods run to get things she may want or need. I , depending on what we are having, will go to the Asian, middle eastern, indian, mexican specialty stores to pick up more traditional ingredients. When i do this, I try to stock up and will likely include multiple ethnic dishes over the course of a few weeks, so I dont have to keep running to 100 stores each week, although i enjoy it).
There are occasions that I may get home from work a little later, or I just am not in the mood to go crazy cooking , that we will just boil a pot of pasta or cook up a few burgers ... ( we always have something quick to make under these circumstances). If this happens, that means that one of the meals that were on the weekly list will not be made, and usually be pushed to the next week. When making the weekly dinner list, it often ends up in a friendly argument. Everyone always has to ' think" or they will get back to me later .... But everyone also jumps on that one thing that was on the list from the previous week that we didnt make, just s they dont have to come up with something new.
There was one time where I guess we were sick of pierogies, cause they go bumped for like 2 months ( 8 consecutive weeks), to the point that it became a joke and we just put them on the list every week ( because the list didnt look right with out them on it).
So, for any of you that made it this far without falling asleep, the above is the weekly thought process that goes into eating at Larry's house. A brief summary would be everyone makes suggestions. I make the final list. I watch what is left over, who takes seconds, what gets fed to the chickens and listen to critiques when they are made.
In recent years, he's been more honest about about telling me when he doesn't like something. For the first 20 years we were married, there was something (I can't remember what now) I made regularly that he didn't like and he never told me [emoji38]
