Menu planning for love's sake

[Cooking Goddess]

...However, there are times I really do miss cooking for someone else. Especially when I feel like I've made something good and there's no one around to share it with.

If you're ever in New England, just PM me for our address...

 

[CWS4322]

Awww. CWS, sending you many hugs! Wishing I could still cook for my parents.

Thanks, Dawg. Love that I do have the time to do this. I have to go back to Ontario to deal with my brother's estate between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but glad I am able to honor my brother by being with my parents.

 

[di reston]

I try to do quantities that are right for two plus Lucas if it's ok for him. I will only ever reheat food once, at most the day after, then it goes in the bin. I plan my meals on portions (boring, I know), but then I know that there's only ever one second time round, if at all. Today I did mac'n cheese, which OH adores, so he can finish it off tonight, if he doesn't, tomorrow it goes in the trash can.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

ps op went ok. Thank you all for your well wishes.

 

[Lauraalice]

No i dont make anything special like two different meals. I make one meal. If i know he cant eat something like pork (kills his stomach) I never even bring it home. I of course love to surprise him w some of his favorite meals but we eat it together. If its a meal i dont like but he loves I never make it. It sounds bad i guess typing it out but my job is to get groceries and have meals ready for him when he gets home. Of course he doesn’t make me but thats the least i can do for him. Plus i love cooking & he eats it all up. Maybe op you can switch to every other time on adding noodles and peas to it?

 

[blissful]

If its a meal i dont like but he loves I never make it.

Hm.....WOW!
So this is just a job to you, you make and buy what you like. Even employers usually expect some accommodation for things they like or dislike.


Do you work in a prison or something? Those prisoners must deserve some punishment.

Maybe op you can switch to every other time on adding noodles and peas to it?

I prefer to make him meals he loves and I prefer to make myself meals I love, then everyone is happy with small adjustments. And everyone feels loved.

 

[Addie]

I can hardly say at one time I was very wealthy and could buy any grocery item I pleased. But I shopped for the family of six. Six different likes and dislikes. I always tried to have two sides of veggies. That way everyone got at least one in them. Some like carrots, others not so. They got peas instead. And the lucky ones who would eat anything got two veggies. Now I am the only one who loves onions smothering a nice tender piece of liver. I also have chronic iron deficiency. So I needed to eat it at least once a week. I didn't force anyone else to eat it. I just cooked something else for them.

My first husband was a trained professional chef. He trained in some of the most prestigious cooking academies in Europe. We had an unspoken agreement between us. I will only cook foods for him that I knew he liked. And he is return paid me the same compliment. When he got into the kitchen, he liked to cook the foods of India. And my two oldest boys also loved it. No thanks! I can make something for myself and the girls.

Cooking for your husband or family should be a time of joy. You are creating sustenance for those you love. Many nights I cooked more than just one meal for the whole family. I learned to cook at my mothers side when I was growing up. She would often cook something just for my father, and something different for me, my sister and herself. My mother never questioned it. It was what she did because she loved her family.

 

[JustJoel]

Sometimes I make food for DH because I want him to be happy and to feel loved. This might be something I won't eat at all.

He wants me to make him some 'goulash with peas', which his mom made when he was growing up. I won't eat it because it has pasta in it and it has peas in it and those peas don't seem to belong in there. It is hamburger, onion, tomato sauce, macaroni and peas.

When I make chili, which he likes, he wants it with macaroni in it. Since he eats dinner on 2nd shift without me, I don't mind adding the macaroni to the meals I make him. His mom made it that way.

Do you make meals for the sake of love? I don't really mind. I just won't eat it.

I cook for my husband. He’s a rather picky eater with a very mundane palate. His family is all from OK, so he prefers good ol’ “American” standards. Biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steak (with gravy), pot roast (no deviation from classic pot roast allowed!), also with, you guessed it, gravy. He does like Italian food, as long as it’s not spicy, so I’ve got some wiggle room to be creative there. Virtually no seafood is acceptable, except clams, snow or king crab, and lobster. He’s really lucky that I’m currently on a basically liquid diet! I still make more exotic stuff for myself, as long as the dish involves minimum chewing, lol. That’s why I’m making dhal for lunch. And I can handle pasta, too, as long as it passed “al dente” about 5 minutes ago!

Every menu I plan, every dish I prepare is made either because I like it or want to try it, or I’m making it out of love for the person or people I’m making it for. My most supreme pleasure is watching the people I love enjoy the food I prepared for them. Their contented sighs (if I’ve done a good job) are the only praise or thanks I need. I usually feel obliged to thank them for the opportunity to cook for them!

 

[JustJoel]

DH likes liver and onions. I can't swallow liver. Texture thing it kind of stuck in my throat going down and I have to "get rid of it" fast. That's the only thing he likes that I refuse to cook. When we married he hated anything with pepper. Black, green, red, yellow was a no-go. Anything spicy hot was off the table also. He's gotten better. I can use them in recipes if they are diced fine enough that they get the flavor without the chunks. He loves onions. I can tolerate them but often raw onions upset my stomach. I love mushrooms, he can't stand them. I can sneak Campbell's cream of mushroom soup into some recipes. I'll sometimes make sauteed onions in one pan and sauteed mushrooms in another for on top of steaks and burgers. In general, he eats what I cook now. There's rarely a time when I cook different meals for us.

Haha! Mark has NO IDEA how many times I’ve added a few shakes of fish sauce to his meals! The first time I brought some home, it actually led to an argument! I also sneak Ali no Moto (MSG) into a few of the Japanese dishes I make. He’s quite sure he’s sensitive to it, but he only has a “reaction” if he knows there’s MSG in it.

 

[blissful]

My most supreme pleasure is watching the people I love enjoy the food I prepared for them. Their contented sighs (if I’ve done a good job) are the only praise or thanks I need. I usually feel obliged to thank them for the opportunity to cook for them!

I feel that way too. Three weeks ago my DS got a new job, and I was so proud of him. So when he got home his first day, we had venison steaks, mushrooms and onions, and baked potatoes for a treat. On his birthday, for two years now he wanted for his dessert, a boston cream pie, which I loved making for him, but I don't care for cake much. I had a bite, just to make sure I didn't mess it up in my recipe.



I do love having the opportunity to cook for those I love. I especially like cooking for those that don't care to cook, it is such fun and it is creative and I'm in my zone. A cleaned up kitchen (by myself) is usually all I need to get my creative cooking juices flowing.

 

[JustJoel]

Awww. CWS, sending you many hugs! Wishing I could still cook for my parents.

You just made me cry, a little bit. I wish I could still cook for my mom and dad, too. They loved everything I made, even if I burned it, or oversalted it. The only time my dad complained was if it had even a hint of heat. Even then he’d say “Very good, Joel, but it was a bit sharp.” “Sharp” was his word for spicy.

Lord, I miss them so very much

 

[JustJoel]

Cooking for others

I really don’t like to cook for myself. If Mark isn’t eating, I’ll usually end up just heating a can of soup, or making some ramen. Cooking for other people is my satisfaction.

But I don’t want to cook in a restaurant setting; you never get to see the people enjoying their meals, there’s no interaction, and it’s a very high-paced, stressful work environment. I’d love to be a personal home cook. I can go to a family’s home, shop, prepare (even serve), and then clean up. It’s a lot of work, I know, but it would be so, well, satisfying (I’d also be making lots of $$ to do it!)

 

[buckytom]

One of the things that I love about my wife is that she is an adventurous eater, and we so often happen to like the same foods the same exact way. It really is something special after almost 26 years together. You'd think there would be more differences, just naturally.
We rarely have a food or dish we like that the other won't eat.

Well, my wife doesn't eat everything that I do if it is particularly unhealthy, but I know she wants some so I make sure to have a little extra for those "I just want a bite".