Author Topic: Ex husband can't cook  (Read 14520 times)

oldladystache

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Ex husband can't cook
« on: November 16, 2014, 11:09:22 AM »
Last week I found out that my former husband has been living on takeout and frozen dinners for the past 13 years.  (and lots of vitamins) He says he did once boil an egg. He's afraid of instant rice so he never tried it.

So I invited him for dinner next Friday. For rice and beef hunks with gravy. He used to love it when I fixed it long ago.

Won't he be surprised when I supply the ingredients and expect him to make it himself. I'll tell him each simple step. Not instant rice, but the real thing. I will have a precooked package of beef and gravy that he'll have to put in the microwave for 4 minutes.

I predict he'll express amazement at how easy it is, then never do it again. But I tried.

If he does fix it again I may just see if I can teach him something else.

Rezdent

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2014, 11:25:22 AM »
It speaks volumes that you are on such good terms with your ex.  Bless you - the world needs more ex - couples like this.

Here's hoping that it works!

oldladystache

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2014, 12:56:11 PM »
Our relationship has improved a lot since we separated. When I go somewhere he watches my dog and I do the same for him. And when I had cancer a few years ago he took me to weekly chemo sessions for 6 months, and he took me to the ER more times than i care to remember.

I've done a few things for him, too. And if he needs me I'll be there. But I plan to stay single.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2014, 01:13:15 PM »
My favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, has a similarly friendly relationship with her ex-husband, who draws cartoons for her columns and who is known to her kids as "Uncle Nick." (He is, coincidentally, a cousin of Zach Galifanakis).

I love this idea! Like a prank, but a nice one. Hope he impresses you!

LalsConstant

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2014, 10:57:08 AM »
Last week I found out that my former husband has been living on takeout and frozen dinners for the past 13 years.  (and lots of vitamins) He says he did once boil an egg. He's afraid of instant rice so he never tried it.

HOW IS THIS MAN NOT DEAD!?  Seriously!?

The advice of a 33 year old bachelor.  How to cook anything you want to eat:

0.  Get a Dutch oven.  Get something that gets pretty hot to put it in (regular household oven will do).
1.  Get food that goes together.
2.  Cut food into smaller pieces to preference.
3.  Put small pieces in Dutch Oven.  Dump a dallop of olive oil or something on it.
4.  Put it in a hot place (say 475 F) for half an hour or so, give or take.
5.  Tah dah, food!

No measuring.  No weird ingredients or elaborate combinations of things. 

Do you want to eat it?  Does it go with everything else in the pot?  Put it in.  That's all you need to know.

Trial and error will teach you everything you need to know.

Works at least okay for nearly everything and the things it doesn't work okay for it works for with a little tweak.  I can even bake bread this way!

Extra bonus, eat it straight out of the pot, you won't even have dirty dishes.

boarder42

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2014, 11:05:40 AM »
not to mention the internet now full of recipes ... cooking is easier now than it ever was.  you dont need a cookbook of family old recipes... you just have to be literate.   its pretty simple ... if you can read you can cook.

GuitarStv

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2014, 01:43:56 PM »
Regardless of what he was cooking, when things went wrong in the kitchen for him he would start adding cayenne pepper, cumin, and chili-powder and would call it 'Mexican food'.  We had a lot of 'Mexican food' at Dad's after he and my mom got divorced.

myteafix

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2014, 02:10:14 PM »
Last week I found out that my former husband has been living on takeout and frozen dinners for the past 13 years.  (and lots of vitamins) He says he did once boil an egg. He's afraid of instant rice so he never tried it.

So I invited him for dinner next Friday. For rice and beef hunks with gravy. He used to love it when I fixed it long ago.

Won't he be surprised when I supply the ingredients and expect him to make it himself. I'll tell him each simple step. Not instant rice, but the real thing. I will have a precooked package of beef and gravy that he'll have to put in the microwave for 4 minutes.

I predict he'll express amazement at how easy it is, then never do it again. But I tried.

If he does fix it again I may just see if I can teach him something else.

Sounds a lot like my partner. A lot of instant rice and noodles, a lot of pre-made sandwiches - basically anything that can be microwaved.

I've been introducing food to his diet. It's a start, at least. :P

greenmimama

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2014, 04:38:59 PM »
Wow, my husband is a better cook than I am, but I can outbake him by far ;)

Zamboni

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2014, 04:59:29 PM »
That is sweet of you.

I am familiar with this concept.  My ex eats:
Breakfast at McDonald's every day.
Lunch/Dinner at the local ale house nearly every day (he has a table there.)
He never eats at home for the past few years.  Never.  It's not a lack of cooking skill; he used to cook.  He just refuses to go to the grocery store to buy food to keep at his house.  There is no food there beyond leftover Halloween candy.  It's pretty unfathomable, but it's really none of my business and I gave up trying to understand his logic on various topics years ago.  We get along just fine these days.

socaso

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2014, 07:55:14 PM »
Before I got married I was a slow cooker fiend. I'd make a big batch of soup, chili, a roast, etc and put a few containers in the freezer then eat the rest for dinners and lunches for the next few days. The freezer portions would get pulled out over the course of the next few weeks to add variety to other week's menus. I also really liked doing baked potatoes. Just switch up the toppings and they are really filling and cheap. I still do these things for family meals but I get less mileage because there are more people. A slow cooker meal now is good for dinner and lunch the next day.

oldladystache

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #11 on: November 19, 2014, 08:22:33 AM »
Plans seem to be changing a bit. I'm in the middle of moving and downsizing by about 60%. I plan to rent a truck on Saturday and move the stuff I'm taking. That means my house is a total disaster area. No place to sit since I have boxes and stuff piled everywhere.

So I'll take the ingredients and equipment to his house and let him fix dinner for us there. Then the next day he can help me load the truck.

Once I have the stuff I'm keeping moved I'll have to deal with the stuff I'm not keeping. It's gonna be an interesting few weeks.

eyePod

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #12 on: November 19, 2014, 09:58:03 AM »
Regardless of what he was cooking, when things went wrong in the kitchen for him he would start adding cayenne pepper, cumin, and chili-powder and would call it 'Mexican food'.  We had a lot of 'Mexican food' at Dad's after he and my mom got divorced.

This is hysterical. I'm not a good cook, but I can bake chicken, make eggs, and make sure my daughter eats something semi healthy. But thankfully my wife cooks more often than not, and she's amazing at it. I just have to watch the daughter and do the dishes afterwards to keep everyone happy.

skunkfunk

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #13 on: November 19, 2014, 10:25:53 AM »
I can even bake bread this way!


WHAT?! I need a tutorial. Have tried bread several times. It just refuses to rise. Outright refuses to do anything useful, ever, stupid yeast. Why can I brew good beer and I can't make a loaf of bread?!!
« Last Edit: November 19, 2014, 10:33:57 AM by skunkfunk »

eyePod

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2014, 10:31:55 AM »
I can even bake bread this way!


WHAT?! I need a tutorial. Have tried bread several times. It just refuses to rise. Outright refuses to do anything useful, ever, stupid yeast. Why can I brew good beer and I can't make a loaf of bread?!!
[/quote]

Maybe the oven's not heating evenly?

gimp

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #15 on: November 19, 2014, 12:05:02 PM »
I can even bake bread this way!


WHAT?! I need a tutorial. Have tried bread several times. It just refuses to rise. Outright refuses to do anything useful, ever, stupid yeast. Why can I brew good beer and I can't make a loaf of bread?!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

I tend to add a little more yeast and a little more salt, but this works great and is super easy.

I buy those yeast jars that are like $7 at the grocery store and last forever.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511dKXJ6Y4L._SY300_.jpg

That's the red, but there's also a blue jar, it doesn't matter to me.

skunkfunk

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #16 on: November 19, 2014, 12:06:42 PM »
I can even bake bread this way!


WHAT?! I need a tutorial. Have tried bread several times. It just refuses to rise. Outright refuses to do anything useful, ever, stupid yeast. Why can I brew good beer and I can't make a loaf of bread?!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

I tend to add a little more yeast and a little more salt, but this works great and is super easy.

I buy those yeast jars that are like $7 at the grocery store and last forever.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511dKXJ6Y4L._SY300_.jpg

That's the red, but there's also a blue jar, it doesn't matter to me.

I have a bunch of beer yeast in the fridge. Can I wash that and use it in liquid form?

Tallgirl1204

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #17 on: November 19, 2014, 12:14:12 PM »
My favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, has a similarly friendly relationship with her ex-husband, who draws cartoons for her columns and who is known to her kids as "Uncle Nick." (He is, coincidentally, a cousin of Zach Galifanakis).

She is my favorite advice columnist too!  Thoughtful, kind, sees the bigger picture, and tough love when needed.  Yay! 

gimp

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #18 on: November 19, 2014, 03:06:29 PM »
I have a bunch of beer yeast in the fridge. Can I wash that and use it in liquid form?

I... I don't know, but I probably wouldn't. There's a reason you don't make beer with bread yeast, and I suspect making bread with beer yeast won't work out so great.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/making-bread-ale-yeast-58280/

The consensus seems to be that it works to some degree, but it's usually not very good, doesn't rise very well, and so on.

skunkfunk

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #19 on: November 19, 2014, 06:22:25 PM »
I have a bunch of beer yeast in the fridge. Can I wash that and use it in liquid form?

I... I don't know, but I probably wouldn't. There's a reason you don't make beer with bread yeast, and I suspect making bread with beer yeast won't work out so great.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/making-bread-ale-yeast-58280/

The consensus seems to be that it works to some degree, but it's usually not very good, doesn't rise very well, and so on.

Oh. And here I thought it was just that bread yeast was crappy brewers yeast. Didn't it originally come from brewers?

NoraLenderbee

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #20 on: November 19, 2014, 09:38:47 PM »


Oh. And here I thought it was just that bread yeast was crappy brewers yeast. Didn't it originally come from brewers?

Yes, back in ancient Egypt, where brewing began. :) Today, they are different strains of the same species. Actually, there are many strains of brewer's yeast that produce different flavors. There's also wine yeast.

Pooperman

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #21 on: November 20, 2014, 05:35:13 AM »
You can use Brewers yeast to make bread. It might even taste better (think beer-batter). They just have to munch and make co2 and there's gotta be gluten to catch the co2. That's about it.

skunkfunk

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #22 on: November 20, 2014, 08:55:44 AM »
You can use Brewers yeast to make bread. It might even taste better (think beer-batter). They just have to munch and make co2 and there's gotta be gluten to catch the co2. That's about it.

My yeast. Too high resolution to embed without pissing you all off.


Pooperman

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #23 on: November 20, 2014, 11:53:10 AM »
You can use Brewers yeast to make bread. It might even taste better (think beer-batter). They just have to munch and make co2 and there's gotta be gluten to catch the co2. That's about it.

My yeast. Too high resolution to embed without pissing you all off.

You can also keep a living colony in the fridge which is just a small bit of the dough from the last bread batch. Make new bread with it as the started, and rip off a bit for the next batch once it's all going strong.

Guses

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #24 on: November 21, 2014, 10:24:45 AM »
I... I don't know, but I probably wouldn't. There's a reason you don't make beer with bread yeast, and I suspect making bread with beer yeast won't work out so great.

You can make bread with any type of yeast, but you can't make drinkable beer that way. The rising time of the dough is so short, I am not even sure specialty yeast would even have time to "express" themselves.

LalsConstant

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #25 on: November 21, 2014, 09:11:36 PM »
It's been answered, but here's the incredibly lazy way I bake bread in a Dutch oven when I feel like it.

Get a big bowl and grease it with a very thin layer of oil.

Mix 2 parts flour to 1 part very warm water (I usually use as almost as hot is can get out of the tap), usually 6 cups flour to 3 cups water, add yeast (I usually mix in one half of an envelope or even the whole packet if I just feel suuuuper lazy) and 1/4 tsp of table salt.  Use a silicon spatula or something and keep working it until it's a consistent mush.

Cover it in the bowl, leave in fridge 2 days.

Put the oven to 450, throw the dutch oven in as it preheats.   Very important:  oil your dutch oven up real good for this, you do not want the crust of the bread to stick to the pot. Take out the hot pot, throw the ball of dough in it (centered), put it back in the oven for 30 minutes, then put the lid on the dutch oven and let it go another 15 minutes.

What you'll get will have a pretty firm crust, but it should have a pretty good texture.  It will not be pretty bread, it will be very crude (rustic I think is the work the foodie people use).  But it will be fresh and warm.

People can easily make better bread with a little effort, but I do not aspire to be a baker.  This requires very little work.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2014, 09:16:08 PM by LalsConstant »

oldladystache

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #26 on: November 21, 2014, 09:33:22 PM »
Well, he had his cooking lesson, and as I expected he was excited to see how easy it was. I gave him some rice to take home, and he intends to use it very soon. We'll see.

I told him if he actually cooks himself a meal I will teach him to make tuna and noodles. That's another thing I used to fix for him. I told him it will be as easy as the meal we made today.  I don't think I'll ever have to follow up on it but he may surprise me.

If we get as far as tuna and noodles I don't know what to do next. I don't have anything else that easy. Macaroni and cheese maybe.

boarder42

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #27 on: November 22, 2014, 05:26:47 PM »
You could do a slow cooker chili. Dump cans in and some spices let cook all day ready when you get home.

crabbyjo

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #28 on: November 24, 2014, 02:10:54 PM »
If you can read and follow directions, you can cook.

Whether he WANTS to cook is another story.  I have dated men who were more than capable of cooking but were just plain lazy about it.

toodleoo

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #29 on: November 24, 2014, 06:37:24 PM »
My favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, has a similarly friendly relationship with her ex-husband, who draws cartoons for her columns and who is known to her kids as "Uncle Nick." (He is, coincidentally, a cousin of Zach Galifanakis).

Interesting. I'm a big fan of the column and had no idea!

MgoSam

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #30 on: November 25, 2014, 02:07:14 PM »
I can even bake bread this way!


WHAT?! I need a tutorial. Have tried bread several times. It just refuses to rise. Outright refuses to do anything useful, ever, stupid yeast. Why can I brew good beer and I can't make a loaf of bread?!!

Yup, this is me as well. I've made a fwe batches of what I consider to my exceptional beer, and yet I cannot make bread. I've even borrowed my cousin's breadmaker...

Zamboni

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #31 on: November 30, 2014, 08:15:07 PM »
Okay, I have to update because of something hilarious that happened.

Son and his dad (my ex) were at one of those game places where you can earn tickets by playing skee ball and other assorted games.  Apparently son hit the jackpot on one of those random spin the wheel games which gave him something ridiculous like 80000 tickets.  Over at the ticket redemption prize center, one of the more expensive items they had was a kitchen blender, so he tells his dad he's going to get one of those so they can make smoothies. 
(side note:  my son has enthusiastically mastered the choc/banana/peanut butter smoothie recipe he got from his middle school science teacher as well as the basic strawberry/banana/vanilla yogurt smoothie and he makes these on his own periodically as long as I keep the needed food stocked at my house.)

His Dad's reaction?  "We don't make food at the house."

To which son said "you should really get a slow cooker, dad, because then all you do is dump some stuff in there in the morning and turn it on and when you get home delicious hot food is all ready."

To which his Dad repeated "We don't make food at the house."

Son related all of this when I admired his new blue football, which is one of the things he ended up getting instead.  He really couldn't believe that his dad didn't want a blender.  I resisted noting that his Dad already has a crock pot lurking somewhere in the dark lower cabinets of his kitchen because I know from our many years together that his Dad won't even buy a loaf of bread to make his own toast.  Instead, I stuck to my normal neutral comments like "there's always more than one way to do things" or my favorite when the kids are baffled by something he has said or done:  "your dad is a pretty smart guy, so I'm sure he'll figure it out." 

Inwardly I am thrilled that my son likes the slow cooker dinner concept and that he is constantly interested in how to make his own favorite foods.  He likes to crack eggs, use the can opener, create "power snacks" of his own invention.  There may be hope for the next generation . . .

horsepoor

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #32 on: November 30, 2014, 10:10:00 PM »
his Dad won't even buy a loaf of bread to make his own toast. 

Wait, what now?!

Adventine

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #33 on: November 30, 2014, 10:53:19 PM »
"We don't make food at the house."

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...

deborah

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #34 on: November 30, 2014, 11:14:47 PM »
"We don't make food at the house."

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...
Could just be that he doesn't like food scraps - they attract rats and mice - so the solution is "We don't make food at the house".

GuitarStv

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #35 on: December 01, 2014, 09:57:09 AM »
"We don't make food at the house."

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...
Could just be that he doesn't like food scraps - they attract rats and mice - so the solution is "We don't make food at the house".

 . . . and it's more cost efficient than selling the house due to rats/mice from crumbs left over from toast, so really he's saving a fortune this way.

Zamboni

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #36 on: December 01, 2014, 05:44:42 PM »
^ he would latch right onto that argument in his favor.

But, he has no problems eating in the house.  He will go out to McDonald's to buy breakfast and bring it back home to eat.  Surely this creates crumbs.  He will also buy eggos and lets the kids toast them, just not a loaf of bread.  I suppose the eggos won't get moldy in the freezer, so there is a sort of logic to his madness.

Other than that, though, no food in the house.  Eggos, syrup, and candy.  Fast food for breakfast on the way to school if there is time (the eggos are primarily for snacks as far as I can tell.)  Sounds sort of like a kid's dream, right?  Apparently it gets old really fast.  He also refuses to buy food like a 4 pack of yogurt or a bunch of bananas or bread/peanut butter/jelly or a box of granola bars for easy snacks or to keep available for when they have to pack a lunch.  On days when they must pack lunch, he will drive them to the grocery store every single morning on the way to school to buy only what they will eat for lunch that one day. He will do this two days in a row, week after week.  Inefficient?  Yes, but that's how he rolls.

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...

Something like that, but I'm not a therapist and I gave up trying to figure him out long ago.  He is a generally good dad in a lot of ways, so I try not to worry about it.  Live and let live and all of that.

Adventine

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #37 on: December 01, 2014, 06:39:02 PM »
^ he would latch right onto that argument in his favor.

But, he has no problems eating in the house.  He will go out to McDonald's to buy breakfast and bring it back home to eat.  Surely this creates crumbs.  He will also buy eggos and lets the kids toast them, just not a loaf of bread.  I suppose the eggos won't get moldy in the freezer, so there is a sort of logic to his madness.

Other than that, though, no food in the house.  Eggos, syrup, and candy.  Fast food for breakfast on the way to school if there is time (the eggos are primarily for snacks as far as I can tell.)  Sounds sort of like a kid's dream, right?  Apparently it gets old really fast.  He also refuses to buy food like a 4 pack of yogurt or a bunch of bananas or bread/peanut butter/jelly or a box of granola bars for easy snacks or to keep available for when they have to pack a lunch.  On days when they must pack lunch, he will drive them to the grocery store every single morning on the way to school to buy only what they will eat for lunch that one day. He will do this two days in a row, week after week.  Inefficient?  Yes, but that's how he rolls.

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...

Something like that, but I'm not a therapist and I gave up trying to figure him out long ago.  He is a generally good dad in a lot of ways, so I try not to worry about it.  Live and let live and all of that.
Truly ridiculous. You're well rid of him as a husband, then :) But good on you for being able to see his positive and negative sides.

deborah

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #38 on: December 01, 2014, 09:17:31 PM »
^ he would latch right onto that argument in his favor.

But, he has no problems eating in the house.  He will go out to McDonald's to buy breakfast and bring it back home to eat.  Surely this creates crumbs.  He will also buy eggos and lets the kids toast them, just not a loaf of bread.  I suppose the eggos won't get moldy in the freezer, so there is a sort of logic to his madness.

Other than that, though, no food in the house.  Eggos, syrup, and candy.  Fast food for breakfast on the way to school if there is time (the eggos are primarily for snacks as far as I can tell.)  Sounds sort of like a kid's dream, right?  Apparently it gets old really fast.  He also refuses to buy food like a 4 pack of yogurt or a bunch of bananas or bread/peanut butter/jelly or a box of granola bars for easy snacks or to keep available for when they have to pack a lunch.  On days when they must pack lunch, he will drive them to the grocery store every single morning on the way to school to buy only what they will eat for lunch that one day. He will do this two days in a row, week after week.  Inefficient?  Yes, but that's how he rolls.

I'm beginning to suspect your ex must have some kind of cooking-related phobia...

Something like that, but I'm not a therapist and I gave up trying to figure him out long ago.  He is a generally good dad in a lot of ways, so I try not to worry about it.  Live and let live and all of that.
Poor man, being picked on by a bunch of mustachians when he isn't even one. Maybe he had a power outage and a fridge full of prawns (I've just been informed they are shrimp in the US). I could imagine that would put you off having food in the house for life!

I have looked up eggos and discovered they are waffles. Do the kids eat them without anything else on them? I would have thought they would need butter and jam or something.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2014, 12:14:50 AM by deborah »

Zamboni

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #39 on: December 01, 2014, 09:41:24 PM »
Now that you mention it, the refrigerator did die about a year after we split!  I think you're on to something.  It is a SubZero (aka not cheap to fix) so he waited a couple of weeks to fix it and that was the initial excuse he gave the children for not having any food there.  It's likely that the repair bill was more than what I paid for the used fridge I bought after we split, but I digress.  I do remember my daughter saying "dad can't have any food at his house because the fridge died."  He wasn't great about shopping even before that, but that seems to have sealed the deal.  Maybe he did lose some expensive food in the freezer? That was a few years ago, though.  Not sure why that keeps him from having a canister of oatmeal . . .

Eggos are good with maple syrup or fresh berries.  He buys syrup.

I don't think anyone really can't learn to cook these days.  Heck, I learned how to change the cord on an appliance from watching youtube videos.  Surely there are similar videos on things like frying and egg.  I know there is an awesome one for cooking corn on the cob in the microwave.  "Can't cook" is most likely "don't want to cook."

OP, did your ex ever make that dish again by himself?

horsepoor

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #40 on: December 01, 2014, 10:16:03 PM »
"Can't cook" is most likely "don't want to cook."

Oh yes.  I was at my SIL's house for a BBQ this summer, and was making caramelized onions for the brats we brought over to grill.  This advanced level of cooking was an anomaly in the house.  There actually was a well-stocked spice cupboard, but many of the spices were clearly >1 year old and had not been opened.  I assured SIL that the expired Rosemary was not going to hurt anything, and she muttered something about how she won't cook because she's afraid she'll make someone sick.  Meanwhile, her kids eat 95% pre-made packaged shit that will just make a person sick over the long-term instead of the short-term. 

oldladystache

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #41 on: December 02, 2014, 05:23:06 PM »
OP, did your ex ever make that dish again by himself?

He hasn't mentioned it. He did say he was going to the grocery store to get the ingredients. I'll be sure to report if and when it happens.

kib

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #42 on: December 02, 2014, 06:08:10 PM »
yeast, ironically, doesn't like alcohol.  Too much alcohol will kill it and then the whole fermentation process stops dead.  So you need a specific strain that can withstand long exposures to alcohol in order to make beer - or especially, 'shine.  But you can definitely use 'beer yeast' to make bread, it's just more expensive.

Dr.Vibrissae

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Re: Ex husband can't cook
« Reply #43 on: December 03, 2014, 05:47:58 AM »
Regardless of what he was cooking, when things went wrong in the kitchen for him he would start adding cayenne pepper, cumin, and chili-powder and would call it 'Mexican food'.  We had a lot of 'Mexican food' at Dad's after he and my mom got divorced.

This is hysterical. I'm not a good cook, but I can bake chicken, make eggs, and make sure my daughter eats something semi healthy. But thankfully my wife cooks more often than not, and she's amazing at it. I just have to watch the daughter and do the dishes afterwards to keep everyone happy.
My dad and mom split cooking duties pretty evenly when I was growing up, except when my mom traveled for business. Then it was straight pizza and fast food and don't tell your mother.