When you don't feel like cooking

[partgypsy]

Following. My  oldest daughter is getting an apartment, and while roommates plan to cook dinner 4 nights a week, she will need to get used to preparing food for the rest. In our household favorites are: quesadillas.  vegetarian chili (2-3 cans of beans+tomato sauce, various spices. I like fried egg as sandwich or on top of pasta.  Canned lentil soup. Tuna fish melts. And of course frozen stuff, like cheese pizza with topping.  Hotdogs in baked beans. Myself if it's just me I often eat the last of a leftover that might not be enough for a meal, plus other snacks (yogurt w fruit, roasted peanuts, bowl cereal, raw carrot or broccoli) to supplement.

[partgypsy]

Sorry in advance for being the thread meanie, but part of being an adult is doing necessary stuff you don't feel like doing. You can do some things to make it easier, like bulk weekend cooking or whatnot, but ultimately sometimes you just need to suck it up.

. I don't think people need to cook a full meal 3x a day, to have decent nutrition. Shaming people is not the most helpful.

[srrb]

If I really can't even be bothered with a bowl of oatmeal or cheese and crackers I just don't eat that meal. Another person who rarely eats restaurant food just to fill a calorie void.

[Villanelle]

Sorry in advance for being the thread meanie, but part of being an adult is doing necessary stuff you don't feel like doing. You can do some things to make it easier, like bulk weekend cooking or whatnot, but ultimately sometimes you just need to suck it up.

. I don't think people need to cook a full meal 3x a day, to have decent nutrition. Shaming people is not the most helpful.

Agreed.  And it seems like the OP was looking for solutions, which is kind of an admission that she wants a better way.  That seems pretty "adult" to me.  More adult than unhelpful sanctimony, certainly! 

[GuitarStv]

We plan our meals for the week and do batch cooking on weekends, so it's very unusual not to have leftovers of some kind in the fridge.

That said, if I can't be arsed to cook and nobody else is in the house then I eat the elements of food.  Like I might have six large carrots, an orange, and a hunk of cheese for supper.  Colour coordination is not required, but makes me feel happy.

[ColoAndy]

I always cook up some chicken or ground turkey with spinach every Sunday and make meals with it during the week with a cup of Jasmine rice heated up in the microwave.  Delicious.

[jeninco]

We plan our meals for the week and do batch cooking on weekends, so it's very unusual not to have leftovers of some kind in the fridge.

That said, if I can't be arsed to cook and nobody else is in the house then I eat the elements of food.  Like I might have six large carrots, an orange, and a hunk of cheese for supper.  Colour coordination is not required, but makes me feel happy.

You know, I've never explicitly considered doing it that way, but it's definitely making me snicker!

[Linea_Norway]

For meal planning I'm going to plug the Paprika app yet again. The company really should be paying me for how much I promote it, but it's frickin' amazing for meal planning.

Is it the Paprika Recipe Manager for $4.99? Or is there a free app?

@JupiterGreen
I recently installed a free version, on Android. It has many basic functions included. I used the search Paprika app.

[Metalcat]

For meal planning I'm going to plug the Paprika app yet again. The company really should be paying me for how much I promote it, but it's frickin' amazing for meal planning.

Is it the Paprika Recipe Manager for $4.99? Or is there a free app?

Yep that's the one.

I think I paid $25 for the desktop program back in the day, and it was totally worth it.

[cupcakery]

I always have soup in my freezer that I can pull out and heat up.  I often have other things as well.  Right now I have leftover chicken fajita mix.  I always have leftover dinner rolls or cornbread in the freezer.  You can whip up some scrambled eggs in just a few minutes and serve it with whatever fruit or veggies you have on hand.  If I'm really lazy I'll just have an apple with some peanut butter and call it a day.

[Telecaster]

I think I paid $25 for the desktop program back in the day, and it was totally worth it.

Can you fill us in as to why?  I use a Google Sheet and don't feel like I need anything else. 

[Hula Hoop]

Our go tos for family meals when when we lack spoons are:

fish sticks, rice and some kind of frozen veg - usually peas or spinach - or a salad
a big salad with lots of stuff in it like feta or mozzarella cheese, canned chick peas, canned corn, tuna, boiled eggs, olives and whatever veggies we have on hand plus bread
some kind of easy pasta with a side salad.  My husband makes a mean aglio, olio peperoncino (garlic, oil and chillis) with spaghetti and also carbonara (pasta with guarnciale/pancetta, eggs and pecorino cheese). 
frozen Chinese or Korean dumplings with rice and some kind of veg
Premade ravioli with a quick homemade tomato sauce from canned tomatoes
Bread and cheese
Scrambled eggs and bread plus a veg or fruit

[ohsnap]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

[simonsez]

In our household, I'd say any angst with regard to cooking is usually more along the lines of planning the meal rather than actually cooking it.

Thus, we try to have some basic themed days of the week.  It doesn't say what we're going to eat per se but it narrows it down enough to mitigate the mental power needed for planning.  We typically only plan dinners, lunch is for leftovers, and my wife has coffee for breakfast and I don't eat breakfast.

E.g. Asian Tuesdays (had Afghan last night), soup Sundays, Italian/pizza/pasta on Fridays, etc.

The frozen Japanese fried rice from Trader Joe's is something we always have several bags of in the freezer when we're feeling especially lazy on a Tuesday.  Also: frozen tempura (or panko) shrimp from Costco along with veggie rolls and gyoza can be clutch.

Find what you like and then have plenty of that already on hand to make your base(s).  Add in some fresh produce, sauces (making your own as much as possible is preferred), proteins, etc. to top it off and you're there.

@Scandium I love Cava!  I enjoy their model of working with local growers/producers.  Chipotle used to be more like them but their standards have dropped (especially the service) ever since when they expanded at that terrific pace in the early 2000s.  If I had a Cava near me, I'd probably end up eating there every month.

[Alternatepriorities]

I pull a vacuum sealed salmon fillet out of the freezer, throw it in hot water while the oven* warms up to 450, pull the pin bones out, add some seasoning and put it in the oven for 10 min.

*If it's summer I use the grill.
**If DW is home there is usually at least one side.

I used to do a lot more lazy quesadillas but I don't eat as many tortillas in AK as I did in NM. Place a tortilla or two on a piece of paper towel and cover with cheese. It's possible to load the whole thing directly into the oven without a pan. The paper towel doesn't hold enough heat to burn you so you can slide it onto a plate when it's done without mitts. The plate stays clean so there are zero dishes.

Add cheese to just about any leftover and microwave until it's melty and bubbly...

Homemade Greek yogurt, with oats, raisins, and a banana.

If I'm having a really good day and getting way too much done to stop and cook, I usually just eat a handful of cashews and drink some coffee. DW does not approve this message. :)

[partgypsy]

We plan our meals for the week and do batch cooking on weekends, so it's very unusual not to have leftovers of some kind in the fridge.

That said, if I can't be arsed to cook and nobody else is in the house then I eat the elements of food.  Like I might have six large carrots, an orange, and a hunk of cheese for supper.  Colour coordination is not required, but makes me feel happy.

You know, I've never explicitly considered doing it that way, but it's definitely making me snicker!

Totally.  I do the same kind of thing if its just me in the house. Kind of like dinner legos. yesterday I had a can of sardines with crackers, glass of oj, and finished off last of homemade coleslaw.

[partgypsy]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

[Frugal Lizard]

@simonsez - Totally agree with you. Planning the meal is half the effort or more.  Tell me what to make, and I'll make it.

I have been learning to pressure can so I don't have to wait for soup to thaw, cause some days that is too much effort.  I try to pull the frozen items out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

[Villanelle]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

I don't understand this.  We are a 2 person family and when I batch cook, I don't have massive amounts of leftovers.  For casserole type things, I make them in an 8x8 pan (usually 3-4 of the same type). That's enough for 1 dinner for 2 and couple lunches.  For soups and stews, I freeze in gallon bag, not overly full, and usually get 2 dinners worth, but I could freeze even less in each bag if I wanted.  Or I make ground beef with onions and basic spices in a massive batch and freeze in small portions, and use that for adding to canned sauce over pasta, or tossing in a burrito, or throwing over asian noodles. 

Batch cooking doesn't have to mean you suddenly have 37 servings of the same meal that need to be eaten. Or are you saying your kids won't eat meat the know was frozen, or a lasagna that has spent time in the freezer before baking?   

[Metalcat]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

How old are these kids? How do they even know something was previously frozen? Why are they refusing to eat previously frozen food?

I keep hearing stories of people's kids who refuse to eat leftovers and it blows my mind.

[PacificaFog]

I love the Paprika app as well!  I’ve collected a lot of easy dinner recipes online over the years (Budget Bytes and The Kitchn are favorite sources) and store them in Paprika.  On Sunday morning before I go grocery shopping, I select 3-4 recipes for the week and generate my grocery list in the app which I can take to the store on my phone.  I typically cook every other night and make enough for two nights (there’s only 2 of us, so it’s easy to make enough). Doing this consistently has saved me so much stress and money over the years. More than worth the $4.99 for the app!

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

How old are these kids? How do they even know something was previously frozen? Why are they refusing to eat previously frozen food?

I keep hearing stories of people's kids who refuse to eat leftovers and it blows my mind.

As a card-carrying parent of multiple kids, I echo this. I can't see this as anything other than a learned behavior.

Some kids are pickier eaters than others. There are some things my kids don't like, but they push back on eating it fresh or thawed. I'm not sure what leftovers have to do with it. I mean, I don't have them eating the same thing 5 nights in a row, but I tend to thaw out 2-3 different things, so people can alternate and get what they want. Usually what happens, though, is that the same person eats most of the one thing I thawed out because they like it, so they are actually eating the leftovers multiple nights in a row.

[Metalcat]

I love the Paprika app as well!  I’ve collected a lot of easy dinner recipes online over the years (Budget Bytes and The Kitchn are favorite sources) and store them in Paprika.  On Sunday morning before I go grocery shopping, I select 3-4 recipes for the week and generate my grocery list in the app which I can take to the store on my phone.  I typically cook every other night and make enough for two nights (there’s only 2 of us, so it’s easy to make enough). Doing this consistently has saved me so much stress and money over the years. More than worth the $4.99 for the app!

I also cook 3-4 recipes per week, but I make them for lunches and dinners and we just cycle between the few recipes each meal. So a lot of repetition, but not several times in a row. I always have a few to choose from and I make sure they're very different so that I can pick according to my mood.

I also cycle through over 150 recipes, so even though I'll have the same dish maybe 4 times that week, I won't have it again for another 6-12 months. So I don't get sick of anything, even if I have it 4 times in one week.

[JupiterGreen]

I love the Paprika app as well!  I’ve collected a lot of easy dinner recipes online over the years (Budget Bytes and The Kitchn are favorite sources) and store them in Paprika.  On Sunday morning before I go grocery shopping, I select 3-4 recipes for the week and generate my grocery list in the app which I can take to the store on my phone.  I typically cook every other night and make enough for two nights (there’s only 2 of us, so it’s easy to make enough). Doing this consistently has saved me so much stress and money over the years. More than worth the $4.99 for the app!

I also cook 3-4 recipes per week, but I make them for lunches and dinners and we just cycle between the few recipes each meal. So a lot of repetition, but not several times in a row. I always have a few to choose from and I make sure they're very different so that I can pick according to my mood.

I also cycle through over 150 recipes, so even though I'll have the same dish maybe 4 times that week, I won't have it again for another 6-12 months. So I don't get sick of anything, even if I have it 4 times in one week.

Thank you both for this information, I'll check it out.

[Dicey]

Heh heh, we were running errands and decided to grab a whole pizza at Costco (note: we were not shopping at Costco). We took it home. I sliced and sauteed red onion, mushrooms, olives and artichoke hearts -all from the fridge/pantry. Tossed it on top of the cheese pizza and boom: dinner.

[chasingsnow]

Its been brought up a few times but another +1 for the instant pot. Some (most) days I dont feel like cooking, but I pride myself on rarely eating out. You know what I can do? Assemble ingredients and put them in a pot and hit a button. Thats how simple the instant pot is. I just google instant pot and one pot recipes with a couple ingredients I have on hand and its an easy fool proof way to be eating healthy food in <30 min.

Added bonus: DW is not great at taking meat out of the freezer ahead of time but you can cook meat from frozen in the instant pot.

[poxpower]

Proatmeal.

oats + frozen fruits + water. Microwave 3-4 mins.
Add milk, 1 tbsp butter, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 0% fat yogurt.

Total cook/prep/wait time: 5 minutes. Cleaning time = 20 seconds
All ingredients can be kept for weeks/months ( except the milk )

You can make oatmeal however you like anyway. This bowl is 500-800 calories range, lots of fiber and protein. Mostly used for fueling bike training. Easy, simple, cheap, healthy.

I always keep bags of frozen vegetables. Just microwave that, 5- minutes, put some random condiment on it like hot sauce or mayo or ketchup. Eat that with whatever else.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

How old are these kids? How do they even know something was previously frozen? Why are they refusing to eat previously frozen food?

I keep hearing stories of people's kids who refuse to eat leftovers and it blows my mind.

As a card-carrying parent of multiple kids, I echo this. I can't see this as anything other than a learned behavior.

Some kids are pickier eaters than others. There are some things my kids don't like, but they push back on eating it fresh or thawed. I'm not sure what leftovers have to do with it. I mean, I don't have them eating the same thing 5 nights in a row, but I tend to thaw out 2-3 different things, so people can alternate and get what they want. Usually what happens, though, is that the same person eats most of the one thing I thawed out because they like it, so they are actually eating the leftovers multiple nights in a row.

I'll echo the above. I have a super picky teen & one not at all picky teen (raise exactly the same, so don't know what gives on overall pickiness, but I think one has a texture issue). Even for the super picky teen, he eats leftovers, including those that have been frozen, assuming it's something that's on his approved list. E.g. meatballs, taco meat, grilled chicken, kebabs, etc.

We do meal planning, & I typically plan to get two dinners out of each meal (cook 3x, mostly on weekends, feed everyone leftovers during the week). If there is an extra serving leftover, I usually add it to the freezer, as we don't eat lunch at home. Free lunch at work/schools. If you have so much volume & are left eating a lot of leftovers, can't you cut down on the recipe size, and/or just rotate them?

[simonsez]

As a non-parent who was a picky eater in my childhood, I find the talk about how parents approach food/leftovers/etc. with their kids fascinating.  I don't believe there would be a one-size-fits-all panacea but there is definitely a disconnect for children with calories and food in general that I'm guessing wasn't as big of an issue historically (i.e. when you didn't have 10,000+ items easily accessible at a neighborhood store that has electricity, refrigeration, and freezers).

There were a few defining moments that clicked for me, or at least moved me in the direction of not being as picky or thinking that all food has to taste good.  Most recently was the failure experienced while deer hunting for many hours out in the cold and just thinking about how precious food is and not take for granted what we have such easy access to (not to mention that I should be much more open to organ meats and utilizing a higher % of an animal).  I remember taking a field trip in undergrad to the meat processing facility on campus that the grad students of one of the Ag programs worked at and having an appreciation for that work.  Another was a fishing trip where we purposefully didn't bring food and gathered some berries and mushrooms to go with the fish we caught.  I remember not foraging or catching quite enough for the entire group to feel as stuffed as normal and lying in my tent thinking about how common that experience must've been historically or still in many places of the world.  In fact, being a kid and your dad/uncle/grandpa/mom/whoever letting you take the knife for the first time to filet the fish was a big deal and a bit of a thrill!  There was a connection established and you could feel it. 

Cooking in general while preparing a meal is still a very intimate experience at times so it makes sense if parents are providing/cooking 100% of the meals to their children, the kids are missing that connection (let alone the connection that food costs $ and/or time and $ and time are finite resources), take it for granted, and start to become picky.  I have a close friend whose highly educated wife eats meat occasionally but REFUSES to eat any meat that "comes on a bone".  So she'll eat chicken nuggets but won't touch a thigh or a wing.  She'll eat a hamburger but won't touch a T-bone.  I did get her to try some crab legs for the first time in her life (when she was in her early 30s) and she thought that was pretty good though she admitted the experience of cracking the legs was not her favorite.  I also think gardening has greatly increased my appreciation for the calories I consume.  Gardening and farming is hard work!  Even the modern practice of going to someone else's orchard and picking your own apples and pears to take home for canning, baking, etc. is something much different than buying produce at a grocery store.

IDK what the solution is for picky eaters but I think having more of a connection to the calories we ingest can't hurt.  I'm not sure if the urban style of just paying for 100% of your calories from the local grocery store that trucks in goods from feedlots and monocrop ag (i.e. little or zero connection to your food) is a sustainable model worldwide to begin with.  Not saying everyone does that ("I buy organic!", "I go to a farmer's market once a month!", etc.) but if the majority are buying into the Big Ag system we have, I expect the issue of having picky eaters is here to stay and will probably only get worse.

[SpinWave0704]

We eat mostly scratch cooking, but keep a few things around for emergencies. I think most of my ideas have already been mentioned, but here are the things I can throw together in less than 10-15 minutes:

pre-made ravioli w/jarred tomato sauce
packaged madras lentils and brown rice
grilled cheese sandwiches or tuna melts
quesadillas with just cheese, or add: canned chicken and/or sautéed pepper/onion/mushroom/spinach if we feel like it
tuna salad or chicken salad

We live 15 minutes from the closest shopping center w/grocery & takeout options so it's much more convenient to fix something at home than to go for takeout - and nothing would induce me to pay for delivery.

ooo I love the tasty bite spicy Madras lentils. Was so excited my kids are ok with the spice level so I can buy it on the regular. What I typically do is make either chicken and broccoli tikka masala (I know, not authentic) but today or tomorrow making vegetarian curry because chicken is so expensive (potato pea, carrots).
This is the thing. People on here swear by batch cooking. But my kids don't like eating the frozen leftovers, so I end up having to eat it multiple times till I'm really sick of it or they languish in the freezer/end up getting thrown out. At some point I just said f- it to batch cooking. So will make stuff fresh for that meal, or make larger quantities of favorites but only enough we can eat over 3 days max and then be done with it, or just finish off odds and ends until the next time I make a regular meal.

How old are these kids? How do they even know something was previously frozen? Why are they refusing to eat previously frozen food?

I keep hearing stories of people's kids who refuse to eat leftovers and it blows my mind.

As a card-carrying parent of multiple kids, I echo this. I can't see this as anything other than a learned behavior.

Some kids are pickier eaters than others. There are some things my kids don't like, but they push back on eating it fresh or thawed. I'm not sure what leftovers have to do with it. I mean, I don't have them eating the same thing 5 nights in a row, but I tend to thaw out 2-3 different things, so people can alternate and get what they want. Usually what happens, though, is that the same person eats most of the one thing I thawed out because they like it, so they are actually eating the leftovers multiple nights in a row.

I'll echo the above. I have a super picky teen & one not at all picky teen (raise exactly the same, so don't know what gives on overall pickiness, but I think one has a texture issue). Even for the super picky teen, he eats leftovers, including those that have been frozen, assuming it's something that's on his approved list. E.g. meatballs, taco meat, grilled chicken, kebabs, etc.

We do meal planning, & I typically plan to get two dinners out of each meal (cook 3x, mostly on weekends, feed everyone leftovers during the week). If there is an extra serving leftover, I usually add it to the freezer, as we don't eat lunch at home. Free lunch at work/schools. If you have so much volume & are left eating a lot of leftovers, can't you cut down on the recipe size, and/or just rotate them?

Thanks for all the good suggestions, all!

Just wanted to chime in about the leftovers. As an adult, I'm OK with leftovers, but I didn't like leftovers as a kid, and I definitely, definitely knew the difference! When grandmother used to live with us, she used to comment that even as a toddler (age 2-3), I would eat a home-cooked food if it was freshly made, but if the same food was frozen and reheated, I wouldn't eat it. It wasn't a "learned behavior" in my case - I could (and still can) taste the difference. Ofc not for all foods, but for a lot foods.

[Linea_Norway]

I love the Paprika app as well!  I’ve collected a lot of easy dinner recipes online over the years (Budget Bytes and The Kitchn are favorite sources) and store them in Paprika.  On Sunday morning before I go grocery shopping, I select 3-4 recipes for the week and generate my grocery list in the app which I can take to the store on my phone.  I typically cook every other night and make enough for two nights (there’s only 2 of us, so it’s easy to make enough). Doing this consistently has saved me so much stress and money over the years. More than worth the $4.99 for the app!

I also cook 3-4 recipes per week, but I make them for lunches and dinners and we just cycle between the few recipes each meal. So a lot of repetition, but not several times in a row. I always have a few to choose from and I make sure they're very different so that I can pick according to my mood.

I also cycle through over 150 recipes, so even though I'll have the same dish maybe 4 times that week, I won't have it again for another 6-12 months. So I don't get sick of anything, even if I have it 4 times in one week.

Thank you both for this information, I'll check it out.

So far, I liked the fact that I can download a recipee and then change it.
I also liked being able to categorize the recipees, but I can't change the categories that I made. This is hopefully a free version issue.

Now, it I read about a recipee elsewhere (in the newspaper, or on this forum), I look up the same place in the paprika webbrowser and download the recipee. That is really simple.

[bobble]

I have three main meals, all cheap healthy quick and about 450kcal, but maybe lacking other virtues:

Oatmeal with egg and mashed banana cooked into a "cake" in the microwave for four minutes. With milk and a spoon of peanut butter

Ready-made pea and ham soup from the supermarket.

One pound of frozen vegetables cooked in the microwave ~12 minutes with some added protein e.g. meatballs added in half way.

Hotsauce for taste in everything but the oatmeal.

Alternative: boiled eggs with salt or hotsauce.

Snack: Raw carrot.

[Telecaster]

One thing I just remembered:   Cover some chicken thighs (or any part of the chicken) with mayonnaise.   Then rub on what ever you want on top. Sriracha, teriyaki sauce, BBQ sauce, marsala, etc.  Helps to marinade for a while, but you don't have to.  Then bake for 30 minutes.   You can roast some vegetables at the same time if you like, but likely will need to finish them off in the microwave.

[Metalcat]

One thing I just remembered:   Cover some chicken thighs (or any part of the chicken) with mayonnaise.   Then rub on what ever you want on top. Sriracha, teriyaki sauce, BBQ sauce, marsala, etc.  Helps to marinade for a while, but you don't have to.  Then bake for 30 minutes.   You can roast some vegetables at the same time if you like, but likely will need to finish them off in the microwave.

I used to do something similar back when I cooked meat, but plain yogurt, lemon, garlic, and pepper

[Telecaster]

^ Yep.  Yogurt works great and it works the same way.   The heat of cooking drives off the water leaving fat and protein, which improve browning.  At the same time the fat holds in the flavors from the marinade.    It also helps prevent sweet sauces, like BBQ sauce, from burning.   

My wife used to work at a catering house and they used mayo on practically all their meat.  Chicken, fish, pork, etc.  It sounded crazy when she told me about it, but I tried it and it is like a super power.   

[Linea_Norway]

^ Yep.  Yogurt works great and it works the same way.   The heat of cooking drives off the water leaving fat and protein, which improve browning.  At the same time the fat holds in the flavors from the marinade.    It also helps prevent sweet sauces, like BBQ sauce, from burning.   

My wife used to work at a catering house and they used mayo on practically all their meat.  Chicken, fish, pork, etc.  It sounded crazy when she told me about it, but I tried it and it is like a super power.

My last job had a yearly barbecue with yoghurt marinated chicken breasts. That was very good.

[Louise]

Grilled cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs and toast or tuna salad are my go-tos. When I cook stews, meatloaf or casseroles, I try to make double the amount and stash half in the freezer right away because I do have those nights where I'm sick of preparing food and it's pretty easy to pop in the oven.

I've used one of those delivery services once, but I couldn't get over the cost after the delivery fee/tip. That's usually enough to get me in the kitchen.

[Tass]

PTF. We cook in batches and eat leftovers, but we aren't great at freezing them for later - it never seems like there's quite enough excess. Then we end up eating not so well when we don't want to cook and just ran out of our most recent leftovers.

[Must_ache]

Subway

freefootlong code show work on online orders to buy one get one until some time in March.

Why make food when I can get 2 subs for $9 and drive two miles to get them.

Because you can make something that tastes better, is healthier for you, better for the planet, doesn't involve additional miles driven, and leaves you with time to go for a walk after? Just spitballing, here...

Obviously those criteria don't deter me from recommending it.  At that price point when I am in the mood for something like that, I think it would be a waste of my time to prepare anything involved.

[Telecaster]

This weekend my wife poached a whole chicken, pulled the meat, and used the bones to make stock.   She made two batches of chicken pot pie (frozen crusts).  One we ate, and the other we froze for when we don't feel like cooking.   

[Treedream]

I live alone and cooking is always hard, cause there is a lot less joy in feeding yourself than in feeding others. So I have some easy meals that I eat a lot, because they are easy. That + spending time every now and again to make a very large pot of stew/chili/what have you to freeze and eat during the week, and I eat relatively healthy.

Shoarma:
Pita bread
Shoarma meat(vegan in my case)
whatever veg lingers in the fridge
mayo/garlic sauce

Noodles Teriyaki:
Noodles (boil as on packakge)
veg (always have onion in the house + other veg is enough. buy one of those kilo boxes of frozen peas and you will last forever)
Jar of Teriyaki sauce
vegan meat/tofu/a tin of black beans

[kite]

If the stuff is there, meal prep is always faster than Door Dash.  Always.
But prep begins with planning, ie.. before shopping.

We have chickens and an endless supply (it seems) of eggs, so there is always eggs when I want something quick.
And, it’s almost embarrassing to admit, since we got the air-fryer, nothing seems like actual ‘cooking’. Ours is a toaster-oven type. It’s always like making toast or playing with the Easy Bake Oven I had in the early 1970’s.

[techwiz]

Yesterday did a quick Costco shopping run after work and picked up a rotisserie chicken.

One of the items I picked up which will be for tonight is Cheese and Spinach Manicotti.  Which doesn't really feel like cooking as you just open a can of sauce and throw on top and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.   

[Trifle]

I just got home from a run and I was really hungry, so I toasted a slice of sourdough bread and opened a can of tuna.  I ate the toast dry and the tuna right out of the can.  It was delicious. 

[Metalcat]

If the stuff is there, meal prep is always faster than Door Dash.  Always.
But prep begins with planning, ie.. before shopping.

We have chickens and an endless supply (it seems) of eggs, so there is always eggs when I want something quick.
And, it’s almost embarrassing to admit, since we got the air-fryer, nothing seems like actual ‘cooking’. Ours is a toaster-oven type. It’s always like making toast or playing with the Easy Bake Oven I had in the early 1970’s.

You're absolutely right that it has to start with smart food buying. No pun intended, really, but it's kind of a chicken and egg thing. People need to have the right ingredients on hand for convenient meals, but they also need to shop for new things to even try out and learn which recipes are easy if they don't already know them.

Getting to a point where certain meals are super easy and automatic and you know how to shop for them to have the right things on hand can take time.

When I first switched to vegetarian cooking, I had to go through a whole transition of my planning and shopping and it took a lot of very intentional effort and extra shopping trips at first. Now that it's all second nature to me, I have countless easy dishes I can whip up with what I know to keep on hand in terms of supplies.

If someone is starting from having zero easy options off the top of their head, it isn't at all intuitive how to plan for groceries to make their lives easier.

I've converted many people over to how I cook. They find out how little I spend on food, how delicious my meals are, and how I lost and kept off a ton of weight eating this way, and they usually want in.

It's always a process for me of teaching them to transition slowly, to master a few really easy recipes first and slowly incorporate them into their existing routine. When people make poor choices because of convenience, it's pretty doomed to fail if the solution feels really challenging at the beginning.

I always make them get an Instant Pot and I always start them on this recipe because it only takes about max 10 minutes of work, makes 8 servings, is insanely tasty and filling, and only costs a few dollars for the entire batch:
https://www.apinchofhealthy.com/instant-pot-black-bean-soup/

[jrhampt]

When I don't feel like cooking, I often do some kind of quick rice bowl with whatever I happen to have around but using some seeds of change quinoa and brown rice pouches as a base (I keep these stocked in a Costco quantity) - they heat up in the microwave in 90 seconds and are filling and healthy.  Then I add nuts or seeds (maybe pecans or pistachios or pumpkin seeds - I keep lots of containers of nuts on hand), a cheese (usually some shredded asiago blend, or I grate whatever cheese ends I have lying around), a vegetable (usually leftover baked sweet potatoes), maybe some craisins, and either some leftover chicken or fish if I have it on hand.  Then I drizzle with a balsamic glaze or my dressing (olive oil, dijon, maple syrup or honey, and balsamic whisked together).  Easy, quick, uses up leftovers, fairly healthy.

[jrhampt]

Another option that really requires zero cooking is smoked salmon w cream cheese on top of an English muffin.  Capers and a bit of chopped onion if you have them, maybe some kind of jam on the side for people who like a bit of sweet with it.

Also I will often just make myself a cheese platter with nuts and fruit or olives to round it out.

[StarBright]

When I don't feel like cooking, I often do some kind of quick rice bowl with whatever I happen to have around but using some seeds of change quinoa and brown rice pouches as a base (I keep these stocked in a Costco quantity) - they heat up in the microwave in 90 seconds and are filling and healthy.  Then I add nuts or seeds (maybe pecans or pistachios or pumpkin seeds - I keep lots of containers of nuts on hand), a cheese (usually some shredded asiago blend, or I grate whatever cheese ends I have lying around), a vegetable (usually leftover baked sweet potatoes), maybe some craisins, and either some leftover chicken or fish if I have it on hand.  Then I drizzle with a balsamic glaze or my dressing (olive oil, dijon, maple syrup or honey, and balsamic whisked together).  Easy, quick, uses up leftovers, fairly healthy.

That sounds really good and I'm going to add that to my lunch rotation as I have most of those items on hand most of the time.

[jrhampt]

When I don't feel like cooking, I often do some kind of quick rice bowl with whatever I happen to have around but using some seeds of change quinoa and brown rice pouches as a base (I keep these stocked in a Costco quantity) - they heat up in the microwave in 90 seconds and are filling and healthy.  Then I add nuts or seeds (maybe pecans or pistachios or pumpkin seeds - I keep lots of containers of nuts on hand), a cheese (usually some shredded asiago blend, or I grate whatever cheese ends I have lying around), a vegetable (usually leftover baked sweet potatoes), maybe some craisins, and either some leftover chicken or fish if I have it on hand.  Then I drizzle with a balsamic glaze or my dressing (olive oil, dijon, maple syrup or honey, and balsamic whisked together).  Easy, quick, uses up leftovers, fairly healthy.

That sounds really good and I'm going to add that to my lunch rotation as I have most of those items on hand most of the time.

It is delicious!  I actually call it a "Tom Brady bowl" because I feel like it's the sort of healthy thing even he might eat on his restrictive diet.  Minus the cheese, of course.  It's about as close as I get to a Tom Brady diet, anyway.

[Alternatepriorities]

Another option that really requires zero cooking is smoked salmon w cream cheese on top of an English muffin.  Capers and a bit of chopped onion if you have them, maybe some kind of jam on the side for people who like a bit of sweet with it.

Also I will often just make myself a cheese platter with nuts and fruit or olives to round it out.

Smoked salmon is delicious! I smoke all the scraps from processing our fish, grind them with cheese, add some mayo and maybe some dill. Then freeze small packages later. The nice part about running it through the meat grinder is the little bones don’t bother me ground up.

We also do the cheese platter thing. Especially for lazy “movie night” type suppers. We usually include popcorn too. If you buy popcorn in a 50 lb bag it’s about the same price as rice…