Burn Out

[SilverSage]

What do y'all do when you're just totally burned out from cooking. I don't think I've cooked more than a small handful of meals in the last 2 or 3 months. Mostly, when I'm done working for the day, we just go out. I really just don't want to cook anymore.

I've been cooking and feeding people for 60 years and I'm tired of it! How do you get your mojo back when you feel this way???

 

[QSis]

What do y'all do when you're just totally burned out from cooking. I don't think I've cooked more than a small handful of meals in the last 2 or 3 months. Mostly, when I'm done working for the day, we just go out. I really just don't want to cook anymore.

I've been cooking and feeding people for 60 years and I'm tired of it! How do you get your mojo back when you feel this way???

Do you WANT to get your mojo back? Or are you fine with just allowing yourself to enjoy retiring your tongs except for those occasions when the spirit moves you?

Lee

 

[SilverSage]

It's getting expensive.
I want to retire, but my restaurant credit card bills are getting obscene. I can't keep this up if I move to a fixed income.
Plus, I'm running out of interesting restaurants.

 

[ChowderMan]

well, costs aside....
"Plus, I'm running out of interesting restaurants."
is a very very serious issue....

now and then I 'burn out' - I resort to simple, easy, no-brainer prep meals. nothing fancy, nothing exotic, no sauces, no thirty ingredient dishes . . . a one step +/- to "soup and an sandwich" type stuff. oh-oh . . . did tomato-rice soup and grilled cheese last week . . .

I intentionally plan about one dinner a month "out" - at a decent place. we're in an absolute desert of "high end" restos - so it's always a toss up between "diner food" and "sorta' better"

 

[QSis]

Well, cooking is a lot more fun when I'm not trying to lose weight!

How about using your crockpot more? Toss everything in before you go to work and wa-la! Dinner is done and the house smells great when you get home. Use slow cooker liners and no messy clean-up.

Some one-pot meals.

Sheet pan dinners.

I keep meaning to order this book.

Lee

 

[Sass Muffin]

I sure get burnt out trying to come up with different recipes/meals, whether it be something that pops up on my browser or any number of things found on Facebook that I follow.

Most of my cooking is based on a weekly menu plan, something I've done since my boys were little.
I try to put together interesting, appetizing meals- that will be leftovers.
For example : today I did the grocery shopping and have 7 basic meals that will be almost 2 weeks of food, if I'm lucky lol
That said, my shopping trip came to a whopping $212 and change - adding in coffee, butter and a few other things.
I get soooo tired of the meat and potato routine.
Dining out is a treat normally.
Like today, I had early dinner at the Chinese place, Jules, Pam and I are going out for Mexican on Friday.
I'm concerned about healthy eating, but don't get all crazy about it.
I think I mix it up pretty well between junk and good😊.

 

[Ironman]

Stop eating for a few days and you’ll get your mojo back 😂
I’ve been in slumps before but luckily it doesn’t last to long. Like a hobby it’s fun to get back at it. Good luck 👍

 

[medtran49]

I burn out from time to time. I used to make Craig cook majority of meals, but can't really do that anymore because his cooking is really hit or miss, mostly miss. So, we get sandwich meat or pimento cheese for sandwiches, or I make something that we can get several meals from, pulled or Cuban pork that can be portioned for a bunch of meals, some of those frozen and cook at home meals aren't bad at all and, while more expensive than from scratch, are way cheaper than a restaurant. I also find fairly simple quick recipes that are still tasty. A lot of sheet pan or packet meals can be made in the morning before work or the night before and then just popped in the oven when you get home. I did a lot of those when I was still working because I usually didn't get home until 7:30 or even later and the last thing I wanted to do was cook or even go out.

 

[medtran49]

Have you tried any of the Publix Apron meals? The 1 time I was going to buy them, our local store hadn't ordered the ones I wanted. However, I have come up with my own recipe for some of the ones they have advertised. Again, they are more expensive than from scratch, but cheaper than a restaurant.

I understand about the restaurant meal costs. We were eating out at nice restaurants once I got a job outside the home after Craig had his medical issues in 2020, and spending anywhere from $125-200+, including a couple of drinks for me, on a meal Friday nights, plus eating takeout a couple nights a week. We were spending anywhere from $1000-1400 on meals outside the home, plus grocery costs. I nearly had a heart attack the first time I added up the monthly restaurant costs. At that point though, the expense was worth it to me to have decent meals that I didn't have to cook.

 

[SilverSage]

Those are all great ideas, unfortunately it's the prep I can't face. Washing lettuce, peeling potatoes, chopping the onions, etc. Sheet pans, crock pots, instapots, still require prep. I'm also real tired of making salad and lean protein. I think of a simple salad as a heavy prep dish - lots of washing, peeling, chopping. Putting something in a pan and stirring or flipping it isn't the problem. It's everything building up to that point.

I work from home, (not a covid thing - it's been 10 years), so there is time during my day to prep and get things ready. I just dread the thought. If I cook, Judy does most of the cleanup, so that's not an issue either. Maybe part of it is wanting to get out of the house and be with people. After all day in my home office, I'm tired of these walls.

It's certainly not a quality issue - my own food is better than what we get out. Tonight we went out for Mexican. The chips were greasy. The salsa, bland. Nearly no cheese or sauce on the enchiladas. Wine was stale and turning. I make bettter at home with my own salsa verde. Last weekend we went to a party and were expected to bring a dish to pass. I bought 2 boxes of brownie mix, doctored them up with swirls of peanut butter and caramel, and passed them off as homemade. I usually love to show off my home baked goods for my friends, but I just couldn't be bothered.

I have a packed freezer full of food - beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish. A veritable grocery store. Some days I take something out to thaw for dinner, then at the last minute, change the plan and go out. Repeat day 2,3,4.... Throw out the fish or chicken that now isn't any good. I buy vegetables with hopes of cooking them, then watch them turn brown and moldy. That's both expensive and wasteful, but I do it often.

Keeping some frozen or prepared meals on hand might help in the short term. No prep - just pop something in the oven could be the ticket. But that probably won't be satisfying for the longer term.

 

[medtran49]

I understand. I did the same thing of buying stuff for meals, then throwing it away for a couple of months. I ended up making a list for 2 to 4 meals each week and realizing we were going to eat out/pick up rest of week. At least we weren't wasting food or money that way.

BTW , I WFH for nearly 30 years. I made REALLY good money for the first 20 or so, but then work was outsourced to India and elsewhere, and the bottom fell out of salaries. I used to make twice WFH for 20 hours than what i could make 40 hours in an office. When I went back to work in an office after 2020, i more than doubled what I made at home the last 10 years or so.

Even now that I have retired, I'm still not big about the baking. I've had things to bake 3 different baked goods for weeks, if not months, and none of them have been made yet. I'm just not that invested when it comes time to make them.

What I've been doing is making the weekly menu with 1 or 2 complicated things, 1 or 2 dishes Craig can make and the rest either easy to make or sandwiches or frozen. We have 3 freezers, 2 of which are pretty much stuffed, and the other I have been trying to clean out, other than buying staples like ground meat or chicken or shrimp on sale. Once I get the 1 cleaned out , other than the staples, I'll start on the other 2.

Just as an example, we had 2 pot roasts this week, 1 pork and 1 beef. I did part of both, Craig the rest. We had hot dogs and macaroni salad, homemade, plus we're having pulled pork, from the freezer, and mac salad. I made a double recipe of the mac salad in nearly the same time it took to make a single. A soup with roasted red bell peppers, which Craig did with a torch outside, and crab from the freezer. A steak salad, which craig cooked on the grill, plus the roasted red bell above. All i had to do was make the dressing, and cook the onions and mushrooms. The other meal is a multi course bento box that uses up freezer and pantry items, plus BOGO greens from Publix. It should be a good and tasty use of the freezer items and is the only complicated, active time consuming meal on the menu.

Just find work arounds to use up the freezer items, 2 to 4 times a week, and let the rest go.

 

[Shermie]

It's getting expensive.
I want to retire, but my restaurant credit card bills are getting obscene. I can't keep this up if I move to a fixed income.
Plus, I'm running out of interesting restaurants.

Yeah, the price of food & other things have gone sky-high since the covid pandemic hit, & they don't seem to be going down at all! if anything. prices have gotten even worst!!!

 

[retired baker]

If you only cook within your comfort level it gets old fast, try something more challenging.
Asparagus tart followed by scallops poached in champagne and creme brule to finish it off.
or homemade peking ravioli or Uovo ravioli.

 

[SilverSage]

If you only cook within your comfort level it gets old fast, try something more challenging.
Asparagus tart followed by scallops poached in champagne and creme brule to finish it off.
or homemade peking ravioli or Uovo ravioli.

None of those are out of my comfort zone, nor do I find them particularly challenging. Scallops/asparagus/creme brulee are some of my go-to dishes, simply because they are so quick and easy. It's the homemade ravioli that has me tired of cooking.

What are you eating Sunday, 12/13/2020 to Saturday, 12/19/2020?

Chinese takeout tonight. 2 egg rolls for me; plus shovel's of pork fried rice. Same. Well, not same dishes, but Chinese. This is form my local, Asia Joint: generals Tsos', Curry Puffs (these things are life), Chicken and Chive Wontons

netcookingtalk.com

 

[retired baker]

ok, then try reverse puff dough.
you have 30 minutes to complete your task.