I’ll be honest: cooking is not my favorite pastime. Friends often tell me, “Just give it a try, and you’ll come to love it.” Well, let me be clear—I don’t. Not everyone is meant to be a culinary genius, and frankly, if we all were, the world would just be one giant gourmet restaurant. Cooking has never been my strong suit, and I can’t even claim to be adept at the basics. I mean, I’ve been known to forget to vent the plastic cover on my microwave meals! The reality is, my disdain for cooking has only intensified since becoming a parent. Let me explain why:
- Daily Demand: Every single night, someone is asking, “What’s for dinner?” It’s like Groundhog Day. If we went to the zoo every day, it would lose its excitement. How about we switch to an every other day meal plan? A little anticipation might just spark some genuine interest in what’s on the table.
- Time Drain: By the time I’ve managed to mess up a meal, I could have ordered a pizza and moved on to the much more enjoyable task of bathing the kids.
- Monotonous Routine: Let’s face it, watching chicken sizzle is not exactly thrilling. I can’t even steal a moment for myself without worrying that I might accidentally set the kitchen ablaze.
- Endless Mess: There’s no such thing as a clean cooking session unless you’re at a restaurant. Even if I attempt to tidy as I go, food always seems to find a way to escape onto the floor or into the burner coils. It’s like trying to keep Play-Doh contained—impossible.
- Added Stress: You won’t catch anyone on a cooking show navigating around toddlers while trying to prepare dinner. Tossing kids into the mix turns the kitchen into a mini version of The Hunger Games.
- Complexity: The moment I stray from tacos or spaghetti, things get complicated. Suddenly, I’m faced with recipes that involve terms like “fillet” and “render,” which sounds more like a chemistry experiment than dinner prep.
- Minimal Enthusiasm: Unless I’m serving peanut butter sandwiches or those yogurt cups with M&Ms, my kids tend to look at their plates filled with chicken and veggies as if I’ve served them a punishment.
- Dishes Galore: No matter how you slice it, there are always dishes to wash. Even if I use paper plates and let everyone eat with their hands, I still have to clean the pots and pans. Believe me, I’ve tried cooking on paper plates—it doesn’t end well.
- Food Prep Takes Ages: From grocery shopping to prepping the ingredients, it all eats into my time. Sure, some folks love to prep ahead for slow cooker bliss, but for me, it’s just another task on an endless list.
- Leftovers: Ah, the mysteries of leftovers. You know, that food in the fridge that nobody touched and now seems to be developing its own ecosystem.
For those of us who struggle with cooking, the thought of it can feel like a burden. “Let them eat cake,” I say, as long as I don’t have to bake it! While dining out every day isn’t practical, I try to keep meals simple for both myself and my kiddos. Perhaps someday I’ll find the time to experiment in the kitchen, but until then, I’ll stick to my straightforward approach to dinner.
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In summary, cooking is a task I dread, and it seems to only get more challenging with kids in the picture. I cherish the idea of a simpler mealtime routine, and I’ll continue to search for ways to make it more manageable.
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