Treasure that. I miss being able to call my Mom to help with grammar questions. I was glad to get my favorite recipes from her.
We also plan each weeks meals. Otherwise we wouldnt know what to buy at the weekly supermarket “big shop”.
This brand of potatoes is actually kind of dirty. I’ve tried skipping that step but the dirt transfers onto the peeler and then onto the freshly peeled potato.
I also try to eat my potato peels the next day (most of the time)… I use this recipe, its actually quite good – if you like skin on french fries.
My mother is almost 90, but fit as a fiddle and her mind is like a steel trap.
I’ve invited her to live here in the desert on many occasions, but she is stubborn and refuses.
Here’s a gift link to the article:
I just read it, and none of it applies to me. Cooking is fun, creative, and relaxing. It’s mostly easy, too–I don’t use complicated recipes.
Mine are too, but I just rinse the peeled potatoes afterward instead of scrubbing the skins. Seems easier.
The article resonated with me, for several reasons. I’m the cook in our house, and also the meal planner and the grocery shopping planner. This means a substantial chunk of my week is taken up with thinking about food and then executing the plan. It’s freakin’ exhausting. Layer in a family who doesn’t always want to eat the same kinds of foods I want to eat, and it makes my head hurt. And when they help come up with ideas, it’s usually unhelpful ones like “how about chicken?” (To which I reply, that’s an ingredient, not a dish or a meal…) And don’t even get me started on the meals we plan where there are gluten and gluten-free versions - eg burgers, where I need to remember to have two different kinds of buns.
My 14yo is sometimes interested in cooking, so I do occasionally get a night off or demoted to sous chef-ing. DH does not cook, and is on dishwasher duty but I have to do the pots/pans (or redo them after he does them, so I just do them). So, 99% of that kitchen treadmill work is in my head.
I’ve said this in other threads, but, I’m the cook in our house. BF has things he knows how to make, but left to his own devices will either eat something delivered or from a package (ex. granola bar, frozen pizza, etc.). I do plan meals for Saturday-Thursday (Friday night is almost always sushi from our favorite local place), but don’t always follow through if my energy isn’t there. We are fortunate that it is just us (and the cat) and that we’re in a good place financially to allow for delivery when needed. This past Sunday, I was able to prep dinner for the evening, as well as get ahead on what would be Monday and Wednesday’s dinners. It was great to be able to come home and just heat and eat. I anticipate that, after a minute or two to assemble for tonight, doing the same for a planned casserole this evening (which will also potentially provide leftovers for a later meal). Not all my Sundays are that productive though. In terms of budgeting for meals, I am more careful lately than in previous years, as for the last year or two I have been buying my mom’s groceries (and phone and cable) as well as our own household’s. So, we rely on a monthly seafood subscription for our place for our proteins (can’t quite give up all the animal proteins yet) and then I can supplement mom’s EBT for her needs. We are lining up a nursing home for her soon though, which will allow me to reallocate some designated funds back to our household.
Sometimes food is an escape and sometimes it’s a burden / chore. I am always grateful, but we all have family situations and emotions that affect our best approaches.
Having navigated a similar situation with my grandmother, I can empathize. It’s incredibly stressful to be responsible for another adult’s survival. We could not have pulled off the transition to full-time care/Medicaid/etc without free legal and other advice from the local Area Agency on Aging. I hope you can connect with yours to help!
Lucky mom to have you.
(post deleted by author)
I think all of us are doing the best we can, with the time and resources available to each and everyone of us.
Thankfully, it’s not a competition. Just life.
I guess I feel thankful to have a hot meal each evening. In my youth, I remember struggling to scrape together money for any type of food.
Today – there is food in my freezer and pantry, cooking it is the least of my worries.
Speaking of the elderly, I still take meals to Neighbor #2 from time to time. I told her to call me up anytime she is having a tough day and can’t cook. I don’t want her going hungry, when it is so easy for me to defrost something or “pivot” and increase what I’m cooking.
Recently, she was having a rough day, so I defrosted and heated up some of my homemade enchilada(s). She called me the next day and told me how good they were (I think she was just hungry). Any who, she continued that she hadn’t had enchilada(s) in about 10 years, when she visited her brother in Texas, and told me all about her brother. She said mine were better than her brother’s.
We have! Which is one of the reasons we’re going to be able to move her to a nursing facility soon. Not sure how it is in other states, but there are a bunch of hoops to jump through in Massachusetts before you can get approved for a nursing home, if you can’t pay for it yourself. But the finish line is just about in sight. And, as a bonus, she will be much closer to me physically, which will be better all around.
I like to cook because of the immediate gratification and satisfaction if done well….but it can become a grind and treadmill especially with people are counting on you. It can easily become a drag. I took care of my dad during the last years of his life and I experienced the treadmill but luckily not a whole family, and my dad never complained about food, ever because he was a depression era kid and he wasn’t a cook. He was an average, less than perfect husband earlier in life but he never complained or said a negative thing about my mom’s cooking….but she was an excellent cook. My attitude about the treadmill was try to keep ahead of the curve with pantry stuff, a printed list of things to make and I figured out meal prep and batch cooking and bought a freezer. Being able to pull out a meal from the freezer reduced panic greatly. Usually did a few meals like that a week, a few easy to make things….and take out once a week or so.
In Japan, I spent a good number of hours every Sunday making stewed dishes (curry was a common choice) or other dishes which could be divided up into containers and then reheated for 5〜6 dinners. I worked nights most weekdays and didn’t feel like choosing what to make for dinner nightly until 9 PM and if it’s a dish I like, I don’t mind eating the same meal for that many days straight.
I’d be fine doing that here in Las Vegas, but I live with my sister and she has some issues with fragrant dishes and therefore I’m limited to what I can cook. I ate much healthier food in Japan with lots of vegetables and my main dinner protein was by far chicken. But I’ve got to abide my sister’s wishes for the time being. I hope to eventually have my own place with the freedom to cook what I want.
Looks awesome! Yes, it makes sense to ensure the peels are clean then!
Yes, my girlfriend likes these baked potato peels with her lunch (kind of like a slightly healthier potato chip). I like them, as well.
Just something different to add variety to our meals.
Should have added that big things that make cooking dinner a joy for me—when I’m not on someone else’s clock, that is—are an appreciative spouse and the rapt attention of a canine who behaves as though every single morsel is the best food. Ever.