Do You Cook The Same Meals For Dinner?
November 25, 2009 by Kimberly · 14 Comments
I was intrigued when I read this “Most moms cook just nine different meals” article over at NewsLite. A study of 4,000 families revealed that 9 out of 10 moms cook the same meals repeatedly. Of that group, 1 in 4 moms also had a set day of the week on which they prepared the same meal.
The analytical side of me kicked in and I wondered if those numbers applied to me. Do I cook the same nine meals for dinner? It’s hard to say. I cook whatever my husband buys for the week. (He does the grocery shopping.) I usually don’t have food preferences when I cook at home, so I cook whatever my guys like. Chicken, pork, ribs and beef are the weekly staples, but I mix up how I prepare them. Do I have a set day of the week to prepare certain meals? Once again, my answer is “not really”. I prepare meals based on the expiration dates of the meat that my husband brings home. (When we were first married, we threw away so much meat and produce, because I didn’t think about such things!)
What about you? Do you stick to the same meals or tend to mix things up?
I have a few standbys that turn up frequently in my kitchen, but 9 meals would get pretty boring. I’m an adventurous cook, so we have new foods every week. That number does sound right for a busy family without a SAHM who loves to cook though. It’s enough variety to keep them from going crazy, I suppose.
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I try to change it up every week however I do cook chicken or ground turkey once or twice a week.
I try to make a monthly menu so we can have a wide variety of different meals. We do have the same side dishes a lot though. I do make a dish every week with chicken and ground beef since they are easy on the budget.
I have seen other mom’s menu plans on their blogs. They usually have a set day of the week they make a pasta night, meat, mexican, etc and then just fill in a recipe for that night. It sounds like it works for them but would get boring to me. I have to “be in the mood” for something in order to spend the time cooking it. I guess you could have 9 “go to” recipes that everyone loves and are easy to make but I couldn’t make them all in a row and then repeat over and over again. Life is too short!
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My husband and I were just talking about this. I don’t cook the same meals. I don’t menu plan. I do use what is in the fridge or on sale. The problem- I don’t remember what I cook from one day to the next- it is always different. I love changing it up – perhaps too much. When things get hectic, I need some staple recipes. So now, I am making the front page of one of my recipe books a “Good Recipes Index” this way I can easily find the cookbook and recipe when I need a meal fast.
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I try to mix it up but I am prone to burning things. Like today, I tried to make chedder broccoli soup and ended up with burnt mess and tears. Oh well. I just keep trying luckily my husband loves me and enjoys my experiments.
Probably I am such a mom who cooks 9 meals… But I make different sauces with them or some other varieties…
I have to admit I really only know a few recipes and stick with what I know (and my family likes).
I always have the old stand by dinners that our family enjoys, but it does get boring to cook and eat the same thing too often. I have a lot of cookbooks in my house and I like to sit down one day of the weekend and plan out a weekly menu, throwing in something different here and there and then use my menu to create a shopping list before I go grocery shopping.
This is sad, but we tend to cooke the same 5 meals. We really need to change things up. Thanks for the reminder. I think I’ll google some new recipes tonight.
No- we are totally random and go by season, what we are in the mood for, what’s on sale, etc… I get bored to easily and experiment a lot in the kitchen.
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Yes I am guilty as charged. But in my defense those are the only meals my picky children will eat. I probably have a little more than 9, but it is definately the same meals being recycled on my Menu weekly.
I typically have the same 9 or so meals that I do over and over but I occasionally mix things up with a new recipe about once a month.
I admit, I am in a dinnertime rut. We do tend to cook the same meals. With two toddlers, by the end of the day I’m tired and don’t want to deal with the battle. At least they like fairly healthy things for the most part. I need to broaden our horizens a bit when it comes to dinner, thanks for making me think about it.
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