Lazy ‘Cooking’

[Windigo]

My other half does the dishwasher and tidies away cooking mess.
He never used to but after my boys left for uni I said that’s it. I’m no longer doing all of it.

We miraculously fell into I cook he cleans up. Makes a big difference to us because as soon as I see a tidy kitchen I start cooking again

Yeah I forgot that. My husband tidies up too. Perfect deal if you ask me!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Sometimes, & if it's late, I'll clean the kitchen in the morning. But I try to get it done so that it doesn't attract unwanted or uninvited guests, if you know what I mean.

 

[TastyReuben]

Its easier to just say, "Let's get Chinese takeout tonight." He'll say, "The usual?" Then he'll call it in and go pick it up. Much easier.

That’s what I’m trying to get MrsT to do. She falls into that classic meme of:

Me: Where do you want to eat?
MrsT: I don’t care, anywhere is fine.
Me: Pizza Plaza?
MrsT: No.
Me: Burgerburg (BTW, how is there not a place called Burgerburg - that’s brilliant!)?
MrsT: No, not really in the mood for a burger.
Me: Chinese? Pasta? Salad? Barbecue?
MrsT: No. Nope. Nada. Uh-uh.
Me: Where then? For the love of god, JUST PICK A PLACE!!!
MrsT: Oh, I don’t really care, I’ll eat anywhere. Except those places.

That’s why I keep insisting that one night, she just handle it from beginning to end, so I don’t have to be involved in an hour of back-and-forth. Hasn’t happened yet, though.

I think next time, I’m going to say, “I’m leaving, I’ll be back in two hours, figure it out, and my phone’s off. Good luck.” - except I know I’ll come back home to, “Ok, I’ve got it narrowed down to Vic’s, Chinese Dragon, Bowl-O-Pizza, Frytown…”

Same, my husband doesn't cook either. He could survive on his own,

Yesterday, while she was trying to work something out, I told her, “You know, if I died tomorrow, you’d starve to death within a week.”

To 'get the blender out' would be way too energetic for me - the antithesis of a low effort meal.

I’m right there with you on that. “Low effort” to mean means there’s little to no prep, no cooking. Heating something up or that’s already cooked or assembling something, like a sandwich, is about as far as I’m willing to go.

We miraculously fell into I cook he cleans up.

That’s never worked here. She’s a “I’ll get to that in a minute…” cleaner-upper, but like “tomorrow,” that “in a minute” never arrives.

I told it on here before, but when we first married, she insisted on showing her appreciation for me being the cook by offering to clean the kitchen.

I had a feeling how that would go, so I left it to her, and “I’ll get that later tonight,” turned into “I’ll get that in the morning,” then “I’ll get that when I get home.”

On and on, until we’d eaten off every plate, dirty dishes stacked everywhere, we were eating out of mixing bowls and Tupperware containers, and every time I’d say, “Right. Enough. I’m cleaning this up!” she’d yell at me that she’d get to it, “in a minute.”

I finally cleaned it up after the gnats set up a permanent colony in the kitchen, and to this day, the best I can get is an occasional emptying of the dishwasher (which I’m about to do as soon as I’m off here, been waiting on that since yesterday… ).

 

[medtran49]

When I make bolognese sauce, I make a big batch and freeze most of it in containers for nights like that. Hubby could eat it every day with no complaints.

That's Craig!

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

That’s what I’m trying to get MrsT to do. She falls into that classic meme of:

Me: Where do you want to eat?
MrsT: I don’t care, anywhere is fine.
Me: Pizza Plaza?
MrsT: No.
Me: Burgerburg (BTW, how is there not a place called Burgerburg - that’s brilliant!)?
MrsT: No, not really in the mood for a burger.
Me: Chinese? Pasta? Salad? Barbecue?
MrsT: No. Nope. Nada. Uh-uh.
Me: Where then? For the love of god, JUST PICK A PLACE!!!
MrsT: Oh, I don’t really care, I’ll eat anywhere. Except those places.

That’s why I keep insisting that one night, she just handle it from beginning to end, so I don’t have to be involved in an hour of back-and-forth. Hasn’t happened yet, though.

I think next time, I’m going to say, “I’m leaving, I’ll be back in two hours, figure it out, and my phone’s off. Good luck.” - except I know I’ll come back home to, “Ok, I’ve got it narrowed down to Vic’s, Chinese Dragon, Bowl-O-Pizza, Frytown…”


Yesterday, while she was trying to work something out, I told her, “You know, if I died tomorrow, you’d starve to death within a week.”


I’m right there with you on that. “Low effort” to mean means there’s little to no prep, no cooking. Heating something up or that’s already cooked or assembling something, like a sandwich, is about as far as I’m willing to go.


That’s never worked here. She’s a “I’ll get to that in a minute…” cleaner-upper, but like “tomorrow,” that “in a minute” never arrives.

I told it on here before, but when we first married, she insisted on showing her appreciation for me being the cook by offering to clean the kitchen.

I had a feeling how that would go, so I left it to her, and “I’ll get that later tonight,” turned into “I’ll get that in the morning,” then “I’ll get that when I get home.”

On and on, until we’d eaten off every plate, dirty dishes stacked everywhere, we were eating out of mixing bowls and Tupperware containers, and every time I’d say, “Right. Enough. I’m cleaning this up!” she’d yell at me that she’d get to it, “in a minute.”

I finally cleaned it up after the gnats set up a permanent colony in the kitchen, and to this day, the best I can get is an occasional emptying of the dishwasher (which I’m about to do as soon as I’m off here, been waiting on that since yesterday… ).

Not sure how honest I should be here but sometimes it’s nice to hear someone else being a bit annoyed on your behalf
Happily taking your time and efforts and not reciprocating is not nice.

If it was me I‘d say I’ve ordered so n so for myself this evening, I didn’t know what you’d fancy so I thought it best if I left that to you.
If they looked offended or say anything I‘d say I didn’t want to wait hours to eat but also didn’t want to have a fall out so this is a win win, I’m not cooking and not getting annoyed and you can have whatever you heart desires.
Bet she gets the hang of ordering food within a few weeks and then you can piggyback off that.

Or what I did with my lot that sounded like a treat (and ultimately it was because like you I wanted a night off cooking) that worked so well -

They already had to cook one day a week for everyone but generally they needed a sous chef and made a lot of mess (although that did improve).
So I introduced ‘Choice night‘
You can have anything you like to eat, just tell me before the shopping order goes in and I’ll get it, then you can cook it whenever you’re hungry.
Now that might sound like a lot of mess but nope people who are not into cooking keep it very basic so they mainly ate noodles, steak or pizza, it was all one pan (or no pan) stuff.

The day before the very first choice night I bought myself a lobster and made Thermidor butter which I had the next evening with very indulgent and peaceful glass of £30 Riesling to congratulate myself on my new found Tuesday evening freedom

 

[caseydog]

Getting back to the OP, I make single serving pizzas for myself. I use par-baked pizza crusts, sauce, some Italian seasonings, granulated garlic, whole milk low moisture mozzarella, and any toppings I have on hand. This one had diced ham and fresh basil.

The whole thing takes five minutes to prepare, and ten-to-twelve minutes to bake at 400F.

CD

 

[TastyReuben]

He can turn the oven on fine, but if a temp change is required, he can't reset it by himself without turning the oven totally off and starting from the beginning.

You were describing your stove and it sounds a lot like mine…and I don’t know how to do that! I do what Craig does! Now I’ve got to go get the manual out and look through it.

Haha, I figured it out! Just press Bake, change the temp, and Start. Saves me about 20 annoying beeps resetting it from Cancel!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Haha, I figured it out! Just press Bake, change the temp, and Start. Saves me about 20 annoying beeps resetting it from Cancel!

I'm sorry for laughing at you, but you're such an intelligent fellow otherwise I found it surprisingly funny...well glad you figured it out.

 

[TastyReuben]

I'm sorry for laughing at you, but you're such an intelligent fellow otherwise I found it surprisingly funny...well glad you figured it out.

Pressing Bake while in the middle of a baking cycle is like throwing your car in reverse while speeding down the highway. It makes no sense to do that!

They need a button on there that says Reset Bake Time/Temp - it can do exactly the same thing as Bake-change temp-Start, but it needs its own button!

 

[caseydog]

Pressing Bake while in the middle of a baking cycle is like throwing your car in reverse while speeding down the highway. It makes no sense to do that!

They need a button on there that says Reset Bake Time/Temp - it can do exactly the same thing as Bake-change temp-Start, but it needs its own button!

Just like an IT guy... "We need another button and three more steps!!!!" I majored in Art, and it took me two seconds to figure out how to change the temp on my oven. If you want to change the temperature on the oven, you just do the same thing you did to set the original temperature.

I bet you LOVE reading owners manuals.

CD

 

[medtran49]

I'm sorry for laughing at you, but you're such an intelligent fellow otherwise I found it surprisingly funny...well glad you figured it out.

As Tasty found out, you have to actually read the manual, something a lot of men refuse to do....

I'll admit I just quickly skimmed the manual when we first got the stove. But after cooking on it a couple of times, I got the manual out, read through it and kept it on the counter for a few weeks so I could check it when things came up.

I won't let Craig reset the time on the stove when power goes out or there's a time change. He did something to our last stove when trying to reset the time and it never told time after that, even after turning power off and back on. The time function was just gone.

 

[TastyReuben]

I bet you LOVE reading owners manuals.

I do! I read the owner’s manual for everything I buy, even if it’s something basic, like a $10 toaster.

That’s why I was surprised about resetting the oven temp midstream, so I pulled out the manual to re-read it and, sure enough, it’s not in there, so that’s a hidden feature (or an oversight, because a good marketing department would advertise that as a feature and stick another $50 on the price of the oven).

 

[JAS_OH1]

As Tasty found out, you have to actually read the manual, something a lot of men refuse to do....

I'll admit I just quickly skimmed the manual when we first got the stove. But after cooking on it a couple of times, I got the manual out, read through it and kept it on the counter for a few weeks so I could check it when things came up.

I've never read mine, lol. I never gave it any thought. Just instinct I guess.

 

[caseydog]

I do! I read the owner’s manual for everything I buy, even if it’s something basic, like a $10 toaster.

That’s why I was surprised about resetting the oven temp midstream, so I pulled out the manual to re-read it and, sure enough, it’s not in there, so that’s a hidden feature (or an oversight, because a good marketing department would advertise that as a feature and stick another $50 on the price of the oven).

My ex-wife was obsessed with reading manuals. But, she also made me write out turn-by-turn instructions on how to get somewhere in the car. Maps made no sense at all to her. I would look at a map, and write out...

1. Turn right at Main ST
2. Drive 2.6 miles to oak ST, turn left
3. Drive 3 miles, just past the Kroger store on the right, and turn right on Maple ST

You get the picture.

CD

 

[TastyReuben]

Nowadays, owners’ manuals are usually online, and you just get a quick-start guide to get you up and running.

I’ll order (and pay extra for a printed owner’s manual if that’s available, or download and print the online one. I have them all in binders.

I even save the little cardboard card that comes with, say, a baking dish, because it’ll have the max oven temp on it, or whether it’s broiler-safe, and I always forget that.

Funny story - you know I love my America’s Test Kitchen/Chris Kimball stuff - well, he went out of his way on one episode years ago to warn people that Pyrex glass baking dishes aren’t broiler-safe, and he detailed how they cracked one in the test kitchen, thought it was a manufacturer’s flaw, until someone was smart enough to read the owner’s guide, where it plainly said it wasn’t broiler-safe.

He tried to play it off like, “Well, that’s not our mistake, because everyone just assumes they are,” and I was yelling at the TV, “Speak for yourself, Kimball, I read that when I bought my first one 25 years ago, numb! RTFM!*”




*Read The Fu…er Fine Manual