this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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To me this sounds like the preparation you do during the week maybe is a bit tiring or boring or both, so that even if you like the food you cook, the process is a chore. I'd include grocery shopping in "the process".
If true, then you are amazing to keep on top of everything during the week, but it may provide some clues for arranging your weekend food into something you're happier with.
Maybe you need simpler, faster recipes for the weekdays so you're less fed up with cooking by the weekend? Maybe you need things which are more fun to cook, or which have more pleasurable sensory aspects, both in the preparation and in the eating? Maybe you could make some extra food during the week, that you can reheat or just turf onto a plate at the weekends?
Is it possible you are too strict during the week? Or that you're not really getting enough calories over the week? What happens if you are more relaxed about how healthy your weekday meals are? What happens if you have small amounts of junky stuff during the week?
Personally, this was the most exhausting part of cooking for me. My recipes are often complicated and call for a lot of somewhat obscure ingredients. Then the risk of forgetting something or buying the wrong thing is also there. Half the time, by the time I start actually cooking I'm already a little bit tired just because I could not find lime oil or whatever for the life of me.
I've started ordering all my ingredients for pickup now. I get a search bar so I'm not walking down isles hoping I'm in the right one, and I can check it against the recipe easily. I can pick it up on my bike ride and it just feels so much better.
So actually I meal prep on Sunday morning and eat the same thing M-F which I'm ok with but 5 days is my limit and I don't think the food would still be good by the next Saturday and Sunday anyway. But maybe you're on to something and even though I think I'm ok with the same dinner every day, maybe I need to make like 4 days worth of food then do a quick and easy 3 day meal prep on Thursday to switch it up. Maybe it's at least partially a psychological thing that I wasn't even aware was happening.
Just curious, do you dislike cooking? Or are you really short on time every day? Because if you don't hate cooking, and you love eating, then there's no reason not to just cook fresh and something different daily. If time is an issue, then there are plenty of quick recipes with simple ingredients that you can use to whip up a dish in no time at all - Jamie Oliver has a few books and shows on this (15 Minute Meals / 5 Ingredients – Quick & Easy Food etc), if you need some inspiration.
Once you get into the habit of cooking fresh daily, then you won't really differentiate between weekends and weekdays. Instead, you may even see weekends as a chance to cook those elaborate and fancy dishes you don't have the time for during the weekends, or experiment with a new cuisine or even a cooking technique that you haven't employed before.
Having the right gear also helps save a lot of time, such as a pressure cooker or an instant pot, an air fryer etc. Try and get your kitchen equipped with all the essentials, optimize the way you organize and access your ingredients, spices etc. Watch a few cooking shows like MasterChef to get ideas on how to streamline your kitchen and workbench, how to multi-task etc to get things done in the shortest possible time.
No, I actually like cooking but I have a problem with having enough energy. I also wake up by 5 am every day and I'm just tired after work. I meal prep so I have something good available and don't have to think and act when I'm tired. I also have an issue with overeating more and eating more junk food when I'm tired so it helps with that.
I guess I also don't want to have to plan and deal with making 5 to 7 separate meals every week, planning all that, buying that many groceries. I only cook for myself so that seems really like an excessive amount of shopping and cooking and things to buy when I can do it once and be done.
Edit: you know what I absolutely loathe though is cleaning and doing dishes and that's high on the list of reasons not to cook every day. The cooking is nice but nothing that goes along with it is.