All "home chefs and cooks". Do you consult with your family the "menu" for the day?

Question

Do you cook what you feel like or do you give them a choice?

In our household the first person arriving at home in the evening starts cooking and we decide in the morning what is for supper.

Answer 1

In my house we plan our meals 2 weeks in advance, & it is a collaborative effort.  We ask both kids 6 & 10 what they want & they each get to pick one meal a week.  Within reason of course if my 6 year old suggests we all eat a Slim Jim meat stick for dinner I might counter with Kabobs.  

So that leaves 3 meals for us to plan (we're talkin weekdays here, we'll do leftovers or maybe out to eat on weekends) we will get together & brainstorm on what we are craving as we rummage through the recipe box.  What actually makes the cut may be influenced by things we might already have in the freezer or of course the budget.  Then we have a magnetic dry erase calendar & I'll write the menu down for the two weeks.

Then I'll go down over the meals one by one to compile a grocery list.  I'll write the list and he'll check to see when I'm not sure..."honey do we still have sour cream".  We will do a major grocery shopping trip on Sunday.  Then another minor trip the following week for produce. For example, say stuffed bell peppers are not this friday but next friday. I'll leave peppers off the first trip & do them on the second trip so they don't spoil between now & then.  

I've been doing it this way for about a year & I love it.  It helps me stay better organized & that dominoes into other areas.  Like I don't have to run to the store at the last second because I ran out of something, which in turn get dinner on the table sooner, in turn leaves me more time to help the kids with homework, in turn gets them bathed & in bed sooner, & then they are better rested in the morning so I don't have to drag them out of bed & they actually have time for breakfast before its off to school.

Answer 2

I usually ask my husband "What do you want to eat tonight?" Then he replies "Oh, I dunno".  SO I end up making what I want to, or sometimes I just take a pack of frozen soup out of the freezer. He loves soup and can eat it every day.

Answer 3

Yes, i ask my husband and the usual response is ''anything, it's ok"   -  so now i make anything...................fortunately he eats almost anything unlike me

Answer 4

Nope, no choice unless its a birthday or other special occasion

Answer 5

Well there's just hubbie and me now so he eats what I cook and it's normally what we both like!

Answer 6

Every morning before my hubby leaves for work, I ask him what he would like to eat that evening. I usually give him a choice of dishes. Sometimes he'll pick one, but mostly he just says he can't pick now, I have to decide later what I want to make, he'll just eat it.

Answer 7

No, my kids are too small and my husband is too busy, I decide what we are going to eat everyday (big schlepp) and then prepare the meal at night. I usually decide the night before what we are going to eat the next day and then take the meat out of the freezer and put it in the fridge.

Answer 8

My  girlfriend now usually just makes what she feels like , when we first started living together , she used to e-mail or phone me every day at about 4pm "what you want for supper", my reply was always "food" so she gave up after a while , There is the odd ocassion however when i do "feel" like something and then ask her to make it , otherwise the choice is up to her...

Answer 9

I usually cook but mostly ask my family what it is that they would like to have and broadly base my cooking on the feedback that I get.

Answer 10

My wife and I take turns cooking, usually the nights that she cooks, I decide what we're having and the nights that I cook, we generally end up getting a takeaway or else I prepare a curry or steak, egg and chips, my specialities.

Answer 11

I do not cook that often due to the time that I get home. When I do cook, it is always a surprise for the family and then I cook those things that I really miss.

In our household my wife does the cooking and she will consult with me every now and then. I am not too fussy when it comes to food.