Mom Is ‘Sick’ of Cooking for Family 3 Times a Day Without Help from Picky Husband

Cooking for her family is not a piece of cake for one exhausted mother.

The mom of two vented on the U.K.-based community forum Mumsnet about how her “workaholic” husband and their kids don’t appreciate the effort she puts into preparing meals to meet each of their specific dietary restrictions.

“Just a vent. I am just so absolutely sick of the relentlessness of having to plan, prepare and clear up three meals, day in, day out,” she began. “One child is vegetarian, the other has a very restrictive diet. Literally the only foods they both eat are eggs, cheese, pasta, bread, yogurt and apples.”

“That doesn’t leave many meals that can feed them both so I’m usually making something separate for each of them,” she added. “My husband is a workaholic with some hang-ups about food/weight and will impulsively decide he doesn’t want dinner after I’ve already plated it up.”

The tired parent, who said she also watches what she eats because she is “perimenopausal,” explained that her love of making food has faded.

“I used to adore cooking, browsing recipe books and meal planning,” she wrote. “But the daily grind of either trying to come up with something everyone will eat or making different meals is driving me to despair.”

“No one appreciates it,” she continued. “I I feel constantly guilty about whether anyone has had 5 a day [eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily] or too many UPFs [ultra-processed foods] or sugar or whatever we’re being told will kill us this week.”

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Wondering how to proceed with this family dynamic, the mom asked the forum, “Can anyone relate? Any tips to make it more bearable?”

A single parent quickly chimed in with some potential solutions.

“I try not to cook more than once a day. So breakfast is cereal or toast, lunch we’ll have something very simple and then I only really cook for dinner,” the parent recommended.

They added, “I have one vegetarian teenager and one tween with restricted eating so a very similar situation. I make two versions of the same thing rather than different meals so it’s easier. Having lots of things in the freezer also helps!”

Others suggested that duties should be shared, with the kids helping out if they’re old enough and the husband meal-prepping on his days off.

“Honestly, do yourself a favor and take a deep breath and hand over some of the responsibility to your family,” one Mumsnet user said.