Does your partner cook?

[TastyReuben]

I thought that was called ADD (attention deficit disorder)? If you have that it's a very minor case, IMO.

It’s less getting distracted by random things, and more about getting distracted by trying to do 100 things at once; you know, you’re fixing supper and reach for a dish towel, you find no dish towels in their usual place, and you remember you never brought them from the laundry room from when you folded them earlier that day, so you go to the laundry room, where you realize you have a load of laundry still in the washing machine, so you throw those in the dryer, start the next load, but while loading the washer, you notice a button about to come off your shirt, and you know if you don’t fix it right then, it’ll come off in the wash, so you go and get the needle and thread, and on the way, your spouse asks you when supper will be ready, so you go out to the kitchen to fix supper, but the peeler you need is in the dishwasher, dirty, so you pull that out to wash by hand, and that’s when you realize the soap dispenser is empty, so you go out to the garage where the extra supplies are, and while you’re out there, you see a hummingbird trapped up between the ceiling and the opened garage door, so you get the broom for the exhausted hummingbird to hopefully climb on so you can ever so gently put him outside, when you see the downspout gutter extension has come loose and blown across the yard with the last storm, so you go to retrieve that from the neighbor’s yard, and then…

…and that’s how a typical meal prep session goes here. None of it is, “Oh, look at this shiny thing,” it’s all crap that has to be done at some point.

 

[JAS_OH1]

It’s less getting distracted by random things, and more about getting distracted by trying to do 100 things at once; you know, you’re fixing supper and reach for a dish towel, you find no dish towels in their usual place, and you remember you never brought them from the laundry room from when you folded them earlier that day, so you go to the laundry room, where you realize you have a load of laundry still in the washing machine, so you throw those in the dryer, start the next load, but while loading the washer, you notice a button about to come off your shirt, and you know if you don’t fix it right then, it’ll come off in the wash, so you go and get the needle and thread, and on the way, your spouse asks you when supper will be ready, so you go out to the kitchen to fix supper, but the peeler you need is in the dishwasher, dirty, so you pull that out to wash by hand, and that’s when you realize the soap dispenser is empty, so you go out to the garage where the extra supplies are, and while you’re out there, you see a hummingbird trapped up between the ceiling and the opened garage door, so you get the broom for the exhausted hummingbird to hopefully climb on so you can ever so gently put him outside, when you see the downspout gutter extension has come loose and blown across the yard with the last storm, so you go to retrieve that from the neighbor’s yard, and then…

…and that’s how a typical meal prep session goes here. None of it is, “Oh, look at this shiny thing,” it’s all crap that has to be done at some point.

Thankfully I never have any of that, I've got extra kitchen towels in the drawer always, and I never forget about laundry...and I own two oxo peelers that never go into the dishwasher.

 

[Yorky]

Thankfully I never have any of that, I've got extra kitchen towels in the drawer always, and I never forget about laundry...and I own two oxo peelers that never go into the dishwasher.

We don't have a dishwasher.

We had one in the UK for many years.

 

[Windigo]

I thought that was called ADD (attention deficit disorder)? If you have that it's a very minor case, IMO. I too have it to a slight degree. Look, a squirrel!!! No, I really do get distracted by squirrels. I will start to make coffee or tea and see one at the back sliding door begging and I will switch to making a peanut butter sandwich for the critter, and then forget to make my coffee (or tea). For a few minutes, anyway.

I don't toss my potatoes when they sprout, I just wash them and remove the sprouts, then peel them. I didn't know it was bad to do that?

Yeah, my husband has that. It's well managed generally but ofc he's been under quite some pressure this past week which exarberates it

 

[JAS_OH1]

We don't have a dishwasher.

We had one in the UK for many years.

It takes about 5 days for mine to get full enough to run since I wash by hand frequently. All my pots and pans plus knives get handwashed and anything that gets frequently used. Vegetable peelers don't really need to go through the dishwasher cycle.

 

[bburned]

Nope. my wife doesn't cook. she experiments on me. big difference.

 

[Kooken]

The Wife is my Sous Chef.
She takes care of cutting up veggies and the like while I cook.
She also takes on the cleaning of the kitchen and dishes.
It works out well for both of us.....I dont complain and neither does she.
I will say since I've been going through healing up from multiple hip surgeries I mainly sit and give Her instructions which she doesnt take to well.
She gets frustrated when I correct Her constantly because She doesnt understand why I do the things I do when I cook.
Of course I then get frustrated as well.
Unfortunately some of our dishes suffer for it. If I try and explain why She gets a bit pissy.
To tell you the truth it really sucks,I love to cook and She's always been happy being my Sous Chef,it's been that way for 30 years.

 

[TastyReuben]

I mainly sit and give Her instructions which she doesnt take to well.
She gets frustrated when I correct Her constantly because She doesnt understand why I do the things I do when I cook.
Of course I then get frustrated as well.

We have a rule in our house - whomever is doing a thing…does the thing. No back seat driving.

One of us is a little better about following the rule than the other, but for the most part, all it takes is a comment like, “Are you doing this or am I doing this?” and that’s the flag to butt out and leave them to it, right or wrong.

 

[Morning Glory]

My partner (he has dementia) doesn't cook at all anymore unless you count making a cup of tea for me in the morning. He no longer understands anything about cooking and doesn't even know the names of simple ingredients. Its a shame because when I met him he was streets ahead of me and a brilliant cook of many different cuisines. In fact, it was one of the things about him that attracted me. I still have a book with some of his recipes.

 

[karadekoolaid]

My wife cooks very well, but I don´t cook with her, or even when she´s in the kitchen. Full stop.

 

[Morning Glory]

My wife cooks very well, but I don´t cook with her, or even when she´s in the kitchen. Full stop.

A wise man indeed.

 

[Kooken]

We have a rule in our house - whomever is doing a thing…does the thing. No back seat driving.

One of us is a little better about following the rule than the other, but for the most part, all it takes is a comment like, “Are you doing this or am I doing this?” and that’s the flag to butt out and leave them to it, right or wrong.

She doesnt cook well so I have no choice but to step in when she's screwing up.
I finally got Her to prep all the ingredients before cooking,She had a bad habit of starting before everything is ready and she'd cook herself into a corner.
Hopefully this is a temporary problem and I'll eventually heal up so we can go back to our original modus operandi.

 

[TastyReuben]

She doesnt cook well so I have no choice but to step in when she's screwing up.

For something like that, apart from risking an $80 rib roast or something like that, I’d stay out of it, unless she asks for help.

What’s the worst that happens? If something is beyond rescuing, you’ve lost that and have to order a pizza or make scrambled eggs, but some learning happened, so in my mind, it’s worth it.

When a person messes up, that’s when the real learning starts.

I should add, in case you didn’t read the whole thread, as it goes back a ways…my wife doesn’t cook. Not one bit. Doesn’t do any kitchen work at all, apart from occasionally unloading the dishwasher.

She did just reorganize the fridge, like an hour ago, said she couldn’t find anything, and when I started cooking just after that - nothing was where I expected it. Slowed me down considerably!

 

[Kooken]

For something like that, apart from risking an $80 rib roast or something like that, I’d stay out of it, unless she asks for help.

What’s the worst that happens? If something is beyond rescuing, you’ve lost that and have to order a pizza or make scrambled eggs, but some learning happened, so in my mind, it’s worth it.

When a person messes up, that’s when the real learning starts.

I should add, in case you didn’t read the whole thread, as it goes back a ways…my wife doesn’t cook. Not one bit. Doesn’t do any kitchen work at all, apart from occasionally unloading the dishwasher.

She did just reorganize the fridge, like an hour ago, said she couldn’t find anything, and when I started cooking just after that - nothing was where I expected it. Slowed me down considerably!

Nah...She knows She cant cook.
She does make a few dishes that are decent but give Her something new and she's lost.