What to do if your wife is a bad cook?

[Davideaux]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.

[TinMan]

You beat her repeatedly using "the rule of thumb" until she finally learns how to cook a goddamn meal! :p

Edit: I really wouldn't know how to approach that, I don't have a wife, I'm a good cook (I've done it as a job for 6 years), and I'm really picky about how my food is cooked. So I prefer to do it myself anyway. Good luck yo!

[Punchy]

My wife can't cook either. She doesn't even follow recipes (my favorite story, she was once making brownies and said "we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil" ... needless to say the brownies sucked ass). I don't mind cooking though.

[Endel]

eat out. alot.

[cactusmaac]

Bring home stuff your mother made.

She'll learn to improve.

[Cotton]

This all could've been avoided if you would've just married an Asian girl.

[Rae Rodriguez]

Well if you know how to cook, cook for yourself. What is this, 1950?
Unless she's a stay-at-home wife... then somebody better teach her.

[Maleficentogre]

teach her, make her comfortable around the stove. or you can do all the cooking. perhaps it wasn't meant for her to be the cook in this relationship. Give her recipes that are easy and simple to make and that can make with 0 problems. That way you won't have to have mac and sausage and she won't have to flip out about cooking.
if that doesn't work beat her until she knows where a woman's place is. duh.

[Slam_Bradley]

Trade her in on a new model. One that can cook.

[Endel]

This all could've been avoided if you would've just married an Asian girl.


my suitmates are asian and prove you very very wrong.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Learn to cook more is my thinking. ;)

My favorite dish is a turkey sandwich on nice Italaian bread so I'm not gonna worry.

[tricksterpup]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.
Introduce her to www.foodtv.com
Its a great site and should give her a few ideas.

[Cotton]

my suitmates are asian and prove you very very wrong.

Our women becomes useless when they're westernized.

Just make sure you get one fresh off the boat and you'll never be hungry again.

[BoosterBronze]

Be grateful. My girl is an AWESOME cook, and I've gained 15 pounds in the last two years. Consider a wife who can't cook to be a health advantage.

[Cotton]

Be grateful. My girl is an AWESOME cook, and I've gained 15 pounds in the last two years. Consider a wife who can't cook to be a health advantage.

In that case, Davideaux should just make sure his wife doesn't become an awesome cook, just good enough for him not to go hungry. That way he won't gain that much weight, AND he won't starve to death.

[Endel]

Our women becomes useless when they're westernized.

Just make sure you get one fresh off the boat and you'll never be hungry again.


if the women become useless cooks then i'd hate to find out what the men become

[Cotton]

if the women become useless cooks then i'd hate to find out what the men become

The men gains personalities when they become westernized. That means they no longer work for the collective and the greater good. In essence, they become as useless to Asian society.

...ya selfish twinkies!

[Arrjay]

Learn to cook more is my thinking. ;)

Yeah.

That might be the thing to do.

[Jeff Brady]

"we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil"

Wow. That's...wow. How did...nope, just "wow."

[mortari]

I've been married for 18 years now, when we met she knew how to cook, but didn't know HOW to cook. The fanciest thing she knew was meatloaf.
I however, being a good eater, knew lots of dishes and have taught her much.
It helps that we both like the same kinds of foods (except meatloaf, yuck)
However in no time at all she mastered many foods. I still do most of the cooking. I get home first.
and the food channel is wonderful!

[Endel]

The men gains personalities when they become westernized. That means they no longer work for the collective and the greater good. In essence, they become as useless to Asian society.

...ya selfish twinkies!

i was more wondering what they lose ;)

[blackdragon6]

i can cook for myself,if i'm lucky enough to find a woman whom can cook for me than thats fine.but otherwise i'm fine

[Valmore]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.

Geez, get some microwavable sausage and some Easy Mac. Combine. Viola.

[Boldido]

My wife can't cook either. She doesn't even follow recipes (my favorite story, she was once making brownies and said "we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil" ... needless to say the brownies sucked ass). I don't mind cooking though.

That reminds me of the time my mom made sloppy joes and realized we didn't have any brown sugar. She decided to substitute Maple Syrup instead.

The dogs wouldn't eat them.

[Solaris]

If she doesn't like to cook, but loves good food, that can help get her interested in learning.

1. Find some good recipe books that have easy-to-prep recipes that taste great. If she sees it as a chore, the easier it is, the more she'll like it.

2. See if she's interested in learing from someone. Several people would be better. Find friends or relatives who like to cook, who are willing to teach her one or two recipes. Do so yourself as well. This will give her a repertoire. She might want to take notes, so when she goes to do it herself, she's got the recipe *and* reminders of things a normal recipe leaves out (like how to crack an egg properly).

3. Find *yourself* some recipes or dishes that you can pre-prep and freeze. If she only has to thaw, cook, and watch the food so it doesn't burn, she'll be more willing to cover when you can't cook yourself.

4. Find a Tupperware dealer. Invest in their "stack cooking" system (I prefer the round one, myself), their stack cooking cookbooks, and some of their freezer containers that are the same size as the cooking dishes.

I used to sell Tupperware (years ago), and I can tell you that this thing is great. It consists of 3 plastic bowls that sit on top of each other, that allows you to cook an entire meal at the same time, in the microwave. The recipes I tried were really good, and you can mix and match different recipes for the different levels of the bowls. IIRC, they geared all the meals to cook in 30 minutes. (Hope you have a microwave that's large enough and has a turntable; both help.)

The freezer bowls are for the recipes that you can pre-prep and freeze. I don't remember if they take thawing time (microwave or whatever) before you put them in the stack cooker and cook; you'd have to check that.

Anyhow, for the various things you pre-prep and freeze (stack cooking or otherwise), you could make that a team job: pick a time on a Saturday or Sunday when the two of you assemble all the food you want to pre-prep for the week. Pre-prep and freeze. You can still do normal cooked meals for variety during the week, but this gives you something to pull from when no one feels like putting in a lot of effort to cook.

Or, of course, you can always eat out! ;)

Hope that helps. I love good food, but most of the time I see cooking as a chore too, so I don't do it every day. (However, my mom did teach me cooking without a recipe, just by watching and then helping and then doing it on my own. One advantage to that method is that you get little things recipes don't tell you... like how to tell if an egg is too far along to use (after you break it open), or things like how to prevent food contamination. For that matter, you can get some info on the latter from the heath dept. There are plenty of things that are wise to do around the kitchen to prevent contamination.

Anyway, It's a good thing my husband likes to cook too, and that we eat out alot, considering that I don't enjoy daily cooking! :D

[cactusmaac]

So what are some good cook books etc. for the novice?

[Solaris]

That reminds me of the time my mom made sloppy joes and realized we didn't have any brown sugar. She decided to substitute Maple Syrup instead.

The dogs wouldn't eat them.

Troy likes to experiment with making up stuff. Nearly every time he's done so, it's turned out good, and quite often, fantastic.

But once, when we were in college, a friend had given us some ground turkey. Troy decided to try to make a meatloaf out of it.

It. Was. NASTY.

Never make "turkey loaf." At least, not if we're eating at your house. :D (He said it was nasty too, so I'm not hurting his feelings with that.)

[Solaris]

So what are some good cook books etc. for the novice?


I usually cook w/out one, but I'll ask Troy to post, because he's the cookbook lover. :D

[StoneGold]

Find a hooker that can cook.

[Typo Lad]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.

It's simple.

She needs to go and cook. My wife's a great cook, but she doesn't get home till eight, so that means I have to do dinner. I'm nowhere near as good as she is, but since I have to I deal.

[Jaye]

But, mac and cheese with sausage is yummy.

[LtMarvel]

Two words:

Hamburger Helper

[StoneGold]

It's simple.

She needs to go and cook. My wife's a great cook, but she doesn't get home till eight, so that means I have to do dinner. I'm nowhere near as good as she is, but since I have to I deal.
http://www.vulgaritees.com/products/whipped.gif

[YoursTruly]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.

I was gonna suggest getting her a cook book and picking out recipes you want her to try. That's basically how I learned to cook. The first time I made the meal I'd go strictly by the recipe. The next time I'd add my own little touches that I felt would be good with it until I knew how to make it without looking at the recipe.

If your mom or grandma makes something you like alot it helps to have her learn from them as long as they get along and all.

[Solaris]

I was gonna suggest getting her a cook book and picking out recipes you want her to try. That's basically how I learned to cook. The first time I made the meal I'd go strictly by the recipe. The next time I'd add my own little touches that I felt would be good with it until I knew how to make it without looking at the recipe.

If your mom or grandma makes something you like alot it helps to have her learn from them as long as they get along and all.

Or your dad or granddad, for that matter. :D Plenty of older guys are great cooks, too. ;)

[thehod]

I'm sooooo lucky that Mrs Hod is a phenominal cook.

She makes this fish pie with cod and salmon and prawns and a cream and dill sauce and mash spuds...

Seriously, like an orgy on my taste buds.


with Catherine Zeta Jones, and Jessica Alba.

[YoursTruly]

Or your dad or granddad, for that matter. :D Plenty of older guys are great cooks, too. ;)


That's very true. Didn't mean to sound sexist or what not there. My ex used to make this stuff he called Mexican Chicken that was to die for.

[gary bolt]

I can't really offer any good advice. My wife is an exceptional cook. I have learned a lot about cooking from her.

[TinMan]

I'm sooooo lucky that Mrs Hod is a phenominal cook.

She makes this fish pie with cod and salmon and prawns and a cream and dill sauce and mash spuds...

Seriously, like an orgy on my taste buds.


with Catherine Zeta Jones, and Jessica Alba.

Now thats a hot ass orgy! I need some of that action... ship me some overnight wouldya. ;)

[Dreadstar]

Here's the solution:

Buy a crockpot/slow cooker. Get a book on slow cooker recipes. 10-15 minutes prep time (even the night before), turn it on in the morning and at the end of the day no muss, no fuss. Truly, a slow cooker pot roast is the easiest damn thing in the world, and you just cannot screw it up, unles you forget the water, maybe. After a few decent meals come out of that, one of the two of you might get motivated to try something the next step up.

[thehod]

Now thats a hot ass orgy! I need some of that action... ship me some overnight wouldya. ;)

See, I'm not totally sure what you're asking me to send you here, but a piece of Mrs Hods fish pie is in the post, and an invitation has been sent to Mrs Douglas and Ms Alba that the Tinman is ready to share the lurve, so I think I've got all bases covered.

[Typo Lad]

http://www.vulgaritees.com/products/whipped.gif

I'm not seeing it.

[K'Nort]

Here's the solution:

Buy a crockpot/slow cooker. Get a book on slow cooker recipes. 10-15 minutes prep time (even the night before), turn it on in the morning and at the end of the day no muss, no fuss. Truly, a slow cooker pot roast is the easiest damn thing in the world, and you just cannot screw it up, unles you forget the water, maybe. After a few decent meals come out of that, one of the two of you might get motivated to try something the next step up.

I think this makes much more sense than cookbooks or FoodTV. If she doesn't like to cook, she doesn't like to cook. Why pressure her to change?

[DubipR]

The crockpot is a great idea. Also wok cooking is simple and easy. No major amount of oils needed and its quick and painless.

Either both of those or both of you taking a local cooking course. Some colleges do free courses as well as some supermarkets do demostrations, could pick up a thing or 2 there.

[PeteGunn]

Here's the solution:

Buy a crockpot/slow cooker. Get a book on slow cooker recipes. 10-15 minutes prep time (even the night before), turn it on in the morning and at the end of the day no muss, no fuss. Truly, a slow cooker pot roast is the easiest damn thing in the world, and you just cannot screw it up, unles you forget the water, maybe. After a few decent meals come out of that, one of the two of you might get motivated to try something the next step up.

The crockpot is one of the greatest torture devices known to man. Food smells so good coming from a crockpot, while cooking. It'll make my mind turn to mush!!!

[Punchy]

Wow. That's...wow. How did...nope, just "wow."
There are a couple of things she can make actually. She just doesn't have a knack for it.

[howyadoin]

That reminds me of the time my mom made sloppy joes and realized we didn't have any brown sugar. She decided to substitute Maple Syrup instead.

The dogs wouldn't eat them.Theoretically that should kinda work, but molasses substitutes better for brown sugar.

[howyadoin]

Find *yourself* some recipes or dishes that you can pre-prep and freeze. If she only has to thaw, cook, and watch the food so it doesn't burn, she'll be more willing to cover when you can't cook yourself.A lot of my initial cooking experience was starting supper for my folks when I was in high school. My mom would leave me a note with detailed instructions to follow, and the ingredients would either be on the counter by the stove, or front and center in the fridge.

Taught me a lot that way.

[howyadoin]

My wife can't cook either. She doesn't even follow recipes (my favorite story, she was once making brownies and said "we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil" ... needless to say the brownies sucked ass). I don't mind cooking though.Reminds me of the time my friend Colleen was making pancakes. She couldn't figure out why they were burning, so I looked at the frying pan and it was damn near bone dry. The conversation went like this:

"Did you put any butter in the pan?"
"The recipe called for a tablespoon."
"Yeah, but the butter's all gone now."
"The recipe called for a tablespoon."

Here's the solution:

Buy a crockpot/slow cooker. Get a book on slow cooker recipes. 10-15 minutes prep time (even the night before), turn it on in the morning and at the end of the day no muss, no fuss. Truly, a slow cooker pot roast is the easiest damn thing in the world, and you just cannot screw it up, unles you forget the water, maybe. After a few decent meals come out of that, one of the two of you might get motivated to try something the next step up.Plus, a decent-sized crockpot will make enough chili or stew to last a few days.

[CoffeeStained]

Our women becomes useless when they're westernized.

Just make sure you get one fresh off the boat and you'll never be hungry again.Correction, you'll be hungry an hour later.

[Jeff Brady]

There are a couple of things she can make actually. She just doesn't have a knack for it.

Everyone has a few things they can make. I was just perplexed by the logic train that made her double the oil to replace the eggs. Eggs = binding; oil = not so much.

[Iangould]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, ...

Pick a couple of dishes you like that freeze well and cook up a big batch of each one, split it up into individual portions and freeze them.

That way, next time you're too busy to cook you just zap something from the freezer.

[Justin Davis]

My wife can't cook either. She doesn't even follow recipes (my favorite story, she was once making brownies and said "we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil" ... needless to say the brownies sucked ass). I don't mind cooking though.

I love that logic. I used it myself when I first started cooking regularly.

"I don't have any fruit so I'll just use this fruit punch to soak the chicken in while it cooks in the oven."

Such a very, very bad idea. I still get mocked about it to this day by people who know.

"Here, try this, it's good."

"What's in it?"

"You'll find out, just try it."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Two words: fruit punch."

[Gilda Dent]

My wife cannot cook, so I do all the cooking.

But it does somewhat surprise me that she, and others, can't cook at least a little bit. If you're not doing it from scratch, using prepared foods and such, the food comes with instructions on the packaging. If you can read, you can cook at least on a basic level. Or so it's always seemed to me.

Gilda

[Perry Holley]

If you can read, you can cook at least on a basic level. That's pretty much where I'm at. I certainly can't Cook-with-a-capital-C, but I can at least follow those instruction that most prepackaged foods come with (and occasionally, I can improvise).

My wife is a much better cook than I, but unfortunately, she usually gets home from work later than I do, so she's stuck with my cooking, instead of vice-versa.

[warspite1805]

My cooking skills are extremely limited buut there are plenty of things that are so simple even a trained chimp could make them that taste fantastic. Fajitas are are prime example, just cook up some chicken, tuyrkey or steak in a frying pan, cover with the appropriate spices, throw in some chopped up onion, chillies and peppers, throw on some more spices, throw in a couple of chopped up mushrooms with more spices until it looks ready.

[Davideaux]

My wife can't cook either. She doesn't even follow recipes (my favorite story, she was once making brownies and said "we don't have any eggs so I just doubled the oil" ... needless to say the brownies sucked ass). I don't mind cooking though.

The one thing the wife can make is brownies. Not from scratch, of course.

[Davideaux]

Bring home stuff your mother made.

She'll learn to improve.


My mother's cooking outclasses hers. But I don't think she'd take it the right way if I brought home mom's food.

[Davideaux]

If she doesn't like to cook, but loves good food, that can help get her interested in learning.

1. Find some good recipe books that have easy-to-prep recipes that taste great. If she sees it as a chore, the easier it is, the more she'll like it.

2. See if she's interested in learing from someone. Several people would be better. Find friends or relatives who like to cook, who are willing to teach her one or two recipes. Do so yourself as well. This will give her a repertoire. She might want to take notes, so when she goes to do it herself, she's got the recipe *and* reminders of things a normal recipe leaves out (like how to crack an egg properly).

3. Find *yourself* some recipes or dishes that you can pre-prep and freeze. If she only has to thaw, cook, and watch the food so it doesn't burn, she'll be more willing to cover when you can't cook yourself.

4. Find a Tupperware dealer. Invest in their "stack cooking" system (I prefer the round one, myself), their stack cooking cookbooks, and some of their freezer containers that are the same size as the cooking dishes.

I used to sell Tupperware (years ago), and I can tell you that this thing is great. It consists of 3 plastic bowls that sit on top of each other, that allows you to cook an entire meal at the same time, in the microwave. The recipes I tried were really good, and you can mix and match different recipes for the different levels of the bowls. IIRC, they geared all the meals to cook in 30 minutes. (Hope you have a microwave that's large enough and has a turntable; both help.)

The freezer bowls are for the recipes that you can pre-prep and freeze. I don't remember if they take thawing time (microwave or whatever) before you put them in the stack cooker and cook; you'd have to check that.

Anyhow, for the various things you pre-prep and freeze (stack cooking or otherwise), you could make that a team job: pick a time on a Saturday or Sunday when the two of you assemble all the food you want to pre-prep for the week. Pre-prep and freeze. You can still do normal cooked meals for variety during the week, but this gives you something to pull from when no one feels like putting in a lot of effort to cook.

Or, of course, you can always eat out! ;)

Hope that helps. I love good food, but most of the time I see cooking as a chore too, so I don't do it every day. (However, my mom did teach me cooking without a recipe, just by watching and then helping and then doing it on my own. One advantage to that method is that you get little things recipes don't tell you... like how to tell if an egg is too far along to use (after you break it open), or things like how to prevent food contamination. For that matter, you can get some info on the latter from the heath dept. There are plenty of things that are wise to do around the kitchen to prevent contamination.

Anyway, It's a good thing my husband likes to cook too, and that we eat out alot, considering that I don't enjoy daily cooking! :D


Those are some good tips. The thing is my mother-in-law doesn't cook well either. She hates to cook too. So my wife has never really been taught how to whip up a great meal. I dread going to the in laws because I know it will be bland and flat dining. I couldn't ask my mother to teach her, because that'd be inviting disaster.

As for the pre-prep thing, that's a great idea that we've thought about but have never really tried. I think I'll give it a go one day.

What I would really love is if she could just whip up something tasty out of nothing. No recipe, no guideline, just improptu. I know some people can do that, but, alas, she can't.

[Davideaux]

My cooking skills are extremely limited buut there are plenty of things that are so simple even a trained chimp could make them that taste fantastic. Fajitas are are prime example, just cook up some chicken, tuyrkey or steak in a frying pan, cover with the appropriate spices, throw in some chopped up onion, chillies and peppers, throw on some more spices, throw in a couple of chopped up mushrooms with more spices until it looks ready.


Simple things like that she can handle. It ain't gourmet but it'll do.

[Thanos_6383]

Well,if you own a dog.Set the cooking next to it.If poor Fido doesnt eat the cooking,make sure your wife sees this.If the damm dog doesnt eat it,you know theres something wrong :D

[cable guy]

My wife can't cook too well.

Plus all she makes is chicken.

Plus she's sitting on the couch 10 feet away................

[Magneto_X]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.

Not a big deal at all.

I cook most of my dinners, anyway. I can teach her and we can buy some good cookbooks (maybe ones by Rachel Raye or something).

Plus there's always fast food restraunts and microwave dinners. :D

[heretic]

Wow. That's...wow. How did...nope, just "wow."
Sounds almost as bad as my Aunts' horror story about how my mother fried some chicken and got angry when they did not eat it.

It turned out she used motor oil....

HTG

[heretic]

The crockpot is one of the greatest torture devices known to man. Food smells so good coming from a crockpot, while cooking. It'll make my mind turn to mush!!!
Thinking back I recall my mother using that a lot as well.

Never developed a taste for the results.

HTG (one of the few people I know who actually _like_ Top Ramen)

[Endel]

Sounds almost as bad as my Aunts' horror story about how my mother fried some chicken and got angry when they did not eat it.

It turned out she used motor oil....

HTG


omg that is HILARIOUS

[Forefinger]

I do okay but she's not too good. She's fine if there's a recipe in front of her to follow. But she's not really into the whole cooking process. It's a chore for her. I cook very often in fact but this last week I've been too busy to do so, and I'm kinda dreading mac and cheese and sausage tonight.
Eat Hungry Man meals. Good stuff. They kept me from starving from the early years of my marriage.

[Jeff Brady]

It turned out she used motor oil....

*head assplodes*

[K'Nort]

My grandmother would put the fried chicken pieces into the oil and then turn on the heat. My mother learned to cook out of self-defense.

[DarkBlade]

o_O @ K'Nort.

[howyadoin]

My grandmother would put the fried chicken pieces into the oil and then turn on the heat.Wow, that'd be even nastier than the Colonel's secret recipe.

[Citizen V]

You beat her repeatedly using "the rule of thumb" until she finally learns how to cook a goddamn meal! :p

In my part of the world,this could be called a serious problem.All women should know how to cook,clean and take care of children.That post is a smal example.^

[Corrina]

I'm a lousy cook and I'm a wife.

Split dinners equally. Eat out a lot. Shop together on the weekends and either cook up the food then for reheating or buy frozen stuff that can be made quickly.

In other words, come up with a solution among partners.

[Corrina]

The one thing the wife can make is brownies. Not from scratch, of course.

Those I can make.

I can bake, I just can't cook. Well, now I can cook because the kids think mom should give them dinner every night. The nerve!