I enjoy cooking and always have. Mrs BamaVol doesn't and never will. Fortunately, she's a clean freak and even when I use every pot in the kitchen, she's got them washed and stacked before I've got the leftovers put away.

When it was just the 2 of us, I cooked a real meal every night I was home. That was long ago and for years I've done the real cooking on the weekends and just "prepared" a meal on weeknights. I find that weekend meals have become more elaborate to compensate.

Anybody got the time to cook every night?

Sure, when I had a 9-5 job.

Here in the depths of corporate America, they feed me four nights a week -- and I have to say, it isn't bad.

I love to cook but often find myself way too tired after a day in the office. So, I do various versions of 30 minute meals which consist of putting seasoning on veggies like broccoli, zuccini, mushrooms and wrap them in aluminum foil and throw them in the oven and forget about them. I do the same thing with Chicken. They usually turn out pretty good.

Sometimes I make pancakes and eggs w/ sausages. Or, I buy one of those already made pesto sauce, cook some angel hair pasta, then mix them together with basil, tomatoes, and shrimp.

I'd like to make a meal in under 30 minutes It's been a while since I cook an elaborate meal....no one to cook for really

Neither my wife nor I like to cook. When it's just two of us, the effort doesn't justify the rewards. We eat out a lot, or get some take-out that is basically the same cost as preparing it ourselves...without the mess. It also enables us to keep the house show-ready.

Yes, almost every night that I'm home. Usually a roast chicken one night, make something with leftovers a few nights later (pot pie/pasta/pad thai), roast pork tenderloin one night - ditto for leftovers (tacos), turkey something, one night vegetarian, one night I left TH make something red meaty that I will not partake in.

We're going out tonight, but when I get home, i'll make salmon cakes for dinner tomorrow night.

Just gotta be able to plan.

lala

Sure, we "make" reservations.

(Sorry, bad joke.)

With long work days, it's tough to find energy to cook. So we rely on veggies we can cook quickly, and trader joe's items we can heat up. Or, we'll make a big batch of something on the weekends and have leftovers.

Not every night. They're only two of us, but what usually happens is that whoever does the cooking cooks for four. So Monday's dinner is also Tuesdays, Wednesday lasts into Thurs, Friday we try to go to a new restaurant, then cook Sat.

There is a farmer's market that occurs on Sat and Tues, so that helps dictate how often we cook. The more often we go to the market, the more inclined we are too cook, even if we get home at 7 - 8 pm. 8 pm is pushing it, but not so much at 7 pm.

My wife is classically trained, so I've picked up a few things. Like how to use a knife and making mirepoix. Some weekends, we'll make a big batch of marinara sauce, bolognese sauce, and our secret recipe chili. We then divide out 2-person portions into Official TSA-Sanctioned Quart-sized Ziptop Clear Plastic Bags (labeled Huck Fawley of course) and throw them into our freezer. Comes in handy when we both come home late and there isn't much in the fridge.

Always. The last thing I want to do when not travelling is go to another damn restaurant. I don't do anything super fancy, but making a tasty simple meal isnt that hard.

"So we rely on veggies we can cook quickly"

Why cook them? They taste great raw. Salads last for a good while too. Cooking just takes the nutrients out.

See, I compensate for that by having a set of maybe 15 restaurants I rotate between when I'm not on the road, plus getting take-out stuff. Some near the house, some near the office, some are just bars with decent burgers. But I have a compulsion about making simple meals - I set out to say, "I'm gonna make pasta and tomato sauce", and all of a sudden I'm thinking about poaching fish and snipping fresh herbs. Guess its my family's restaurant heritage kicking in, but any "30 minute meal" turns into a 2 hour ordeal. So its easier to just eat at a restaurant or take out.

I love cooking, but like most of the previous posters have said, when you return home after a long day cooking just isn't something you are up to.

As for weekends, when I'm not traveling, you can find me in the kitchen at around 7pm every Saturday!

We cook on weeknights. No kids though. My sisters with their kids have a tougher go of it.

Cooking itself doesn't necessarily have to take that long. We find it's the prep and the clean-up that's occasionally a pain in the rear. Anything that can shorten the prep or create less dishes to wash helps a lot.

As others have mentioned, we also try to make extra or do extra prep and use it for other meals. We freeze extra spaghetti sauce, pre-wash a bunch extra lettuce, make extra grilled chicken that can be quickly microwaved for a chicken caesar, have pizza dough in the freezer, etc. Peppers that we used for salads one night are used for fajitas or soup the next. We still "cheat" and occasionally use frozen packaged stuff like veggies and stuff.

It also helps if you have ingredients relatively on hand. We bought a vacuum sealer a few months back and it prevents food (particularly our cheeses) from going bad longer and stops freezer burn. We just buy packs of chicken breasts, wings, steaks, etc from Costco and defrost them the night before and away we go.

I second the idea of not wanting to go to yet another restaurant on the rare occasions when I'm actually home. Plus, my wife is an amazing cook, and I find helping her relaxing and a nice way to spend some quality time with the kids.

Nearly every night. It's relaxing and tastes great!

Like many of you, we plan ahead. We browse through our cookbooks Sunday morning and go to the market Sunday afternoon.

Since brown rice takes so long to make, I usually throw a batch of it in the steamer as we eat Sunday brunch and read the paper. When it gets cooler, I wisk together some yeast, flower, and hot water on Saturday night, so we have a proof to make fresh bread on Sunday.

During the week, all we have to do is heat things up or grill / stir fry some veggies. Makes live much easier!

I fixed your post.