Thursday, April 16, 2009

Inquiring Mind Wants To Know

It's been a while since I have done a Random Poll...


Here's my question...

Who does the cooking in your home?

Here at the La Vida Dulce home The Mister NEVER cooks. 

Well, I take that back. He grills all the red meat products. Which means he cooks about 3 times a year. 

He helps me out in many ways, but he doesn't ever cook.

While in conversation with another mom a couple days ago she said that she never cooks, her husband is the cook.  

At first I wasn't shocked (my Dad did the bulk of cooking growing up) but the more I thought about it, the more complicated it got.  If the husband cooks, does he do the shopping? Does he plan a menu and then the wife shops accordingly? If he gets home late from work, do you eat late?

So here it is...Who cooks in your home? Does your husband help? And if he's the cook in your house, who buys groceries?

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm the cook and the grocery store shopper. Grillling duties are split, but we really don't do a lot of grilling. I actually prefer this arrangement, because of all the household duties, the cooking and grocery store shopping are two of my favorites. K does all the ironing, which I hate. K will gladly help clean the kitchen and load/unload dishwasher, although he's usually doing the bedtime routine with the kids during dinner cleanup.

Tiffani said...

Mostly me, me and me.

However, it'd be unfair to not give credit where credit is due...if we have BFD (breakfast for dinner) he cooks it and every blue moon, he may do an "easy meal" night for me like sloppy joes or lazy spaghetti. He's definitely the grill master.

Now, with that said, those days are VERY few and VERY far between. I do all the grocery shopping (usually w/ both kids in tow), as well.

I'll be back to read the other comments!! :)

Hillcrest Cottage said...

In the Indoor Cooking Department,my husband has two recipes: Spaghettiand hamburgers.We take our hamburgers very seriously and our family always critiques the hamburgers with great detail. So, to cook the burgers at our house can be fairly intimidating! You always know you will get a lot of feedback....sometimes unwanted.
One night I cooked the burgers and praised myself a little TOO highly.
The response from husband was, "Well. if you are so good at the burgers, you can just do them in the future."
Oooopps. He didn't cook another burger for at least 6 months. Big mouth me.
The question I have is: If your husband cooks...does he clean up afterwards. Mine says "I cooked...I'm not going to clean,too." In my mind, cooking and cleaning are the same.?????

Lisa said...

I cook. Everything. All the time! My poor husband can't boil water to save his life!!! ;-) He might grill something...but then he asks me throughout the process..."does it look done?" Cracks me up!!

WAIT...I just thought of something he DOES make: pancakes.

Anyway, I'm sure to teach my son to cook — and he LOVES it! I have to send him out in the world with cooking skills...a must.

Anonymous said...

Tim and I do about an equal amount.. He doesnt really follow recipes he just kinda wings some sort of creation. I on the other hand love to follow recipes :-)

I usually do the grocery shopping.. unless its Costco then Tim must come with me :-P.. I like that store a little to much! However, Tim comes to the regular store sometimes too..

Gretchen said...

Oh, it's all about me on this one.

We do sort of fall in to the June Cleaver and Ward Cleaver separation of chores. He does the outside, and i do the inside, and we both assist each other as needed.

How I would like a good wife someday...to come do my menu planning and grocery shopping. And then...happiest of happies, following through and making the dinner which is actually scheduled for the day. I'm saving my money for her. ;)

Carpool Queen said...

Craig does breakfast and I do dinner. I have learned to cook on the grill, but we both enjoy sending him out back to do it, so most of the time, he's the grillmaster.

On weekends, he'll usually try something new. He loves to cook, so I'm lucky, that way.

He also "cooks" every Sunday by taking us out to lunch after church to give me a break.

I heart this man.

Anonymous said...

I do the cooking, menu planning, shopping ... everything that pertains to food. Once in a while, he'll go with me and we split the list in order to finish the shopping faster, but that's about it.

He's a seven-digit chef. If I'm not cooking, he gets take-out. :)

The only exception is steaks. I have one recipe for steak; he has another. The type of steak we buy determines who cooks it. He does this because he's quite particular about certain cuts of steak and he watched Alton Brown's show on making the "perfect" steak, complete with notes. He's REALLY good with steaks. :)

Kristin said...

I do all the grocery shopping (although he is capable of picking up bread, milk, or eggs if needed) and 90% of the cooking.

He does have a couple of very good items in his repitoire - sweet & sour fish and eggplant parmesan that is to die for!

Unfortunately, both dinners require the use of practically every pot, pan, and utensil in the kitchen, along with messy-all-over-the-counter flour goo. And then I end up cleaning up. You see the problem!

That said, he always cleans up after dinner on Tuesdays when Josh & I have to run out to Cub Scouts immediately after dinner. That is so nice not to have to come home to a filthy kitchen at 8:30! And he WILL help me clean the kithcen - IF I remember to ask!

Elizabeth said...

I do most of the cooking, but my husband would do it if he had the time. He certainly loves it more than I do. The clean up is entirely up to me no matter who cooks. I usually do the shopping, but if we can we all go together. We started this years ago and have never really stopped. We spend less and everyone gets a little something. If I go alone, I spend too much (b/c I always go when I'm hungry)and come home with nothing for anyone else.

Unknown said...

I would say I do 80% or the "normal/boring" cooking, and dh does most of the clearing up (he is tidier that me anyway!)

However when we entertain he loved to cook - and I am happy to let him! He prefers to have a greater (appreciative) audience for this cooking skills!

If I ask though, he does help me roughly plan the weekly menu before I do the grocery shopping. I find the "deciding what to cook/eat" the worst part of the whole process! Anyone else find this?

Darcie - Such The Spot said...

I do the cooking. Unless I'm sick or something and then Jeff picks up the slack. Right after Jayce was born he cooked quite a bit and I really didn't like it. He is not able to get all the food on the table hot. And I don't like cold food. He helps in the kitchen every night though with the chopping and stuff. He's like my prep chef! :)

Kristin said...

My hubby is a good cook, but I do almost all the cooking. And all the shopping. He always does the grilling though. I don't think the food would be edible if I tried to grill. He always cooks a big breakfast on Saturday mornings. He can definitely make a better pancake than me!

jen said...

What a fun question! I do all the shopping, meal planning, etc. I do probably about 75-85% of the cooking. Handsome is a great cook and enjoys it, so sometimes he'll just decide that he wants to make something (or, more often, that he doesn't want to wait for me to get home with the kids from piano lessons then make something.) He also does the grilling. And if he is home when I am making dinner, he often just chips in and asks, "How can I help you?"

The dishes are pretty well split between us. He does them more in the winter, because it keeps my hands from falling off (the dishsoap - no matter what kind I use - makes my hands crack and bleed.) Isn't that sweet!

Now that I think about it, I need to kiss that man BIG when he gets home! ;)

Blue Skies said...

I do nearly all the cooking, out of the necessity to eat before 7:30 or 8 PM. That said, he likes to grill so I let him on the weekends. He will attempt cooking a meal but gets way too stressed out about it. I tell him it is because he tries to be all Alton Brown and hasn't yet mastered the basics. And the food doesn't finish at the same time. Maybe in retirement he'll take over the cooking when he has the time to fiddle around in there. For now, I'll gladly enjoy the nights when he takes over the dishes!

Lori said...

I'm the chef in the family, except I'm really no chef. My husband will grill if I ask him to and get the food ready, which I appreciate. When he goes grocery shopping it takes him FOR-EVER and he comes home with lots of interesting things. We currently have nearly 2 dozen boxes of cereal because he found a good deal. At least it's cereal we'll eat... ;) Interesting question- and responses!

Charity said...

I do the cooking and the grocery shopping.. although Tony is starting to enjoy grilling, so he grilled some delicious pork chops tonight. It was great!

Jewel said...

Definitely me and I love that job. I know my husband would be a great cook if he wanted to (well he claims this when we sit down to watch Hells Kitchen) but I like to maintain this little area of control in our household. My husband does help by holding the little ones back. One year old boy likes to see if he can climb the stove!

My husband does NOT know what all the "extra" numbers are on the grocery store price sticker. The price per pound and whatnot. Sometimes I'll have him go pick up a needed dinner ingredient and he'll come home with $75 worth of extra groceries that he impulsively bought at the store, so in other words, I'm the shopper! Am I a control freak? Maybe, but hey, we are not millionaires.

But I have to say, he grills a mean rib eye!

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

I do most of it...planning, shopping, cooking.

John grills, and John does breakfast on weekends.

In a pinch, he can make tacos, spaghetti, eggs and pancakes but that's about the extent of his repertoire.

He'll clean the kitchen if I ask him to, but I'm picky about the way I want it done (we actually got in an argument about this last night because) so I just get him to help me in other ways.

I'm a kitchen control freak. (hangs head in shame)

LJ said...

I cook, if you call it that. Some people have their doubts about my cooking! (It's sometimes hard to know what to do with chicken when your friends don't email you back instructions.) When my "hunk-a-hunk-a-burnin'-love cooks it usually involves hot dogs, red meat on the grill, or (most often)a drive-thru somewhere. These occasions are about as often as blue moons.

stephanie j. said...

I cook. I shop. Unless he has a hankerin' for a frozen pizza, some tortilla chips and a cold foamy one...then he stops on the way home and "does the shopping".

Michelle@Life with Three said...

I'm definitely the cook. And the grocery shopper. I love my husband dearly, but honestly, I wouldn't trust him to grocery shop or cook. Food has never been a priority for him -- taste is secondary. So, unless I want some very bizarre meals, I choose to do the cooking.

He does work wonders with leftovers, however. :)

Jackie said...

Yep, it's me. Only.

Except for the whole grilling thing, which my hubby gladly does.

Before we were married, his entire food intake consisted of frozen foods and simple things like sandwiches and scrambled eggs.

So, the kitchen is my domain, but he does help me out if I ask him to. Which is rare. :)

His Girl said...

I shop, and we both cook. We go through phases when it's all me or all him, but it always balances out. Right now, it's about 70-30 me, but that's not always true.

The man has mad cooking skillz.

Woman Interrupted said...

The mister occasionally grills and always fixes the eggs/bacon on the weekends. I do the rest of the cooking. I also do all the sides and clean up when he grills (set the table for breakfast.)

The Buntens said...

I do most of the cooking and shopping, but hubby does cook on Sundays every week, sometimes Saturday and shops then, too.

He actually enjoys this and we love the fruits of his labor. It is a great gift to me on the weekends.