Anyone who says being a ‘stay at home’ partner and are pretty good at it, isn’t a job unto its self, hasn’t seen someone do it right or are full of it.
Yes, I treat it like a full time job with explicit responsibilities and a rotating schedule to keep myself busy. (Which is a lot, tbh - daily life is already stressful enough … my lease is up in a couple months and I am struggling to find affordable housing in a particularly bad housing market - it’s very stressful.)
I’m not sure I have a single, all-time top dish, but here are some repeat favorites:
pizza (I like to stuff the crust with pepper jack cheese)
cheeseburgers & fries
nachos
Nambian Butternut Squash Soup (this is a favorite - if I make this, my partner will eat through the whole pot in a few days, lol; I add red lentils to give it more protein and make it more filling)
Souvlaki in a pita - basically Greek style grilled meat in a pita bread with french fries and tzatziki sauce, and fresh red onion and tomatoes - this dish is a total indulgence
Thai curries (mostly panang, red curry, and Masaman)
Seriously, I’m having a hard time stopping my mouth from salivating right now.
Nearly all of these seem like things I would want to make. Thank you very much for sharing! You’ve inspired me to take another serious attempt at cooking proper meals again.
ironically I put more effort into my cooking before I lost my job - I think it was a coping strategy, the worse my life got the more I relied on tasty meals to keep me wanting to be alive (and to stay busy cooking so I didn’t have to think about anything else).
Cooking is great - besides saving money, I just can’t get the quality I can make at home from a restaurant.
yes, this was originally more of a retirement plan that I would eventually quit my job once we had enough saved up and it wouldn’t be too much of a financial burden for me to be unemployed (like, we were hoping there would be a point where we felt life would be overall be less stressful and better if I picked up the domestic labor full-time than if I worked a job full-time while still doing the domestic labor - I’m doing the cooking and laundry no matter what, so retirement is mostly a stress-reduction strategy).
But then I was unexpectedly pushed out of my job, so we found ourselves in this situation a bit too early. I’m constantly stressed about finances now and trying to find a path to get us into a financially viable situation (right now we are far from financially sustainable, the housing shortage and having to flee across state lines meant we were stuck in a massively over-priced housing situation).
Hopefully we find a path to cheaper housing and the stress settles down (and we don’t have any major health emergencies or other sudden extreme expenses - e.g. we were in a bad car wreck and we had to replace our car, and let’s just say the car insurance didn’t suitably cover the cost of replacing it, etc. we can only take so many blows).
But yes, theoretically there is a way this could work out that would be like a dream scenario where I am just taking care of the domestic labor I was doing anyway when I was working full-time, and that life is just easier and happier for it.
haha, three cheers to that - financial independence is the dream.
I tend to be very frugal, but you can only save so much money by being cheap (and a lot of the strategies take up your time rather than your money, and you also only have so much time).
And thank you, that is very kind. I think we’ll be OK - just in a stressful period with a lot of uncertainty, but objectively we are very privileged and I don’t really feel I have room to complain.
I miss this - when my kids were at home I was always so motivated to do a good job, to find and make new things, to spend extra tine. Cooking was interesting.
Now it’s just me at home and it’s really not a motivation anymore
I’m unemployed, so I stay home to run errands, manage finances, cook, clean and otherwise manage the house.
I would say cooking is the most intriguing part, as it can be quite complex, involves creativity and skill, and can be quite rewarding.
Anyone who says being a ‘stay at home’ partner and are pretty good at it, isn’t a job unto its self, hasn’t seen someone do it right or are full of it.
What is your favorite dish/meal to make?
Yes, I treat it like a full time job with explicit responsibilities and a rotating schedule to keep myself busy. (Which is a lot, tbh - daily life is already stressful enough … my lease is up in a couple months and I am struggling to find affordable housing in a particularly bad housing market - it’s very stressful.)
I’m not sure I have a single, all-time top dish, but here are some repeat favorites:
I could keep going, but I’m getting hungry and I should stop 😆 I love food, and I love cooking.
Nice. I have those “souvlaki in a pita” ingredients waiting in my fridge but have been putting that off all week
Oh my goodness! Can I come over for dinner!? :D
Seriously, I’m having a hard time stopping my mouth from salivating right now.
Nearly all of these seem like things I would want to make. Thank you very much for sharing! You’ve inspired me to take another serious attempt at cooking proper meals again.
ironically I put more effort into my cooking before I lost my job - I think it was a coping strategy, the worse my life got the more I relied on tasty meals to keep me wanting to be alive (and to stay busy cooking so I didn’t have to think about anything else).
Cooking is great - besides saving money, I just can’t get the quality I can make at home from a restaurant.
Cooking is SO rewarding. I wish I were retired, or at least unemployed, so I could just cook for my loved ones.
yes, this was originally more of a retirement plan that I would eventually quit my job once we had enough saved up and it wouldn’t be too much of a financial burden for me to be unemployed (like, we were hoping there would be a point where we felt life would be overall be less stressful and better if I picked up the domestic labor full-time than if I worked a job full-time while still doing the domestic labor - I’m doing the cooking and laundry no matter what, so retirement is mostly a stress-reduction strategy).
But then I was unexpectedly pushed out of my job, so we found ourselves in this situation a bit too early. I’m constantly stressed about finances now and trying to find a path to get us into a financially viable situation (right now we are far from financially sustainable, the housing shortage and having to flee across state lines meant we were stuck in a massively over-priced housing situation).
Hopefully we find a path to cheaper housing and the stress settles down (and we don’t have any major health emergencies or other sudden extreme expenses - e.g. we were in a bad car wreck and we had to replace our car, and let’s just say the car insurance didn’t suitably cover the cost of replacing it, etc. we can only take so many blows).
But yes, theoretically there is a way this could work out that would be like a dream scenario where I am just taking care of the domestic labor I was doing anyway when I was working full-time, and that life is just easier and happier for it.
I wish I were retired, then.
But more than that, I wish the best for you and your family.
haha, three cheers to that - financial independence is the dream.
I tend to be very frugal, but you can only save so much money by being cheap (and a lot of the strategies take up your time rather than your money, and you also only have so much time).
And thank you, that is very kind. I think we’ll be OK - just in a stressful period with a lot of uncertainty, but objectively we are very privileged and I don’t really feel I have room to complain.
Your life could be better if selfish people weren’t making it worse. You should never feel shame for calling that out.
I miss this - when my kids were at home I was always so motivated to do a good job, to find and make new things, to spend extra tine. Cooking was interesting.
Now it’s just me at home and it’s really not a motivation anymore