Where I live, everyone, men and women, works nine or ten hours days, with an hour commute to and from work.
Everyone is getting home around eight o’clock, eight-thirty.
Even if you’ve shopped during the weekend, who starts cooking, exhausted, at eight thirty?
Sure, cooking can be fun... on the weekends. When there’s no pressure to just get something on the table because everyone is starving. But during the workweek? It’s just one more exhausting time suck making life a nearly-impossible grind. Especially for moms with little children.
I’m not mad at anyone who drives through McDonald’s. I don’t understand how you did it.
And I don’t think it’s “a plot” or due to “laziness.” Americans (with jobs) have never worked harder.
Sure, cooking can be fun... on the weekends. When there’s no pressure to just get something on the table because everyone is starving. But during the workweek? It’s just one more exhausting time suck making life a nearly-impossible grind. Especially for moms with little children.
Then the operative phrase is ‘on the weekends’.
If one cooks on the weekend simply increase the recipes necessary for weekday dining. For instance when I’m preparing lasagna, I make enough meat/veggies sauce in a large electric roaster. Then it’s just an assembly line technique to assemble 3/4 lasagnas, one for an upcoming meal, 2/3 for freezing. Another example, the electric roaster allows me to make 38 cabbage rolls (with spare ribs/Kielbasa) for numerous freezer containers.
Frozen meals and/or utilizing slow cookers can be tremendous time savers. In the morning place a ham/roast/chicken in the slow cooker ready for the evening's meal. Dinner can be augmented with previously prepared casseroles/side dishes.
I don’t know if there are ‘home cooking’ businesses in your area, (my area has four). On Saturdays you go into one of these ‘home cooking’ businesses , decide on the varied menus, pick out the necessary ingredients, cook (staff will assist if necessary) for a morning/afternoon. The staff then packages/flash freezes your meals. You then have enough for your family’s two week meals.