Poll: Who wears the apron?

[MichaelB]

I’m the cook and DH cleans up. I do the grocery shopping too. I have trouble deciding what to make after 35 years, though. But if I ask DH or DS what they want for dinner, I get...crickets. Sigh...Fortunately DS can cook for himself, at least some. No aprons in our house.

As the DH in a situation almost exactly the same, I would say it thusly:

DW is an excellent cook, much better than me, so she prepares meals and I clean. She asks for suggestions, but I like everything she prepares and am grateful for anything she does.

I can prep a few meals, but in order to gain the experience needed to improve my skill and take on more meal responsibility we’d both have to suffer through more of my cooking and neither of us want that.

The biggest contribution I can make after 40 years is getting take out that we both enjoy.

 

[kcowan]

Funny, my wife is definitely the better cook but she's also a messy cook. I stay out of the kitchen when she's cooking since if I watch I have to comment on the mess she's making. And that never ends well ....

DW is also messy whether I clean up or not but I am the cleanup man.

 

[unclemick]

I forgot. As mentioned earlier in this thread:

Ditto. One cooks the other cleans.

heh heh heh -

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

We split the effort but we also go out to eat quite a bit. I enjoy cooking but it's a timing thing with us still both working, having the right ingredients, etc. Looking forward to cooking more in retirement.

Initially I did most of the cooking and she cleaned because I knew how to prepare more dishes. Now, I'll cook sometimes but usually do most of the prep because I'm faster cutting up stuff. She has her specialties that she'll cook but she typically does most of the clean up too.

 

[Scuba]

Wow! Had to check if I had written this!

I do 99% of our breakfast and dinner cooking. Not bad if I say so myself. I not only wear an apron but somebody gave me a chef's coat as well!

DW likes to bake and does a good job and also makes great sandwiches, which I suppose I could do but she likes to do it. Our unspoken rule is the person who doesn't cook does 90% of the clean up.

We also host Saturday night dinners on our deck for up to 20 all summer long; we've been doing this for almost 20 years and have it down to a science. We tend to share the prep, cooking and cleaning for that.

Here's one of our Saturday night Paella specials:

Yum!

 

[DrRoy]

DW does most. I do some, plus all the grilling.

 

[yakers]

DW does most of the cooking I like baking. Cooking is an art, baking is a science said this NASA guy.

 

[meleana]

I don't actually wear an apron, but I should. I do all the cooking. But- I do wear a bib when I eat because inevitably I end up spilling or dropping something on my clothes when I eat.

 

[zippy2020]

I do 99% of the cooking. But we also dine out a lot, because that's my hobby and we have the money/time/opportunities to do so.

 

[njhowie]

I do all the cooking. Maybe once every few years or so I can get DW to cook a meal on my birthday. When she agrees, it is actually painful watching as she quickly gets nervous, uneasy, and I can tell she is very uncomfortable and almost panicking.

When we were youngsters in college, she once called her mother to ask how to boil hot dogs!

 

[Independent]

We "share" the cooking, but in our house that means we eat different things and each of us cooks for him/herself.

We each eat what we prefer. And, of course, we shop separately.

This is one reason that I think if one of us died, the survivors food spending would be about half of our current combined spending.

 

[ckelly78z]

My DW is an excellent cook as well, and really does well when she has the time to do so. She works as a home builder project manager, and is constantly taking after hours calls, or visiting with clients/contractors in the evenings, so sometimes dinner is on me..Last night, I fixed shrimp alfredo with garlic bread, earlier in the week, I fixed a killer tuna caserole, and make a mean chili, and prefer pasta dishes, most grilling, and even omelets.

She gets more creative than I do, and has more training, so I fix things that are easy, and fairly quick to prepare.

I will recommend forming a grocery list that will consist of meals for about 5 days that we will get at the store on Sunday usually. This saves us meandering through a busy store wandering from isle to isle, tossing in whatever looks good. We save alot of time, and money sticking to the list.

 

[frayne]

I can't cook but I can microwave like a bitch.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We used to split the cooking duties with DH doing most of the convection oven items like bacon and fries and I'd do the majority of soups, stir fries and salads. Since we've moved to a more Blue Zones kind of diet, which for us means mostly soups, stir fries and salads, I do most of the cooking now and DH is usually on clean up duty.

 

[WestUniversity]

That would be me. I took over that task upon my retirement. I’m really enjoying it and so is she...

 

[Eagle43]

I can't cook but I can microwave like a bitch.

[emoji1]

 

[NanaW]

DH is a retired Chef no way do I cook I would be shamed out of the kitchen lol