POLL: Who does the meal preparation at your house?

[Jenise]

Many couples happily share the preparation of meals, some trade off, some would like to share more but their partner's hard to share a kitchen with, and some of us do it all. How are the cooking responsibilities shared at your house?

Saturdays are my days in the kitchen, first starting off in the small hours of the morning to prepare sauces and dessert, then to prepare brunch and then to continue in preparing what will be dinner.

On all other days when not dining out (which because of my profession is fairly often), we share......depends more on who is in the mood and who is tired.

Best
Rogov

He cooks some; I cook some. What happens as much as either of those, though, is that he gets home before me so he preps and I cook/washup.

Gene and I each get our own breakfast and lunch. We eat breakfast together, but rarely lunch. Sometimes I will make a fancy omelet, French toast or some other unusual recipe for fun. Lunch is usually leftovers or I make a salad for myself. If Gene is having a very busy day, I make him come in and eat a sandwich or home made soup, or he forgets to eat.

Dinner is always my responsibility to prep. In the summer he grills most every night. In winter, not so much. It is very hot here in the summers, so dinner is simple foods, usually from our garden or Farmer's Market. Usually sea food, chicken, turkey burgers, light veggie pasta dishes. Tonight it is a roasted on-the-grill, bone-in turkey breast with all sorts of herbs from my garden, and a lemon, soy, butter and garlic rub. Baby spuds from the Farmer's Market will roast along side. Fresh, garden broccoli, and simple salad of heirloom tomatoes and baby lettuce.
Dinner clean up is done by both of us. We both clear the table, I put food away while he washes and we both dry.

[Jenise]

He cooks some; I cook some. What happens as much as either of those, though, is that he gets home before me so he preps and I cook/washup.

What you're really saying is, you have a personal sous chef. You're living the dream life!

When I'm here alone (75% of the time at present) I obviously do everything. I used to let Jack play prep chef, but he got too much hair in the food.

When I'm not here alone, it seems to work out that MM does the savories and I do the sweets.

Fun question Jenise. I've always been a little envious of the couples who cook together -- music playing, drinking wine, playfully feeding a taste of the sauce to their partner--and before I met my husband that's the way I pictured getting dinner on the table.

Fast forward to reality. He doesn't mind cooking, but doesn't particularly enjoy it either. I happen to love cooking, and if I'm not thinking about food or what to make for dinner there must be something wrong with me. He loves to eat, but isn't quite to my frenzied level of passion toward food. Plus, I've realized that I'm a bit controlling in the kitchen. I know what I want to make, what I want in it, whether the veggies should be diced or sliced, and how hot the pan should be. The times we've cooked together he asks a million questions so it's not exactly a ying yang experience. That said, when we entertain, he is unbelievably helpful and intuitive.

I do all the 'fancy' cooking, with SWMBO as my sous-chef and clean up crew, but she does some of the weekday dinners where creativity takes second place to fueling the machine.

[Robin Garr]

I clicked "I do it all," although that's not quite fair, and "other" might have been more accurate.

Assuming we're not eating out (which we do a lot), I cook all dinners, but Mary almost always builds breakfast and lunch, which are usually light and simple. We don't usually do sweets, but Mary enjoys baking and will occasionally take charge of a pastry event ranging from cookies or a cake to something fancy.

So, I do almost all the cooking - assuming we're talking about dinner, with no dessert.

The key to all this is that I LIKE to cook dinner, regard it as a creative outlet, and when I'm not taking a break from the Wine Advisor FoodLetter as I've done this summer, write about a fair number of my inventions for a 20,000-reader base.

For the most part, I do the savories and my wife does the sweets. There are exceptions to this. Once in a while, she'll cook supper and I make ice cream and the occasional simple baked goods. But when people call my wife a "good cook", my nine-year-old inevitably corrects them. "Mommy is the baker. Daddy is the cooker."

I selected "We generally prepare meals together", but to be honest, it's free-for-all in our kitchen. It depends completely on what we're doing - if I'm baking or preserving, Pete might throw a spag bog together, or if Pete's making yoghurt or icecream, then I might cook dinner. More often than not, though, we're both in the kitchen cooking together, doing whatever needs to be done. Clean-up is done by the person who is the least full after dinner.

The only cooking I do is if the barbeque is used. I do the grilling of meat only as a rule.
I do make ice cream a few times a year.

Janet does the menus; I do the cooking. Breakfast and most lunches are usually very simple do it yourselfers -- but if they are "special" I do the cooking.

Janet cooked for many years; but I took over 15 years ago. Thanks to the CIA and FLDG, I've become a fairly good intermediate cook.

The only cooking I do is if the barbeque is used. I do the grilling of meat only as a rule. I do make ice cream a few times a year.

Lou, I bet you do all the KP when BL is making cassoulet! I am sure you do.....NOT!

I used to do nothing except my breakfast. Then time went on and Dad died and Mom needed some help, so I became the helper, as the bachelor in the family. So for a while I did the main stuff and Mom did the menu planning and desserts. Time passes, and Mom will be 90 next birthday, and now I do it all.

I found that making desserts was as interesting as making dinner.

John

What you're really saying is, you have a personal sous chef. You're living the dream life!

Kinda. I guess. If you say so.

I am on the "I do all the cooking" list. My wife does some sweet baking when she has the energy. A man has to know his limitations as my friend Clint would say.

Just me...my husband can't really cook. He did a little cooking when he lived on his own before we got married. Since then (7 yrs ago), I 've done it all. He does fill the dishwasher at night, though, and there's been the rare occasion where he's made me breakfast in bed or made the children a turkey sandwich.

I do all the cooking. Tony is the bartender. It works for us.

[Jenise]

Same here, Traci. Well--almost, Bob does the bartending AFTER I select the wine. But he sets the table and keeps me company.

Carrie, I always had the same romantic vision of two people cooking together. So when I met Bob, a total non-cook, I was so excited when he said that he'd always had that same romantic vision. We now officially refer to that statement as "the only lie Bob has ever told". He claims that the first time he ever saw me slice an onion at lightning speed, he changed his mind about thinking he could be helpful. He just doesn't have any instincts--once we were preparing for a party and under the crunch time-wise when I realized we were missing a crucial ingredient and had to make a grocery run. He said what can I do to help while you're gone and I pointed to a bag of potatoes and said, "peel about half of those". When I got home, ALL of the potatoes were peeled halfway. It was the cutest thing, I'd have given anything to not have had to tell him that he misunderstood.

When I got home, ALL of the potatoes were peeled halfway.

Splendid! Delightful! What a great story. Thank you for telling it.

I voted for some of each, although I probably do >90% of the cooking, I can't claim to do all.

When I got home, ALL of the potatoes were peeled halfway.

Splendid! Delightful! What a great story. Thank you for telling it.

Ditto. That story is adorable.

I do all the cooking. Tony is the bartender. It works for us.

I do the wine selections and the bartending. I didn't realize those things count?