All I get are complaints, what should I do?

Question

I cook a nice dinner every night for my family. Instead of a thankyou I get," why did you make this? It's not cooked right. I don't like what you made, etc." Should I go on strike and just stop cooking?

Answer 1

Get everyone involved in planning the menus, shopping for the food, and helping prepare the dinner. The level of complaints will drop remarkably.

Answer 2

You have to do your due diligence before assuming it's all them.

Do you ASK them what they'd like?

If I gave you an 80s shoulder-pad blouse for a gift you'd probably smile politely and stash it away somewhere.
If I did it for every occasion, I think you'd get a bit annoyed.

Solution: find out what they want. Then cook that. If that doesn't eliminate any complaints, you have a valid point.

One other point: Many of the other answers assume that you are doing this as a favor. Not so in any family I know of. In all families there is division of labor. My wife cooks, but I sweat my *** off in the 98 deg. heat fixing the car and mowing the lawn. If my family had a valid complaint about the way I was doing it, I'd have an obligation to try to do it right providing that their requests were reasonable. I shouldn't mess up the lawn any more than she should make inedible meals... get my drift?

Answer 3

all a strike would lead to is delivery pizza and mcdonalds and my guess is you are trying to help your family lead a healthy lifestyle and/or save money. maybe try taking turns making dinner or sit down and make a plan with everyone in the family. talk about who likes what foods and make a rotation that can be updated every so often and try throwing in a new recipe now and then. i know your frustrated and that being the cook is rarely rewarded but keep up the good work don't give up on dinner. if half our society tried to cook more we wouldn't be walking around carrying 20 pounds more than we should. good luck!

Answer 4

There are a couple of options.

1. Find out what they want to eat & then cook it.

2. Find out what they want & cook it.

3. Go on strike for a few days.

4. Ignore it & just cook what you like.

5. Test your cooking on your friends, maybe it is really bad. If it's you I suggest you take a cooking class.

6. Order takeaway/Go out for dinner every night.

Answer 5

They'll learn to appreciate your cooking more if you show them how bad it COULD be. Find the most disgusting recipes you can come up with and serve them every night for a month. Or buy some really bad tv dinners. Try some foreign cuisine that you know they'll hate. You can also go to http://allrecipes.com/ and search for one star recipes.

Another option: put the cookbook, the ingredients, and everything you'll need to cook dinner out on the kitchen counter. Then go see a movie.

Answer 6

I can understand where you are coming from. My husband always asks what I am making then he wants to approve the menu or suggests something else. He is a great cook too. Maybe your family needs to take on some of the cooking responsiblities. I started cooking for my family when I was about 11.

Answer 7

Hey maddy girl just tell them that if they do not like your cooking maybe they should cook there own food or maybe someone can give you an idea how to make it taste better or what to do with it ,to be good and that no one will complain again,you could go on strike or stop cooking but only thing that it will do to you ,it will not help you to learn at all how to cook and if you stop cooking you want take any experience anywhere by not trying,so next time if they complain again just tell them to cook their own food or to go heat in a restaurant,don't give up because maybe there doing that just to see what your gone do or say or maybe see if you will quit or use your good will to do lunch because you like pleasing yourself and your family right now they do not really know what they could be missing from you.Hey girl don't give up ,cheer up and i wish you luck in your futur cooking believe me i know how you feel right now cause i am going through that with my mother in law and my brother in law and my tactics is that i am cooking for me and my boyfriend not for them if they do not like they know now what to do cause i told them so.Don't worry be happy and keep doing it anyway you like.Have a nice day from Brigitte G ([e-mail])

Answer 8

i dont expect thank yous but i dont get complaints either. i would be out of the house when i would normally be cooking dinner, and let them think (without actually saying that you will) that you're bringing dinner home,come home a little past when you would normally have dinner ready, and just act like someone else should have started dinner. then the next night be home but doing something (out of the kitchen) at dinnertime, & if they ask, say "oh, look how late it is, why hasn't anyone else started dinner" and if they say why dont you do it say, well you dont like my cooking, so you do it. Then maybe they will apologize for saying that.

Answer 9

I used to get the same answers at first.

I think you should answer the "complaints", which sound more like whining to me.

If you're just learning to cook, tell them so - they can't expect you to produce masterpieces in your first tries. Ask them to be patient with you, and if they complain about your taste and methods, you could either dare them to cook something better or ask them to teach you: if they're so much better then surely they can share the tips.

Good luck, and keep trying! If they insist, try showing other people your results, too.

Answer 10

I was never allowed to complain about my mother's cooking. It wasn't allowed.

You need to talk to your family and explain that it's not acceptable to say anything negative about your cooking, or anything else you make by your hands.

If they don't care for a particular dish, let them plan a meal the following week. Then let them prepare it. And cook it. And serve it. And clean up after.

Ungrateful brats!