My Stay At Home Househusband is cooking the same thing almost every night. What should I do?

Question

I'm in a role reversal marriage. I work and my husband stays home full-time and takes care of the house. No children yet, but we agreed to this because I do make more money and we want him to get acquainted with homemaking before he stays home with kids.

He has been good about doing all the housework. The house is clean and he is making dinner. However, every night it is Hamburger Helper!!!! If it isn't one variety - it's another! What should I do? How should I handle this and tell him he needs to change the menu?

FYI....you people who are telling him to get a job are not answering the question as it was intended. I don't want him working - and that is a decision we made jointly. His job is home - case closed. Sorry to be blunt on this, but I'll save that topic for another question.

Answer 1

Tell him on weekends you'll both get into the kitchen and try something new. Find recipes that you'd both enjoy cooking (and best of all EATING) and perhaps that'll kick-start the creativity for the menu for the rest of the week. If there's something the two of you cook up together that is fantastic, chances are he'll want to eat it again.
As for the role-reversal, I think it's a great idea, more people should consider it as an option.

Answer 2

One of the best ways to approach this is before you go grocery shopping. Obviously, hamburger helper every night is not the healthiest food on earth so you do need to have better and healthier meal planning.

Consider making a one or two week menu that both of you can agree on (and something that he is willing to try and cook). Find out what kinds of foods/meals he can make and work with that. The make your list and stick the menu to the fridge.

If it is the case with him not knowing how to cook-then go online and find easy recipes from food.com or copycat.com (they have recipes from restaurants-so if you have a fave restaurant food, you can see if he can make it at home) for the things you both like to eat and maybe once or twice a week have him try to make something from those recipes. Once he gets comfortable trying new things, expand the number of nights per week he prepares something non hamburger helper.

Maybe you can have a soup and sandwich night? Or large salad with grilled chicken on it the next? There are lots of great meals that take less time and effort than hamburger helper and give you health benefits too.

Reinforce his desire to cook new things for both of you by providing positive feedback. Eventually, once he starts noticing how much better these other meals taste, he will probably forego the hamburger helper stuff.

Answer 3

Has it dawned on you that this is the easiest thing your husband knows how to prepare? And does the fact that he's a house husband mean that you can never step foot in the kitchen? Buy the man a cookbook with simple recipes in it. Then, sit down with him and go over the recipes together. Get involved in it and stop with the "hands-off" attitude.

I see no problem with having a house husband. Men tend to be thorough housekeepers and great cooks. If this is what you and your husband want to do, give the man a helping hand.

BTW: There are some great cooking shows on cable, most of which feature male chefs. Turn your man on to the cooking channel.

Answer 4

Im in a role reversal marriage too but only because my husband is a foreigner. I showed him a few of my fave recipes on the weekend and he makes substitutions in the week. I also call him in the day to arrange whats for supper and if theres anything I should bring home. It works well. You should try that, discuss different foods in advance, like every saturday you make a few suggestions what can be cooked in the week. This takes the guessing out of cooking.

Answer 5

Go grocery shopping with him on the weekend. You can get a variety of things you both like. Maybe he doesn't really know how to cook a lot of dishes. You could try looking up recipes on-line together or get a new cook book. Do you have a crock pot? There are a lot of wonderful dishes you can make in a slow cooker.

Just tell him you would like to try a new dish once a week for a while. You could take turns each week picking a new dish.

Answer 6

He is doing what he can. He probably doesn't know how to make much. My ex once made me chicken cutlets for dinner. I thought that was really great until I realized that was all he made. No salad, no veggies, no side dish whatsoever. But he was used to just eating whatever. Not all men or women for that matter are whizzes in the kitchen. He is trying to get acquainted with the stay at home role and it will probably take a while. Be appreciative and be supportive.

Maybe you two could work on making meals together on the weekends so he can learn how to expand his repertoire. It is also just a fun activity to do together, and a good excuse to get a cookbook he can get to know. :) You might also want to focus on some healthy meals with healthier ingrediants. Hamburger Helper is a good quick fix, but it probably lacks a lot in nutrition.

Answer 7

LOL! My hubby is the same, when he cooks it`s either hot dogs or Kraft dinner, sometimes both!! Tell him to add variety to the dinner menu. Take him grocery shopping and help him pick easy to prepare meals. I did this with my hubby, now he`s so proud that he can prepare quick and yummy meals. My hubby likes cooking on the BBQ, so I bought boneless skinless chicken, and some pork chops. He loves to make those meats with rice and a little veggies on the side. Your hubby isn`t lazy, he just doesn`t know what else to do.He needs your help.I was reading some comments above, kicking your hubby in the scrotum is abuse, what kind of comment is that? Men don`t deserve to be treated that way....

Answer 8

As a prep for staying home, buy him a cooking course he can do at night.
Have him watch the cooking channels and take notes. they are wonderful especial Rachel Ray....
Also stop buying hamburger helper and he can't make it.
Spend the week-end teaching him basic cooking skills. If you want him to learn he has to be shown.
By the way having him not work right now seems strange.
Shouldn't you use the opportunity now to squirrel away some extra money, so that you have a nest-egg?????
I know you want him to get used to the role,but
you are putting the cart before the horse.
maybe once you get pregnant he could stay home, but not now.
whether you make more money than him has no bearing on him contributing dollars to the household. I would re think this plan it seems a bit flawed.

Answer 9

There are a number of guy-centered cookbooks out there like the ones by Jamie Oliver ("The Naked Chef" of England). These are "bachelor" cookbooks, but they're ok for starters. Buy him a few decent cookbooks, and get him to experiment--these meals take 30min tops to make. Once he's comfortable with the kitchen, get him Julia Child's cookbook and make him learn French cuisine!!! Now THAT takes around an hour or so to do it right.

Sheesh, I'm a guy and I can cook!!! My girlfriend even complains I cook better than her.

Answer 10

I don't understand....there is no reason for him to stay home right now. Whos idea was this that he has to "get acquainted with homemaking before he stays home with kids". Can't he "learn" that on weekends? If he is cooking Hamburger Helper every night, that takes about 15 minutes to fix. Unless you live in a 6 bedroom mansion, that gives him more than 7 hours to do "housework". I smell a rat here.

Anyway, there are plenty of cook books out there that he can find more things to cook. With all that free time he has, he can look at the books and plan a menu that doesn't have the word "Helper" in it.

Geez, good luck......I guess.