Why moms cook the same meals repeatedly?

Researchers have found that the average mother relies on just nine recipes for feeding her family

by S. C.

A recent British study has found that nine out of ten mothers admitted cooking the same meals repeatedly, while four out of ten respondents confessed to cooking the same meals on the same day of the week, every week. Despite the average mother having eight cookery books in her house, they had tried just five recipes.

The most common meal amongst mothers was spaghetti bolognaise, followed by roast dinners, shephard’s pie or pasta.

Researchers found that mothers were reverting to the recipes that they knew due to the hectic demands of modern life and increasingly fussy partners and children.

One of the surprise findings of the study was that eight out of ten respondents claimed to make two or more meals a night, and one in five said that they cooked the same meals because their children were fussy eaters.

Three quarters of the mothers chose their meals based on how quick they were to make rather than based on how healthy the meals were. The average meal time took 35 minutes from start to finish.

Healthier meals were perceived as taking longer to prepare, although two thirds felt guilty that they didn’t make time for a greater variety of healthy meals.