Ask Yadi: My husband wants different dinners but won’t offer any ideas

AdviceAsk Yadi: How do I get my husband to stop complaining about the same dinners?Ask Yadi: How do I get my husband to stop complaining about the same dinners? (AP Photo/Larry Crowe)ASSOCIATED PRESSBy Yadi Rodriguez, cleveland.comCLEVELAND, Oh - Dear Ask Yadi: My husband often complains that we eat the same things for dinner. But whenever I ask what he would like, he says, “Whatever you make is fine.” That’s not very helpful!As the main cook in our household, I know we don’t eat the same thing every day, although we do have staples. I always serve a protein, starch and vegetable or salad. I rotate the proteins among steak, chicken, fish, lamb, pork and seafood. I also try to prepare them in different ways without doing any fried foods.Ask Yadi: Is it OK to ask for a different person after two failed blood draws?Ask Yadi: Do We Really Need Signs Reminding Us to Wash Our Hands?Ask Yadi: How Do I Tell My Adult Children to Pay for Their Own Dinner? We don’t eat out often because it’s expensive, and I enjoy cooking. Since it’s just the two of us, we usually have leftovers. Sometimes we eat the same meal two days in a row or my husband takes the leftovers for lunch.I’m happy to try new things, but I can’t get any suggestions from him when I ask what he wants. I also work, so I don’t have an entire day to devote to planning and preparing dinner. And I’d rather not buy ingredients or spices I’ll use once.How can I break our dinner routine and get my husband to stop feeling like we eat the same things all the time?ANSWER: Your spouse is very lucky that you cook dinner for him every night and do your best to change things up.It can be difficult when you don’t get suggestions on what to cook. I would suggest sitting together once a week, every other week or even once a month and perhaps creating a menu. This way you can see exactly what you will be having throughout the month. Try not to repeat anything that you make. Perhaps you both can find a cookbook or recent magazine filled with quick and easy dinner options. Maybe every month find a cookbook that features a particular style of cooking or theme, such as Italian, stir fry, Caribbean, crockpot, etc. Then, pick things that use the ingredients and spices you already have. Since you always have leftovers, maybe just pick four different things to cook weekly. You can also see if the meals you prepare can be frozen and thawed out for those days when you don’t want to cook. Have fun with it and this may take away from the “I don’t know, whatever you want to cook” answer. Check out more Ask Yadi columns here.Have a question or an etiquette predicament that you want advice on? Send me an “Ask Yadi” email at yrodriguez@cleveland.comYadi Rodriguez is a reporter at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer and currently writes an advice column titled “Ask Yadi.” Since 2017, she has been on the "Best Of" team, ranking tasty food items and searching...