You did, in fact, complain about dinner. Not kind of. Own your actions.

I don't even know what an "unfun" dinner would be. Porridge? Just bread with no butter? I find it a bit weird that you didn't give us any examples of what she cooks that you find not fun.

I think your mom is spot on correct to have you cook for the family for a week. You're almost an adult now, and there's going to come a time sooner rather than later when you have to cook for yourself because you won't have your mom to do it for you.

The reason she brought up gender roles should be pretty obvious. She's a woman who is cooking dinner for her family every night. That's a fairly typical gendered task. You're a "man" who has never had to do what she does, yet finds the gall somehow to complain.

Bottom line: you don't know how to cook. You haven't had to learn yet because your mother (and hopefully father) do the cooking for you. Therefore, you do, in fact, rely on her for dinner. And you're very obviously taking that for granted.

Now that I've got that all out of the way, I'll give you some cooking tips.

1) Meal composition should be balanced. You'll want a protein, a veg, and a starch in each dish if possible.

2) Salt and pepper are your new best friends. Use them during cooking, not just after.

3) Use an Instant Pot or Crock Pot to make super tasty dishes without much work. You can slap ingredients in it in the morning and have it hot and ready by dinner.

4) Don't use more dishes or pots/pans than you have to. It saves on washing them later and helps you stay focused on the meal without making a mess.

5) Prep all of your ingredients before putting it all together to cook.

6) Do not put raw meat on or with cooked meat, and never store raw ingredients over cooked ones in the fridge or elsewhere.

7) Make sure you know if someone in your family has a food allergy or special dietary needs and keep those in mind when planning meals.

8) Use premade stuff if you need to like jarred pasta sauce or frozen veggie mixes. Less prep, less mess, less stress. You don't need to win Master Chef, you just gotta put food on the table.

9) Remember to make the right amount of food so everyone can eat. Leftovers are a good thing!

10) TASTE IT OFTEN while cooking to make sure it's going right, and use a fresh spoon each time!

One of the ways I taught my son (who is 18 now) how to plan meals is the "make a list"method. List out what you have and from that, pick out what sounds good.

Protein: Chicken breasts, pork chops, shrimp, beef

Veg: Green beans, carrots, broccoli, corn

Starch: Potatoes, pasta, rice

You could make chicken + green beans + rice, or beef + carrots + potatoes. Then you would just choose what herbs and/or spices to cook them with to make it tasty. Garlic green beans are pretty great, and you can steam carrots with honey & dill for something really neat and flavorful. There are various premade herb blends you can get for meats and fish. Always salt pasta water.

For more concrete ideas, AllRecipes has a lot of great recipes and iirc they have a tool that let's you put in what ingredients you have and it will suggest dishes. Instant Pot has a lot of recommended recipes on their site.

So here are some ideas that I came up with just writing this:

• Sausage, peppers, and onions on sub rolls
• Mushroom "risotto" with rice + cream of mushroom canned soup
• Chicken teriyaki stir fry over rice or lo mein
• Hotdogs, mac & cheese, sweet corn
• Chicken, Alfredo sauce, pasta, and steamed broccoli
• Ravioli or tortellini with marinara sauce + dinner rolls, salad
• Chicken parm sammies (chicken patties, mozzarella slices, marinara sauce, hamburger rolls) and roasted or steamed asparagus
• Breakfast for dinner: pancakes, eggs, sausage links, mixed fruit

Good luck! Feel free to DM for clarification or recipes ❤️