What do you think of these packs?

I don't own Home Chef Hustle yet, probably will one day, but I haven't had use for it yet (I tend to buy the smaller packs only when I have a sim that fits the story, unless there is really good CAS or BB that I want). 

As for Growing Together I personally love it. The family dynamics is fun (just be careful with "strict" it's very annoying), the milestones are something that makes a life make sense (although I wish there were more, and that the crawling one didn't take so long. It's nearly impossible). As for them disappearing, not anymore, at least not for me and I do play rotationally. The infants are adorable and the new sleep over options fun. I love that family can make surprise visits. As for your questions, the burn-out as mentioned by others are easy to deal with and no big deal, just do something else or go on a vacation for a day or two before it gets bad. The midlife crisis can be a fun way to push out of your comfort zone and if you don't like it ignore it easily enough. As for combability it doesn't affect the game nearly enough, the sims still make friends very easily.