Real meals.

Radical Edward · #1 02-12-2011, 05:55 PM

How often do you find yourself actually preparing and then sitting down and eating a nice, home-made meal? I've just been thinking about all of the fast food, pizzas, box dinners, etc that I eat all the time and the horrible-ness it must be doing to my body. Maybe it's just me?
What's the last thing you had? Today I made: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/f...ipe/index.html

Muzoid · #2 02-12-2011, 05:59 PM

I rarely sit down for a big meal, unless it's at a get-together.

I'm a grazer, little bits whenever I'm hungry.

Last thing for me was some fried chicken.

jonathan_matos5 · #3 02-12-2011, 06:10 PM

i usually prepare a meal about 3-4 times a week. last meal i made was a pork roast with potatoes carrots and onions. served with white rice and sweet potatoes. ( i guess that makes 2 kinds of potatoes.)

dj150888 · #4 02-12-2011, 07:51 PM

Every night. You can prepare a filling, tasty and healthy meal in even less time than it takes to order fast food, it'll taste better and cost less too. Only time I eat fast food is when I've been on the beers. I don't eat pre-made meals at all. Theres a local pizza place that I trust to use fresh, good ingredients that I eat from really rarely, but thats as close as I really get.

Todays meal was a chicken and parma ham terrine with baby potatoes and seasonal veg. Sounds posh as hell, still cost me less than ordering food in would have, total preparation time? Ten minutes, cooking time - thirty minutes.

DwaynieAD · #5 02-12-2011, 08:05 PM

i think the "it's cheaper" and "it's faster" arguments are BS.

I honestly wish I had time to cook from scratch every single day, but its just not feasible for me in my situation

not to mention the initial investment for spices and special equipments you may need is pretty substantial

ShredderMaximus · #6 02-12-2011, 08:06 PM

Kraft mac n' cheese count?

tplyons · #7 02-12-2011, 08:12 PM

Probably cook 3-4 nights a week, leftovers 2-3 nights a week, and if I leave the office late, I'll stop at the deli for a sub. But I bring my lunch to work every day, and spend $1.98 every day on breakfast at wrok, so I probably spend all of $20 a week on eating out.

UncleFluffy · #8 02-12-2011, 08:12 PM

I usually do a cooked breakfast Mon-Fri for the two of us - an omelette, that sort of thing. Lunch is a sandwich or microwaved whatever. We each cook a "real meal" maybe 2 nights a week then do whatever for the others.

Like most other things, cooking is difficult to get right+fast until you've practiced for a bit. But you can go a long way with 10 minutes, Mrs Dash, a skillet, and whatever bits and pieces are on sale that day.

edit: last thing? Thin pork shoulder with apple+blue cheese in the middle, wrapped in dry ham and baked, mustard greens on the side. Can do all the prep inside 2 Ramones songs.

Chef FourString · #9 02-12-2011, 08:15 PM

Dude, I'm a chef, if you couldn't already tell by my screen name, cooking a good, nutritious, honest to god meal takes "want". It's taking the time to plan and organize. And they don't really have to take a lot of effort. It only took the guy above 40 min and that is taking your sweet ass time. You have to want to do it. You have to want to enjoy the fruits of your labors. If you half-dick it than you are going to enjoy the whole process much less therefore discouraging you from doing it again. I promise, if you really take the time and effort, you will enjoy it so much you will keep doing it.

Passinwind · #10 02-12-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikaela Ellinger

How often do you find yourself actually preparing and then sitting down and eating a nice, home-made meal?

Eighteen or so times a week usually. My wife cooks most of the dinners though, and plenty of my meals are leftovers. I work at home so it's much more convenient for me to cook my own meals. Frankly, there are no restaurants around here where I can eat as well as I do at home.

What's the last thing you had?

Chicken stew with wild rice, carrots, onions, garlic, and a Thai pepper from our garden. Took around 4 hours to cook, I think. Prep time was less than five minutes.

Snarf · #11 02-12-2011, 08:26 PM

Cooking is so easy to learn. I would usually cook every day, never bought anything ready made or at burger/burrito places like everyone else at college. It saves soooo much money, and it makes you look all responsible and stuff for the ladies. I haven't gotten that good at seasoning yet though, so sometimes what I cook can be a touch bland. Still working on that.

Skitch it! · #12 02-12-2011, 08:28 PM

4 times a week, If Thai, Indian or Stews, I'll double the quantities for friends, family, or have it the day after, which I find tastes better after 24 hrs of marination. If I'm not burning calories for whatever reason, I eat very little, I fast about 3 times a month.

Ziltoid · #13 02-12-2011, 08:32 PM

I don't do them but other then that quite often, my mom likes to cook and she's very good at it, considering she works a lot I'm lucky that she cooks to

dj150888 · #14 02-12-2011, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

i think the "it's cheaper" and "it's faster" arguments are BS.

I honestly wish I had time to cook from scratch every single day, but its just not feasible for me in my situation

not to mention the initial investment for spices and special equipments you may need is pretty substantial

You can find nutritious meals that will take you marginally longer to make than it would take to look through a menu and call up the place you're ordering from, nevermind the time it would take to go down to the place and pick it up, or the time you'd be waiting for the delivery to arrive.

The initial investment for spices? You start off small, you get your basic salt/pepper/chilli/garlic etc in first, then either pick up one a week or buy them as you need them. Hardly a significant investment.

Equipment? If you've got a few saucepans, a few baking trays etc, you can cook just fine. You don't need fancy equipment to cook. I have very little fancy equipment.

I think arguments like that are much more full of BS than the, "its quicker/cheaper" arguments. I can provide you with examples of totally healthy meals that will take very little preparation time, some take very little cooking time, some require just tossing something in the oven and lifting it out an hour later. You couldn't be bothered cooking, so you've persuaded yourself that its a whole lot of effort. You'll really surprise yourself when you delve a little deeper and see how handy it can be.

It helps that I enjoy cooking, but realistically, maybe twice a week I spend more time cooking than it would take me to get fast food. Every other day, I've had a long day and I want something quick and handy.

fdeck · #15 02-12-2011, 09:27 PM

Every night. The main thing is just getting in the habit. When it becomes routine, then you get more comfortable doing things like substituting, improvising, skipping steps, and just throwing together whatever is in the fridge.

Prepared / fast food will kill you, though some things like canned tomatoes are relatively free of additives.

fdeck · #16 02-12-2011, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziltoid

I don't do them but other then that quite often, my mom likes to cook and she's very good at it, considering she works a lot I'm lucky that she cooks to

Learn from her while you can. Seriously.

duff beer · #17 02-12-2011, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

i think the "it's cheaper" and "it's faster" arguments are BS.

I honestly wish I had time to cook from scratch every single day, but its just not feasible for me in my situation

not to mention the initial investment for spices and special equipments you may need is pretty substantial

The cheaper and faster arguments are not BS. I cook cheaper and faster every day.

Don't spend your entire life not knowing how to cook. Take out food is like masturbation...it gets you through the day but is not as satisfying as the real thing.

basstotheface · #18 02-12-2011, 09:34 PM

I don't remember the last time I had something other than pizza/fast food/ramen. I'm surprised I'm not fat yet. Maybe 1 time every 4 months.

Eric Cioe · #19 02-12-2011, 09:42 PM

I cook probably 5 nights a week, though lots of time it's really simple stuff like delicious burritos or if I'm slumming it and there is a ballgame on, hot dogs. Lots of steak and potatoes around here. I think I had a baked potato 4 nights this week, with everything from a blue cheese strip steak (total time, ten minutes) to just bread with a huge loaded potato. It's sort of routine: get home from work, turn the oven on, get changed, throw the potato in, and an hour later you take it out, put on your cheddar/sour cream/bacon bits/salt & pepper, and that's a good chunk of dinner.

iamlowsound · #20 02-12-2011, 09:56 PM

I cook all the time. I am a bit of a health nut, so I like to know what I am eating. Also, my average meal costs less than $2. Tonight I splurged a bit and the meal for my girlfriend and I cost $6 total and it tasted better than anything I have had in a restaurant in a very long time.

lowsound