Any ideas for an everyday system for this...

An everyday system, TM, is a simple, commonsense solution to an everyday problem, grounded by a pun or metaphor. Propose/discuss new systems here.
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Inca
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Any ideas for an everyday system for this...

Post by Inca » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:00 am

I really want to incorporate having more home cooked meals...for health reasons and family reasons. My problem? I seem to be just too lazy to commit to it...It would be OK if I didn't feel unhappy about it.

Any good ideas for how I can get myself to do this?
Inca

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navin
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Post by navin » Thu Aug 24, 2006 1:54 am

I've had a similar problem. The trick is to get your own laziness to work for you. Here's what I've been doing, and it gives me decent success.

I have found that I tend to be lazy in these ways:
1. I don't mind taking time to make a nice meal, but I hate doing it right after a tough day at work.
2. I don't like going to the store.
3. I don't want to spend much time in the morning making lunch or breakfast.

On a weekend (usually Sunday), I make a rough plan of the meals I want for that week, lunch and dinner. I plan easy to make meals for days I think will be hectic, and save the new or more involved stuff for days I have some time - or plan make them ahead the night before. I also generally plan lunch to be either leftovers from the night before, or something really easy. I don't plan breakfast - I just keep some staples around, like cereal, bagels, pineapple (makes great smoothies), and so forth.

I usually don't plan out S-days, I'll either eat any leftovers from the week or just eat out (hey, S day, after all!)

Then I'll go to the store and buy everything I have planned out for that week. Unless something weird or catastrophic happens (ingredient goes bad maybe), I won't have to go to the store again until the weekend. (Added bonus: this saves on gas, too.)

Hope this helps at least some... good luck!
Before criticizing someone, you should try walking a mile in their shoes. Then you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

Inca
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Any ideas...

Post by Inca » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:04 pm

Thanks Navin.

I don't have a problem with the planning...I have a problem with the carryin out the plan. It is helpful to know that others are out there feeling the way I do. I will keep trying.... I think my plans need tweaking; At least in the beginning I am going to have to be satisfied with really simple food....Now if only my family were happy to go along with that :) .
Inca

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:35 pm

We cook dinner pretty much every day.

Some dinner tricks we've learned:

0) you do not have to make *everything* from scratch that night. Yes, it would be nice, but it's also probably not possible most of the time, and it's much better to do something rather than thwarted perfectionist nothing. By far the most important thing is the ritual, the behavior: the sitting down with gr attitude, appetite, family and friends to a set table. Do that, and the rest will come.

1) starch takes the longest. Make a big pot when you have time and reheat portions as needed. Couscous is the fastest cooking starch known to man. Keep some of that on hand for the times you've neglected to prep adequately.

2) do not disdain frozen vegetables. they're cheap, they're healthy, they're quick. Flash frozen vegetables apparently often lock in more nutrients than you're likely to get from "fresh." A little bit of butter and parsley mixed in at the end makes it almost gourmet.

3) Pan frying/searing/sauteing a fillet of fish, chick breast, whatever, takes 10 minutes. This tends to be the most important part of the meal to get fresh, and it's also the quickest to prepare.

4) if your butcher has premarinated meats, these usually cost no more than unmarinated and make a delicious quick "stir fry" when sliced up a bit. Because it's so quick, it's hard to overcook. Saves you a lot of time and forethought vs. marinating yourself.

5) cut, wash and dry a head of lettuce and put meal sized portions in a few ziplock bags for reuse throughout the week. It keeps nice and fresh and it's quick to slice in other ingredients for variety at the last minute.

Here's a breakfast trick:

For breakfast, a european style spread of bread and toppings is quick, delicious, flexible, and civilized feeling. And don't forget a bowl of fresh fruit.

Hope something here helps,

Reinhard

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david
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Post by david » Thu Aug 24, 2006 4:13 pm

Last night, at my wife's suggestion, we made a dinner that would fit right in with these ideas. I had baked 3 lbs. of hoki fish fillets on Monday and we had about half left over. So, we took some canned clam chowder, some canned clams, and some fish broth and cooked up a "fishermans stew." It was really good and filling! So, my suggestion is that when you cook meat/fish, cook up twice what you normally would and then a few days later tranform what you saved into a new, tasty dish. Also, those rotisierrie chickens that most supermarkets have now can be turned into lots of easy, tasty dishes.

--david

Jid
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Post by Jid » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:58 am

My own personal trick is to think what I want the next night, while I prepare quickly for the evening's meal.

While I'm pulling stuff out of the fridge, I'll often look in the freezer and pull out chicken breasts or sausages, or hamburger, or something, and put it in the fridge, while I take my ingredients out.

I generally spend between 15 minutes and half an hour on dinner prep each evening, and find the key for me is just to make sure I have variety. I do eat a lot of chicken, but I try to keep it to every second night.

My other personal favourite cooking trick is to have a working knowledge of the way of the crockpot. If I have a roast, just tossing that in the pot with some coarsely chopped potatoes, carrots, and onions, even the night before (assuming I can keep the crockpot in the fridge. If not, I just chop the veggies the night before.)

In the morning before work, all I do is turn the crockpot on low-medium, and head out the door. By 6, there's a nice meal waiting. ;)

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Post by larisa0001 » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:26 pm

I'm making that change myself (for financial reasons - I'm a starving student now). Haven't come up with a good rule yet; but here's what I've got so far:

- when eating alone, no purchased meal should exceed $2 in price. This covers the possibility that I may be out wandering somewhere, and need to grab a quick cup of coffee or a hotdog or something to keep from dying of starvation. Considering how awful most $2 food is, I do not use that option very often. (the $2 is very consciously chosen to be below the price of my favorite coffee concoction at Starbucks)

- this rule is suspended when I am eating with others (socializing with my fellow students, entertaining out-of-town guests, etc.) Networking is very important in law school, and a lot of bonding can happen over a shared meal.

- other than the above exceptions, all meals should be home-cooked from fresh ingredients.


Initially after devising this rule, I found myself eating a lot of canned soup and hotdogs (yuck; I'm a foodie of sorts, and canned soup is an abomination), but now that I've gotten my bearings a bit more, I'm cooking my own food. It's mostly fairly simple quick stuff, but even simple stuff can be good. The meal I have just finished consisted of stewed chicken wings with carrots and mushrooms and garlic, with boiled potatoes. Didn't take very long to cook, and tasted pretty good. When I'm really in a rush, I make fried eggs - that takes about 5 minutes.

Now, if you don't know how to cook, that's a different issue. I'm not sure if I can recommend a cookbook; I tend to not use them, myself.

LM

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NoelFigart
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Home Cooked Meals

Post by NoelFigart » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:36 pm

One thing I am genuinely surprised no-one has mentioned is using a crock pot.


I come home from work tired and hungry. But after a decent meal (which has often been simmering in my crock pot all day), I'm a little more refreshed.

I would say that at least three evenings out of the week, I'll set up something for the crock pot, and put it in the fridge to go on to cook the next morning.

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Re: Home Cooked Meals

Post by kccc » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:23 pm

NoelFigart wrote:One thing I am genuinely surprised no-one has mentioned is using a crock pot.


I come home from work tired and hungry. But after a decent meal (which has often been simmering in my crock pot all day), I'm a little more refreshed.

I would say that at least three evenings out of the week, I'll set up something for the crock pot, and put it in the fridge to go on to cook the next morning.
Noel, I would love to see some of your crock pot recipes. I occasionally do BBQ chicken in mine, but that's about all. The recipes I've looked at either look nasty (lots of canned soups) or require a different schedule than I can manage ("three hours before dinner, add..." - sorry, I'm at work) and thus defeats the purpose).

Yet, I have this nagging feeling I'm under-utilizing it, and could do better...

On the original topic... I do weekly meal plans, looking at the expected pattern of the week. They generally come down to one red meat, one chicken dish, one fish meal, two vegetarian (often bean or egg-based, or pasta). Within that, there's a lot of variety. Pasta can be spaghetti or tortellini with marinara, clam sauce, or pesto... or even mac and cheese. That kind of thing.

I agree with Reinhard about frozen vegs, and with Jid about pre-planning the night before. Since the good starches take so long, sometimes I cook them the night before and heat them the next day. (Barley - yum! - can simmer while we're eating tonight's meal.)

Also, for a while I subscribed to one of the email menu services (usually 5 menus/recipes for entrees plus a grocery list - I liked the Six O'Clock Scramble) to enlarge my repertoire of quick meals. Didn't do them all, but started adding recipes we liked to the rotation, until I had a nice assortment.

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Post by NoelFigart » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:34 pm

I work all day, too. I agree with you that all this fancy crap defeats the purpose! All of my crock pot recipes involve putting it on low first thing in the morning, then coming home to a cooked dinner.

I don't use canned food all that much (I'm with Reinhard on the frozen veggies, though. Throw 'em in with some chicken, ginger and soy sauce and you have a nice stir fry fast!)

Every recipe in this involves throwing them in the crock and that's it. I cook them on low about 8 hours. If you're gone from the house much longer than that, you can always buy one those timer things that turn on at a preset time. They run about five bucks. My roommate's girlfriend uses one for her crock pot and it works out well.

These meals are for a 3qt crock pot, but are easily scaleable.

Coq au Vin

4-6 chicken breasts
1/2 c. red wine
1/2 chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 c sliced mushrooms
Chopped carrots
1/8 c. Bacon bits
2 T thyme

Good over pasta with a side salad.

Beef stew

1 lb stew beef
3 large carrots
2 potatoes
1 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp each parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme
1 c. red wine
~ 1 quart beef stock (I used to live with a chef. He bought commerical soup bases, and they do fine. Instructions for use are always on the package.)

Jambalaya (This is what we're having for dinner tonight)

3 chicken breasts
1 lb breakfast sausage or ANDOUILLE (If you can find it outside of Cajun country, cool. I'd be surprised. I live in New England and have never seen it.)
1 diced bell pepper
3 celery stalks
1 15 oz. can diced tomatos
1/4 t. cayenne pepper,
2 t. black pepper,
1 t. oregano,
1/2 t. thyme
1 chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 c. chicken stock

Serve over rice.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:27 pm

I like the idea of a crock pot... (Jid actually does mention it above, too).

Any recommendations on a particular model?

Reinhard

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NoelFigart
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Post by NoelFigart » Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:44 pm

ACK! My face is red. So she did.

I think I went to Wal-Mart and got "the cheap one".

It's serving me fine.

I do HIGHLY recommend that you ONLY get a slow cooker with a removable crock. You can prep the night before, put it in the fridge, and then put it on in the morning. Not to mention it makes cleanup fifty times easier!

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Post by pangelsue » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:10 am

Yippee for crock pots. I love being at work and suddenly remembering that supper is being made while I am away. Pea soup from scratch is awesome, as is a whole chicken with garlic, lemon and a little chicken broth. Homemade beans are the best as is homemade chili. I make lots and freeze them. And my personal favorite is italien soup. I make it from

1 # of hamburger (or ground turkey)
1 quart of chicken broth
2 packages of frozen mixed vegeables
1 can of some kind of beans or chick peas.
1 quart of pasta sauce and half a jar of water.
Sometimes we also add hot pepper flakes or chili seasoning
Cook in the slow cooker. It makes a ton and all the seasoning is done for you. It is "just dump" heathy fare.

My husband and I love salad but we both hate hauling out all the toppings every night and chopping. So we bought a plastic lazy susan type of tray (like you would load fresh vegetable in for a picnic) and we fill it with salad toppers like cut up cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, sliced carrots, zucchini, celery, sliced olives, hard cooked eggs or what ever other salad toppers you want. If you vary the combination that is even better. Then, we do like Reinhard suggested and chop up lettuce in portion sizes and put it in baggies. It is so easy to make a wonderful salad. You grab a plate, a bag of lettuce and choose your toppings. one tray of vegetables lasts about 4 days for 2 people and then we refill. Fun and a time saver.

Another delicious recipe we use often is tuna artichoke melts:
2 whole wheat english muffins
1 can of artichokes, chopped
1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
1 can of water packed tuna
mayonaise to moisten
Load up english muffin halves and place in oven until heated through. Delicious.
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mir
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Post by mir » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:06 pm

I love my pressure cooker. I save so much time that I can make a chuck roast in about 30 minutes.

Artichokes only take 9 minutes.

It's a great tool in the kitchen.

benjishi
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Post by benjishi » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:53 am

pressure cookers and crock pots are wonderful tools for low work cooking, and I use them all.

Another option is High Touch cooking.

Stir fry with an actual wok. Perhaps with an LP wok burner ( I love mine in the summer. Hot enough that no matter what you toss in you can still "fry" instead of winding up steam/boiling.) You can do the "slice things to equal sizes" method where you add everything at once. Or, as I prefer.. Add the longest cooking things first, and the least cooking things last...

Sesame oil + ginger. Then meat/tofu. Then green peppers/ broccolli type stuff. Leaving any leafy greans, snow peas and bean sprouts till the end when you turn off the heat and leave the lid on for just a bit.

Many quick dishes can be done in a wok.

Also... a real omelette pan makes cooking omelettes a joy. And their are so many varieties + making your own. Very sexy thing to do too... no spatula, alot of technique. Favorites include.. Spinach + Feta, Salsa + chihuaha + avacado. Denver. Broccoli and Cheddar. Dandelion + Garlic + vinegar + Muenster.

And the classic japanese breakfast omelette of yesterdays left over rice with ketchup. See the movie Tampopo. Wonderful omelette.

Two eggs, + half an eggshell full of water + a bit of fresh ground pepper. Mix with fork till stryated. Do not beat to uniform texture or beat in too much air.

Bit of oil to the pan, melt roughly 1/2 tablespoon of real butter. Temperature is correct when butter bubbles and browns but does not burn. Coat pan and sides of pan thoroughly.

Add eggs. Poke through bubbles with fork, lifting and turning the pan so liquid egg flows under cooked egg. Aim for egg at all stages of cookedness from nearly raw to nearly burnt. When egg stops bubbling, flick pan around so egg pancake slides around pan to keep from burning.
Wait a couple seconds.
Add cheese to top of egg pancake. When cheese is nearly melted, add sauteed ingredients. Slide onto warmed plate so omelette folds in half.

Chef eats last omelette, coincidently, omellete pan is better prepped after each omelette is cooked. So chef gets best meal :)


(boy did i write alot! yay insomnia!)

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Post by Jaxhil » Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:39 pm

benjishi, oh my, all these egg dishes sound *soooo* good! Thanks for the tips!! :D

I just bought a wok and I am wondering what to use it for first :P You gave me some good ideas!
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Post by Groovia » Tue May 22, 2007 1:37 pm

I despise cooking, but I cook almost daily. I hate messes and spending time to prepare something. Seems pointless when it only takes 10 minutes to eat.

To manage this, I have my own rules:

1) No more than 5 ingredients.
Excludes various spices that I just throw in for fun.

2) No mess.
I clean as I go, use minimal dishware, and serve from the pot/pan.

3)Avoid chopping/cutting.
The salad bar at my local grocery store has plenty of pre-chopped vegetables, and I only have to purchase what I need. They once just GAVE me the chopped onion, since it was like .30 cents and that was my only purchase. I also buy bagged salad. It's pre-washed. Just dump it in a bowl.
My exception to this is I will sometimes cut chicken into smaller pieces to mix with pasta and sauce. Or chopping a zucchini, which is no big deal, since it takes all of 4 seconds.

4)No more than 20 minutes...
unless it's an easy-to-prepare casserole thing that I can throw in the oven and forget about for an hour.

I also don't use anything boxed or from mixes (except sometimes for a bearnaise/hollandaise sauce). No Hamburger Helper, no Stove-top stuffing. Not even Shake & Bake.

So maybe I spend a little more than if I were chopping my own produce, but I'll gladly spend a couple dollars for that little luxury.

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Post by reinhard » Tue May 22, 2007 9:19 pm

I love cooking... and I used to be a knife salesman so I've got these beautiful samples (I was a terrible salesman but I fell in love with the knives. Chopping is like meditation for me. But between balancing a kid (or two), a demanding dayjob, some semblance of an intellectual life, and an active "web presence," there's not a whole lot of time left to cook. So these are still useful tips for me... thanks Groovia!

Reinhard

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Post by Groovia » Wed May 23, 2007 2:53 am

Henckels?

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed May 23, 2007 2:12 pm

Cutco! Henkels is too classy to sell door to door.

But the same league in terms of product quality.

Reinhard

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Re: Any ideas for an everyday system for this...

Post by Mr Jack » Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:06 am

Inca wrote:I really want to incorporate having more home cooked meals...for health reasons and family reasons. My problem? I seem to be just too lazy to commit to it...It would be OK if I didn't feel unhappy about it.
I know this was posted over a year ago so you've probably got it sorted by now, but I'm new here.

My own way of doing this was quite simple. I realised that I only actually had to change the way I shop; which I do maybe twice a week, rather than the many more times you eat a meal. I stopped buying anything that was processed (except bread and breakfast cereals) or frozen (except frozen veg, especially peas) and just buy fresh ingredients instead.

That way when you come to eat your meal you have a simple choice between preparing something from scratch, not eating or having to go out of the house. Now, personally, I find cooking a meal the most immediate and least onerous of those options.

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