@simplersimon did you plan to just make one meal at the time, or plan for leftovers. I have had many times where I was making one serving and accidentally made a full crock pot.
@triavalon it’s more I want something that is easier to make in large quantities (like chili) or it’s a hassle to get going and easy enough to just make more at the same time (like grilled foods)
Used to plan my meals a week at a time when I lived alone. Now that I moved back in with the parents, I often don’t know what I’m going to eat until it’s time to eat.
@DVDBZN I’m sure your mom would be delighted if YOU cooked dinner on occasion. I know I’d love it if someone would cook a meal or two for me! (that would be a great ‘thank you’ to her, too)
@Tadlem43
Lol, thanks for calling me out like that XD
I do cook on occasion, although usually breakfast and lunch type meals.
By that I meant more along the lines of when meal times roll around, and nobody’s cooked anything, I’ll just look around at what we have and make a makeshift meal of random items we have in the fridge and pantry.
@DVDBZN lol Sorry, I wasn’t trying to call you out, just a suggestion (Are you feeling guilty?? lol )
Well, being older, and a woman, I know I’d love it if my kid cooked for me!
Broaden your horizons! Step out into the world of dinner! Cook something simple…like a roast, or baked chicken, or something like that.
Not only will your mom love it, but it’ll give you confidence and you might actually enjoy it.
Ok… This mom’s done. lol (tell your mom she has someone on her side lol)
@Tadlem43
No worries! Just gotta finish this degree, and I’ll be right back to cooking.
I realized I mostly stick to simpler stuff for now, like meals that don’t involve much cooking, or mostly use the frying pan. Honestly, baking/roasting kinda scares me. Hard to know if I’m doing it right all the way up until it’s presumably done and ready to eat. I like being able to see what’s going on and intervene if something goes wrong. I’d love to learn to make soups and meats and just more complex dishes in general, but that will have to wait for when I have more time.
Thanks for the encouragement! : D
@DVDBZN Ah… you got it! I’m glad you’re working to get your degree! Focus on that.
But also, baking is so easy that even I can do it. lol (want easy? Take a chicken, put some butter on it, cover it in foil, put it in a 350 -375 oven for an hour to hour and half (depends on weight of chicken)…and eat it. Get that down, then just add to it (spices, browning, etc.). Sooo easy!
Like I said, it’ll give you confidence.
Good luck in school! I’m rootin’ for you!
@DVDBZN@Tadlem43 One frozen chicken breast from freezer to table: One hour at 350 degrees (and I put it in while the oven is heating - height of I hate to cook). Of course I just came back from the grocery store as I needed milk and 18 oz blueberries were on sale for $2.50… and was thinking about stupid dinner. Already had cereal and PB and hone y sandwich today… Everything else is frozen and slow. Bought a TV dinner on sale. That one though takes 8 min to cook!!! I want, like 4 min max.
I figure out what we’re having for dinner and then start cooking it. Sometimes I ask a family member for a request. But it’s never really planned out until it’s approaching time to fix it.
@kuoh You are so right. And yet they still complain about what’s for dinner as they thought the restaurant was going to serve something other than what showed up on the table
Actually the deal in my household was if I made dinner she did the dishes, if she cooked I did.
I’ve been taking a “decide today” approach based on ingredients on hand. I take a “what would I like to eat next week” approach at the weekly trip to grocery stores and Costco/Sam’s.
That tends to maximize the fresh ingredients over “food-in-a-box”. Recipes with lots of ingredients or complexity get simplified, eliminated, or on the order for takeaway list.
@narfcake Buy today’s containers, take them to their house, have them fill them… Bingo now they are your leftovers and you don’t need to cook… Oh wait… the pasta will be all gone by the time PB’s is done with their tour of the USA business that came as a bonus with today’s buy. Never mind.
Sunday is food day. Plan at least a few meals, shop and sometimes cook for the entire week. This week I made Mississippi Pot Roast with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on Monday and Kielbasa, cabbage and noodles (halushki) on Tuesday. That is more than enough for the week.
Plan out the week on Sunday so that 1) the food is available and 2) don’t have to think about it when it’s time to prepare the food. We plan limited portions so it makes leftovers easier to manage.
This is one of the shittiest things about this pandemic right now. My grocery store is literally 2 minutes away. If I didn’t know what I wanted for dinner, I would just go to the store and grab whatever looked good. But since I’m trying to limit my time at the grocery store I’m always flustered when it comes down to making food. When in doubt, eggs.
I downloaded app a couple of days ago called supercook? I believe. It lets me put in whatever I have in the pantry and fridge and spits out recipes at me. It at least helps me get a little bit more motivated.
@RiotDemon I often grab a recipe, realize it calls for a bunch of some ingredient I don’t have, and then make distorted chimera food… Close enough. It’s a free country.
On Sunday, I plan for the rest of the week. I meal prep my lunches and breakfasts so I can monitor my calories easily. The weekends are less planned. I still count calories, but I’m typically so busy with family and friends that it’s hard to cook.
We use a meal planning service called Cooksmarts to simplify ideas and shopping lists. We normally plan 4-5 items at a time and shop for those. Lunches are always leftovers from the night before. This really cut down on food waste. We don’t worry if we need to push things back a day or two or change the order of meals if our imperfect produce box gets delayed or something.
I generally have a rough idea of what I’ll be eating over the course of the week, but I don’t prep or plan because I can’t predict that I’ll be in the mood for an actual meal on any given evening. Half the time I just want a yogurt for dinner, or a couple of hard-boiled eggs. When I tried meal prepping, there were a lot of “I’ll have that tomorrow night” nights, and I wasted a lot of food. Now I just make sure I have fresh stuff for the two or so nights a week when I feel like cooking.
This time of year, dinner planning is usually last minute “what looks good in the garden?” + “what looks good in the freezer/pantry?”. Last night was grilled chicken thighs with potato salad and marinated cucumbers.
I hate to cook. Had to do way more of it when the kid was in the house as DHS takes a dim view of exclusively feeding TV dinners, cereal and, umm, in her case chips (bought with her $5/week to pick whatever junk food she wanted at the grocery store) and pickles (I bought her a 10 gallon container of them one year as a joke at Costco - took her only 3 mo to eat them all and she made pickle popsicles out of the juice - don’t even want to know what a doctor would have said about that).
So I keep some staples in the house that won’t go bad, freeze some meat and hope I decide to do something about that far enough in advance of when I am hungry that I actually follow through and don’t resort to a microwave dinner. I also have to grocery shop when I am hungry or I don’t buy enough. Just not interested in food unless I am hungry.
I’m not even sure about what I’ve eaten in the past.
Occasionally, I’ll randomly make a ton of something and have leftovers all week. Does that count as planning?
Yes.
@simplersimon did you plan to just make one meal at the time, or plan for leftovers. I have had many times where I was making one serving and accidentally made a full crock pot.
@triavalon it’s more I want something that is easier to make in large quantities (like chili) or it’s a hassle to get going and easy enough to just make more at the same time (like grilled foods)
Used to plan my meals a week at a time when I lived alone. Now that I moved back in with the parents, I often don’t know what I’m going to eat until it’s time to eat.
@DVDBZN I’m sure your mom would be delighted if YOU cooked dinner on occasion. I know I’d love it if someone would cook a meal or two for me! (that would be a great ‘thank you’ to her, too)
@Tadlem43
Lol, thanks for calling me out like that XD
I do cook on occasion, although usually breakfast and lunch type meals.
By that I meant more along the lines of when meal times roll around, and nobody’s cooked anything, I’ll just look around at what we have and make a makeshift meal of random items we have in the fridge and pantry.
@DVDBZN lol Sorry, I wasn’t trying to call you out, just a suggestion (Are you feeling guilty?? lol )
Well, being older, and a woman, I know I’d love it if my kid cooked for me!
Broaden your horizons! Step out into the world of dinner! Cook something simple…like a roast, or baked chicken, or something like that.
Not only will your mom love it, but it’ll give you confidence and you might actually enjoy it.
Ok… This mom’s done. lol (tell your mom she has someone on her side lol)
@Tadlem43
No worries! Just gotta finish this degree, and I’ll be right back to cooking.
I realized I mostly stick to simpler stuff for now, like meals that don’t involve much cooking, or mostly use the frying pan. Honestly, baking/roasting kinda scares me. Hard to know if I’m doing it right all the way up until it’s presumably done and ready to eat. I like being able to see what’s going on and intervene if something goes wrong. I’d love to learn to make soups and meats and just more complex dishes in general, but that will have to wait for when I have more time.
Thanks for the encouragement! : D
@DVDBZN Ah… you got it! I’m glad you’re working to get your degree! Focus on that.
But also, baking is so easy that even I can do it. lol (want easy? Take a chicken, put some butter on it, cover it in foil, put it in a 350 -375 oven for an hour to hour and half (depends on weight of chicken)…and eat it. Get that down, then just add to it (spices, browning, etc.). Sooo easy!
Like I said, it’ll give you confidence.
Good luck in school! I’m rootin’ for you!
@Tadlem43
Oh wow! That is easy. I’ll have to try it sometime.
@DVDBZN @Tadlem43 One frozen chicken breast from freezer to table: One hour at 350 degrees (and I put it in while the oven is heating - height of I hate to cook). Of course I just came back from the grocery store as I needed milk and 18 oz blueberries were on sale for $2.50… and was thinking about stupid dinner. Already had cereal and PB and hone y sandwich today… Everything else is frozen and slow. Bought a TV dinner on sale. That one though takes 8 min to cook!!! I want, like 4 min max.
@DVDBZN LOL I hear you! I’m the same way, but I do cook a time or two a week…usually…and make enough to last a few days.
Now, about Mom…LOL
I figure out what we’re having for dinner and then start cooking it. Sometimes I ask a family member for a request. But it’s never really planned out until it’s approaching time to fix it.
Seems like there might be a very small market for a random meal selector app.
KuoH
@kuoh That app would be even better if it came with a cook!!! (grin).
@kuoh Check out the AllRecipes Dinner Spinner
@Kidsandliz In most households with teenagers, I believe that combo is called MOM.
KuoH
@kuoh You are so right. And yet they still complain about what’s for dinner as they thought the restaurant was going to serve something other than what showed up on the table
Actually the deal in my household was if I made dinner she did the dishes, if she cooked I did.
I’ve been taking a “decide today” approach based on ingredients on hand. I take a “what would I like to eat next week” approach at the weekly trip to grocery stores and Costco/Sam’s.
That tends to maximize the fresh ingredients over “food-in-a-box”. Recipes with lots of ingredients or complexity get simplified, eliminated, or on the order for takeaway list.
I’m aiming to get myself some pad Thai this week. Other than that, I’ve got ratatouille to make tomorrow. Eggplants are starting to look unhappy.
I can’t even decide what I want to eat right now. How am I going to figure out what I want to eat for an extended period of time?
For some “strange” reason, my folks seem to have a lot of pasta leftovers …
@narfcake Buy today’s containers, take them to their house, have them fill them… Bingo now they are your leftovers and you don’t need to cook… Oh wait… the pasta will be all gone by the time PB’s is done with their tour of the USA business that came as a bonus with today’s buy. Never mind.
Sunday is food day. Plan at least a few meals, shop and sometimes cook for the entire week. This week I made Mississippi Pot Roast with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on Monday and Kielbasa, cabbage and noodles (halushki) on Tuesday. That is more than enough for the week.
Plan out the week on Sunday so that 1) the food is available and 2) don’t have to think about it when it’s time to prepare the food. We plan limited portions so it makes leftovers easier to manage.
I don’t plan, but I do cook larger quantities of, e.g. taco meat, or chicken, whatever, and then eat leftovers primarily.
This is one of the shittiest things about this pandemic right now. My grocery store is literally 2 minutes away. If I didn’t know what I wanted for dinner, I would just go to the store and grab whatever looked good. But since I’m trying to limit my time at the grocery store I’m always flustered when it comes down to making food. When in doubt, eggs.
I downloaded app a couple of days ago called supercook? I believe. It lets me put in whatever I have in the pantry and fridge and spits out recipes at me. It at least helps me get a little bit more motivated.
@RiotDemon I often grab a recipe, realize it calls for a bunch of some ingredient I don’t have, and then make distorted chimera food… Close enough. It’s a free country.
Only on the weekends do I plan what I’m making bc that’s when I cook a lot.
On Sunday, I plan for the rest of the week. I meal prep my lunches and breakfasts so I can monitor my calories easily. The weekends are less planned. I still count calories, but I’m typically so busy with family and friends that it’s hard to cook.
We use a meal planning service called Cooksmarts to simplify ideas and shopping lists. We normally plan 4-5 items at a time and shop for those. Lunches are always leftovers from the night before. This really cut down on food waste. We don’t worry if we need to push things back a day or two or change the order of meals if our imperfect produce box gets delayed or something.
I generally have a rough idea of what I’ll be eating over the course of the week, but I don’t prep or plan because I can’t predict that I’ll be in the mood for an actual meal on any given evening. Half the time I just want a yogurt for dinner, or a couple of hard-boiled eggs. When I tried meal prepping, there were a lot of “I’ll have that tomorrow night” nights, and I wasted a lot of food. Now I just make sure I have fresh stuff for the two or so nights a week when I feel like cooking.
This time of year, dinner planning is usually last minute “what looks good in the garden?” + “what looks good in the freezer/pantry?”. Last night was grilled chicken thighs with potato salad and marinated cucumbers.
I hate to cook. Had to do way more of it when the kid was in the house as DHS takes a dim view of exclusively feeding TV dinners, cereal and, umm, in her case chips (bought with her $5/week to pick whatever junk food she wanted at the grocery store) and pickles (I bought her a 10 gallon container of them one year as a joke at Costco - took her only 3 mo to eat them all and she made pickle popsicles out of the juice - don’t even want to know what a doctor would have said about that).
So I keep some staples in the house that won’t go bad, freeze some meat and hope I decide to do something about that far enough in advance of when I am hungry that I actually follow through and don’t resort to a microwave dinner. I also have to grocery shop when I am hungry or I don’t buy enough. Just not interested in food unless I am hungry.
I often cook for the week for work so I don’t have to worry about acquisition or such. I have a repertoire of big-pot dishes: