4 ms·

Most pantry essentials are only purchased once or twice a year. So, you just spend a year accumulating that stuff, and eat beans and rice in the meantime. And

Most pantry essentials are only purchased once or twice a year. So, you just spend a year accumulating that stuff, and eat beans and rice in the meantime. And you buy cheap. A jar of spice from McCormick might cost five bucks, but you can get the same amount in a plastic bag at the bodega for a dollar. And really, you don't need two kinds of salt. If you're one of the fortunate poor, your immigrant parents/grandparents have already taught you how to cook. It's really quite a foreign idea to me that cooking for yourself is expensive, even though I hear that all the time from people my age and younger. Maybe they all think you need to cook elaborate meals. But when you look at the way immigrants cook, it's really just a small set of cheap ingredients combined a bunch of different ways.

exstudent2 11y ago
To be fair, the way most immigrants cook isn't really replicable by people who are working. It may be cheap in terms of ingredients but in traditional immigrant households the mother and often grandmother don't have jobs and stay at home all day cooking. They use cheap ingredients but it's a TON of work. When my wife's mom (who's not from the US) comes to visit, she starts cooking early in the morning and doesn't finish until dinner. It probably takes longer than it would if she had her flow setup since she has to prepare basics that we don't have ready, but still a lot of traditional dishes take a lot of time. Things are often slow cooked for example because cheap cuts of meat are used and you need to do that to make them edible. Most office workers won't have time to do that.
- brandonmenc 11y ago
  > Things are often slow cooked Buy a slow cooker (aka crock pot) and leave it running while you're at work. > They use cheap ingredients but it's a TON of work. Do this type of cooking for your meal bases in a single day. In my house, mom worked 40 hours but would get a giant pot of red sauce and a giant pot of pasta e fagioli going on Saturday morning - maybe 30-60 minutes of prep, then all day to cook - unattended except for the occasional stir. This would yield enough soup and sauce for a week of dinners for a family of four - just add pasta. Friends from other backgrounds describe similar techniques with things like refried beans, etc.

exstudent2 11y ago

To be fair, the way most immigrants cook isn't really replicable by people who are working. It may be cheap in terms of ingredients but in traditional immigrant households the mother and often grandmother don't have jobs and stay at home all day cooking. They use cheap ingredients but it's a TON of work. When my wife's mom (who's not from the US) comes to visit, she starts cooking early in the morning and doesn't finish until dinner. It probably takes longer than it would if she had her flow setup since she has to prepare basics that we don't have ready, but still a lot of traditional dishes take a lot of time. Things are often slow cooked for example because cheap cuts of meat are used and you need to do that to make them edible. Most office workers won't have time to do that.

brandonmenc 11y ago
> Things are often slow cooked Buy a slow cooker (aka crock pot) and leave it running while you're at work. > They use cheap ingredients but it's a TON of work. Do this type of cooking for your meal bases in a single day. In my house, mom worked 40 hours but would get a giant pot of red sauce and a giant pot of pasta e fagioli going on Saturday morning - maybe 30-60 minutes of prep, then all day to cook - unattended except for the occasional stir. This would yield enough soup and sauce for a week of dinners for a family of four - just add pasta. Friends from other backgrounds describe similar techniques with things like refried beans, etc.