5 ms·

Why Making, Instead of Buying, Dinner Could Make You Thinner

14 points by cwan 16y ago

sz 16y ago
Correlation, causation, blah blah blah.
alextp 16y ago
So far I've observed a strong correlation between cooking my own food (as opposed to eating at the university cafeteria) and getting way fatter, although part of this should be atributed to my moving around less (since I can stay home all day working when I don't go to the university instead of biking all the way there) and having generally better cooking skills, which makes me want to eat my food a lot more.
spoiledtechie 16y ago
Its also a matter of convenience. I would rather not spend 30 minutes making something just for me. The effort and need isn't there. I would rather have something delivered for 2 minutes of my time so I could spend that time doing something more productive. When I buy something compared to make something, I basically bring it down to how much I get paid per hour. If I get paid 30 dollars an hour, and it takes me 30 minutes to make something, my time is better spent doing something else if I can pay less than 15 bucks for it.
- watty 16y ago
  I cook because I enjoy it and because it saves me money. Yesterday morning I cooked and froze 8 breakfast burritos that put McDonald's to shame. Today I spent all of 15 seconds throwing it in the microwave and didn't have to worry about driving or ordering anything. If you're cooking by yourself don't alter the recipe for a single person, freeze it! You'll likely spend much less $/minute for all of the meals and definitely eat healthier. Not to mention $/minute is a silly thing to use unless you get paid hourly and for any hour of the day. I don't think I've ever ordered a pizza and then got down to business while I waited.
  - eru 16y ago
    You definitely have to factor in whether you enjoy cooking or not, in any rational (in the economist's sense) calculation.
- iuguy 16y ago
  It doesn't take 30 minutes to prepare food. In less than 30 minutes I can do: A stir fry with noodles Kedgeree Steak Frites Blackened Chicken, cajun beans and rice Moules Mariniere An incredible range of salads the likes of which would convince you you're not eating something incredibly healthy Almost any soup A dry Indian Chicken Garam Masala-based curry As an example, take cheese on toast. I use cheddar on mine, you might not have it as easily available. Get some cheddar, cut four small slices, toast either side of the bread lightly, stick the cheese on, turn the heat down and melt for five minutes. All good stuff but plain. On the other hand, put some cumin in, or coriander, or garlic salt, onion granules, rosemary and thyme. Completely different. Take some tinned tuna, stick it in a bowl. Add paprika, cayenne pepper, a squeeze of tomato puree, a couple of teaspoons of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of mustard, basil (I think it's cilantro in US English) and dried coriander. Mix it all up. You can eat it straight like that, you can boil up a bit of rice and mix it in, you can pour it onto toast, you can stick it in the oven with lightly crushed plain potato chips and cheese on top for 15 minutes, you can boil up some pasta and mix it in, you can mix it in a salad, you can put it in a sandwich or you can make 4 times as much, stick it in an air tight tub and put it in the fridge, then you have enough for a week. Here's another one that's cheap and has hardly any washing up. Get two round cobs of bread, slice the top off and hollow them out, tear up the bread you pulled from inside into small pieces, wet the underside of the cob slightly with water and put the cobs in a warm oven for 2-5 minutes. Get some soup, any soup but nice soup is better, spring onion or vegetable soup better still and warm it up. Pour it into the cob once warm. Have the soup using the top slice as a spoon and hollowed out bread bits as dipping chunks, then eat the cob when you're finished if you're still hungry. Don't forget to fill the pan you heated the soup with up with water when it's empty, it's the only thing you have to wash. I do this as an entree with a leek and stilton soup, it takes about two or three times to perfect but it's definitely a great starter when you're inviting someone over for dinner.
nobody_nowhere 16y ago
As long as we're throwing out loosely supported theories for the rise in obesity, how about the rise of anti-depressants? Many have a noted weight gain effect.
jiaaro 16y ago
An Interesting idea, but I don't think this is the reason. Food you prepare at home tends to have less fat/sugar than food you buy already prepared (especially when you're using raw ingredients) Also, when I make a food for myself, laziness plays a role. Cooking a second serving takes more effort. I do not have industrial size cooking ware, so there is a physical limitation to how much food I can cook at once. I am not inclined to go through the whole process a second time, even when I might have eaten more if it was offered to me.
- watty 16y ago
  I agree that healthiness of a home cooked meal is probably going to be better than something you order. I'm not sure about serving size though but then again I only cook for my wife and I. We always have leftovers that end up feeding us for multiple meals, if anything I eat MORE when I home cook because I don't have to stop!
jipumarino 16y ago
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home
Dylanlacey 16y ago
So, does this only impact food and eating? Because I can see something interesting happening here, when compared to UI and processes. People hate 'harder' processes, even when the end result is better. We're told that we need simple UI's, and given what people think of even "simple" (to hackers) complexity, I think this principle is NOT in play. None of my relatives ever said "I really like watching this show, it was HARD to program the VCR to record it!" (Yes I know). The again, as a hacker I DO derive more pleasure from completing a difficult task. So maybe it's problem solvers VS everyone else.

14 points by cwan 16y ago

sz 16y ago

Correlation, causation, blah blah blah.

So far I've observed a strong correlation between cooking my own food (as opposed to eating at the university cafeteria) and getting way fatter, although part of this should be atributed to my moving around less (since I can stay home all day working when I don't go to the university instead of biking all the way there) and having generally better cooking skills, which makes me want to eat my food a lot more.

spoiledtechie 16y ago

Its also a matter of convenience. I would rather not spend 30 minutes making something just for me. The effort and need isn't there. I would rather have something delivered for 2 minutes of my time so I could spend that time doing something more productive. When I buy something compared to make something, I basically bring it down to how much I get paid per hour. If I get paid 30 dollars an hour, and it takes me 30 minutes to make something, my time is better spent doing something else if I can pay less than 15 bucks for it.

watty 16y ago
I cook because I enjoy it and because it saves me money. Yesterday morning I cooked and froze 8 breakfast burritos that put McDonald's to shame. Today I spent all of 15 seconds throwing it in the microwave and didn't have to worry about driving or ordering anything. If you're cooking by yourself don't alter the recipe for a single person, freeze it! You'll likely spend much less $/minute for all of the meals and definitely eat healthier. Not to mention $/minute is a silly thing to use unless you get paid hourly and for any hour of the day. I don't think I've ever ordered a pizza and then got down to business while I waited.
- eru 16y ago
  You definitely have to factor in whether you enjoy cooking or not, in any rational (in the economist's sense) calculation.
iuguy 16y ago
It doesn't take 30 minutes to prepare food. In less than 30 minutes I can do: A stir fry with noodles Kedgeree Steak Frites Blackened Chicken, cajun beans and rice Moules Mariniere An incredible range of salads the likes of which would convince you you're not eating something incredibly healthy Almost any soup A dry Indian Chicken Garam Masala-based curry As an example, take cheese on toast. I use cheddar on mine, you might not have it as easily available. Get some cheddar, cut four small slices, toast either side of the bread lightly, stick the cheese on, turn the heat down and melt for five minutes. All good stuff but plain. On the other hand, put some cumin in, or coriander, or garlic salt, onion granules, rosemary and thyme. Completely different. Take some tinned tuna, stick it in a bowl. Add paprika, cayenne pepper, a squeeze of tomato puree, a couple of teaspoons of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of mustard, basil (I think it's cilantro in US English) and dried coriander. Mix it all up. You can eat it straight like that, you can boil up a bit of rice and mix it in, you can pour it onto toast, you can stick it in the oven with lightly crushed plain potato chips and cheese on top for 15 minutes, you can boil up some pasta and mix it in, you can mix it in a salad, you can put it in a sandwich or you can make 4 times as much, stick it in an air tight tub and put it in the fridge, then you have enough for a week. Here's another one that's cheap and has hardly any washing up. Get two round cobs of bread, slice the top off and hollow them out, tear up the bread you pulled from inside into small pieces, wet the underside of the cob slightly with water and put the cobs in a warm oven for 2-5 minutes. Get some soup, any soup but nice soup is better, spring onion or vegetable soup better still and warm it up. Pour it into the cob once warm. Have the soup using the top slice as a spoon and hollowed out bread bits as dipping chunks, then eat the cob when you're finished if you're still hungry. Don't forget to fill the pan you heated the soup with up with water when it's empty, it's the only thing you have to wash. I do this as an entree with a leek and stilton soup, it takes about two or three times to perfect but it's definitely a great starter when you're inviting someone over for dinner.

nobody_nowhere 16y ago

As long as we're throwing out loosely supported theories for the rise in obesity, how about the rise of anti-depressants? Many have a noted weight gain effect.

jiaaro 16y ago

An Interesting idea, but I don't think this is the reason. Food you prepare at home tends to have less fat/sugar than food you buy already prepared (especially when you're using raw ingredients) Also, when I make a food for myself, laziness plays a role. Cooking a second serving takes more effort. I do not have industrial size cooking ware, so there is a physical limitation to how much food I can cook at once. I am not inclined to go through the whole process a second time, even when I might have eaten more if it was offered to me.

watty 16y ago
I agree that healthiness of a home cooked meal is probably going to be better than something you order. I'm not sure about serving size though but then again I only cook for my wife and I. We always have leftovers that end up feeding us for multiple meals, if anything I eat MORE when I home cook because I don't have to stop!

jipumarino 16y ago

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home

Dylanlacey 16y ago

So, does this only impact food and eating? Because I can see something interesting happening here, when compared to UI and processes. People hate 'harder' processes, even when the end result is better. We're told that we need simple UI's, and given what people think of even "simple" (to hackers) complexity, I think this principle is NOT in play. None of my relatives ever said "I really like watching this show, it was HARD to program the VCR to record it!" (Yes I know). The again, as a hacker I DO derive more pleasure from completing a difficult task. So maybe it's problem solvers VS everyone else.