4 ms·

A regular oven is one of the best tools you have to make food from scratch, yet people seem to want to find every way to avoid using them. They try to use toast

by orev 7y ago

A regular oven is one of the best tools you have to make food from scratch, yet people seem to want to find every way to avoid using them. They try to use toaster ovens, microwave ovens, convection ovens, air fryers, instant pots, etc... when most of the time a regular oven can do the job. You can make a whole meal with a few baking sheets and 45 minutes. You just put the stuff in and check on it once in a while. Take out the veg after 25 min. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

bluedino 7y ago
One trick is getting the seasoning right, the other is getting the cooking times right. An easy meal is to cut various vegetables up, season, and bake. Potato, green beans, onion, bell pepper, broccoli, whatever they have on sale. Of course the potato has to be e cut smaller than the broccoli or the broccoli will be disintegrated or incinerated by the time the potato is done cooking.
- orev 7y ago
  Or cook things on separate pans so you can take them out when each is done.
duxup 7y ago
I think one of the issues is that a lot of people simply don't know how to cook and these one off tools like insta pots or whatever make it clear what to do for what and how. An oven doesn't make anything apparent and a lot of ovens are terrible with hot and cold spots and just suck at being ovens in general.
snazz 7y ago
Where I live, firing up the oven heats the house noticeably, which is nice in the winter and a huge energy cost in the summer (oven plus A/C). I like grilling stuff outside when I can.
mrob 7y ago
I disagree. A regular oven is slow and inefficient because of the high thermal mass (taking a long time to heat to working temperature), and it's hard to control. IMO, the most valuable cooking tool is the microwave oven. You can cook grains (pasta, rice, oatmeal etc.) and frozen vegetables, and you can reheat canned beans. It's fast and flexible, and much cheaper and smaller than a regular oven. Second most valuable cooking tool is an electric pressure cooker. This lets you cook dry beans (cheaper than canned), and some have a saute mode for when you're making something fancy. It's better than the microwave for cooking large quantities of food, because you don't need to stir it for even heat distribution. And you can even cook bread in a pressure cooker if you don't mind a soft crust.
- orev 7y ago
  A microwave is indeed a very powerful kitchen tool, however almost nobody knows how to use it. People blast food at high power because they can’t wait 2 more minutes for a lower power cycle. To most people, a microwave’s primary function is to “cook” frozen/processed foods like TV dinners and burritos, which is exactly the type of food the OP article is talking about avoiding. You also absolutely cannot cook meat in a microwave oven and expect it to come out palatable (and if you just expect people to not eat meat you’re out of touch with reality). So when talking about getting away from processed foods, it’s very helpful to also get away from the microwave, because people have such a strong association of the two things. An oven can do it all. Once you accept the concept and master it, you then stop looking for shortcuts in other gadgets.

by orev 7y ago

bluedino 7y ago

One trick is getting the seasoning right, the other is getting the cooking times right. An easy meal is to cut various vegetables up, season, and bake. Potato, green beans, onion, bell pepper, broccoli, whatever they have on sale. Of course the potato has to be e cut smaller than the broccoli or the broccoli will be disintegrated or incinerated by the time the potato is done cooking.

orev 7y ago
Or cook things on separate pans so you can take them out when each is done.

duxup 7y ago

I think one of the issues is that a lot of people simply don't know how to cook and these one off tools like insta pots or whatever make it clear what to do for what and how. An oven doesn't make anything apparent and a lot of ovens are terrible with hot and cold spots and just suck at being ovens in general.

snazz 7y ago

Where I live, firing up the oven heats the house noticeably, which is nice in the winter and a huge energy cost in the summer (oven plus A/C). I like grilling stuff outside when I can.

mrob 7y ago

I disagree. A regular oven is slow and inefficient because of the high thermal mass (taking a long time to heat to working temperature), and it's hard to control. IMO, the most valuable cooking tool is the microwave oven. You can cook grains (pasta, rice, oatmeal etc.) and frozen vegetables, and you can reheat canned beans. It's fast and flexible, and much cheaper and smaller than a regular oven. Second most valuable cooking tool is an electric pressure cooker. This lets you cook dry beans (cheaper than canned), and some have a saute mode for when you're making something fancy. It's better than the microwave for cooking large quantities of food, because you don't need to stir it for even heat distribution. And you can even cook bread in a pressure cooker if you don't mind a soft crust.

orev 7y ago
A microwave is indeed a very powerful kitchen tool, however almost nobody knows how to use it. People blast food at high power because they can’t wait 2 more minutes for a lower power cycle. To most people, a microwave’s primary function is to “cook” frozen/processed foods like TV dinners and burritos, which is exactly the type of food the OP article is talking about avoiding. You also absolutely cannot cook meat in a microwave oven and expect it to come out palatable (and if you just expect people to not eat meat you’re out of touch with reality). So when talking about getting away from processed foods, it’s very helpful to also get away from the microwave, because people have such a strong association of the two things. An oven can do it all. Once you accept the concept and master it, you then stop looking for shortcuts in other gadgets.