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"Imagine spending one hour in the kitchen to only feed yourself one time. That would be peak insanity to me today." YMMV. For me, spending time cooking is a gr

"Imagine spending one hour in the kitchen to only feed yourself one time. That would be peak insanity to me today." YMMV. For me, spending time cooking is a great way to take a break from my computer and spend time away from a screen. And like showering, the process of cooking is now mechanical enough that it allows me to focus on broader tangents in whatever I'm working on and set myself up for the next session of coding/building stuff, and now with a full tummy. I life in a country where fresh produce is readily (and cheaply) available, so I find things like weeklong mealprep (especially, pre-chopping veggies for the week), and eating microwaved food from the freezer ridiculous, both from a taste as well as a health perspective. Honestly, I think the trick is to have a set of a 12-15 recipes that you can fall back to, and once you have a hang of it, it's easy to create interesting variations with your food! Of course, YMMV "Much of it (not all) is science and engineering. You can robotically produce incredible meals. And I argue you should" - This I agree with 100% with you on!

flyinghamster 3y ago
One thing I've noticed: cooking for myself and my parents feels like less of a chore than cooking only for myself. That's a big part of why, for just myself, I'd rather cook up a big batch and freeze portions for later, aside from recipes not always scaling down well.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Cooking for other people can be something of an event. Cooking for yourself after a busy day for yourself can be a chore you're sort of resigned to so that you can get some necessary calories in your body even if, in general, you like cooking. That's where it's nice to be able to mindlessly pop something in the oven or microwave that dish you've previously made or even just bought.
ghaff 3y ago
I agree with all that. I'll eat leftovers. For somethings they're great like a big pot of chili. For some things they're awful. For others, it's somewhere in between and/or some leftovers can be incorporated into a new dish. Cooking a company meal can be an all-day affair but, especially when I was commuting into an office every day, I had a fairly standard set of recipes that I could whip up in very little time and with very little effort. It really wasn't worth preparing a larger quantity that I would have to reheat for a less good result.
- rafabulsing 3y ago
  I call this the Reheating Coefficient: how good does something taste when reheated compared to how good it did originally? Stews can sometimes achieve even >1 RC. I find lasagna is really good as well. And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature, never to recover.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Stews and soups are pretty good in general--although I tend to like reheating stews with big chunks of meat less than something like a chili. I agree on lasagna. I always make one using three bread pans, freeze 2, and eat the third over 2 or 3 days. I'm annoyed at my local BBQ place. They changed their menu around a couple of months ago and now fries are automatically included as a side which doesn't fit well with bringing the takeout home and eating it in a couple hours.
  - haswell 3y ago
    > And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature While I agree with the general point, I had to mention that an air fryer can revitalize some things that I used to see as unsalvageable. Fries are surprisingly great after a few minutes at 375.
    - rafabulsing 3y ago
      Interesting, will give this a try next time I have leftover fries!
      - utucuro 3y ago
        My personal favorite: chopped leftover fries into roughly equal sized chunks, reheat in the pan until they're back in shape, then use them to make a lazy spanish omelette. Mind you, keep tossing and stirring them to avoid burning and add a small amount of oil if the fries are particularly dry.
araes 3y ago
I think the general issue on cooking is similar to shopping, exercise, or "work" for some folks. Some have an interpretation of exercise = fun or pleasure. Some, like me, have a body that treats all exercise as the most dreadful idea ever, and even walking up a hill after years of walking up hills is an excuse for waves of fatigue. Endless little voices scream in misery with every step. You end up in a state of "how do I do this because I need to?" It's either lie down at the bottom of the hill because my body has immediately decided it wants to go to sleep with false exhaustion, or walk up the hill. Eating can be close. Eat because my body makes complaints, otherwise would not even bother. Not even restaurants. More time, and food is often not very satisfying. The actual food made, whether its fresh, microwaved, ect.. does not matter, because my body has decided it no longer wants to enjoy food. I used to think the variation experimentation part was nice, until my body decided it was a mini game to eliminate that. I almost question the "Food you can make so you don't die."
- psd1 3y ago
  You have my sympathies. I admire your phlegm. A friend of mine had a malevolent thyroid, which flattened her body but left her wit standing.

flyinghamster 3y ago

One thing I've noticed: cooking for myself and my parents feels like less of a chore than cooking only for myself. That's a big part of why, for just myself, I'd rather cook up a big batch and freeze portions for later, aside from recipes not always scaling down well.

ghaff 3y ago
Cooking for other people can be something of an event. Cooking for yourself after a busy day for yourself can be a chore you're sort of resigned to so that you can get some necessary calories in your body even if, in general, you like cooking. That's where it's nice to be able to mindlessly pop something in the oven or microwave that dish you've previously made or even just bought.

ghaff 3y ago

I agree with all that. I'll eat leftovers. For somethings they're great like a big pot of chili. For some things they're awful. For others, it's somewhere in between and/or some leftovers can be incorporated into a new dish. Cooking a company meal can be an all-day affair but, especially when I was commuting into an office every day, I had a fairly standard set of recipes that I could whip up in very little time and with very little effort. It really wasn't worth preparing a larger quantity that I would have to reheat for a less good result.

rafabulsing 3y ago
I call this the Reheating Coefficient: how good does something taste when reheated compared to how good it did originally? Stews can sometimes achieve even >1 RC. I find lasagna is really good as well. And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature, never to recover.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Stews and soups are pretty good in general--although I tend to like reheating stews with big chunks of meat less than something like a chili. I agree on lasagna. I always make one using three bread pans, freeze 2, and eat the third over 2 or 3 days. I'm annoyed at my local BBQ place. They changed their menu around a couple of months ago and now fries are automatically included as a side which doesn't fit well with bringing the takeout home and eating it in a couple hours.
- haswell 3y ago
  > And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature While I agree with the general point, I had to mention that an air fryer can revitalize some things that I used to see as unsalvageable. Fries are surprisingly great after a few minutes at 375.
  - rafabulsing 3y ago
    Interesting, will give this a try next time I have leftover fries!
    - utucuro 3y ago
      My personal favorite: chopped leftover fries into roughly equal sized chunks, reheat in the pan until they're back in shape, then use them to make a lazy spanish omelette. Mind you, keep tossing and stirring them to avoid burning and add a small amount of oil if the fries are particularly dry.

araes 3y ago

I think the general issue on cooking is similar to shopping, exercise, or "work" for some folks. Some have an interpretation of exercise = fun or pleasure. Some, like me, have a body that treats all exercise as the most dreadful idea ever, and even walking up a hill after years of walking up hills is an excuse for waves of fatigue. Endless little voices scream in misery with every step. You end up in a state of "how do I do this because I need to?" It's either lie down at the bottom of the hill because my body has immediately decided it wants to go to sleep with false exhaustion, or walk up the hill. Eating can be close. Eat because my body makes complaints, otherwise would not even bother. Not even restaurants. More time, and food is often not very satisfying. The actual food made, whether its fresh, microwaved, ect.. does not matter, because my body has decided it no longer wants to enjoy food. I used to think the variation experimentation part was nice, until my body decided it was a mini game to eliminate that. I almost question the "Food you can make so you don't die."

psd1 3y ago
You have my sympathies. I admire your phlegm. A friend of mine had a malevolent thyroid, which flattened her body but left her wit standing.