5 ms·

I cannot even begin to imagine doing that. I cook all my meals and cooking process is like a meditation/flow experience for me (and my spouse if we are doing it

I cannot even begin to imagine doing that. I cook all my meals and cooking process is like a meditation/flow experience for me (and my spouse if we are doing it together), then taking time to enjoy the meal, then a very rewarding „one-up“ after cleaning. Nothing will ever beat that. Yes, a lot of time, yes, you have to factor it in. But it is so much quality of life, this is irreplacable, imho.

Galanwe 2y ago
I think you forget the fixed investment in time you have to make so that cooking becomes a pleasure. Really, I envy you. On my end, having never really cooked, everything is an effort. I have no inspiration on what to buy, no inspiration on what to cook from what I bought, and whenever I actually do the cooking, everything has to be a mental focus. I can't just "bake" stuff, because I have to focus on checking it's baking okay, turning it, shaking it. Now I have no doubt all of this can be much smoother and enjoyable, but only if you invest enough time that each step is no requiring you to spend hours checking recipes ideas, baking tutorials, etc.
- HyulianGrader 2y ago
  Get meal kits delivered. You still do >80% of the cooking but it takes out all of the planning and shopping. I was lucky(?) to grow up with a great cook and gardener for a mum, so I'm not even really sure how you exist without doing this at least. Pardon my naivety, but what do you eat...? Is everything unwrapped from plastic or from the local takeaway joint?
  - Galanwe 2y ago
    > Pardon my naivety, but what do you eat...? Is everything unwrapped from plastic or from the local takeaway joint? As a student, money was always a struggle, so I would mainly eat stupid simple meals. [Pasta|potatoes puree|green beans] with [olive oil|tomato sauce|frozen steaks]. Once I started working, yes, a lot of pre-made meals. That eventually gave me some deficiencies and led to teeth issues. I then increasingly had more income, so I switched to food delivery (deliveroo|foodpanda|uber eat), which is close to "eating at a restaurant every day". Not really healthy though since most restaurant food, at least in Europe, is tailored for occasional meals, not everyday meals, so it's often fatty and not well balanced. I'm married since then, and luckily my partner took on her to do the cooking, while I do the prep/cleaning. I don't mind doing the grunt work, it's definitely not a pleasure, but at least it's not stressful, and the food is much healthier.
  - maccard 2y ago
    One of the really neat things about the meal kits is it teaches you the skills and takes some of the pressure off. Those skills are directly transferable - at some point you might decide to buy the ingredients for the recipe card yourself. Or that the steps for a chilli are almost the same as a ragu
- shinycode 2y ago
  There is some basics in cooking that is not too complicated to learn and master through practice (given we eat at least 7 to 21 times a week). Like heat, seasoning (salt, pepper), fats etc There really is the same notions at the base of every recipe. There is a lot of books and videos that cover those basics. In a month of time through observation you can start to develop a skill that will be useful literally for the rest of your life in a most direct and enjoyable way. Given we are exactly what we eat, it can be so rewarding that it’s really worth the effort. The challenge of learning how all those chemical notions fit together is almost on par on the challenges of learning in IT in some way. Please take the time to learn the roots, you will be able to cook without thinking really simple and amazing things in a small amount of time, you will never regret it.
  - t-writescode 2y ago
    The cooking part has never been the stress source for me. It's the cleaning and prep time. Those stress me out hilariously badly; and, even if I use the dish washer (which is wonderful and I do use), I'm only one person, cooking for one person. I don't have the discipline, focus, etc, to meal-prep; and, I don't make enough of a mess to run the dishwasher every day - .. though arguably it would *still* take less water than manually washing.
    - actionfromafar 2y ago
      Cook a huge stew and put 14 portions in the freezer?
      - maccard 2y ago
        This is how you never eat stew again. I’m a decent home cook, I do all the cooking for our household. About 10 years ago I made a delicious, but enormous daal. I ate it for 3 days, froze probably 10 portions if not more. Every time I opened the freezer, I saw daal. Every time I wanted a convenience meal for a month, daal. It felt like I ate nothing but daal for a month. I love daal. But I’ve not eaten it since
- artemonster 2y ago
  I dont, I factor this time as investment into my mental and physical well-being. After a while I dont sweat over recipes anymore, my grocery list and route in the supermarket is highly stable, I can whip up anything from italian to indian to chineese at any time
- vladvasiliu 2y ago
  Like others said, there are some basics. I don't know about baking, it does seem somewhat more involved than what I do. But one example of something simple, which allows for variations and is pretty hard to screw up: eggs. Melt some butter in a skillet, whisk some eggs in a bowl, drop them in the melted butter, wait for them to become hard, throw some cheese, bacon / ham / mushrooms and onions on top, fold in two. Voilà: yummy omelet. Plenty of variations to be had with eggs: scramble them, boil them, try different kinds of cheeses, maybe add some peppers.
walthamstow 2y ago
I'm like you but without the cooking together with my spouse, which we learnt early in our relationship is not a good idea
- artemonster 2y ago
  Why?
  - walthamstow 2y ago
    She hasn't read Harold McGee On Food and Cooking and she doesn't care about the maillard effect
    - artemonster 2y ago
      So seems like you are the problem :)
      - walthamstow 2y ago
        Undoubtedly! :D
Kiro 2y ago
Hard disagree on that. I absolutely hate cooking.
Ferret7446 2y ago
It's pretty clear that the overwhelming majority of people do not share your opinion (from the existence of and numbers for restaurants, fast food, and delivery).
- artemonster 2y ago
  And I think this is a fuck up on out part. We treat nourishment as sort of low maintenance task, but billogically this is number one task and triggers all kinds of senses and responses, hence, very rewarding in all aspects.
- GrassTheKayaks 2y ago
  [dead]
  - therealdrag0 2y ago
    Which is why meal replacement shakes are great options. Saying “just cook fresh meals” is advice most people don’t need to hear, they know ow but they don’t. However some of them may leverage healthier and cheaper meal replacement.

Galanwe 2y ago

I think you forget the fixed investment in time you have to make so that cooking becomes a pleasure. Really, I envy you. On my end, having never really cooked, everything is an effort. I have no inspiration on what to buy, no inspiration on what to cook from what I bought, and whenever I actually do the cooking, everything has to be a mental focus. I can't just "bake" stuff, because I have to focus on checking it's baking okay, turning it, shaking it. Now I have no doubt all of this can be much smoother and enjoyable, but only if you invest enough time that each step is no requiring you to spend hours checking recipes ideas, baking tutorials, etc.

HyulianGrader 2y ago
Get meal kits delivered. You still do >80% of the cooking but it takes out all of the planning and shopping. I was lucky(?) to grow up with a great cook and gardener for a mum, so I'm not even really sure how you exist without doing this at least. Pardon my naivety, but what do you eat...? Is everything unwrapped from plastic or from the local takeaway joint?
- Galanwe 2y ago
  > Pardon my naivety, but what do you eat...? Is everything unwrapped from plastic or from the local takeaway joint? As a student, money was always a struggle, so I would mainly eat stupid simple meals. [Pasta|potatoes puree|green beans] with [olive oil|tomato sauce|frozen steaks]. Once I started working, yes, a lot of pre-made meals. That eventually gave me some deficiencies and led to teeth issues. I then increasingly had more income, so I switched to food delivery (deliveroo|foodpanda|uber eat), which is close to "eating at a restaurant every day". Not really healthy though since most restaurant food, at least in Europe, is tailored for occasional meals, not everyday meals, so it's often fatty and not well balanced. I'm married since then, and luckily my partner took on her to do the cooking, while I do the prep/cleaning. I don't mind doing the grunt work, it's definitely not a pleasure, but at least it's not stressful, and the food is much healthier.
- maccard 2y ago
  One of the really neat things about the meal kits is it teaches you the skills and takes some of the pressure off. Those skills are directly transferable - at some point you might decide to buy the ingredients for the recipe card yourself. Or that the steps for a chilli are almost the same as a ragu
shinycode 2y ago
There is some basics in cooking that is not too complicated to learn and master through practice (given we eat at least 7 to 21 times a week). Like heat, seasoning (salt, pepper), fats etc There really is the same notions at the base of every recipe. There is a lot of books and videos that cover those basics. In a month of time through observation you can start to develop a skill that will be useful literally for the rest of your life in a most direct and enjoyable way. Given we are exactly what we eat, it can be so rewarding that it’s really worth the effort. The challenge of learning how all those chemical notions fit together is almost on par on the challenges of learning in IT in some way. Please take the time to learn the roots, you will be able to cook without thinking really simple and amazing things in a small amount of time, you will never regret it.
- t-writescode 2y ago
  The cooking part has never been the stress source for me. It's the cleaning and prep time. Those stress me out hilariously badly; and, even if I use the dish washer (which is wonderful and I do use), I'm only one person, cooking for one person. I don't have the discipline, focus, etc, to meal-prep; and, I don't make enough of a mess to run the dishwasher every day - .. though arguably it would *still* take less water than manually washing.
  - actionfromafar 2y ago
    Cook a huge stew and put 14 portions in the freezer?
    - maccard 2y ago
      This is how you never eat stew again. I’m a decent home cook, I do all the cooking for our household. About 10 years ago I made a delicious, but enormous daal. I ate it for 3 days, froze probably 10 portions if not more. Every time I opened the freezer, I saw daal. Every time I wanted a convenience meal for a month, daal. It felt like I ate nothing but daal for a month. I love daal. But I’ve not eaten it since
artemonster 2y ago
I dont, I factor this time as investment into my mental and physical well-being. After a while I dont sweat over recipes anymore, my grocery list and route in the supermarket is highly stable, I can whip up anything from italian to indian to chineese at any time
vladvasiliu 2y ago
Like others said, there are some basics. I don't know about baking, it does seem somewhat more involved than what I do. But one example of something simple, which allows for variations and is pretty hard to screw up: eggs. Melt some butter in a skillet, whisk some eggs in a bowl, drop them in the melted butter, wait for them to become hard, throw some cheese, bacon / ham / mushrooms and onions on top, fold in two. Voilà: yummy omelet. Plenty of variations to be had with eggs: scramble them, boil them, try different kinds of cheeses, maybe add some peppers.

walthamstow 2y ago

I'm like you but without the cooking together with my spouse, which we learnt early in our relationship is not a good idea

artemonster 2y ago
Why?
- walthamstow 2y ago
  She hasn't read Harold McGee On Food and Cooking and she doesn't care about the maillard effect
  - artemonster 2y ago
    So seems like you are the problem :)
    - walthamstow 2y ago
      Undoubtedly! :D

Kiro 2y ago

Hard disagree on that. I absolutely hate cooking.

Ferret7446 2y ago

It's pretty clear that the overwhelming majority of people do not share your opinion (from the existence of and numbers for restaurants, fast food, and delivery).

artemonster 2y ago
And I think this is a fuck up on out part. We treat nourishment as sort of low maintenance task, but billogically this is number one task and triggers all kinds of senses and responses, hence, very rewarding in all aspects.
GrassTheKayaks 2y ago
[dead]
- therealdrag0 2y ago
  Which is why meal replacement shakes are great options. Saying “just cook fresh meals” is advice most people don’t need to hear, they know ow but they don’t. However some of them may leverage healthier and cheaper meal replacement.