on the care and feeding of my f'list

[aruan]

So, I had a small epiphany today. During a mild meltdown in the coffee room that started with not being able to go to Tampa with Brandon's family this weekend because I'm fairly buried in a monthlong backlog of basically anything you can be a month behind on, I realized that there's no time to do everything I've been trying to do.

And as I watched the coffee drip down into the pot, it struck me - cooking. Suddenly, I understood the concept of little bodegas in New York and Europe where people buy just enough for that night's meal - which doesn't necessarily mean ingredients.

See, here in Florida, we have endless reclaimed swampland on which to sprawl our not-much-of-a-step-up-in-terms-of-civilization strip malls in place of sawgrass and water moccasins. And the usual fixture of said strip malls is, 3 times our of 4, a Publix. These palatial grocery oases carry virtually every food, paper and cleaning product, frozen good and cheap wine in quadruplicate varieties. They have the freshest produce, the cleanest facilities and the least annoying muzak, and until we get Trader Joe's down here, they'll continue to be the only game worth mentioning in town.

My mother, bless her heart, worked full time (sometimes two jobs) and still managed to cook for us almost every night. Yeah, sometimes it was macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, but even that she made with real cheese and there was always a salad. Point is, there was always hot, fresh food in my house, and the way this was accomplished was either her going on a weekly Publix run or setting me up with a list and her debit card to do so. Having been fortunate enough to have a car, I've continued this ritual through college dorms and now my apartment.

But she ran a much different kind of house from mine. For example, they don't make loaves of bread for single people, who may take a month to eat that many slices. Whatever my mother bought was gone usually before the next shopping trip, so for the last couple of days we were eating leftovers, cereal or Chinese food. Having made a few of the trips to pick up said takeout, I knew how much it cost to feed a family of four a meal you didn't make yourself, and therefore going to the grocery store and cooking at home made sound fiscal sense.

But does it anymore?

I work a full-time job: 40 hours a week, but often up to 45. Brandon and I usually wake up around noon or 1 p.m. and either one of us has to go in to work an earlier shift or we grab a couple of hours or so for our own things before going in together. We get only half an hour for dinner, hardly enough to go to some fast-food place let alone make something. We get off work about 1 a.m., go jogging for about an hour, then head home, watch The Daily Show over a snack, and either read or do something else for a couple of hours before going to bed. Household chores, a couple of semi-regular television shows, miscellaneous errands and laundry (requires trekking to a laundromat) break up the monotony.

Now, I don't intend to stop cooking. If nothing else, to my great surprise and no small amount of feminist guilt, I've found I like cooking for Brandon. But even that's something we do together, so it's not just cooking. Also, eating out for more than one meal a day wouldn't feasible, but that's fine because we both like breakfast foods and sandwiches, which we can throw together quickly with the bonus of minimal dishes. There are make-meals-for-a-month services like Dinner2Gether here in Polk that'd be worth looking into.

But buying ingredients in bulk at Publix that need relatively quick turnaround without the time to do so makes no sense. But with a bodega, while some nights you want to make pasta sauce with fresh garlic, on others picking up a quarter rotisserie chicken and fruit salad is all you have the time or energy for. And it's that time thing that I keep coming back to, but that's hard because there's no bar code to tell you how much it's worth.

So, all things considered, is eating out for one meal a day instead of cooking at home really that much more expensive for a single person? What kind of households do you all live in/run? Do you cook, and if not then what do you eat? When do you cook? Are there any shortcuts you take?

It's a sad thought, that we're losing the art of cooking to the thousand encroachments of the 21st century, but seriously, is it feasible anymore for anyone who has a job that doesn't involve making one's living from it?

Comments

[a-life-verbatim.livejournal.com]

So, all things considered, is eating out for one meal a day instead of cooking at home really that much more expensive for a single person? What kind of households do you all live in/run? Do you cook, and if not then what do you eat? When do you cook? Are there any shortcuts you take?

I don't see how it would be more expensive, depending on where you go. I live with my mother (I must sound so creepy right now! But I don't have to pay rent and it's near my university...) and we usually have pasta sauces and things in the freezer, so we don't have to spend much time cooking every day.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's that "depending on where you go" that's key. Thing is, by the time we get a chance to get dinner on a work night, it's usually at least 8:30, if not later, and by that time all the little downtown restaurants that might be marginally healthy and affordable are closed. So it ends up being either a sandwich from Publix or something horrifically bad for you like Taco Bell or KFC. So really it's that lack of options that frustrates me, because as I keep trying to tell Brandon, just because we're jogging now doesn't mean we get to eat whatever we want.

And freezing portions is totally the way to go. What I should do is start keeping a log of how my time is spent and see where I'm dawdling, because there's no reason why I shouldn't have time to cook during the weekend. Though with this past couple, one was spent in St. Petersburg with Brandon's parents and the other I had to go to Miami for, so it's not like I've been vegging in my jammies. Hm. Besides pasta sauces, anything else that keeps well in the freezer?

Also, living with mom? Totally not creepy. I'd be working in West Palm and living at home if I hadn't been fortunate enough to get a job right out of college. And my brother still lives with her! Saves him a bundle on rent and paying people to clean his apartment and, for that matter, cook for him all the time. :)

[a-life-verbatim.livejournal.com]

You can try freezing casserole dishes (and the rice, but obviously keep them separate until you eat them) and curries, stir fries etc, though a stir fry is probably better eaten fresh. If you really don't have the time you can buy pre-sliced and selected frozen bags at the supermarket that contain all the vegetables, noodles, flavours you need.

You can also try asking the people at hip_domestics and cooking, they're usually helpful :)

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Do you know, I've never tried making a casserole. Though the ones my mom made, usually out of the box kits, had you bake the rice with it. Does the rice not keep? And yes, the frozen-in-a-bag meals! I keep seeing those at Publix and they make me go hmm. Any you'd recommend?

[a-life-verbatim.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend you frozen-in-a-bag meals but I'm in Australia and I don't know if we have the same brands as you do over there. Generally anything from McCain or Continnental is really good, especially the stir-fry variety from McCain.

rice keeps very well in the freezer, you don't always have to mix it in with the casserole.

They're pretty easy to make, usually I just buy the powdered sauces, cut up the appropriate vegetables and meat, shove it all in a pan, and let it stay there until everything cooks, then place them in little containers for the freezer. Same with rice, except to save space I put those in freezer bags heh.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

I don't know whether it would be more expensive (depends on the price of groceries etc.), but it will likely be less quality for the same amount of money. As for time saving tips, some of the things I do are:

- make a bit pot of mixed-and-blendered-vegetable-soup when you are cooking. Portion it in the fridge and/or freezer. Heating it up takes only about five minutes. Dress up or down with any of the following for variety: cream, alfalfa (or other sprouts, a cheap, very fresh and rich source of vitamins), cheese, croutons (fry up stale bread in a little butter, presto, you have croutons), spring onions, pesto, chopped nuts, pasta, rice, etc. That's definitely cheaper and healthier than eating out (and if it's not, I want that restaurant to open a branch here!).

- Put all the bread you know will go bad in the freezer. Thawing takes a second in the microwave. My husband makes sandwiches (usually with jam or salami) and puts them in the freezer. He takes them out when he leaves for work, and they're thawed at lunch time. This practice makes me go 'ew!' every time he does it, but it works for him.

-Stale bread is great for french toast, croque monsiours, improv pizza (add tomato sauce, cheese, anything else you like and put in oven. If you don't have an oven a frying pan, a lid, and moderate heat will do to heat and melt the cheese, but making sure it doesn't burn is a bit more finicky. Also, stale bread, a little butter, banana, thyme (dried, from a packet), black pepper (ground or from a packet) and cheese, again with the oven-or-frying-pan trick, is heavenly. Stale bread is also great for croutons, or put them in the bottom of a soup bowl with some cheese on top, and pour hot soup over it.

-If you can't get half loaves, how about buns? Croissants?

- Salads are easy when the deli or supermarket has pre-cleaned, pre-cut lettice. Even easier when you have one of these (http://www.swissmar.com/vslicer_new.shtml) very handy Boerner vegetable slicers. (http://www.thewhitewhale.com/vslicer.htm) I have one and I personally vouch for the time-saving aspects. Also for the fact to always use the cover thing, because those blades are *sharp*. Also note that Boerner is really Borner with two dots hovering over the o, I've seen both spellings used. I have no financial ties to the company, etc. etc. It makes anything else where you have to cut veggies a lot faster too.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it'd be that much more expensive, given of course that it's a casual dining place as opposed to something with tablecloths that the to-go order comes from. Another person in comments mentioned eating well as a sort of pick-me-up for the middle of her workday, and that's not a bad way to justify the expense, either. And the price of produce has gone up here, definitely - Subway eliminated tomatoes as one of its basic ingredients and you had to ask for it for a while. And that's the thing really, most things that are worth buying at a grocery store because they're healthy turn out to be just as expensive as a take-out meal. So it's not money you're ultimately saving, but calories. Hm.

make a bit pot of mixed-and-blendered-vegetable-soup

This is something I try to do, definitely. A lot of the time it's split-pea soup or lentil, but I bought pasta fajoule base the other night. It's the slicing up of all the ingredients that takes so long. How small do carrots and celery have to be for cooking into soup?

alfalfa (or other sprouts, a cheap, very fresh and rich source of vitamins)

I've heard those need to be washed really well because of how they're grown, to the point that it's nearly impossible. Truth? I love beans, so that's often either a main ingredient or a ready side dish.

croutons (fry up stale bread in a little butter, presto, you have croutons)

Fabulous!

chopped nuts, pasta

I do sometimes add rice, but pasta! And nuts! Looking at restaurant salad menus always raises my eyebrows with what they put in them, but more often than not there's a very good reason. I'd do well to remember that protein can be found in many places...

!!! Make the sandwiches and put them in the freezer assembled! Genius!

Stale bread is great for ... improv pizza (add tomato sauce, cheese, anything else you like and put in oven. Also, stale bread, a little butter, banana, thyme (dried, from a packet), black pepper (ground or from a packet) and cheese, again with the oven-or-frying-pan trick, is heavenly.

Improv pizza! Yes! Pizza is so automatically a Bad Food in my head that it's hard to remeber that without cheap dough and grease and fatty meats, it can be good and good for you. And that second thing sounds lovely.

how about buns? Croissants?

Much as I love them, those aren't usually available in whole wheat varieties, and I'm trying to keep away from the processed to within an inch of its life flour stuff.

The thing about bagged salads is that they go bad so quickly. But the slicer would be a great thing for this insanely healthy no-mayonnaise coleslaw that my friend's mom gave me the recipe to. Brandon has a weird thing about cabbage, but we shall see. Any tips on getting the hubby to eat better? :)

[halimede.livejournal.com]

most things that are worth buying at a grocery store because they're healthy turn out to be just as expensive as a take-out meal. So it's not money you're ultimately saving, but calories.

The thing I'm most worried about when I end up eating out a lot is not calories but vitamins, minerals and all that other good stuff (anti-oxidants, bioflavinoids, enzymes, etc.) Where I live, spending the same amount on eating out means eating pretty crappy, unhealthy food. Then again, it depends also on what's available, and I'm limited by allergies when eating out which doesn't improve the selection, so yeah, it depends a lot. If you can find good food, and it's within your budget, yeah, it's definitely better than stressing until your bloodsugar hits the floor. :)

It's the slicing up of all the ingredients that takes so long. How small do carrots and celery have to be for cooking into soup?

That's why I put big chunks in the pot and then blender them afterwards. No slicing! Also, the Boerner V4 vegetable slicer is a life saver there as well. :)

alfalfa (or other sprouts, a cheap, very fresh and rich source of vitamins)

I've heard those need to be washed really well because of how they're grown, to the point that it's nearly impossible.

I haven't had that problem. The ones I buy have the seed hulls removed, the ones I grow I put under running water in a sive or collander. Works fine.

Pizza is so automatically a Bad Food in my head that it's hard to remeber that without cheap dough and grease and fatty meats, it can be good and good for you.

I know! I'm always amazed when people list pizza with the bad foods. I keep going,bread, tomato sauce, meat, veggies and cheese, where's the bad? *g* I wouldn't want to live on pizza margharita for weeks at a time either (I mean, besides the wheat issues), but with decent bread, salami and fresh veg, it's just really good. And fast. :) Ooh! You can get those vacuum-sealed whole-wheat pizza bases at health food stores. You can keep a couple of those in your kitchen, next to a bottle of thick tomato sauce.

how about buns? Croissants?

Huh. Our supermarket verily overfloweth with whole wheat buns, with nuts, muesli and whatnot. Worth going to a health food place and getting a bag to put in the freezer?

Any tips on getting the hubby to eat better? :)

'That way lies madness' is pretty much all I've got. *g*

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

The thing I'm most worried about when I end up eating out a lot is not calories but vitamins, minerals and all that other good stuff (anti-oxidants, bioflavinoids, enzymes, etc.)

I could feasably get salads, fairly healthy soups, and fresh sandwiches within the half-hour allotment we get for dinner. I forget that the concept of semi-fast food restaurants like Panera and Chili's aren't en vogue in Europe - it's either sit down or run in and out.

I put big chunks in the pot and then blender them afterwards. No slicing!

I just didn't know if cutting them into big chunks would make them take longer to cook or some other weird thing that sometimes happens if everything and a little magic don't come together in the pot. But big chunks, yay!

Our supermarket verily overfloweth with whole wheat buns, with nuts, muesli and whatnot.

Oh, if only. No, Publix is strangely behind the times on minimally processed flour goods. And I'm not even sure Polk County is civilized enough for a health food place, sadly.

[krissi518.livejournal.com]

Cooking for one person is really difficult. I'm really bad at eating leftovers too - something about re-heated food doesn't typically agree with my palette. I'm lucky to have Matt - who is a culinary genuis - to make dinner for me/us. He cooks almost every night. We have things like pasta, steaks, chicken, tacos, etc.
One of my favorites is a pasta dish I got off the Food Network. Cook whatever pasta you like (I like penne with this). If you have a food processor or little blender/chopper thing - add sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and basil. Blend/chop until it's kind of a paste. Pour over pasta and that's it. Super good. And done in 10-15 minutes.
I used to do a lot of eating out when it was just me though. Seemed to make sense. It's a little more expensive, but sometimes worth it.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

My Magic Bullet blender died in the line of duty (bananas need to be mashed by hand, FYI) a few months ago, so I need a proper food processor. That sounds really good.

I just have such guilt whenever I go out to eat. Not for special occasions or dates, but on just a regular day. But you're right, between work and the general hassle of getting ingredients together and probably waiting until eating is an imperative so you're just shoving anything in your mouth, going somewhere you know you'll have a good meal without drama isn't just good for your stomach.

[runerinrun.livejournal.com]

But buying ingredients in bulk at Publix that need relatively quick turnaround without the time to do so makes no sense.
Exactly. I eat very few fresh vegetables at home because of that. I generally try to get in a few salads at lunch to make up for that.

At home I shoot more for meals that can be made quickly and with things in my pantry. Quesadillas, tuna melts, grilled cheese all work well. I also stock a few frozen meals/soups in my freezer for when I have no time. But, I do love to cook so I usually plan for one or two meals and buy groceries for those.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

First of all, fantastic icon, especially for the occasion. :)

Salads! I keep forgetting that veggies don't just come steamed. I wish our work had a cafeteria (the actual New York Times building in New York does, and the menu is posted on the company's homepage, teasing the rest of us underlings), which would probably make some effort at green things as a side dish. Even my school cafeteria did that much. But yeah, remembering to keep some green on the plate is next to impossible with Brandon, but everyone can be cajoled with a few bacon bits and a little dressing.

Quesadillas! With healthy tortillas and pre-cooked chicken. There are a couple of organic Indian meals I've found to be good, and the Thai Lean Cuisine meal, but Brandon has yet to meet food out of the freezer that he likes. And yeah, making soup in bulk and freezing portions really is a smart move - you can have it with sandwiches and such.

Mm, yes, planning the meals you're buying for instead of conjuring up hypotheticals while wandering the aisles is probably what I've been doing wrong with the Publix shopping. Combined with going there hungry, there's just no end to the impulse shopping (how else does one end up with celery seed in the spice rack?)

[meinnim.livejournal.com]

So, all things considered, is eating out for one meal a day instead of cooking at home really that much more expensive for a single person? What kind of households do you all live in/run? Do you cook, and if not then what do you eat? When do you cook? Are there any shortcuts you take?

I go out for lunch every weekday because there are hole-in-the-wall places near my office that are pretty cheap and serve decent food (not fast food). I spend maybe $25 per week on lunch which is a good enough deal for me. I think of it as an ongoing treat -- might as well get out of the office and enjoy lunch before diving into the craziness of work.

I'm single and live with my brother who's also single. He's the cook in the family. Sometimes he'll make enough food for both us so I don't have to cook dinner. (We buy our own groceries separately.)

I'm a horrible cook. Sometimes I forget that I'm cooking something and before you know it, the smoke alarm in the kitchen goes off.

When I do cook, it's something simple like angel hair pasta with a pre-made red sauce, usually Buitoni's Tomato Herb Parmesan sauce. I also make a version of garlic bread to go along with it -- get my favorite bread, slather butter on it, sprinkle garlic salt and then bake it.

If I feel like eating something heavier, I go with turkey sausage (sliced) and put in sliced onions and have a side of garlic mashed potatoes that I buy pre-made from the store.

Both of those take maybe 15-20 minutes to make.

As for shortcuts, I usually make batches of pasta and turkey sausage, enough to last me at least 2-3 meals. I don't mind leftovers.

My rule for food is: Freeze anything that I won't eat within the next 3 days. That way it doesn't spoil and I can always thaw it in the microwave. That goes for stuff like bread, bacon, sausage, other meats, etc. but not dairy or produce.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I go out for lunch every weekday because there are hole-in-the-wall places near my office that are pretty cheap and serve decent food (not fast food).

Oh what I wouldn't give to live in a real city. Most of my problem is that by the time we get out for dinner around here (anywhere between 8:30 and 10 p.m.) most regular take-out places are closed, much less the potentially decent holes in the wall downtown.

I think of it as an ongoing treat -- might as well get out of the office and enjoy lunch before diving into the craziness of work.

This is a fantastic attitude toward eating out. I think doing the math on eating out vs. making something would help me so much mentally, because as I mentioned in another comment, by the time you're done buying things that are good for you at the grocery store, it costs the same anyway. It's the managing to avoid French fries and constant KFC runs that's the hard part.

I'm a horrible cook. Sometimes I forget that I'm cooking something and before you know it, the smoke alarm in the kitchen goes off.

I killed a teapot about a month ago because I put it on to boil some water for tea and promptly fell asleep on the sofa. The smell of burnt copper lingers for days, FYI.

When I do cook, it's something simple like angel hair pasta with a pre-made red sauce, usually Buitoni's Tomato Herb Parmesan sauce.

I forget how fast and simple and surprisingly civilized pasta can be. It's the protein that I find myself having a problem with - I buy bags of frozen pre-cooked chicken and defrost as needed, but that gets monotonous. I'm neither a pork nor red meat person - how problematic is fish?

If I feel like eating something heavier, I go with turkey sausage (sliced) and put in sliced onions

I use turkey sausage for soups as a substitute for whatever meat they call for, but cooking it alone - hmm. Luckily, unlike some boyfriends I love onions, so this is definitely something to try.

My rule for food is: Freeze anything that I won't eat within the next 3 days.

Good rule. I usually push leftovers to five days (eep) but, um, still here? Does that mean I should - probably not. But it also means that I won't be sick of something because I've been eating it for a week for fear that it'll spoil.

So mostly it's just packaging my meals as I make them that needs to happen, stock the freezer and that's it for a week or two. Good note.

The NYT cafeteria is no great shakes

[(Anonymous)]

Well... maybe the new one will be fantabulous, but I had a few meals at the Gray Lady in my day (you know, the one I can't stop talking about) and I remember not having the best experience. (They use a LOT of Mayo.)
Trust me, Condé Nast is better.

I am generally amazed at how, especially since Sarah's home, our groceries have become expensive. We would have paid more than $160 last week if not for coupons.

I attribute this to two major factors: 1) Meat; and 2) Sarah's fervent need to add to our collection every spice and herb that could possibly be used for human consumption, and probably a few that can't.

I'm surprised by how much more meat I'm eating now than when I was in college. It's just hard to cook meat well when you've worked for 12 hours...

But all this eating in does work, because I've lost at least 10 pounds in the few weeks Sarah's been home.

Re: The NYT cafeteria is no great shakes

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

I am generally amazed at how, especially since Sarah's home, our groceries have become expensive. We would have paid more than $160 last week if not for coupons.

The last time Brandon and I went shopping, I paid almost $200. It's obscene, really, though considering there are two of us, the math would probably work out in favor of staying in. And nutrition, as mentioned by others and as I will grudgingly agree below, is a huge factor.

It's just hard to cook meat well when you've worked for 12 hours

It's hard to do anything after a day of working, yes. God, if Andy doesn't start coordinating Brandon's and my schedules so that we can have sex more than once a week again soon, I'm gonna choke a bitch.

But all this eating in does work, because I've lost at least 10 pounds in the few weeks Sarah's been home.

And that's the bitch of it, too. We eat so much better when I insist on green and whole wheat and low-fat and lean things at Publix as opposed to being resigned to Taco Bell and other greases when we have nothing to heat up at home or take to work with us.

Argh!

In happier news, we will be in Fort Lauderdale this weekend! Saturday and Sunday! We should have dinner on Saturday night! And bitch about the fallacious and fellating write-up of Steph Garry in the St. Pete Times. Grr!