My food prep time has tripled, at minimum

[quakerboy]

we are on day 10 of not eating minimally processed foods in my home. Everything has been from scratch, raw meat and veg starting last Monday.

I never really thought about it much, but it takes so much more (involved) time to cook and clean when it dosnt come in a box. I have also noticed that my trash output has approximately doubled. We are putting out a bag every 4 days instead of every 7. Still virtually nothing compared to any of my neighbors, but I was not expecting that.

[Kali]

1. compost and the trash should go way down

still, I always have more trash when we eat "convenience" food vs. from scratch - did you also stop eating out?

[quakerboy]

3. more or less, yes

I do eat out, but only as required for work, Only as meets the atkins diet that i am supporting my wife by doing with her, and I have not brought anything home.

And I have no outside area. Composting is not a practical option, unless there is an odor free way to do it indoors in a small one bedroom apartment.

[Kali]

6. well I have heard of people raising earthworms indoors

:rofl: but yeah, composting in a 1 bedroom might not be practical. Know anybody that might want it? Some cities have composting programs but I think that is for yard waste, not so much house food prep.

My chickens would sure take it!

Good on you for supporting your wife's efforts. It can be really hard to make dietary changes when you are the only one doing it - helps to have a buddy. :thumbsup:

[kentauros]

2. Can you compost any of it?

When I lived where I had a garden and a compost heap, I think I took out the trash only once a month (for just one person.) Whereas now it's about once a week due to veggie waste. I'd sure like to be able to compost again... :)

[quakerboy]

5. I have absolutely no outdoor

And not much indoor. Small one bedroom place. I dont even get a parking space. Or rather, I do, but the neighbors started using it for their 2 extra SUV and extra caddy before we moved in, and its not worth the keying that will result if we were to complain and force them to give it back. In reality its probably good for me to walk that extra half a block, though its a pain when carrying anything heavy.

[XemaSab]

4. You should check out this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?pagewanted=all

[grasswire]

7. what kind of meals are you making?

Am curious.

[quakerboy]

9. Mostly very simple

Steak on a little electric grill and green beans in a frying pan. Very basic stir fry. a Meatloaf. A lot of scrambled eggs on a griddle. Salad.

Ive been thinking. I think the biggest changes are involve adding a meal (breakfast) and chopping up the veggies. That involves cleaning using and cleaning my knives several times a day, instead of a few times a week. Plus the cutting boards. Having breakfast consistently also seems to add more work in prep and cleaning than I would expect. The final bit seems to be pre-prep time. Turning raw bacon/meat into cooked meat suitable for adding to a scramble or a salad, rather than just using a packet of oatmeal or making a sandwich with deli meat. Still, its hard to believe that it has taken about 20-30 minutes a day devoted to food prep and turned it into an hour and a half minimum. On either part, not counting the time I spend reading or typing while the various cooking implements do their thing.

[Lars39]

12. There's tricks you can learn to help cut down on the prep time.

Planned leftovers. Cook 2 pans of meatloaf at once so you can freeze one. Cook the bacon for the week at one time and freeze it. Have a sink full of sudsy water while you're cooking and wash as you go. There's lots more, but my brain's too fried right now to think of 'em. :)

[quakerboy]

14. Did both of the first two

Extra meatloaf and bacon in batches. The latter is hard, because I am strongly inclined to eat it all as it comes off the production line. I could easily and happily have pure bacon meals on occasion.

[Lars39]

15. hehe...didn't think of that.

Like being a kid in an ice cream store, isn't it. :D

[ipfilter]

18. Bacon makes everything better.

I keep a small container of bacon fat for many things.

[quakerboy]

21. Including

more bacon.

[quakerboy]

10. Dupe

DU is acting very weird for me right now. Lots of freezing in mid load. Sorry.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. it does take me a while to make dinner because i dont cook out of boxes

just cutting onions, garlic, ginger is a time consuming process but i think its stills me.

[quakerboy]

11. Thats where I am

Except that I mildly resent the time that I cant spend reading a good book, posting inanely here, or otherwise doing something I actively enjoy doing.

[grasswire]

13. multi-task

how about having a pantry time -- a couple of hours on the weekend when you listen to your favorite music or ball game and do a lot of prep for the week?

Chop onions and other veggies. Cook bacon to reheat. Poach some chicken or fish. Make a hearty soup. Roast some root vegetables. Grate cheese. Wash salad greens. Plan menu and shopping list for next week. Browse cookbooks while things cook.

It could be a very enjoyable time. You could do it alone, or recruit a helper for conversation.

[pitohui]

23. and the time consumed is all of 30 to 60 seconds

come on people are we that lame?

study a video or take a course or something, it takes seconds to cut/mince onion/garlic/ginger once you know what you're doing

and i had a CLUELESS cook for a mom, had to be self taught

if i can do it, you can

[La Lioness Priyanka]

30. i am a very good cook. maybe even excellent and it take me much longer

it really depends on what you are cooking and the quantities you need

[ipfilter]

16. I started cooking like this a few months back.

I don't like to use anything boxed or processed if I can help it. I do make exceptions for canned tomatoes and, recently, a jar of finely minced garlic. I do use canned chicken broth and stock because I don't normally have enough time to make my own stock. That's about as far as I'll go with processed foods.

On weeknights I like to do soups and stir fry in a wok. I was off yesterday so I made red beans and rice which needs to cook for about four hours. On weekends I like to roast chickens, or use my smoker, or do other foods that need to slow cook for long periods of time.

I found you really have to plan meals ahead. I may need to soak beans overnight, or move frozen meats into the refrigerator the day before. When I first started doing this I had to really plan my grocery trips in advance. Now that I have a big list of favorite recipes I can buy mostly staples and have what I need on hand to make just about anything. I've learned just the right amount of vegetables to buy and how long they will keep.

It takes a lot more time and effort, but making meals from scratch is worth it. It's so nice to eat food and know exactly what's in it. Also, foods like this are so much more satisfying and my wife and I both notice we are not as hungry a few hours after a nice home cooked meal.

[grace0418]

17. You get faster at it, and more efficient, as time goes by. Whenever I go to the farmers market

or grocery and buy produce, I try to prep as much as I can when I get home. With the kale and other leafy greens, I chop it into manageable pieces (if necessary), wash it thoroughly, drain and spin it dry, wrap it in towels and place in bags or containers. Then when I'm making dinner, I can throw it directly into the pot or salad bowl with no additional prep time. Plus it takes up a lot less room in the fridge. Some veggies can't be prepped in advance, so I save those for meals when I have more time.

With meats, I try to decide in advance how I'm going to prepare them and get them cut up, seasoned and marinating (if necessary). I also try to fold one recipe into another if possible. One night I will roast a chicken and a huge amount of vegetables. Then next day we'll have wraps or salad with the leftover chicken and roasted vegetables (which are good hot, cold or room temperature). If there are still more leftovers, I make a sauce for pasta. We either use whole wheat pasta or a really good low-carb alternative is shirataki noodles. I will make stock from the chicken bones, any leftover but not as appetizing veggie scraps, and fresh veggies. Then I use the stock for soups and sauces.

I make a variation on pesto that will keep in the fridge for awhile and can instantly make a number of different dishes. I use fresh basil, walnuts instead of pinenuts (walnuts are a superfood), extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, red pepper flakes, lots of fresh garlic, black pepper and a little vinegar and/or lemon juice (gives it a little zing and helps keep it fresh). We will use a dollop to liven up sauces, dressings or sandwiches, brush it on meat or veggies before roasting, mix it with pasta or shirataki, add to soup. It's amazing how many uses you can find for it and it makes a dish way more complex.

[GoCubsGo]

19. Have you considered using some frozen veggies?

The organic brands, such as Cascadian Farms, are pretty good. Frozen vegetables often have higher levels of vitamins than fresh, because they were flash frozen right after harvest. The fresh ones could have been sitting around for days in warehouses, on trucks, on the store shelf, all the time, their nutrients are deteriorating. Some, like broccoli and green beans, are blanched before they're frozen, so all they need is a light steaming. Frozen spinach is mostly cooked, but it's easier to hide it in other dishes in this form. All you have to do is thaw it. And, if you buy the chopped, rather than the whole leaf, no prep time needed.

And, speaking of spinach... If you choose to use fresh for whatever reason, just go ahead and get the pre-washed bagged stuff. It's a little more expensive, but you know that old saying about "time is money..." It's about the only way I buy lettuce, too. Of course, I'm partial to the "spring mix", and that's the only way one can buy it around here.

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. I've cooked that way for years - it gets faster. And you can do some things ahead of time -

peel, clean, and cut veggies when you buy them, and then store them in containers, instead of cutting just a few at every meal.

Get all the lettuce cleaned and prepped right after you buy it.

And so forth.

I live near a natural area, so I toss the veggie scraps out in to nature and let it do its natural thing.

Eating low on the food chain, I actually have a lot LESS garbage now (excepting that I do have a lot of organic waste - but as I said, that can go back to nature).

Congratulations to you for eating more sanely!!

If only all Americans would do so.

[pitohui]

22. ah comparing apples to oranges

i cook from scratch and it just don't take that long, maybe i'm a born short order cook but maybe... then i inspected your posts and realized that you have added a meal (breakfast) that you didn't previously eat

compare apples to oranges long enough and you'll get the result you want

if you want to fail, look for the negatives and the excuses and you can talk yourself into failure

home cooking never takes me as long as waiting for a fucking frozen pizza to heat up (or a pizza boy to show up)

there's a learning curve, and while you learn, it takes longer, but at some point, if it still takes you longer to home cook/clean than it does to defrost/cook a frozen pizza, you are not trying

[quakerboy]

24. One meal added to another two

should add about 50% to the time taken, yes? But instead it adds 200-300% Thats apples to apples.

And a frozen pizza takes under a minute to prepare. you tear it open, drop it on the tray, set the oven, put it in, and go do something else. Waiting time is useful time. I can read a chunk of whatever book I am working on while waiting, where I don't think its safe to do that while chopping veggies or frying something that I don't want to burn.

My wife's life is important to me. I don't care if it takes me 8 hours a day, we are eating better. But it is interesting to me the change. The increased time was expected, if not to the degree it appeared. The increased trash output was not.

[pengillian101]

25. You are a very supportive husband.

Check out DU's Cooking and Baking group. You might find some helpful tips if you ask - everyone there loves to help and share tips and tricks and recipes :-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=236



(Just an aside - the Adkins diet might be okay for a short-term diet to lose weight, but please check long-term effects, ok? All that meat and clogged arteries, ya know...)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

26. Mise en place is your friend

Mise en place
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place

Basically, gather up everything you need and measure it, wop it and chop it before you start cooking. You can't believe how much time this saves and how much the stress is reduced. It helps if you have a bunch of little plates/bowls/whatever available. I buy the little Japanese sushi plates whenever I am at Cost Plus or at an Asian market and it's really hard to have too many.

I love to cook and think processed food is an abomination so I've been doing this style cooking for most of my 59 years. I'll put anything I make up against whatever you can buy in a box any day. Part of your problem is that this is new to you and you have not yet learned to plan ahead. My grandkids are starting to take on tasks like Thanksgiving and X-mass and I have been trying to teach them how to do it with no stress. Rule #1 Plan ahead. Often, sauces, gravies and other base items can be made days ahead so you can concentrate on the main meal without trying to do 20 things at once on the day of the meal.

Rule #2 Mise in place
Gather up everything the recipe calls for and measure it, chop it, etc before you begin the meal. This is how the pros do it. No more looking for the Parsley while the pot is boiling and panicking cause you can't find it. It's already measured and chopped up and sitting on a little plate just waiting for you to add it when called for. This is the biggest stress reliever and time saver available.

Rule #3.
Never cook on high! Not even to boil water. It simply leaves you no time to think. It's boiling and you have to act now! Relax, have a glass of wine and slow things down so that you, not your stove, control the cooking. The highest temp I ever cook at is 7 and that is only to braise meat. As soon as it has browned, the stove gets turned to more like 4.

Good luck. If you stick with it, you will start to see returns, not only in taste but in economy.

I lost my job back in July and my wife and I comment regularly that, even with no money, we eat like Kings because we enjoy cooking. I can take a dollars worth of dried beans and a few leftovers and make several meals so good that you don't even want to go out for dinner cause the food at home is so much better.

Last but not least, a seal a meal. We go to Cost co and buy in bulk. Pasta, Pork chops, whatever. We come home and I break it all up into meals for two, shrink wrap it and freeze it. Our average main course for the last two months cost about $1.05 for both of us. And I should go to McDonald's when I can have Pork chops in Sage,Shallot and Cilantro butter?

[pengillian101]

27. Bingo!

"Last but not least, a seal a meal. We go to Cost co and buy in bulk. Pasta, Pork chops, whatever. We come home and I break it all up into meals for two, shrink wrap it and freeze it. Our average main course for the last two months cost about $1.05 for both of us. And I should go to McDonald's when I can have Pork chops in Sage,Shallot and Cilantro butter?"

Cook once - freeze and save individual meals. I have had a seal-a-meal system since the 1970's. I still have that old machine somewhere. I know they must have a vacuum system now, also.

Foodsaver brand vacuum sealers are great. I bet I have enough individual leftovers to last at least a month, and I only save my good stuff. "Life is too short to eat bad food" is my motto.

;-)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

28. At any givin time I have at least two months worth of food in the freezer

Can't tell you how much security that gives me in these hard times.

[pengillian101]

29. Me too.

"Can't tell you how much security that gives me in these hard times."

Food in the freezer is a great feeling. And yet, I always know we'll have power outages. We have a new generator for that, but - still. Just today, the power company came out with a backhoe and dug a huge hole on our rural property. I wonder if our power will be out tomorrow when they return ;-)

[SoCalDem]

31. Don;t worry..you'll get faster once you get used to it.

I cook from scratch..always have,and can put a full meal on the table from start to finish in about 25 minutes..I do NOT "clean as I go"..

It's just a matter of planning the order of things.. start with the things that take the longest, do them first, and while they are cooking, you work on the next in line, and so on..then everything gets done at about the same time, and you're good to go.

When you are baking potatoes, bake a BUNCH of them..have a couple with dinner, and use the others as cut up with some parsley & butter on day two..

recipe:
peel about 4 of them, cut into chunks and add to bacon (cut in 1" strips before frying..drain it)..brown some onion, chopped..stir in the chunked baked potatoes & smoosh it so it browns crispy,(use a high heat & watch so it does not burn) keep browning it..heavenly :)
................

Peel & cut veggies the day before & ziploc them with a little water to keep them crispy..
-----------------------

Pressure cookers are wonderful for quick pot roast or pulled pork or beef & noodles..

recipe:

london broil cut into cubes..brown in pressure cooker (lid off).. add an onion (minced..with juice) stir them into meat cubes..shake in about 8 shakes of worchestershire sauce..add water to about 4 inches above meat mixture..lid on and pressure cook.. put it on HIGH, and when it's at "full-jiggle", turn to low.. cook it for about an hour (do the the day before).. prop a cooking fork under the jiggler to reease steam faster..then stir in Reames or Grandmas frozen egg noodles (or make your own from egg, milk & flour)..BEST beef & noodles ever..and it makes a TON.. add water & nuke the next day, by the bowl-full.

.............................

recipe:

make a big pot of rice (tight lidded pan, water to cover rice by 1-2 inches..a dab of butter./.boil then cover & turn to low..Do NOT peek..

cut bacon in 1 inch pieces, ..cook it..remove from pan, stirfry sliced celery, sliced water chestnuts & chopped green onions..add bacon back in, add rice and strir in shredded carrots..

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one pan meals or all-oven meals are your friends..

[MrsBrady]

32. I've been cooking this way my whole life

I can make lots of quick meals in 30 minutes.
Maybe because I've been cooking this way since I was a girl. I'm 37.

I just throw in what's in the fridge already, much of the time.

I thought that we had less trash because we are not using boxes with plastic wrap, etc...


I have never understood the concept of Hamburger Helper.

Pasta on the stove at 10 minutes, meat in another pan for about 15 minutes at the same time.
drain the pasta and add one to the other, depending on what you are making...add spices, fresh garlic...etc to the meat while cooking.
salt to taste.
done.
I don't understand why I need a box of over-salted "flavor" packet and processed white flour pasta to make a quick dinner.

Whole wheat pasta is more filling with more flavor.