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Ha! I feel the same way when I read recipes about "make restaurant-style Chinese/Indian/Thai food at home!" If you call up the restaurant, they'll bring it to your house! You don't' have to make anything at all! (Yeah, yeah, sodium, blah blah.)
I could agree if we're talking something like sushi, but I like to make meals like that at home. It's not hard to make a hot pot or stir fry. No special equipment is required, and it's quick and very, very tasty. I can throw together a spicy dal in minutes as long as I have a cooked pot of beans, which is nearly always the case. I mean, these are simple peasant dishes. They're not difficult. If they were, I wouldn't make them.
Last edited by randomparent; 03-06-2015 at 02:50 PM..
Reason: Quoted post for clarity
My mom was a stay-at-home mother, but she was by no means a cook. Really the only time she'd pull together a big meal from scratch is Thanksgiving, and we always had canned green bean casserole and instant mashed potatoes until I took over. There was dinner on the table every night growing up, but there was a lot of Hamburger Helper, boxed meal kits, canned and jarred things supplementing the protein of the day. Basically everything my mom made for us would get a serious side eye from a foodie. Was it home cooking? Sure, technically yes, but my mom considered it as much of a chore as laundry or vacuuming.
Sounds like my mom...I remember one dinner in partciaulr we would have nearly every week: Salty ham slices microwaved, canned vegetables, and one of those Liptop noodle sides. Yuck. My dad was more of the cook but he would get home too late most nights to cook dinner. He had a weekday off every week and he would usually make a whole dinner from scratch - meatloaf, chili, homemade pasta, steaks, etc.
Also, my grandparents always had big home cooked dinners two-three times a month on Sundays. Complete with a fresh pie. I used to love those and look forward to those and wished my kids could experience the same thing. I have three kids now and whenever we eat dinner at my parent's house it usually pizza delivered or warmed up in the oven. My dad now works nights six nights a week so he doesn't even cook anymore so my mom usually makes dinner just for herself and doesn't want to go through the hassle anymore. Same thing at my in-law's house. If we are over their to eat dinner it is Thanksgiving or Easter. Any other time and they tell us to find something in the fridge.
Yup, homemade pizza is a regular in my house. If we were to order in, I'd have to get a separate no-cheese pie for myself, then add my own fake cheese and bake it anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent
Oh gosh, no! Home-made pizza is delicious. We're having it tonight, too. The dough is resting in the fridge right now.
Oh gosh, no! Home-made pizza is delicious. We're having it tonight, too. The dough is resting in the fridge right now.
If I give you my address, will you bring me one?
Actually, never mind. I have a friend, a lady in her 70s who lives in my complex, who is cooking dinner for me tonight. Sometimes in the nice weather we go out to eat (and she always has a coupon, lol) but right now it's cold and there's ice on the ground and she is so happy to cook for me because she loves to cook and doesn't have anyone to cook for.
So, I think I'm having cod and probably potatoes and a vegetable and a salad, a nice home-cooked meal. And some red wine. We always have red wine!
Well, at our house this trend has not been seen.
I enjoy cooking, SO gave me better and better tools over time which makes it easier, more flexible and even more fun for cook and eaters.
In our case we eat out a lot. It's a combination of needing the time to plan meals in advance, plus the challenges of cooking for only two people.
Say for example we want grilled chicken breast sandwiches. So we have to buy a whole tomato, and a whole head of lettuce, in order to have a few leaves and one slice of tomato on the sandwich. Now, of course we could plan other meals that use up the rest of the tomato and head of lettuce - but we'd have to ensure that taking the time to make a meal plan was a top priority, which after a long day at work it really isn't.
Also, life gets in the way. We may plan to use up the lettuce on Tuesday, but then one of us goes for dinner with colleagues, and the next day there's a concert or something, and before we know it there's a wilted head of lettuce in the fridge.
Salad bars at grocery stores solve the produce problem to some extent. If we want to make chicken caesar salad wraps we can go in and make a tiny caesar salad, just enough for two wraps. However, the cost is on par with just buying the wrap from a fast-food joint.
Yeah, this is a problem for us during busy times of the year, too. Menu planning is a tremendous challenge when everybody is going a separate direction. Spring into summer is the worst! I never know who will show up for dinner.
My wife and I eat out religiously, once a month or so. But we're always disappointed. The last place we ate it gave us the special gift of food poisoning.
I cook a lot and I always have. Even when I worked more than full time and had a 100 mile a day commute. Quite often tomorrow's meal is in the crockpot today. And I always cook in bulk, there is at least a weeks worth of meals in the freezer. When I make chili, it's a full pot. Enough for 4 meals for 4 people. Cheaper and better for you as well.
Once or twice a month, we have a cooking day where we make entrees for a couple weeks at once. Works well and we have our own fast food.
Tonight is homemade stir fry. Found beef skirt steak in the bargain bin and put it in to marinate yesterday.
That doesn't mean we never eat out because we do. Usually a couple times a week. We live in Las Vegas and sometime the coupons are too good to miss out on.
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