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I'm certainly not retired and have two jobs, which most of the time leaves me with Sunday off.
When do the rest of your errands and chores get done?
I'm afraid I am part of the gruop that doesn't have much time or energy for very involved recipes right now. When I was a HS student, and again as a SAHM, I had more time and enjoyed making things more than I do right now. I am looking forward to retiring in a few years so that I can spend more time in the kitchen and in the garden.
I loved to cook and most all my food is from scratch and fresh. I am cooking for only myself and sometimes will do something quick and easy and other times "treat" myself to something that takes time and special ingredients ...because "I'm worth it" and it makes me happy.
I used to create elaborate dinner parties for my friends and spend days in prep. It was exhausting but I enjoyed it. Now...it's too expensive to do this and not appreciated like it once was.
I actually use cooking for myself to relax and forget about the world even after a long day at work.
I think it's always been the creating something that tastes SO good for me - not the time it took to get there.
I tend to avoid dishes that require a number of ingredients I don't usually have on hand. I learned this years ago, when I invested in walnut oil and sea salt (back when that was exotic and expensive) to make focaccia.
The oil went rancid long before I ever used it again, and I tossed the last of the salt when I moved ten years later.
Now I would just use olive oil and table salt, and be happy.
I've read many posts where folks have said a particular dish/preparation is just too much work. Personally, if I can get the ingredients and I want to make it, I will. I make Thai curry pastes at home and made a chicken mole from scratch. I make homemade sausages involving grinding, spicing, stuffing and smoking, usually a two day process. I find the results worth the effort. Where do you draw the line?
The question is, do you have all the spare time in the world and are only cooking to suit yourself? Or are you working, have kids, and/or are feeding a family? I'm sure I'll cook a lot more when I'm retired and I can painlessly pitch something in the trash that turns out badly after 2 days of effort and $50 worth of odd ingredients!
I'm certainly not retired and have two jobs, which most of the time leaves me with Sunday off.
I don't live to eat, I eat to live and I have many other hobbies besides food. How do you spend 2 days on a dish when you only have Sundays - I sense a bit of exaggeration at one end or the other.
im usually in a rush got 3 things going.... depends on the day/night but some days I will designate time to cook ahead...sundays I do this.....ill roast something that takes a while and portion..
I try to be ...quick on preparing most things
I microwave my scrambled eggs.. in the morning.... (add shredded cheese...cook level 6 for 2.20 minutes....comes out like an omelet.)
I also make my own sausage or jerky or cut an animal up and portion ...like deer..
but I will also buy whole primals of chucks and rounds and portion those out into steaks, roasts, stew and burger.... or rib eyes and sirloin strips cut into steaks
I draw the line …..with the kitchen turtles.....everything is a project … and they move like a sloth..
Cooking usually has two timings: Time spent in prep and time spent cooking. So a roast may take 2 1/2 hours to cook, but the prep time was actually 20 minutes. Easy. Good recipe sources such as Milk Street will tell you these two times in advance.
I made a stew tonight and it was 40 minutes of prep and two hours oven cooking. Reasonable, especially with a one-pot cleanup. I don't consider hands-off cooking time part of the labor, then. Work and total cooking time often two different things.
I like to cook and I cook for two of us, both fans of bold and interesting food. A typical kitchen session for me runs about an hour in prep, hands-on cooking and cleanup. An hour and a half is pushing it. Two hours better be fun and special. Don't go beyond that more than a couple of times a year.
Cleaning as you go is the best way I know to reduce total time in the kitchen. Don't watch a pot boil, clean something!
Today is one of those days where I wish I had more time to cook. It's my one day off in the middle of working 10 days. So I planned a roast in the crock pot and will throw in some veggies. I'm one person so this will feed me well for a few days with minimum prep time involved.
I'm not lazy, but I need down time too where I do nothing at all for a couple of hours inbetween catching up on chores
Cooking takes a lot of my time. Buns and tortillas have to be made from scratch, barbeque sauce, mayo, stuff like that all has to be homemade. I keep a bunch of weird ingredients on hand to sub for things we're allergic to. If there's a day when I can't cook, we eat oatmeal, scavenge leftovers from the fridge (except one kid can't eat leftovers) or just don't eat.
I used to enjoy cooking, but I hate it now. One thing that makes it less horrible is to use the food processor to chop vegetables. I'm getting arthritis in my hands, so meals that involve lots of chopping can be pretty miserable otherwise.
I get sick from heat now, so in the summer all my cooking is done in the instant pot, and I'll try to plan so I only have to bake one day a week, except for using the bread machine.
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