Home-cooked Meal

It's been close to 8 years since I've cooked anything that didn't come in a box or can. My family lives very far away so it's been about that long since I've had a homecooked meal either.

Tonight however, I busted out the old family cookbook and boy do I not regret it!

I simmered a huge pot of chili for close to 5 hours. It had bacon and sausage and hamburger and big juicy beans! I scarfed down a bowl with a couple pieces of fresh-out-of-the-oven cornbread.

Finishing up with a tall glass of milk and some piping-hot oatmeal-butterscotch cookies. Ahh, memories...

I'm definitely doing this more often. My sourdough starter is about ready so I'll be having some fresh bread too!

The best part is that I probably spent half as much money making all of it than I would have paid for at the supermarket

Cheers

I believe there are quite a few home-cooked meals that don't require five hours preparation time.

A filet steak with oven-roasted potatoes and green peas, for instance, can be easily cooked in a little more than half an hour. Chicken parmesan with noodles and a salad about the same.

Nothing against chili - or old family recipes - but if you want to enjoy the many benefits of home-cooking, I'd explore some of the many delicious, nutritious, and inexpensive meals you can cook yourself in twenty minutes or so - about the length of time most people spend preparing "instant" packaged food.

oh absolutely! I didn't mean to say every meal will take 5 hours But it was Saturday so it just happily simmered away while I went about my business.

Most awesome meal I've had in awhile though, if I do say so myself

pocketwatch said:

It had bacon and sausage and hamburger and big juicy beans!

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What?? No moose? It will taste even better tomorrow and you can freeze the leftovers. Canned chili is a poor substitute for homemade. Enjoy.

Cheers,
David

We used to eat out or buy packaged stuff all the time but in the interests of our health we only do that once a month now. Have saved a bundle of cash by cooking our own meals, and I have lost around 20kgs over the past 12 months.

Takes a bit of planning initially, but very worth it in the long run.

Good job. It's really amazing at how much money you waste when you buy ready-made foo.

Good work. You will save yourself a bundle of cash( so you can spend on more shaving goodies) and be alot healthier.

I the the epitome of being a "good cook" is the ability to take a few simple ingredients (preferably what is fresh and in season that day) and turn them into something special. It is nice, on special occasions, to put in the time and effort to create a more complex meal, but that shouldn't mean you aren't eating well when in a rush.
Some things that take a long time to cook (soup, bread, etc) really don't require that much actual work time. I think the best cooks are savvy shoppers and forward-thinking individuals. Making large batches and freezing meals for quick prep down the road is a good example.
I was fortunate to work with a couple good chefs and they can be a marvel. They had become masters of squeezing the maximum from their ingredients. It takes planning, organization, and a lot of creativity. In my own way, I try to adapt to whatever time I have, mainly by cooking smart on days off, and carrying the leftovers into the work week. Many dishes are actually better reheated and, of course, there are always good things available at a moment's notice.

heh yeah im spoiled by my momma's cooking. so now when i can't chow down on her cooking, I have got into the habit of cooking it up for myself. definitely a money saver

I know this is definitely 1950's housewife talk, but a CrockPot, is one of the best things for a guy living alone to have in the kitchen.

Hear me out.....


Before you go to work, toss in some cubed meat, tomato sauce, seasonings, potatoes, corn, onions, whatever you have on hand that would go well together basically.

Turn the crockpot on as you walk out the door for work, and when you get home, you have a delicious stew waiting for you(or chili) hot and ready to go.

Another favorite of mine, that tastes near as good to home made as you can get is to take a couple chicken breasts(frozen or thawed) and dump a jar of pasta sauce over it. When you get home, boil some noodles, place a breast on top, then spoon the sauce over it.

I also, upon occasion, have taken a pork roast, season it heavily, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, crushed red chilis and garlic, the zest of an orange, and the juice, and let it cook while at work. The juices in the meat baste the whole shebang, it's fall apart tender, and oh so juicy. Shred it with a fork, and you got yourself a pulled pork sandwich in about 30 seconds.

Home cooking is definitely the way to go if you've got time. When my wife and I get simultaneously slammed at work, the TV dinners definitely come out though. Or worse, eat out ($$$!!) My brother got me a pizza stone for Christmas, and although I love pizza from most places, I found that home-cooked pizza is much cheaper and puts the pizza chains to shame. And yes, the stone seems to make a big difference- I was skeptical, but cooking my home pizzas on a baking sheet left the bottom moist. The stone crisps and flavors the bottom of the crust for whatever reason.

Easy, cheap, and delicious recipe? My favorite is this pasta sauce:

Simmer 2 cups of cut up canned tomatoes, 4-5 TB butter, and onion cut in half. After 45 minutes (or until the oil starts to float free) throw away the onion, season with salt and pepper to taste, and eat (with pasta...). Couldn't be easier. With the canned tomatoes you may have to blend them in a food processor or use a stick blender if you prefer a really smooth sauce, whereas with fresh they practically fall apart in the pan. Obviously this recipe lends itself well to improvisation. We add garlic almost regularly. I use canned tomato for ease, fresh is probably better but you must engage in the miserable and time-consuming job of skinning and de-seeding the tomatoes. We have also tried this with various butter substitutes, and the results are still pretty good, but nothing cooks or tastes like butter in my book.

This is just me, but you ought to think carefully before getting too enthusiastic about stews, crockpots, chili, etc. Especially if you live alone.

Why?

Because these are dishes that you can't make just one serving. More like a dozen or so. Which leaves you with the option of either eating stew every meal for a week, or freezing it, and eating more "frozen dinners."

Trust me when I say this: eating the same chili (or turkey, or meatloaf, etc.) every dinner for more than a few days gets boring very fast. So boring, in fact, that you may be tempted to go buy your old "pre-packaged" food again - just for the variety.

Don't get me wrong: chili, stew, etc. have a place in most home cook's repetoire. And having a couple of frozen servings in your freezer isn't a bad idea. But don't build your cooking skills around meals that mean you are going to be eating "leftovers" 90% of the time. And I'm often times amazed at how often the guys I know who make these huge cauldrons of stews - end up throwing a lot of it away.

This is an important point: Buying $3 a pound meat, which requires lots of cooking to render it tender enough and tasty enough for eating - suddenly isn't such a bargain if you end up throwing half of it away. In my mind, its better to buy smaller pieces of better quality meat, cook it and enjoy it right away. You'll enjoy it much more - and waste a lot less.

There are dozens of sites filled with recipes that can be successfully cooked for one or two servings. They may take a little more planning - but they don't take a lot of time, and they are infinitely more rewarding.

mretzloff said:

Good job. It's really amazing at how much money you waste when you buy ready-made foo.

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Amazing? No, I personally think its more amazing people pay that much for ready-made meals.

Fnord5 said:

I know this is definitely 1950's housewife talk, but a CrockPot, is one of the best things for a guy living alone to have in the kitchen.

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Absolutely! I was practically living off of CrockPot prepared meals back when I was a grad student. It's amazing how many different meals that one can prepare with one.

joto said:

Home cooking is definitely the way to go if you've got time.

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Honestly, I don't buy that if you have the time excuse. You can cook meals that easily take no more than 20 or 30 minutes tops. And if that's too much time you can do like Fnord suggests and get a CrockPot, which will allow you to make anything from pot roast to various soups and stews with very little muss and fuss. Heck, you even bake with a CrockPot if you so desire.

RazorDingo said:

This is just me, but you ought to think carefully before getting too enthusiastic about stews, crockpots, chili, etc. Especially if you live alone.

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I disagree. I've been living on my own for the past fews years and the key is to do a couple different things. First, scale down your recipes. Recipes are guidelines, nothing more. You don't have to follow anything to the letter, and that includes servings. If that's to hard, get a cookbook geared towards cooking for one or two people. They are widely available.

Another thing to do is use your freezer. Soups, for example, freeze very well. If you make too much and its something you like to eat on occasion like chili, freeze it. It will keep for quite some time.

Lastly, learn to make meals out of other meals. For example, you could roast a chicken or a small turkey and eat that for dinner one night and use the leftovers or a stew or something else the next night. Remember knowing how to improvise is a great skill to have especially if you're cooking and feeding only one or two people.

I've cooked for myself for more years than I care to admit.

I'll tell you the issue I have with frozen leftovers: usually people end up using the microwave to thaw and reheat things. And, truth be told, the microwave isn't really very good at this sort of thing. Even a good, powerful microwave tends to leave some chunks icy cold, while burning others.

Yeah - a recipe is just that: a guide. And I've gotten pretty good at halving or quartering a lot of ingredient lists. But there is a limit to how far you can take this - a chicken only gets so small, etc.

The other thing to consider is that, ideally at least - at some point the beginning cook is going to prepare a meal for somebody else - a new romantic partner, etc. And stews and chilis aren't really ideal for this. (For one thing, they tend to make your house smell unromantic) For another, they take hours to prepare.

The secret to cooking is not the recipe. Anybody can read a recipe. The secret is the technique. Look at Gordon Ramsay make the simplest of all meals: scrambled eggs. Compare it to the way most people do - and then compare the results. (And if you haven't tried scrambled eggs like this - you have no idea how good they are. Especially compared to the watery, rubbery mess most people make.)

Well, Mr. Dingo, I guess there's no point in talking to some people because you just seem to be argumentative for the sake of being argumentative. I mean honestly, if you think cooking is too much of a hassle, something I frankly find hard to comprehend because I like to cook, then don't do it. No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to do otherwise.

Good work!

I go out to the restaurant maybe once a month. A good restaurant is where I can have a meal that I cannot do myself.

You do not need all those fancy circles of sauce around your food. If it taste good, it's good!

Ah sounds good. Chilli, beef stew, meat loaf, macaroni baked, cornbread, comfort food. I'd go on but I'd start drooling. A common thread here is this is all good inexpensive stuff that just works. For the price of a big mac meal you can eat like a happy pauper for days. Baked beans, soup from the garden, rice and beans, hummas from chick peas, home made yogurt, ah I'll stop now.

I am an awful cook but after realizing that eating out every night after my husband took a 70% pay cut was not going to work anymore I learned to cook good and fast. We throw something on the BBQ almost every night. I have bought the pans for the grill that we throw our vegetables in while steak, chicken or fish cooks. We throw our corn and potato in foil and man what a treat to eat a meal for less than $100 bucks and so much healthier. Time spent... prep 10 minutes max and cook time 20minutes - 2 hours that depends on how many beers you want before eating.

Fnord5 said:

I know this is definitely 1950's housewife talk, but a CrockPot, is one of the best things for a guy living alone to have in the kitchen.

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I keep hearing that about crockpots, i just might have to pick one up

joto said:

Easy, cheap, and delicious recipe? My favorite is this pasta sauce:

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I'm going to give that a shot. I could use a decent pasta sauce, honestly.

@RazorDingo

You definitely have a point about eating the same thing all week. I used to cook when I had roommates since we'd all eat it, but just cooking for myself and sometimes a guest does make a lot of leftovers. I'm not opposed to freezing them though, but to each his own!

gollum83 said:

Lastly, learn to make meals out of other meals.

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Sage advice, for sure. I used to make a mean roast chicken that I could throw the carcass into a pot and make some noodle soup with dumplings I might get a crockpot after all...

Hey, Dingo...thanks for that video link. I have always seasoned my eggs and whisked them with a bit of water prior to scrambling. Now, I'll have to try Gordon's method. Eggs seem to be an easy fix, that anyone can do, but doing them well is a real skill. Anyone who has been a line cook in a busy restaurant knows that cooking eggs well is a good test of skills.
There are many product lines of frozen, packaged meals that can be prepared in a skillet in ten minutes. Birdseye's "Voila" line are pretty good and they're inexpensive. I also like most of the Stouffer's products. Sure, they're not up to the homemade standard, but they're a fine pantry staple for a quick meal.