Do people waste too much time on food prep?

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

When I want to eat, I want to eat. I don't want to spend three hours preparing to eat and another two hours cleaning up the preparation devices. I crack a can or a package, I heat it., I eat it. On rare occasions, I make a pot of soup or cook a turkey, but the goal is not the immediate eats, rather to portion out portions to freeze, so I can heat and eat immediately another time without all the preparation.

Why do people work so hard at eating?

 

[MrSquished]

As Fran Liebowitz said once, probably the two types of people that have created the most pleasure in the world are musicians and chefs.

Food is an amazing pleasure. Pre packaged food is usually a shell of what it could be freshly made. So unless you can afford to order out every meal, cooking is the next best option.

It's also enjoyable for some people to create, and share. Food for is a worthwhile creation and one of the best things to share. It's another medium for pleasure, that also sustains our biological bodies.

 

[dlerious]

I use a crock pot to cook multiple days worth of chili, soups, sauerkraut and pork, etc. Not much to clean except for the pan I use to brown hamburger or mushrooms and the crock pot. I also do a chex mix type of thing and a dried fruit mix for snacks.

 

[UsandThem]

I don't want to spend three hours preparing to eat and another two hours cleaning up the preparation devices.

If all of your meals take that long to prepare and cleanup afterwards, you are doing it wrong.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Home cooked food is healthier, but yeah it just takes so much time. Once in a while I will pick a day and meal prep stuff but I have a hard time doing it as often as I should, it's just so much work and such a hassle and my cooking is not as good as what I can get in prepackaged or take out food. But that stuff is also horribly unhealthy... the reason it taste so good is because of the MSG and all the other crap they put in it.

Spaghetti sauce is one of the few things I make myself that I actually prefer over premade stuff, and that tends to make a huge batch of like 12+ mason jars worth so the time and effort that goes into it feels more worth it.

I will sometimes meal prep stir fry too, but it's hard to make a big batch at once as there's only so much I can fit in a pan. One pan will tend to make maybe 2 meals. I make rice separately in the rice cooker to add as filler to make it go further otherwise 1 pan would only be 1 meal. So I find it's almost not worth meal prepping that and I tend to just do to eat right away. But it is nice having something I can just stick in the microwave and have a meal.

I need to force myself to learn more recipes but I tend to read a recipe, start googling what all the ingredients are and get overwhelmed, then find myself on a pizzeria's website and next thing you know a pizza shows up at the door. It just kind of happens.

 

[brianmanahan]

you sound like chef chad

 

[pmv]

A confession - I don't put as much time/effort into preparing meals as I should. I keep deciding I'm going to and then almost always find I just haven't the energy. In particular I'm always thinking I should "marinade" things, but never seem to get round to it and just end up throwing whatever seasoning I happen to have on meat as it cooks. One day I'll actually do things properly, I swear.

I'm sure that putting the effort in is also good for one - not only makes for better-tasting results but I'm sure it means you eat less if you put more time and effort into each meal.

 

[biostud]

I find it relaxing and creative making food, using I different skillset that I otherwise use.

 

[Kaido]

Why do people work so hard at eating?

I didn't care too much about food growing up. McDonalds & Dominos were fine dining to me as a kid. My tastebuds changed at around 19 years old & I started liking pickles, tuna, mayo, etc.

Then I couldn't eat normal food for about 10 years. Super restrictive diet due to health issues. No gluten, no dairy, and eventually, no corn (which is in EVERYTHING!). Thankful the Internet & Whole Foods existed to get me by, and I learned a lot about food, macros, and cooking along the way!

Then a miracle happened & I was able to eat regular food again. I appreciate every meal now, even just simple Pop-tarts, because I went a whole decade without being able to enjoy things.

I suffer from low energy a lot, so sometimes cooking is simply a chore, but thanks to modern appliances like the Instant Pot & Anova Precision Oven, I can engage in great food more often!

I also have a really simply daily meal-prep system (one meal or snack per day, 6 servings is the target, done 30 days a month yields 180 servings). This gives me variety & convenient options! So there are ways to make it easier with different approaches & awesome tools!

 

[KB]

Some people just really enjoy cooking. I take about 30 minutes for food prep and like to have fresh ingredients. You don't need to take a long time to make a good meal.

 

[deadlyapp]

If I'm meal prepping for three hours, it's going to last me at least a full week. These days my meal prep is less than an hour. I batch cook 3-4 meats at a time, grains (or other carbohydrate), and then vegetables I usually buy steamer bags or steam them in dishes. Occasionally I'll roast or air fry vegetables.

Overall I spend less than 5 minutes actually preparing my meal to eat, so I'm not sure what you're getting on about.

If I'm making a special or fancy dinner, then yes it may be an hour worth of prep.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Freshly made food is delicious, far better than anything from a box, can, or carton.

Meal prep shouldn't be taking that long, unless it's very, very involved. Even then, those should be meals that feed an entire household multiple times over. Most recipes take about a half our to prep, some amount of time to eat. Also: someone else should be cleaning up, not the cook

 

[dullard]

• Fun: many people actually enjoy cooking
• Health: you get to control what you eat far more than you can by just eating something from a box. Example: fresh garden veggies don't come in a package.
• Cost: Cooking yourself can be the cheapest method. But, to do so usually takes some longer steps like rehydrating dried beans. It isn't like you are actively doing much while the beans soak overnight. But it isn't fast if you want the absolutely cheapest food.
• Pride: I truly am proud when I grow a veggie and cook something great with it. Something better than most restaurant foods and far better than any can or package.
• Taste: you get to make the food exactly to match your preferred flavor profile.

I personally enjoy getting out into the garden, planting a few plants, putting down cardboard so I don't have to ever weed, picking something fresh in the summer/fall, freezing it in a plastic bag, cooking something great in large quantities, then freezing that result in the now empty plastic bags from the ingredients. My dinners take maybe 10 minutes at most to pull out a bag and heat it in a pot on the stove. And that will be healthier, tastier, and cheaper than anything from a store.

 

[KidNiki1]

i with ya, prepping meals and cleanup after are just blah for me.

i tried hellofresh for a while, and it was pretty nice (albeit pricey) to have a lot of the stuff already prepped. the meals were good for the most part, but it was still a lot of cleanup.
the crockpot and the instant pot are my two favorite kitchen items. dump everything in, let it cook. eat it. small amount of cleanup. i just did a slow roasted whole chicken the other day. so good!

 

[Staples]

I couldn't agree more with the OP. I see eating as a function of your body. I rarely eat frozen food. Most the stuff I eat is cooked at home but I cook everything in huge batches so it feeds me for several days.

 

[Torn Mind]

I don’t have the energy or time to go beyond the most rudimentary preparation.

I cook only the easy foods like ground meat, boiling stuff like sweet potatoes.

Takes a while to peel things.

 

[dullard]

Takes a while to peel things.

Most peeling is a waste of time. The peels tend to have a lot of the flavor and a lot of the nutrients. Only a few foods need to be peeled.

For example, while I never think I'll convince anyone to try this, the best kiwi flavor is that dark green right at the skin. Since the skin is edible, you get the best flavor by not peeling the kiwi. You just have to get past the fact that you are eating something with multiple textures.

I'll eat pepper skins, tomato skins, potato skins, etc. Things that most people spend a significant amount of time to peel.

 

[nakedfrog]

Found some clips of OP cooking.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Lots of meals don't really take that long to cook.
Prepackaged heat and eat stuff almost always has too much sodium, sugar, and/or carbohydrates for a reasonably healthy diet.
Many people have a spouse/fiancee/life partner or whatever who shares in the labor or take turns with meal prep or cleanup.
Many meals only use a single skillet or pan to prepare, which doesn't take very much effort or time to clean.
You can often make enough food for more than one serving, so you have leftovers to cover a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd meal.

Of course there are those briskets and pork shoulders that take a dozen or more hours to smoke, and, for some, the barbequing of amazing smoked meats can be a very time consuming process (but also VERY rewarding.)

 

[Exterous]

What do you consider working hard? We make a menu for the week and put a lot of prep and cleanup time in on Sundays and Mondays. But that is to make food for the busy week when we're often tired at the end of the work day. Helps make sure we don't just order unhealthy and expensive food during the week as we can reheat what we made

 

[dank69]

Step up your game and acquire servants. Stop blowing all your money on hookers and blow. You can blow lines off the maid's ass for 1/10th the cost of a hooker.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

It really depends on my mood and energy.

If its a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I got a nice beer/wine buzz going, and nothing planned for the rest of the day then I have no issue putting on some music and spending 2 hours carefully prepping and cooking a nice meal for the fam. Doesn't even have to be fancy, I often really enjoy making "mass market" foods from scratch with high quality ingredients or ingredient substitutions.

If its a week night, my ass is beat, and I just want to wind down and relax then I am going to take the straightest line to a cooked meal that I can. Any fancy prep goes out the window, everything gets cubed and thrown into a braze if I have the time or on an oven pan if I don't .

 

[MrSquished]

It also helps if you have decent knife skills. Years of cooking and a nice knife and practicing the right way and you can break down a mirepoix in no time. Other prep will just become more efficient with repetition as you become more familiar with cooking activities.

 

[Kaido]

It also helps if you have decent knife skills. Years of cooking and a nice knife and practicing the right way and you can break down a mirepoix in no time. Other prep will just become more efficient with repetition as you become more familiar with cooking activities.

Things I wish I had known when starting out:

1. A great knife makes all the difference in the world, as far as cooking at home goes

2. You can start off with just one knife. I recommend a good 9.5" or 10" Chef's knife. This one is great for $30: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KXVSHLH

We had really terrible knives growing up. Just a completely garbage set in a wooden block. Used butter knives to try to cut stuff all the time & was always super frustrated with working in the kitchen. I just had no concept of "good knives" at the time. I remember seeing that one knife that could cut shoes or whatever & thought that would be pretty great! Cooking was a long, slow journey for me & now I love to teach people how to setup their kitchen, how to cook (4 easy steps!), how to do meal-prep, how to use their Instant Pot, etc. Food has such a central role in our lives & learning how to create a wonderful place to operate as far as creating meals go makes all the difference in the world!

 

[Gardener]

Cooking is like house painting, it is all about the preparation. We generally cook for 2 nights for the economy of scale.