How much time do you spend in preparing or getting your meals each day?

[Bamaman]

We seldom eat out more than 1x per week. We often cook using a crock pot. Otherwise, we cook most meals on the gas grill--24/7/365.

When we do cook, no longer than 45 minutes is usually spent. We take short cuts using the microwave. Our diets are not fancy--southern cooking that's close to healthy soul food

 

[braumeister]

Besides the frequently awesome results for a first meal, a fantastic side effect of doing your own barbeque is the leftovers.

For just the two of us, a nice pork butt or brisket provides a lot of meals down the road. Even smaller cooks give this benefit, as a whole chicken gives at least 4 or 5 meals.

I've been doing the majority of my cooking on the Big Green Egg for at least six years now, and I still keep finding new ways to use it.

Another good idea was becoming a certified barbeque judge. When I go to BBQ competitions I have the chance to chat with many of the competitors and I've learned so much from those conversations.

Now if only there were a way to combine my BBQ judging with my beer judging ...

 

[NW-Bound]

... it's something I look forward to as a relaxing and creative and deliciously rewarding daily project.

... It's not time consuming. It's an enjoyable activity.

We both enjoy cooking. We like different dishes, so sometimes we both cook.

Sadly, I do not eat that much anymore although I have improved my repertoire. Want to keep my girly figure, ya know?

So, I often invite my children, or host a family party where we provide most of the food so that I can cook more. Crazy?

 

[Red Badger]

Besides the frequently awesome results for a first meal, a fantastic side effect of doing your own barbeque is the leftovers.

For just the two of us, a nice pork butt or brisket provides a lot of meals down the road. Even smaller cooks give this benefit, as a whole chicken gives at least 4 or 5 meals.

I've been doing the majority of my cooking on the Big Green Egg for at least six years now, and I still keep finding new ways to use it.

Another good idea was becoming a certified barbeque judge. When I go to BBQ competitions I have the chance to chat with many of the competitors and I've learned so much from those conversations.

Now if only there were a way to combine my BBQ judging with my beer judging ...

Easy peasy - BBQ with beer sauce (I'm from the Charlotte region, so don't even get me started on vinegar vs tomato sauce).

Forum PSA here: BBQ is not a verb - that might be a chautauqua or a picnic, etc; Nor is it an appliance, such as a grill or a smoker; it is a food (bordering on a religion) prepared for hours (often 18 or even longer) over low heat (using a smoker or even a grill) and lovingly served to family or friends (often at a picnic or a chautauqua). This concludes today's lesson on southern living!

 

[zinger1457]

I've tried Hellofresh a few times with their discount offer. Thought the meals were usually very good and easy to make. In most cases they use easy to find ingredients so if you find a recipe you really like it's easy enough to do it on your own next time and save $. I thought the serving sizes were adequate, some may find it is less then what they are use to.

 

[zinger1457]

$10 a meal per person from Blue Apron? Can't you eat out for less and bring home leftovers? How about Chinese or Thai take-out for less? Even sushi is less where I live.

Depends if you're goal is getting quantity or quality for $. Haven't tried Blue Apron but it looks similar to Hellofresh. Their focus is on healthy meals using quality ingredients. No question you can make quality and healthy meals on your own for cheaper than what these services offer but some with busy schedules may find it easier to have everything packaged together for them.

 

[MRG]

I cook. We probably eat out once a week, mostly lunch.

Breakfast is steel cut Oatmeal with fresh fruit half time. I cook 4 servings at a time in the pressure cooker so the second breakfast is only a few minutes. The other days are bacon and eggs.

Lunch is leftovers or (mainly) a pack of salmon, salad style. Many switch to tuna once a week. We generally have lunch out once a week.

We both contribute to the planning of dinner, I cook, she cleans. I like to get a couple of meals from cooking. This week I made beef stew(pressure cooker), last night Salman and asparagus, Tonight is burger and salad. The beef stew was three meals, burger for two.

 

[Walt34]

No question you can make quality and healthy meals on your own for cheaper than what these services offer but some with busy schedules may find it easier to have everything packaged together for them.

That fits one of DW's nieces to a "T". Married with two kids and a job with sometimes long hours both her and her hubby have six-figure incomes so she does sometimes buy those prepared meals. It is well within their budget.

 

[athena53]

Never really thought about it timewise....before now, that is. Minimal time, I guess. What we do like to do is whip up (basically) one pot meals, stews, chilies, vegetable burritos, and the like, and then eat them until they're gone, (not all at the same meal).

We're not foodies, and luckily neither of us balks at eating the same as yesterday dinners.

Same here- breakfast is just stuff I grab out of the cupboards (coffee, banana, toast, etc.) Lunch and dinner might take 15-30 minutes depending on what I'm making- less if it's leftovers. I got tired of my routine and am using more lentils, bulghur, quinoa, etc. and different mixes of spices. I enjoy cooking but I lack imagination, so now I find recipes on the Internet.

Restaurant spending has almost doubled since DH died but that's because I attend more gatherings of church friends and a group of long-term employees at a former employer. I don't have DH at home so I need the extra interaction with humans. I still have the vast majority of my meals at home and like it that way.

 

[devans0]

We try to keep 'kit' ingredients around and make our own. Frozen or fresh in-season vegetables, a protein and a carb, then mix and match. Grill on the stove top and voila.

We have trouble eating out, or eating processed foods. So much is heavily salted. It tastes like I poured a spoonful of salt before each bite. We have bought restaurant food and mixed with home ingredients to dilute the saltiness. I don't work in heat any more and don't need electrolytes in the quantities I did when working.

Our food costs are cheap. $100-120 /week for groceries with soap, garbage bags etc included.

 

[Idnar7]

Sorry to steal the thread, but do others get sick of leftovers? We save stuff and usually end up just throwing it away to make room in the freezer for more stuff. To me I can't stand leftover pasta. I like things like chili but the leftovers aren't the same. Right now the only thing I think we can save is spaghetti sauce. Hate to make a big meal knowing you will end up throwing it away in the future. There are only two of us and two freezers are always overstuffed. Trying to convince wife we need to cook a meal and not save the leftovers. I worked with someone who always threw what wasn't eaten.

 

[scrabbler1]

For most meals, I spend 6-7 minutes preparing and heating up (nuking) my food. Breakfast is either cold cereal or cooks-in-1-minute oatmeal. Lunch is nuked food already cooked, or I go out for pizza once every 2 or 3 weeks. Dinner is nuked food already cooked except for the twice-a-week times I cook food from scratch and reheat leftovers for dinners on lunches over the following few days. When I do cook food from scratch, it takes as short as 30-45 minutes and as long as 2 hours.


My ladyfriend cooks for me once a week and I get leftovers from her most of the time which I also reheat. She makes breakfast for me when I at her place, the same as what I make at home except once in a while she makes me pancakes.

 

[Fedup]

Sorry to steal the thread, but do others get sick of leftovers? We save stuff and usually end up just throwing it away to make room in the freezer for more stuff. To me I can't stand leftover pasta. I like things like chili but the leftovers aren't the same. Right now the only thing I think we can save is spaghetti sauce. Hate to make a big meal knowing you will end up throwing it away in the future. There are only two of us and two freezers are always overstuffed. Trying to convince wife we need to cook a meal and not save the leftovers. I worked with someone who always threw what wasn't eaten.

I never freeze pasta. They are awful. I freeze beef stew, lamb curry, spaghetti sauce, ribs, or any variation of red meat stew but never pasta. No fish of any kind either. No chicken. Those dishes don't thaw as well. I make them fresh.
Edit to add they are not leftovers but rather intentionally cook ahead meals. Stew takes time to cook.

 

[athena53]

Sorry to steal the thread, but do others get sick of leftovers? We save stuff and usually end up just throwing it away to make room in the freezer for more stuff.

Nope. I waste very little. I don't get tired of leftovers before I use them up, and sometimes I'll deliberately make one serving of something if I don't want leftovers even if I could make twice the amount in the same time.

 

[Nemo2]

Nope. I waste very little. I don't get tired of leftovers before I use them up, and sometimes I'll deliberately make one serving of something if I don't want leftovers even if I could make twice the amount in the same time.

We eat leftovers for dinners or lunches until it's gone.

 

[mpeirce]

Sorry to steal the thread, but do others get sick of leftovers? We save stuff and usually end up just throwing it away to make room in the freezer for more stuff. To me I can't stand leftover pasta. I like things like chili but the leftovers aren't the same. Right now the only thing I think we can save is spaghetti sauce. Hate to make a big meal knowing you will end up throwing it away in the future. There are only two of us and two freezers are always overstuffed.

I LOVE leftovers for lunch. DW will often eat half a steak and save the other half for my lunch the next day. Left over chicken isn't bad either.

DW grilled up a leg of lamb last week. Great dinner the first night. Had two lunches from the leftovers. Finally, what was left (a lot) went into a wonderful lamb curry for dinner later in the week.

 

[Marita40]

I live alone and like leftovers. I try hard not to waste food and am usually successful except for bagged salad which I often buy too ambitiously and sometimes veggies that go bad too quickly. When I cook once a week or so I always make lots of servings, like a big pot of chili, and portion half of it into tupperware to stock the freezer. So I always have a variety of meals to pull out and reheat. Since I work and come home 5 days a week tired and sometimes crabby (hangry), I dearly love to have something homemade, healthy, but quick at hand. If I make something like stir fry--takes all of 10 minutes--the left overs are lunch next day.

 

[zinger1457]

To me some homemade leftovers like stews and soups taste better when re-heated, I never throw anything out unless it's gone bad.

 

[brewer12345]

Most everything we eat is from scratch. I grind my own flour, nixtamalize my own corn for posole/masa, brew my own beer, etc. Breakfast is usually cereal or homemade granola (or eggs). Lunch is mainly leftovers or something quick. Dinner is a menu during the school week that I make up on Sunday. This week is:


Monday: Pasta with homemade sauce, steamed romanesco and grilled sausage
Tuesday: Tequila chicken with grilled corn, stuffed mushroom and bell peppers
Wednesday: Taco night with homemade refries, ancho chiles freshly roasted, etc.
Thursday: eating out (DW is at some silly awards dinner so the kids and I will go out, probably to a local Native American place)
Friday: Grill or BBQ, either chicken or a selection of burgers


Weekends we alternate Sundays dinner at my place or my sister's. Saturdays can be simple or elaborate depending on what else we have going on. I generally bake bread once a week, and sometimes I will decide to do something fancier like a duck breast for lunch when I am not busy.

 

[ohyes]

While I so enjoy cooking, DH and dine out for at least 50% of our meals; this has only been since his retirement, semi-retirement for me. We love getting out among folks having fun and looking, for the most part, happy with the experience. It is almost always for dinner, once a week for breakfast and for lunch only when we are with other family members or friends.

Yes, tooo much sodium.

I still work two days a week. Those nights are always definite dining-out nights. (Hey, I earned it.)

 

[scrabbler1]

Sorry to steal the thread, but do others get sick of leftovers? We save stuff and usually end up just throwing it away to make room in the freezer for more stuff. To me I can't stand leftover pasta. I like things like chili but the leftovers aren't the same. Right now the only thing I think we can save is spaghetti sauce. Hate to make a big meal knowing you will end up throwing it away in the future. There are only two of us and two freezers are always overstuffed. Trying to convince wife we need to cook a meal and not save the leftovers. I worked with someone who always threw what wasn't eaten.

I don't eat a large variety of foods, so eating the same thing for lunch or dinner a few days in a row doesn't faze me. I do seek to not eat the same thing for lunch and dinner in the same day although the side dish may be the same.

 

[audreyh1]

Several hours a day, from min two, to three or four most days and sometimes six. We pretty much eat at home unless we are traveling.

All meals are prepared from scratch.

 

[Meadbh]

I enjoy the process of cooking and just love that ER makes it easy to find the time. I like to make omelettes or smoothies for breakfast. It's a great way to use fruits or vegetables past their prime. I often eat leftovers for lunch, and may mix and match with new ingredients. So, for example, if I have leftover asparagus, or chicken, I will cook some quinoa, adding my leftovers to steam, tossing in some dried fruit, adding some herbs (cilantro is a favourite) and spices, maybe some fish sauce, for a completely new dish! Delicious and healthy! At least once a week, I will try a new dish for dinner. I get great ideas from my favourite cooking vloggers. This takes time, but it's fun, and I usually get several meals out of it. I don't do anything too complicated. I like to bake my own bread and have advanced from quick breads to yeast breads. I do have failures, but my technique is improving, and sometimes I am blown away by just how good it is.

Since I became a better cook, I have become much more discerning about restaurant food. I no longer order dishes that I make at home, because I am often disappointed.

So the time I spend on cooking varies from day to day. If I am trying something new I may spend a couple of hours. Other days, probably half an hour.

It's the cleanup that I don't enjoy!

 

[LeaveVT]

We almost always eat in. Except when traveling - obviously.

Why "obviously"? When we travel on vacation and even for many of my business trips I/we either stay in timeshares with a full or at least limited kitchen, or if we have to stay in hotels it's an Extended Stay type with some type of kitchen. We generally cook in at least one meal a day, sometimes two, and love going to a local market to get different ingredients than at home. But we like to support local restaurants too.

At home we only go out for lunch on weekends - no other restaurant or takeout meals. DH w*rks from home and does most of the cooking, always from scratch. We have never even owned a microwave.

Note that we're not FIREd yet, but I don't think this pattern will change much.

 

[Sasset]

Breakfast can be leftovers, oatmeal, or some kind of eggs, so not much time. Lunch is left overs, salad, or sandwich. Again not much time.. Dinner is leftovers or cook from scratch to create leftovers. You can see I like leftovers. I usually freeze them in portions, so that I have a variety of items to pull from the freezer to use them.

I use the weekly specials at the store to determine what I buy.