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

[Sasset]

Usually I make things that can provide leftovers once or twice a week, so that takes about an hour each time. The rest of the week takes little time.

Currently I am only buying fresh food for salads and sandwiches while using up want I have in the freezer and pantry as I am planning to move in the next month or so. This does make for some strange combinations for some meals.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We try to cook more from scratch now that we have more time. I usually make a big batch of food at one time then mix and match meals after that for a few days. Usually I'll make up a soup, cut up fruit, steam or stir fry assorted veggies, prepare a green salad, cook beans in the crock pot and make up quinoa, pasta or or rice. DH will cook up eggs, fish or some kind of meat.

Last night we had a cold pasta tuna salad with cut up veggies, watermelon, blueberries and a soup with chicken stock and whatever random ingredients were on hand at the time - split pea, barley, chicken, celery, yams, onions and carrots. At home we often eat soup, salads and stir fries and usually go out or get carry out a couple of times a week. We try to stick to a Mediterranean type diet most of the time.

 

[braumeister]

We almost always have leftovers available, but they never go in the freezer -- they get consumed soon enough there's no reason to freeze them.

 

[Scuba]

DH & I enjoy food - shopping for it, going out for it, and cooking fresh meals at home. We live in an urban area and typically go to a grocery store at least 3 times a week for something fresh.

We keep breakfast simple, usually Weight Watchers protein shakes or an egg or omelette for an occasional treat. Lunch is often a sandwich for DH & salad with protein for me. We eat lunch or dinner out 4-6 times/week. When we eat out, we prefer restaurants with atmosphere where we can savor our meal and enjoy the view or live music. We will typically order only one course at a time. Too often we've found ourselves still eating our appetizer when the entrees come out so now we don't even order our entrees until the appetizer has been finished.

Not unusual for us to spend 3 hours or more in a day on food between shopping, cooking, cleaning up and/or eating out. We consider this time well spent as food is one of our major interests!