Time...

[romily]

When do you guys get home from work usually?

And how do you find the time to cook all these lovely but time consuming meals I read on this board?

The earliest I get home is 6pm, but when I go to the gym it's 7;30-8pm - I'm wiped either way. Especially with food that needs some time, who do you fit it into your routines?

[sprite]

i use all the time i should be working at home for cooking.
i'm being more strict on myself this week, which is killing me as i have a mexican hotpot recipe i really really want to try.

otherwise, i do two or three things all in one go while watching murder mysteries on a sunday afternoon.

[romily]

Yep, I cook a lot at weekends, but it sounds as if some posters cook from scratch every day, and I wonder how they manage that time wise!

[sprite]

maybe they lie, like how on fb everyone pretends their life is wonderful?

[romily]

It was the meal planning thread that inspired this - some of the dishes sounded rather time consuming. But maybe they are not in real life, maybe stiff can be preprepared, maybe people who share their life with somebody take turns, maybe people get home earlier, or eat later... I was just wondering!

I like these rice sachets as well but the green person in me doesn't allow myself to use them as they produce so much plastic waste (or only in emergencies!).

[mei]

the time I get home depends a bit - can be anywhere between 6 or 8 depending on what I have on that day. though today (7:15) feels pretty regular. even if i'm home earlier, I usually only eat between 7:30-8:30.

I do cook myself most days, but it doesn't feel that time-consuming. I chose relatively easy meals (risotto takes time, but it's not hard or 'labour intensive' to cook) to make, but yes - from scratch mostly. I guess I spend about 20-30 minutes in the kitchen - and that's usually time to unwind from the day as well (like today).

on the weekends I sometimes spend an afternoon to cook soup, salad for work lunch and sometimes a more timeconsuming thing for dinner.

[lillielangtry]

Currently, if I leave the office on time I'm home at 12 ;-) (I work 5.30-11.30) So yeah, I have time to cook myself a fresh meal, it's not always a really time-consuming one though. Often it's just using up what's in the fridge.

[Raised_By_Wolves]

at weekends i make things that need slow, long simmering. i come home completely destroyed, on the sofa with a beer after giving the creature instructions how things should be cooked. every little detail. i'm very particular. (not only that, i can see and hear through the wall!)

when i do the cooking... everyone get the f!@#$ out of the kitchen!

however, i much prefer to photograph the food and beer than do the cooking.

[romily]

I think my issue is that I really hate eating after 7pm = so when I get home at 7:30pm I need to eat right away. If I eat after 8pm I sleep really badly - plus I am starving at 6pm! So normally I eat about 6:30pm...

[Deleted]

I get back home anywhere between 18-20 each evening. If I cook myself, it takes about 20-30 min to make something from scratch and it's a way to unwind for me. Also, I got used to eat late. Lunch is usually around 13 and a snack at 16. In bed by 23 or 24 so enough time to digest the food.

[Tulipana]

When I was still working in an office I'd be home at 19.00/19.30 and wouldn't eat sooner than 20.00 mostly. During the week, even now that I work from home, we cook simple but nice tasting food during the week (chili con carne, nasi goreng, pasta with salmon etc). These meals consist of 3-4 main ingredients and they're done quite quickly. Like Mei I like winding down in the kitchen, some dishes may take time but they're not hard.

On weekends we take our time. Maybe try some new recipes etc.

[romily]

Sounds like I go to bed earlier:) It's all about habit though, I'm just used toe eating earlier and don't feel right when I go to bed then, which is usually at about 10pm - even with some added reading time in bed if I eat at 8pm I still fell bloated and full.

Oh, and I just thought of another reason - I don't have a dishwasher. So I am quite happy to cook big batches of food in big pots once, instead of having pots to wash up by hand every night! Plus I find it totally impossible to cook only one portion of anything, besides fish - and even then I usually have too many of the side dishes.

[vinnyd]

When I was working I used to make a big stew/curry/chili thing on the weekend and eat that for a few days running. Might interrupt the sequence with an omelet or pasta one night.

[Deleted]

Like Vinny said.

Batch cook at the weekends - don't you already do that? Then, during the week eat a portion from the freezer and break it up with some quick easy recipes (all less than 30mins from fridge-table) -

Pasta with puttanesca sauce

Courgette fritatta with easy salsa

Coconut dahl with naan

Prawn balti

Griddled salmon with sweet potato mash and steamed fine, green beans

Recipes if you'd like.

[tucano]

Could you post the recipe for the courgette fritata Surfy?

[Liiisa]

I try to get home by 6:30 because we don't like eating late either.

In addition to the strategy of cooking time-consuming things on the weekend, I'll start a dish for the following night while we're cooking and eating dinner - like roasted vegetables, a pot of brown rice, etc. If there aren't leftovers like that to reheat, then dinner might be baked trout with steamed vegetables and couscous - that only takes 10 minutes. Or a big salad with some protein like premade hummus and cheese and walnuts and bread, which only takes 5 minutes!

Finally, I generally dislike prepared foods, but we always have a couple things like a jar of tomato sauce, frozen meatballs, boil-in-a-bag dahl etc in case things run late.

[Deleted]

Here Tuc -

What goes in it -

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and sliced

3 courgettes (preferably with flowers), sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

6 eggs, beaten

50g parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

For the salsa:

4 ripe tomatoes, diced

50g pitted olives, cut in half

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

Pinch of dried chilli flakes

Small bunch of basil leaves, torn

What to do with it all -

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion and peppers. Cook for 2 minutes before adding the courgettes. Cook for 3–4 minutes until starting to brown.

Season the eggs with black pepper, then pour into the frying pan. Use a spatula to move them around until they start to set on the bottom and around the sides.

Grate a little parmesan over the frittata, then carefully slide it out onto a board or saucepan lid.Place the frying pan on top and flip it over so that you can cook the other side for 2 minutes.

Grate a little more parmesan over the top.

To make the salsa, put the tomatoes, olives, oil and lemon juice in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, then add the chilli flakes. Set aside for 10 minutes, then add the basil.

Slide the cooked frittata onto a plate and serve with the salsa on top

It's delish and easily adaptable. Sometimes I do it with just peppers and the other day I added some (veggie) chorizo too.

[lizby1]

Curry or stir fry is quick enough to prepare in the evening I think.
I get home at 5.30, I dump bags, prepare something like chicken enchiladas in half an hour, put in oven for half an hour, eat at 6.30pm.
I make stews and chilli in the slow cooker in the morning cheat quite a lot withready chopped frozen onion or dried onion, jars of chopped garlic etc (don't tell my French friends!). A meat chilli will only involve chopping pepper and carrot to go with onion, sprinkle in spices,open cans of tomato and beans, I add frozen sweetcorn to mine.... So I suppose its all about having the ingredients to hand/prepared.
I do spend at least half an hour in the morning preparing dinner most days and more if I am doing everyone's lunches. My sister chops up all the salady type veg she uses for the week and puts in a tub in the fridge.
Every now and then I get fed up with all the preparation and we have oven chips and sausages!

[Deleted]

Dec 1, 2013 9:45:41 GMT -5 lizby1 said:

Curry or stir fry is quick enough to prepare in the evening I think.
I get home at 5.30, I dump bags, prepare something like chicken enchiladas in half an hour, put in oven for half an hour, eat at 6.30pm.
I make stews and chilli in the slow cooker in the morning cheat quite a lot withready chopped frozen onion or dried onion, jars of chopped garlic etc (don't tell my French friends!). A meat chilli will only involve chopping pepper and carrot to go with onion, sprinkle in spices,open cans of tomato and beans, I add frozen sweetcorn to mine.... So I suppose its all about having the ingredients to hand/prepared.
I do spend at least half an hour in the morning preparing dinner most days and more if I am doing everyone's lunches. My sister chops up all the salady type veg she uses for the week and puts in a tub in the fridge.
Every now and then I get fed up with all the preparation and we have oven chips and sausages!

Yay, I love oven dinner nights!

[romily]

I'm fine with my routine - I was just interested how others manage their time cooking wise, as I woudl find it tricky to cook from scratch every day. I batch cook and reheat a lot, and have a few quick meals for midweek as well.

For me the "hindrance" is more than once I cook I always have leftovers - it's really hard (and seems a waste of the work) to cook one portion only. Most food is good preheated though, but that saves me having to cook daily! the only things I can think of I really only make one portion of is fish (one fillet) with sides or steak. Stews, pasta sauces, enchiladas and so on...all done en masse.

Its also really difficult if you would want to cook for one and not throw food out - tortilla wraps come in 6 packs - so unless you can freeze the 4 you don't need they go hard. Veggies is another one of my hates - I would love to be able to buy more loose veggies so I can portion them up but that's not available all year round. And with stuff like broccoli - I don't eat a whole head of broccoli, nor will i use a prepacked portion of beans (they are not always available loose) in one meal. So it take s a lot of planning meals around if I don't want to waste stuff...

[Deleted]

It does and it is annoying. Trust me, it doesn't make any difference if you're single, in a couple or with a small family as I still struggle with that!

The wraps is a good example of what I do though, I make lunches out of the left overs. Tuna and avocado etc.

[Tulipana]

When I lived alone I would also cook for 2 nights in a row. I would do that twice and on Friday I would treat myself to something easy, like pizza or some soup and a great dessert. It was cheaper this way and it was great to not have to put in all the work 2 nights in a row. I would come home from work at 7:30 and would just be happy I only had to heat up some sauce and cook some pasta.

[mei]

Dec 2, 2013 5:21:51 GMT -5 romily said:

Its also really difficult if you would want to cook for one and not throw food out

agreed. this is why i've started to (try to) plan my meals better. it's slowly working. it means that if I have some leftover cream, for example, after one meal I'll find a recipe that uses up the rest the next night using another vegetable i have in my fridge. and I sometimes cook for two nights.

I also use my sunday afternoons to cook up whatever i expect to have leftover by the time my next batch of veggies comes in on Wednesday. so yesterday i made a cauliflower salad which was today's (and tomorrow's) lunch and made muesli/carrot muffins which are a good snack during the day and freeze well.

it's difficult, takes time to plan meals, and leaves little room for spontaneous dinners out with friends or colleagues. but i'm slowly throwing away less... (and spending less money, and eating more organic/local food - which is balancing out the moneysaving aspect actually!)

[veronicainsocks]

i am home at 3 30.

sometimes i do grocery shopping. sometimes i cook, sometimes we go out.