How often do you cook?

[MsBelleRae]

We cook once or twice a week. The rest of the time we eat toaster, microwave, or raw foods. Or we hit up a deli or go out for food. I just keep thinking there has to be a better way to do this.

So, kitchen gurus, how do you do it? What's a typical week of meals look like for you? How often do you cook? What are your go-to meals?

[sophie]

I love to cook.. but I also love to eat out.. it's a tough balancing act! I also seldom plan.. I throw stuff together depending on what is in the fridge, freezer, garden, cupboard.. and who is here to eat with us. When it is just me and the guy, we are getting into a pattern that we cook enough for 2 meals, and we either have leftovers the next day or we freeze it for a busy day. For example, today, for supper, he came home first and threw a squash in the oven to roast. I came home, chopped and sauted a bunch of veggies (no measuring involved): onions, celery, pepper, garlic. I added a bit of Thai red chili paste, some broth, then water and the roasted squash.. it simmered while we watched the news, and then added some coconut milk and fresh cilantro.. dinner! If we had wanted some bread type stuff, I could have cooked some popperdums.. I should add that I eat anything, and my guy is a fussy pescarian.

[poppy]

I cook maybe once a week - the rest of the time my husband does the cooking. he loves food and loves cooking.

[HalcyonDaze]

Pretty much every day. I do try to do some bulk cooking so I can pull stuff out of the freezer, but it never seems to work out (we eat it all first go, or eat it the next day, or LC gets it as leftovers for his dinner the next night)

Maybe once every 10 days or so is takeaway.

Though in this hot weather 'cook' is a bit of a misnomer - tonight was super thin steaks that take about a minute to cook and I mandolined the shit out of fennel, granny smith apple and carrot for a salad.

[Deleted]

I live in bumfcknowhere so eating out is not an option (unless we pay over 30$ for deep fried/ highly processed/ out of the freezer shit at the pub)

I probably cook 5 nights a week and then twice a week we eat either at a mate's farm or we have something boring like a pie and chips.

Last night a mate and I had a chicken pasta bake, just cooked chicken, vege and pasta... add some sauce and cheese stick in the oven in a casserole dish.

Otherwise we have curries, stir fries, BBQ w/ salad, risotto, grilled fish/ prawns whatever

i love cooking and baking

[HalcyonDaze]

Oh, I also forgot the easy 'pick up a BBQ chook' option - though I still often end up cooking that way and turn it into a chicken pasta bake, or a chicken and leek risotto, or chicken pies etc, etc etc

[Liiisa]

Jan 11, 2013 5:18:00 GMT -5 HalcyonDaze said:

I mandolined the shit out of fennel, granny smith apple and carrot for a salad.

Mmm, that sounds wonderful.
We pretty much cook every night unless we have plans to go out with friends or decide randomly to go out. We don't cook complicated things, it's kind of predictable sometimes, but we get reslly good veggies and meats and cheese and such so it's simple food that tastes good.

I don't see the logic in getting carry-out - if you want to wait that long and pay that much to eat, just go sit in the restaurant. If we're feeling lazy then we go the rotisserie chicken route or boil up some frozen ravioli and dump steamed zucchini and olive oil on it.

[romily]

I cook about twice a week - but eat homecooked food nearly every day 9with the odd take out twice a month). I live on my own so when I make a pot of spagetti sauce, or chili, or some kind of curry/stew whatnot, I make a huge pot and freeze about 4 portions. So on most days after work I just have something defrosted ready to go, and might make fresh rice/ pasta with it (not really cooking). Or I defrost some yummy fish sauce and have it with some fish I just cooked in the oven together with the veggies - it has to be quick during the week for me.

Last week I for example had: Mo - Chili con Carne, Tue - pasta with cheesy sauce and fresh peas, Wed - Risotto, Thu - bean and beef stew - Fri - Salmon with lime sauce and oven roasted courgette. All these took between 5 and 10 minutes to cook/reheat. Saturday I made some Fahitas and froze 2 portions of filling, and Sunday I cooked a pot of beef stroganoff (well, similar to that, our family recipe is different) and froze 4 portions.

I know, it sounds really organised, but you quickly get used to it, it's yummy, healthy food I like and saves lots of money.

Oh, and around here takout is much cheaper then having a sit down meal - my favourite chinese dish is £3.99, plus £1.5 for the rice if I don't have some at home.

[Webs]

If I wasn't so tired I'd cook more. I used to cook almost every night.

Now, if it's an egg fry up, it's too much effort.

[tinaja]

I cook almost nightly if I'm in a healthy eating phase. To me, its nothing to throw a potato in the oven, get that baking and maybe grill a meat & steam a green veg. I'm starting to wonder if I even want the meat anymore. Last night's chicken was the least favorite part. I eat out for special occasions. Then when I'm being terrible I'm into frozen pizza and fast food. I really want that part of my life to go away.

[Liiisa]

Jan 11, 2013 9:22:39 GMT -5 romily said:

Oh, and around here takout is much cheaper then having a sit down meal - my favourite chinese dish is £3.99, plus £1.5 for the rice if I don't have some at home.

Ah, of course I forgot about places that are exclusively takeaway. The Dragon City Chinese down the street is like that but is the kind of place that has both Chinese food and subs, which I generally take as a bad sign....

[romily]

Oh, my chinese is lovely - probably not too healthy, but tastes amazing. I could die for their tea roasted shredded duck alone, and the chilli beef sezchuan style...drool.

But yes, the quality varies, same with fish and chip shops.

[psw]

Mr.W and I alternate making dinner and cleaning up. So we each cook a couple of times a week. There are a couple of places he goes to regularly that have good take-out on his way home, so that works out well. We also enjoy eating out. We try to go to a lot of concerts, etc., and the usual plan is to eat before the show near the venue.

There's a supermarket nearby that has excellent rotisserie chicken. One of those is two dinners' worth, and making up a green veg and a starch isn't much work. I purposely never learned to bake, or I'd just eat it all, so desserts are all boughten (does anyone use that word anymore?).

We used to go out for dinner quite frequently with another couple, but she now has one of those intestinal diseases that severely restrict her diet. So we are looking for other dinner-friends. We like to go to restaurants such as Chinese and Indian where sharing is the custom, so four is better than two at the table. I make a few such dishes at home as well, but one at a time.

Frankly after over fifty years of putting dinner on the table I'm tired of cooking, except occasionally the fit comes upon me to make something special.

[MsU]

Does microwave count?

[Deleted]

Jan 11, 2013 11:04:50 GMT -5 MsU said:

Does microwave count?

No

But you are a great dining companion so I will forgive you

[MsBelleRae]

haha, MsU, we are cut from the same cloth ;]

I was thinking it would be reasonable if Flash and I both make dinner twice a week. We always have leftovers (no idea how to cook for 1 or 2 people). We just both work so damn much, and I'm starving by 4ish during the week (up at 5:30/6am); whereas, he's good if we eat at 8pm. My schedule is different this semester, so maybe that'll help.

What are your go-to seasonings- and what do you use with what? I recently made spaghetti with cumin. Fucking awful. I have no idea what I'm doing.. at least I'm cooking now, though!

[elora]

when we eat at home - husband cooks about 80% of the time and i order take-out the other 20% (just kidding - takeout 12%, actually prepare something 8%) (notice i don't say cook)
Probably eat out once a week

[travellingtrixie]

We cook pretty much every night. We both like to cook and The Reporter is a very good cook. He finds it relaxing after a long day. The restaurants here are mostly mediocre and expensive so we've found going out just isn't worth it. We do go to one of the brew pubs every once in a while, but even that wears thin.

[stav]

I virtually never eat out or get takeout, and I never eat prepared/microwave meals, but I rarely "cook" as I'd define it. Way too much effort, dish-washing and and boredom when you live alone. I just make salad, or boil or bake some frozen vegetables, or have some fruit or yogurt or rice cakes with cheese. (ETA, which I'm trying to cut out b/c the last thing my fat ass needs is more cheese!)

[MsBelleRae]

Mmmmm.. cheese! I would die without diary. I'm quite certain my whole body would just give up and shut down. My doc won't confirm that, but what does she know..

I'm a good food preparer- yogurt, fruit, almonds, cereal, toast, boiled eggs, raw veggies.. We cook mostly pasta and chili in the slow cooker. My grandma buys a bag of sweet potatoes, boils em up, and then reheats them all week long. I've got to try that. They're soooo yummy and good for you.

My problem is always the protein. In the summer we grill out a few days a week, but it's a mess to do that in the summer. Maybe we should try our hands at broiling.. nothing better than a broiled chicken breast or steak with a salad.

[mei]

I usually cook about 4/5 nights or so, with other nights out to dinner and eating at friends' places.

I have a weekly veggie box which really helps in deciding what to cook, to make an effort, and to not go out a lot more than I do.