>>22015690 I see what ingredients I have then I can compile a list of dishes, then I make the dish, then I eat the dish. Then I slide into the abyss that is crippling depression knowing I won't ever have the opportunity to play catch with my son or have tea with my daughter and drink till I fall asleep. Then I wake up and do it again.
>>22015690 I don't. I just go to the store in the afternoon/evening and buy shit that sounds good. I could never handle having to commit to eating things on a schedule or having to get rid of stuff spoiling so I just eat some kind of slop.
>>22015690 I make a three week menu and once a week I make a list of everything I'll need for that week. Then I go shopping, and proceed to cook what's on the menu.
You reach cooking nirvana when you can just look at the random ingredients left in the fridge and pull a recipe out of thin air, no measurements, eyeball everything, just pure vibes, and it turns out half-decent. A combination that may have never existed before or since.
Don't overthink it. I had chicken last night so I pulled some ground beef out of the freezer this AM. I have some basil that's gonna go bad soon, plus I have some canned tomato and also tomatoes on the vine I ordered randomly. Ok so right there I came make a half-assed Bolognese sauce. So when I get home I brown the beef, throw the tomatoes in the same pot with the beef, spices, whatever I have on hand. Sometimes throw in stock if I have some, sometimes beans (makes it Italian chili in my book). Boil some pasta right before dinner, serve. Or, baked potato in the microwave with the sauce spooned over it open faced. It's less about making a signature dish, more about being creative and comfortable with what you have on hand and how much time you've got.
>>22015690 Combination of craving certain things, getting inspiration online seeing what other people cook, or just buying what's on sale/in season at the store and building meals around that.
If x = what I want to eat and a = what ingredients I have and c = how much I can afford to spend on food and e = food that will go to waste if I don't utilise it e + (c√a) / x = dinner
>>22015803 >>22015832 I mean I sometimes throw beans in random shit just to bulk it up so I get it, but I do have to say lentils would be a more appropriate pulse in bolognese if you want to add some volume to it. you add some red lentils to a tomato sauce, they break down and you can barely tell they're there. whatever floats your boat though.
>>22015690 >main >main leftovers for 3 days, during which you only do sides >sides last 2ish days' worth >you fast once in a while and/or have caloric deficit meal replacement (canned fish) >there's a Prepper Stock and Pickled Shit you go through a rotation of so as not to waste
>>22015690 I do personally whisper in this guy's >>22015880 ear when I have the time. He is not appreciative of my homemade fish finger recipe, in spite of it being species/cut-ambiguous, which makes me think he is a big baby, though. (No, I will not tell you. It goes on the tablet or not at all.)
>>22015832 >>22015881 Which parts of "whatever I have on hand" did you miss? When you start prescribing shit like "oh it should be lentils instead of beans" or "there's no reason to do this" you CAUSE questions like the OPs, because now there are a couple assholes saying he has to do things a specific way or else he's "wrong." Fuck off. Cooking is about being creative. Bending the rules. Experimenting. Add the fucking beans to the pasta.
>>22015987 yeah I mean I ended my post saying you can do whatever you want, I never said it was wrong to use beans. I just said lentils might be a bit more appropriate. and lentils are an item you can keep in bulk in the pantry so it's not like it's outlandish to have them on hand. anyway I get your point but chill dude.
>>22015690 i just make whatever i feel like or i have a big batch of stew, chili or soup to get through. sometimes i just make shit up like pouring some broth in rice and calling it a night.
>>22015706 NOICE! >>22015690 I pray to Hestia, the Hellenic god of cooking and because I truly love her in my heart and believe she like exists she answers my prayer and provides me with a recipe.
>>22015690 I cook the same 12-15 modular staples consistently with an experimental "new thing" to do every once in a while that I can work on and add to the "every now and then" bucket or give up on.
>>22017005 Chicken Ground Beef Pork Chops Eggs Cubed Steaks Steak Fish (White or Salmon) Rice Potatoes Beans Pasta Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Asparagus Mixed Salad
These can function as both ingredients and dishes themselves prepared various ways, but this core can basically keep you on rotation indefinitely. With various spice/sauce combinations you don't even have to be a good cook to make many different dishes. When knowing "what" to cook, after a time you'll know what flavor combinations you're in the mood for. Cooking for other people is where it gets complicated.
>>22015690 I pull out something from the freezer at lunch and make it for dinner once it's thawed. Me getting off from work at noon makes it easier, but the tradeoff of waking up at 4 and going to bed before it gets dark during the summer is a hard trade.
Most people make a recipe list for a the week and just pick stuff off of it until they have to go shopping again. I have a dinner masterlist document that I refer to when building my grocery list because it helps me remember. It's easy to get into a rut with cooking
>>22017708 Like I said as long as you're not rekting your kids it's ok, I don't mind that you rekt yourself. Also you might like to know you don't need to use regular hot sauce anymore there's a new product called Sriracha you'll love. Instead of a vinegary flavour you'll get SWEET. Another way to increase your sugar intake.
>>22017769 Are your kids fat already though? I’m just saying, low fat has been debunked. I’m not saying put your kids on a low carb diet, but don’t cut calories from fat cut them from carbs.
>>22017793 Ok, got another one for ya. Stop buying the bread you eat. Swap everything you use it for for Brioche, sandwiches, soup accompaniment, kebabs, you'll get so much SUGAR.
Oh I'm too pretentious? Got another kind of hack for you then, it's called maximum time saving. Tired from work? Do not worry. Open up some boxes of processes crap and shove it in your oven, when it comes out out your favourite sauces in it. Now that's some real cooking!
>>22017902 carbs aren't "bad", they are an essential macronutrient ane your bodies primary source of energy, but an overconsumption of them WILL make you a tubby fatboy like yourself, which is why i would never advise building meals around carbohydrates, especially not in america where most people eat way too many carbs. you build meals around protein.
>>22018201 You spazzed out assuming the meal was to be built around heavy carbs and not simply listed first. You aren't wrong about carbs role in diet but, if you had continued to read it would be pretty easy to understand the tortillas are not the focal point of their example meal.
>>22018214 >assuming the meal was to be built around heavy carbs and not simply listed first. you listed it first because it was the first thing you thought of, because it's always the first thing you think of, because you're fat.
>>22018218 Fellow anon with a bread/dough machine detected. I saved myself an absolute fortune baking my own pizzas, even long before the costs of everything skyrocketed.
>>22015690 I'm almost always thinking about food. I think of a bunch of different meals that sounds good, and then pick the one that is usually the most "bang for my buck" in terms of effort and money.
