obviously what i need is a replicator. get on that, will you?

[the_siobhan]

Sometime in the past year - maybe longer - I just stopped doing food prep. Gave up cooking entirely. Threw it in the bin.

The benefit to my mental health has been enormous. People who like cooking, or even those who think of it as an inconvenient but manageable task probably won't be able to get what a big deal it is to just cut a major stressor out of my life like that. I'm talking about full-blown sobbing panic attacks in the kitchen.

My physical health, on the hand, has been a complete horror show.[1]

So. Back to the drawing board, I guess.[2]



[1]This post has been brought to you by the perfect storm of head cold, gout attack and some ambiguous intestinal distress that combined to make me a VERY VERY SAD PANDA for about three days.

[2]Because my friends are lovely and always want to help and I know there will be a flurry of suggestions in the comments, these are the things I have tried and that have failed for various reasons;

A pre-made food delivery service.

Doing all my cooking in advance and creating pre-packaged individual servings.

Trying to get Axel to cook. HAHAHAHAHA just no.

Comments

[jeliza]

My snowflake of suggestion, as someone who also hates cooking but has to do it a lot? We got a panini press/griddle combo thing (maybe $150?) Because sandwiches that are hot with little grill marks on them feel like real dinner, and you can get all the ingredients mostly prepped (pre-sliced bread and cheese, spreads like peanut butter or hummous, tortillas, etc.) And it's fast, and the cuisinart has good non-stick that cleans up quickly. Also, things like hot dogs, steak, chicken, burgers, etc cook twice as fast because the heat comes from both sides. (Cooking that takes less than 10 minutes is way more likely to happen on my dinner nights.)

[ihcoyc]

If you suffer from gout, raw vegetables are your best friend, and keeping down the amount of animal muscle tissue you eat can help. I'd buy bags of peeled and ready to eat celery and carrot sticks, prebagged salads, mushrooms, onions, and other things that can be eaten raw without preparation.

[greylock]

# Trying to get Axel to cook. HAHAHAHAHA just no.

This is the shit excuse my parents give for my step-father not cooking (he is retired, my mother works 6am to 3pm, and he used to - now and then - beat me for my failure to prep dinner): it's bullshit. Most people can cook, and if they can't they can prep. (N'offense to Axel. But I have family issues about the whole "I can't cook" thing, especially how limited my diet was until I hit 30ish).

Maybe it's just because I am an amazing, natural cook (I am one, not the other), cooking well, much less healthy is not fucking hard, and it's not rocket science.

I cook for me (she's a vegetarian and I am not) and with a smidge forethought I can do something "complex" like Singapore Noodles in 15 minutes.

Steaming veges (raw or frozen) in batches and microwaves are awesome ideas.

Doing all my cooking in advance and creating pre-packaged individual servings.

I did this for a few years. Dumb idea. For me, pre-packaging is bad, because it never works. Separate your meat/veges/rice/etc in tubs, and figure our the re-heating on the fly. The food is better.

Frankly, while there are times no-one can be bothered to cook, there really isn't an excuse to grab takeaway or have two-minute noodles, etc, when you have have a perfectly decent meal within 15 minutes, with or without commercial sauces and the like.

I have serious thoughts on this, since the number of times I have been cooked dinner in this house I can count on one hand. And I know how lazy I can get, but if the day comes I can't slap together a healthy meal in 15 minutes, I am sunk.

(I highly recommend a slow/pressure-cooker combo),

[greylock]

It strikes me, I glossed over something:
Meat/Substitute
1. Frozen Vege 1 (greens: peas)
2. Frozen Vege 2 (greens: beans)
5. Fresh vege 3 (potatoes, rice)
4. Fresh Vege 2 (carrots, corn)
3. Fresh Vege 1 (onions, green onions, garlic)
Fry, steam, whatever, as needed.
Spice.
Serve.

Magic.

I lived off a version (restricted) of this for 27 years.
Cook yourself a lazy curry/stew/hotpot of a Sunday and mix it up during the week with the above and you are sailing. No mess, no fuss, no brain. Seriously. I enjoy cooking, and I am excellent at it, but it wears me down tying to surprise myself, so a workmanlike routine with one complex dish is my go-too when I am over it.

[greylock]

It occurred me that this might be a *smidge* more grar than was needed.

It's been a bit of a bugbear (for my family, and for me when I'm locked in a cycle of "can't be fuckeditis"), and I have many arguments about it (sometimes with myself).