What happens when you don’t want to cook?

food
#41

Thank you, I am going to try this out. It would take the burden off for sure

#42

Oohh good idea, I never thought of precooking bacon!

#43

Oohh I didn’t know about “dump recipes! That’s exactly what I need. I found that most recipes wanted the sautéed onions and I was like “thought this was no fuss?”

(Full Metal KETO AF) #44

I really feel sorry for all you cooking haters. For me cooking is one of my greatest joys in life, creating in the kitchen is my art expression. I especially enjoy cooking to share with others. It’s a life skill that I believe is the easiest way to improve your life with good tasty nutritious life sustaining foods.

However, I do not always have the energy and have several things to fall back on. Basically what everyone else is doing here. Also I use sous vide, I don’t own a crock pot but sous vide is like a crock pot in a bag. Using it I only have to handle raw meats occasionally and so pre and after cleaning for raw meat handling is minimal. I buy large cuts or family sized packages of meat, portion and salt, and vacuum seal in packages and freeze. 4-6 chicken thighs, 1-2 loin chops, bags of large cubes of pork butt or chuck roast, individual steaks etc. I can decide what I want that day or the next day for extended cooking items like chuck roast. I just start the water bath, put the frozen bag into the bath and 1-24 hrs later it’s done and sealed in its own bag to be refrigerated for multiple meals or opened and used right away for beef steaks. Quick sear in the pan and you’re eating a perfect delicious steak cooked to spec. Steaming or blanching a veg is 5 minutes of work and wipe and rinse cleanup.

I have only eaten out 4 times since I started keto on September 1, 2018. And I am on vacation in Florida for a month now. I worked in restaurants all my life and I can tell you this, restaurant cooking is not healthy. They maximize profits by using cheap oils, starchy fillers pre-made frozen items and whatever will save money. It’s an incredibly tight food cost they try to stay within. You literally pay 3x to 5x what you could do better and healthier at home.

You can eat like a king or queen if you don’t spend money eating out and find your groove at home in your own kitchen.

(mole person) #45

When I started keto I was clueless of how to proceed, I had a version of that meal every day for months as I adapted to cooking such different foods. I never got tired of it and still have it for a regular meal at least once a week.

Mine was olives, sliced avocado, sliced fatty deli meats or salami, high fat cheeses, and hard boiled eggs all dressed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of cumin on the eggs.

(Amanda ) #46

I do a cold plate with salami, cheese or cottage cheese, & dill pickles or sliced Roma tomato with salt & pepper.

(Laurie) #47

That reminds me–when I ate salads, I cut the lettuce with scissors. I still use scissors in the kitchen. Indispensable for cutting up meat and other things (though not for slicing), and easier to clean than a cutting board.

As for precooked bacon, I buy my bacon precooked. It comes in a bag. You don’t get the benefit of all the bacon fat, and it might seem expensive, but that’s because the fat is cooked out. Protein-wise it is quite economical. Mostly I use it as a condiment, e.g., mixed with some microwaved scrambled egg, or sprinkled on top of something.

(Running from stupidity) #48

Yes, same.[1]

It’s a life skill that I believe is the easiest way to improve your life with good tasty nutritious life sustaining foods.

Dude, can I steal that for my quips rotation?

“Cooking - the simplest way to improve your life.” - David, 2019

I don’t own a crock pot but sous vide is like a crock pot in a bag.

I guess :slight_smile:

I have only eaten out 4 times since I started keto on September 1, 2018.

I’m at zero, but I’m me…

You can eat like a king or queen if you don’t spend money eating out and find your groove at home in your own kitchen.

So much this.

[1]Although I’ve really been overdoing it and getting obsessive, and that’s NOT good.

(Tina Emmons) #49

Make sure to check ingredients on the whole chicken. I was sad to find sugar on mine😕

(Full Metal KETO AF) #50

I second always reading the ingredients and nutritional values.

(Carl Keller) #51

I definitely did. Mine says it has 0 grams of sugar in it.

I made this mistake when I had some ham at a friend’s house. It had a glaze on the skin that I tried to wipe off but I could still taste sweetness when I ate it. It made my stomach complain a little a few hours later and I won’t eat that ham again if you paid me.

(Doug) #52

I like cooking but don’t always want to spend time doing it. I’ll just grab whatever’s handy and eat it. Hell, I might not even wash my hands.

(Running from stupidity) #53

You mean: “I work to improve my immunity.”

(Doug) #54

Testify and Represent - cheese makes a great hand-cleaner.

(Running from stupidity) #55

“Mmmmm. Sixty-four slices of American Cheese.”

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #56

@CloverQueen I surely sympathize. I love to cook, but only if it’s for more people than just me. When I lived alone, what worked for me was to buy frozen beef patties (the supermarket had them at a slightly lower price per pound than the fresh) and to Italian sausages and freeze them in individual portions (usually three per baggie). That way, I had something I could pop in the microwave and have ready in just a few minutes.

I know, I know, it’s not the greatest idea, because of browning, the resulting texture, etc. But it worked for me, and it kept my prep time to the bare minimum. I would also buy chicken thighs in a family pack on sale, and freeze them individually or two to a baggie, as well, but that was more work—because 15 chicken thighs don’t bag themselves, lol! Not only that, but chicken thighs just don’t microwave well. So they had to wait until I had the energy to put them in a frying pan and wait for 25 minutes, or whatever.

Lastly, let me mention a cut called a pork picnic. It’s a shoulder joint, usually available at a very low price per pound. It comes with bone in, usually, but you can still get about ten or twelve meals out of a three-pound picnic. Because it comes with the skin on, it’s self-basting, and the skin tastes good. You could cook one on Saturday and eat until the following weekend. I never got tired of it.