QotD

[msconduct]

23. Do you like leftovers?

Like leftovers? I rely on leftovers. I only want to eat non-ultra-processed cooked from scratch meals, because they are le tasty as well as being le healthy, but do I enjoy the cooking or the time it takes out of my day? I do not.

So when I meal plan, I include three recipes that feed four and we eat them for two days. And I love that second day when I just get the whatever out of the fridge. Sheer bliss and I'm always so grateful to past me for feeding present me today.

It also clears the weekend of cooking, an extra treat, as Saturday is always a "second day" day and on Sunday we always have my sourdough with a speciality cheese (cheeeeeeeese) and depending on the season either a soup or a salad I've already made.

One thing I've learned from doing things this way:

I've seen a lot of stuff about meal prepping where they make you freeze the portions you don't eat on the day. This may be useful if you have unpredictable dinners with family members not necessarily all there at any given meal, but I don't have that problem and it doesn't work for me.

First of all, in my opinion things with vegetables in (and we eat a lot of vegetables) rarely freeze well unless they're something like a blended soup. One meal with previously frozen carrot coins that came out like slugs was enough for me.

And also, there's so much extra faffing required with freezing, what with the putting into containers and the labelling and the finding room in the freezer and the remembering they're in there and the defrosting. We're supposed to be saving time here, not adding an extra layer of labour. Eating the same meal two days in a row is far less complicated.

One weird quirk, though, is that on the day following a "second day" where I didn't have to cook anything, it invariably comes as a surprise that I now have to cook something else. Having one night where dinner's already in the fridge seems to signal to my brain that there's now an unending stream of dinners in there. Considering I've been responsible for cooking for decades, how this can shock me every time is a mystery. But there it is.

Comments

[spiffikins]

Leftovers are the best!

I agree about vegetables and freezing though - I wish freezing stuff worked better - I would love to have the ability to make a big pot of something, freeze it in portions and build up a whole freezer full of options that I could pick out something and reheat it - and have more variety within a week :D

I actually happened to be flipping through old journal entries - I've been batch cooking on weekends since early 2015, apparently! So that's a LONG time - I hadn't quite realized I started that long ago!

[msconduct]

It surprises me that so many people recommend freezing when vegetables come out so horribly. Maybe they don't eat them? It's fine for other stuff. I like having some blended soups in the freezer for emergencies, but I prefer lumpy soups!

[kaishin108]

What a great question and I liked reading your answer.

I think I feel similar to you about cooking and cook in a similar way. And I am very into cooking from scratch now too for that non processed taste and less additives in the food.

I don't freeze cooked food as it loses so much flavor.

Today was a cooking day for me, except for veggies or washing lettuce that I do almost every day. Main dishes yes, lasts about 3 days.

It's been easier since I stopped working that's for sure. And I am sure working at home helps too. I just don't like to cook if I am tired or that dread creeps in. G. will cook any red meat at least and then I cook the turkey or chicken, that works. And we both cook different steamed vegetables but we can't cook together, that just doesn't work!

[msconduct]

Yes yes yes, the dread! My autoimmune thyroid disease means my energy levels are often not great, and the threat of dinner hangs horribly over my head at those times, I've started where possible cooking dinner in the morning to get around this so I know it's done.

[kaishin108]

Yes! I try to cook fresh for lunch and then dinner is easy-peasy. It's so nice to just relax in the evening I never know when I will be quite tired also.

We got this! :D

[spiffikins]

Do you use a crockpot or slow cooker? I've never been one to put stuff in the crockpot before work, and then leave for the day and come home for dinner - but working from home, I occasionally throw stuff in at lunch time and then by the time I'm done work, dinner is smelling SO GOOD.

[msconduct]

I've got a slow cooker, but most recipes seem to make you brown the aromatics first anyway, and I tend to think if that stuff's already in there, I might as well continue in the vessel it's already in (I cook most things in an electric wok as it's big enough to get a lot of stuff in at once). I did used to have a slow cooker that browned as well, and I got rid of it because I never used it. I only use my new $20 one for making overnight steel-cut oats. Most of my stuff is vegetarian and I wasn't that thrilled with the texture of the pulses (NOT KIDNEY BEANS HAHAHAHAHA!!!) and I've heard others say meat comes out a weird texture too, so I haven't been that motivated to use it.

[spiffikins]

ehhh they say that - but the only thing I will pre-cook for a slow cooker dish is ground beef, just because I can drain the excess grease off :D Everything else gets tossed in and cooks in the slow cooker - because I feel the same way - if I'm going to use another pan, why not just finish it there?

That's interesting that people say meat comes out a weird texture - because the major selling point for slow cookers is that you can put cheap "tough" cuts of meat into it and get tender, juicy results!

What you don't get out of a crockpot, is anything other than SOFT veggies though - so if you want something with some crunch yet, it is not the right tool! And when I make a soup, I want my veggies to have some solidity to them, yet, I don't want them too mushy - so I tend not to use the crockpot for soups, but more for things like stews and chilis where the veggies can withstand the long simmer times.

LOL - not kidney beans, indeed!