I always wondered how it was possible to grow up and not learn how to cook. Food is fundamental to life. But some people never learn or care to learn how to cook.
But now you are grown and married and too broke to go to a restuarant. Is there something you can do to sustain life and eat well? Of course! With the variety of frozen vegetables and meat available you can buy almost anything that only needs to be heated. Not quite as expensive as eating out, but not cheap either.
There are three factors in life that we must consider in almost every endeavor--cost, simplicity, and excellence. Sometime the names change, but the principle is the same. You can achieve two out of three of them, but you can never get all three. When we talk about food, we want it to be cheap or at least affordable, easy to get, and good to eat.
If you opt to make your choices on cheap and easy you will have to sacrifice the excellence. Excellence may include taste, appearance, freshness, and healthfulness. If you want food to be cheap and easy, you will wind up with potato chips or raw carrots. If you want the food to be easy and good, you will pay a chef or a high dollar restuarant a lot of money. If you go for good and cheap, you need to learn to cook.
Cost--Can you prepare food well and cheaply? I think you can. I am assuming to keep the price low includes not buying every gadget ever invented, but I would invest in a vegetable peeler.
Buying organic vegetables is not a bad thing, but getting the organic designation is mostly expensive hype. Nothing that is currently used to kill bugs on edible products is lethal. Some of the recalls have been related to organic fertilizer, so make sure you want to spend you money that way.
Buying cheaper vegetables probably means they were not shipped from other countries. It may also mean they are fresher. Always wash and drain vegetables in clean water before you cook them.
It is easy to overcook vegetables. To keep the fresh appearance, drop things like chopped carrots, greens, or sliced turnips into small amount of boiling water, then cover with a lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. Check them with a fork every 15 minutes until tender. Add salt, butter, and seasonings to taste during the cooking time.
Keeping the price down on meat is possible too, but you may be eating the cheap cuts. Cheap cuts are usually less desirable and less tender. Chicken legs and thighs are cheaper that breasts, and surprising, more flavorful. If you want boneless chicken, you have to take the bone out yourself. One of my daughters refuses to "play in raw chicken," but she has to pay money for a butcher to do what she could easily do herself.
Beef, likewise, is categorized into more and less expensive cuts. Sirloin steak broils just fine, and it is usually much cheaper than T-bone. Even top round does fine if it is marianated in a meat tenderizer. Skirt steak is the traditional cut for fajitas, but because of the demand, skirt steak is often more expensive than bottom round steak, and bottom round makes good fajitas. Skirt steak is not a really good cut, but it is popular so the price goes up.
Doing your own cooking is not really the easy way to eat well, even though it is the cheapest. You have to expand your skills and shop carefully. You have to plan well and monitor the sales. On the other hand, you will be a better person for the effort you put into it. And you can really impress your mother-in-law.
But now you are grown and married and too broke to go to a restuarant. Is there something you can do to sustain life and eat well? Of course! With the variety of frozen vegetables and meat available you can buy almost anything that only needs to be heated. Not quite as expensive as eating out, but not cheap either.
There are three factors in life that we must consider in almost every endeavor--cost, simplicity, and excellence. Sometime the names change, but the principle is the same. You can achieve two out of three of them, but you can never get all three. When we talk about food, we want it to be cheap or at least affordable, easy to get, and good to eat.
If you opt to make your choices on cheap and easy you will have to sacrifice the excellence. Excellence may include taste, appearance, freshness, and healthfulness. If you want food to be cheap and easy, you will wind up with potato chips or raw carrots. If you want the food to be easy and good, you will pay a chef or a high dollar restuarant a lot of money. If you go for good and cheap, you need to learn to cook.
Cost--Can you prepare food well and cheaply? I think you can. I am assuming to keep the price low includes not buying every gadget ever invented, but I would invest in a vegetable peeler.
Buying organic vegetables is not a bad thing, but getting the organic designation is mostly expensive hype. Nothing that is currently used to kill bugs on edible products is lethal. Some of the recalls have been related to organic fertilizer, so make sure you want to spend you money that way.
Buying cheaper vegetables probably means they were not shipped from other countries. It may also mean they are fresher. Always wash and drain vegetables in clean water before you cook them.
It is easy to overcook vegetables. To keep the fresh appearance, drop things like chopped carrots, greens, or sliced turnips into small amount of boiling water, then cover with a lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. Check them with a fork every 15 minutes until tender. Add salt, butter, and seasonings to taste during the cooking time.
Keeping the price down on meat is possible too, but you may be eating the cheap cuts. Cheap cuts are usually less desirable and less tender. Chicken legs and thighs are cheaper that breasts, and surprising, more flavorful. If you want boneless chicken, you have to take the bone out yourself. One of my daughters refuses to "play in raw chicken," but she has to pay money for a butcher to do what she could easily do herself.
Beef, likewise, is categorized into more and less expensive cuts. Sirloin steak broils just fine, and it is usually much cheaper than T-bone. Even top round does fine if it is marianated in a meat tenderizer. Skirt steak is the traditional cut for fajitas, but because of the demand, skirt steak is often more expensive than bottom round steak, and bottom round makes good fajitas. Skirt steak is not a really good cut, but it is popular so the price goes up.
Doing your own cooking is not really the easy way to eat well, even though it is the cheapest. You have to expand your skills and shop carefully. You have to plan well and monitor the sales. On the other hand, you will be a better person for the effort you put into it. And you can really impress your mother-in-law.
No comments:
Post a Comment