5 points if you can tell me what a Aubergine is, without looking it up?

Convenience Food

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Last night, I sent myself a text with the following:

Argh! There's a gal at my work whose making a simple recipe but going with all premade stuff. Cause it's easier, "it has chicken in it, that's healthy" (canned, RIGHT)

I get so frustrated with people.  They either do not cook at all or they take short cuts.  Short cuts in and of themselves can be good.  But be careful taking short cuts are they worth the trade offs, are they stuffed with sodium, fillers, and/or unhealthy fats?


Anymore, I am becoming more mindful of these things.  Especially when it comes to "Light", "Healthy", etc...  When fats are removed, something else has to be added to make something "tasty"...  Just what is added! Salt and other things that we do not need extra of.


The day before this I found a grocery list floating along the ground with the following: Bread, Meat, & Milk.  Why is it we are trying to simplify what we cook and consume?  We either simplify with buying convenience foods filled with God knows what or we just do "bread, meat, and eggs."   Why do we do this?  Excuse readily heard is: : "It takes to much time to cook" or "cooking is so hard."


Come on: Yes it does take time to cook good and healthy food but not really as long as you think and with anything you spend time on, it can be hard.  But just like a person preparing to run a race or play a game in a sporting event.  Practice, practice, practice....


You say, "how do I practice for cooking?"  Work on preparing vegetables and fruits for other recipes and in making quick convenience food grab bags to use instead of grabbing a bag of chips.
Unless you are cooking for more than 4-6 people, it does not take as long as one thinks to cook a simple and healthy meal from scratch.


Steps in preparing a meal:

1. Plan meal/menu...
2. Gather ingredients (this may entail your weekly shopping)
3. Gather tools needed.
4. Dice/Cut and/or clean any vegetables or fruits needed.
5. Prepare food.
6. Serve

Those simple six steps could take as short a time as 20 minutes and as longs as an hour or a little over, depending on what it is you are fixing.

Think about it, how does a restaurant serve you in 10-20 minutes?  It is all in the preparation!  They have their menu, shop/order the needed ingredients, have the tools available, prepare all ingredients (for quick assembly), prepare the assembled ingredients - cooking as called for and serve to you steaming hot on your table.
Okay, you say, they do a lot of the prep work way before I order my meal.  Yes but they are preparing for 100's of dishes and you are preparing for 2-6 meals/people.  Rarely, will you cooking something that will take hours of cooking, especially when it is just for a mid-week evening meal with no guest.

Remember we said a simple meal!  Please quit thing in terms of simple as canned, boxed, or fast food drive thru!