Friday, September 2, 2016

Celebrate the Small Things: Retired from Cooking

It's not that I can't cook. I have a small collection of recipes that I do well, and I can handle meat and veggies with no problem. Once upon a time I even liked to have a weekly dabble in cooking something different, from a cook book-although the results of these experiments were mixed.

Back in the day, I didn't mind sharing the cooking duties. My fiance and I decided that 3-4 home cooked meals and the rest in take-aways and left-overs would be just the right mix for us. These days, it's just me, and I just don't want to cook. Even if I had a stove and an oven, which I don't, I still wouldn't cook. I've become a big fan of Lean Cuisine microwave meals, and I still love take-away food. Not junk like McDonalds. I'm talking about Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican etcetera.

Microwave meals are cheap, tasty and if the boxes are to be believed healthy. For between $4 and $6 I can have a satisfying meal after just 6 minutes in the nuclear oven. When I started eating these meals, I found the portions were too small and I would occasionally double up, but now my stomach has adjusted to smaller serves which is great except when I eat out and I can't finish the big meal for which I paid, and over which I salivated.

My system now prefers small meals, so when I order take-out, it will usually provide two meals not one. For example, if I spend $20 at Prickles Mexican, I get two dinners for $10 a pop.
In order to satisfy my penchant for variety, I'm working my way through the menus at my local take away restaurants and sampling all the different varieties of microwave meals in the supermarket freezer.



You might think I'm missing out, but I'm as happy as Larry. I don't know who Larry is, but I'm thankful for cheap, convenient and tasty food.


8 comments:

  1. You sound just like me. When I wasn't writing, I didn't mind cooking. But now that I have more important and time consuming things to do, I hate cooking. Still, I often have to do it because take-out is too expensive, even if I get 2 meals out of it. Luckily my husband is a better cook than I am and he's been pitching in a lot. (He prefers his own cooking too!) Your Lean Cuisines sound good - I hope they don't have too many chemicals or preservatives though...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe just as the dirt held my old car together so I never washed it, maybe the chemicals and preservatives are all that's holding me together. ;-)

      Delete
  2. I have to confess that, after 40 years of preparing meals for a family, my enthusiasm is starting to wane. I resort to M&S (I live in the UK) occasionally. But, as we all know, it's more economical to cook from scratch. So I sometimes make a big stew to last for 2-3 days and add different herbs and spices and a few more veg each day to ring the changes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good idea to cook enough for two or three days. I love leftovers. Thanks for visiting Square Pegs and for taking the time to comment.

      Delete
  3. I've found that the Lean Cuisine meals have far more carbs than my body can handle. So I am stuck having to cook for all my meals, and have to wash up by hand after since my dishwasher has been broken for years. Luckily I do enjoy cooking, and I freeze extra servings to heat up later.

    Nissa from
    http://myantimatterlife.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I exercise three to four times a week so the carbs don;t worry me. Bummer about having to wash all the dishes by hand. Thanks for visiting Square Pegs and for taking the time to comment.

      Delete
  4. I do a lot of cooking, but then, the family kind of makes that a necessity. Still, there's nothing better than quick meals. If I was on my own, there's no way I'd always be cooking :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Having a family does necessitate cooking, and it can be a fun family thing as well. I would cook if I was living with my family. Living alone I can't be bothered.

      Delete