Wednesday Poll: In Defense of Cooking

The other day, Janet at foodperson wrote this post discussing how she can make a good, healthy meal in the same amount of time it takes her neighbor to open his prepackaged box of hamburger helper.  She provides a nice example in the form of an egg and asparagus omelet, which she calls "convenience foods that Mother Nature makes." 

As a person who often finds herself quoting Michael Pollan's Twelve Commandments for Serious Eaters (from his book "In Defense of Food"), I say, "Amen sister!"

I'm always a little flabbergasted by my friends who say they have no time or energy or whatever to cook.  It's like, the word "recipe" scares people off or automatically signals something hyper-complicated.  But really, it's not.

Maybe it's just that we've gotten into a good rhythm with it, but I've found that nine times out of ten, the stuff we put together from scratch tastes incredibly better, is better for us, and doesn't take significantly more time (if any) to make.  I don't think we spend more money on it, and I know we go out to eat less when we have tasty stuff to look forward to at home (which is a real money saver at our house!).  I have a lot of trouble understanding why people eat the stuff from boxes and the like, especially as a regular habit.

So, for this week's poll:

What is your favorite non-prepackaged "convenience food"?  What's your favorite slap-dash, made-from-stuff-you-keep-around-the-house recipe?  Do you find cooking "from scratch" to be easy or difficult?  If you think it's difficult, what part is it that you have difficulty with?  And since I brought them up, what do you think of Michael Pollan's Commandments?

Comment and discuss.

Comments

[jennywenny]

I think my most useful convenience food would be a tin of beans, black bean, chickpeas, cannelini, pinto. I just take them and toss them with chopped up veggies and make a salad for my dinner in about a minute. Are tins allowed?

[Meryl]

That's a funny question, actually. I always think of canned beans as a starting from scratch kind of food. But I don't know, can you even buy kidney/pinto/black beans fresh? I know you can get them dried....

Sounds like a nice little summery salad, either way!

[Janet]

Hey, Meryl. Thanks for the link. You might be also be interested to know that one study (which I commented on here http://foodperson.com/2007/08/10/convenience-doesnt-mean-faster-when-it-comes-to-home-meals/) found that so-called convenience foods don't save time.

Anyway, I have seen fresh lima beans and black-eyed peas, although not in any supermarket.

I don't think I have a favorite unpackaged convenience food; there are too many of them. For meat lovers, what could be easier than steak and baked potato? (OK baked potato isn't quick if you bake in an oven vs. microwave.) I could make a meal off sliced fresh local tomatoes--plain! MYO pancakes for carb lovers. A fresh apple, orange or banana for a snack. Best for make from what you have: stir fry or soup.

[Sarah]

My basic, I-don't-feel-like-cooking food would be whatever pasta I have on hand with a little butter and parmesan cheese. No nutritional value whatsoever.

My basic quick-actual-food recipe is chicken, cut up, browned with some onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, and white wine. Served with the ever-present pasta.

The only thing I find difficult about cooking from scratch is keeping ingredients stocked in my house so I don't constantly have to go grocery shopping. Cooking itself is something I don't mind and am fairly decent at. It's the dishwashing I have trouble with...

Agreeing with Sarah. The hardest part is keeping the necessary items in stock. I make it to the grocery store probably every ten days. For a while there I was doing good with picking recipes, buying ingredients, making the food. Tada wonderful meals. But ... well it got old? The good thing is that after you start making new and different stuff you can keep experimenting with the new and different stuff you've learned!

But I do cook and I can cook just about anything relatively well (with practice) my favorite meals of late are crab cake salad (so easy) and I make chicken burritos with regularity. Other than that we're steak and potatoes sort, with the occasional pasta thrown in when I'm feeling lazy.

[StacyH]

PS - the comment posted at 8:10 is me!

[Meryl]

Here's another good post: http://justbraise.com/on-breakfast/ . I think with all the good produce hitting the shelves many garden-y/food type bloggers have this on the brain.

Our food of choice lately is eggs. Sweet Husband is a master poacher. Also found a really good chicken recipe the other day--dredge it in flour, cook it in a pan with cherry tomatoes, add a dash of whatever alcohol you have on hand to deglaze the plan. Wonderful!