I've been curious how much active time people spend preparing their food each week.
I ask about "active time" because putting something in a slow-cooker or to roast in the oven for several hours while you fuck off to do something else shouldn't count because it can really skew the numbers. Just the amount of time spent preparing meals that needs at least passive attention or participation, such as cutting veg, watching a stock pot for scum to skim or making dumplings or stuffing sausage casings or something while watching TV.
I probably spend 2 hours in the kitchen on weekdays; around 6 hours on the weekends.
I'm trying to hone my skills though. I'm already a good cook, but I want to be a great cook and that requires practice and knowledge of lesser known or used ingredients.
>>7544453
Those numbers are every day, if that wasn't already apparent.
Well opening the can does take 3 seconds I guess
breakfast i might generally spend about half an hour on
dinner, if i'm making it, can range from fifteen minutes to like 4 hours. i usually eat very late and do a lot of socialising in the kitchen.
I've been keeping track the last three weeks of my time preparing meals. I averaged around 389 minutes per week, which is just shy of 6½ hours. It'd be higher, but I tend to cook larger quantities then eat leftovers. I do prepare my lunch most mornings, though occasionally the night before, to be reheated come lunchtime but tend to eat leftovers most evenings because I don't often feel like preparing a stew or something after a long day.
I suspect if I prepare every meal from scratch rather than reheating leftovers, the number might be closer to 10 hours per week.
Anyone else an autistic enough dude to track that sort of thing or just me?
>>7544473
This was OP, by the way.
>>7544470
Breakfast is my least time-consuming meal. Takes me about 10 minutes to whip up some oatmeal. Dinner tends to be leftovers, but during my three week self-study, on nights that I actually cook, it takes an average of about an hour, but has take two or three a few nights. Two hours was when I made green ragù with chicken drumsticks.
>>7544468
Three times per day plus reheating time, that'd be around an hour per week, I'd estimate.
>>7544455
>>7544453
Cooking for a family?
I estimate my mother averaged around 14-15 hours per week preparing meals for the family.
>>7544491
>Cooking for a family?
Myself and 2 others, neither of which is any decent in the kitchen.
>>7544448
If I'm working from home I'll make both lunch and dinner, so it'll be just over an hour active time in the kitchen, a little more if dinner is Indian because those meals involve several dishes that take a while to cook.
If I have to go out to work that day I'll only cook one meal, so I'll spend between half an hour and an hour active time, depending on what I'm making.
I use a pressure cooker, which allows me to be more ambitious on a weekday than I otherwise would be. Being able to make split pea soup or dahl in under half an hour is useful.
>>7544505
The majority of what I cook is Southern Italian, Northeastern Italian and Hungarian, though I also cook SEA and Sri Lankan food to no small extent.
Most of the dishes of those traditions don't translate well to cooking small amounts so, like you and Indian food, it takes a while to prepare. However, there are usually several days' worth of leftovers, if not at least one or two other meals out of it.
Today, for example, I'm eating parsnip, celeriac and chard soup for lunch. Eating it right now, actually.
Of all the Hungarian-style soups I cook, this one takes the longest because of how tough it is to shred the root veg used to make it. Takes about 45 minutes or so, start to finish. Ergo, I make a large amount at a time, at least four servings, and freeze it in portion sizes for ease of re-heating.
I love the sweetness of the parsnip and celeriac and how it matches well with the, for lack of a better word, earthy flavours of the caraway and chard. Actually, chard tastes straight earthy. Like... if the smell of a dirt road after the rain could be a food, but actually be tasty.
Do you cook large amounts at a time to freeze, too?
>>7544691
I generally do not cook large amounts, aside from Indian, where the leftovers may be lunch for the next two days. I will cook extra rice when doing Chinese, Japanese or SEA meals so I can do fried rice the next day. But most of the time I cook everything to order, because I'm too excited about the next thing I'm gonna make to want to eat yesterday's meal again.
But I'm self-employed. It's very easy to prioritize time in the kitchen (and time for shopping) when you make your own schedule. Yesterday my workday was 5PM until midnight. I have today off. Tomorrow I'm working in the afternoon and early evening. Easy to plan time in the kitchen around a schedule like that.
And you're right - chard does taste straight earthy. I'm fond of brightening it up with a little lemon juice.
>>7544717
I added a sliced pickled egg to the soup, which I guess "brightens" it up, too.
In English, does "brighten" just mean "make slightly sour" or does it have to do with colour? If I add lemon juice to a soup or cup of tea, the colour lightens considerably for even a small amount added. Like a cup of brown tea turns bright orange with a little lemon added but if I add water, it just turns a paler brown.
I'd guess that's due to a chemical reaction or something because if you just add water, the colour doesn't change at all beyond going palid.
>>7544448
One of the episodes of Cooked started that the average American spends less that Twenty minutes a week doing actual food prep in their kitchens these days.
I work in a restaurant, and I love cooking at home. On Monday alone, I spent over an hour in my home kitchen, making dinner. I probably spend more time in the kitchen than the average person.
>>7544756
>started
*stated
depends on what im making but generally I dont have enough time in a day to prepare more than one meal....between my work, commute, training, and showering, sometimes cooking just isnt worth the prep and cleanup
I'd estimate about 5-7 active hours per week (to at least 20 hours of inactive processes if not more) - figure 20 minutes minimum per day making breakfast and grabbing small meals, with the majority of time spent on making large batches of food and baking bread every 2-3 days. Practically everything I eat is cooked in my kitchen.
>>7544739
Brighten means add a little acidity and/or freshness to earthy or heavy food. The way a squeeze of lime juice and some chopped cilantro brightens the grilled meat and earthy corn tortilla in a taco. Or the way a French lentil salad is brightened by the vinegar and chopped parsley, because lentils are so fucking earthy. Or the way herbs, bean sprouts and citrus is added to a bowl of hot pho to provide a contrast of heavy and light flavors.
About less than an hour total for a week. Everything is precut and presliced. All i have to do is heat my cast iron to insane temperatures and stir fry is done in less than a minute. Thank you wok with yan.
>>7544756
>>7544757
OP here.
Yeah, that's why I started to time myself. It sounded completely wrong.
I estimated that even if you're just pouring milk onto cereal for breakfast and using a meal kit, like Rice-a-Roni or Hamburger Helper, for dinner and eating a sandwich at lunch every day, that's at least 56 minutes per week (a minute to pour cereal and milk, five to cook the dinner kit and two to make yourself a sandwich/order your meal out).
The number seemed ridiculous and meant for shock value.
I wouldn't want to see where Pollan got that number because I've little interest in seeing a geriatric's anus.
>>7544781
What do you eat for breakfast that takes twenty minutes daily? Even an English fry up takes half that time.
I've estimated before. I don't cook every day, but I still spend between ~8-15 hours in the kitchen each week. I'd love to spend more, but I just don't have the time.
probably all told like an hour and a half any given day? I usually only cook twice a day, breakfast and then dinner, lunch is just assorted snacking/leftovers and doesnt require any more prep than just put shit on plate and heat/eat
Typically no more than 15-30 minutes.
>>7546154
Per meal or per week?
I know, I probably shouldn't be on /ck/, but I eat out for almost every meal. It's part of my upbringing, really. My family never cooked.
I do cook from time to time, but I hate the cleanup and time consumed just to make myself one meal. So, my total cooking time is just a few minutes per week.
Luckily I make good money and have a job that takes me out to amazing dinners, so this lifestyle hasn't made me fat.
This thread makes me feel better about taking an hour to cook dinner. I thought I was taking too long, I guess not.
>>7546329
>What was it?
What?
>>7546353
>durr took me an hour to cook dinner
>"yeah? what was it?"
>durr what was what?!?
Dinner, you mongoloid.
>>7546372
Lol, dude, you misunderstood me. I'm saying I always take an hour to cook dinner. But today I spent an hour cooking jumbalaya if it's so important. Part of that time was me butchering a whole chicken for the first time in my life.
>>7546388
Oh, sorry. I tarded out there myself, then.
I butcher three chickens at a time every couple months and freeze it. It winds up being about 6lbs of meat (2.5lbs boneless/skinless breast, 1.5 boneless/skinless thigh and 4lbs bone-in/skin-on drums and wings which equals about 2lbs of meat total). Takes me about 30 minutes to do all three. How long did it take you to do your one on your first go? I think my first time took me about 15 minutes or so.
about 4 hours a day. 30 min for breakfast, about 3.5 hours for dinner, every day.
>>7546454
What do you cook that could possibly take 3½ hours daily that doesn't yield leftovers? I call shenanigans.
>>7544448
usually 30-45 minutes a day o it ends up being about 2:30-4:15 a week
>>7546454
How do you manage that level of stone ageness but have internet and shitpost here? BS.
>>7544448
A while back when I was in college I spent a week at my uncle's cabin. The first morning I got up and went downstairs and he asked me if I wanted some breakfast (ofc I did). I proceeded to watch the man prepare a fruit salad, 2 fried eggs, toast, squeeze some fresh orange juice, and cook several sausages. I was a bit embarrassed at how much effort he was putting into it so I told him he didn't have to be all elaborate on my account.
>But Anon, I eat like this every day
It blew my mind that someone would spend that much time on cooking but it totally changed the way I viewed food. At that point in my life I was eating 1 meal a day and it was always something like Tuna Helper or baked beans or other similarly one pot meals. Now I probably spend 2 hours a day cooking
Probably an hour a day on average, with some things taking three hours and some ten minutes.
Sometimes I imagine myself explaining the ten minute ones like Edouard de Pomiane from that BBC series, because I've got brain problems.
>>7544448
I don't prep anything at home. I work 6/7 days 12 hour shifts my restaurant.
