Another thing I was contemplating yesterday as I was fixing my lunch for today

I post on a few different boards that talk about lifestyle, parenting and food issues. I can't TELL you how many people I hear say that they have "no time" to prepare meals for their families, so they consciously make processed-food compromises

Now, I'm standing at my stove yesterday cooking my chicken breast thinking about this. Takes 4 minutes on the first side. Flip over, another 4 minutes. It takes 4-5 minutes to microwave a vegetable. Total cooking time - 10 minutes for chicken & hot veggies. You would likely be in a fast food lineup longer, or be reheating some processed crap for longer than that

So - I guess I don't get it? Mind you, I don't have kids, so maybe I'm extraordinarily ignorant here, but you can make a healthy, fresh, WHOLE FOODS meal in 10 minutes. Where is the time issue?

because the adds on tv tell you that you dont have time.

"so buy my frankinfood it cooks in the microwave,"

lez

Here's another thing I don't get. At a recipe site I visit, lots of people are always asking for "make ahead" ideas, because they are going to have a crazy week and they want something they can pop in the oven

Many times I have piped in saying "Why don't you just pan fry some chicken/pork/steak/fish? Only takes a few minutes"

Almost ALWAYS gets ignored in favor of some carb-y casserole dish that they need to spend an hour preparing ahead of time

Now, I applaud them for cooking fresh foods, but I guess I don't get it. Healthy food doesn't have to take any time! Why spend an hour prepping a lasagna when you can cook a steak in 10 minutes?

I have always found that fixing low-carb foods takes less time than fixing high-carb foods. Unless I'm roasting a whole chicken or other large item, the meat takes less than 30 minutes and the vegetables 10 minutes. Most of the time, I can be doing other things while the food is cooking, so it isn't like I have to stand fixed in front of the stove.

People tend to let themselves get rushed when there is no need. Lack of planning is usually the cause. If you know that there will be little time between getting home in the evening and having to leave, use a slow cooker in the morning to have food ready and hot when you arrive home.

Getting fast food can take longer than fixing fresh food. There is nothing 'fast' about it.

I used to order pizza a lot because I was 'too tired' after work to cook, but I really just wanted pizza. I could easily have cooked a meal in the time it takes for the pizza to be delivered.

I def hear where your'e going with this, but I do need to take issue with the above statement. I can understand where people need a "make ahead" meal becuase they are going to have a busy week. I'm a midwife who takes call for 24-72 hours at a time. When I know I'm going to have a long call week and patients in the office, it is necessary to have a make ahead meal. If someone calls and they're in labor, I've got to go and go now. May not have time (not even 10 minutes) to "fix" a 10 minute meal because those 10 minutes may mean I may miss a delivery--but I do have 2 minutes to scoop it out of the dish and throw it in a tupperware. A fix ahead may mean the difference between eating and not eating. I generally make a casserole or soup or something of that nature. You don't have to make some carby recipe. So that's my 2 cents. Along those same lines of the original post, I love the people who say they don't cook. Either because they're single or they just are too lazy, or they don't know how. I agree, how hard is it to broil a piece of meat and steam some veg!!! I'm single with no children and my friends laugh and are amazed because I cook real meals for myself almost every night. Taste better, cheaper, and I know whats in them.
Lisa

or my favorite kitchen appliance....the pressure cooker.

One product that's making me laugh right now is the new (at least around here) premade frozen omelete that you can microwave. I mean, honestly, how long does it take to make an omelete?

I do make ahead stuff all the time, so I'm certainly not knocking the practice!

I'm more curious about why people don't seem willing to choose quick, HEALTHY meals. I'll see posts about "I'm only in the house for half an hour, what can I do?" I respond "pan fry some chicken, it will take 10 minutes" Time after time, they go for the long, complicated casserole. I just don't get it, but I do think thats a much better choice than choosing some prepackaged garbage

I forgot about eggs. Eggs take what, 5 minutes? And are so good for you. They are natures fast food. You don't need to be in the mcdonalds drive-thru, cook an omlete and you've got a great dinner!


But I guess you are right. Its not about the time at all, its about wanting the crap in the first place, and making an excuse about why you "need" it

I premake most of my meals on Sunday or MOn. We cut vegies for salads....make up l/c meals to freeze..takes very little time .

For us the pull of "fast " food..is we dont have to think. My husband and I deal in life and death decisions every work day.
We "think" hard all day..knowing someones life could depend on it..When we get off work..we dont want to make any decisions..we dont want to have to think thru what to make, or how to make it...so the precooking is awesome...we think abt preparing and planning food..once a week....our menu isnt always thrilling but quite frankly we dont care...we get fed! We dont have to think much. BTW the crockpot is such a wonderful
piece of equipment...so is the prepacked salad mixes. My husband spends 10 min reheating and salad making...( ok its just throwing precut vegies in a bowl and topping with almonda and h/m dressing. ( whoever gets home first "cooks") He gets home first 3 days out of 5!
So brain exhaustion weakens our resolve if we dont preplan!

Believe me, I am ALL in favor of preplanning

I generally wash all my veggies on the weekend and precut as much as I possibly can. Preshred cheese. Defrost stuff in advance. I'm always thinking ahead to not only tonights meal, but tommorows. It makes life so much easier

There are lots of helpers you can buy at the grocery store that speed up dinner as well. Again, I'm all in favor

But when it comes right down to it, dinner doesn't have to be complicated, even a healthy dinner. Thats where I have a hard time buying this "no time" nonsense

I know if someone won't cook for my dad, he doesn't eat. People that are used to having their meals prepared for them might have trouble adjusting, especially those used to getting them through the drive-thru. I would encourage them to look at cooking as a new hobby. I love to cook because I had to learn how to do it. You can learn to love anything. I think people argue it's a time crunch, when it's really just a little work they may not be accustomed to. Maybe it's the cultural view on making dinner, that it's a chore where I find it a luxury. It's all in the perspective I guess. But I understand the people who make meals ahead, because I do it all the time. Thank God for crock pots. Prepare a roast, and by the time you come home from work, you have a delicious meal.

Not sure why they call it "fast food" when most of the time it is neither.

I also spend time in "pre-planning"... sometimes, it takes a full afternoon on the weekends. But it's mostly pre-washing the veggies and making up soup or salad or a LC lasagna or something for the week. I'm mainly concerned about making sure I have decent meals for lunch, pre-made to warm up at work.

I do really agree with you about the old "I don't have time" excuse, runnr... although, I will have to admit that after I started my woe, I had more energy and incentive to do more and cook more. It's a catch-22. If you're not eating right, you don't feel like fixing anything good for you, and you won't feel good until you eat right...

I think it largely depends on the individual's situation. I know some families with 3 or 4 kids all going different directions after school and everyone (including mom and her taxi) doesn't get home until 6 or 6:30 at night. Unless you are accustomed to eating dinner at 8 PM, that doesn't leave a lot of time to start making dinner unless some prep work has already happened (not to mention there is still homework to supervise, notes to read and sign, etc...).
Not everone can afford to feed their families steaks and boneless chicken breast. Some families also make a lot of work for themselves be catering to picky eaters and making their kitchens short-order diners (a different thing for everyone because Son A despises green beans and Daughter B won't touch red meat or onions and DH 'feels like' chicken tonight even though you had hamburger thawed out. ).
Not everyone is organized and/or plans ahead.
Also (and this is just my opinion, folks), parents who don't get their pre-teens and teens involved in making the evening meal have nobody to blame but themselves for being short on time. When I was growing up, my best friend and her brother were each responsible for planning and making one dinner each and every week by the time they were in 8th grade and I fully intend to implement that plan with my daughters in a few years as well. I enjoy cooking, but I have been the chief cook and bottle washer for this family for over 20 years now and it's high time I started getting a break every so often.

That said, I cook meats ahead, make double portions of casserole type dishes and soups (freeze one for later when you've had a crazy day and the last thing you want to do is have to make an entire meal when you get home), pre-cut veggies and use my crock pot a lot. But you know what? Even I'm guilty of having the kids pull out a frozen pizza and make their own dinner every once in a while and I just reheat some leftovers for myself. If they're going to be expected to make a complete meal in a few years, now's the time to get them used to using the stove and oven.
Somebody could probably make a killing teaching busy moms and dads how to plan ahead and cook quick meals without having to stress about it every night.

There's a very annoying TV commercial playing now, where parents call their children to dinner. The kids excitedly pile into the SUV and the parents say to each other, 'It may take time but they'll get used to eating at home.' So you think they're going to sit down to a homecooked meal, when actually the 'rents already picked up fast food and that's whats on the dinner table. I guess we're supposed to be too stupid to realize that eating fast food at home is no different from eating it at the fast food establishment.

The media keeps telling us we don't have time to cook for ourselves, so we should let a corporation do it for us - and that's true for some, but probably not the majority. We buy into it en masse though, and may think we're saving ourselves time by avoiding making meals from scratch when actually the opposite may prove true. It doesn't take much time to learn to cook a few basics either, but some of us may need to retrain ourselves; I don't think nurturing in this area comes as naturally as it should nowadays.