Marilyn Haggerty's amazing Olive Garden review and the subsequent viral shitstorm

at least ime

I freeze bacon.

it's perfectly possible to eat healthily and well without a) cooking b) eating out c) ordering take-out.

are you sure you are "eating" and not "staring at pictures of food while a tear rolls slowly down your left cheek"

the problem is when you have a wife who is used to cooking Mexican food on the cheap who comes to America and suddenly realizes the ingredients she relies on cost like 5x more

i still maintain that people who eat out frequently don't really waste that much money. maybe $35 is high. but under $20 for a good homecooked meal is tough.

I could name like 10 good homecooked meals off the top of my head that cost less than $20 for two people.

i think you can cook a good homecooked meal for 2 for about $10

Again, that is bonkers. My wife and I eat on about $200 worth of groceries every two weeks, and that's shopping mostly at Whole Foods, AND that includes taking lunches to work.

w/ the caveat that i'm not talking about authentic mexican food, that for sure sounds like a bitch

Our food budget per week for two adults in a not-cheap part of the country (but not London, either) is £70. That generally buys us a bottle of wine, too. We only get free range chicken and eggs and British meat when we buy those things. I make a point of planning most meals for the week at the previous weekend so that I can buy stuff and use it sensibly, and generally make enoguh of main meals to supply lunches later in the week. I freeze some leftovers for much later on, too. It is way more expensive for us to eat out than eat at home, generally. Wife is also amazingly good with vouchers and reward cards and stuff.

Lex, one day I want you to come and visit and cook with me.

are you sure you are "eating" and not "staring at pictures of food while a tear rolls slowly down your left cheek"

this one time when i was pulling an all-nighter and there was no food in the house i did go slightly loopy and GIS pictures of food in the hope that i would somehow be able to download them into my mouth

no, i just eat bits and pieces that don't require cooking. an apple and some crackers with cheese is a perfectly good lunch for example.

i think you can cook a good homecooked meal for 2 for about $10

Spaghetti, butter, parmesan. Done.

Meal-planning is definitely a different skill to cooking. It took me a few years before I'd absorbed enough recipes to be able to look on the fridge, see two leftover vegetables about to go off, and know how to pair them with ingredients in the cupboard or freezer to make a meal. It's a lifestyle thing too. I have kids so I'm used to planning when I'm in and out and who needs to be fed when and it just falls into place. I guess if you're still spontaneously going out for drinks a few nights a week (wistful gaze) then it's harder.

For me a home-cooked meal ranges from about £2 a head (pasta, stir-fry) to maybe £10 a head (expensive cut of fish). I can't eat out for less than £15 at best. You need a new grocer, frogbs.

i can barely plan the bits of my life that matter there are no organisational skills left over for food

so this is going to be a response likely to generate lols and eyerolls but most of the restaurants I go to are $20/person for the entrees alone; add in drinks and appetizers and you are paying considerably more

you're only "saving money" in the frogbs scenario if your idea of eating out is a fast food dollar menu; his $20 meal should be able to feed 4 ppl at least

my staple food = new covent garden soups. healthy and filling and nice-tasting and requiring no more effort than putting in a microwave.

you can get two frozen tilapia filets for like $6, cook a 1/4 of a $5 frozen bag of veggies, and also a cup of rice... that's basically $10 right there

lex, I'd double-check the sodium content on those soups; pre-packaged soups in general are NOTORIOUSLY sodium-heavy, which isn't very good for your blood pressure

his $20 meal should be able to feed 4 ppl at least

well the economies of scale change pile up fairly quickly. which is why a single person eating takeout is the most justifiable. home-cooking can feed an enormous amount of people for not much more than it can feed two people.

I live alone and buy chicken thighs often: six to a pack usually run you about $5 max. Include tomato paste, tomato sauce, sweet onions, green peppers, cooking wine and rice on the side and the whole meal runs you $15 tops.

i don't know how much E15 is, that's like $25 american? you can eat out here for like, $18 (not garbage, either)

'change pile up' = 'can pile up' xp

I loathe cooking so much, and would eat takeout all time time if it weren't for my girlfriend's good sense, but the people arguing that home cooking is not cost effective are actually insane. I never have a meal as cheap as when we just pick up whatever vegetables look reasonably decent and cheap that day and cook something out of them. Saute some peppers, make some couscous, steam some kale, whatever, it's so cheap it's almost free. And then it lasts for a couple days or so.

wisconsin apparently has the highest COL in the united states

if you have a big thing of rice at home and spices you are basically looking at buying a protein and a veggie or two and you are done. as far as one simple meal goes. if you eat meat, buy some chicken, throw it in a pan with some vegetables cook some rice...voila...food. for what? under ten bucks easy.

pasta + peppers + some veggies on the side, toss some sardines in, have some cheap red wine = cheap and my idea of a good dinner.

iatee you have to factor in the daily 12 of old mil

it's perfectly possible to eat healthily and well without a) cooking b) eating out c) ordering take-out.

lex i'm super confused if you don't cook....or eat out...or get take out....

how do you actually eat? like MREs from the army or spaceman food?

when we do an all-out burrito night then things are more expensive and expire more quickly but this is why life is not an endless series of all-out burrito nights.

Tonight I'm making spaghetti bolognese. I need to get an onion and a carrot on the way home, which will be about 40p for the pair. I have a tin of (Taste the Difference! we usually use value) tomatoes and pasta in the cupboard at all times, and a cupboard literally stuffed with spices and dried herbs, plus vege mince in the freezer. If I'm feeling fruity I may buy some cheese to grate on top, as we're out.

1/4 of a pack of spaghetti = 25p
Onion and carrot = 40p
Tin of tomatoes = 80p
1/4 of a pack of vege mince = 50p
Olive oil, dried herbs, spices, etc = 50p (that's a generous guess)
Bit of grated cheese (optional) = 50p

That's less than £3.

I mostly hate cooked vegetables. Salads and raw carrots and the like are OK, tho.

if you eat meat, buy some chicken, throw it in a pan with some vegetables cook some rice...voila...food.

And if you don't eat meat, a can of black beans or a package of firm tofu does the same trick.

a top-of-the-range ready meal spag bol costs £3 and involves significantly less stress

(i would imagine that the panic and stress i experience in the kitchen is way worse for my blood pressure than any sodium)

I will probably buy a bodega sandwich tonight for $3.50 because I'm lazy, but I def. recognize that it will be more expensive and less healthy than just making some food at home.

basically having some rice or a bag of potatoes at home = you are halfway to dinner. if you are me. it ain't brain surgery.

LEX we get it you are as helpless as a newborn kitten. i would eat out every night too if i was single and lived in london.

lex i'm super confused if you don't cook....or eat out...or get take out....

how do you actually eat? like MREs from the army or spaceman food?

typical day:

breakfast = muesli
lunch = often i'll scavenge throughout the day. crackers w/cheese, apples or other fruit, yoghurts, nuts, seeds
dinner = soup from a nice, healthy pre-packaged range w/a bit of bread. maybe pasta with peas and pesto if i feel like pushing the boat out. maybe fishcakes if i just want a light meal. very occasionally a ready meal.

I find cooking relieves a lot of the stress of the working day. I love to cook when i get home. Put some music or the TV on, chop some stuff, fry it up, lovely.

I wonder if Marilyn Haggerty cooks.

i love the idea of a helicopter dropping MREs into lex's apartment

if i'm popping out i might pick up a salad or a pastry from the supermarket some days.

I think frying onions is, literally, one of the greatest fuicking achievements of human civilisation. It's extraordinary.

I find cooking relieves a lot of the stress of the working day

the EXACT opposite

no working day could ever reduce me to near-breakdowns the way attempting to cook does, every time, without fail

mmm...now i really want some pasta with peas and pesto. i am definitely getting hungry...

xxpost OTM

The smell of onions frying in butter is probably the supreme culinary scent.

i am definitely incapable of frying onions. chopping always goes wrong and then...i just HATE frying stuff. it makes me nervous. and frying pans are particularly grim to wash up.

this thread got amazing

Don't use a frying pan; use a high-sided saucepan. Stops splatter.

i choose using neither

wisconsin apparently has the highest COL in the united states

well typically when I'm doing the cooking, things are much cheaper. and yes I do admit that we do waste a lot of things by letting them go bad or not using the entire ingredient. just saying a lot of stuff cooked in our house really does involve like, over a dozen things

. E.g. we always keep some kind of fish on hand, with a few fillets in the freezer and maybe one in the fridge -- you have to remember to throw one into the fridge to defrost and then eat it within a couple days.

just defrost in the sink or a bowl of water! it'll take half an hour, prob less for a fish filet