Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#1

Post by awaythrowaway » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 8:14 AM UTC

I'm roughly halfway through university and try not to think too much about food to make more time for hacking. However, perhaps I should learn to consume food that isn't prepared for me and isn't Soylent at some point. I have absolutely no direction: no idea which ingredients I should buy, no idea which recipes I should make, no idea how I should make these decisions, and overall pretty much zero cooking experience.

I'm fully prepared cook algorithmically and fully deterministically if it can grant me the eating autonomy I'd like while keeping decision-making and time expenditure to a minimum.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#2

Post by tenken » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 8:22 AM UTC

Food algorithms are called "recipes". You follow the steps, and the food gets made.

Look at /r/cheapmeals or /r/slowcooking for ideas of simple dishes.

... If you happen to be asking "what do I like to eat, or what can I cook that I know I'll like once I've prepared it rather than buying pre-made" .... Well I'm sorry there's no substitute for experience and knowing ones own tastes -- this is learned through experimentation and decision-making and time expenditure; aka trail and error.

Jump in the pool, and start swimming.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#3

Post by elmerfud » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 8:25 AM UTC

I would suggest the book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman. This isn't a straight up recipe book by instead tries to tell you ingredients go together to make different things. This should give you the basic algorithms for cooking from a more engineering mindset.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#4

Post by 0xBA5ED » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 9:32 AM UTC

I experimented with several liquid meals including Soylent for awhile and couldn't find one that did it for me. Now I've been eating MealSquares for a month and it's great. Extremely easy, zero thought, and I feel fantastic. My mind is sharper (drastic difference, actually) and I have steady energy all day. Only thing I know for sure that it's missing is Omega-3s, which you can get easily from canned salmon.

I realize that doesn't directly answer your question, but I think the fact of the matter is, in order to maintain a high-quality diet the old fashioned way, it simply requires a good deal of effort and planning.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#5

Post by montrose » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 9:47 AM UTC

Learn to make rice and beans. The rice part is set and forget if you have a rice cooker or buy microwaveable rice. The beans part requires a little learning, but very little. You fry onions, then toss in a can of beans and a bouillon cube. The only learning involved is how to chop the onions and how long to fry them first.

How I chop an onion: Cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion in half across the top (or bottom). Peel each half. Put each half flat side down and make a grid of cuts. It's worth investing in a good sharp cooking knife.

Many grocery stores sell frozen chopped onions. If you can find these, you may as well start with them.

Start by frying the onions in olive oil for 10 min at medium heat.

Rice and beans is about as good as it gets in nutrition/cost. Once you master the basics, there are a lot of options to add variety. And it's the sort of thing you can invite friends over for and it will seem like an actual meal.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#6

Post by dragonwriter » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 10:24 AM UTC

montrose wrote: post #5

Learn to make rice and beans. The rice part is set and forget if you have a rice cooker or buy microwaveable rice. The beans part requires a little learning, but very little. You fry onions, then toss in a can of beans and a bouillon cube. The only learning involved is how to chop the onions and how long to fry them first. How I chop an onion: Cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion in half across the top (or botto…

> How I chop an onion: Cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion in half across the top (or bottom). Peel each half. Put each half flat side down and make a grid of cuts. It's worth investing in a good sharp cooking knife.

It's a lot easier to cut in half from bottom to top, then cut the tops off both halves, then make the grid starting with lengthwise cuts almost to the root, then discard the root after cutting.

Re: Ask HN: How can I learn to cook for myself without making decisions?

#7

Post by vbuwivbiu » Mon, Jan 01, 2018, 10:41 AM UTC

montrose wrote: post #5

Learn to make rice and beans. The rice part is set and forget if you have a rice cooker or buy microwaveable rice. The beans part requires a little learning, but very little. You fry onions, then toss in a can of beans and a bouillon cube. The only learning involved is how to chop the onions and how long to fry them first. How I chop an onion: Cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion in half across the top (or botto…

good advice, and add a different 'feature vegetable' each time