I'm somewhat surprised no-one has mentioned just plain fruit. Often times I eat nothing but apples, oranges, avocados, kiwis, pineapples and bananas after work. Doesn't get much healthier than that.
Ask HN: got any food hacks?
71–80 of 170 posts
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#72My mom would cry if she could read english... Cheap and fast: PASTA Base for the pasta: - boil the water and salt it - add pasta (but please, don't overcook it, just stick to the box instruction. Barilla is an excellent brand and decently priced) Sauces for the pasta Tuna Pasta - In a small pot add a spoon of olive oil and diced onion, crushed red pepper, and stir-fry it. - When the onion looks "gold" add a can of tu…
I don't want to get too pendantic, but the main thing I developed while living in Italy is a carbonara fetish. What you describe is most definitely not Carbonara... Carbonara: 4 eggs 1 lb spaghetti 1/2 lb Pancetta 1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano (although I often use asiago as it's far cheaper) 1 onion chopped Combine the eggs and 1/2 of the cheese in a large bowl, stirring to break the egg yolks. Cook the pasta. Cook the…
+1 for the lack of cream
-1 for the inclusion of onion and the exclusion of garlic..
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#73I make a big batch of 30 - 40 wraps (burritos or kebabs) and freeze them. After a 60 second nuke they are good to go.
I'm also a student and have found that carrying a water bottle everywhere stops me from buying sodas. It saves me money and of course is a lot healthier.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are rice cookers you can purchase which will finish the rice according to a schedule. They're more expensive than the the average, but if you're going to use it frequently and you want rice ready when you get home, it's top notch. Essentially, you measure you rice, clean it (as always) then add the water, leave it in the cooker, the the timer you want it to finished, and the cooker does the rest. Edit: A though…
What exactly does cleaning rice consist of? I thought that just meant "run some water over it."
There's the bowl method, or you can use a strainer. I often do a combination of the two. Instead of getting a separate bowl dirty I just rinse it in the rice cooker pan itself and do a final rinse through the strainer.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#75In my bachelor days during my bulking phases, I'd do the following to pack in the nutrients I needed: 1. Buy several bags of chicken drumsticks (de-skin if you want to lower fat intake), poke holes with a fork, marinate with wine / vinegar / soy sauce / herbs and spices for a few hours, put into broiler. I'd cook 30 or so at a time, and it'd last me days. 2. Ham or turkey or peanut butter sandwiches. 3. bags of froze…
Steaming frozen veggies is faster and tastes better than boiling. You can do it in the same pot, just use about 1/4 as much water.
Is that all that needs to be done to steam them?
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#76subway sandwiches are probably the cheapest, quickest, and healthiest 'fast food' that you might tolerate eating on a daily basis. you can get a decent sandwich for ~$4.
Without the cheese, bacon and sauce... But even then, there is way too much sugar in the bread.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#77You need the Julia Child Omlette! All you need are eggs, water, butter and a hot pan and it takes 3 minutes and tastes awesome! The water is the trick. When you whisk water and eggs together, as they hit the hot pan the water turns to steam and fluffs the eggs up. I've made this many times and once you get the pan shaking and timing right, you will impress the hell out of your friends every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmvfUKwBrg
Get a dozen eggs and some friends over and practice making this. Then start throwing in pre-cooked items like bacon bits etc. The possibilities are endless.
Once you've got it down, make this for breakfast for a date one morning and you won't be single long.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#78does not really apply to you...
but those living with roommates could cook alternately throughout the week. A duty cooks and cleans everything up for everybody in house - so you get to cook fewer times than everyday but eat healthy dinner everyday. not sure if it's common thing in here, but I remember being surprised (when I first came to US) seeing Americans (students sharing house/dorm) eating dinners separately.
of course, it only applies to dinner, but that's the most time consuming one I guess.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#79I consider this as a hack--I never was able to consistently cook/grill meat until I got a good instant-read thermometer. Now it's embarrassingly easy. Char the meat on the stove or grill for a couple minutes, then throw it in the oven on low heat until it hits the right temperature. It comes out perfectly every time and there's very little effort involved.
Re: Ask HN: got any food hacks?
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Steaming frozen veggies is faster and tastes better than boiling. You can do it in the same pot, just use about 1/4 as much water.
Is that all that needs to be done to steam them?
Yes. I was amazed at how different mushrooms taste when steamed. Totally different animals. Same goes with a lot of veggies. You can add flavor if you want, but many times, it's unnecessary.