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In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

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Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#91

Post by ghaff »

solardev wrote: post #78
geodel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we cook at home almost every meal throughout the year. Something I noticed compared to old country that for lot of people here each meal is always about the food they like to eat at that time. Whereas for us that likeness/preferred meal is only couple times a week or so. Most meals are really like rotation of stuff from pantry and fridge. If I were to eat only meals I feel like eating all the time it would be t…

What are the meals you don't like, and cook anyway? Why do you even stock ingredients for them then? Are they just easier to make, or?

Not the parent, but I read it as, sometimes you're cooking the meal you want to eat tonight. Other times it's "What do I have in the house?"

There definitely many times when I'm "I should use something from the freezer" or "I need to use this meat cut I bought a couple days ago."

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#92

Post by paulmd »

katbyte wrote: post #69
shagie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost for cooking for one becomes evident when buying meat and produce (things that aren't shelf stable) in units small enough to do meal planing without significant waste. There are things like the difference in the cost of a single, reasonable, serving of chicken. Buying a chicken breast is more expensive in price per pound than the family pack of chicken breasts or an entire chicken. Similar things with carrots…

trick is to get higher quality produce, make multiple services, and lean how to store things. Cheap produce goes back quicker. I live alone yet go to Costco every 2-3 weeks and I expect everything I get to last. Meat is split up, vacpacked and frozen. produce is put in the fridge in containers that best store them: some lined with paper town, some not, some with lids, some not. I have 2 week old tomatoes peppers cucu…

Well, space is something else that is at a premium in a city... I have two 5.5cu-ft freezers for storing bulk stuff that I see cheap on sale... have fun with that in an apartment. And especially if you are doing soups and other liquids, you really kinda want a chamber vacuum sealer, which is a big dealie that sits on your counter with a 1/4hp motor. Even keeping the sealing area very clean (wiping down the foam seals and electric seal strip regularly, etc) I cannot get one of the cheap vac-u-saver vacuum-pump machines to last more than a year, after that the seals on the packets start getting marginal and they leak air and eventually ruin the food. Someone in a new york apartment doesn't have space for 2 cubic feet of vacuum sealer and 15 cubic feet of freezers.

(do you need the chamber sealer, no, but they do a much better job, if you're doing tons of bulk food prep and sealing they're really a nice tool for it.)

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#93

Post by NegativeLatency »

jareklupinski wrote: post #57
coffeeblack wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good example of the “tragedy of the commons”. How a public good is abused by a few egoists to make a profit and destroy it for everybody else. What’s even more depressing is that many here seem to find that totally okay.

Did this even happen? A quick Google doesn't show any of those people or places even exist...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wainwright,_Alaska

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#94

Post by geodel »

solardev wrote: post #78
geodel wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we cook at home almost every meal throughout the year. Something I noticed compared to old country that for lot of people here each meal is always about the food they like to eat at that time. Whereas for us that likeness/preferred meal is only couple times a week or so. Most meals are really like rotation of stuff from pantry and fridge. If I were to eat only meals I feel like eating all the time it would be t…

What are the meals you don't like, and cook anyway? Why do you even stock ingredients for them then? Are they just easier to make, or?

Like there are bunch of dried lentils we would keep as they don't go bad and we could cook them less frequently.

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#95

Post by shagie »

smiley1437 wrote: post #89
shagie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost for cooking for one becomes evident when buying meat and produce (things that aren't shelf stable) in units small enough to do meal planing without significant waste. There are things like the difference in the cost of a single, reasonable, serving of chicken. Buying a chicken breast is more expensive in price per pound than the family pack of chicken breasts or an entire chicken. Similar things with carrots…

I felt exactly the same until a friend introduced me to vacuum sealers and a big freezer, now I can buy the larger amounts of fresh food, divvy it up and freeze it with little loss of quality for many types of produce 3rd party vac bags are inexpensive on amazon For thawing, I throw the frozen vac-pack into a sous vide set for 0C/32F - the circulation thaws very quickly. Rarely cook in the sous vide much anymore, it'…

Consider the question "how much time per person per meal do you spend in purchasing, planning, and processing?"

This is where, for me, the amount of effort to try to minimize the per meal cost begins to falter.

My "ok, this is how I do it" is to have two different prepared meal services (one microwave, one conventional) that gets to about $25/day for three meals (my breakfast is cheap). This does have a higher cost, but makes up for it with variety that I otherwise wouldn't have combined with portions that are appropriate and no food waste. The corresponding time savings (about 5 min of prep per day) is also a consideration for me.

While I've got space (and a chest freezer), many single people who are living in apartments have more difficulty with trying to buy larger amounts and limited freezer space.

As an aside, I tend to cook more (slow cooker and a stew that is ~3 meals worth - dinner one day and lunch and dinner the following) in the winter. It may be my appetite preferences or the "I don't want something cooking in the summer", but that's just how my meal preferences tend.

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#96

Post by k__ »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19
SilverBirch wrote: post #9

>Although this was a gourmet meal, in many ways it was just as great as the store-bought hot dogs and macaroni salad we had eaten together hundreds of times before; the quality of a meal is really a reflection of the company you share it with as well as the long process and coordination it takes to get everything on the table. This is such a strange phrase to me. I'm in the UK and it is always the case that processed…

> I'm in the UK and it is always the case that processed, mass manufactured food is looked down upon. UK food (with the exception of dishes imported from India) is some of the blandest cuisine I have ever tasted. I would probably prefer store-bought hotdogs, and boxed macaroni and cheese.

Yes, as someone from continental Europe, reading this seems a bit like the one eyed leading the blind, hehe.

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#97

Post by tonymet »

meal planning is so easy. since covid we do grocery shopping every 6 weeks. it reduces a lot of stress and waste .

foods last a lot longer than you think . eggs last 6 weeks , milk lasts a month and can be converted to yogurt to last another 6 -8 weeks. fruit can be jammed or frozen . veggies cooked and frozen in preparations

it doesn’t take planning so much as being creative and changing the habit of needing to shop frequently

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#98

Post by solardev »

ghaff wrote: post #91
solardev wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the meals you don't like, and cook anyway? Why do you even stock ingredients for them then? Are they just easier to make, or?

Not the parent, but I read it as, sometimes you're cooking the meal you want to eat tonight. Other times it's "What do I have in the house?" There definitely many times when I'm "I should use something from the freezer" or "I need to use this meat cut I bought a couple days ago."

That makes sense

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#99

Post by pfranz »

knicholes wrote: post #52
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not true, I’ve never been to a city in the US where cooking is more expensive.

I've been buying fresh ingredients for two years to make the recipes in my Clean Simple Eats recipe book. The shopping would sometimes take an hour, and preparing the food would take about 30 minutes a meal. They started a prepared meal service for $12 a meal, which was really pushing my limits on what I'd be willing to spend to avoid having to do all of that work and spend all of that time. Then I found the "double…

I've found recipe books to be the antithesis to meal planning and time/money optimization. To me, "meal planning" is having staples at home--not sitting down on Sunday to write out 7-days worth of meals, going to multiple grocery stores to source all of the ingredients, then prepping for the week. You already know which store, the specific isle to find them, and roughly what it costs.

When cooking from a recipe the whole point is that there's a bespoke ingredient or technique. Sadly, I don't think there's a lot of resources on optimizing your kitchen out there. I think because it's not clearly defined and staple foods are very cultural and personal.

I do think people underestimate the upfront cost of getting the knowledge and skills to run a home kitchen. Once you do it, it's amazingly cheap compared to ordering out and the food is already there. The closest I see is reverence for grandmothers to whip something up or always have things on hand. You can vary the time/costs with your tastes; yogurt, muesli, and whatever fruit is handy or pour cereal and milk. That sounds like way less of a headache to me than going out or having something delivered.

Different things work for different people at different points in their life. I'm glad when people find systems that work for them--it sounds like you have. I just advocate for a low-maintenance system for cooking at home.

Re: In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

#100

Post by solardev »

MediumOwl wrote: post #86
solardev wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I've been trying to make good fried rice for like thirty years. Let me know if you figure it out... supposedly needs a lava-hot wok and a gallon of oil or something.

This recipe helped me succeed finally, although I've still failed a few times https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-vegetable-fried-rice-recipe

That looks great, thanks!
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