Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#1

Post by Cherian » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:13 PM UTC

While going through a ProductHunt post[1] I came across a fellow HNer[2] who was following NYT Cooking[3] and cooking with a plan on a regular basis. I was very curious to understand how he spaces time to cook and work. And the type of stuff he cooks.

Which kind of inspired me to start working on project to follow someone and get inspired by their – meal plans, shopping patterns, recipes, hacks, tips etc (Another inspiration [4])

I am trying to find hackers who cook at home on a regular basis (even if its only 2-3 times a week).

If you cook, some questions:

1. Why do you cook? Is it to save cash or is it recreation? Or something else?

2. Do you plan ahead? Like a weekly meal plan?

3. What kind of things do you cook usually?

4. Do you follow any diet? Atkins, Slow Carb etc.

5. Do you have any life hacks, tips to be more productive as a cook?

Disclosure: I run Cucumbertown (http://www.cucumbertown.com/), the Tumblr for cooks.

[1] http://www.producthunt.com/posts/new-york-times-apis

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cdavis565

[3] http://cooking.nytimes.com/

[4] http://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/comments/2gutuk/26_2021_1592_grocery_list_meal_plan_and_recipes/

Edit:

Seems like this was taken off the homepage for some reason. The comment rate’s coming down.

Thanks a lot for the encouraging comments. A short but exciting Q&A. If you can help me out more, please reach me on cherian@cucumbertown.com

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#2

Post by adamb0mb1 » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:22 PM UTC

1. Several Reasons. It definitely saves money. But, also it's something our family loves doing together.

2. Every sunday, we choose 4 to 5 recipes to make (and shoot for ingredient overlap) for dinner. Then basically, some staples for breakfast. We use Plan To Eat (www.plantoeat.com) to do all of the planning and shopping list generation

3. Weekend dinners and lunches are usually 1+ hour dishes. Weeknights are usually ~20 - 30 minute dishes.

4. My wife likes to lean Paleo, but for health reasons, I have to eat relatively vegetarian. So, somewhere between those.

5. Plantoeat.com has been really useful for us. (but look forward to whatever you're doing on cucumbertown.com :-))

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#3

Post by tptacek » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:23 PM UTC

We cook recreationally and to avoid feeding our family processed food.

We try to keep a 1-week meal plan, but it's very hit or miss. We're happier when we have the meal plan.

We start from a protein and work from there; we hit our butcher once a week and grab a couple whole chickens, some braising pork, and some beef. We have some staple meals built out of those things.

Unless fasting is a diet, nope; we try to cook more green vegetables and less starch, but we're not religious.

My biggest productivity hack is bulk-packaged deli cups.

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#4

Post by steakejjs » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:26 PM UTC

1. To save cash and recreationally. I would like to buy a house and cooking cuts my meal costs in half. It is also something I do with my SO

2. No. I live next door to two different upscale grocery stores (talk about luck). I just go nextdoor daily.

3. What kind of things do you cook usually?

4. I eat little junk food. I have a milk allergy. I also eat a lot of meat. This is due to having powerlifting as one of my hobbies.

5. I eat a lot of tacos, steak and rice, chicken. etc. It is easy and fast.

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#5

Post by jtfairbank » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:28 PM UTC

I find I'm often too busy to cook and end up eating out instead. However as an early stage founder that's not very sustainable (breaks the bank), so I try to pack a sandwich, have breakfast and morning coffee at home, and do a rotating dinner with friends. The last one is informal, more like "oh we're at your apartment tonight, what's in the fridge we can make?"

Personally, I want to start planning ahead and making large meals on Sundays that I can save. I'd also like to start cooking larger meals and freezing "quick-meals" I can just defrost when I'm in a hurry. I find veggie burritos are cheap, easy quite filling, and almost always produce leftovers. tortilla + rice + beans + sauteed onion and bell pepper + burrito toppings = deliciousness

If you're looking for some delicious recipes to try, my Swedish cousin-in-law is quite into healthy cooking. Should be something for all budgets: http://meandmyfood.blogspot.se/

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#6

Post by TheCapn » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:29 PM UTC

1. Because I love food and take-out often is not nutritionally complete without paying an obscene amount of money. Money isn't a direct factor for why I cook at home, its a definite bonus of everything since I can get a delicious and balanced meal for 2. I plan what types of meals I want to eat the following week while at the grocery store. This week I wanted Pulled Pork, Quiche, and Chili so I worked around that. I'm hankering Butter Chicken and a solid steak so that'll likely happen next week. Side dishes like the vegetables are often just whatever I want and try to keep things original; there's much less planning in this aspect.

3. My diet staples will always be Chicken, Eggs, Greek Yogurt, Stir Fry, and Bananas. The rest sort of comes and goes as I get cravings or need variety.

4. No brand-name diets. I just track calories and adjust for what I'm shooting for at any moment. Currently cutting weight at ~1lb/week (TDEE-500cal)

5. My only time-saver tip is really to have your counters clean before you start and clean as you go so there isn't a giant pile of dishes at the end.

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#7

Post by richardking » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:30 PM UTC

steakejjs wrote: post #4

1. To save cash and recreationally. I would like to buy a house and cooking cuts my meal costs in half. It is also something I do with my SO 2. No. I live next door to two different upscale grocery stores (talk about luck). I just go nextdoor daily. 3. What kind of things do you cook usually? 4. I eat little junk food. I have a milk allergy. I also eat a lot of meat. This is due to having powerlifting as one of my ho…

Curious, what is your cost per meal, approx? I live next to Whole Foods and buying ingredients daily usually makes the meal ~$7-$10, which is about the same as buying a pretty healthy prepared meal.

I do think buying/cooking in bulk will save money but that's harder to plan for and I don't have many recipes to cook in bulk.

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#8

Post by bravura » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:31 PM UTC

1. Why do you cook?

I like to cook because you always ship.

You can't sit and obsess about it forever. That's liberating. Once you embrace that, it allows you to experiment.

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#9

Post by mewwts » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:31 PM UTC

1) I cook because it's valuable to me to be able to "provide" my own food, and know what I ingest. Additionally I cook because I believe it's generally more healthy, and with less "short cuts" than take-out or frozen food.

2) I have 5-6 different "recipes" or meals that I know how to cook and usually I cook these one or more times during the week. But generally I decide on my way back from work, with not much planning.

3) I cook lots of curries. Indian curries with tomatoes, chickpeas, onions, coconut milk, rice, garlic, chilis. Thai curries with brocolli, coconut milk, garlic, etc.

4) I am a vegetarian.

5) My absolutely best life hack for cooking, is doing together with someone. Cooking with a friend, or even for a friend, is so much more satisfying and rewarding than doing it alone. If you struggle to cook meals for yourself; team up with a coworker, friend, girlfriend or whatever!

Re: Ask HN: Hackers who cook

#10

Post by CocaKoala » Tue, Sep 23, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

I liked to cook with my girlfriend as a fun and easy date activity, and we've continued to do it now that we're married. Also, cooking our own food is cheaper than going out every night, and tastes better than getting takeout.

We try to plan meals for the week and then do a big grocery run on the weekend, and I'll stop by the store after work if we run low on something.

We have a few meals that we run through on a rotation; making pulled pork in a slow cooker is pretty easy. There's a mustard marinated chicken dish that we both like. There are a few pasta dishes I can whip up from memory; we also make simple stuff like fried rice on occasion as well.

Neither of us follow a diet; we're still at the stage of our lives where trying to make generally balanced meals (protein, vegetables, fruit) is enough to keep us pretty healthy.

The only real life hack I have is that it's worth the time to memorize a couple recipes that taste good and are easy to make. Don't worry too much about cooking time; one of the pasta dishes I like to make has to simmer for 3 hours or so, but it's really easy to let that sit on the stove and just check on it a couple times an hour to make sure it isn't burning. Cooking isn't an active process where you have to be paying attention to it and devoting cycles to it every second of the process.