SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
ITT: We learn how to cook. Together.

I went grocery shopping today. I heard the bullying voice of Newbie (who sounded like Ron DeSantis [who is gay]) in my head about EaTiNg HeAltHy and being good to women. So I bought some healthy food and need help cooking it.

Please help
https://i.imgur.com/B5Lpnrl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AMU0Cag.jpg

Also, in the Spanish isle they sell Catholic candles. I have trouble resisting them. So I bought this one with the Pope on it.
https://i.imgur.com/bvXKdoj.jpg
Funny thing happened when I talked to Ken about it.
https://i.imgur.com/cmNLO8y.png
So how do I cook?
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Aren't there apps you can download that suggest meals based on what's in your fridge.
pirana6
Go Cougs!
+682|6260|Washington St.
Did you just buy random stuff?

Hot pan:
Garlic + Onion
Add ground beef and brown
Add can of tomatoes
Simmer for 30 minutes
Add Pasta


Basic spaghetti
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I am not confident to cook meat at this moment. I will probably try doing something with the mixed veggies tomorrow. Should I steam them or boil them? Which one preserves the nutrients? I need to maintain my precious bodily fluids.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
pirana6
Go Cougs!
+682|6260|Washington St.
Just take a head of lettuce and tear it into bite-sized pieces then cut up whatever veggies you like (also into bite-sized pieces) and boom: salad.

The real fun is the bonus goodies: Hard boiled eggs, beans (garbanzo, pinto, black, etc), crumbled cheese.


You can also do a veggie stir fry: Make white rice then in a separate pan just fry some bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, whatever you like to eat.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

It should also be said to wash vegetables before use. A head of cabbage is probably going to have trapped dirt. Not exactly "triple washed and ready to eat."

Mac, you can practice cooking thin cuts of meat. There's going to be little mystery as to how cooked through it is. Just follow the instructions for bigger cuts though. Get yourself a meat thermometer you can jab in to see if it's up to temp.

Points -

  • A mixed pan of stuff can still be a bit of work if you don't want mush. Wash the vegetables, cut the stems from the leaves/florets, chop the stems into similar sizes, cook longer than the leaf parts, though shorter than root veggies.
  • Try adding a couple eggs to a pan fry.
  • Learn how to make rice (not difficult) or get a rice cooker (even easier). Use a lot of brown rice.
  • Salt & pepper are easy to start with. Also grab some lemon pepper (or learn to zest a lemon), oregano, chives, optionally anise (for the rice).
  • Grow your own herbs. Some don't require much work or any kind of green thumb, and it's going to be way cheaper than buying the dried stuff in in those little glass jars.
  • Learn how to process ginger. Get yourself a garlic press (takes up less space than a pizza cutter) so you don't split your palm open trying to crush a clove with the flat of a knife like a youtube chef. Blade flat and wooden mallet can work too.
  • Keep in mind that different cooking oils have different smoke points. Use a higher smoke point oil if you're putting the heat up very high. Ignore dated warnings about "unhealthy" avocado, canola, sesame oil. That's just big vegetable oil's propaganda.
  • If you like Asian food try to find yourself an area Asian market to shop at. In my experience in a Puget Sound area Koreatown, better savings/selection on a lot of stuff than regular American supermarkets. Slightly more $ for fresh produce. Mirim, soy sauce, s&s, dried noodles.
  • Watch some youtube videos on food safety, familiarize with the concept of cross-contamination. An amateur can make a lot of easily avoidable mistakes. You don't want food poisoning. Those Kitchen Nightmares episodes where Gordon retches at the sight of a fridge or a countertop, yeah. Don't store/process food like that or in filthy conditions. Keep meats in the meat drawer. Probably better to not slap your dripping bag of steak on top of an item you won't need to cook. I can't believe how many grown adults ignore this common-sense stuff.
  • Find out if you have the kinds of pans you need to season/condition (carbon steel, iron). I like non-sticks, it's my weakness. Do not approach a non-stick with a metal utensil. It will get scratched by proximity.
  • I see you have a knife block. Better option than a cheap-o magnetic strip imo. But knife blocks can harbor bacteria, especially if you put your knives away wet. (Carefully) wash knives before use. Learn how to take care of them. You're 30, and constantly on our backs about us not being married, like you're a grandchild-sick mother of a 22yo. If you're going to be an American Dad with one of your work subordinates, you need to know your way around knives. It's a rule.


Ask advice from someone who better knows what they're doing. I never went to culinary school, I watch videos. There are things I understand in principle that I am not well practiced at (breads). Plenty more I need to learn about.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2022-04-15 11:06:59)

unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Get yourself one of these can openers:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/6124JwKEyZL._AC_SX425_.jpg

So much better than those stupid little knobs, especially for larger cans.

Should I steam them or boil them?
Boiling your vegetables, some of the nutrients will leech their way into the water you just pour down the sink. It's not the end of the world, and I find a boiled vegetable can have a better presentation if the occasion's important.

More reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braising

e: when making pasta, save your noodle water if you're boiling it separately. can mix it into the sauce as a thickener, especially with a good noodle-to-water ratio. refrigerate the rest, can google uses for it. i'm sure i mentioned this before, but here it is again. learn to deal with leftovers in general, be less wasteful.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2022-04-15 13:46:13)

Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX

pirana6 wrote:

Just take a head of lettuce and tear it into bite-sized pieces then cut up whatever veggies you like (also into bite-sized pieces) and boom: salad.

The real fun is the bonus goodies: Hard boiled eggs, beans (garbanzo, pinto, black, etc), crumbled cheese.


You can also do a veggie stir fry: Make white rice then in a separate pan just fry some bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, whatever you like to eat.
Do we need to tell Macbeth to wash all the veggies thoroughly before making a raw salad?

When I cook for myself I stir fry everything. The carbonisation adds to the flavour.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2022-04-15 17:00:41)

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

I'm not entirely sure what all he needs to be told. As far as I'm concerned, he's coming down from ten years of microwaved chicken nuggets. It can't hurt to cover all bases.

I'm sure there are people out there who don't know. The outside of something like a bok choy or cabbage looks clean at the market on the outside, but peeling it apart tells a different story. Mac comes on with two photos of random groceries and then asks what the next step is. *shrug*
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6076|eXtreme to the maX
Pro-tip - Wash some vegetables with salt water, eg broccoli.

Plain water won't encourage some bugs, slugs and caterpillars, to loosen their grip.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
uziq
Member
+492|3422
macbeth what is that cooker? isn't that thing older than the contiguous united states?

i have a lot of questions about your grocery picks, but, first and foremost: why the hell is there a food brand named after the spanish painter Goya?
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689

uziq wrote:

macbeth what is that cooker? isn't that thing older than the contiguous united states?

i have a lot of questions about your grocery picks, but, first and foremost: why the hell is there a food brand named after the spanish painter Goya?
oh wow. You don't know about Goya. I am not surpirsed. It is a famous Hispanic food brand in the U.S. Newbie, Ken, and maybe DesertFox has probably heard of them?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/business … index.html
Goya Foods, Inc. is an American producer of a brand of foods sold in the United States and many Spanish-speaking countries. It has facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Spain. It is under third-generation ownership of the Spanish-American Unanue family, and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Donald_J._Trump_with_Goya_products_on_the_Resolute_Desk_in_the_White_House.jpg
They have a line of canned beans that are good. I didn't buy any since, from what I understand, canned stuffed needs to be avoided.
https://www.wboy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2020/07/6724b88addc54d558bfbd458ce2cb786.jpg
The Goya products were in the Spanish food isle. That is also where they have the Catholic candles and where I found the Pope.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3422
oh yeah.  that rings a bell actually. i remember that story.

re: avoiding canned stuff. afaik some stuff is best when bought in tins. certain types of beans are a good example. i don’t know that it would be better to buy red kidney beans or butter beans in a non-tinned form, for instance.

same with tomatoes. due to the supply chain and canning process, it’s actually sometimes desirable to use tinned tomatoes as the base of a sauce. the tinned versions will actually be fresher and better kept. they taste pretty good that way. you can add fresh ones to supplement the flavour/body/texture/etc.

tinned food isn’t always a worse choice, basically. same with frozen. some fruits and vegetables, particularly the ones which are flash frozen soon after picking, are quite desirable in frozen form for certain dishes. i opt for frozen blueberries these days, for instance, for my yoghurt. the crunchiness is a good addition. and buying fresh fruit in a country where the fruit is already imported, plus with a hot/humid climate that spoils said fruit easily … yeah, frozen is a better choice.

Last edited by uziq (2022-04-16 11:54:24)

unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

If Trump had a single ounce of subtlety he could've just kept a bag of Goya wafers on his desk rather than use his office to shamelessly brand-promote to that extent. Could've been like Reagan's jelly beans. How many jelly beans did he sell to conservatives, I wonder?

^ on frozen, canned. Certain canned foods can be really high in sodium, and some brands really like to lay on other preservatives. I would in fact recommend more canned/frozen stuff to a guy trying to get off the TV dinner train. Probably a bit like dieting, diving ears deep into too much work can probably be tiring and result in regression and a fridge full of rotting produce.

Hopefully we don't get pics of Mac's rotting veggies within ~2-3 weeks.

e: @mac, learn to freeze, maybe get a vacuum sealer once you start getting into meat prep
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I know to wash produce. I made a salad with fresh cut tomato and low fat Italian dressing.
https://i.imgur.com/WUlEa85.png
I wasn't planning on using the tomatoes with the salad. I was instead going to eat the tomatoes as snacks. I also have apples and oranges too. I am seeing what I get a taste for.

I will not be buying anymore Nutrigrain bars.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81QSCxAzCiS._SL1500_.jpg
I get high and eat like 3 in one sitting. They will need to go into a timeout jar and I don't want to get into the habit of timeout jaring my kitchen. I weigh only 150 lbs. I don't need an eating disorder mentality.

I put some grapes in the fringe. Those are nice snacks. Frozen grapes. Try doing that some time.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

If you're like 5'9" 150 lbs is like an ideal BMI 22.

I'm not being critical to be hurtful, but that is a boring salad. If you make too many more like that, you'll get bored quickly and go back to old eating habits.

Try using some dark leafy greens like kale, baby spinach. Julienne some carrots. Snap peas. Try cutting the tomato in eights and then halving them again for better bite sizes. You're not cutting slices for hamburgers. Try some onions and (canned!) chickpeas. Broccoli, kidney beans, peppers, nuts, sesame seeds. Avocado oil, or balsamic vinegar. Diced apples, peel/chop some oranges (canned mandarins are good here). Not listing all this to put into one salad, just some ideas for ingredients.

In other news, I saw a 3080 on Amazon I think for like $1000.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

Cranberry Waldorf Salad
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cra … ad-3341694

Recipe sans massive story time.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I also have Goya olives that I bought with the intention of eating as snacks.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81zjvpsjFZS._SL1500_.jpg
I could get a big salad bowl, put the olives, and tomatoes all together and see what happens?

That's a good deal on the 3080. GPU prices are better now. NVDA stock lost a third of its value once GPU demand went down.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

That's a fine idea. Look up some Mediterranean salad recipes to see what all you have that'll blend together ideally.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I will give a try to canned chickpeas. I like hummus but never had chickpeas.

Also, what brand frozen veggies should I buy? I think I subconsciously picked the Goya frozen ones. The only other brand I remember seeing was ShopRight brand. There must have been other brands. What do you buy?

I will try to eat through this stuff before it goes bad over the next week spring break. I am off from work for the next week for Spring break. I usually eat breakfast and lunch at work. The food is homemade and the prices are basically very cheap since it is school food.

Uzique wrote:

christ you eat school food everyday omfg lol
The quality of the lunches is actually pretty good. I was tempted to take a picture of one earlier this week and post it here because of how well it looked and was balanced. The teacher cafe has a salad bar, and a lady who does sandwiches and wraps. You can buy coffee and get breakfast and lunch there for cheap. Imagine paying $2 for something that would cost $6 or $7 if you bought it from a local small business. I am a regular at the teacher cafe. It is actually a great place to not only hang out with and network with other teachers and also lady support staff. That is where I met the lady security guard and the new substitute teacher.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
I wish I bought bananas. I like those. Good snacks or light breakfast.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
KEN-JENNINGS
I am all that is MOD!
+2,973|6602|949

I have been looking for a wok for a bit and last night I dreamt that I bought one and I remember being so happy about it in my dream. Then I woke up and immediately thought about it and it made me sad.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6741|PNW

SuperJail Warden wrote:

I wish I bought bananas. I like those. Good snacks or light breakfast.
Don't they have fresh fruit at your school?
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
They do though I haven't seen fruit out on display. Maybe at the salad bar?

Anyhow, I made a Mediterranean salad with fresh diced tomatoed and olives.
https://i.imgur.com/sjgM1QC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg

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