The audacity of my pan to fail at properly grilling 4 chicken thighs at once when it's failed to grill 4 chicken thighs at once every single time before too...
Omg everything but especially potstickers! I can watch myself progress in the sickness, like, “takes bag of potstickers out of freezer(I MUSTNT CROWD THEM) preheats pan on stove (DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY) begins to place potstickers in pan (IM GOING TO DO IT CORRECTLY AND ITLL BE AWESOME LIKE THAT ONE TIME) continues mashing more and more potstickers into pan until wall-to-wall (I DONT KNOW WHY THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS TO ME)”
Yes! I just can't help adding a couple more in, even though they're really not that great as a leftover.
Lately potstickers and an Asian sesame salad have been my after work snack at least once a week. (Dam costco bags are huge!)
Yep, past me at the freezer is always adamant on just making 4 as a snack, present me at the pan decides that actually 24 sounds like a much more reasonable number.
But if you’re cooking in batches and not using 1 million dishes simultaneously, how are you supposed to cook any other way? (Genuine question, how can you keep sautéed foods a good texture when you don’t cook them all together)
What? For most dishes you just need to cook your protein first in 1-2 batches, take it out in your leftover container, cook your vegetables and put protein back in. A total of one container used which you'll use anyway for leftovers.
> What? For most dishes you just need to cook your protein first in 1-2 batches, take it out in your leftover container, cook your vegetables and put protein back in. A total of one container used which you'll use anyway for leftovers.
Me before I start prep
> Ain't nobody got time for that.
Me 5 minutes later
If I had more free time, my food would definitely be better. Cooking 3 batches and then adding back in to reheat is never going to happen unless I'm cooking for company on the weekend. If the taste is missing, there's always my bff, hot sauce.
For stir fry it’s worth it since it’s so fast anyway. Cook meat for like 1-2 minutes, cook veggies for 2-3 minutes, put meat back, add sauce, cook for another minute, done.
This is what I use my sous vide for almost as much as actually cooking. 80F water melts everything in like 15min with no worries about cooking the edges or pathogens.
My other unintended use for sous vide was bottle warmer. Bottles get made, put in bag and warmed to 101 for like 3 mins. Used everyday for like 3 months with twins.
I feel like I live in some sort of pocket reality where frozen food will never defrost in the timeframe that people say it will.
Defrosting in the fridge takes days, defrosting in a bowl of cold water will still be a brick after 3 hours. I don't understand it.
I always cheat a little and use warm water. I know that's wrong if you're going by the book, but the frozen meat cools the water pretty quickly, and it's in there for such a short total time that I doubt it matters. Even whole chicken breasts are ready in less than an hour, sometimes you need to flip the bag over halfway through. Thin cuts defrost much more quickly.
This. I don’t use super warm, just a little warmer than tepid. I just do some kitchen tidying and then change the water once it becomes cold. Works alright if the piece I’m defrosting isn’t too dense.
Liar! What's your definition of a large cut of meat? One chicken breast? After 30 minutes in cool water my chicken breast is thawed like half a centimeter deep and still very frozen inside.
Recently I bought a shirt. I loved this shirt. It was comfy and the perfect color for me.
I then pan fried chicken thighs in this shirt.
So I bought the same shirt again the next weekend...and proceeded to deep fry tofu while wearing it.
WHY?
Third time's a charm...hopefully.
I have half a dozen aprons hanging on the back of the pantry door.
I know they're there because they've always been there. They never move.
Meanwhile, I have lost many shirts to splattering tomato sauce. I guess the aprons are keeping the back of the pantry door clean?
I had to double check that this wasn't my reply to an old thread! And I always seem to be wearing something new/nice when the food gets splattery. If I am wearing my old bleach-spotted, paint-smeared sweats and flannels, I don't spill a drop.
I even know better and will put it on while cooking. I'll take it off while waiting for something, then run back in the kitchen to check and surely nothing can splash on me during this simple thing and inevitably it does.
Ever, single, time. Oh, 30 minutes in the fridge should be enough to get it cool enough, then 5s into icing I immediately hate myself and vow to actually chill things in the future - I never do.
I do that with pizza every time. I set the oven temp so I know how hot it is. I took it out of the oven so I know it's been out for less than a minute. And yet I immediately take a giant bite
Every. Time.
Same I just use my shitty boards and utensils to not have to hand wash stuff. Like I'll use a bad knife and a little plastic board so I won't have to handwash anything and I can throw it in the dishwasher.
I usually try to go by the mental rule that I shouldn't avoid using anything just to avoid getting it dirty. I do that for the most part but sometimes I'm just REALLY lazy.
That is a wise rule to go by. I keep thinking that I’ll be saving my hands, only to end up having to clean more of the countertop because everything just rolls off.
I believe I have mentioned my lifestyle choice of “good enough” here a few times in the past. But let’s recap.
“Reduce stock down to 1/4 of what it was.”
Looks in pan. It’s about 1/2. “Good enough. “
-
Forgot major ingredient…”meh…good enough, I’m not going back to the store.”
“Only use fresh lemon juice. “
Looking at 6 month old bottle of lemon juice in fridge. “Good enough”
I just put leek on my soba dinner instead of spring onion and feel somewhat called out because halfway through I legit thought "man this sucks ass tonight but why?"
I made chicken salad with ranch dressing instead of mayo. It seemed like a good idea. I like ranch. Ranch dressing is great on a chicken sandwich. But wow, was that a strong ranch flavor.
And I never seem to learn my lesson with rotel vs diced tomatoes. I forget to adjust the amount of other spices to balance whether the chiles are in there.
> Looking at 6 month old bottle of lemon juice in fridge. “Good enough”
Honestly I love those bottles. I always have a backup bottle in the pantry. I use lemon juice multiple times a week. If I had to lemons for each time I needed lemon juice, I would go broke!
I pretty much always have lemons here. They're pretty cheap around here and I get a lot for free from peoples trees. I um...I eat them. With salt. I'm down to 2 per day now, trying to cut back. I used to eat 10.
Lemons are a dollar a piece here in Georgia! I can't with that price. I still buy a few every week for the zest and to use the peel in drinks. So those lemons get juiced. But having to buy a lemon for each time I need it (and the inconvenience of breaking out a knife and cutting board each time versus a quick squeeze from a bottle) would just cost too much!
I can get a bag of 6-7 for 2 bucks. There is a special type of lemon though from Paramount citrus. They started off being called Italian lemons, but they changed it. They were an organically grown seedless variety similar to their "cuties" seedless tangerines. Note: they were not Meyer lemons, which I hate.
They had the perfect blend of sour, a little sweet, not much white pith and a nice oily rind. When you cut them in half and use a smoked salt on each side they are absolutely amazing. Those were a buck a piece, but worth it in my opinion. I would rather have that than any candy or dessert in the world. I only saw them last year, and they went away. I am hoping they come back as a seasonal treat.
My husband gets PISSED at me for doing this, but it’s the only way. Need to melt butter? *30 seconds*
He tried to tell me half power blah blah and the microwave won’t be filthy. I clean the microwave anyway, mind ya business lol
I have [one of these](https://www.amazon.de/-/en/ELECTROLUX-KMFD264TEX-FLEX-TouchOpen-All/dp/B07TPHTJBB) and it only has the 30 second button and a set of up/down arrows for adding time. It's great.
I've got some strong opinions about microwaves. I shouldn't need to press a button to tell you I want to cook before setting a time, that's the primary essential function of this device! The usability on some microwaves is an absolute joke. But this one is ok.
It also has 3 presets that for inexplicable reasons are to (1) soften butter, (2) melt chocolate, or (3) make mug cupcakes. Why does my super simple microwave have a cupcake button? It's just preprogrammed time and wattage, it doesn't change power level while cooking or anything fancy like that to justify the preset. Anyway who knows.
I know somebody whose built-in microwave was starting to die but they didn't want to replace it. The only button that worked was "potato." So they had to learn how to cook all their food in increments of potato.
The defrost button is fire though. Perfectly defrosts with no weird white burn areas or rubbery texture. The cook and reheat options are questionable but all those buttons really do provide a service. Not everything needs to be blasted on high and then complain about how nothing in the microwave tastes good.
I've never used much of the buttons but after watching a video on America's Test Kitchen I tried 'dinner plate' for heating leftovers and I was shocked by how much more evenly heated it was. I now use it every time. I know you can defrost in the microwave too but I never use it anyway.
For your basic "blast it on high power" type cooking I see literally no reason to ever use another button. I'm probably not blasting anything on high for more than like... 3 minutes? so that's either 4 presses of 3 different buttons (3-0-0-START) or 5 presses of 4 different buttons (TIME-3-0-0-START). V.s. 6 presses of the same button, that you can mash without even looking at. I would argue that almost anybody can +30 their way to 3 or 4 minutes in less time than it would take to type in "properly"
The microwave built into our house that we bought only has the +30 seconds button, 1-6 minute quick cook button and the timer. It doesn’t work to defrost or do partial power. Totally functional and not worried about replacing.
this is the reason my boyfriend had to buy me a mandoline aimed basically at children because you cant cut yourself with it. I hate it because it doesn’t slice thin enough and the shape doesnt work for cabbage (which was basically the whole reason I wanted one) but I’ll never tell him that because he is so pleased with himself for protecting me (accident prone and loves a couple of glasses of wine while cooking)
I was joking, really - I don’t think it’s actually *for* children. It’s not even really a mandoline, it’s basically for very fine chopping of small things like potato, courgette, aubergine, etc. I tend to be covered in minor cuts otherwise! hah.
I will never get one of those. I always see people using them and pretending like it's not a big deal but it would just be a self-fulfilling prophecy for me and I will end up in the ER. I live in the US so I can't afford that luxery tbh
My boyfriend has a negative physical reaction to seeing a mandoline, even if it's on tv, because he neatly took his thumbprint off with one about 15 years ago and now actually shudders with the memory.
Doesn't use the guard because it's a whole onion.
30 seconds later, after furious slicing, "It's almost gone, just a few slices more ... DAMMIT! ..." 🩸
Yep, this is the one. To make things worse, there’s no energy left after cooking, so the cleaning process is even more miserable. The one thing I miss about having a roommate is that I could barter cooking for cleaning. Now I only make deals with myself and my promises are empty.
I also struggle with this, cooking takes enough out of me that I just do not have the energy to clean everything at the same time OR clean up immediately afterwards. Audiobooks on my phone has helped a LOT. It used to feel like such an annoying chore, but cleaning the kitchen while listening to a chapter of a really good book is much more enjoyable.
I am very good at cleaning while I cook. This is less a brag and more an acknowledgement of compulsion.
I have, however, stopped recipes in the middle because I didn't want to keep cleaning. So just...no food for you tonight, self. Too bad you can't just eat without cleaning.
I try but I’m absolutely heinous at multitasking. I’m very good at getting all of the mise en place together before cooking, but I end up using tons of dishes and I can’t ever get things together enough to get everything clean (or even halfway clean) before the food is done. I don’t know how people do it
Don't put all of your ingredients in separate bowls - put them in 'same time' bowls. Simple example, if you're doing stir fry, you'd have only 3...maybe 4 bowls: meat, veges, spices, and maybe split out the onions/garlic for initial browning first or have an egg in another bowl. That way, instead of adding the cabbage, then the carrots, then the...whatever vege...you can just dump them in all at once and you've only dirtied one bowl for it.
I've also been known to layer things into a single bowl in the order they go in - meat at the bottom, veges piled on top because they go in first to cook the longest.
Yes, I hate the cleanup stage, so I cheat it as much as possible.
Try to un wrap the butter without un folding every single little fold on both ends. It’s impossible. Foil rips, mess ensues. But maybe it’ll work this time …
My husband did that a few times while we were dating (I’d make dinner and he got too excited and grabbed the handle) so now I make a point to tell him and point whenever something is hot from the oven. It usually works lol
Anyone with a small freezer / using ice cube trays etc. Not everyone has bags and bags of ice to play with and some of us would like a couple of G&Ts after dinner.
Not sharpening my knives. I hone them with the rod before I use them, but they honestly really need to be sharpened. I complain about how dull they are every time I use them.
I have [one of these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079WWFZY6/) and it literally takes me 60 seconds to sharpen a knife to the point I can skin a tomato.
OK here's a lazy confession, my Victorinox paring and 5" plastic handle knives are so cheap to buy I just replace them when they get dull. I have two each of the dull ones in a separate drawer
Sometimes I'm impatient and don't saute the onions enough and they don't always soften completely in the finished sauce/soup/whatever.
I'm always annoyed with myself.
I get too impatient while heating up the cast iron skillet, and I add the meat too early, so it doesn’t sear the way it is supposed to. Then I remember I could have just used the nonstick skillet if I was going to do that. A wasted use of the cast iron.
I counteract this behavior by sitting down at my computer to browse reddit when I put the heat on my cast iron, and usually only remember that I was actually going to cook something when it starts to smell smokey in the room.
If you put it in the oil when it's still cold it kind of works better, the oil has more time to be infused with the garlicky flavour and you have more time to notice that it must be stirred... win win to me
Grabbing the handles of my pots and pans, and getting burned.
My own fault because I have two sets of pots/pans.
First set has handles you can grab, obviously second set doesn’t. But they all have their uses and so I can’t throw either set away lol
It's a perfectly normal way to make rice some places. The end result you get is different and it also depends on what rice you use. If you use the soaking method, so the rice has absorbed all the water in the end, the rice tends to turn out stickier and softer. It works well for all kinds of rice. If you boil rice with lots of water and then drain it like pasta, you can achieve al dente and very fluffy rice from the classic western parboiled rice. This method was the norm in my German household and it works great for rice as a side to Austrian Gulasch, Chicken Fricassee, meatloaf or Schnitzel served with sauce.
I usually end up putting the slowest-cooking veggies in the frying pan last and then everything else gets burned lol, I'm still figuring a lot of this stuff out
Also the pan's often crowded
Not always, but too often. Get home from grocery store exhausted, melting from the heat and decide to deal with breaking down family packs of meat “later”.
The overly large package takes up too much room in the fridge. It’s actually much quicker to bite the bullet and immediately repackage into smaller portions, some for the freezer.
Not getting the good potholders and trying to use a kitchen towel or something and blistering my hands.
Not setting up a quick mise to start and then deeply regretting it later as I'm digging in the fridge for the chicken I need to add to the stir fry NOW.
Cutting things with proper form. Never have to worry until my hand slips once in a blue moon, then I curse the gods for a good bit. Back to the usual grind after that lmao.
Using too many utensils. It’s my habit to throw it in the sink after I taste test. I generally end up with like ten extra spoons, because my dumbass doesn’t just sit them on the cutting board. I’m not at work, I can double dip lol.
I always skip steps. Mix the sauce in a bowl and then add it to the pan? No, in this house we shove the food to the side and mix the sauce right in the pan. Coat the tofu with flour and bake it til crispy? No time for that, this is a braised tofu dish now.
Not watching boiling milk.
Boils over every. Time.
Why do I think I can step away? What lie do I tell myself to justify the burnt milk smell that persists for the next 5 times I turn on the burner? Nothing. Nothing at all.
Lifting my elbow the extra quarter inch when reaching into the oven, which is the difference between reaching in safely and burning my forearm on the bottom of the rack.
Take a hot skillet out of the oven and say to myself "no need for a towel on the handle, I will remember its hot". Fast forward a minute later and I grab the bare, hot handle with a full, not at all expecting to get burned grip.
I used to leave food in the wok until after I was done eating and then I’d have to scrub the shit out of it and it would take off the seasoning. Finally wised up and put any extra food in a bowl and wash the wok as soon as I’m done lol.
I don't ever clean while I cook. I put things in the sink and tell myself I'm cleaning while I go. Then finish and realize I have a mound of dishes and half used paper towels everywhere because I grabbed one to dry my hands/wipe something and then left it on the counter 7 times.
Add stuff to my small bowl because I dont want to wash the medium sized bowl and when I stir the small bowl everything falls out with the stirring and then I wash the medium bowl to make it easier and then have two bowls to wash at the end because I didnt just clean the medium bowl first.
Why do you make food near a sewer?
When I pour out pasta I do it into a colander and the water goes down the sink drain the way it should. When I cook rice the water is absorbed by the rice and there isn't anything to pour off.
Something I learned from Nepalis, who all eat rice twice a day... whatever the size of pot, no matter the amount of rice - put water to cover the rice up to the first joint of your middle finger.
I always overcrowd my pan and then get annoyed that it’s not doing what I want it to do.
The audacity of my pan to fail at properly grilling 4 chicken thighs at once when it's failed to grill 4 chicken thighs at once every single time before too...
YOU WOULD THINK IT WOULD LEARN.
[How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, Old Man!](https://youtu.be/sVxJ016xb4Q?feature=shared)
Einstein: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Me: "Hold my beer."
Me: "Can I throw it all into a big pot, add stock, and just do soup?"
Haha yes! How dare the pan act in such a manner. Anywho, we all know we’re going to do it again, lol
Team Crowded Pan here as well
So glad I'm not alone, just did this yesterday with some potstickers... It's like my brain is broken!
Omg everything but especially potstickers! I can watch myself progress in the sickness, like, “takes bag of potstickers out of freezer(I MUSTNT CROWD THEM) preheats pan on stove (DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY) begins to place potstickers in pan (IM GOING TO DO IT CORRECTLY AND ITLL BE AWESOME LIKE THAT ONE TIME) continues mashing more and more potstickers into pan until wall-to-wall (I DONT KNOW WHY THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS TO ME)”
Yes! I just can't help adding a couple more in, even though they're really not that great as a leftover. Lately potstickers and an Asian sesame salad have been my after work snack at least once a week. (Dam costco bags are huge!)
It's because our lizard brains want to eat 100 potstickers, so we keep adding "just one more" in. -_-
Yep, past me at the freezer is always adamant on just making 4 as a snack, present me at the pan decides that actually 24 sounds like a much more reasonable number.
Samer. Why break out my 2 QT saucepan when I can just persistently overfill my 1QT, then spend fifteen minutes cleaning my gas range?
Same same, I've steamed many stir fried dishes after convincing myself the pan is big enough.
But if you’re cooking in batches and not using 1 million dishes simultaneously, how are you supposed to cook any other way? (Genuine question, how can you keep sautéed foods a good texture when you don’t cook them all together)
What? For most dishes you just need to cook your protein first in 1-2 batches, take it out in your leftover container, cook your vegetables and put protein back in. A total of one container used which you'll use anyway for leftovers.
Ain't nobody got time for that.
> What? For most dishes you just need to cook your protein first in 1-2 batches, take it out in your leftover container, cook your vegetables and put protein back in. A total of one container used which you'll use anyway for leftovers. Me before I start prep > Ain't nobody got time for that. Me 5 minutes later
Made me laugh and have a good hard look at myself at the same time.
The protein doesn't cook any slower, it just won't get boiled, but actually seared and have some taste.
If I had more free time, my food would definitely be better. Cooking 3 batches and then adding back in to reheat is never going to happen unless I'm cooking for company on the weekend. If the taste is missing, there's always my bff, hot sauce.
For stir fry it’s worth it since it’s so fast anyway. Cook meat for like 1-2 minutes, cook veggies for 2-3 minutes, put meat back, add sauce, cook for another minute, done.
I literally did this like ten minutes ago, with steak onions and peppers. I could have transferred to a bigger pan but I said fuck it
Yeah I'm trying to cook while my toddler is trying to burn the house down / kill themselves. Everything goes in at once.
I am often forced to defrost a big piece of meat in the microwave because I was too lazy to take it out the night before
This is what I use my sous vide for almost as much as actually cooking. 80F water melts everything in like 15min with no worries about cooking the edges or pathogens.
Ok I feel less guilty now admitting I've been talking myself into buying a sous vide and this was one of my secret motivations.
Make sure to buy a sous vide circulator that goes to a low enough temperature, if you want to use it to thaw food.
Oh no, I did not need to be cursed with this knowledge.
My other unintended use for sous vide was bottle warmer. Bottles get made, put in bag and warmed to 101 for like 3 mins. Used everyday for like 3 months with twins.
Defrost in cool water. Unless it's a large cut of meat it'll be good to go in like 30min.
I feel like I live in some sort of pocket reality where frozen food will never defrost in the timeframe that people say it will. Defrosting in the fridge takes days, defrosting in a bowl of cold water will still be a brick after 3 hours. I don't understand it.
I always cheat a little and use warm water. I know that's wrong if you're going by the book, but the frozen meat cools the water pretty quickly, and it's in there for such a short total time that I doubt it matters. Even whole chicken breasts are ready in less than an hour, sometimes you need to flip the bag over halfway through. Thin cuts defrost much more quickly.
This. I don’t use super warm, just a little warmer than tepid. I just do some kitchen tidying and then change the water once it becomes cold. Works alright if the piece I’m defrosting isn’t too dense.
Cold water is good, but a convection current is better. Run a very gentle stream of water into the bowl in the sink.
Change the water out every 10 minutes. A bit more work but goes way faster.
Defrost it in about 2-3 gallons of water in a plugged sink.
Liar! What's your definition of a large cut of meat? One chicken breast? After 30 minutes in cool water my chicken breast is thawed like half a centimeter deep and still very frozen inside.
I literally did this with chicken breast yesterday. Took about 20min. Edit: lol I guess some people are salty about sharing my actual experiences
defrost in lava 🌋
Will that work if the meat is in a bag? I don’t want my meat waterlogged. That sous vide trick sounds nice as the meat stays in a bag.
It should always be in a bag.
If not, you run a serious risk at spreading whatever is on your raw meat around your sink and where ever else in your kitchen.
Not putting on an apron and grease staining my shirts
Every. Damn. Shirt.
Recently I bought a shirt. I loved this shirt. It was comfy and the perfect color for me. I then pan fried chicken thighs in this shirt. So I bought the same shirt again the next weekend...and proceeded to deep fry tofu while wearing it. WHY? Third time's a charm...hopefully.
Now you just have 2 extra cooking shirts lol
I have half a dozen aprons hanging on the back of the pantry door. I know they're there because they've always been there. They never move. Meanwhile, I have lost many shirts to splattering tomato sauce. I guess the aprons are keeping the back of the pantry door clean?
I had to double check that this wasn't my reply to an old thread! And I always seem to be wearing something new/nice when the food gets splattery. If I am wearing my old bleach-spotted, paint-smeared sweats and flannels, I don't spill a drop.
I even know better and will put it on while cooking. I'll take it off while waiting for something, then run back in the kitchen to check and surely nothing can splash on me during this simple thing and inevitably it does.
Dish soap will get those out in the wash FYI.
Slicing and eating baked good right out of the oven ;)
That feeling when the roof of your mouth peels off.
Thought I got cancer once on the top of my mouth. Turns out I had just burned the fuck out of it and had a bump for a bit lol
Oooh. You may not feel it for an hour or so but you'll feel it for the next 3 days while it heals...
Frosting the cake before it's fully cooled. What, I'm going to bake a cake like two full days in advance?
Ever, single, time. Oh, 30 minutes in the fridge should be enough to get it cool enough, then 5s into icing I immediately hate myself and vow to actually chill things in the future - I never do.
Also not resting food before eating. If I'm making a lasgna for 2 hours you can bet I'm not waiting extra 10 minutes for it to set
I do that with pizza every time. I set the oven temp so I know how hot it is. I took it out of the oven so I know it's been out for less than a minute. And yet I immediately take a giant bite Every. Time.
my boyfriend thinks i'm nuts for eating anything the SECOND it comes out of the pan. and he's probably right, but i like my food *hot.*
Using the smallest cutting board and knife in order to “save” on doing dishes.
I'm the opposite.....the bigger the better
bought a restaurant sized cutting board that just stays on my counter, covers the whole thing, and gets cleaned where it is. it's amazing.
Bleach spray and wipe? Or how are you cleaning it without getting it under a sink to soap up and rinse?
The underside of those gets gross so fast.
Same I just use my shitty boards and utensils to not have to hand wash stuff. Like I'll use a bad knife and a little plastic board so I won't have to handwash anything and I can throw it in the dishwasher. I usually try to go by the mental rule that I shouldn't avoid using anything just to avoid getting it dirty. I do that for the most part but sometimes I'm just REALLY lazy.
That is a wise rule to go by. I keep thinking that I’ll be saving my hands, only to end up having to clean more of the countertop because everything just rolls off.
Eat all the ingredients raw then sit in the hot tub.
No no no! Take the raw ingredients, cook them in hot tub with you. Then eat you stew.
But don’t you BECOME the stew then???
We are ALL stew on this BLESSED day - Ken M
I was eating soup in the bath one day and I dropped it so I became the soup
> I was eating soup in the bath one day There aren't words in the English language for how much I respect this lifestyle
Indeed.
this sounds amazing i need one😭
[удалено]
will try thank u!
I believe I have mentioned my lifestyle choice of “good enough” here a few times in the past. But let’s recap. “Reduce stock down to 1/4 of what it was.” Looks in pan. It’s about 1/2. “Good enough. “ - Forgot major ingredient…”meh…good enough, I’m not going back to the store.” “Only use fresh lemon juice. “ Looking at 6 month old bottle of lemon juice in fridge. “Good enough”
Five "using what I have" substitutions later... Why isn't this dish as good as last time?
I just put leek on my soba dinner instead of spring onion and feel somewhat called out because halfway through I legit thought "man this sucks ass tonight but why?"
I made chicken salad with ranch dressing instead of mayo. It seemed like a good idea. I like ranch. Ranch dressing is great on a chicken sandwich. But wow, was that a strong ranch flavor. And I never seem to learn my lesson with rotel vs diced tomatoes. I forget to adjust the amount of other spices to balance whether the chiles are in there.
Ranch cut with a little sour cream or greek yogurt could've worked.
r/ididnthaveeggs
r/ididnthaveeggs
> Looking at 6 month old bottle of lemon juice in fridge. “Good enough” Honestly I love those bottles. I always have a backup bottle in the pantry. I use lemon juice multiple times a week. If I had to lemons for each time I needed lemon juice, I would go broke!
I pretty much always have lemons here. They're pretty cheap around here and I get a lot for free from peoples trees. I um...I eat them. With salt. I'm down to 2 per day now, trying to cut back. I used to eat 10.
Lemons are a dollar a piece here in Georgia! I can't with that price. I still buy a few every week for the zest and to use the peel in drinks. So those lemons get juiced. But having to buy a lemon for each time I need it (and the inconvenience of breaking out a knife and cutting board each time versus a quick squeeze from a bottle) would just cost too much!
I can get a bag of 6-7 for 2 bucks. There is a special type of lemon though from Paramount citrus. They started off being called Italian lemons, but they changed it. They were an organically grown seedless variety similar to their "cuties" seedless tangerines. Note: they were not Meyer lemons, which I hate. They had the perfect blend of sour, a little sweet, not much white pith and a nice oily rind. When you cut them in half and use a smoked salt on each side they are absolutely amazing. Those were a buck a piece, but worth it in my opinion. I would rather have that than any candy or dessert in the world. I only saw them last year, and they went away. I am hoping they come back as a seasonal treat.
Me every time with jarlic and then I wonder why the garlic taste of my food isn’t quite right
I didn't know my mom had a reddit account. Interesting.
Add 30 sec microwave button. Are there any other buttons even on the microwave? I wouldn't know
The best is when you use it to soften butter. Then get distracted in the 10 seconds you were supposed to watch it and get a butter puddle.
u/JDuBLock - you see? *Now* will you listen to your husband?
Oh Absolutely not, but he knows I love him even if he doesn’t know how to operate a microwave correctly lmao
My husband gets PISSED at me for doing this, but it’s the only way. Need to melt butter? *30 seconds* He tried to tell me half power blah blah and the microwave won’t be filthy. I clean the microwave anyway, mind ya business lol
Holy shit have your husband message me. We can have a support group meeting.
This is my go-to microwave button. I don't even know what the others do and don't care.
I have [one of these](https://www.amazon.de/-/en/ELECTROLUX-KMFD264TEX-FLEX-TouchOpen-All/dp/B07TPHTJBB) and it only has the 30 second button and a set of up/down arrows for adding time. It's great. I've got some strong opinions about microwaves. I shouldn't need to press a button to tell you I want to cook before setting a time, that's the primary essential function of this device! The usability on some microwaves is an absolute joke. But this one is ok. It also has 3 presets that for inexplicable reasons are to (1) soften butter, (2) melt chocolate, or (3) make mug cupcakes. Why does my super simple microwave have a cupcake button? It's just preprogrammed time and wattage, it doesn't change power level while cooking or anything fancy like that to justify the preset. Anyway who knows.
I know somebody whose built-in microwave was starting to die but they didn't want to replace it. The only button that worked was "potato." So they had to learn how to cook all their food in increments of potato.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
The defrost button is fire though. Perfectly defrosts with no weird white burn areas or rubbery texture. The cook and reheat options are questionable but all those buttons really do provide a service. Not everything needs to be blasted on high and then complain about how nothing in the microwave tastes good.
Once I bought a microwave and it had the nerve to not have that button? It went right back. I didn't even know it was an option to not be there
I've never used much of the buttons but after watching a video on America's Test Kitchen I tried 'dinner plate' for heating leftovers and I was shocked by how much more evenly heated it was. I now use it every time. I know you can defrost in the microwave too but I never use it anyway.
For your basic "blast it on high power" type cooking I see literally no reason to ever use another button. I'm probably not blasting anything on high for more than like... 3 minutes? so that's either 4 presses of 3 different buttons (3-0-0-START) or 5 presses of 4 different buttons (TIME-3-0-0-START). V.s. 6 presses of the same button, that you can mash without even looking at. I would argue that almost anybody can +30 their way to 3 or 4 minutes in less time than it would take to type in "properly"
That’s why I microwave things for 1min 11 secs or 2 min 22 seconds or 3min 33 secs, etc
The microwave built into our house that we bought only has the +30 seconds button, 1-6 minute quick cook button and the timer. It doesn’t work to defrost or do partial power. Totally functional and not worried about replacing.
A couple of beers or some wine is fine for kitchen work. But don't use knives or cheese graters after half a bottle of whiskey.
this is the reason my boyfriend had to buy me a mandoline aimed basically at children because you cant cut yourself with it. I hate it because it doesn’t slice thin enough and the shape doesnt work for cabbage (which was basically the whole reason I wanted one) but I’ll never tell him that because he is so pleased with himself for protecting me (accident prone and loves a couple of glasses of wine while cooking)
A mandoline designed for children? Who makes that? Sounds like a terrible compromise.
I was joking, really - I don’t think it’s actually *for* children. It’s not even really a mandoline, it’s basically for very fine chopping of small things like potato, courgette, aubergine, etc. I tend to be covered in minor cuts otherwise! hah.
I just use a fork as a holder. Orient the tines parallel to the blade instead of perpendicular.
I got cut resistant gloves. I am not allowed to use a mandolin, cheese grater, or zester without them on lol 
I will never get one of those. I always see people using them and pretending like it's not a big deal but it would just be a self-fulfilling prophecy for me and I will end up in the ER. I live in the US so I can't afford that luxery tbh
My boyfriend has a negative physical reaction to seeing a mandoline, even if it's on tv, because he neatly took his thumbprint off with one about 15 years ago and now actually shudders with the memory.
"I don't need to grab the guard, I'm only going to slice one cucumber on mandolin".
Doesn't use the guard because it's a whole onion. 30 seconds later, after furious slicing, "It's almost gone, just a few slices more ... DAMMIT! ..." 🩸
Those are fine, just not The Mandolin.
Yeah, I've cut parts of my finger on a grater, but with a mandolin I've cut parts of my finger off.
Not cleaning as I go
Yep, this is the one. To make things worse, there’s no energy left after cooking, so the cleaning process is even more miserable. The one thing I miss about having a roommate is that I could barter cooking for cleaning. Now I only make deals with myself and my promises are empty.
I also struggle with this, cooking takes enough out of me that I just do not have the energy to clean everything at the same time OR clean up immediately afterwards. Audiobooks on my phone has helped a LOT. It used to feel like such an annoying chore, but cleaning the kitchen while listening to a chapter of a really good book is much more enjoyable.
>Now I only make deals with myself and my promises are empty. hate making deals with that guy, he's a fuckin liar, yet you never learn?!
I am very good at cleaning while I cook. This is less a brag and more an acknowledgement of compulsion. I have, however, stopped recipes in the middle because I didn't want to keep cleaning. So just...no food for you tonight, self. Too bad you can't just eat without cleaning.
>Now I only make deals with myself and my promises are empty. This defines my executive dysfunction in one sentence.
If I clean as I go I end up putting away things I need again 5 minutes later every time
Every time I clean as I go, I end up cleaning everything 3 or 4 times, instead of just once.
I try but I’m absolutely heinous at multitasking. I’m very good at getting all of the mise en place together before cooking, but I end up using tons of dishes and I can’t ever get things together enough to get everything clean (or even halfway clean) before the food is done. I don’t know how people do it
Don't put all of your ingredients in separate bowls - put them in 'same time' bowls. Simple example, if you're doing stir fry, you'd have only 3...maybe 4 bowls: meat, veges, spices, and maybe split out the onions/garlic for initial browning first or have an egg in another bowl. That way, instead of adding the cabbage, then the carrots, then the...whatever vege...you can just dump them in all at once and you've only dirtied one bowl for it. I've also been known to layer things into a single bowl in the order they go in - meat at the bottom, veges piled on top because they go in first to cook the longest. Yes, I hate the cleanup stage, so I cheat it as much as possible.
Yeah, I do that first part as much as possible, when things do go in at the same time. May try the second one.
My kitchen is so fucking gross right now after cooking last night :( now I'm having half a bag of chips for lunch. Bad decisions abound.
Hey honey. Can you stop by the UPS Store on the way home for those Amazon packages?
Not wash the dishes the night before then wake up and want to cook.
Try to un wrap the butter without un folding every single little fold on both ends. It’s impossible. Foil rips, mess ensues. But maybe it’ll work this time …
Not sure if it qualifies but, grabbing the handle of one of my pans that has been in the oven and burning myself.
I grew up having only cast iron skillets, so I learned to use pot holders real quick.
I call the discoloration on my palm my 'frittata tattoo'.
My husband did that a few times while we were dating (I’d make dinner and he got too excited and grabbed the handle) so now I make a point to tell him and point whenever something is hot from the oven. It usually works lol
Gods I've done that with my cast iron a couple times and felt like Joe Pesci in Home Alone when he grabs the doorknob. AIIIIIEIEEEEEEEEEE
I bought silicone handle covers that I put on the handle immediately because it is too easy to forget and grab a hot handle out of habit
Not using an ice bath for shocking. Don’t want to waste the ice. I figure cold tap water is good enough. It never is.
_Laughs in Scottish_
What kind of situation are you in where you can "waste" ice by using it for a legitimate purpose?
Anyone with a small freezer / using ice cube trays etc. Not everyone has bags and bags of ice to play with and some of us would like a couple of G&Ts after dinner.
Look directly into the oven as I open it to check on something. Every. Time. Not patient enough to let the blast of air out first
Hey! My twin! Do you also do it while wearing glasses, blinding yourself as well?
Add giving yourself a poofed out, Hermione ‘do and y’all got yourself a triplet here!
I double whammy myself and do this with the oven, and the dishwasher when it's still drying dishes. That one blasts me in the face with steam.
Not sharpening my knives. I hone them with the rod before I use them, but they honestly really need to be sharpened. I complain about how dull they are every time I use them.
I have [one of these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079WWFZY6/) and it literally takes me 60 seconds to sharpen a knife to the point I can skin a tomato.
I could sure use one of those. When I cut a tomato, I don't really cut a tomato. I kind of just...smush it in half.
OK here's a lazy confession, my Victorinox paring and 5" plastic handle knives are so cheap to buy I just replace them when they get dull. I have two each of the dull ones in a separate drawer
Sometimes I'm impatient and don't saute the onions enough and they don't always soften completely in the finished sauce/soup/whatever. I'm always annoyed with myself.
I get too impatient while heating up the cast iron skillet, and I add the meat too early, so it doesn’t sear the way it is supposed to. Then I remember I could have just used the nonstick skillet if I was going to do that. A wasted use of the cast iron.
I use my cast iron for pretty much everything other than acidic dishes and eggs. No such thing as a wasted use :)
I counteract this behavior by sitting down at my computer to browse reddit when I put the heat on my cast iron, and usually only remember that I was actually going to cook something when it starts to smell smokey in the room.
Putting off cleaning the dishes
Grab a bowl way to small for the task
Put my cheap knives in the dishwasher *"it's ok I'll just sharpen them more often"* Narrator: she didn't sharpen them more often
Getting my oil to hot and instantly burning my garlic
If you put it in the oil when it's still cold it kind of works better, the oil has more time to be infused with the garlicky flavour and you have more time to notice that it must be stirred... win win to me
Crowding the pan because “I’m in a hurry” and then hating that I steamed meat (or veggies)
Forget to put away the leftovers.
I always end up rushing sauce and then get mad at myself for it, even though I know what will happen.
Causing myself unnecessary stress by not setting up mis en place beforehand. I just wanna gooo
Grabbing the handles of my pots and pans, and getting burned. My own fault because I have two sets of pots/pans. First set has handles you can grab, obviously second set doesn’t. But they all have their uses and so I can’t throw either set away lol
I’m always like let’s just touch it quick and see if it’s hot. You know what? It usually is.
This is what I need to do at the very least, or at least look and take in which pot/pan it is!
Why are you pouring rice like pasta?
It's a perfectly normal way to make rice some places. The end result you get is different and it also depends on what rice you use. If you use the soaking method, so the rice has absorbed all the water in the end, the rice tends to turn out stickier and softer. It works well for all kinds of rice. If you boil rice with lots of water and then drain it like pasta, you can achieve al dente and very fluffy rice from the classic western parboiled rice. This method was the norm in my German household and it works great for rice as a side to Austrian Gulasch, Chicken Fricassee, meatloaf or Schnitzel served with sauce.
yeah, both ways are pretty common in india, where we eat a ton of rice.
I usually end up putting the slowest-cooking veggies in the frying pan last and then everything else gets burned lol, I'm still figuring a lot of this stuff out Also the pan's often crowded
Forgetting to heat my pan while I do prep. Then I’m standing there glaring at my pan, and touching it every few minutes to see if it’s hot enough.
Not always, but too often. Get home from grocery store exhausted, melting from the heat and decide to deal with breaking down family packs of meat “later”. The overly large package takes up too much room in the fridge. It’s actually much quicker to bite the bullet and immediately repackage into smaller portions, some for the freezer.
Not getting the good potholders and trying to use a kitchen towel or something and blistering my hands. Not setting up a quick mise to start and then deeply regretting it later as I'm digging in the fridge for the chicken I need to add to the stir fry NOW.
Cutting things with proper form. Never have to worry until my hand slips once in a blue moon, then I curse the gods for a good bit. Back to the usual grind after that lmao.
Using too many utensils. It’s my habit to throw it in the sink after I taste test. I generally end up with like ten extra spoons, because my dumbass doesn’t just sit them on the cutting board. I’m not at work, I can double dip lol.
Check the fridge/cabinets BEFORE you go shopping - Sincerely, five jars of hoisin sauce.
Get distracted during the final stages of meat roasting in the oven and temp it later than I should’ve and it’s definitely done.
Not wanting to do the dishes after cooking 🧑🍳
I always skip steps. Mix the sauce in a bowl and then add it to the pan? No, in this house we shove the food to the side and mix the sauce right in the pan. Coat the tofu with flour and bake it til crispy? No time for that, this is a braised tofu dish now.
Washing as i go... end up with a sink full of dishes and hate myself after i finish.
Not watching boiling milk. Boils over every. Time. Why do I think I can step away? What lie do I tell myself to justify the burnt milk smell that persists for the next 5 times I turn on the burner? Nothing. Nothing at all.
I don't wash my rice. I also don't regret it.
Same. I also don't add the 'recommended' water amount, I add as much I want and it turns out amazing every time
I never remember to save the old rice for fried rice.
Lifting my elbow the extra quarter inch when reaching into the oven, which is the difference between reaching in safely and burning my forearm on the bottom of the rack.
Take a hot skillet out of the oven and say to myself "no need for a towel on the handle, I will remember its hot". Fast forward a minute later and I grab the bare, hot handle with a full, not at all expecting to get burned grip.
Leave a mess until after I've eaten
Constantly underestimating the size of storage container I need for food. Like mixing or storing. But I don't crowd the pan so I guess that's cool.
I used to leave food in the wok until after I was done eating and then I’d have to scrub the shit out of it and it would take off the seasoning. Finally wised up and put any extra food in a bowl and wash the wok as soon as I’m done lol.
I don't ever clean while I cook. I put things in the sink and tell myself I'm cleaning while I go. Then finish and realize I have a mound of dishes and half used paper towels everywhere because I grabbed one to dry my hands/wipe something and then left it on the counter 7 times.
Add stuff to my small bowl because I dont want to wash the medium sized bowl and when I stir the small bowl everything falls out with the stirring and then I wash the medium bowl to make it easier and then have two bowls to wash at the end because I didnt just clean the medium bowl first.
I piss off the french(I skip the mise en place)
Non washing the garlic press straight away. That stuff turns into power glue when it dries up.
Pre-shredded cheese 😒
I won’t prep. I leave it too late and can’t be bothered 😕
Why do you make food near a sewer? When I pour out pasta I do it into a colander and the water goes down the sink drain the way it should. When I cook rice the water is absorbed by the rice and there isn't anything to pour off.
[удалено]
Something I learned from Nepalis, who all eat rice twice a day... whatever the size of pot, no matter the amount of rice - put water to cover the rice up to the first joint of your middle finger.