I don't think we are supposed to individually prepare ourselves 3x meals a day every day for our whole lives I think we're supposed to have community and sharing
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My ADHD son would be a fine tribal hunting lead. He’s extraordinarily good with guns, bows and arrows, etc. This is completely wasted in our society. He lives off pasta.
I have the kind of autism & ADHD that makes me look at food when I'm hungry and if there's any effort needed other than to warm it up, I have a bowl of CheezItz instead. That is, if I actually recognize that I'm hungry...
You are a wise woman - these roles are so autistic - ones we evolved to perform - a lookout on the peripherary of our group and our group's historian, knowlege keeper/finder, storyteller. We shame an autistic today, but we were our wise women and shaman
I had porridge (oatmeal) for dinner almost every night for a couple of years. Prior to that I'd cook once or twice a week, making enough for 3 meals at a time. One to eat fresh, one to reheat the following day, and one in the freezer for whenever.
Ha! I have the kind of ADHD where I'm supposed to be the big idea person. The thinker. The person who puts it all together. Not the person who has to make meals &boat a mortgage.
…troops that live in barracks (which the military forces them to do to save the military money) get often crappy food for free, troops that don’t live in the barracks are responsible for their own food, but I’m sorry you don’t like cooking
It is fucking hilarious that we actually have socialism that works quite well implemented to feed, house, & patch up people who are seen as playing an essential role in defending empire but we can’t have even scraps of that for everyone else ( or the same people after they’re broken and discarded )
One of the primary difficulties in reading ancient sources talking about militaries is the difference between counting swords and counting mouths to feed. About 20% of the Mouths are at camp and generally are prisoners with jobs and some trustee status / seriously away from home and non-local.
About 1/3 of the swords spend their day in direct contact with the 20% of the mouths making camp, and when they need to fight in the battle there is a whole term for it because who does not guard the workforce? You're tossing in your last fuel to make that tea. No return to base expected.
Do you mean like, a unit? Like a company, regiment, battalion with a kitchen tent, a kitchen, or a mess hall? Or dozensof cooks on the largest naval vessels who feed a small town?
I get what you mean by central planning but military is a bad example. imo, of course. Please don't beat me with a stick
Haveing grown up a military brat, it always surprises me that many of my classmates ended up conservative. We literally grew up in a socialist Utopia. Subsidized groceries, home goods, liquor and recreation, free healthcare, free housing...
That's why. My dad is like this though not a military brat. But he gets free healthcare and money from his former service and thinks that this is how America is and that it's somehow capitalism
Same but I think they rationalize it as “earned” by being a member of the warrior caste.
Lots of people want socialized medicine and subsidized everything but not if the “wrong” people get to have it. Can’t be enough to live comfortably, you have to live *better* than someone else.
I used to think braising and basting were the same thing and I was like "wait, delicious food I can micromanage?" Anyways, I ended up buying a smoker last summer instead because having free time is for neurotypicals.
I'd agree, even the act of making a meal was a communal act in many cultures and eras. I think the 3 man a day thing was capitalism... just like 8 consecutive hours of sleep was.
It’s what the discourse misses, the tedium and labour. I enjoy food, I often enjoy cooking, I’m a good cook, but having to figure out what to eat and make it and then clean up three times a day is a lot. I’m COVID cautious and *really* miss dining out with friends.
Humans are not actually machines. Many of us have differing needs, due to differing energy expenditure, food allergies, food intolerances, etc. Some can’t go 8+ hours without a meal.
At pow wow, near where we used to live, we had a community feast at night. Everyone brought something to go into the soup and a side. It fed everyone. Where we live now I host meals at my house to go into the giant kettle for my community of friends. Most people keep to themselves!
Right now I'm awaiting the pasta lunch my neighbour is sure to bring over any minute now (as they've done nearly every Sunday for the past few years!) You are right. (Mind, mothers have done this for their families since time immemorial, or at least as soon as we had single family homes)
I switched to one meal per day about 18 months ago. Over 45lbs weight lost ( 80 over 2 and a half years) and I've never felt better. I never feel hungry.
Yeah ok … but after Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family … I need a sabbatical… I’m hearing bell’s again.. and it’s Amazon …not another angel getting wings..
Also when it was possible for a household of 3-5 to be supported by one full time job and one adult full time domestic laborer, things worked a little different. Individuals working from age 16-75 while doing all their own cooking and not living in squalor was never a functional or humane policy.
Not only that, but I have adult kids that I still need to support because they can't possibly make it on their own under these conditions. I have managed to keep things going on my single freelancer income. But since Covid, I have been struggling.
My entire point is people ONLY live in squalor when they HAVE NO CHOICE. If you have a choice, congrats, it’s not about you. Stop trying to make a criticism about how capitalism forces people into shitty circumstance into an “insult” because you decided to be fragile today.
Did it occur to you that maybe I am talking ABOUT MYSTLF you self-victimizing asshole? I have a supportive partner NOW but I haven’t always. If I was living alone with MUSCULAR FUCKING DYSTROPHY my house would be a cesspool. My point is NOBODY should be forced to live like that due to capitalism.
And for the record, in the US, single people with disabilities or chronic illness usually have to choose between cleaning, eating well, and working because they don’t have the energy to do all three. It’s not a criticism of people, it’s a factual description of our abusive capitalist system.
I’m not saying folks who love solo NECESSARILY live in squalor, I’m just pointing out it’s way more difficult if your household doesn’t have a member whose only job is domestic labor.
I sometimes think of the women who had to fill the jobs of the men who were sent off to war and still tidy their homes & do laundry w/out the appliances we have today, and who cooked for the entire week on Sunday afternoons (the OG food preppers) with the limits of food rationing. 🤔
Yeah and I think they’ll tell you they relied heavily on family support and often substance dependency to do it in a lot of cases. The question is not “is it survivable for some?” but rather “why should anyone have to deal with surviving such scarcity, when the scarcity is now wholly manufactured?”
I'm married to an historian and family support wasn't always available during that era, but certainly I wasn't suggesting that anyone should aspire to homefront wartime conditions; however, sometimes we make things seem harder than they are in the present era. Humans are adept at rationalization.
We used to do a meal swap in my neighborhood. We had 5 batches of the same meal and then gave one each to 4 neighbors and kept one for ourselves. In return, we got 4 different dinners for the week. It was a wonderful way to explore new meals!
Absolutely! Meals are meant to be a team sport, not a solo mission. We’re supposed to share, not just the food, but the joy of not having to figure out what’s for dinner three times a day. Imagine the collective relief if we all just had one less decision to make.
Literally just witnessed a couple in the grocer, wife asking for input while the baby sits in the full cart the mom pushes, husband’s response, “yeah just…whatever” as he walks away and disappears.
He probably thought he was helping 🙄 just by making the trip. Better way is leave the baby at home with him so she can shop without two kids to look after.
My husband has weaponized culinary incompetence and shirked any responsibility in the kitchen. I'm so tired of doing all the planning, shopping, acquiring, prepping, cooking, cleaning, and nutrition-ing for our household. But we have a 13yo who needs to eat, so I'm always on deck.
Ironically I just hosted brunch this morning! Much more satisfying than making myself an omelette. Working to build a friend group that will rotate hosting a weekly meal is very worthwhile. Still not an every day thing, but better than nothing!
One of the best things I've ever been a part of in a work environment is a lunch club. There were 4 of us and each of us made a meal one day a week for everyone. On Fridays we had leftovers or take out.
Good idea..but: Families living far apart, most ppl working or at school. Who does the buying, cooking, cleaning? Then there is airborne infection epidemic, political &religion. Farm meals for family &workers wouldn't work now tho I'd love to see it again. Except for the labor of slaves &women.
We cook most of our meals from scratch, and we don't even cook 3x a day. We always make enough for a couple days or to freeze for later... And I like sandwiches
We center ourselves around our next meal, what we are going to eat, where and with who. Sharing a meal with someone is one of the greatest experiences.
That read ridiculously. This would be a debate better heard than typed. Not that I am much smoother...but at least I could use some winks and eyebrow work. 🧐😂
This is one thing that often gets me about discourse over people needing restaurants and delivery for various reasons, there’s absolutely no reason a community that wants to feed its residents would not accommodate those who can’t or won’t cook or even leave the house
Grocery delivery too. Logistics may vary, but it should be a national concern for anyone who loses a great deal of time to be able to receive groceries without leaving home, whether due to disability, too much going on, or if ya just don't fucking feel like it. Letting orgs profit off it is dumb.
Nowadays, it’s called church potluck (always loved it). In Minnesota where my Mom is from it’s called smorgasbord … adventurous for me! My hub and I cook up our own meals…sometimes we share. I am vegetarian, he is not.
Maybe a Hutterite community is for you. They are sprinkled in Canada, the Dakotas and I think i went to one in Pennsylvania as well. In my teens and 20s I spent several weeks visiting several different ones.
The fashion is basic - but communal kitchens are their as well as childcare and community.
Granola w/fruit and yogurt is not cooking, it's just pouring into a bowl. Toast with a slice of cheese and ham is not cooking, but it sure would be nice for someone to hand that to you instead of making it yourself, for sure. This is why tech companies have cafeterias. Excellent lunches on a tray.
Hunger strike!
I detest cooking, but I'm decent at it. Most days, I don't want breakfast and the small humans will eat something I made over weekend or cereal/muffins.
Lunch is a yogurt and apple = no cooking 🎊
Dinner i get stuck cooking but I'd much rather snack on charcuterie and never cook again!
I agree, we eat twice a day, and often the meals are “FFY” fend for yourself. Meaning leftovers or simple things like sandwiches or cereal. When our kids were little, we did fix food three times a day, but we had our go to’s that weren’t super complicated or expensive.
no but see that's the point - we all plan the meals, figure out how much it will cost, create a work chart with signups for what you want to do - no one gets stuck with the tab or the effort
Yeah I agree, this current system is unsustainable and unhealthy. Having multiple people in houses sharing would help a lot, and would make the people healthier, it is not healthy to be alone all the time.
I am so very lucky to have just that here in my town. Our senior center is wonderful. They provide lunch four days a week. The portions are so big, I bring take home containers! Our incredible chef trained in France. But the best part is having people to share the meals with!
The only thing I miss about my former job, is breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria (great food, well prepared), from people who know how to cook. Now lunch has become, "maybe I shouldn't bother..." and often I don't. ☹️
I am a firm believer in simple sandwiches. Cheese; lunch meat; peanut butter and honey (mix first) on toast. If you feel industrious, make tuna (mix with mayo, add mustard) or egg salad. Both of those last several days. Or an Ensure and/or a couple of granola bars!
Tuna sandwiches (toasted) are a frequent "go to" for me (also tuna melts) and like you, I add mustard to my mayo. Same with egg salad. I have to avoid sugar, so honey is out and granola bars too. I try to keep away from lunch meat and tend to grab chicken for sandwiches instead. 🙂
In college (decades ago) we weren’t allowed a refrigerator. I learned to eat canned tuna on crackers with mustard (no mayo). It’s much better with both together!
Division of labor and economies of scale, you say? Pretty sure Marx and Mao said something about that sort of thing. Adam Smith says cooking food isn't worth the effort if you can't make a profit.
Considering the fact that everyone having their own kitchen wasn't a thing until like after WW2, yeah
Before that only the rich had kitchens & people to work in them
Uh, no. I come from a long line of peasants, and everyone had a kitchen. Even when the the parents/grandparents lived in the same house as one of their children & that child's family, they often had their own kitchenette.
Sorry I simplified things.
1 - this is Eurocentric (UK/USA/Aus)
2 - they would have had a "stove" which would dubble as water heater, pot, space heater, & also to heat things like irons but they wouldn't have a kitchen like we know now
3 - it's not about space its about kitchens being expensive
4 - it was more likely that people got take out or food that could be reheated or eaten cold. Takeout has existed since before the Roman Empire, & we can see the takeout of the Roman Empire in the ruins of Pompeii.
I realise this comment is probs a joke cuz we're almost all peasant families.
SERIOUSLY. I really want to move back to my hometown where my mom and siblings still live, in no small part because I could host them all for dinner once a week and I know they’d reciprocate and none of us would be stuck cooking dinner seven nights a week.
I miss when my daughters go back to college after breaks. We have such fun cooking together and eating after we’ve cooked. Even the cleanup is easier. Most of all, I enjoy that they have dinner ideas so all the meal planning responsibilty does not fall on one person.
Totally understand that! Having children to cook for can make it more difficult. When I was single, I used to try to cook for the week on my days off. I was happy with having at least 3-4 days done.
The one that did me in for good was the woman who said "No one can expect me to wash my hands IN MY OWN HOME." Loud & proud about it. Can you imagine touching the doorknobs in her house, much less eating anything she handled?!
I saw her on The Speech Prof!! She was frigging proud of not washing her hands after using the toilet. :gag:
I got a sandwich at a deli today and didn't touch it without paper while eating it because I'd been touching a cart. I wash my hands when I come home after having been out. Ick. Ickickick.
Every time people mention cats and counters I find myself wondering if they own cutting boards.
I have never in my life prepped food directly on my counter top & don’t consider my counters “food clean.” If I had real stone counters & wanted to prep dough that way I’d wash it first cats or no cats.
Exactly. I wipe down my counters every time before I do any food prep, & food never touches the counter directly. My first 2 cats were law abiding. Then Friday came along, & he knew no boundaries. Charlie & Jessie saw that Friday didn't get killed for doing whatever he wanted, & that was it.
The only place we’ve successfully forbidden Pico de Gato & Pachacuti from is the stovetop & it’s small counter, mostly by usually obstructing it with the oil, vinegar, and salt when not cooking.
They both vociferously complain about the unmitigated tyranny of protecting them from severe burns.
This is what initially excited me about the induction stove. The cats can step on the stove buttons all day and it will never heat up. Then I cooked on it, LOVED it and will never go back.
When I had cats, they were not allowed on any food prep or eating surfaces: no kitchen counters, no dining tables. Come to think of it, my dogs aren't allowed there, either!
I have so many cutting boards, but my fav is the one that sits out all the time.
Batch cooking. Made myself a pie yesterday which will do six meals. I have stew, bolognaise, curry all in meal sized portions in the freezer. Breakfasts & sandwich lunches are easy. One big cook per week and I'm done. Air fryer for most of the rest.
This also underutilizes those with the skill & love for cooking. My wife is MADE to cook for an army, but there's just the two of us.
I have to dutifully eat leftovers, often give food to my mother, & host D&D twice a month (also sending food home with people) to minimize waste.
Traditionally we eat lots of rye bread in Denmark, which is literally whole grain.
But it could also be "french bread" (white wheat bread).
This has a lot less fibre, so most will use it as a "dessert" after eating their healthy rye bread.
On weekends we might eat bread rolls called "round pieces"
In the morning we typically put butter, cheese and/or jam on our bread, or even thin slices of chocolate (!) - or maybe nutella. The last two go best with the white bread.
Alternative breakfast is often oatmeal, either raw with milk and sugar, perhaps some muesli and fruit/ raisins - or as porridge
For breakfast the options become a lot more varied, and "only fantasy is the limit "
Typically thin slices of cold cuts, salami, ham and the like, eggs, liver pate, dinner leftovers (both meat and potatoes), bananas, slices of compressed figs and other dried fruits, fish not least pickled herring
We tend to garnish this with different condiments, like mayo, remoulade and "salads", and/or slices of cucumber, tomatoes, pickled root beets and a bit of chives or something.
If you come as a tourist you can experience the really fancy version of this, if you buy some "smørrebrød".
This is the hardest part about eating in Europe. It’s always a gamble whether a really good-sounding sandwich will be served open-faced with a knife & fork 😫
I started making all my sandwiches this way about a year ago cause I want to cut down on carbs. But eating it with cutlery sounds smart, I’m kinda messy with my swanches.
Could eat one meal and one snack and fast. You'd not need to cook every day. Also, add in a few heat em up meals for the week. When when you do cook, make enough to freeze and have ready for the next couple times - just heat it up. I make 6lbs of taco meat at one time. I freeze it in portions.
I'm the audhd that is fine eating the same meal for every meal for 6 months straight until I haaaate it.
I pained my partner when I did low fodmap. She couldn't take my food anymore and I had to stop. I still cooked different stuff for her and the kids, but she couldn't handle me eating my food...
Nice idea. Doesn't work when housemate is sibling with mental health problems and NEVER cooks. Also, i rarely eat 3 meals a day: i tend to graze a lot.
I wish more neighborhoods had open table dinners or lunches with each other. Even once a month during good weather. Set up tables, close off the street, pot luck and no one sits by family. Meet & greet each other with food, drinks and good cheer.
America is the most segregated country regarding communities and communal kitchens. It didn’t used to be this way. It all changed about 40 years ago, but I don’t know why.
AGREE! Every neighborhood should have a community center-type building with a cafeteria, where food is prepared by volunteers from the community, under the supervision of an experienced cook. With produce grown in peoples’ backyards or a community garden and other ingredients from local farms.
Then people can just come and eat or grab food and take it home. This is the type of thing HOA fees should fund, not whatever horrible things they currently do. (To be fair, our HOA is actually nice. Not all of them are evil. Ours is more of a “neighborhood events planning committee”.)
Yes, most of them are mean. I was just saying *mine* isn’t. And they do worse things than forbid houses to be certain colors. John Oliver did a great segment on HOAs.
My sister and her husband just moved into assisted living and eat hot meals, of their choosing, 3 times a day from a lovely restaurant on-site. Plus they get two snacks a day. She's thrilled not having to shop, prepare, or clean-up any of it! She wishes they had moved in earlier!
Yeah my mom is excited to move into an old folks home too. Hang out with other people all day playing games? Sign me up. It's like college without the homework.
A 70+ cousin of mine just moved herself into assisted living. She's having a blast raising hell and giving up the parts of living solo that weren't fun.
That just sounds lazy as fuck. Self reliance should be taught to all children. I ask my 10 yr old granddaughter (who I taught to cook) all the time-who's gonna save you?
She correctly answers NOBODY!
I agree! My dream is to build a homesteading community where we live slow lives and cook and do chores together as a village and take care of each other.
There's too much of a focus on independence in society in the west. I get that being a focus in our society with settling the land in part to get away from England. But it really has had a long term cultural effect, along with other modern societal issues, making each of us an island.
But also this is why we have prepared meals (frozen entrees, canned soups, Bagged salads) and I'm tired of the anti preservatives movement. Say "fake food" one more time 🔪🔪
Yep. I cook dinner on Tuesdays. We have an adult for every night of the week except Saturday.
The five year-old is getting pretty good at contributing, too. Soon we'll have a child for almost every night of the week too, and we'll each have to cook just once a fortnight.
You're absolutely correct, and the economies of scale are efficient, too.
But we've designed a society in which corporations benefit from economies of scale while nuclear-aspirant families are forced to pay for the redundancies of individuality.
That's why convenience is so ingrained in our diets. I eat almost all my food at home and trying to go with made from scratch vs something quick is all about time. I don't always have the time to make super in depth stuff
As an endurance runner it's always on my mind too. I need to eat a lot 😭
The colonial ideal of 'self sufficiency' is mostly just the idea that wealth and privilege should be sufficient to prove the moral virtue of those that possess it, and everyone else should shut up and worship them.
this is how calvinism tied so well into the "free real estate" America offered. Your land and wealth (near impossible to acquire in Europe) was proof you were part of the elect
We live in a multigenerational community household (youngest 17, oldest 75, others are 22, 27, 28, and 50), and I’m currently sitting and scrolling while my 22 and 27 year old boys cook roast chicken and Channa Masala. I’ll wash dishes. It’s the best thing ever. 10/10 would recommend.
The problem with community kitchens is I want what I want for dinner, and if someone else is cooking, I won't get it. Or if I'm cooking, someone else is not happy.
Would be that way in a perfect world, but alas we don't. I think that's why i live for holidays like Thanksgiving where a big get together is accepted and almost required.
Yeah, as much as I agree that "burrito ingredients cost more than a burrito" is just flatly wrong, I think there's a lot of privilege showing in the "just spend 3 hours cooking after coming home from your 2nd job" take. Cooking requires time and energy, and for some folks those are in short supply.
Jeesh. Before I retired, I worked 12-16+ hour days, and I still managed to microwave leftovers or throw together a salad when I got home. Freshly cooked meals rarely take more than half an hour of active work time.
For you, I'm sure they didn't. This conversation is being had in the context of neurodivergent people who may not have the same capacity as you, or who may not be capable of being as economical with their time as you might be (which are things that could be true of other neurotypical people, too).
In the specifics? Sure, I'll concede that. In general, my point can probably be summed up as follows:
People have different lives/skills that may lead to differences in how long it takes them to cook and how much energy they have to do it, making it hard for some to find time/energy for the task.
Plus the economy we’ve accepted is that buying in volume gets you lower prices, but you may not be able to afford the up front costs. Or you can’t eat it all before it goes bad because you don’t have the freezer or other storage space.
Like, the act of physically cooking the food? Agreed, not generally, unless you're doing something that doesn't need constant supervision like a slow cooker. But the act of cooking, plus food prep, plus post-cooking cleanup? It'll probably be closer to 1-2, but can go longer depending on complexity.
Sure, complicated dishes can take a while, but, again, most people aren't making things that require that much time. Especially not for breakfast and lunch.
I live alone + food allergies that make me a nightmare to cook for, so the closest I get is cooking for me, myself and I by filling the freezer/ choosing something that thrives on 24-72 hours of neglect in the fridge.
good point. now that we are all divided as neighbors and family, this has become an impossible situation. i actually eat out or order takeout so that i may take a break. it's never a treat anymore. then again it might be an accidental treat when the food is good.
A US home economics pioneer said kitchens should be established one per block, and families should all get their food from that one source. She was pretty smart! We’re sort of doing that with the proliferation of restaurants vs the few in the 1960s and before.
I wish I could participate but cross contamination from the laundry detergent on your clothing would kill me. So please understand when I say, not everyone can use a community kitchen.
Not sure what “supposed” means here. Humans have organized themselves into communities that pool food and cooking responsibilities, but they’ve also lived in individual family units that take care of their own meals. It’s certainly a pity there aren’t more communal orgs available in the US.
I agree. I think we’ve all been given specific talents and in a group we each have a job which we’re good at and enjoy doing. As a group we can live life to its fullest and provide for all of our needs.
I like eating and preparing dinner. During the day when I’m doing other things, I find it difficult to stop and eat. I get hungry, but I ignore it until later.
I'm not particularly bad at it and I've been doing it for myself since I was a kid but I'm autistic and my brain melts when I'm hungry and obviously the times I'm most likely to cook are when I'm hungry
I work at a pizza place. And occasionally when I have a chance I'll bring in my own ingredients and make a pizza for all the staff to eat from and I think that simply whenever I make something different and special that everyone wants something from is my favorite moment.
community and sharing a def yes, but also i don’t think humans are built for 3 meals a day, just eat when you’re hungry and abstain from food if you aren’t starving and you should be good 🤷♂️
Nice idea. Harder for those of us who live alone, are elderly, and who've outlived most of their friends and family. And those that remain are mostly out of state. One of the downsides of long life
This but also for like every other social problem (childcare, loneliness,etc).
The preeminence of nuclear families as the dominant arrangement means parents have to perform all of these tasks individually, even as every other adult in the larger community faces the exact same problems.
This doesn't get discussed enough. The nuclear family was only invented last century, is harmful to everyone, and was literally created to sell more things at the expense of our well being.
Convincing young adults to go into debt to buy their own house which then needs its own fridge,stove, etc instead of remaining with extended family benefits capitalism but makes cooking, lceaning, childcare, escaping abusive spouses,and basic life and mental health more difficult.
Thank you. I'm a trans single parent living on 2K/month and the discourse about people being too stupid to realize it's cheaper to spend hours making your own food has been so fucking alienating. If you don't have the $ for bulk, or time to put into all that, you don't have it. Like the shoe thing.
I have ADHD. I've found that if I buy bulk or fresh food to meal prep, I never actually do it and end up throwing food out, wasting the money I was supposed to save. But if I buy prepared food or what I need that day/a few days and eat the same meal for a few days, I waste less food.
I'm neurodivergent & have depression. I do batch cooking once for 7-14 days & eat leftovers. One of my solutions to food waste was pickling for vegetables. Canned & frozen goods can help for ingredients prep. Batch making marinade is next iteration on my prep plan. I grew up cooking for my siblings.
I wish my executive dysfunction was under more control and I could do all of those steps. I'm working on it. I want to give it a few months to see if I can reestablish good habits I lost going back to school now that I've graduated, but if I can't, I'm going to the doctor to see about meds.
I have autism and I can have issues with cooking so I’ve been trying a slow cooker to make bulk food I can just grab easily. It’s been amazing except it’s triggered some sort of organising/collecting thing and I don’t want to eat any of those meals in my freezer. I just want to add more.😱
Absolutely. And in our family it's that x3 with two young autistic kids. It feels terrible to throw food away, and even worse if you spent the only free time you have working on it. I don't enjoy cooking at all. And you can't force someone to eat something they don't want to eat!
I’ve tried to explain to my autistic adhd filled family that as an adhd mom, the hardest decision of the day is what to make for dinner. The mental load surrounding that is exhausting and then you still have to do all the stuff to make it, clean up, etc.
Time makes sense. You do have to dedicate time to shop deals and cook. But it absolutely much less expensive, and immediately so. Even if you start without forks and spoons. Goodwill exists and you can get pans there. It’s much easier to just get takeout, but it costs more money every time.
oh i have seen that before! i was afraid there was some horrible new discourse i had missed involving shoes and that's why i wasn't sure if i wanted to know lol. thanks for the explanation!
I'm very jealous of how my grandparents generation would just cycle their kids through the neighborhood with most parents getting the weekend off while one family cared for like 15 kids.
And even if you have the money and the time, not everyone has the energy! I'm chronically ill and sometimes all I can do is make instant ramen noodles 😅 Sometimes I have energy to do more, but it's always a gamble, and I'm borrowing against tomorrow.
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This is unconscionable.
In the colloquial sense of socially housing people and distribution of food and resources and services, however…
I get what you mean by central planning but military is a bad example. imo, of course. Please don't beat me with a stick
Lots of people want socialized medicine and subsidized everything but not if the “wrong” people get to have it. Can’t be enough to live comfortably, you have to live *better* than someone else.
I resent ANYONE choosing my lifestyle or disparaging other people's situation.
Like tim waltz says "mind your own business"
IDK why you're trying to take some weird moral high ground after insulting me and everyone else who works and also cooks and cleans for themselves.
also have a salad swap with a friend that has been a lifesaver.
https://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/americaletsdolunch
The fashion is basic - but communal kitchens are their as well as childcare and community.
I detest cooking, but I'm decent at it. Most days, I don't want breakfast and the small humans will eat something I made over weekend or cereal/muffins.
Lunch is a yogurt and apple = no cooking 🎊
Dinner i get stuck cooking but I'd much rather snack on charcuterie and never cook again!
It gave them a place to meet and mingle with a bunch of young people.
Everyone should have that kind of opportunity.
Is this it?
Not all the social interaction, family fun and fighting..
Before that only the rich had kitchens & people to work in them
1 - this is Eurocentric (UK/USA/Aus)
2 - they would have had a "stove" which would dubble as water heater, pot, space heater, & also to heat things like irons but they wouldn't have a kitchen like we know now
3 - it's not about space its about kitchens being expensive
I realise this comment is probs a joke cuz we're almost all peasant families.
If I were crazy rich, the first thing I'd do is hire full-time kitchen staff.
I got a sandwich at a deli today and didn't touch it without paper while eating it because I'd been touching a cart. I wash my hands when I come home after having been out. Ick. Ickickick.
I have never in my life prepped food directly on my counter top & don’t consider my counters “food clean.” If I had real stone counters & wanted to prep dough that way I’d wash it first cats or no cats.
They both vociferously complain about the unmitigated tyranny of protecting them from severe burns.
I have so many cutting boards, but my fav is the one that sits out all the time.
I have to dutifully eat leftovers, often give food to my mother, & host D&D twice a month (also sending food home with people) to minimize waste.
Here in Denmark we usually eat some bread with toppings for breakfast and lunch
And what sorts of bread?
But it could also be "french bread" (white wheat bread).
This has a lot less fibre, so most will use it as a "dessert" after eating their healthy rye bread.
On weekends we might eat bread rolls called "round pieces"
Alternative breakfast is often oatmeal, either raw with milk and sugar, perhaps some muesli and fruit/ raisins - or as porridge
Typically thin slices of cold cuts, salami, ham and the like, eggs, liver pate, dinner leftovers (both meat and potatoes), bananas, slices of compressed figs and other dried fruits, fish not least pickled herring
If you come as a tourist you can experience the really fancy version of this, if you buy some "smørrebrød".
I pained my partner when I did low fodmap. She couldn't take my food anymore and I had to stop. I still cooked different stuff for her and the kids, but she couldn't handle me eating my food...
She correctly answers NOBODY!
But also this is why we have prepared meals (frozen entrees, canned soups, Bagged salads) and I'm tired of the anti preservatives movement. Say "fake food" one more time 🔪🔪
The five year-old is getting pretty good at contributing, too. Soon we'll have a child for almost every night of the week too, and we'll each have to cook just once a fortnight.
But we've designed a society in which corporations benefit from economies of scale while nuclear-aspirant families are forced to pay for the redundancies of individuality.
HOW MANY coffeemakers on my block making ONE CUP?
As an endurance runner it's always on my mind too. I need to eat a lot 😭
People have different lives/skills that may lead to differences in how long it takes them to cook and how much energy they have to do it, making it hard for some to find time/energy for the task.
Duh.
You’re so right. I need to consider this. More meal sharing.
Hard to imagine as a single empty-nester. But essential now that I consider it.
One big meal and some fruit in the right mixture may deliver more health benefits
To be clear, if you want 3 squares, you be you
And, there was once someone who cautioned against predicting who would be sharing table with you.
It was shortly after he met a Centurion with a παῖς, and very definitely spoke on the matter.
They just need to eat something relatively healthy.
I know, I wouldn’t like to cook with me either.
It’s something that needs to change.
The preeminence of nuclear families as the dominant arrangement means parents have to perform all of these tasks individually, even as every other adult in the larger community faces the exact same problems.
But I don't have to please anyone else, which would make the meal-planning decision tree SO much more complicated.
My similarly auADHD kids: What are you talking about?
Me: Food. What food do you want?
My kids: Idk we forgot every kind of food lol you're supposed to know what food we like
Me: idek who you are or how you got in my house but we're all having pasta again