:bday::bday:

We travel enough that it only takes me a sec to pack. I did forget my medications recently, though, and had to make a panic trip to a CVS in Dayton, OH. Thank God for computer networks. It all worked out.

Excellent. Congrats! :thumb:

Sounds complicated.

Us too.

Our latest thing is that I never want to go anywhere on an airplane anymore on account of bikes. Pleasant unexpected side effect of that is more relaxed departures from home. Twenty minutes late is no biggie nowadays.

Now I really have to pack. The porridge was worth it though.

:)

Haha, I forget how a lot of people cook nowadays.

Someone tells me they have a great recipe for pot roast. I am all ears.

Then they start: "One package of Lipton Onion Soup mix..."

My inner reaction is Oh God no.

(Not mrs R jones)

Go pack!

:bday: indeed.

and kudos to the little lady. :)

I often think of the meal well in advance, but standing in the kitchen chopping up **** is just not my idea of fun.

I'm doing this right now (it's rising):

https://i.imgur.com/OkdxWk8.jpg
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/b...utch-oven.html

4 ingredient bread cooked in cast iron dutch oven. Mmmmm.

Also, sounds complicated.

My healthy lunches are almost all produce. Chopping in a giant rush before is now my ritual. Almost always includes the following fresh stuff to be chopped: pear, apple, celery, cucumber (gotta peel that one, too)... I've got all that down to about 4 minutes now. I should probably start uploading the chop heavy meal preps to strava, for good measure.

If it wasn't for Mrs. rjones28, my diet would consist of PB&J sandwiches and mini pies.

Heh. I was just out with the lady last night and we got to talking about how my mother used to cook. I told her that mom made a lot of recipes that came from places like the labels of soup cans. And, of course, there was Hamburger Helper. I am thankful that my dad exposed me to more elaborate fare. I think that's were my love of cooking came from. I made my first carrot cake from scratch before I was a teenager.

My philosophy of cooking is just basically to fill the hole, fill the empty stomach. All the chopping and slicing and sautéing and whatnot is exactly what I try to avoid.

For example, I whip out a pork chop, or chicken parts, or steak, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and spicy paprika, throw it under the broiler and boom, it's done in 10 minutes. Of course I steamed a chopped head of fresh broccoli, takes minutes. If I want to add a starch to the meal, hopefully there's a pre-cooked sweet potato that I just need to zap in the MW for 90 secs and boom, meal is done. Put a pat of butter on the hot broccoli and the hot sweet potato, sit down and eat it.

I WILL chop some fresh garlic for broccoli raab or fresh spinach or swiss chard, but for most other things it's powered garlic or powered onion or pre-prepared rub (made fresh by the wife).

However I will admit, some of Heathy's recipes sound quick if you pre-prepare stuff.

I get it, many people love the creativity that cooking offers and enjoy spending the time to create something different. However I prefer to make meals and meal prep as quick as possible so I can get to other things that I enjoy much better.

Get better knives.

No seriously, pulling out a very high-quality knife and plowing through a big board of ingredients is fun. Working a cheap dull knife through them is a chore. It’s like riding a Walmart bike vs a nice road bike.

Totally agree! :lol:

Yes, he did. And a few others (Motel Hell). Never Jason though.

I was just sad when I learned that their Jet 5 Plus exclusive used round spokes. :mad:

I hope you don't mix those all together.

No, it's not the knife. Let's break it down. All those ingredients to be chopped . . . celery has to be washed first, carrots have to be washed first, onions have to be peeled first, the same with garlic . . . and that assumes all those are in supply in the household and fresh.

Even to make a fresh garden salad, you have to wash the lettuce even if store-bought and "pre-washed", peel & slice the cucumber, wash & slice the tomato, wash & slice the bell pepper, peel and slice the onion. Avocado is the least labor intensive of all salad fixings. Yaaay! And how many times have you sat down only to find you forget to grab the salad dressing? :crash:

There's times I wish we didn't have to eat at all.

:beer:

Last night I had rice + black beans + salsa. Quite not complicated.

I had other things too, but that was the bulk of the meal.

I have a cheap knife (well, not bottom run, but I'm sure anything one can buy at bed bath and beyond you consider cheap), but I keep it reasonably sharp. Works fine. Cooking is about the food for me, not the toys.