Do you cook your own food? (for people with no one else in the household cooking)

[william jackson]

i could not have had eating success without a grill and a crockpot.
people look at you strange when you bust out pork shoulder and carrots for breakfast but they are just jealous.

reheat, eat, repeat.

[confuzzl3don3]

He means that he cooks a big roast Sunday night, puts it in the fridge on Sunday night, and then reheats chunks as necessary. Leaving a meat-filled slow cooker on for a week would be really stupid.

^ yeah that's what i meant. If i don't get around to cooking up a large batch in the weekends, i'm just planning to whip out the slow cooker and turn it on in the morning before i leave to uni, and come back to a nice warm dinner. And since i'm lazy all reheating is done with a microwave for me.

[Black_Spit]

That's a great idea too. Do you cook that pound of steak the same way every time or will you add in some variety? Mind sharing the method you use for cooking the steak?

Pretty much the same way every day, I use different spices sometimes but most days I just throw it on the stove with some coconut oil (look up the many benefits if you're not aware) and dump some McCormick Rotisserie Rub seasoning (yes weird but good) on it.

[Patrick]

I cook all my meals. That's not to say that I don't eat out occasionally, but I've given up on the idea of tweaking my order so that I get the protein I need and monkeying with either the fat or the carbs; sometimes I want all the protein in a steak but that fat baked potato shouldn't be on the menu or perhaps I don't need all that fat that comes with such a big steak -- but fuck if I'm ordering a grilled chicken breast that I could make for myself for a fraction of the cost. If I eat out it's cause pizza and beer were called for and my nutrition isn't the only aspect of my life... I certainly don't do it for the nutrition restaurants provide.

At the risk of venturing into broken record territory, in April I committed to gaining 40 lbs. I talked with Johnny Pain and decided I'd follow his advice to the letter and see where it took me. I got around 40 mostly solid lbs in about four months, but in the process learned that home cooking is damn nearly a requisite if you care about body composition. I told John that I wanted to gain weight without getting fat and he told me to eat a metric fuckton of whole foods and watch how I composed my meals. At home this task is as easy as pie but the moment you walk into a steakhouse you hit a wall: the steak that you'd mug a nun for will give you all the protein you need, but the basket of rolls and mammoth baked potato aren't always on your menu. Or perhaps it's that you need a leaner cut but the potato is fine for the meal -- and fuck if I'm going to pay someone to prepare a chicken breast for me at about 7 times the price I can make the same thing at home.

When I was teetering at 210, I was eating around 400 grams of protein a day. It's almost impossible to incorporate a restaurant dish neatly in a diet that actually cares about a) not gorging yourself on shitty carbs and b) not sucking down enough fat to lube a drilling rig. If you look at the stuff Johnny Pain is posting as his meals, it's very similar to the stuff you'd eat. It's very cheap, easy to prepare, and fucking delicious!

It's been said early and often, but a crock pot and a grill are major friends of yours. It might even be worth it to get a (very) cheap kitchen scale so you can buy your protein in bulk and cut the portions you'll consume in advance. Spend two hours on Saturday cutting up a pork tenderloin or meting out hunks of chicken breast and toss them on the grill, into a pan, or roast them in an oven with almost criminally tasty herbs and veggies. The folks at work/school really do look sideways at their shitty sandwiches when you pull out a serving of pot roast come lunchtime. Home cooking is massively cheaper and far better for your goals in the long run. Plus, a guy ought to know how to make his food... it should be a rule or something.

Also, if you're new to cooking, just do yourself a favor and add onions to everything. They're pretty great.

[Squatson]

It's kind of the motto around here...........

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

[SiriusBomb]

I also recommend cooking large amounts of food at once and making many meals out of it. I usually have a pot of chili (made with 2+ lbs of ground beef and tons of beans, peppers, and onions) or some other stew, some sort of breakfast strata/casserole, and a few cooked pieces of chicken breast or pork chop in the fridge. It's nice to have variety, even when eating leftovers!

In a pinch, however, I've found a pretty good Chinese place down the street that has entrees I can BARELY finish for $6 or $7, and I hit up Chipotle about once a week. That combined with the occasional McDouble is the majority of my eating out. Instead of paying the premium for food, I pay the premium for $2 Natty Light drafts at shitty dive bars on campus.

[TomV]

I live with my mom and I buy all the groceries and cook everything for myself.

Same deal here.
No one in my family eats like I do and unless money is particularly tight for me in a period, I'll always make the effort to spend my own money when purchasing most of my groceries. I juggle full time work, study, training 4 days a week and a girlfriend and am still able to cook all my meals on a Sunday evening (with possibly 10-15 minutes prep on some mornings).