RULES FOR COOKING ALONE
PART ONE
1. Never cook on a stove which is moving.
But, according to estimates, we are traveling on the earth's surface at
a speed of 1670 km per hour at the equator. If you are somewhere else,
relax - you are not going that fast. But when you combine that with the
speed of the earth around the sun 30 km/sec - it's enough to give you
indigestion. We won't even think about the speed of the solar system
through the galaxy. And yet everyone is cooking. It would seem that the
rule dates back to the days of the flat earth theory. Of course, it you
are in the middle of an earth quake or a hurricane, or twister which
has picked the house up, the advice would appear to be sound.
source details on speeds
2. Do not tie your food to a lightning rod
to get it cooked. At the rate of lightning strikes, you may not eat for
quite a long time, and then again you may be able to eat burnt-whatever
one second from now. It's a matter of luck and season.
3. I'm sort of serious about this one. Do not pour water on hot oil if you are cooking in sparce clothing. On second thought, don't pour water on hot oil, period. This includes dumping freshly washed vegetables or other things into the hot pan.
4. Do not upset the cook unless you have an official taster. And then, do not upset the official taster.
5. And this one is really serious. Do not use your water tap (heater) to get water hot enough for instant coffee, or put your child into a bath without checking the water first.
"It only takes one second to get a serious third degree burn from water
that is 156 degrees Fahrenheit. If instant coffee granules melt in your
tap water, it's set too hot and could cause serious burns to you or
someone in your family." Read source and safety tips especially for your children
and the elderly"
source
According to data from the National Safe Kids Campaign, 4000-5,000
children are scalded each year, most often in bathtubs. The
average bathtub scald burn covers 12% of the body surface with a full
thickness third degree burn. Statistics from the National
Safe Kids Campaign indicate that the scald burn sources were 95%
residential settings, 54% in apartment house, and 46% in single family
homes" source
6. Prolong the happy hour if more
guests arrive than you have dishes and silverware. Or, have a lot of
toasts before the meal, and then serve buffet style. Or, feed the kids
first.
7. Never show the guest what the meal should have looked like according to the picture on the label.
8. Never tell your guests what the dish is. Let them guess.
PART TWO
NOW FOR THE REAL RULES
After I have done it for over a year, I can authoritatively say that
it is really no fun. It is best to be cooking for someone other than
yourself. The incentive is just not there unless you really love to
cook. Then, my hat is off to you.
Seldom have I actually gone to the store with something in mind. Oh,
I've made a list, but it is always back home, and as hard as I might try
to remember what was on it, I cannot. This brings up rule number one.
Do not make lists. Waste of
paper and organizational time and then wasted brain power attempting to
remember it. You don't have what you need to prepare the meal? Make do
with what you have. Which is our second rule.
Making do. Some of my most
surprising and, by the way, delicious dishes are "making do" dishes.
These are the product without the frills, without the quality, without
"the way mother used to make it" but it still tastes good. Which brings
us to our next rule.
Flexibility. The ability to do
something totally different, unheard of. If you can get your mouth
around something when thinking about it, then it's possible and may even
be quite palatable - meaning that you can eat it without throwing up.
And if it has some nutritional value, then you are that much ahead of
the game, and can actually survive until the next meal which is what
it's all about anyway.
Which leads us to our next point.
Alternatives. This means that it would be much nicer if we had milk when the 'recipe' calls for it, but we don't so we rely on our backup - alternatives. And it is alternatives which most concern me here for the single cook. You are just not always going to have the ingredients you need or even
want. But, for everything there is an alternative. And if you stock up
on these alternatives than you will always be in good shape. There are
several kinds of alternatives.
Those that are relatively nonperishable meaning that they can sit on
the shelf virtually forever, or refrigerated and still viable months
later, or when frozen, come out ready to be used even a year later.
Let's look at some examples:
milk - powdered creamer
butter - margarine
olive oil - all sorts of different plant oils
apple cider vinegar - white vinegar
any particular spice - the whole range of spices available.
sugar - honey, jams, sweet chocolate, maple syrup
If you go through the store and buy one of a number of different things
which you think you would never use but which are basically
nonperishable, then you will always have something to fall back on
because it will be there, in the back somewhere, when you run out of
everything else. And on those spices? Find a list of what spices go with what, print it out , and tape it to the wall, or go ahead and stand there and read all the labels each time.
Taste. This is a very
individual thing, but extremely important. If it just does not appeal
to you,. then you are not going to want to cook it, much less eat it.
Which means that faced with that, you are either not going to eat what
you need, or you are going to go out and most likely not eat what you
need but what is available at the price you are willing to pay on the
spur of the moment, or what your brain says you haven't had in a
long while - like pizza, a hamburger, etc. all of which are woefully
lacking in the nutrition department.
But taste has another side to it and that is enjoyment. The principal
rule here when cooking for yourself is enjoyment. When you are cooking
for someone else, it is sometimes possible to get enjoyment knowing
that someone else is happy with the meal, or you are giving them what
they need, happy or not. But when its you, it should be axiomatic that
you must enjoy your meals. They must be a major part of your living, no
matter how full your life is, because you are doing this one alone -
and you owe it to yourself, your own self esteem, your concept of life. But the real reason is so you will do it again, and not just eat out of a can or stop for a Mac.
Which brings me to the next rule.
Sit down. When eating, sit. Our
tendency when alone, is to eat while doing something else, or to eat
while rushing out the door, or to eat where there is the least clean up
- over the sink. I don't care what you arre doing. Concentrate on the
meal. Remember, even in the best of circumstances, the meal takes
very little time to consume,no matter how long it took to prepare it -
which of course is another point. But give your body and mind the full
value of the meal experience. This is not just enjoyment, but also
relaxation. Allow the body to at least start to digest whatever was
just served before being forced into all types of running because you
are late, and other movements, plus the gastric juices attendant on the
next worry in your life. Relax. Sit and enjoy these few moments.
Time to prepare. This takes
planning. Not the get out the paper and sharpen the pencils type, but
the concept of what type of preparation are we talking about
here. If you are a planner, than starting something soaking the
night before may be right up your alley and you can do all sorts of
things that the rest of us would never think of doing. Plus you get to
have all of the right consistencies, the right tastes, the right
softness, the lack of acidity, etc which the rest of us put up with on
a regular basis. But if you are not a planner, than you want
things that will not taste terrible if you take it from its natural
state, throw it in the pot and eat it 15 minutes or less later.
And here, there are a number of parameters to keep in mind. Time to
prepare, time to cook, time to drain, peel, mash after you cook, or time
to prepare something else to go with it which it cannot abide being
without. For instance, sweet potatoes cook faster than white potatoes. Squash
cooks faster than cabbage. Eggs are a whole protein which are easier
and faster to cook than almost any other protein. Rice and particularly
wild rice take a lot longer to cook than just about anything else.
Lentils need to be pre-soaked (actually not true - I just put them into
boiling water for 4 minutes, pour it through a strainer with fresh
boiling water, and put back into the pan with boiling water to continue
cooking). If you are impatient with the cooking
business, you want to take all of this into considerations.
Nutrition. This is the
main point of it all anyway. So the more you know about this, the
better in the long run. For most of us, we can run on empty for a while since our previous
living conditions were better and we had someone else looking out for
our well being. But this period has its expiration date, and it is
sooner than you think. The body starts to feel the lack and if allowed
to go for too long, there are consequences. Therefore it is imperative
that you find out what the basics are in terms of nutrition and know
just what is possible to cook and what tastes good, but has what you really need for the long haul. You may think that you know, that you remember, but believe me, you do not, and it is basically like starting life all over again. There are all
these sayings around "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", A smoothie
is a complete breakfast, drink 6-8 cups of water a day to stay
healthy". But they do not cover the waterfront and in some cases, are
not even true.
One of the best determiners of what you are lacking in vitamins and
minerals given your current eating habits is a short questionnaire which is computed on line at source The World's Healthiest foods,
Or look at a week of menus which will give you everything you
need. source The World's Healthiest - Feeling Great Menu (click on the name of the dish to see how to prepare it). Most of these dishes you just will not cook for yourself but the page will give you an idea of what types of vitamins and minerals a healthy existence needs.
And then there are those special considerations for different
conditions of the life experience - your age, whether or not you are
pregnant or breast feeding, whether or not you have a medical condition
which requires certain emphasis or de-emphasis in specific
vitamins/minerals/foods, problems with weight, energy, special demands
due to sports or job requirements, allergies, etc.
Now that you have taken care of the preparation and eating part, you are faced with...
Clean up. When living or eating alone, the tendency is to leave it until later. To be faced with a kitchen where all of the pots are in use or not clean, where plates, bowls, silverware are not ready for reuse, is very disheartening, and can make the preparation and even the eating experience somewhat of a chore. Remember, the freshly used pan, eaten off of plate, etc. are much easier to clean before time has taken its toll (drying process, mold setting in, other denizens of your living space have had a party). Spend the extra few moments to clean up and your preparation experience next time will be so much easier. At least put water into the pan to let it soak, and but the lid on so nobody drowns. They may be insects, but they're just trying to survive.
Add-ons or frills. Always have
something which might be considered an add-on or frill to any meal.
Many times it is the add-on, having little or no real nutritional value,
which makes the necessary meal material palatable. This includes things like various bottled sauces, cheeses, sprinkles, paprika, spicy condiments, and dessert. You may think that you can go without dessert but you can't. It doesn't have to be sweet but it must be in the category of dessert in your mind, otherwise you will start to feel empty, suddenly deprived, and the zing has gone out of life. From kids, one of the things you hear the most is, "what's for dessert?". Remember those times and give yourself a break.
But, after all is said and done, there is ONLY ONE RULE.
Do not eat out too often. True, it's nice to see how it's done professionally. But, the bottom line out there is profit, while yours should be your health and welfare. So spend that extra time once in a while adding a little bit more knowledge about the most important aspect of your life.
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