# How much time do you spend preparing and eating an average meal **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 2, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-spend-preparing-and-eating-an-average-meal/986455 "2023-07-02T18:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-spend-preparing-and-eating-an-average-meal/986455/61 "2023-07-05T14:20:15Z")
Most supper/dinner meals are made on a Saturday or Sunday. Then during the week we just grab and heat it up in the microwave. I usually only spend about an hour making whatever it is - soup, hot dish, lasagna, spaghetti, stew, etc. If I don’t eat whatever is already prepped, I make a grilled cheese, frozen pizza or something else that takes less than 1/2 hour. Breakfast and lunch are always under 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-spend-preparing-and-eating-an-average-meal/986455/62 "2023-07-06T22:19:49Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I think it should count. Like **kayaker** , I clean as I go when possible. But it means that if something is on the stove and I’m rinsing off the cutting board, that’s still prep time. Basically, all the time I’m in the kitchen (since I’d rather be pretty much anywhere else). And 2x if your SO is helping. > > When I am in the mood to cook, I prefer meals where there’s a long gap I can use to clean up. Stews, InstaPot, sous vide, etc. are good here. Having to clean up after eating ruins the mood. I count time I’m in the kitchen. I don’t like to leave stuff on the stove without me being there, so the cleanup I do while something is simmering is in parallel to the cook time and so doesn’t count. In grad school I worked on scheduling algorithms that included resource dependencies, and cooking falls nicely into that category. Especially if you run out of burners or want two things in the oven at the same time. And if you wished you could draw data dependency graphs for a meal, with parallel lines for the side dishes which don’t depend on any part of the main dish. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-spend-preparing-and-eating-an-average-meal/986455/63 "2023-07-07T05:10:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Has anyone considered time preparing meals for pets? I consider this twice every day, for about half an hour each time. We have only two **very** spoiled cats, who get canned food twice a day. I mix a powdered supplement for skin health into both bowls in the morning and break apart and sprinkle two capsules into the older cat’s bowl in the evening. The older cat has marginal kidney values for her age and is prone to UTIs, so she needs extra water. The vet said it wouldn’t be bad to make sure the younger one gets plenty of water as well, so I mix a quarter cup of extra water into both bowls. The older cat has no teeth except her little incisors; the younger is an eating machine who can clear his own bowl and anyone else’s in under a minute. He’s also a bully about food who’s much bigger than she is and can easily shoulder her aside if no one’s looking. Because of this, I spread his food on a spiny rubber mat that forces him to lick the food up slowly, and I have to supervise closely to be sure he doesn’t decide to finish her bowl first. Every time we go away and I hire a petsitter, I realize just how unreasonable this is about halfway through showing the process. Luckily(?), the last few times we’ve traveled, good friends of the family who are already on board with this kind of overboard wackiness have volunteered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-time-do-you-spend-preparing-and-eating-an-average-meal/986455.md?page=3)