How much time do you spend preparing and eating an average meal

Cafe Society
21

I’m all about efficiency. I tend to make meals for the week, if I can, and eat 'em cold (which I like to do anyway).

For example, I’ve been making cauliflower pizzas at home, which is a bit complicated. First thing I’ll do is to pick a time when the kitchen floor needs sweeping, because I’m going to have to sweep it afterward for sure. Then I’ll make four or five small pizzas, one meal apiece, at once, and store all but one in the fridge, and eat them as the week goes on. Prep time is a bit longer, but the cleanup is the same, so this is a massive savings of time overall.

22

I enjoy the process of creating a meal. There are nights when I spend hours making an appetizer/entree/dessert. My Andalusian Gazpacho requires an hour just for sieving.

Once dinner is ready, the time spent eating is also our social time together. No hurry, lots of discussion, sometimes critique of the meal. Sipping an after dinner drink can extend dinner time another thirty minutes. We share most meals with our bird, Rocco, so there’s that as well.

My gf is even more of a slow meal creator, as she often begins with just a rudimentary idea about what she wants to make. It isn’t unusual for me to walk into the kitchen, where she has several pots/pans going. I ask what’s for dinner and she honestly answers that she doesn’t know yet.

23

Yeah, that’s an easy one for me. Every single curséd day. :wink:

24

As little time as possible. Many days dinner is a big salad with a side of roasted veg and meat strips. Prep is less than 30 min. I dont care to stand at the stove and babysit a fry pan so meat and veg go in the oven.

New recipes even if simple take more time because I’m deliberate about paying attention to it. I’m going to try a crunchy tofu recipe today and that will take at least an hour to press and drain and fry and sauce up.

Who still sets a table? Drove my mom crazy when she visited. We’d want to fill the plate in the kitchen and take it to the dining table. Salt and napkins are already on the table. Don’t need a full place setting, and olives, pickles bread, butter condiments, candles or flowers.

25

I absolutely hate food prep. I eat a lot of cereal and sandwiches. The longest I’ll wait for food is however long it takes toast to finish, and that’s maybe once a month.

I know how to cook and I’ll gladly cook a meal for a group. But feeding myself is just the worst thing ever.

26

I love to cook, and I love to eat good food, so I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But the actual time it takes me to make something from scratch is all over the map- I can whip up a tasty stir-fry in 20 minutes, or I can take 12 hours on some BBQ.

But a lot of the time spent to cook things that take a long time is just waiting and checking on it. Like the BBQ. Or, I make a Beef Rendang that takes 4+ hours, but the initial prep is only 30-40 minutes. The rest is slow-cooking in the oven and occasionally checking and stirring while the liquid from the coconut milk reduces down.

Probably the most complicated, time-consuming meal I make, in terms of constantly doing stuff, is Christmas dinner, which in our family is the traditional English ‘Sunday Roast’ with beef, Yorkshire pudding, and all the fixings. That’s 2 or 3 hours of constant busy work and getting the timing on various things just right so it’s all hot and ready at the same time.

27

:raised_hand:

Or, rather, my kids do. Plates, napkins to the left, cutlery arranged correctly, trivets in the middle for the serving dishes to come, additional spoons for condiment bowls…

28

I do, most nights. We eat either in the sunroom, porch, or dining room table. About 1/3rd of the time I’ll light a candle for dinner, since we tend to dine late.

29

Glad a couple of other lazy cooks/food slobs have checked in. I was beginning to feel even more outcast than usual! :wink:

I’ve often said that if there were tasty and nutritious human chow, I’d eat it 3 times a day every day. I do like food that tastes good, but there is enough such food that is easy-to-cook that I have no interest in spending the time to cook it (or spending the time and $ to eat out.) I’d be perfectly happy to eat oatmeal for breakfast, PBJ and fruit for lunch, and rice and beans for dinner every single day for the rest of my life.

One of our favorite meals is grilled salmon and asparagus.
-turn on the grill
-place the salmon on aluminum foil, coat it with parsley, bread crumbs, and parm.
-place salmon on grill - it will be ready in 20-25 mins depending on thickness.
-trim asparagus and place in pan w/ small amount of water.
-when salmon has been cooking for 5-10 minutes, turn on heat under the asparagus (or in summer, cook in microwave.)
-when water boils, turn off heat and allow to steam for total of about 15 mins.
-bring in fish and place fish and asparagus on plates.

In both of our opinions, that is as good - if not better - than just about any salmon we have had in restaurants. We have often served it to guests, who have consistently complimented it highly.

Total time from start grill to food on table <30 mins.
Then <10 mins to transfer food from plate to stomach.

We spend much of the day together - hours most days in the same room with one or both of us working and/or reading, and walking the dog. So we don’t really need extended time at the table to “catch up.”

Whether we make rice and beans, soup, grilled chicken or pork with grilled veggies, veggie pasta and jar sauce, baked potatoes and veggies, a big salad - other than the time to simmer rice/soup, the actual time spent on hands-on prep is WELL under 30 mins. Probably closer to 10. The ONLY exception would be a big holiday dinner with company - although even then we keep prep time down by generally limiting it to 3 dishes.

And yeah, I’ve eaten some very good meals that people have put a great deal of time and effort into preparing. And while your sauce (for example) might win over jar sauce in a side-by-side taste test (even closer if the jar sauce is “tricked up”), the slightly better homemade sauce is IMO not worth the extra effort in procuring the various ingredients and making the meal.

Neither of us enjoys the act of cooking. I don’t really MIND it, but I get no pleasure out of making it more effort than need be. My wife buys the food and I cook it. We tend to eat fresh - our fridge is usually pretty empty other than a week’s worth of fresh veggies and fruit - and a couple of servings of meat. We use the grill whenever possible all year round to minimize cleanup. We’ll often sit across the table from each other, express how much we enjoy our bowls of soup/stew, and call each other “peasants.” Works for us.

On edit - setting table is minimal. I mean, I generally plate it and put the plates on the table - to avoid clean up of serving dishes. And I put the necessary utensils next to each plate. Unless the food is something sloppy like BBQ ribs or chicken, no need for napkins (to minimize laundry/conserv paper towels.)

On holidays or with company, my wife gets considerable enjoyment out of setting an attractive table.

30

This sentence makes me want to put my head in the oven.

To see how my ribs are doing! Not for any other reason or purpose. :wink:

31

On average, about an hour to 90 minutes prep+cooking. But the long tail of that is … very long

And a meal eaten in less than 30 minutes is a meal wasted.

32

On average? Probably 20-40 minutes prep to plate. Last night we had steaks, baked potatoes, mushrooms and leftover salad.

The only active cooking was sautéing the mushrooms and onions and grilling the steak.
Prep was: Thawing the steak. Potatoes needed to be washed, wrapped in foil, and baked for 1 hr 20 min. Washing and slicing the mushrooms, cleaning and dicing part of an onion, slicing some green onions. Also setting out butter, cheese, the green onions, sour cream, and bacon bits for the potatoes. Set out leftover salad and salad dressings, salt and pepper. Grill the steak last - about 10 minutes to grill, and 5 minutes to rest, then slice for serving. Serve yourself.

We eat on TV trays in front of the TV. 10 to 15 minutes to eat.

Total prep and cook time after the potatoes were in the oven was less than 30 minutes.

That was a relatively simple meal. Other meals can be much more complicated. And big prep days like Saturday take all day. I simmered chicken leg quarters for a few hours for the meat and broth. And I made about 4 dozen meatballs for the freezer. Dinner that night was a simple tomato sauce and meatballs with spaghetti, and a big salad.

I think tonight will be shrimp fried rice. Lots of prep, then rapid cook time. I love to eat good food!

33

This suggests to me you are one of those folks who enjoys making a huge production out of preparing ribs, pretending it makes a big difference! :wink:

34

Casting pearls before swine…

Or in this case casting swine before…

35

So seriously, break this down for me. What takes 30 minutes to ingest a meal? Do you take one bite, then sit around and talk for a couple of minutes before taking the next bite? Is talking over food somehow different/better than talking while sitting in the same room? Or do you not see each other outside of mealtimes?

36

My gf works from home, but typically puts in a 10 hour day. She also has “chores” outside (taking care of her horses, mostly) that demand an hour or two each day.

Mealtimes (primarily dinner) are a respite from all of that. It is the time we have set aside to share family news, discuss plans for the coming weekend, laugh at Trump’s latest foibles, etc. Often a deer will approach if we are eating on the porch and we will sit quietly and enjoy its company. Also, I usually serve courses separately which adds time.

Our dinners at home average an hour. We do not rush, nor do we leave any wine in the bottle(s) we’ve opened.

37

I used to put real dinners in front of my family every damn day, with the table set, to which all had to sit down and put their cloth napkins in their laps. Finally I realized that not one person was enjoying eating that way. Especially me (my own preference is to eat from a big bowl, alone, in front of a book). So I quit.

I find, too, that eating mammals is often much more time consuming than eating mostly vegetables and legumes. Meat eating has centuries of tradition and recipes and so forth. Marinating, stewing, grilling … Historically, of course, eating a meat meal was itself a cause for celebration and fuss. Lentil nut loaf or stir fried veggies and tofu just do not have the same specialness. Vegetarianism is mostly chopping.

We eat meat on holidays mainly.

38

Yes, if eating in a group.

Also, I chew. Slowly. And taste my food and reflect on the experience.

This was a technique taught to me years ago by a dietician and it works for decreasing how much you eat.

Also, we often eat multiple smaller courses in sequence, rather than one all-in-one melange.

Yes on both counts. But see below.

Why are you assuming this is only in reference to shared meals? It applies to meals I eat by myself, as well.

39

When my gf is out of town I spend even more time preparing and eating dinner. Although I’m saddled with caring for her horses, I am free to make whatever I feel like cooking since I’m feeding just myself. My gf chooses to not some things so my alone meals can feature veal, liver, and nasty carbs.

I always take pictures of dinner and send them to my gf so that she misses me even more. :heart: :heart:

40

We actually consider one of our most successful parenting choices to have been prioritizing meals as a family, during which both of us and all 3 kids sat and conversed. One of the only good things about my longtime job - besides the generous pay - is that it allowed me to be home for dinner almost every day.

Quite different from now, when it is just the 2 of us, both of us mostly working from home. Like I said, for both of us, meals are largely just ingesting sufficient nutrients. We have no shortage of time in which to converse and otherwise interact.