|
It's like how if you're the government and you're going to do 9/11 so you can take advantage of the fear and hysteria to suspend the constitution and institute dictatorship, first you advertise your guilt widely by printing drawings of burning towers on the currency that everyone's grandma can discover with a little help from a fwd:fwd: email showing them how to fold it, and then to make sure your unmistakable guilt is obvious you just dynamite building 7 instead of flying a third plane into it.
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 19:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 23:51 |
|
|
darthbob88 posted:I did Blue Apron meal kits for a little bit, as part of relearning how to cook worth a drat, and I remember running into some difficulty with a recipe saying (IIRC) "now that you've cooked the pasta, pass it through a strainer and rinse it with cold water". I sent them feedback over it saying "I'm a bachelor in a poorly-furnished kitchen. Could you let me know ahead of time if a recipe requires utensils like a strainer, zester, box grater, etc?"
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 20:07
|
|
|
World Famous W posted:if ya got lid for your pot, ya got a strainer for pasta Don't even got to strain it really. If you have tongs just grab the pasta from the water pot, put it in the sauce pot. It's fine. You can hold it and let it drip dry for a minute if you really want. But that's back on Blue Apron, if you're writing instructions for beginners you've got to really write instructions for beginners. It's a brand new skill. Straining with a lid isn't hard to figure out but the first time you do something it's a little overwhelming and you might not think of things like that VitalSigns fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Apr 24, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 20:18
|
|
|
yeah, not making GBS threads on anyone's cooking skills. more a helpful tip
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 20:24
|
|
|
Yeah I know you weren't, cooking tips ftw. I'm just saying why cooking can be so intimidating. I use tongs because I like bringing a little of the salty pasta over along with the noodles personally (learned that when I made cappelini pomodoro, where you want that) Straining it and giving it a cold water bath is really only for if you're anal about perfectly al dente pasta but idgaf if my noodles are a little soft so I don't bother with it. Some of these recipes are written like you're competing on Iron Chef and David Ramsay or whoever is going to yell at you for limp noodles, but man it still tastes fine most of us are just trying to eat for the week without investing a ton of time. VitalSigns fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Apr 24, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 20:36
|
|
|
VitalSigns posted:Yeah it's all stupid prejudice: they think disabled people are inferior subhumans. Someone in a wheelchair can't possess human faculties other than working legs, no, they must have an inferior brain too. It's magic. No, literally, the theory is that the illumnati put all these symbols in public because there's some sort of magic power involved. It's also them flexing and flaunting that they're so in control that they don't need to make sensable stories anymore.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 20:43
|
|
|
I had a gift sub to blue apron for a bit and it did actually help me up my cooking game quite a bit from some of the more subtle things, like zesting the lime you're using in the recipe to punch up the rice. And then from there I spent a lot of time looking up recipes online and giving poo poo a try. This was during pandemic unemployment though, now that I'm back to work I'm falling back on quick stir fry a lot more.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:00
|
|
|
My problem is ADHD, I start cooking, then I have to do something like go to the bathroom or something comes on TV that distracts me and I forget entirely about the cooking until I smell the burning, and even then I'm like "poo poo I hope I'm not having a stroke" before I remember I was indeed cooking
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:01
|
|
|
Professor Beetus posted:I had a gift sub to blue apron for a bit and it did actually help me up my cooking game quite a bit from some of the more subtle things, like zesting the lime you're using in the recipe to punch up the rice. And then from there I spent a lot of time looking up recipes online and giving poo poo a try. But I'm skeptical the businesses will last after VC money runs out because it's just not a replacement for cooking or eating out imo 1. Most of the recipes didn't make enough food. If I have to make a sandwich after most meals am I even saving time 2. Not feasible. The only real way to cook with a full time job is meal prep a batch once or twice a week. Having to come home tired from work and then cook is why people don't do it, meal kits are slightly easier but it's still 20-45 minutes every night, and then there's the cleanup. 3. Why would anyone pay for this long term? One you're familiar with the recipes and you know what ingredients you need...curbside pickup and grocery delivery exist. And are cheaper since you can bulk buy spices etc once you're cooking regularly. Also again, ability to meal prep in bulk so you only cook and clean once a week.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:26
|
|
|
VitalSigns posted:Yeah I did a week of Hello Fresh on the cheap with a coupon just to try it out, and yeah they could do better to keep from tripping up beginners, but still I think it's a good way to get started, or just to learn some recipes. Yeah Hello Fresh wanted me to make fresh aioli and mayo and the such every single meal. I feel they didn't quite get their target market, I hear them and others offer simpler options now but the pricing is still insane.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:28
|
|
|
I love cooking and don’t find it a pain to make a big recipe after work. But that’s the thing, it is my cool down. I don’t blame anyone who does not want to. I heard the various food subscription boxes are targeted at super helpless tech bro types. “I make six figures but live out of my car most days”, that type.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:40
|
|
|
Yeah. I mean they gave you the packets so you squeeze into a bowl and stir so not the worst, but yeah extra steps like that to make it a little more froo froo fancy didn't make a lot of sense for the people who would presumably be using the service. Man, I'm tired, I had a long day, a pre-mixed chili sauce packet would have tasted just fine. And yeah the price. Yes it is cheaper than eating out. But is it cheap enough so it's worth cooking and washing pots and pans every night? Or alternatively, the grocery store is even cheaper so is there enough time savings to justify the extra cost? No not really imo. Arguably takes more time when you consider it takes just as long to wash a pot that boiled soup for 2 meals as a pot that made soup for 10. soviet elsa posted:I love cooking and don’t find it a pain to make a big recipe after work. But that’s the thing, it is my cool down. I don’t blame anyone who does not want to. Targeting it at rich tech bros doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Those guys are rich enough to eat out, if they're manchildren will they want to use meal prep kits, and if they are thrifty enough to want to save money and willing to put in the cooking work, why would they need this long term when the grocery store is cheaper and it's not even any harder once you have enough practice to know what to do. VitalSigns fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Apr 24, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:41
|
|
|
TremorX posted:My problem is ADHD, I start cooking, then I have to do something like go to the bathroom or something comes on TV that distracts me and I forget entirely about the cooking until I smell the burning, and even then I'm like "poo poo I hope I'm not having a stroke" before I remember I was indeed cooking Honestly that's why I do things on timers. Bone in, skin on chicken thighs (much cheaper that way), season them with whatever seasoning blend you enjoy and/or add some bbq sauce on top, set the oven/toaster oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 or so and it'll be done with no extra effort. My toaster oven shuts itself off, so I can do whatever and come back to finished protein, then just microwave some frozen veggies and be done with it. Do a stew in a slow cooker or instant pot - same chicken thighs, chop up some potatoes or sweet potatoes, chop up some carrots or other veggies (do NOT add broccoli before cooking, it becomes vile if stewed too long; squashes are good though, as are beans), add some seasoning, add a little white wine if you want, add some water, set the cooker, come back to delicious stew. Add some frozen veggies at this point if you want more veggies. I also like adding in some japanese curry bricks because it's goddamn delicious. They aren't fancy dishes, but they're made from scratch from extremely useful tools, which makes the meals fairly inexpensive. Also are quite tasty, the prep time is low, and there's no chance of burning anything because the devices turn themselves off.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:46
|
|
|
VitalSigns posted:Especially dumb because mathematics and theoretical physics is nothing but reading and thinking about stuff, activities very appropriate for someone in a wheelchair to do! I saw him speak decades ago, before the computer voice, when his communication system was "his students who'd been around him long enough to understand what he was saying and pass it on". I took my my mum and she thought it was the coolest thing ever.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:47
|
|
|
ADHD makes it hard to remember to set a timer!  But yes, timers. Set one before you wander away from the stove and pick up a game controller. You're not going to remember to stir every 15 minutes, but hopefully you can remember why the stove is beeping in time! Runcible Cat posted:I saw him speak decades ago, before the computer voice, when his communication system was "his students who'd been around him long enough to understand what he was saying and pass it on".
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 21:59
|
|
|
I was going to snark what kind of recipe says to rinse pasta, but then a post above gave an example of it being useful. still learning things. also while these general meal/cook kits are fine, I think some of the niche ones are dumb.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2024 22:20
|
|
|
PhazonLink posted:I was going to snark what kind of recipe says to rinse pasta, but then a post above gave an example of it being useful. The worse case was a recipe that asked me to zest a lime to add a bit of flavor to rice. I didn't have a zester, so instead I just cut off chunks of lime peel and chopped them up. Instead of a nice hint of lime throughout the dish, I got occasional flavor bombs of bitterness. quote:also while these general meal/cook kits are fine, I think some of the niche ones are dumb.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 02:28
|
|
|
You could be remembering correctly, a lot of recipes say to pour cold water on pasta to stop it cooking immediately after it's done so it doesn't get soft but unless you're serving snobs in an expensive restaurant who cares. You also don't need a zester, cheese grater works fine, but if you didn't have a strainer maybe you didn't have a grater either. Zesting rice sounds kinda silly though, rice is already damp and the lemon has juice in it, use a dash of that? Idk zesting is annoying because you have to be careful not to grate the bitter white part (as you found out) so I don't want to do it unless it really matters like a fancy dessert or a cocktail or something.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 03:10
|
|
|
VitalSigns posted:ADHD makes it hard to remember to set a timer! The beauty of the recipes that I just mentioned are that you literally set the timer on the machine. My toaster oven only functions with a timer - when you hit start on bake, it counts down from the timer that you set. A slow cooker or an instant pot also only really function with timers. They also shut off when the timer goes off, so there's 0% chance of burning anything, and even if you're late on grabbing the food, it'll still be warm for a long time after the timer goes off. Those recipes are about as set it and forget it as you can get.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 03:36
|
|
|
Neito posted:It's magic. Yeah, Alex Jones is one of the people who's dumb enough to say it openly, the magic power only works ("Sympathetic magic", not that that's what that means) if you do it openly. Possibly because God makes the rules so Christians have to have a chance to figure it out? Unclear.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 06:42
|
|
|
 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 14:17
|
|
|
quote:What does "Democracy" mean, as applied to our government?
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 17:59
|
|
|
Medullah posted:Credit for any accuracies above to my Professors who continue to educate me: Need to start using this in my email signature.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 18:16
|
|
|
I like Hello Fresh; I've been doing it for years, but I'll admit that it only solves problems that feel like they're specific to me, in that 1) a lot of ingredients only come in bulk and don't keep long enough for me to use them up and 2) if left to my own devices to grocery shop for meals, I'll basically get the same things every week. Each recipe does tell you what you need to use (whether it's pots/pans, foil, a peeler, or ingredients like butter, oil, or salt/pepper that they don't include in the boxes). Picking out the 3 meals a week I want and getting a box of ingredients at my door is nice. (Also, being single, each meal for 2 is 2 meals for me, so a whole week of dinners means only having to cook 3 times, so I can schedule that around work, socializing, etc.) Sometimes, I'll get an extra meal in one box and skip the next to leave space for just ordering a pizza or something once in a while. (Or going out or whatever.) It does seem like the average consumer isn't looking for this particular product, though. (Which is probably why they're buying up similar companies, like Factor (pre-cooked meals) and Good Chop (subscription service for just meats).
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 18:59
|
|
|
CellBlock posted:I like Hello Fresh; I've been doing it for years, but I'll admit that it only solves problems that feel like they're specific to me, in that 1) a lot of ingredients only come in bulk and don't keep long enough for me to use them up... Yeah, this is a huge problem for me as well. My girlfriend doesn't eat a whole lot, and I don't eat as much as I used to, so it's hard to want to buy an ingredient that only seems to come in Extended Family size. Same with wanting to do something like a lasagna, because I can only scale the recipe down so much and I'm still going to spend a bunch of money on more ingredients than I need in order to make a single dish that I only make like once a month. I've got a cookbook that's supposed to focus on recipes for 2 where everything is scaled down for you, but, it seems to still heavily involve just "Ok, you're stuck buying the jumbo box, so here's how to store the rest." But then I've still got a house full of ingredients that I don't need and aren't going to keep long enough with our work schedules the way they are.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 19:18
|
|
|
Probably still cheaper to idk buy a whole onion and throw half of it away than for Hello Fresh to ship you exactly half an onion or whatever in their meal kit, but I can see how the former feels more wasteful. But yeah I guess HelloFresh would make more sense if they have say meals for 4 or 6 that you could feed 2 people with for multiple days. I don't remember if they do, but it seems like they ought to since they'd presumably want to market it to families, right? Or I suppose you could just order 3 of the same meal and triple the recipe all in one night.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 19:50
|
|
|
I remember just laughing and laughing at the single egg in a single-egg carton when I was given a subscription as a gift.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 19:57
|
|
|
Brawnfire posted:I remember just laughing and laughing at the single egg in a single-egg carton when I was given a subscription as a gift.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 20:35
|
|
|
Also, critically, the vast majority of plastic recycling is a lie and almost none of the plastic a meal kit ships you could be recycled even if it was possible, because it’s contaminated with food.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 21:03
|
|
|
LonsomeSon posted:Also, critically, the vast majority of plastic recycling is a lie   That's probably more energy efficient than trying to recycle most of those small plastic items, but it's still bad. Scholtz posted:"Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" are all separate terms and placed in order of effectiveness.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 21:15
|
|
|
quote:Credit for any accuracies above to my Professors who continue to educate me:
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 21:28
|
|
|
Guavanaut posted:That's probably more energy efficient than trying to recycle most of those small plastic items, but it's still bad. e: But yeah, it should not happen in small Romanian villages which do not have such facilities Herman Merman fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Apr 25, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 21:36
|
|
|
Yeah the problem there is the modern cogeneration facility bit, it's cheaper to send it to unsuited incinerators with lovely smokestacks in places that aren't nearby. e: ^^ 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2024 21:40
|
|
|
I never understood why it couldn't just be melted back down, even if it's not suitable for whatever parts it could still be used in something like insulation, packing foam, etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 01:14
|
|
|
Panfilo posted:I never understood why it couldn't just be melted back down, even if it's not suitable for whatever parts it could still be used in something like insulation, packing foam, etc. It's cheaper to do the environmentally damaging option while saying you care than to attempt the environmentally good one.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 01:38
|
|
|
Panfilo posted:I never understood why it couldn't just be melted back down, even if it's not suitable for whatever parts it could still be used in something like insulation, packing foam, etc. Complex topic but it boils down to the quality being bad and the price too high compared to new plastic. There is some experimentation with using bacteria to create new plastic but its in very early stages still. TheDeadlyShoe fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Apr 26, 2024 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 01:41
|
|
|
To contribute to the food thread, get a rice cooker, an air fryer, a cast iron skillet and a slow cooker.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 01:42
|
|
|
Panfilo posted:I never understood why it couldn't just be melted back down, even if it's not suitable for whatever parts it could still be used in something like insulation, packing foam, etc. A lot of plastic won't melt right, it'll burn.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 02:38
|
|
|
TheDeadlyShoe posted:Complex topic but it boils down to the quality being bad and the price too high compared to new plastic.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 03:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 23:51 |
|
|
BiggerBoat posted:To contribute to the food thread, get a rice cooker, an air fryer, a cast iron skillet and a slow cooker. Agree. It's wild how much you can do with an air fryer. Also, with the slow cooker, buy slow cooker liners. They are your friend.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2024 04:04
|
|