Corn Sugar: As tasty as it is healthy!

[Cyrrex]

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

Very good advice.

Edit: I don't mean to come off as an ass.  Please don't mistake my enthusiasm for teaching this stuff for my being a "know-it-all"

I doubt many of the regulars here think you come off as an ass, and if they do, they can suck it.  I appreciate most of your advice, except as pertaining to Minnesota Tight Ends.

[dusematic]

I've said it before here and I'll say it again.  You want to eat healthy and start preparing your own food more?  Get a fucking gas grill.  It's quick, it's retard-proof, and there's little to no clean-up.  Less dishes.  Tastes better. You can grill pretty much anything.  Stock up on aluminum foil.  And coarse salt/pepper.

[Mrbloodworth]

I've said it before here and I'll say it again.  You want to eat healthy and start preparing your own food more?  Get a fucking gas grill.  It's quick, it's retard-proof, and there's little to no clean-up.  Less dishes.  Tastes better. You can grill pretty much anything.  Stock up on aluminum foil.  And coarse salt/pepper.

Second story apartment :(

[LK]

If I could wing it, as part of a "take a year off to be a better person" that I am entertaining, spending some time creating an environment conducive to cooking my own food with confidence would be one of the activities I'd do.

[Pennilenko]

I've said it before here and I'll say it again.  You want to eat healthy and start preparing your own food more?  Get a fucking gas grill.  It's quick, it's retard-proof, and there's little to no clean-up.  Less dishes.  Tastes better. You can grill pretty much anything.  Stock up on aluminum foil.  And coarse salt/pepper.

Second story apartment :(

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350318456326&rvr_id=140125543948&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=%3F*F%3F&GUID=c138beff1250a026539276f2fe1cbe1d&itemid=350318456326&ff4=263602_263622

[Sky]

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

Both on my short list of things to buy when I find some money and stop making impulse purchases like Civ 5 and my cheapo classical guitar.

On the grill thing - it's one of the top reasons I so desperately wanted my own house. First thing I bought was a nice grill. I think I've cooked maybe five times inside since April. If you get a big enough grill, you can set up heat zones and cook almost any style on the grill. I wouldn't exactly call it retard-proof, I've seen enough poor grill cooks churning out blackened husks of raw meat.

[Ingmar]

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

Zero effort? There is no cooking implement in the world that sucks to clean more than a rice cooker.

[proudft]

One of those old-timey crank handle meat grinders.  

I searched long and wide for a rice cooker with a stainless steel insert so I can put it in the dishwasher.  I finally found one, but man, they are scarce:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I5UEQM/

Used it about five times so far, works fine, though it does tend to splatter.  Kitchen towel draped on top solved that.  And I'm willing to put up with a lot for something that can go in the dishwasher.

[Engels]

I'm loath to say this, but in this one particular thread, dusematic is pretty much right.

Also, you don't have to be all one with nature yuppy to get healthy vegetables. Frozen veggies work too.

As for cooking, if you have a stove, you can set yourself up for the week with a good chuck roast or a pork shoulder. Cook it on a Saturday or Sunday if you're pressed for time, then use Tupperware. Slow roasting these meats isn't that hard. I have managed to do it, and with no training or prior experience. It just takes some time and a bit of intuition.

Then when you get home on a weeknight, you microwave an Idaho spud for 4 minutes, nuke some frozen veggies and you can have pot roast with baked potato and greens every day of the week.

[Samwise]

Also, you don't have to be all one with nature yuppy to get healthy vegetables. Frozen veggies work too.

Trader Joe's was a lifesaver when I decided I had to start eating small healthy dinners.  Bag of frozen veggies, bag of frozen cooked chicken breast.  Put some of each in a bowl, season, microwave for three minutes.  Healthy dinner!  And cheap as fuck because a $5 bag of veggies goes a pretty long way.

[Engels]

I must confess that in one area, I have become a super snob, and that's in meat selection. I really only get snotty yuppy meat now, from a local butcher that only gets local beef/pork. Needless to say, organic, hormone and antibiotic free, wrapped in snuggies and cooed to for a month before pneumatic hammer time.

Its more expensive. Instead of $4 a pound for chuck its $7. So a 2 lb roast costs me 14 bucks. But that roast lasts me for 4 days, so its around 3 bucks for the meat in the meal. Damned delicious meat, I might add.

[Hawkbit]

Rice Cooker/Steamer combo - it doesn't get better than this unless you're spending $200.  I've got one, I use it all the time.  It's so much better than the $20 jobbies at Target.  Leave a little water out of the pot for rice, but let it sit for an hour before eating it and it's restaurant quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-ECJ-N55W-Electric-Porridge-Steamer/dp/B000FEH1Q2/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1284498539&sr=1-1

[HaemishM]

Also, that lovely American tradition of willful ignorance.  

Which goes along nicely with 'it's everyone else's fault but mine and I expect someone else to do everything for me'.

More along the lines of, Americans are fucking ignorant and won't change, allowing money-grubbing agri-corporations and the corn lobby to fuck them into an early grave for profit.

[Hoax]

Listen to Duse.

Also gotta give a +1 to recommending frozen mixed veggies (those steam fresh packages are legit). The thing people refuse to understand in threads like this is that there is a large chunk of the population that just does not enjoy making something like a salad. The act of buying a variety of ingredients, that all have limited shelf life, that require a skill to pick out, that then need to be cleaned, that you then somehow dry off (I still get this part wrong), then chopped correctly, then put together, then you finally get to fucking eat it and...

its a fucking salad. Joy.

There are people who like cutting up and eating things that are plants and there are people that do not.

For the people that do not, who are the only people that should need help avoiding shit like "corn sugar" seriously listen to Duse. You can either go the grill route, the slow cooker route, the frozen healthy things route, the rice cooker route or a combination of what works for you but telling non vegetable people they should shop at a fucking farmer's market every week is worthless advice.

[Ingmar]

Sadly you can't have gas grills on apartment patios in California anymore, I had to get rid of my propane tank a couple years ago. Thanks for ruining it for everyone, people who burned down their apartment buildings!

[voodoolily]

You can't moderate it, that's the problem.

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

This.

Since I joined a food-buying co-op and am buying meat en carcasse (and organic fruit and veg by the flat), I and my family are much healthier. I freeze and can everything that we don't eat fresh. I try to bake something sweet every week to satisfy my cravings (breastfeeding burns 500-600 cals/day), but when I do get store-bought goodies I spring for the nice stuff.

[RhyssaFireheart]

That's my problem. Neither my wife or I are "cooks". By any stretch of the imagination. I hesitate to admit this but my household firealarm went off when I tried to fry bacon. (Complete with the fire department showing up.)

Buy a good rice cooker and a steamer.  They will change the way you eat with almost zero effort.

We have a crock-pot, a wok, one of those counter grills and a George Foreman grill. I'd love to learn how to at least make stew or something in the crock pot. I'll look into that rice steamer. I love, love rice. Of course I drown it in soy sauce and kill the health benefits!

For anyone who wants to try using a crock-pot more often (I should use mine more than I do), there is a LJ community just for slow-cooker recipes and I've found some pretty good ones in there.  It's called What_a_Crock and besides recipes, they have some good discussions about cooking prep and other related questions.  I've found it pretty informative and I don't particularly like cooking.

[voodoolily]

Oh, I was just gonna recommend the pressure cooker that I love and use religiously. It cooks dry beans, unsoaked! in only 35 minutes. It cooks tough brown rice in 15 minutes. It can turn a pork shoulder into perfect pulled pork in an hour. And it cooks carrots and sweet potatoes soft enough to feed to a baby in THREE MINUTES. And since it's an electric countertop model, it doesn't hafta freak anyone out with its hissing and spitting and asploding.

[Sir T]

I recently bought a cheap breadmaker so I can control what goes into the bread I eat. 2 table spoons of sugar, that's eaten up by the yeast, for every loaf. Not very labour intensive either. Dump in the ingredients, push the button and 3 hours later you have bread.

Also I got a slow cooker (Americans call it a crock pot) a few weeks ago. Boil up some stew or something else, put it into containers and freeze it. End of midweek "don't have time to cook" crises. Plenty of recipes online too. Plenty of healthy eating possibilities.

[voodoolily]

If you don't have time to cook, why use a slow cooker? You could use a fast cooker. I never understood why people would rather leave an appliance on all day when they could run a different one for 20 minutes.

[Ard]

Sadly you can't have gas grills on apartment patios in California anymore, I had to get rid of my propane tank a couple years ago. Thanks for ruining it for everyone, people who burned down their apartment buildings!

Wait, what?  This is illegal?  I've got one on my patio, and this is the first I've heard of it.

edit:  holy crap, did some digging and it apparently is, wtf
edit again:  did some more digging, I think I'm in the clear:
"It’s not as if all barbecuing is off-limits. Grilling with charcoal and natural gas are still OK on apartment decks with automatic sprinklers. Grilling with propane is OK if tanks are tiny, fit for camping. All grilling is OK if apartment balconies are made of non-combustible materials such as stucco, concrete or brick. And the new rules don’t affect single-family homes and duplexes."

And apparently found the same link you did.

[Ingmar]

If you don't have time to cook, why use a slow cooker? You could use a fast cooker. I never understood why people would rather leave an appliance on all day when they could run a different one for 20 minutes.

Because you can fill it up in the morning when you're not hungry, and then when you are hungry later you can just eat without having to wait 20 minutes! Also there's a side benefit of requiring no attention during the cooking process at all.

I wouldn't use it for everything obviously, but it is nice for stews and soups and such.

A lot of this discussion is fine for us mostly reasonably-well-employed-not-working-multiple-jobs people, but I think as usual we're underestimating the 'fuck I am working 3 jobs I am just going to get McDonald's because it is cheap AND I don't have to do EVEN MORE WORK' factor as far as the less fortunate go. I'm still waiting for someone to jump into that market with food that won't kill you, I feel like there's a really big business opportunity there somewhere.

Sadly you can't have gas grills on apartment patios in California anymore, I had to get rid of my propane tank a couple years ago. Thanks for ruining it for everyone, people who burned down their apartment buildings!

Wait, what?  This is illegal?  I've got one on my patio, and this is the first I've heard of it.

You may or may not be covered by the law:

From http://www.residentialfiresprinklers.com/blog/california-renters-have-beef-with-fire-safety-bbq-ban/ the first result I found on a search:

It’s not as if all barbecuing is off-limits. Grilling with charcoal and natural gas are still OK on apartment decks with automatic sprinklers. Grilling with propane is OK if tanks are tiny, fit for camping. All grilling is OK if apartment balconies are made of non-combustible materials such as stucco, concrete or brick. And the new rules don’t affect single-family homes and duplexes.

My patio has a wooden deck above it so I'm out of luck, you may be different, or your landlord may be less diligent about enforcing the law. My propane tank was too big, it was a normal gas grill size and not a camp stove one.

[Sky]

Oh, I was just gonna recommend the pressure cooker that I love and use religiously.

  I'm all over that thing as soon as I get a couple extra bucks.

[Soln]

Oh, I was just gonna recommend the pressure cooker that I love and use religiously.

  I'm all over that thing as soon as I get a couple extra bucks.

noted 

[rattran]

The $200 fuzzy logic rice cookers are amazing, but any good one should be simple to clean. The one I'm using currently is stainless steel and easy to clean. I have a separate zorijushi steamer, but usually just toss the veggies into a steamer insert on that for the last few minutes of steaming. The dedicated steamer is nice when I'm cooking for a group, 4 levels of goodness.

[hal]

This is stupid people. Do not buy anything that a farmer would not recognise. period do not buy perpar id foods. period.

[Teleku]

This is stupid people. Do not buy anything that a farmer would not recognise. period do not buy perpar id foods. period.

There is a deep message here, I know.  I just need to unravel it.

[Ratman_tf]

A lot of this discussion is fine for us mostly reasonably-well-employed-not-working-multiple-jobs people, but I think as usual we're underestimating the 'fuck I am working 3 jobs I am just going to get McDonald's because it is cheap AND I don't have to do EVEN MORE WORK' factor as far as the less fortunate go. I'm still waiting for someone to jump into that market with food that won't kill you, I feel like there's a really big business opportunity there somewhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html

[brellium]

You can't moderate it, that's the problem.

Sure you can.  Don't buy processed food.  You can eat pretty damn cheap and healthy by just eating whole foods.  People choose not to.  Cooking is teh hard.

Chicken, eggs, beans, and rice are cheap as dirt.  So are field greens.  You can go to a farmer's market and eat like a king for pennies.

Yup, my diet has pretty much been for the last few weeks; oatmeal + turkish coffee with a table spoon of sugar (my real only indulgence), rice with some kind of garnishment (I have nice jar of pickled garlic + spices), and cabbage with chicken.  After three weeks of that and basic exercises + walking more (I always walked alot), I've pretty much droped all the weight I've picked up in the last 5 years (that nice $1300 cashmere coat from Neimans fits confortably again yay! and the taliored suit isn't tight yay!) Now I just need to drop the rest of the weight (another 5+ years worth) and I should be back to being MMK like I was in college.

Only downside is after a couple weeks of that I developed some degree of lactose intolerance, no more quesadillas =(.

I only wish I had listened to Yang when I had her on my lap and she poked me in the gut saying I had gotten soft and resarted all my exercises then, it's so hard to get back to that level.  I should be happy I only put on about 50 pounds in all those years

[MahrinSkel]

Terry Pratchett expressed this in one of his Discworld novels as the "Economy of good boots."  A good pair of boots (in the real world) costs $150-200.  If cared for and worn regularly, they can last 10 years or more.  A cheap pair of boots costs $50 and will last a year (while not being nearly as comfortable or effective).  A wealthy person buys the expensive boots, maybe gets them resoled a couple of times at $25-40, and has good, comfortable, good looking boots for a decade at a cost of $250 or less.  A poor person can't come up with that much money, buys the cheap boots, replaces them every year, spending $500 over the same decade for sore, wet feet in crappy boots.  I have *just* such a pair of boots I wore through most of my 20's, and they're still in good shape (had them resoled right before I got into game development and cargo short + sandals qualified as "business casual").

I can save more money on a grocery trip to Sam's than a poor person can afford to pay in one shot, even if they had the large vehicle to transport the results, and the extra large freezer and shelves in a garage to store a month's worth of basic provisions.  I can buy better food, more of it, and never have to even *consider* going hungry, while actually spending less.  The difference between me and most of those suburban Sam's Club shoppers is that I spent the 70's as a child of a single mother who was trying to reboot her career, and know what it's like to be on the bad side of that expense curve.  I don't think I'm morally superior because I escaped it, I know how hard it was and how much my mother gave up to make it happen, and how *lucky* we were that it worked.  A bad break here or there, and we wouldn't have.

A poor person can't afford a new, fuel-efficient car, that it is new enough to not need much maintenance.  Or to live so far from work every driver needs their own car, but their kids go to good schools.  Poor people often don't lack ambition, or willingness to put in the effort, what they lack is the capital to invest to make their lives better.  "Welfare Queens" and "Horatio Alger" are both *fiction*.

--Dave

[Furiously]

Only downside is after a couple weeks of that I developed some degree of lactose intolerance, no more quesadillas =(.

They sell acidophiles pills.  I thought they quit working for me then discovered I was also having issues with Gluten. It's been incredibly hard for me making the adjustment, but, it's a lot nicer than having stomach cramps and running to the bathroom after most meals.

I've been eating like a Thai / Mexican lately.

[FatuousTwat]

Why spend 200 dollars on a rice cooker when all you need is water and a pot? It's seriously the easiest thing to cook.

Rinse 2 cups rice 3 times, add to 3 cups water and a bit of salt, heat till boiling, cover, turn heat to low for 20 minutes.

[Cyrrex]

Why spend 200 dollars on a rice cooker when all you need is water and a pot? It's seriously the easiest thing to cook.

Rinse 2 cups rice 3 times, add to 3 cups water and a bit of salt, heat till boiling, cover, turn heat to low for 20 minutes.

Because a rice cooker, even one that costs 20 bucks or less, makes it taste loads better.  Huge bonus if it can also steam vegetables.

[SnakeCharmer]

Terry Pratchett expressed this in one of his Discworld novels as the "Economy of good boots."  A good pair of boots (in the real world) costs $150-200.  If cared for and worn regularly, they can last 10 years or more.  A cheap pair of boots costs $50 and will last a year (while not being nearly as comfortable or effective).  A wealthy person buys the expensive boots, maybe gets them resoled a couple of times at $25-40, and has good, comfortable, good looking boots for a decade at a cost of $250 or less.  A poor person can't come up with that much money, buys the cheap boots, replaces them every year, spending $500 over the same decade for sore, wet feet in crappy boots.  I have *just* such a pair of boots I wore through most of my 20's, and they're still in good shape (had them resoled right before I got into game development and cargo short + sandals qualified as "business casual").

I can save more money on a grocery trip to Sam's than a poor person can afford to pay in one shot, even if they had the large vehicle to transport the results, and the extra large freezer and shelves in a garage to store a month's worth of basic provisions.  I can buy better food, more of it, and never have to even *consider* going hungry, while actually spending less.  The difference between me and most of those suburban Sam's Club shoppers is that I spent the 70's as a child of a single mother who was trying to reboot her career, and know what it's like to be on the bad side of that expense curve.  I don't think I'm morally superior because I escaped it, I know how hard it was and how much my mother gave up to make it happen, and how *lucky* we were that it worked.  A bad break here or there, and we wouldn't have.

A poor person can't afford a new, fuel-efficient car, that it is new enough to not need much maintenance.  Or to live so far from work every driver needs their own car, but their kids go to good schools.  Poor people often don't lack ambition, or willingness to put in the effort, what they lack is the capital to invest to make their lives better.  "Welfare Queens" and "Horatio Alger" are both *fiction*.

--Dave

You are out of your godamn mind.

[brellium]

Why spend 200 dollars on a rice cooker when all you need is water and a pot? It's seriously the easiest thing to cook.

Rinse 2 cups rice 3 times, add to 3 cups water and a bit of salt, heat till boiling, cover, turn heat to low for 20 minutes.

Because a rice cooker, even one that costs 20 bucks or less, makes it taste loads better.  Huge bonus if it can also steam vegetables.

Rice cookers are teh awesome, bought a new little one, love it a lot more than the big one I have (which the coating on the bowl peeled off). Also living alone I'm never buying one of those 20lb bags of rice again, I can never eat that much rice and I don't care if it only costs 13$.