The [grocery / food bill] is Too Damn High! Bulk Beef,where are you?!?

[DAPUNISHER]

Even gadgets like instant pot etc you still need to actually do a lot of prep work and follow recipes etc and it's just a lot of work all for something that takes 15 minutes to eat. It just feels like wasted effort that I could be using towards doing something else instead.

I cut the rest of the post out, but I'll comment on it too.

You are rationalizating. It's okay, it's what we as a species are prone to do. You can literally throw stuff in a Instant Pot (IP) and have a meal shortly. Unless you are so far up in Canuckistan that you are in a food desert, here's what you do. Buy the pre cut veggies and meats. It's still way cheaper than eating out and healthier than processed food. Using frozen veggies and meat is good too.

Something like chili is just throwing all the ingredients in after you brown the meat. The IP has a saute feature so you don't have extra cleanup. It may take you 15 minutes to eat the chili. But you'll have enough for multiple meals and freezing for later. Garnish with cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, whatev.

Stews and soups can all be throw and go too. No food prep. Bags of frozen veggies and meat. You can shred the meat up with a fork after it's done if they don't have pre cut. Mix it up by eating ready made salad kits and stuff like that. Way cheaper than eating out, at least here on the space coast it is. Make good sandwiches with bakery fresh bread and good deli meat, cheese, pickles, whatev. Take out, fast food, tv dinners, they are all a cop out.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You may be interested in Tovala oven system:

Tovala - Fresh Meal Delivery Service. 1 Minute of Prep.

No need to shop, prep, cook, or clean.

www.tovala.com

It has two parts:

1. Countertop oven
2. Meal delivery service

The oven is currently $70 shipped. The meals go like this:

1. You pick out what you want from the menu (4 to 16 meals per week)
2. They come with a QR code to scan for "one minute of prep"
3. They take less than 25 minutes to auto-cook in the oven

The average meal cost is $13, which isn't exactly cheap, but it's $12.50 for a Big Mac meal where I live (burger, fries, drink), so it's not unreasonable if (1) you want to be involved in the cooking process, but don't want the stress of meal planning or meal preparation, and (2) you want to eat healthier food. This system is nice because they automate the whole process from end to end for you. You can freeze some things as well, they have some notes on that process here:

https://support.tovala.com/hc/en-us/articles/115009390007-Can-I-freeze-my-Tovala-Meals-

View attachment 87664

That is kinda like factor, except you just use your existing microwave. I'm kinda toying with it, as supposedly the meals are actually healthy (but food companies lie so often about that so it's hard to know for sure) compared to cheap TV dinners I get at the grocery store. So might be worth it?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I cut the rest of the post out, but I'll comment on it too.

You are rationalizating. It's okay, it's what we as a species are prone to do. You can literally throw stuff in a Instant Pot (IP) and have a meal shortly. Unless you are so far up in Canuckistan that you are in a food desert, here's what you do. Buy the pre cut veggies and meats. It's still way cheaper than eating out and healthier than processed food. Using frozen veggies and meat is good too.

Something like chili is just throwing all the ingredients in after you brown the meat. The IP has a saute feature so you don't have extra cleanup. It may take you 15 minutes to eat the chili. But you'll have enough for multiple meals and freezing for later. Garnish with cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, whatev.

Stews and soups can all be throw and go too. No food prep. Bags of frozen veggies and meat. You can shred the meat up with a fork after it's done if they don't have pre cut. Mix it up by eating ready made salad kits and stuff like that. Way cheaper than eating out, at least here on the space coast it is. Make good sandwiches with bakery fresh bread and good deli meat, cheese, pickles, whatev. Take out, fast food, tv dinners, they are all a cop out.

Yeah maybe I'm just looking at the wrong recipes, I really need to find a good book that focuses on "just throw everything in" style of recipes and not "you need these 15 oddball ingredients" with a 20 step list of things you need to do first.

I have done stews and I often do chicken on it's own with veggies and other easy things but in general I tend to lack as far as variety.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Last person is fucking economically ignorant. Inflation is tied to the money supply. End of story. There are "tricks" in the system to try and prevent the effects from leaking over, but COVID caused the dam to crack. Whether or not companies see a profit or not is irrelevant.

Can't ignore how concentrated our food supply is into a few companies and how that allows the greedy middleman fuckers to keep raising prices without any worry about competition swooping in. Still pisses me off how expensive beef is while the ranchers who actually raise the cattle are losing their asses so the four meat packers who control our food supply can loot our wealth at the supermarket and the ranchers' wealth at auction. Really would love to see those parasites at Tyson, Cargill, JBS, and National Meat Packing get French Revolutioned.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yeah maybe I'm just looking at the wrong recipes, I really need to find a good book that focuses on "just throw everything in" style of recipes and not "you need these 15 oddball ingredients" with a 20 step list of things you need to do first.

I have done stews and I often do chicken on it's own with veggies and other easy things but in general I tend to lack as far as variety.

Here's how easy it can be - https://themodernproper.com/5-ingredient-chicken-tortilla-soup I recommend a jar of salsa over the enchilada sauce.

https://www.thereciperebel.com/category/instant-pot/

Just search easy instant pot or slow cooker meals. 30 minute meals, that kind of thing. Pick the ones that look accessible and fast enough for you. Being a white belt in the kitchen doesn't mean you can't throwdown and make some knockout meals.

As your skill grows so will your enjoyment of cooking, and time management. Nothing breeds success like success.

 

[Ken g6]

I do not find "plant-based" subs of meat to be that beneficial to health(there is a better case for environment). Impossible Burgers are sold in fast food joints, and they do contain dextrose, and you don't need much for the appetite enhancing effect of dextrose to take effect. They also contain heme, the same that is cited as a potential cause of colorectal cancer.

The there is the cost premium for paying for a protein that can be had for much less(soy protein in tofu is much cheaper.

I think TB was a real issue in 1900.

What I wonder is, if plant-based meat substitutes use less resources, why don't they cost less money? If Impossible burgers were half the price of the real thing, I'd get them all the time.

I'm too lazy to do real cooking. But I've figured out several meals I can make in the microwave that cost less than a frozen dinner. I need to start a blog about that.

 

[Torn Mind]

You're one of those dudes I completely disregard. No offense intended. It is simply that my life has taught me you mofos nerd out on everything too the nth degree. Do you have OCD? You seem like you do.

No OCD. If anything, I'm too lax in committing to any routine.

Variable elimination is just what I like to do. My father was a POS but also a math guy.

There is no subject that I ever shut off analyzing in detail.

If heme is the problem, then it stands to reason that it being in an Impossible Burger makes it nit much different from red meat.

I don't have to worry about overeating meat because my appetite gravitates towards starches to my detriment. Red meat is a bi-weekly thing for me.

Meat without starch becomes less desirable or appetizing.

 

[Torn Mind]

What I wonder is, if plant-based meat substitutes use less resources, why don't they cost less money? If Impossible burgers were half the price of the real thing, I'd get them all the time.

I'm too lazy to do real cooking. But I've figured out several meals I can make in the microwave that cost less than a frozen dinner. I need to start a blog about that.

Few reasons. One is opportunity cost. Whoever sells the stuff has to get something to make their venture worthwhile, this being turning a plant protein into a meat substitute rather than an overt plant based food.

One could argue that as a startup, they have not built up the infrastructure and supply chain like the meat industry yet.

The other is simply market ignorance. I'm Asian and have eaten tofu, and sometimes get if for 1.49 or even .75 cents a pound at the local 99 Ranch. I'm not the target. It's people who are used to paying fast food prices for burger patties. And then there is being influenced by parents. My mother is a hard-core budgeter and 2 dollars for a pound of tofu is a hard no for her.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

What I wonder is, if plant-based meat substitutes use less resources, why don't they cost less money? If Impossible burgers were half the price of the real thing, I'd get them all the time.

I'm too lazy to do real cooking. But I've figured out several meals I can make in the microwave that cost less than a frozen dinner. I need to start a blog about that.

I buy it in the ground beef format not the patties. I wait for Publix to put it on sale and buy a bunch. It costs only a little more than the grass fed beef I buy that way.

I think the price is mostly due to the target market. The people of Walmart gallery aren't exactly scooping up beyond meat or the like. Tends to be the Whole foods type of shopper they are after.

I don't pay attention to studies that much. There are many reasons to not put too much stock in any one or 3 of them. Humans are genetically almost identical, yet we differ in predispositions anyways. Examples. My genetics are from one of the few areas of the planet where the people are predominantly lactose tolerant. Sherpas have adapted to live at high altitude. I am certain there are many more. Trying to isolate something like heme as a carcinogen in humans is tough sledding. Take how many studies don't agree on caffeine or chocolate. Genetics are probably more important than whatever percentage a study produced. Too many variables to take it too seriously. Considering how long they have been doing studies on red meat and still no smoking gun so to speak, I'm not particularly concerned about getting butt cancer from impossible burger. We aren't eating THAT much of it either.

The ethical and environmental factors play more of part in my decision than health concerns about red meat. So there's that. But don't let that stop the crusaders from going after meat substitutes. It's fucked up how against them some people are.

The TOFU thing is a non starter for me. The reason I buy impossible burger is I like ground beef, and it is the closest thing I have tasted to it. Once seasoned in a recipe it satisfies the desire without the need for a beef critter getting slaughtered or the excessive environmental impact that industry has. At some point I'll go completely vegetarian.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Problem with a lot of plant based stuff is that it ends up ultra processed to make it palatable to a meat centric palet, which in turn makes it incredibly unhealthy and ironically more expensive.

Additionally, vegetarian/vegan gets the standard lifestyle mark-up. Lifestyles are that late stage capitalism thing where people build personalities around their consumerism, and that has an innate cost (sort of like the passion quotient for a job, where the more passionate workers are, the more their employer will exploit them through underpayment and overwork...).

Anyhow, I am not a great cook, but boxed meal deliveries like blue apron, Marley spoon, hello fresh etc are all pretty solid IMO (and you can get a shitload of cheap/free food thanks to their rotating promos, sign up get free meals, cancel, sign up, etc etc etc).

The most important part of "utilitarian" cooking, making a good healthy meal in the minimum amount of time, is learning where corners can be cut. As soon as any recipe starts telling me to pick the cilantro leaves from the stems, I know I can put that fucker together in half the time with the same (genetically inferior) taste.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Problem with a lot of plant based stuff is that it ends up ultra processed to make it palatable to a meat centric palet, which in turn makes it incredibly unhealthy and ironically more expensive.

That's hyperbole and sounds like it came right from the NCBA. It has a couple more grams of saturated fat and more salt than 85/15 per serving. It does have fiber the beef lacks. Big fucking deal. It is also hilarious that people demonize it, then drink soda, beer, fruit drinks, and eat a plethora of other salty empty carb snacks and refined sugar laden garbage. On the scale of Snickers bar to Living greens, it's way closer to the greens than the Snickers bar. Good enough for me. I sweat too much to worry about salt intake.

 

[Exterous]

A 17 min video of random tiktokers complaining about food prices? No one has time to watch that.

I skimmed it. A lot of complaining without much substance. Throw in 1-2 examples of things being super expensive and then extrapolate to ALL groceries. Like the first person complaining her name brand water got more expensive. Ok....use the free water you get from your tap? Or get generic water from the store?

You almost never have anyone who posts their actual receipt. At most its a carefully arranged picture or 2 second video of their trip with a "This cost $98.35!!!" They know if they post actual receipts people will start giving them reasonable suggestions. Which they try to explain away with 'the store brand is disgusting' or 'no one has time to cook' which is only really true for a very small number of people. One lady did show a quick picture of her cart: A bunch of pre-packaged lunchables. Two take and bake pizzas. A prepackaged salad. Prepackaged something for dessert (store bakery cake?). Family sized box of Cheez-its. Brand name orange juice. Yeah if everything you buy is name brand, prepackaged, and you don't cook ever its going to be expensive.

This was delicious. And not expensive. Broccoli. Shitakes. Baby Bellas. Grated ginger. Onion. Garlic. Chili bean sauce. Tofu. Shoyu. Sugar. Green onions.

Rice cooked in broth made with the organic better than bouillon.

My new favorite - which shocked me as I'm not a huge broccoli fan - is roasted broccoli and white beans with an egg on top. It's pretty easy to scale from 1 person to 4 people too. Mix broccoli, beans, and red pepper flakes in a little bit of olive oil and a dash or salt and pepper. Roast in the oven. Grate some parmesan cheese over top and throw it back in the oven under broil for a couple of min. Throw that in a bowl and serve an egg or two cooked however you want it on top.

Here's how easy it can be - https://themodernproper.com/5-ingredient-chicken-tortilla-soup I recommend a jar of salsa over the enchilada sauce.

Hell - our 'save for a lazy dinner' go to is a chicken breast and salsa. Throw both in the crockpot and come back later and all we need is a quick veggie side. 3 ingredients for dinner and about 5min of work.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

You may be interested in Tovala oven system:

Tovala - Fresh Meal Delivery Service. 1 Minute of Prep.

No need to shop, prep, cook, or clean.

www.tovala.com

It has two parts:

1. Countertop oven
2. Meal delivery service

The oven is currently $70 shipped. The meals go like this:

1. You pick out what you want from the menu (4 to 16 meals per week)
2. They come with a QR code to scan for "one minute of prep"
3. They take less than 25 minutes to auto-cook in the oven

The average meal cost is $13, which isn't exactly cheap, but it's $12.50 for a Big Mac meal where I live (burger, fries, drink), so it's not unreasonable if (1) you want to be involved in the cooking process, but don't want the stress of meal planning or meal preparation, and (2) you want to eat healthier food. This system is nice because they automate the whole process from end to end for you. You can freeze some things as well, they have some notes on that process here:

https://support.tovala.com/hc/en-us/articles/115009390007-Can-I-freeze-my-Tovala-Meals-

View attachment 87664

If you're trying to save money and get into cooking, ordering meal prepped food is hardly the way to go.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I hate cooking, and I'm not good at it, and I just never really know what to make. Reading a recipe book is like Chinese to me, I end up having to research almost every ingredient just so I know what it is. Or I can just pickup the phone and order pizza.

Real talk? Start with soup. You can take a simple chicken soup and make it fantastic with a pile of veg and some spices, plus it'll fill you up with all of like 300cal. I've lost weight and got more into freestyle cooking as a result.

 

[Kaido]

That is kinda like factor, except you just use your existing microwave. I'm kinda toying with it, as supposedly the meals are actually healthy (but food companies lie so often about that so it's hard to know for sure) compared to cheap TV dinners I get at the grocery store. So might be worth it?

Two notes:

1. Food in a countertop oven comes out better (in most cases) than a microwave, so there's a quality improvement experience associated with using the oven & the service as designed.

2. Tovala also offers a steam oven for a higher price ($120 if you order 6 meals), which really improves the quality of the food:

Tovala - Smart Oven. Fresh Meal Delivery Service. 1 Minute of Prep.

Tovala's Smart Oven Air Fryer and Smart Oven Pro are the smartest tools for delicious food.

www.tovala.com

But then you're basically locked into their QR-code system if you want to do standard delivered meals from their company, as opposed to a variety of other meal-prep services available (healthy, macros, vegan, organic, grass-fed, allergy, etc., there's a zillion options available!).

 

[Brainonska511]

I skimmed it. A lot of complaining without much substance. Throw in 1-2 examples of things being super expensive and then extrapolate to ALL groceries. Like the first person complaining her name brand water got more expensive. Ok....use the free water you get from your tap? Or get generic water from the store?

You almost never have anyone who posts their actual receipt. At most its a carefully arranged picture or 2 second video of their trip with a "This cost $98.35!!!" They know if they post actual receipts people will start giving them reasonable suggestions. Which they try to explain away with 'the store brand is disgusting' or 'no one has time to cook' which is only really true for a very small number of people. One lady did show a quick picture of her cart: A bunch of pre-packaged lunchables. Two take and bake pizzas. A prepackaged salad. Prepackaged something for dessert (store bakery cake?). Family sized box of Cheez-its. Brand name orange juice. Yeah if everything you buy is name brand, prepackaged, and you don't cook ever its going to be expensive.

Of course. People are pulling the same crap on Twitter for clout and outrage generation, when really, the reaction should be "you're an idiot who doesn't know how to shop". I have seen some stuff get more expensive compared to pre-pandemic: mainly paper goods; some frozen items have gone up $1 on their sale prices (think frozen pizzas that used to be on sale for $3, now they go on sale for $4); cereals might have shrunk a tiny bit in box size, but I haven't noticed. Fruits, vegetables, frozen veggies are still very cheap. Maybe I'm just more insulated from the increases because I was already just being smart about how to shop the grocery store, and maybe some of it is not buying meats and tons of prepared or prepackaged snack foods.

Yeah maybe I'm just looking at the wrong recipes, I really need to find a good book that focuses on "just throw everything in" style of recipes and not "you need these 15 oddball ingredients" with a 20 step list of things you need to do first.

I have done stews and I often do chicken on it's own with veggies and other easy things but in general I tend to lack as far as variety.

If you can read, you can cook. But start with simple recipes - there are tons out there. NYTimes Cooking is good, if you have a subscription, or just find something online. You can even wing-it with sauteed vegetables of nearly any variety (and a protein) with a little salt and pepper, then toss them on a little bit of pasta or rice with [name a sauce] for a simple meal. Tastes great, easy to make, and very healthy

 

[jmagg]

I can see 25-30% increase in food across the board (as compared to pre Covid) in the Hudson Valley region of NY. It's not a big problem for us as we cook or prepare 90% of our meals. We also throw very little away. Making chicken soup now from 2 large split breast with 3 dozen leftover frozen wing tips thrown in for flavor. After sieving the broth and adding fresh veggys, the soup will cost the equivilant of canned. Probably get a gallon of nice protein/vitamin rich soup out of it for 15 bucks. Housing is gougingly expensive also.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I can see 25-30% increase in food across the board (as compared to pre Covid) in the Hudson Valley region of NY. It's not a big problem for us as we cook or prepare 90% of our meals. We also throw very little away. Making chicken soup now from 2 large split breast with 3 dozen leftover frozen wing tips thrown in for flavor. After sieving the broth and adding fresh veggys, the soup will cost the equivilant of canned. Probably get a gallon of nice protein/vitamin rich soup out of it for 15 bucks. Housing is gougingly expensive also.

Same. I disagree with @Brainonska511 on principal on this, everything is definitely more expensive. It's still quite possible to save in places, but I can't get out of Tops without spending $100 a bag, and we really don't buy anything but veg, meat, cheese, flour, etc. I actually know how many bags I'll fill based on how many $100's i go through, which is depressing.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

That's hyperbole and sounds like it came right from the NCBA. It has a couple more grams of saturated fat and more salt than 85/15 per serving. It does have fiber the beef lacks. Big fucking deal. It is also hilarious that people demonize it, then drink soda, beer, fruit drinks, and eat a plethora of other salty empty carb snacks and refined sugar laden garbage. On the scale of Snickers bar to Living greens, it's way closer to the greens than the Snickers bar. Good enough for me. I sweat too much to worry about salt intake.

-Bruh it just means eat actual plants not processed shit that comes out of a box, wrapped in plastic, that was made 1000 miles from where you live.

Salt, fat, chemical stabilizers and preservatives, food colors cause can't have that plant patty look oxidized, etc etc. It's not all macros.

I'm onboard with plant based diets, plate should be at least 1/2 veggies, 1/4 starch, 1/4 protein. Just adhere to the KISS philosophy of cooking, work the edges of your grocery store, not the aisles.

 

[HomerJS]

Last person is fucking economically ignorant. Inflation is tied to the money supply. End of story. There are "tricks" in the system to try and prevent the effects from leaking over, but COVID caused the dam to crack. Whether or not companies see a profit or not is irrelevant.

This is why my head explodes when I hear "things were cheaper in 2019 that's why we need Trump"

This person could not answer the follow-up questions, "What did Trump do to lower prices?" or "What did Biden do that caused prices to rise?"

 

[nakedfrog]

I can't take anyone seriously who complains about the price of groceries and just "doesn't want to deal with leftovers". Especially if they're complaining about it taking too long to cook meals. How is it difficult to take food you didn't eat, put it into a storage container, refrigerate it, and then heat it up later?

You're one of those dudes I completely disregard. No offense intended. It is simply that my life has taught me you mofos nerd out on everything too the nth degree. Do you have OCD? You seem like you do.

Don't confuse OCD and hyperfixation.

I hate cooking, and I'm not good at it, and I just never really know what to make. Reading a recipe book is like Chinese to me, I end up having to research almost every ingredient just so I know what it is. Or I can just pickup the phone and order pizza.

So I'm fairly guilty of eating lots of take out and prepared meals, and it's probably not good for me. I need to really do something about it but it requires a lot of work and research. Even gadgets like instant pot etc you still need to actually do a lot of prep work and follow recipes etc and it's just a lot of work all for something that takes 15 minutes to eat. It just feels like wasted effort that I could be using towards doing something else instead.

You can do a pot roast or chicken breasts in an instant pot with maybe 15-20 minutes of prep and have multiple meals out of it, with no "exotic" ingredients.

Real talk? Start with soup. You can take a simple chicken soup and make it fantastic with a pile of veg and some spices, plus it'll fill you up with all of like 300cal. I've lost weight and got more into freestyle cooking as a result.

Yeah, I think it's a cop-out for someone in a technical role like he is to say "I can't follow recipes". You can't read and follow simple directions? Mr. Self-sufficiency over here gonna live off-grid and raise his own food and still not be able to cook for himself...

 

[IronWing]

Yeah, I think it's a cop-out for someone in a technical role like he is to say "I can't follow recipes". You can't read and follow simple directions?

I creamed the shortening but I wasn't so hungry after that.

 

[Kaido]

If you're trying to save money and get into cooking, ordering meal prepped food is hardly the way to go.

Oh for sure! He said he hates cooking tho lol. Although there is a cost-savings involved as compared to eating out all the time, as you pretty much get a fixed $13-per-meal rate. In my area, a take-out dinner typically ranges from $12 to $18 for similar meals. There are ways to eat cheap when going out to eat, but then you're typically getting something like Taco Bell as opposed to salmon, quinoa, and broccoli in one of the meal-delivery kits.

As far as saving money goes, technology is AMAZING for that! The cost is effort rather than money, which means:

1. Shopping
2. Cooking

The follow-up questions then become:

1. How to save money shopping
2. How to save time & effort cooking

Some ideas include:

* Buying on sales
* Using coupons
* Buying in bulk
* Using food-storage techniques (investing in a deep freezer, a vacuum sealer, etc. to save money in the long run)
* Using modern appliances to make things easier (ex. airfryer)
* Using advanced modern appliances to replicate results & allow for hands-free cooking (ex. Instant Pot, Anova Precision Oven, etc.)

In my experience, adopting cooking into your life really boils down to a 3-part mindset change:

1. Changing your attitude to include the identity of someone who cooks at home
2. Changing your perspective on cooking from a talent to a skill that simply requires time & effort
3. Being willing to treat it as just another chore like paying bills or cleaning the house that has to be done every day

My history:

1. I didn't care very much about food growing up. Loved good food of course, but McDonald's & Domino's were outstanding options for me (still are lol)
2. The internal narrative I told myself was that talented chefs existed, that cooking was a pain, and that it wasn't really for me. I would bake cookies & stuff once in awhile but nothing serious.
3. I became allergic to food before Whole Foods & allergy-friendly packaged meals really blew up, so I HAD to learn how to cook if I wanted to eat better meals.

Then:

1. The Instant Pot came out & made it SUPER easy to make meals
2. Sous-vide came out & made making things like proteins really easy
3. Sous-vide 2.0 came out & made things even easier!

I struggle with Inattentive ADHD, so sometimes simple tasks like following a recipe are simply too mental-energy-draining for me, so having modern appliances that remove the hassle of having to cook really helps me out a lot! Plus, as far as budget goes, the Internet is your oyster! There's a zillion amazing cost-savings websites available, including:

* https://www.budgetbytes.com/
* https://www.frugalnutrition.com/
* https://www.5dollardinners.com/
* https://thefrugalchef.com/

Mostly, you either need to have the energy to cook, or else adopt a system that takes the thinking out of it, so that you can treat it like a chore & just do it every day, either to make a meal to eat or for meal-prepping purposes. My approach is simple:

1. Once a week, I pick 7 things to cook in order to split up & freeze and then go shopping for what I need
2. Once a day, after work, I cook exactly one thing, divvy it up, and freeze it for later
3. An average batch makes 8 servings. 30 days a month times 8 servings = 240 servings in my deep freezer, which gives me (1) instant access to good, budget-friendly food, and (2) a variety of options I can pick from based on whatever mood I'm in

But just look at the wall of text above...that's why people don't want to get into cooking, because it seems like such a big hassle! If you have the energy to do it, it's not a problem, but if you're even a little bit too tired on a regular basis, it just feels like a draining chore to have to think about, plan for, shop for, cook for, and clean for, as opposed to just hitting up the drive-thru, eating consistently tasty food, and throwing the trash away when done. That's the cost tradeoff...money, time, and effort!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I can't take anyone seriously who complains about the price of groceries and just "doesn't want to deal with leftovers". Especially if they're complaining about it taking too long to cook meals. How is it difficult to take food you didn't eat, put it into a storage container, refrigerate it, and then heat it up later?

Don't confuse OCD and hyperfixation.

You can do a pot roast or chicken breasts in an instant pot with maybe 15-20 minutes of prep and have multiple meals out of it, with no "exotic" ingredients.

Yeah, I think it's a cop-out for someone in a technical role like he is to say "I can't follow recipes". You can't read and follow simple directions? Mr. Self-sufficiency over here gonna live off-grid and raise his own food and still not be able to cook for himself...

Even if you can't follow instructions, just throw some bullshit in a pan until it tastes right.
Here, my lunch, can of chickpeas, can of crab, lemon zest and juice, some cream cheese, jalapeno, random spices, Japanese bbq sauce. Replace sauce with whatever if it's too exotic. Everything's already cooked, so you just rince the beans, throw it in a pan to boil off the water and you're done. Split two ways. Cost was maybe $4 a meal? Could easily make it 3 meals if you toss together a salad as well.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

-Bruh it just means eat actual plants not processed shit that comes out of a box, wrapped in plastic, that was made 1000 miles from where you live.

Don't try to tell me what I can or can't eat or cook with. 🖕 What part of - I like this particular plant based ground beef substitute is confusing you? I listed some dishes I use it in. How the fuck do actual plants work in those? That's right, they work really poorly. No other plant or plant based product works as well for my or my family's tastes.

It's dopey how you assholes around here go after meat substitutes. Yet you'll have 10 pages about your favorite doritos or some shit. Or long running reviews of fast food. It's fucking bizarre.