Decisions

Mar 4 21:48 UTC 2003

I am getting hungry and should think of something to cook for supper.  How
do other grexers decide what to make for supper?  Do they open the cabinet
or refrigerator door to see what is available to cook?  Plan the week's menus
in advance and shop for them?  Pull out something from the freezer that they
made before (or a TV dinner)?  Ask other household members for ideas?  Eat
yesterday's leftovers?  Order pizza?  Look in a cookbook and then go to the
store?  

response 2 of 24:

Mar 4 22:53 UTC 2003

He also found two plantains and some grape juice.  Sometimes it is popcorn.
Do other people eat like this, or is it only if someone else cooks for you
most of the time? 

response 4 of 24:

Mar 4 23:11 UTC 2003

When I can't decide what to fix for dinner I tell either STeve or Damon that
it is their turn to cook.  The cook usually gets to decide.  I will ask what
people want it I don't have a preference and stuff for a few different meals
on hand.  Sometimes I declare it a "fend for yourself night" and let them find
and fix their own.

response 6 of 24:

Mar 6 01:26 UTC 2003

We have a weekly menu and make sure we pick up everything we need to make the
dinners on that menu when we take our weekly grocery shopping trip.

response 8 of 24:

Mar 7 01:08 UTC 2003

The first time we did a weekly menu, we had to find a bunch of recipes to
figure out what we wanted to eat all week.  Now each week is usually a
replication of the previous, unless there is something we have gotten tired
of eating, at which point we find a replacement.

response 10 of 24:

Mar 7 15:58 UTC 2003

We plan our meals in sort of the reverse order from 9 - the basic part of the
meal is a grain or potato, then we decide on what vegetable(s) to put on it
and add whatever beans we have already cooked a pot full of.  The vegetable
varies depending on what is available in the summer.  In the winter it is
harder to choose from what we froze.  If there are no beans cooked and we are
in a big hurry, we have tempeh, or split peas or lentils that will cook in
1/2 hour in the pressure cooker together with barley or millet or rice.

Abc - do you ever get tired of eating the same thing every week?  Or want to
buy something seasonal in the summer?  (Maybe a supermarket has no seasons
but I do recall things like corn and peaches being on sale when available
locally.)

We recently went to a sparsely attended talk by the dietician in charge of
planning U of M residence hall meals.  She has been vegetarian most of her
life, and is pro-organic, and loves her job because the U is allowing and even
encouraging her to serve something vegetarian and something vegan at every
meal (often the VN offering is oatmeal or bean soup) and to buy locally grown
organic produce (including our friend's potatoes).  They also serve a bit of
ethnic food - this month pacific island is the theme.  Outsiders can buy a
meal (buffet style, all you want to eat) for $7 lunch $9 supper (approx.).

So we looked at the menus.  Every single day there is jello, and cake, and
cookies, and bagels.  Lots of hamburger and friend chicken - she says that
is what the students mostly eat.  Vegetables and fruit are available.  They
have learned to make just one small tray of the ethnic offerings.  I presume
Food Gatherers gets a lot of ethnic cooking from the U.  

When there are meat lasagna or meat pita, you can get what is probably a soy
imitation burger variant of it.

response 12 of 24:

Mar 7 22:55 UTC 2003

Re #10:  When I was in the dorms, the ethnic offerings were highly variable
         in quality, to put it politely.  I still remember Markley's
         "Szechuan Tofu."  Despite years of therapy for PTSD.  They do a good
         job on the stuff they know how to cook, and can do a surprisingly
         good job on fancier stuff if it's basically American... but ethnic
         could be pretty scary.

response 14 of 24:

Mar 8 15:59 UTC 2003

In the summer we sometimes just have watermelon for summer because it is too
hot to eat.  Maybe with bread.  We have not used the oven since we got a bread
machine 1.5 years ago.  You can set the bread machine to bake before sunrise
when the windows are still open.  

response 16 of 24:

Mar 10 01:12 UTC 2003

Steamed asparagus, yum yum.  How about steamed brussel sprouts (which 
aren't spouts, I think, but cruciferous cabbages, right?)

response 18 of 24:

Mar 10 03:39 UTC 2003

I sometimes make stews, chili, or a roast, put the leftovers in 
Tupperware dishes, and take them to work for lunch.  I don't freeze 
much after it's been cooked.  Our freezer is small and usually full 
enough with orange juice, meat, veggies and ice cream.

My mother makes soups by the gallon, several kinds at a time, and 
freezes them in individual-sized containers for her and my dad.

Like Lynne, I eat what I feel like from what's available at the time.  
If I ask John what he wants, it's almost always "rice".  He eats rice 
with just soy sauce for flavoring, and has chop suey or chicken chow 
mein or whatever else we have with it, on the side.

response 20 of 24:

Mar 10 22:38 UTC 2003

I used to cook things and then freeze individual portions. Now I have a 
roommate who hogs the freezer. But after I get rid of him, I might go 
back to that practice. 

response 22 of 24:

Mar 14 02:48 UTC 2003

I finished off the 4th day of a brown rice/hamburger/onion/black bean
dish for dinner today.  I like variety within a meal much more than
variety meal-to-meal, so loads of intentional leftovers are a regular
thing here.

response 24 of 24:

Dec 25 21:08 UTC 2013

Often times, I will get an idea mid-day, bounce it off co-irkers and stop off
for ingredients on the way home. The rest of the time, I have instructed my
partner that, as the pickier of us, she needs to help with making suggestions.