/ck/ - Food & Cooking

So stock up on cheap ingredients and get gud, fgt

>>8742

>Eat shit all my life

>See people eating things that are not shit

>Eat their mysterious "food"

>Food is delicious

>Go back to eating my shit

>I can't stand the taste of shit because it's shit and I can't stand it because it's shit

Maybe…eat food instead?

Meals cooked from raw ingredients tend to be cheaper than processed microwave meals in the long run, you just need a bit of time and effort.

Plus, knowing how to cook good food puts you on the fast track into the pants of whoever it is you fancy

>>8781

This. You're eating better food now, you've learned a useful and enjoyable skill, and it's cheaper AND healthier to boot. What's the downside?

Plus, as you get better at cooking, your food will only improve.

>>8797

The downside is that I can't be a lazy fuck and ever eat out again. Woe is me.

>>8801

Of course you can.

You'll just recognize that you can do about two thirds of it better yourself.

The real kick in the shins is if you start doing espresso yourself, with good equipment and coffee. You will then literally NEVER be able to go to a coffee shop again, ever.

When I got halfway good at espresso, I could only go to two shops in town anymore (and this was a town with a dozen or so independent roasters, and at least 40 different reasonable quality non-Starbucks non-Caribou shops)… and I didn't like either of their espressos (I got used to better coffee, but they at least pulled it vaguely acceptably).

At least with food, even if you can do better yourself, the bar for "acceptable" isn't unattainably high for most restaurants.

>>8803

Oh man, I wanna be a coffee snob too, help a out here. The most I'll do is french press some shit up and mix it with some condensed milk.

>>8807

Huh, I didn't know this board had wordfilters.

>>8808

to the best of my knowledge, it's just that one.

i think the board owner might be one

>>8807

You can get a pretty decent espresso setup for around $2000. This can produce an espresso that is better than you can get at 80% of coffee shops, IF you know what you're doing.

Do not, under any circumstances, go cheap on the grinder or grind your coffee more than a few minutes before you brew.

You cannot get fresh enough coffee at a grocery store. Red Bird has a fantastic espresso blend, and they've never done me wrong. You'll need to store it properly unless you drink a lot of coffee. (I usually let it age 5 or 6 days after roasting, then mason jars in the freezer to hold it at the "right" freshness level for espresso.)

As for coffee snobbery, now I'm a truck driver. I drink anything between crap and gold, if it's brewed coffee… but for espresso, I don't even bother unless I make it, and I haven't pulled a shot in years.

I was never a fan of the cup character of french press coffee. If you like it, keep doing it.

>>8812

$500 for a good grinder (Baratza Vario, or a Cunill, or a small Mazzer)

$1200 for a good machine (Ponte Vecchio Lusso)

$200 on a year's supply of coffee (buy it every few weeks, keep it fresh)

$100 on other stuff (cups, pitchers)

vs

$5 a day at a coffee shop

You come out ahead after a year and a half, and the espresso is better NOW.

(You can go a little lower priced on the espresso machine, but a PV Lusso is ridiculously easy to use and can actually pull a shot that rivals the quality of a $15000 commercial machine… just designed for a lifetime of 3 or 4 cups a day, not a decade of 400 cups a day.)

But, if you like what you're drinking, stick with it.

Especially if the girls you hang out with like their coffee with weird flavors (pumpkin spice? peppermint holiday cheer?) and syrups in it. Not worth ruining good coffee with that shit.

>>8817

The single best reason to have an espresso machine is to produce god-tier coffee for a girl in the morning.

If she's your young daughter, hot chocolate. Frothed milk does amazing things for hot chocolate. Microfoam, baby. Microfoam.

>>8742

I'd kill for a chance to regularly cook a meal and eat it.

>college

>15 credit hours

>30 hours a week of work

>takes about an hour to just drive to campus

>and another hour back

>monday through thrusday, i'm there for more than 12 hours

>my only options are to eat at the take-out chinese joint

>or the mcdonalds

>or the other mcdonalds

>or the chicken joint

>i've gotten used to everything, it's all bland now

>i'm gaining weight

>my wallet's constantly empty

>i'm always get bummed out when i get hungry because more of the same shit

My boss is bringing in a mini-fridge. At least now I can leave lunch meats, cheeses, and bread at work and make 90¢ sandwiches and drink orange juice from a jug or something.

I cannot begin to describe what it's like for me to get home after the week's over, make a roast beef and mozzarella on white, cut it in triangles, and eat it with baby carrots or potato chipsand drink a cold bottle of cheap beer.

>>8819

Truck driver here.

You're driving enough to make a 12 volt lunch box stove (really an oven) worthwhile.

You can prep a handful of meals on the weekend when you have a little time, double wrap them in foil (en papillote, z-folds), pull one out of a little cooler on the way to wherever and drop it in the oven. Plug it into the lighter socket 30 to 45 minutes before you want to eat.

Basically a chunk of meat, sliced carrots/onions/potatoes, salt-pepper liberally, and you've got pretty OK food with minimal effort at the time (prepared in advance, hands-off cooking).

>>8824

I will have to consider this.

I'm trying to change my habits right now so I can get up earlier and eat a sandwich or some eggs before I leave for work in the morning.

>>8834

Smack my ass and call me Delores.

Hardboil a dozen eggs this weekend.

Big pan, eggs in (whole, shell on), cover with cold water (about an inch over the eggs, or 3cm if you're using metric eggs).

Put on burner on high, when water comes to boil, turn off burner and wait 12 minutes.

After the 12 minutes of residual heat cooking is up, eggs into cold water.

Pack em up back in the carton (maybe mark the carton, to remind you they're cooked).

They pack nicely for lunch (peel, salt, pepper - all while you eat), and you can suddenly have cheap high-protein convenience food.

>>8844

Bring water to a boil, remove pot from heat, cover, wait 12-15 minutes, anon.

And then make delicious egg salad.