tips on cooking for oneself
tips on cooking for oneself
hey all, looking for any and all tips and advice on cooking for myself whilst planting! From key ingredients you can't go without, to dynamic dishes that are quick to make, to masterful meal prep techniques, anything sustenance-related is welcome. Thanks!
Re: tips on cooking for oneself
1) Power eating for power planting. Check it here: http://selkirk.ca/treeplanting/power-pl ... al-program
2) Get a slow cooker. In the morning throw in meat (if you carnivize), veggies, and chili sauce or whatever you like. Press button. Come home, sit down to hot delicious goodness, while others order pizza. You can get them cheap cheap at Canadian Tire, or even cheaper cheaper at second hand stores. Hamilton Beach is a decent name, and one that generally tests well for lead content in the baking stone...some of the cheapest ones are bad for this. Also, slow cookers can do wonders with cheaper cuts of meat. Good money saver.
3) Co-op meals with a group of 3 or 4, and take turns one night per shift making an ass-kicking awesome meal. Compete with each other to outdo one another. Do international themes, and draw on your travels or the origins of your mates. I always liked doing Ukrainian night- cabbage roles, perogies, borscht, kubasa..mmmm
4) Huge curries. XXXXXL rice. Eat it all shift.
5) Base your breakfast choices on the length of drive to work. See #1
6) Lots of small bites for lunch so you can eat between runs.
7) Yams. Industrial loads of yams. Just because. Great during the day.
8 ) Jazz up that PBJ...marshmallows, bananas, walnuts....grahams, what have you.
9) Supplements are overrated and generally a waste of money. Eat food. Good unprocessed food.
10) Pie. Every night is pie night.
rock on
2) Get a slow cooker. In the morning throw in meat (if you carnivize), veggies, and chili sauce or whatever you like. Press button. Come home, sit down to hot delicious goodness, while others order pizza. You can get them cheap cheap at Canadian Tire, or even cheaper cheaper at second hand stores. Hamilton Beach is a decent name, and one that generally tests well for lead content in the baking stone...some of the cheapest ones are bad for this. Also, slow cookers can do wonders with cheaper cuts of meat. Good money saver.
3) Co-op meals with a group of 3 or 4, and take turns one night per shift making an ass-kicking awesome meal. Compete with each other to outdo one another. Do international themes, and draw on your travels or the origins of your mates. I always liked doing Ukrainian night- cabbage roles, perogies, borscht, kubasa..mmmm
4) Huge curries. XXXXXL rice. Eat it all shift.
5) Base your breakfast choices on the length of drive to work. See #1
6) Lots of small bites for lunch so you can eat between runs.
7) Yams. Industrial loads of yams. Just because. Great during the day.
8 ) Jazz up that PBJ...marshmallows, bananas, walnuts....grahams, what have you.
9) Supplements are overrated and generally a waste of money. Eat food. Good unprocessed food.
10) Pie. Every night is pie night.
rock on
Re: tips on cooking for oneself
Assemble and keep your own "Spice Box"
Buy cheap little plastic containers, and when you do cook, make the biggest batch of any recipe you can, and put the left-overs (if any) in a cooler. I came to prefer using a Wok to make a lot of food at once. It's nice to make a large batch of home-made pasta sauce like you are in the movie Goodfellas and then have some ready to go and just cook some noodles every other day or so. Several gallons of Chili can be made in a million different combinations too.
I will bulk up a Stir Fry quickly using what is called "Broccoli Slaw" = pre-cut & mixed Broccoli, carrots, cabbage with some variations in different stores. I am not so lazy that I won't slice up my own Onions and Peppers. Carrots I always buy already sliced/shredded though.
My favorite (only, really) kitchen knife is definitely my Rapala fillet knife; it came with a sharpener and it fillets veggies as easily as fish. I pretty much fish for Trout on most of my time off any more.
I definitely cook more during the shorter day / longer night parts of the year.
My favorite Rice lately is "Black Rice"
The Tree Planting Diet is awesome - "Eat what you like best, as much as you can" kind of throws people for a loop when they hear me say that, but as Jordan mentioned it is important to eat plenty of Whole Foods. It is much harder to get the energy needed from processed foods at the gas station, which is kind of like using a credit card too much with a super high interest rate. When you are too tired to cook, those foods will get you through, temporarily, and perhaps even daily at times, but it will cost more and return less.
Learn about the different kinds of Sugar and Carbs. Read Power Eating for Power Planting, definitely.
Potassium is good for your muscles.
Hmmm, picking specific favorites is tougher. My favorite planting food now is "Variety", but then I might do remote site work almost year-round lately. So I keep a box of snacks I like - nuts, canned peaches, various granola & protein bars, fruit sticks, lunch sized baked beans, smoked Herring tins, whatever I like that won't spoil, and top off the box whenever it is half-full or I find My Favorite Things on sale. Then just buy a little bit of fresh items every few days. I also live out of my truck, not a backpack - though there is room in a backpack for a few spices.
One of my friends eats the same thing almost every day that he plants - Sweet Potato (Yam) + Tuna + Egg
I have quite enjoyed owning my first Garlic press and when I wear out the little mostly plastic contraption, I am going to buy another one
Buy cheap little plastic containers, and when you do cook, make the biggest batch of any recipe you can, and put the left-overs (if any) in a cooler. I came to prefer using a Wok to make a lot of food at once. It's nice to make a large batch of home-made pasta sauce like you are in the movie Goodfellas and then have some ready to go and just cook some noodles every other day or so. Several gallons of Chili can be made in a million different combinations too.
I will bulk up a Stir Fry quickly using what is called "Broccoli Slaw" = pre-cut & mixed Broccoli, carrots, cabbage with some variations in different stores. I am not so lazy that I won't slice up my own Onions and Peppers. Carrots I always buy already sliced/shredded though.
My favorite (only, really) kitchen knife is definitely my Rapala fillet knife; it came with a sharpener and it fillets veggies as easily as fish. I pretty much fish for Trout on most of my time off any more.
I definitely cook more during the shorter day / longer night parts of the year.
My favorite Rice lately is "Black Rice"
The Tree Planting Diet is awesome - "Eat what you like best, as much as you can" kind of throws people for a loop when they hear me say that, but as Jordan mentioned it is important to eat plenty of Whole Foods. It is much harder to get the energy needed from processed foods at the gas station, which is kind of like using a credit card too much with a super high interest rate. When you are too tired to cook, those foods will get you through, temporarily, and perhaps even daily at times, but it will cost more and return less.
Learn about the different kinds of Sugar and Carbs. Read Power Eating for Power Planting, definitely.
Potassium is good for your muscles.
Hmmm, picking specific favorites is tougher. My favorite planting food now is "Variety", but then I might do remote site work almost year-round lately. So I keep a box of snacks I like - nuts, canned peaches, various granola & protein bars, fruit sticks, lunch sized baked beans, smoked Herring tins, whatever I like that won't spoil, and top off the box whenever it is half-full or I find My Favorite Things on sale. Then just buy a little bit of fresh items every few days. I also live out of my truck, not a backpack - though there is room in a backpack for a few spices.
One of my friends eats the same thing almost every day that he plants - Sweet Potato (Yam) + Tuna + Egg
I have quite enjoyed owning my first Garlic press and when I wear out the little mostly plastic contraption, I am going to buy another one
Re: tips on cooking for oneself
I can share a couple of Go-To recipes that have come along for me recently. Though I might have 45-60 minute access to a modern Supermarket anywhere I work I'm not always up for leaving a site. A good 'dry ingredients' recipe I have been going with is Beans&Rice. Lately I have liked Yellow Rice, a can of beans, a can of chickpeas/garbanzos, some dried garlic, and Sriracha sauce. Just ready to go whenever; no fresh/refrigerated ingredients nor time-consuming prep. Cooking rice on a propane stove works well but it is important to be very careful with the details - not all rice is the same - and a bit of cooking oil helps keep it from sticking.
When I do go into town, I have also come to enjoy the simplicity of buying a Rotisserie Chicken. If possible I buy the bigger ones; many are actually quite small. With these I get a couple meals of chicken sandwiches the next day but the key to getting the value out of them is to pick the bones clean of every shred of meat or fat, and knock the cold congealed fat out of the bottom of the plastic tray it's sold in as well. Then use that as a base for rice dish - a soup if you can add enough water; turns into a casserole if you don't. But a simple one pot dish not requiring careful refrigeration, can be jazzed up with a number of veggies and spice combinations. The plastic packaging materials are a type of trash item that has to be kept in a vehicle however and the bones have to be burned or thrown out a long distance from camp.
When I do go into town, I have also come to enjoy the simplicity of buying a Rotisserie Chicken. If possible I buy the bigger ones; many are actually quite small. With these I get a couple meals of chicken sandwiches the next day but the key to getting the value out of them is to pick the bones clean of every shred of meat or fat, and knock the cold congealed fat out of the bottom of the plastic tray it's sold in as well. Then use that as a base for rice dish - a soup if you can add enough water; turns into a casserole if you don't. But a simple one pot dish not requiring careful refrigeration, can be jazzed up with a number of veggies and spice combinations. The plastic packaging materials are a type of trash item that has to be kept in a vehicle however and the bones have to be burned or thrown out a long distance from camp.