R U A Better cook than you were a year ago?

H

Hawkeye10

ButterMilk Man
Contributor
Restaurants are going away, and the ones that remain are going to become much more expensive. I am trying to get some idea of how many people pretty much dont care, because they can cook, they are good at cooking, they like to cook, and others like to eat their cooking over at their house.

I am a professional, retired.
 
The theory is that a lot of people who had never learned to cook, or at least not well, took the pandemic as an opportunity to up their game, and that they will not be all that interested in paying the grossly inflated post pandemic freight to go out, that restaurants are going the way of the movie theaters...away.
 
I'm not that good of a Cook. I did buy a Crockpot though, and tried that out.
Thinking about it, I probably ate 'out' more than usual. Meaning, I found more places that had 'Take Out'.
Chili's has tasty Tacos, Vera's has yummy Stuffed Crabs, both Copeland's and Southern Grill have excellent PoBoys.
I must have 10 'Take Out Menus' from around here, and that doesn't include my favorite Chinese and Seafood places (or Pizza Hut).
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Restaurants are going away, and the ones that remain are going to become much more expensive. I am trying to get some idea of how many people pretty much dont care, because they can cook, they are good at cooking, they like to cook, and others like to eat their cooking over at their house.

I am a professional, retired.
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Being the head cook at Waffle House doesn't count even if they did pay you... :laugh:
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Restaurants are going away, and the ones that remain are going to become much more expensive. I am trying to get some idea of how many people pretty much dont care, because they can cook, they are good at cooking, they like to cook, and others like to eat their cooking over at their house.

I am a professional, retired.
Click to expand...

A professional what?

Just because we love to cook (I sure do), doesn't mean that we don't want a break sometimes. We've been going out to eat once a week since this mess started. For many months we only got carry-out because the restaurants are closed. Since Feb. though we've been able to dine out inside restaurants. One interesting thing, here at least -- none of the fast food places are open for inside dining, yet are reporting amazing profits. Probably because they can sell more with less staff.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
A professional what?

Just because we love to cook (I sure do), doesn't mean that we don't want a break sometimes. We've been going out to eat once a week since this mess started. For many months we only got carry-out because the restaurants are closed. Since Feb. though we've been able to dine out inside restaurants. One interesting thing, here at least -- none of the fast food places are open for inside dining, yet are reporting amazing profits. Probably because they can sell more with less staff.
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This thread is tied to the labor shortage, already it is hard to find people willing and able to work. It looks to me like high cost cities lie Seattle are going to replace restaurants with pick-up windows, essentially making it street food....food that you take home or find some other place to eat. Suburban fast food places are generally doing well if they have drive up but finding labor is increasingly difficult even with massively above min wage pay, they believe that long term they will survive by mechanization, by getting rid of labor. I was reading that almost ready to go is ordering AI....you will no longer order from a person at drive through or from a screen inside, you will speak your order to a computer, or you will order from a phone app as people do now. That gets rid of a lot of people right there.

A trend that was already well known pre pandemic is that people are abandoning restaurants for picking up food that is ready to eat or almost so from C-stores and supermarkets. I expect this to pick up speed. I was just in Costco the other day for only the second time in a year (my wife goes generally, though that might change now that we are both fully vaxxed) and I noticed that they now have even more food ready to eat or almost so than they did, rows and rows of factory made food that needs almost no work before eating.

What I am wondering is how much declining demand with decimate the industry, even before we factor in the labor problem, the crime problem, the massive increase in food cost problem and so on.
 
The problem I have is cooking for just myself.

I throw out more food these days than I eat. How do you make a pot of beans for one? How do you make soups or a Beef Stew for just one? Chicken and Dumplings for one? The problem is I get sick of it after a couple of meals in a row of it.

I've tried everything in the FROZEN food section- AND IN MY PERSONAL OPINION- THAT CRAP ALL SUCKS! THAT IS THE WORST FOOD ON EARTH! You pretty much have to burn it up just to get all the bacteria out of it!

I've tried the sandwich lineup- but that gets old quick! I went the Chili-dog route and now I'm sick of those! I tried making my own hamburgers at home just the way I like them- But frying up french fries and preparing all that stuff to come out at the right temperature at the same time is almost impossible. You end up with either cold french fries or cold hamburgers or both!

Fortunately, there are some restaurants close by that gets my regular business about 4 days a week now.

Great Bar-B-Q, all-you-can eat catfish, wonderful Mexican food, DOMINO'S PIZZA CARRY OUT, THE CRACKER-BARREL- and FURR'S CAFETERIA ALL YOU CAN EAT when I want some home cooking like meals.

I found that I don't have to wash as many dishes, and spend time preparing meals, or throwing food out so much when I get carry out or dine out!
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
The problem I have is cooking for just myself.

I throw out more food these days than I eat. How do you make a pot of beans for one? How do you make soups or a Beef Stew for just one? Chicken and Dumplings for one? The problem is I get sick of it after a couple of meals in a row of it.

I've tried everything in the FROZEN food section- AND IN MY PERSONAL OPINION- THAT CRAP ALL SUCKS! THAT IS THE WORST FOOD ON EARTH! You pretty much have to burn it up just to get all the bacteria out of it!

I've tried the sandwich lineup- but that gets old quick! I went the Chili-dog route and now I'm sick of those! I tried making my own hamburgers at home just the way I like them- But frying up french fries and preparing all that stuff to come out at the right temperature at the same time is almost impossible. You end up with either cold french fries or cold hamburgers or both!

Fortunately, there are some restaurants close by that gets my regular business about 4 days a week now.

Great Bar-B-Q, all-you-can eat catfish, wonderful Mexican food, DOMINO'S PIZZA CARRY OUT, THE CRACKER-BARREL- and FURR'S CAFETERIA ALL YOU CAN EAT when I want some home cooking like meals.

I found that I don't have to wash as many dishes, and spend time preparing meals, or throwing food out so much when I get carry out or dine out!
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I went from cooking for a large family to a medium one then to just us two. I still tend to make mass quantities of things we like. Here's an idea that's worked for us: Get you some canning jars. When you make a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce or soup, or anything of the like, put one-serving size amounts in your canning jars and freeze them. I don't know how much you typically eat for one meal, so buy your jars to suit your appetite. One pint of home-made spaghetti sauce, for instance, is enough for the two of us.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I went from cooking for a large family to a medium one then to just us two. I still tend to make mass quantities of things we like. Here's an idea that's worked for us: Get you some canning jars. When you make a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce or soup, or anything of the like, put one-serving size amounts in your canning jars and freeze them. I don't know how much you typically eat for one meal, so buy your jars to suit your appetite. One pint of home-made spaghetti sauce, for instance, is enough for the two of us.
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You are onto something there! Never thought about mason jars- I'll have to give that a try, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN A POT OF BEANS AND HAM HOCKS- OK Well maybe PRIME RIB! LOL!
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I went from cooking for a large family to a medium one then to just us two. I still tend to make mass quantities of things we like. Here's an idea that's worked for us: Get you some canning jars. When you make a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce or soup, or anything of the like, put one-serving size amounts in your canning jars and freeze them. I don't know how much you typically eat for one meal, so buy your jars to suit your appetite. One pint of home-made spaghetti sauce, for instance, is enough for the two of us.
Click to expand...

Another great idea is picking a protein, cooking it, then some combination of making it into different things over multiple days and also freezing. For instance our current protein is a really good peppered ham. Two days ham dinner, two days ham and cheese sand grilled, and then I am doing two days of ham and bean soup. My wife will not eat bean soup, something about eating too much of that as a kid, so for those two days I make her a burger.

I miss going out to bars and restaurants a whole lot less than I expected, and Seattle is melting down, I am almost certainly never going back to what I used to do.

I wonder how many people are in the same boat, and know it already.
 
I am noticing that the majority it seems of garages in my hood now sport extra refrigerator/freezers and/or deep freezers.

This is both new and interesting.

We dont have basements.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Another great idea is picking a protein, cooking it, then some combination of making it into different things over multiple days and also freezing. For instance our current protein is a really good peppered ham. Two days ham dinner, two days ham and cheese sand grilled, and then I am doing two days of ham and bean soup. My wife will not eat bean soup, something about eating too much of that as a kid, so for those two days I make her a burger.

I miss going out to bars and restaurants a whole lot less than I expected, and Seattle is melting down, I am almost certainly never going back to what I used to do.

I wonder how many people are in the same boat, and know it already.
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That's also a good idea. I do that with roasts (pork, beef) and chicken and turkey as well. But I freeze the leftovers after the first meal, so we can have variety and not eat the same red meat too often. In the spring I go through the big freezer and clean out anything that was missed from the last year, and toss it out in the meadow for our winged friends. Today we had a family of turkey vultures -- mom, dad, and their two kids from last year -- parked in the trees overlooking the meadow... waiting. The Raven Clan also got their share.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
That's also a good idea. I do that with roasts (pork, beef) and chicken and turkey as well. But I freeze the leftovers after the first meal, so we can have variety and not eat the same red meat too often. In the spring I go through the big freezer and clean out anything that was missed from the last year, and toss it out in the meadow for our winged friends. Today we had a family of turkey vultures -- mom, dad, and their two kids from last year -- parked in the trees overlooking the meadow... waiting. The Raven Clan also got their share.
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Pizza, pasta and taco's are constant as we recycle/reconfigure proteins. We still eat casseroles so I sometimes make a few and only eat one right away freezing the rest. I also routinely will make soups and sauces and freeze them in gal freezer bags. I have so much frozen that I need to keep an eye on dates, and get the oldest stuff used.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
R U A Better cook than you were a year ago?

Restaurants are going away, and the ones that remain are going to become much more expensive. I am trying to get some idea of how many people pretty much dont care, because they can cook, they are good at cooking, they like to cook, and others like to eat their cooking over at their house.

I am a professional, retired.
Click to expand...
Yes on the better cook.

Restaurants will always be open. Great for dating.
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
You are onto something there! Never thought about mason jars- I'll have to give that a try, BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING BETTER THAN A POT OF BEANS AND HAM HOCKS- OK Well maybe PRIME RIB! LOL!
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Remember to leave space for expansion in jars when freezing!

That said, I'm the primary cook in our house since I'm retired and the GF still works. She says I'm a good cook, but I can't hold a candle to her cooking.
We eat out about 3 times a week on average, but Sunday is always her day to make a good home-cooked meal (one reason I've gained weight!).
 
Hawkeye10 said:
People were already deciding that dinner and a movie was too expensive, that is going to really pick up now I think.
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It should pick back up, at least a little, people are tired of being cooped up because everything was shut down over this China virus.
 
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