Cooking in your country

[Naira]

Reading the cooking tips thread, a question popped into my head: what about the average cooking situation in your country? Do people cook or buy ready-to-eat food? Do they use fresh products or packaged stuff? Any other interesting details?

In Greece, people generally cook at home once per day. People used to eat all together at home two times a day, something that still happens in many areas but not large cities, where people cannot return home for lunch. So, usually, people get home-cooked food at work to eat for lunch and then have dinner at home. (A major exception are University students: They usually have fast-food delivered to them for a few years until they get bored with it and start cooking themselves.)

Also, people generally use fresh products. (For example, in my kitchen I only found canned tomatoes and a package of potato-powder used to make meshed potatoes. I regularly also buy frozen peas during the winter because I cannot get fresh ones.) Most people get to the fruit-and-vegetables market once per week. Meat is usually bought from the local butcher-shop while the rest of the stuff (pasta, milk etc.) are bought from large super-markets (small shops of that kind are not very popular).

A related detail I find interesting that many people, even in my generation of 30-somethings, have a few pots of fresh herbs around to use when cooking.

What about the area where you live?

 

[SPCTRE]

Every day. 99% of the time, I do the cooking.

The wife cooks fine, but that's just how we roll.

We try to stick to fresh products, with meats and dairy stuff (where it impacts animals) we stick to organic products.

 

[RoJoHen]

I like to have at least one "meal prep" day every week, where I cook a few items in bulk to get me through the week, but I also cook separate meals for myself every day.

My main hobby is heavy weightlifting, so I'm hungry pretty much all the time. I typically eat at least 5-6 meals per day, most of which I try to cook at home.

 

[Kilana2]

I have a full time job. No staff restaurant. I fear fast food prevails.

I try to cook at least at the weekend.

 

[Astra]

I cook once a week, on Saturdays. Simply because in my family it is usual to eat cold stuff in the evening - bread, cheese, and “assorted cold cuts”, is that the right translation? Seems so when looking at googled pictures.
I prefer warm food for lunch at noon.

My workplace is too small to have their own canteen / cafeteria, but thankfully there are lots of places around where we can go to for lunch where you get a real meal for a relatively small price and not just fast food. We are even allowed to use the canteen in the ministry nearby.

As I live alone, I am not doing too fancy stuff that takes a lot of work (that’s what I get on Sundays when I visit my parents ) but I definitely prefer to do it from fresh ingredients when possible.

PS: I grew up in former Eastern Germany, it’s possible that this makes a difference.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Not a body builder, but what RoJo said. I have a meal prep day, but usually make something everyday. Once or twice a week I eat out.

 

[auntiehill]

I cook dinner about 5-6 nights a week--pork, chicken, pasta, occasionally shrimp or beef, with some sort of vegetable side dish. Maybe a pizza night once in a while. Once a week, we'll go out to a restaurant. On holidays or special occasions, hubby does most of the cooking.

 

[Amaraen]

My country (United States) is too large and diverse to really have an average or norm.

For myself, I virtually never eat restaurant food unless something is going on such as a power outage. I buy "real food" for the most part, but nothing like a personal butcher or a farmer's market. Generally we buy food in quantity and freeze portions. For example, we buy a large package of chicken breasts, separate them and freeze them until needed. This works very well for us. I like my USDA Choice Tenderloin that I get from Walmart (if you shop smart you can get it for 40% off when it is hitting the use/freeze date, then freeze it until you want it). I make my soup and stews in the slow cooker (canned soup is nasty). I make my own pizza dough and shred my own cheese, but I do use Ragu sauce. I go through about 3 dozen eggs per week. I buy Sara Lee bread (whole wheat, it is the best) and I use King Arther flour for all of my baking. I guess I feel I am "medium" - I like real food, but I am not obsessed with organic and 100% compliance (I do not milk cows to make cheese, etc). One thing I will not allow in my house is margarine: salted butter only. I make popcorn on the stove using coconut oil (never microwaved bags). I do not eat junk food or candy. I like to buy fruit, but only full fruit and I cut it up myself (I love pineapple in summer).

Sorry I rambled a bit - I got caught in a little stream of consciousness.

I do the cooking in my household, as my husband is a very mediocre cook (he has to do the dishes though!). Before we got married, he used to eat stuff like Campbells's soup, Kraft macaroni, and Digiorno pizzas, etc, on a regular basis. He didn't even used to eat breakfast. Over six years now I have him mostly converted, but if I am out of town he will eat fast food and tv dinners.

 

[Amaris]

I cook almost every day, but it's mostly pre-packaged foods. Getting fresh food around here often isn't easy, and I have to go the least expensive route. The other days it's fast food.

 

[thestrangequark]

I cook from scratch every day. It really only takes 25-45 minutes of my day. I have nothing against packaged foods and eat them occasionally -- "organic" and "natural" are generally hogwash terms -- but whole foods are healthier overall and I'm pretty health-conscious. I mostly use fresh and frozen veggies and beans, sometimes rice and things. I use a lot of cheese and some eggs, but eggs tend to be extremely unethical so I limit them to my mom's hens' eggs when I visit her, or eggs from one farmer I know at the Union Square Farmers' Market here in the city.

I eat out a maybe 2-5 times a month, mostly because it's so expensive.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Here in the U.S., "organic" is anything but a hogwash term. Confusing? Absolutely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organic_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification#United_States_of_America

 

[Pondwater]

I cook on my days off. Usually stuff that freezes well and can be reheated

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Unless things like frozen pizza or grilled cheese sandwiches count, I'm DEFINITELY not a cook.

I just don't enjoy cooking. If I want food, I'll go out and get it. I go to my local Subway two or three times a week. And when I'm not doing that, I eat with my parents. Why should I make shitty food at home when I can get perfectly GOOD food at restaurants?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I rarely have a cooking free day. I cook from scratch, don't buy processed anything to cook in the house for actual meals. I eat a lot of vegetables. Today I am eating thai red rice which I just cooked, diced cucumber and XO sauce as a salad meal.

 

[thestrangequark]

^ Here in the U.S., "organic" is anything but a hogwash term. Confusing? Absolutely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organic_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification#United_States_of_America

As far as health is concerned, it is hogwash.

As far as economic and environmental concerns, it is much more complicated, so I should have made that distinction.

ETA: Vastly more complicated. There are some pros to organic farming environmentally, but there are huge cons too. Same goes for socioeconomic considerations. But it is absolutely meaningless when it comes to healthfulness, safety, or quality of food.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Here in the U.S., "organic" is anything but a hogwash term. Confusing? Absolutely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organic_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification#United_States_of_America

As far as health is concerned, it is hogwash.

As far as economic and environmental concerns, it is much more complicated, so I should have made that distinction.

ETA: Vastly more complicated. There are some pros to organic farming environmentally, but there are huge cons too. Same goes for socioeconomic considerations. But it is absolutely meaningless when it comes to healthfulness, safety, or quality of food.

At this point, I've only ever bought organic milk, which as a different brand than Dean's, is already better.

 

[thestrangequark]

^ Here in the U.S., "organic" is anything but a hogwash term. Confusing? Absolutely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organic_Program
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification#United_States_of_America

As far as health is concerned, it is hogwash.

As far as economic and environmental concerns, it is much more complicated, so I should have made that distinction.

ETA: Vastly more complicated. There are some pros to organic farming environmentally, but there are huge cons too. Same goes for socioeconomic considerations. But it is absolutely meaningless when it comes to healthfulness, safety, or quality of food.

At this point, I've only ever bought organic milk, which as a different brand than Dean's, is already better.

It's just a really, really complex issue that people way oversimplify -- as I was just guilty of myself, though on the opposite side of the norm. The only aspect that is clear cut is the science on health and safety. The rest is a big confounding mess, but the "organic" system mostly boils down to politics and marketing and a way to fleece consumers out of a few extra bucks.

I look at it this way: I am privileged enough at this point in my life to have the means and education to be a bit more picky about my food sources (a lot of people aren't, which is a whole other can of Social Issues Beans that relates to "organic" and "natural" marketing that I won't open here). My concerns are a)health, b)ethics, c)sustainability.

Health is clear, the evidence is definitive that "organic" is meaningless. Ethics is convoluted. Organic farmers are sometimes more ethical because they trend away from factory farming, but it's all down to the individual farm, and there is so much politicking and lobbying when it comes to organic labeling that the only way to know for sure is to know the farm. There is sometimes mistreatment of animals, as they want to preserve the "drug free" label, and therefore don't provide proper medical care to sick animals. (And as an aside, if your chicken or eggs say they are fed a "vegetarian diet", either they are lying, or mistreating their chickens. My mom keeps chickens. Chickens are omnivores.) Organic is firmly anti-GMO, which is obviously unsustainable and I feel strongly is unethical (as well as stupid). The evidence is mixed as far as environmental concerns; there are some clear benefits, but there are also clear consequences, and ultimately, organic farming is not sustainable, so while it does offer some improvements comparatively to traditional agriculture, it also takes steps backwards, and isn't a viable long-term solution.

Anyway, this is the gist of what I've read on the subject, which is a fairly considerable amount, though I am far from expert.

 

[HIjol]

In my home country of The God-Fearing United States of America, Leader of the Free World, it is different, but here in the UAE, you have to shop very often because there are rare few preservatives in food, and no irradiation for longevity. Chicken and Fish being the mainstay, unless you like Lamb, Goat, Mutton, or really sh*tty Beef. I cook 4-5 times a day, and am pretty good at it. My mom taught me when I was young, and later my dad became a chef, so I learned from him, too. Leftovers and sandwiches usually fill in the other days. Always fresh ingredients, and the fruit and produce here are out of this world. They just don't "keep", so you have to shop little and often.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Why do you cook 4-5 times a day? I only eat one meal a day and otherwise I just eat raw veg or boil an egg or have cheese on crackers.

 

[Naira]

Sorry I rambled a bit - I got caught in a little stream of consciousness.

Nah, I enjoy reading all the replies here.

Now that you mentioned breakfast, most people here do not have any. This is changing, however, I think recently more and more people try to pick up the habit.