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The Single Man's Guide To TV Dinners
yokimbo writes "The Food Network had a show about TV dinners and how they're prepared, their history, etc... But, what about the useful information, like how they taste? Ray Cole has your solution at The Single Man's Guide to TV Dinners. Although, I think he needs to visit Web Pages That Suck." (Of course, TV dinners don't scream out the way ramen does for improvement and improvisation.)
.... could be used in learning how to make real food.
Cooking is like UNIX, invest the right amount of time and you'll be thanking yourself for the next few lifetimes.
Sunny Dubey
You'll eat better, more healthy and more tasty food plus you'll acquire a social skill that might - note: might - help you get and hold onto a girlfriend.
I've yet to meet a woman who's impressed by a man who can work a microwave. However, women do go for a guy who really can cook.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
I'm serious. How tough can cooking be? One definitive resource for the basics is all we need.
A "Learning Cooking" book from O'Reilly would rock.
I guess I am old enough to remember the real TV dinners. Aluminum tray, aluminum wrap, always tiny meat pieces and some of the peas and carrots always get mixed with the apple "thing" they call dessert (lots of dough, some apple like gravy, and one apple wedge). They were either overcooked, or cold in the middle.
Seriously, I was in the military, the old C rations were better than TV dinners before the microwave became popular. At least you got a decent wedge of chocolate or a good cookie.
Back when I was a kid, we always held any mom who served TV dinners as suspect. Any mom who served them regularly was considered rather lazy or "low class" in the 60s/70s. You know, the single mother type, who we all knew must be a bad person or she would have a man around.... the times, how they change.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
I'm a good cook. I throw dinner parties for my friends every once in a while. But a lot of time, I just don't want to be bothered cooking a meal for one. All the prep work, the cooking time, then the clean up involved. Sometimes I just want to nuke it , eat it, and toss it. So sites like that are kinda useful for me.
:)
Plus, those meals are a great last resort when you screw up the main meal.
Now, if that makes sense to anyone, could you please explain it to me? I think I've confused myself.
I'm a guy, I live alone, I have never purchased a TV dinner or package of ramen. When I was getting my place set up, I did have a few frozen pizzas, but not any more.
It's really easy to cook. Pasta's easy, hamburgers are easy, even homemade pizza is easy. The crock pot and bread machine are great time savers. Pork chops are easy: be sure to brine them before cooking (put them in water with some sugar and salt; osmosis does the rest). Just throw them in a pan and brown them, then add some chopped onions and other vegetables. Goes well with rice.
Jalapeno poppers are pretty good to make once in a while, too. Pancakes, bacon, and hashbrowns are 100 times better when made at home, compared to fast-food or frozen variants. The best thing about cooking at home is the leftovers: you're making a meal not only for today, but you're rescuing yourself from pulling a mystery-meat burrito from the vending machine at work tomorrow.
Initially it takes some time, but you'll grow much more efficient. It's a good life skill to have, and you'll eat cheaper and healthier. Just make sure to buy small portions of food that perish quickly, and use them up before they go bad. You need some good tools, too. Sharp knives are a must. The first and only thing I've ever considered buying from Ronco is this huge knife set, and I'd have to say that for the price, they're a good deal and decently made.
TV dinners are industrialized, mass produced slop made from the cheapest ingredients. Even school lunches are gourmet by comparison. And the oddest part about TV dinners is that, even though they are billed as being convenient, since they are frozen food it takes forever until they are ready.
It's Sunday morning and I'm feeling cranky, and I'd like to write several more paragraphs about how awful TV dinners are. But instead, I'm going to rise to the occasion and try to write something genuinely helpful. Below, I'll offer some suggestions on what to eat instead of TV dinners, which are always your worst choice. Everything below is tastier and healthier than TV dinners -- while being just as convenient.
Spaghetti & Tomato sauce -- in the time it takes to boil water and heat up a jar of sauce, you're in business. Usually, I'll take a couple more minutes to mince up some garlic, and saute it in my pan with some olive oil before adding sauce. You can also buy pre-minced garlic in jars in any grocery store.
Most of the time, I'll also grill some fresh peppers in my George Foreman grill to add to the sauce. You can start the peppers as you heat up the water to boil, and they'll be ready to cut up and add to the sauce well before the rest of the meal is ready. Anaheim or bell peppers are great choices.
Grilled Veggies speaking of the George Foreman grill, which you can buy for less than $30 on Amazon, I use this thing all the time for ultra-healthy snacks. You can grill up just about any type of vegetable. My favorites are broccoli and cauliflower. I'll usually break them into pieces, then grill them give minutes or so. Then flip them around in the grill, turn off the power, and keep the grill on them for another five minutes or so. I'll then top with some non-transfatty acid margarine and some flax oil in a serving bowl.
Bread Machine.Amazon.com offers a West Bend bread machine that makes a small loaf suitable for one or two people in less than an hour. You can modify the recipes so that the breads are nearly all whole grain. And it takes only about five minutes to measure out the ingredients. Then, just go away for 45 minutes, and when you get back you've got a piping hot loaf of bread, that costs something like 30 cents even if you've used organic flour.
I hope some of this is helpful. If this inspires you, you can also try some cookbooks geared to convenient and healthy eating. There's one called _The Everyday Vegan_ which I think is especially good as a source of convenient recipes to replace TV dinners. I have no financial interest in the sale of this book; I just think it's great.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
Ew.
To be honest, I've always found that method wanting.
Those calorie counting diets have always failed. I eat my portion, and within an hour I'm feeling literal pains of hunger, so I finally say to hell with it and have another TV dinner.
The reason why traditional dieting doesn't work for a lot of people is because they don't balance out their diets. There is little nutrition in a TV dinner, even with the 'veggie' portions because the real nutrition is cooked/processed out.
What I am doing now, which works very well is a simple diet with two simple rules. No wheat, no sugar. I've learned how to make good food that re-prepares quickly for snacking at the computer. Learning how to cook, and learning how to make snacks that are quickly re-heatable for later, and learning how to eat a well rounded diet is the best, healthiest way to lose weight. When you can win the war on (your own) hunger, then you've made progress on losing weight.
One word "freezer"!
Prepare extra food in advance, freeze, decide what you are eating the night before, thaw overnight, place in fridge whilst before going to work, return, zap, eat. Decent food at the speed of a microwave meal.
Two words: Dollar store and freezer! Ok, that's three or even four words.
I bought a bunch of inexpensive clear top plastic containers at the dollar store. Then I buy food in large quantities, like sausages, salmon filets, frozen vegetables (they're quite good and come in a variety of mixes). I cook the salmon with Paul Prudhomme's Salmon Magic, I grill the sausages, etc... I even make prime rib burgers. Anyways, I toss in one piece of meat and some vegetables per container and freeze em. I spend two hours preparing two-three weeks worth of food.
Think about it.
Here in Australia frozen meals really had a late start, they certainly don't have the cultural identity they seem to in the States.
Because eating out has traditionally been an expensive way to eat in Australia everyone knew how to cook. The growth of fast food chains through the 80s and 90s into smaller and smaller towns has eroded this a little, but not to the point that the microwave is the cooking appliance of choice.
Having cheap access to good quality ingredients also helps to encourage decent cooking. An uncle of mine who is a chef spent 12 months in the UK, he was amazed how difficult it was to source quality fruit, vegetables and meat.
In Australia the culinary joke is 'meat and three veg' which a lot of us grew up on. Thinking about it though, steak and veges most nights of the week really isn't a bad way to eat.
I want to use these Mod points but I can't find anything Interesting, Informative or Insightful on Slashdot.
ironing for blokes
Seriously, don't. Find a local laundry or dry cleaners and find out how much they charge.
I pay 5.50 UKP for the washing and ironing of 5 shirts. When I iron shirts myself - and I used to iron them all the time - it took me 15 minutes per shirt (OK I'm a perfectionist). That's 1 hour 15 minutes of my life per week, just to start off. Add the time spent loading the washing machine and hanging out to dry, the cost of the washing process and the cost of the electricity to power your iron and it's a no-brainer.
And when I outsourced ironing I realised I did not need to iron any of my clothes. Properly folded and hung or stowed, there is no requirement to iron casual clothes.
I invested in two decent, identical, M&S, non-iron suits (yes I have to wear a suit to work, no I am not a suit) and so far (two years) they have lived up to this claim. Hung properly they dry from the wash with a crease and no wrinkles.
So I got rid of my iron and ironing board and freed up more space that I can live in rather than sweat in.
No-one with a job requiring them to wear a shirt should be paid so little they can't easily afford to get someone else to iron it.
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
I dunno, my fiance and I eat TV dinners often enough. It's not that we don't know how to cook, it's that we don't care to waste the money, prep time, and worst of all, cleaning dishes. To make most decent meals, you end up buying all sorts of different groceries (expensive). Then you get home and have to cook it (we usually don't mind this part a whole lot). Then the best part - you eat it. Then the worse part - cleaning dishes.
We both absolutely hate doing dishes. You say life is too short to eat crap? I say it's just food, and life is too short to spend hours a day on shopping, preparing, and cleaning for a single meal that only feeds two people. TV dinners are cheap, are easy to cleanup, and get the job done.
(And before anyony mentions a dish washer, forget it. As much as I hate doing dishes once, I really hate doing them twice.)
I say it's just food, and life is too short to spend hours a day on shopping, preparing, and cleaning for a single meal that only feeds two people.
Sadly this statement is the way the majority of the population thinks about eating. Food is what goes into your body, and eventually becomes the stuff you're made of. You may not value the taste, but you certainly should value the nutritional value of it. Most processed food like TV dinners contains a huge of amount of saturated fat and/or trans-fat, both major contributors to heart disease. Not to mention all the preservatives and other crap that's likely not very good for you.
The value in cooking and making your own food is an investment in your own health. What's more important than your, and your wifes health?
AccountKiller
yeah, thanks dad. all 3 of the little points you made are obvious to me and im sure the rest of the people that read that post. probably the person that wrote the post knew those were "bad". was it really so important for you to tell everyone that those foods were unhealthy? tell you what, you take care of your body how you want and the rest of us will deal with ours how WE want. oh and if it's ok with you, i thought the persons list was pretty funny. so go ahead and make a list of reasons it's bad to think that post was funny, too.
While I agree with the sentiment that people should really not consider food just as "whatever fills my stomach attitude" (and I wouldn't consider taste less important than nutritional value, actually), this I have beef with.
Your statement is plain old FUD. "Hey, they are, like, chemicals, and thus they are BAD unless proven not to be, and even then they may be". I'm not biggest fan of all the techniques industry uses to shortchange us (injecting water, faking taste with MSG, garlic, salt, adding too much sugar [high-glucose corn syrup] in places it doesn't belong to), but many of additives -- especially preservatives -- are GOOD for us. Why?
Without preservatives (including ones with some unfortunate problematic effects like nitrates), thousands of people would die in food poisoning each year in US alone. Without preservatives, much more food would be lost, meaning that current world population could not be fed (at this point it's more about distribution and economics; not a hard physical limitation). Likewise, many chemical compounds that help create or maintain proper food texture allow reducing amount of salt used (more salt is otherwise needed to preserve moisture etc.), as well as extend lifespan of products. As nice as it is to get truly fresh products, that's not always possible, esp. if you don't want your local super-dooper walmart to be the only store in town (they can have freshest produce due to huge turnover), and preservation techniques help in getting decent balance between low spoilage and fresh products.
There's balance between being tin-foil food paranoid, and being ignoramus that blindly accepts all additives industry comes up with. It's good to know basic food microbiology and chemisty to know essential additives that make world a better place (when appropriately used) from the ones that only enrichen corporations and allow sub-standard food to be sold.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Reading the label is good advice. But your big mistake was thinking that "non-fat" or "low-fat" means that it won't make you fat. That's wrong; it simply means that it contains little fat. Fat is just one source of energy, so low-fat food can still be quite high in energy (calories).