orangeclouds115 ([info]orangeclouds115) wrote in [info]daily_granola,
@ 2005-10-02 18:15:00
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Cook Your Own Food
You may also want to see a past post about Slow Food.

Cook Your Own Food

It's not always possible, but when it is - skip the prepared food. It's easy to grab a granola bar on the go, or stop by Subway for dinner - but it's often not too much more work to pack some leftovers in a reusable container for lunch or throw together a healthy stir fry for dinner.

I've tried to post enough easy and varied recipes in this community so that anyone who is learning to cook or trying to find the time and opportunity to cook for themselves will find it easy.
In my opinion, the best recipes:
  • are healthy
  • are versatile
  • contain few ingredients
  • contain cheap ingredients
  • contain ingredients that can live on the shelf indefinitely without rotting
  • are easy and quick to make
  • taste great!
Reasons to make your own food?
  • By choosing the ingredients, you control how healthy the dish is
  • You can control whether or not you eat trans-fats
  • You can control the amount of sodium
  • You can choose local ingredients
  • You can choose organic ingredients
  • It's often easy to convert a recipe to be vegetarian or vegan when you make it yourself
  • If you know how to cook, then avoiding companies that contribute to conservative politicians or lobby for harmful policies is EASY!
For example, you can go get buttery corn from Boston Market... but it's just as easy to get organic corn for 25 cents an ear from the farmer's market, microwave it for 3 minutes, and squeeze some lime juice on it (and add chili powder to make it really delicious). It does require thinking ahead enough to buy the corn at the farmer's market - but if you can manage to do that, you are 3 minutes away from a side dish that is organic, grown locally, and less fattening than the Boston Market alternative.

This community is about a change in habits. If you have a few memorized dishes up your sleeve, then you can keep most of the ingredients in the house and shopping for the perishable items as needed will be easy. It's not an immediate change you can make if your idea of cooking is grabbing an Uncle Ben's rice bowl from the freezer and microwaving on high for 5 minutes - but gradually you can do it, one recipe at a time.

By the way - if cooking will just never be your thing - some food chains are adjusting to the market sector that wants to eat organic & healthy but faces the reality of a fast-paced modern life. In the northeastern U.S., one such chain is O'Naturals.

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[info]bluebuckeye
2005-10-02 11:28 pm UTC (link)
Also, cooking your own food instead of eating out and making boxed meals creates less trash.

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[info]frozen_amber
2005-10-02 11:34 pm UTC (link)
and control the cholesterol!...and carbs if you're into that sort of low-carb stuff (...like me)


I love cooking my own food, it's fun :)

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[info]we_are_pliable
2005-10-02 11:40 pm UTC (link)
Another option is Chipotle, which is one of those Starbucks-esque companies that I can never decide how I feel about.

They are owned by McDonald's, but they offer a lot of organic, local, and even free-range ingredients.

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[info]orangeclouds115
2005-10-02 11:41 pm UTC (link)
But do the tortillas have trans-fats?

I have a few foods that I always check for trans-fats on. Tortillas are one. Others are baked goods, hot cocoa mix, and microwave popcorn (to name a few).

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[info]we_are_pliable
2005-10-03 12:00 am UTC (link)
I don't know, and their web site doesn't have nutritional information. But you can get any burrito served as a bol or salad instead, if you're worried.

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Shameless Plug
[info]earthangel2623
2005-10-03 03:12 pm UTC (link)
If there is a Moe's Southwest Grill near you I would go there over Chipotle anyday!!! They offer marinated tofu as a meat alternative AND their foods are all fresh and good for you! Plus, they offer more fixins for your burritoes. I like the Art Vandalay. But the Close Talker and Ugly Naked Guy are all good as well!!!

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[info]frozen_amber
2005-10-02 11:50 pm UTC (link)
Chipotle is owned by mcdonalds? Damn. I guess it's good thing I've only been there twice before I went veg. lol

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[info]osita2000
2005-10-03 02:57 am UTC (link)
http://www.buyblue.org/node/1452/view/summary

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[info]misheymo
2005-10-02 11:54 pm UTC (link)
cooking your own food is also very important when you are diabetic and becoming diabetic was a big surprise to me.

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[info]sultansfavorite
2005-10-03 12:01 am UTC (link)
This is great! I've gotten more into cooking since I got married - because my husband is the supah deluxe cook in our house. We take it one step further and prefer not to even use the microwave - all those crazy gamma rays that come out of that thing can't be good for you.

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[info]jenyum
2005-10-03 01:28 am UTC (link)
i couldn't do without the microwave. 3 minutes for most veggies. (especially greens which take so long to come out right on the stove) 45 seconds for a "scrambled" egg for the kids.

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[info]sultansfavorite
2005-10-03 02:14 am UTC (link)
Phew. Good luck with the health problems from all the microwave use.

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[info]foreverquatre
2005-10-03 02:59 am UTC (link)
Using the microwave won't actually harm you. The only thing you may want to avoid doing is cooking things in plastic because it is possible that toxins in the plastic may get into the food during the warming/cooking process.

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[info]sultansfavorite
2005-10-03 03:06 am UTC (link)
http://www.safetyhero.com/microwave/microwhen.htm

http://www.all-natural.com/microwa1.html

All other things being equal, I prefer to avoid them.

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[info]foreverquatre
2005-10-03 03:20 am UTC (link)
It's never been proven that a microwave or other house hold appliances can cause illness. I looked into it myself awhile ago. It's certainly making a huge leap to say 'good luck with the health problems from all the microwave use' as if you are certain it will cause some deadly disease. More likely than not using the microwave will do a person very little harm.

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[info]jenyum
2005-10-03 02:06 pm UTC (link)
I think the health gains we make by eating fresh veggies probably outweigh any supposed problems. Unless someone is going to come over and cook my greens on the stove for me, I think I'll stick to the microwave. We cook in ceramic.

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[info]jenyum
2005-10-03 02:22 pm UTC (link)
Since the only actual negative health effect clearly caused by the microwave oven in either of those sites (one of those is an advertisement for a microwave leak detector) was caused by heating blood for a transfusion in a microwave, I think I am safe.

Should I ever need a blood transfusion, I'll be sure to ask that they not heat it in the microwave. (except that apparently they don't do this and that's why that case was so unusual.)

Until then I will enjoy the health benefits of eating more fresh vegetables, cooked in the microwave.

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[info]a_wags
2005-10-03 01:19 am UTC (link)
id love some more easy dish ideas!

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[info]orangeclouds115
2005-10-03 01:24 am UTC (link)
Check the memories.

One easy thing you can do w/ vegetables is just coat them lightly in extra virgin olive oil, crank up the oven to about 450 F and stick your veggies in on a cookie sheet for 20-50 min. The microwave is more energy efficient if you can get it done that way.

I do that for potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, asparagus, fennel, parsnips, carrots, red peppers, and onions to name a few. I lightly salt everything, and I put rosemary on the potatoes. Soooo good.

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[info]a_wags
2005-10-03 01:30 am UTC (link)
yummy!

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[info]fjm
2005-10-03 09:33 am UTC (link)
This reminds me of a fight on a mailing list that will go un-named: it started as a request for "easy recipes for children for to make on special occassions" and turned into an all out flame war between those who believe "special" food is "compiled" food (ie marshmallows and graham crackers) and those who believe "special" occcassion food is "slow" food and wanted to teach children to make tacos and scrambled egg, and mushrooms. No guesses for which side I'm on. I was utterly baffled that people could regard scrambled eggs as "taking a long time".

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