Does your community have Ridwell? It’s this amazing recycling service that recycles locally all the plastic from food wrappings that you usually throw away. They call it plastic film (anything plastic you can push your thumb through, like bubble wrap or plastic grocery bags) or multi-use plastic (like the frozen veggie bags). They also do styrofo am light bulbs and batteries. And you can look up what happens to your stuff, all locally.
We have it in Mpls St Paul and it has made me feel so much better about things like meal kits and frozen food bags. If you have it in your town…it’s totally worth it!
That said. As always, I love your articles and look forward to them.
We used everyplate for a long time, and yes, I have a binder of recipe cards that I still use. I loved that the recipes used recognizable ingredients (no pickled Martian avocado seeds or feathered wind fruit) with clear instructions.
One point you didn't mention that was really good for us were the pre measured portion sizes. That really helped us in our weight loss journey after COVID.
Sadly, they were bought by another company, and suddenly the recipe cards doubled in size (the cards, not the font or information) and despite the name, the food began arriving anything but fresh.
So now I cook. I still don't actually enjoy it, but now I feel like I can do it. And that's a big deal to me.
I feel so seen! Thank you for the laughs! 😂 I’ve been at parenting a while now and the whole 7 days a week/365 days thing is still really annoying. Like, really, you need to eat AGAIN?! Apparently, cozying up on the couch with my dog (totally checking out your other stack!) and a good book while shouting “make your own damn dinner!” at a 10 & 12 yr old is frowned upon. 😕 And seriously, 2tbsp of heavy cream? What am I supposed to do with the remaining 2000tbsps?!!!
😂😂😂😂😂 I think you win for best comment this week!!! This was so funny! And I totally get you. Our poor kids lol! I did cook when my son was little and he seemed okay with it but I tell ya...probably hated every minute of it!
Great piece, Kristi! I've never used a meal service because they all look--exactly as you say: "meh". I can only imagine how finding a good one has been a game changer for you and I'm glad.
I'm sure you've learned enough about me by now to know that I have gained some mad kitchen skills over the course of my life. But the kitchen is not my favorite place to be, especially if it is expected of me because I have boobs, if you know what I mean, lol.
This past weekend, however, I tried my hand at making dandelion jelly and had a pretty spectacular fail...
I don't can veggies because I don't like oversoft vegetables, and I also don't do jellies or jams or pickles, mainly because I'm too busy growing them to spend time in the kitchen processing them. If I do anything, it's just to blanch and freeze vegetables at peak condition.
Anyway, processing and storing food is one of my goals and since I have this farmers' market coming up that Runamuk will be attending and I thought it a good idea to make dandelion jelly. It's supposed to be easy!
Well by the time I'd foraged for, snipped the green stems off, made the tea, made the jelly and then water bathed all the jars of jelly, I probably had 5 or 6 hours of time involved. Not to mention the 8 cups of sugar...
And wouldn't you know that not ONE of those jellies set up properly!!! There's no fix for that, so down the toilet it all went! I was (and still am!) SO bummed!
LOL isn't it ALL supposed to be easy? That's what the chef videos make it look like on YouTube and Netflix. It's NOT easy! And anytime I try to make a meal from a recipe that claims to be delicious it's just so flavorless and underwhelming. I just have no idea WTF I'm doing or how to make it better 😂 I commend you for your kitchen prowess (and basically for ALL your physical labor on your farm!) Not everyone can be good at all things lol.
I pride myself in my cooking prowess (25 years in the biz) and have even been with Julia Child in her own Cambridge home kitchen, a factoid that ages me indeed. I used to be inspired. Yet, I understand being single and cooking for oneself is a daunting and arduous process. Why do it? So, I have sampled said prepared food deliveries, but have now defaulted to a weekly Costco rotisserie chicken....Cheap, cheap and at least six meals that end in chicken salad. I love mayonnaise! Oh, bags of salad are simple too.
Shelly, it's actually pretty amazing. It's called Inspired Go and all they do is incredible, robust salads! Ready made, all you do is mix the dressing in. Perfect for lazy kitchen losers like me 🤣
Although I thought with a baby I wouldn't have the time to cook it turned out that's not true.
I grow lettuce because we love salads but lettuce from the store never stays fresh and we would just throw away too much. I use up our veggies and meat by cooking bigger quantities and freeze the leftovers as portioned meals. In case of fruit I use them for baking or jams or smoothies before they go off. No rocket science but it works for us.
I’m a good cook and enjoy working with my hands after a day of brain work. I’d probably save money on meal kits, given what I spend on, say, fresh herbs that will go soggy before I can use them. Catch is, I like my own cooking. It goes better than writing does, most of the time.
Great article. You sold me on the meal kit. I have a Cream of Tartar from 2010 that I never used.
I once bought a meal plan for my daughter when she had a concussion and couldn’t do anything. The meal was prepared and delivered. All she had to do was pop it in the microwave.
OMG I literally almost mentioned Cream of Tartar specifically in this post hahahaa. That's the one! I bought it for one recipe a long time ago and then it just sat there in the back of the spice cupboard for centuries.
Kristi $60 a week for meal delivery is amazing. I got back into cooking again recently after a long absence of sleep walking through cooking the last 2-3 years and it's been a lot of fun. IDK why. FUN THING FOR YOU TO TRY: Watch Gordon Ramsay explain a recipe to you on Youtube at half speed. It is the most hilarious thing of all time watching Gordon Ramsay talk like he's drunk to you while explaining how to cook food. I run the videos at half speed to not miss a beat, but sometimes I'm in my kitchen literally dying from laughter because of how drunk Gordon Ramsay sounds.
I’m gonna totally try this! Half time sounds like a stitch! I love to cook. And I make up my own stuff. Half time could give me tons of ideas and the processing speed to actually produce them…if I’m not laughing too hard.
Bahahahaa!! I'm totally going to try that! I am mesmerized by TV chefs, I bet slow-mo would be even more riveting lol. And yeah, I can't beat the cost at the grocery store. My kits are probably way cheaper than some because I don't eat meat. I can imagine the meat recipes cost more.
I love a person with a sense of humor! We tried one of those "magic box" delivery services - my wife loved it, I couldn't stand it. The food tasted pretty good, but the presentation was horrible. Remember those old TV dinners in the crinkled foil trays that were compartmentalized? This was that, and I could never get past the gross image in my mind from my childhood!
Hahaha no I don't remember TV dinners because my mother never would have paid for those. She's a fantastic cook. But these meal kits are actually just ingredients. You still have to prep and cook the food but everything is there and ready to do it. I'm not a fan of frozen dinners because most of them have meat. And I don't think they're super healthy.
Does your community have Ridwell? It’s this amazing recycling service that recycles locally all the plastic from food wrappings that you usually throw away. They call it plastic film (anything plastic you can push your thumb through, like bubble wrap or plastic grocery bags) or multi-use plastic (like the frozen veggie bags). They also do styrofo am light bulbs and batteries. And you can look up what happens to your stuff, all locally.
We have it in Mpls St Paul and it has made me feel so much better about things like meal kits and frozen food bags. If you have it in your town…it’s totally worth it!
That said. As always, I love your articles and look forward to them.
Oh wow. I've never heard of it. I wonder if Canada has anything like it. I'll try googling.
We used everyplate for a long time, and yes, I have a binder of recipe cards that I still use. I loved that the recipes used recognizable ingredients (no pickled Martian avocado seeds or feathered wind fruit) with clear instructions.
One point you didn't mention that was really good for us were the pre measured portion sizes. That really helped us in our weight loss journey after COVID.
Sadly, they were bought by another company, and suddenly the recipe cards doubled in size (the cards, not the font or information) and despite the name, the food began arriving anything but fresh.
So now I cook. I still don't actually enjoy it, but now I feel like I can do it. And that's a big deal to me.
David, i died laughing at: (no pickled Martian avocado seeds or feathered wind fruit) 😂
I don't get the kits regularly anymore either but it's a occasional great break from the chore I hate the most.
I feel so seen! Thank you for the laughs! 😂 I’ve been at parenting a while now and the whole 7 days a week/365 days thing is still really annoying. Like, really, you need to eat AGAIN?! Apparently, cozying up on the couch with my dog (totally checking out your other stack!) and a good book while shouting “make your own damn dinner!” at a 10 & 12 yr old is frowned upon. 😕 And seriously, 2tbsp of heavy cream? What am I supposed to do with the remaining 2000tbsps?!!!
😂😂😂😂😂 I think you win for best comment this week!!! This was so funny! And I totally get you. Our poor kids lol! I did cook when my son was little and he seemed okay with it but I tell ya...probably hated every minute of it!
😆 If it wasn’t for them I’d still consider cereal a viable dinner option. Perhaps I should be more grateful. 🙃
Hey, a treat dinner for my kid was soup and grilled cheese. Thank goodness he loved it or I'm sure CPS may have gotten involved 😆
Haha!! Grilled cheese is the #1 ‘I couldn’t possibly make dinner’ dinner. That and eggs. Breakfast be damned! 😆
Great piece, Kristi! I've never used a meal service because they all look--exactly as you say: "meh". I can only imagine how finding a good one has been a game changer for you and I'm glad.
I'm sure you've learned enough about me by now to know that I have gained some mad kitchen skills over the course of my life. But the kitchen is not my favorite place to be, especially if it is expected of me because I have boobs, if you know what I mean, lol.
This past weekend, however, I tried my hand at making dandelion jelly and had a pretty spectacular fail...
I don't can veggies because I don't like oversoft vegetables, and I also don't do jellies or jams or pickles, mainly because I'm too busy growing them to spend time in the kitchen processing them. If I do anything, it's just to blanch and freeze vegetables at peak condition.
Anyway, processing and storing food is one of my goals and since I have this farmers' market coming up that Runamuk will be attending and I thought it a good idea to make dandelion jelly. It's supposed to be easy!
Well by the time I'd foraged for, snipped the green stems off, made the tea, made the jelly and then water bathed all the jars of jelly, I probably had 5 or 6 hours of time involved. Not to mention the 8 cups of sugar...
And wouldn't you know that not ONE of those jellies set up properly!!! There's no fix for that, so down the toilet it all went! I was (and still am!) SO bummed!
LOL isn't it ALL supposed to be easy? That's what the chef videos make it look like on YouTube and Netflix. It's NOT easy! And anytime I try to make a meal from a recipe that claims to be delicious it's just so flavorless and underwhelming. I just have no idea WTF I'm doing or how to make it better 😂 I commend you for your kitchen prowess (and basically for ALL your physical labor on your farm!) Not everyone can be good at all things lol.
Get your kids to peel the potatoes and onions, cut the radishes, and hand mash the potatoes.
My son used to do those things when he lived on earth 😊 He was a better cook than me 100%!!
A smart woman indeed. And they are good!
I pride myself in my cooking prowess (25 years in the biz) and have even been with Julia Child in her own Cambridge home kitchen, a factoid that ages me indeed. I used to be inspired. Yet, I understand being single and cooking for oneself is a daunting and arduous process. Why do it? So, I have sampled said prepared food deliveries, but have now defaulted to a weekly Costco rotisserie chicken....Cheap, cheap and at least six meals that end in chicken salad. I love mayonnaise! Oh, bags of salad are simple too.
My mom does the same thing with a rotisserie chicken. She'll buy one and use it all week. Smart!
I want to know more about this salad delivery service! I’m also vegetarian and we use Hungryroot. Really delicious about as no prep as you can get.
Shelly, it's actually pretty amazing. It's called Inspired Go and all they do is incredible, robust salads! Ready made, all you do is mix the dressing in. Perfect for lazy kitchen losers like me 🤣
“Kitchen loser” made me laugh when I read it!
Ha!!! Good! That's my goal!
Can you write one for cleaning next? 😂 I love cooking and despise cleaning
Lol yes! Here it is:
DON'T! 😂😂 Short but effective, I know 😁
You’re a genius 😂
Grocery shopping and cooking lover here!🙋🏼♀️
Although I thought with a baby I wouldn't have the time to cook it turned out that's not true.
I grow lettuce because we love salads but lettuce from the store never stays fresh and we would just throw away too much. I use up our veggies and meat by cooking bigger quantities and freeze the leftovers as portioned meals. In case of fruit I use them for baking or jams or smoothies before they go off. No rocket science but it works for us.
Anna, Thanks for these helpful tips!
That's awesome Anna! I admire people who have their kitchen acts together!
We have "HelloFresh" in Germany but I haven't tried it!
Really? Wow, we have that one here as well. I had no idea they were so global. I hadn't tried them but have heard good things.
Really enjoyed reading this, Kristi, and so looking forward to Dog Blog.
Thanks Maureen! I'm really looking forward to it as well!
I’m a good cook and enjoy working with my hands after a day of brain work. I’d probably save money on meal kits, given what I spend on, say, fresh herbs that will go soggy before I can use them. Catch is, I like my own cooking. It goes better than writing does, most of the time.
I admire people who know how to cook well enough to love doing it!
Vegetarian the dabbles in bacon? Yep, that's me! I dabble in chicken, too. Five our of seven days of vegetarian is official enought for me.
Hahaha I understand! I also dabble quite a bit in salmon.
A vegetarian with a little bacon! Haha.
Great article. You sold me on the meal kit. I have a Cream of Tartar from 2010 that I never used.
I once bought a meal plan for my daughter when she had a concussion and couldn’t do anything. The meal was prepared and delivered. All she had to do was pop it in the microwave.
Dog Snobs! Can’t wait!
OMG I literally almost mentioned Cream of Tartar specifically in this post hahahaa. That's the one! I bought it for one recipe a long time ago and then it just sat there in the back of the spice cupboard for centuries.
Same! And it was so expensive I don't want to throw it out even though it probably has microscopic bugs building tartar farms.
Lmfao at tartar farms!!!!!
Kristi $60 a week for meal delivery is amazing. I got back into cooking again recently after a long absence of sleep walking through cooking the last 2-3 years and it's been a lot of fun. IDK why. FUN THING FOR YOU TO TRY: Watch Gordon Ramsay explain a recipe to you on Youtube at half speed. It is the most hilarious thing of all time watching Gordon Ramsay talk like he's drunk to you while explaining how to cook food. I run the videos at half speed to not miss a beat, but sometimes I'm in my kitchen literally dying from laughter because of how drunk Gordon Ramsay sounds.
I’m gonna totally try this! Half time sounds like a stitch! I love to cook. And I make up my own stuff. Half time could give me tons of ideas and the processing speed to actually produce them…if I’m not laughing too hard.
Bahahahaa!! I'm totally going to try that! I am mesmerized by TV chefs, I bet slow-mo would be even more riveting lol. And yeah, I can't beat the cost at the grocery store. My kits are probably way cheaper than some because I don't eat meat. I can imagine the meat recipes cost more.
I love a person with a sense of humor! We tried one of those "magic box" delivery services - my wife loved it, I couldn't stand it. The food tasted pretty good, but the presentation was horrible. Remember those old TV dinners in the crinkled foil trays that were compartmentalized? This was that, and I could never get past the gross image in my mind from my childhood!
Hahaha no I don't remember TV dinners because my mother never would have paid for those. She's a fantastic cook. But these meal kits are actually just ingredients. You still have to prep and cook the food but everything is there and ready to do it. I'm not a fan of frozen dinners because most of them have meat. And I don't think they're super healthy.
Aren't you kind - GROSS is a better word. You know it's bad when you put it on the floor for the dog, and she won't touch it!
hahahahahaaa!!