Meatloaf, again?
January 23, 2011 3:25 AM Subscribe
How many different meals make up a 'normal' amount of food variety in your life?
I prepared a meal for a friend the other day, and - as it turned out - it was the same dish that I had prepared for them on the previous occasion they were here. Oops. After trying not so successfully to answer the inevitable "Don't you know how to make anything else?" question, our conversation turned to just how many dishes is normal for a typical family kitchen. (We're speaking of dinners here, not brekky or lunch ...)
When I was a kid, growing up in a British cultural tradition, many meals were fixed; Sunday was always roast beef and yorkshire pudding for example. Trying to list those family meals I can remember at this point, I can't really identify more than a dozen or so, which I guess came around in 'rotation'. Many years later, in Japan, we stayed with elderly relatives on a farm, and their meal rotation was simple. There was no rotation; every meal of every day was exactly the same thing: a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, some picked vegetables, and a tiny piece of protein stuff ('a bit of fish' usually).
Just how embarrassed should I be because I don't have a very extensive repertoire? I think I eat enough different stuff to keep basically healthy. What's a typical number of meals to prepare before the 'repeats' set in?
I prepared a meal for a friend the other day, and - as it turned out - it was the same dish that I had prepared for them on the previous occasion they were here. Oops. After trying not so successfully to answer the inevitable "Don't you know how to make anything else?" question, our conversation turned to just how many dishes is normal for a typical family kitchen. (We're speaking of dinners here, not brekky or lunch ...)
When I was a kid, growing up in a British cultural tradition, many meals were fixed; Sunday was always roast beef and yorkshire pudding for example. Trying to list those family meals I can remember at this point, I can't really identify more than a dozen or so, which I guess came around in 'rotation'. Many years later, in Japan, we stayed with elderly relatives on a farm, and their meal rotation was simple. There was no rotation; every meal of every day was exactly the same thing: a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, some picked vegetables, and a tiny piece of protein stuff ('a bit of fish' usually).
Just how embarrassed should I be because I don't have a very extensive repertoire? I think I eat enough different stuff to keep basically healthy. What's a typical number of meals to prepare before the 'repeats' set in?
I'm sure the BBC did an article on this recently which I naturally can't find now but I'm pretty sure it said that people typically rotated between the same 7-10 meals.
posted by missmagenta at 3:50 AM on January 23, 2011
posted by missmagenta at 3:50 AM on January 23, 2011
Some experts in organization suggest making a rotating menu plan to make meal planning and grocery shopping easier, and I seem to recall one of them saying that most families only have about 10-15 meals in their repertoire that they make over and over.
We're always going on and off diets around here, so I've got a set of low-carb dishes I make when we're doing that, a set of Weight Watchers friendly recipes, a set of "regular" recipes, etc. I'd say I generally the repertoire for each type of eating probably has around 10-14 dishes.
I try new things on a regular basis and sometimes something is such a hit that it makes it into the regular rotation; sometimes I make a certain dish so often that we get sick of it and I won't make it again for awhile. So the number sometimes varies but I'm sure it doesn't generally go above about 15 at any given time.
Someone I know once mentioned that growing up his mother made the same meal every single day for dinner... hamburgers and green beans. She worked full time and apparently didn't like to cook. I was kind of shocked when I heard that because it's really unusual for middle-class people in this country to eat that way.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:57 AM on January 23, 2011
We're always going on and off diets around here, so I've got a set of low-carb dishes I make when we're doing that, a set of Weight Watchers friendly recipes, a set of "regular" recipes, etc. I'd say I generally the repertoire for each type of eating probably has around 10-14 dishes.
I try new things on a regular basis and sometimes something is such a hit that it makes it into the regular rotation; sometimes I make a certain dish so often that we get sick of it and I won't make it again for awhile. So the number sometimes varies but I'm sure it doesn't generally go above about 15 at any given time.
Someone I know once mentioned that growing up his mother made the same meal every single day for dinner... hamburgers and green beans. She worked full time and apparently didn't like to cook. I was kind of shocked when I heard that because it's really unusual for middle-class people in this country to eat that way.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:57 AM on January 23, 2011
We love to cook and eat, and we still only have about seven or eight meals in regular rotation. We probably cook something new that we haven't tried before once a week or so, but it rarely makes it into the "regular" fallback set.
When I was a kid we had exactly 9 meals that we ever had for dinner, and honestly four of them only counted as different because of the type of meat (roast pork, roast lamb, roast beef, roast chicken) not because they actually were different from each other. And from my current perspective, ALL the meals were actually identical, because they consisted of meat, potatoes (boiled, roasted or mashed) and two veges (boiled).
I think you can end up feeling like you are eating more variety if each of the meals on your list is very different from the others, both in components, but also cooking method and ethnic cuisine.
posted by lollusc at 4:10 AM on January 23, 2011
When I was a kid we had exactly 9 meals that we ever had for dinner, and honestly four of them only counted as different because of the type of meat (roast pork, roast lamb, roast beef, roast chicken) not because they actually were different from each other. And from my current perspective, ALL the meals were actually identical, because they consisted of meat, potatoes (boiled, roasted or mashed) and two veges (boiled).
I think you can end up feeling like you are eating more variety if each of the meals on your list is very different from the others, both in components, but also cooking method and ethnic cuisine.
posted by lollusc at 4:10 AM on January 23, 2011
I love to cook but I live alone and don't have much time, plus I'm a slave to routine. I eat the same three or four suppers all week. The only time I change it up is if I have guests, which isn't very often.
posted by gwenlister at 4:29 AM on January 23, 2011
posted by gwenlister at 4:29 AM on January 23, 2011
I agree that there is no normal, and no reason for embarrassment. I grew up in a very limited-repertoire household, and when I was on my own I started cooking more adventurously out of boredom. A few years ago my wife and I got bored again, and resolved to see how long we could go without repeating a dinner. We sustained it for a year and a half. Now we choose recipes from a stack of favorites and also add in new ones when we feel like it. We don't have a routine or a fixed list that I can count; each week before grocery shopping we look at the weather forecast and pick about five recipes that sound good at the time. It's a form of recreation as much as it is a necessity.
As long as your habits work for you, and as long as you feel able to change them when they stop working, I don't think you need to worry.
posted by jon1270 at 4:33 AM on January 23, 2011
As long as your habits work for you, and as long as you feel able to change them when they stop working, I don't think you need to worry.
posted by jon1270 at 4:33 AM on January 23, 2011
I probably also have about 7-10 "regular" meals, but I also frequently make dinner from cookbooks.
My mom (who is a great cook) keeps an "entertaining" journal in which she writes down the date, guests, and menu served every time she has people over for dinner; she uses this to avoid repeating the same thing for the same people. You could do something like that if you're really embarrassed, but I don't think it's that big a deal.
posted by cider at 4:39 AM on January 23, 2011
My mom (who is a great cook) keeps an "entertaining" journal in which she writes down the date, guests, and menu served every time she has people over for dinner; she uses this to avoid repeating the same thing for the same people. You could do something like that if you're really embarrassed, but I don't think it's that big a deal.
posted by cider at 4:39 AM on January 23, 2011
Interesting question. With me it seems to go in periods, depending on what my life is like. When I was married I think we probably had... oh, a dozen or so "regular favourites" that we rotated at whim, but these were always interspersed with a few meals out or takeaways and, perhaps once a fortnight, a random experiment seen in a magazine or recipe book. The better of these made their way into our regulars list and by the time the marriage ended I think we had something like twenty-odd of those.
Then I entered a period of living alone, working some distance away, and pretty much rotating the same 5 or 6 meals, most weeks (or minor variations of them). I'd have pasta twice; fish, potatoes and veggies once; chicken something once; curry once; something with beef once and then a wild card at the weekend (meal out, fish and chips, pizza, whatever I fancied). That lasted for about two years.
Then I went to live in New York for nearly seven years and I became rather more adventurous in the kitchen, largely thanks to a food-loving partner. We had a few stock favourites but we'd often try new recipes or make stuff up based on what we had in the fridge/cupboards. We even ran a food blog for a couple of years. Fun times.
Nowadays I'm living alone again but I've maintained some of the variety in my home-cooking. I now have a stock set of some thirty regular or semi-regular go-to meals, probably ten of which I actually do rotate fairly constantly. I also eat at home almost exclusively now, so that means I get to include more of these regulars. I'm now far more willing to tweak, customise and experiment with my regulars, too.
posted by Decani at 4:44 AM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Then I entered a period of living alone, working some distance away, and pretty much rotating the same 5 or 6 meals, most weeks (or minor variations of them). I'd have pasta twice; fish, potatoes and veggies once; chicken something once; curry once; something with beef once and then a wild card at the weekend (meal out, fish and chips, pizza, whatever I fancied). That lasted for about two years.
Then I went to live in New York for nearly seven years and I became rather more adventurous in the kitchen, largely thanks to a food-loving partner. We had a few stock favourites but we'd often try new recipes or make stuff up based on what we had in the fridge/cupboards. We even ran a food blog for a couple of years. Fun times.
Nowadays I'm living alone again but I've maintained some of the variety in my home-cooking. I now have a stock set of some thirty regular or semi-regular go-to meals, probably ten of which I actually do rotate fairly constantly. I also eat at home almost exclusively now, so that means I get to include more of these regulars. I'm now far more willing to tweak, customise and experiment with my regulars, too.
posted by Decani at 4:44 AM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
When I was single I probably had three to five regular dinners that I rotated. Now that I'm married I have 10-15 that I rotate, but probably 3-5 that show up at least once in every ten days. I cook other things that are more involved regularly on the weekends, and sometimes one of those things will join the rotation.
posted by OmieWise at 5:25 AM on January 23, 2011
posted by OmieWise at 5:25 AM on January 23, 2011
A friend of mine has an 8-week rotation of 35 regular meals, with 5 "new" meals thrown in every rotation. (That's 5 meals a week, the other 2 nights are leftovers or eating out.) This seems a) startlingly elaborate and b) like a LOT of different meals.
I probably make 10 or 15 meals pretty regularly, but for what 10 or 15 they are vary by season. Things that sound awesome in the winter sound absolutely unbearable in the summer.
As for "company meals," that's definitely a more limited set for most people -- you want something a little fancy, that you can prepare reliably, that fits in the time available, that suits your guests' palates (and food restrictions) ... if you're entertaining on a Wednesday night and you work all day, you CAN'T be fussing with food for 8 solid hours; it's got to only take a minimal amount of prep. If you've got people coming at 5 and serving dinner at 7, you probably don't want to spend those whole two hours in the kitchen while your guests amuse themselves. I only have a small handful of dishes I make for "company" and they definitely repeat. A considerably larger handful for "company who get their own drinks and don't mind changing the baby's diaper," since I don't feel the need to be as fancy, but I still don't serve them some of my, um, unbalanced dinners where I just make a meat and can't be bothered with a side. Or my throw some whatever on some pasta and hope it works. Or soup, since I'm crap at seasoning soup properly.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:29 AM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
I probably make 10 or 15 meals pretty regularly, but for what 10 or 15 they are vary by season. Things that sound awesome in the winter sound absolutely unbearable in the summer.
As for "company meals," that's definitely a more limited set for most people -- you want something a little fancy, that you can prepare reliably, that fits in the time available, that suits your guests' palates (and food restrictions) ... if you're entertaining on a Wednesday night and you work all day, you CAN'T be fussing with food for 8 solid hours; it's got to only take a minimal amount of prep. If you've got people coming at 5 and serving dinner at 7, you probably don't want to spend those whole two hours in the kitchen while your guests amuse themselves. I only have a small handful of dishes I make for "company" and they definitely repeat. A considerably larger handful for "company who get their own drinks and don't mind changing the baby's diaper," since I don't feel the need to be as fancy, but I still don't serve them some of my, um, unbalanced dinners where I just make a meat and can't be bothered with a side. Or my throw some whatever on some pasta and hope it works. Or soup, since I'm crap at seasoning soup properly.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:29 AM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
I probably have 20 or so meals that I make for me and the boyfriend. With "experiments" thrown in every now and then. (My Szechuan steak experiment is now in heavy rotation.) We combine that with eating out once or twice a week. However, when I am cooking for groups - either potlucks, company, or bringing something to the in-laws, I tend to cook the same 3 or 4 things. Because: 1) they seem to be consistently well received, 2) they are easily expanded, 3) and, they do not contain spices/ingredients that might put people off.
posted by hworth at 6:41 AM on January 23, 2011
posted by hworth at 6:41 AM on January 23, 2011
In this household, 3 of us love cooking, so it's rare that we eat the same meal more than once in a couple of months. Last night we had Somerset pork and tonight I'm thinking about making dahl and chapatis.
As for being embarrassed, don't be. As long as you're healthy, you don't really have anything to worry about other than someone else's opinion, which is worth diddly squat.
posted by Solomon at 7:15 AM on January 23, 2011
As for being embarrassed, don't be. As long as you're healthy, you don't really have anything to worry about other than someone else's opinion, which is worth diddly squat.
posted by Solomon at 7:15 AM on January 23, 2011
I'm guessing we rotate 10-15 here, though things rotate in and out as I occasionally try new things and we like them enough to have them regularly, and things drop out as we get tired of them for awhile or I just forget about them. When I am planning dinners for the week, I often think, "OK, a pasta night, a chicken night, a meat night, a breakfast-for-dinner night..." I might have 3-5 options in each of those categories, or make small changes like dflemingecon mentioned (sometimes it's just switching up the pasta shapes!).
Sometimes I get in the mood to try something new, and then I will troll through cookbooks looking for ideas. Other times, I want dinners to be as simple and easy as possible, so I'll stick with familiar things for awhile.
An old friend said that her grandmother served the same 7 dinners on the same 7 nights of the week for 35 years. As a struggling housewife, I found that a very refreshing idea. Think how simple shopping and cooking would be!
posted by not that girl at 7:20 AM on January 23, 2011
Sometimes I get in the mood to try something new, and then I will troll through cookbooks looking for ideas. Other times, I want dinners to be as simple and easy as possible, so I'll stick with familiar things for awhile.
An old friend said that her grandmother served the same 7 dinners on the same 7 nights of the week for 35 years. As a struggling housewife, I found that a very refreshing idea. Think how simple shopping and cooking would be!
posted by not that girl at 7:20 AM on January 23, 2011
You don't need to know how to prepare 100 dishes, you just need to know how to prepare a few very, very well! Experiment with simple dishes like meatloaf or roasted chicken until you find a recipe you love, and then it won't be "Meatloaf, again?" It will be "OMFG we're going to have woodblock100's meatloaf tonight!" I love to cook, but there are a just a handful of dishes that friends will request by name. (And one of those is basically a doctored-up jar of Classico tomato sauce!)
Cook's Illustrated does this with recipes of all kinds and skill levels, and many of their results are hard to beat.
Growing up there was no set rotation in my house. My mom probably experimented a little more than the average cook (by 70s standards) but I can only remember six or seven typical meals.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:26 AM on January 23, 2011
Cook's Illustrated does this with recipes of all kinds and skill levels, and many of their results are hard to beat.
Growing up there was no set rotation in my house. My mom probably experimented a little more than the average cook (by 70s standards) but I can only remember six or seven typical meals.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:26 AM on January 23, 2011
As with other people's answers, it depends on how distinct a meal has to be to count as a new meal. I make a LOT of bean soups, for example; basic recipe is fry up some bacon/ham, saute onion and carrot in the fat, throw in beans and water, simmer for an hour. That template works for white bean soup (add rosemary), split pea, black bean (maybe add some chili powder), etc.
I'm also a bit of an outlier because I live by myself and tend to cook one thing for dinner to last me the whole week. This last week I made chana masala and had that for about 6 nights straight. So I guess if you were being very generous and counting each of my soups (for example) as a distinct recipe, then I make maybe 35-40 different dinners over the course of the year. But really, I would count some of my recipes as too similar to one another to be counted separately, so I'd say maybe....25 different home-cooked dinners in a year? Not so many, really, and I consider myself an adventurous and active cook.
posted by Bebo at 7:35 AM on January 23, 2011
I'm also a bit of an outlier because I live by myself and tend to cook one thing for dinner to last me the whole week. This last week I made chana masala and had that for about 6 nights straight. So I guess if you were being very generous and counting each of my soups (for example) as a distinct recipe, then I make maybe 35-40 different dinners over the course of the year. But really, I would count some of my recipes as too similar to one another to be counted separately, so I'd say maybe....25 different home-cooked dinners in a year? Not so many, really, and I consider myself an adventurous and active cook.
posted by Bebo at 7:35 AM on January 23, 2011
I've been slowly trying to expand my regulars list. My mom had us kids in charge of lunches and one dinner a week, so we had a LOT of repeats. I was in charge of the dinner, and so it was always either tacos or tostadas. My dad and I, on the other hand, had perhaps four things we rotated amongst (I was very picky, he was a single guy who worked a lot.) My grandmothers had more variety, but not that much more - lots of "it's Sunday so it's a roast" and "Fridays mean fish." Real variety was from eating out.
I did a list once of everything I like enough to have at least once a month, that I know how to make, but of those 40 things, only about 5 show up in a given month, and I have 3 of them for dinner at least once and usually twice in a given week. Adding that third one was glorious. I'm hoping to get to six or seven and not have any repeats in a week.
posted by SMPA at 8:07 AM on January 23, 2011
I did a list once of everything I like enough to have at least once a month, that I know how to make, but of those 40 things, only about 5 show up in a given month, and I have 3 of them for dinner at least once and usually twice in a given week. Adding that third one was glorious. I'm hoping to get to six or seven and not have any repeats in a week.
posted by SMPA at 8:07 AM on January 23, 2011
There are probably five or six standard dishes here, with the occasional new dish I've read about and want to give a try.
We have spaghetti every other night (picky kids and I'm one of those parents), and pizza at least once a week (because I love it and I'm in charge). For the adults I do a variety of sauces for the spaghetti and toppings for the pizza so it isn't as monotonous as it might sound, and it makes grocery shopping and meal preparation much simpler.
When my children are older I hope to bring variety back into my cooking, but it isn't a priority at the moment.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:22 AM on January 23, 2011
We have spaghetti every other night (picky kids and I'm one of those parents), and pizza at least once a week (because I love it and I'm in charge). For the adults I do a variety of sauces for the spaghetti and toppings for the pizza so it isn't as monotonous as it might sound, and it makes grocery shopping and meal preparation much simpler.
When my children are older I hope to bring variety back into my cooking, but it isn't a priority at the moment.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:22 AM on January 23, 2011
I think I have around 10 regular meal "categories"-- stir fry, pasta, burritos/quesadillas, bean soups, sesame/asian noodles, grilled tofu, sandwiches, oatmeal, curries-- by categories I mean the stir fry I make one day might have different vegetables than the next, but it's still stir fry. The categories change based on what I'm feeling like/what is seasonally available. And then maybe once a week or so I throw in something that I don't make regularly. And I also get takeout from the same restaurants pretty regularly.
I'm only cooking only for myself and I'm on a very small budget and eat mostly vegetarian meals... although actually I think the budget/vegetarianism probably contributes to how many meals I make, because I'd get real bored with pasta, beans, rice, and veggies if I did the same thing with them all the time.
My mom tells this story about how her mom decided that she was going to make something new every night-- no repeats. Apparently she lasted a couple months and then went back to the old rotation.
posted by geegollygosh at 8:29 AM on January 23, 2011
I'm only cooking only for myself and I'm on a very small budget and eat mostly vegetarian meals... although actually I think the budget/vegetarianism probably contributes to how many meals I make, because I'd get real bored with pasta, beans, rice, and veggies if I did the same thing with them all the time.
My mom tells this story about how her mom decided that she was going to make something new every night-- no repeats. Apparently she lasted a couple months and then went back to the old rotation.
posted by geegollygosh at 8:29 AM on January 23, 2011
Before I made cooking a hobby, I probably had about 6-8 regulars. I'd try something new about once a month and between that and take-out we were only a little bored. Now it's probably about 30 dishes that are regulars and I make new things at least once a week, and usually twice.
I have a tendency to serve the same things to guests as before because they're dishes that I know everyone is enthusiastic about. I suspect a lot of people do this. I wouldn't worry about serving someone meatloaf twice.
posted by zinfandel at 10:08 AM on January 23, 2011
I have a tendency to serve the same things to guests as before because they're dishes that I know everyone is enthusiastic about. I suspect a lot of people do this. I wouldn't worry about serving someone meatloaf twice.
posted by zinfandel at 10:08 AM on January 23, 2011
I find the answers here interesting - it seems like most people have somewhere around 5 to 15 regular dishes, which is also true for me. Why that's interesting, though, is that I love to cook and constantly try new recipes and buy lots of cookbooks super-cheap at the thrift store. I rarely eat the same thing twice, except for those favorite standby dishes. About 10 of them, which I cook maybe once or twice a year each.
I wonder if there's some underlying mechanism here - no matter how much variety (or lack of variety) in your diet, you still have about the same number of favorite recipes.
posted by Quietgal at 10:47 AM on January 23, 2011
I wonder if there's some underlying mechanism here - no matter how much variety (or lack of variety) in your diet, you still have about the same number of favorite recipes.
posted by Quietgal at 10:47 AM on January 23, 2011
I have maybe 7-8 dishes in my regular repertoire. They're not on a set schedule - if anything they're based on time of year and what's in season - to clarify statistically, I'd say that at any given time of year, I've got 5 or so dishes I'm making regularly.
I have my go-to tomato sauce for pasta, a pesto, a risotto that can be switched up with a lot of different ingredients, a few takes on beans and rice, and a number of soups. Lately I've been making a lot of fried rice, migas, colcannon, and other warm, rustic "a little of this, a little of that" sorts of things.
I supplement with sandwiches, salads, and wild card "from a recipe" dishes. Also there is a deli around the corner that does prepared noodle dishes, dumplings, and such, and if I'm really tired of all my usual stuff, I'll sometimes pick up a little of that. Telling myself it's not "really" takeout.
posted by Sara C. at 11:13 AM on January 23, 2011
I have my go-to tomato sauce for pasta, a pesto, a risotto that can be switched up with a lot of different ingredients, a few takes on beans and rice, and a number of soups. Lately I've been making a lot of fried rice, migas, colcannon, and other warm, rustic "a little of this, a little of that" sorts of things.
I supplement with sandwiches, salads, and wild card "from a recipe" dishes. Also there is a deli around the corner that does prepared noodle dishes, dumplings, and such, and if I'm really tired of all my usual stuff, I'll sometimes pick up a little of that. Telling myself it's not "really" takeout.
posted by Sara C. at 11:13 AM on January 23, 2011
Also, when I have company I tend to make the same signature dishes - things I have down pat and know will impress. Usually risotto, gumbo, or French onion soup in colder months, depending on the meal. In summer I'm more likely to serve a big salad or an extended cheese/charcuterie "It's Too Frakking Hot To Stand Over A Stove" smorgasbord.
None of my friends have ever commented on my pattern, and I've noticed the same thing when I go to their houses.
posted by Sara C. at 11:16 AM on January 23, 2011
None of my friends have ever commented on my pattern, and I've noticed the same thing when I go to their houses.
posted by Sara C. at 11:16 AM on January 23, 2011
I LOVE to cook. Usually that means I don't make the exact same thing twice. I fry something one day, roast something another, slowcook the next day, and it really depends on what's on sale at the supermarket, what's overstock in the pantry, what's leftover in the fridge, and what's in season. In our household it's all "what can mommy come up with today?" Thankfully, I have a not-picky child who loves food and there's always grilled cheese if/when I screw up.
I guess it isn't different "recipes" that I have but a set of methods that I'm familiar with, and I just take what ingredients on-hand to fit that pattern. In that case, probably 20 or so patterns.
If there's something I'm confused about, I check my copy of How to Cook Everything and Allrecipes.com.
posted by Sallysings at 11:42 AM on January 23, 2011
I guess it isn't different "recipes" that I have but a set of methods that I'm familiar with, and I just take what ingredients on-hand to fit that pattern. In that case, probably 20 or so patterns.
If there's something I'm confused about, I check my copy of How to Cook Everything and Allrecipes.com.
posted by Sallysings at 11:42 AM on January 23, 2011
I've heard that most people have about 12 or so meals that they rotate through. One of the tricks to eating healthier is to swap out one of the "bad" meals with something better and keep the new meal in the rotation.
Growing up we had a more limited selection. This was due to a combination of a limited budget and an Italian dad who didn't like anything new. Rice was a foreign food in our house, and don't even think about Mexican. Pasta every Wednesday and Hot Dogs and Beans every Saturday for years on end.
posted by JohntheContrarian at 12:01 PM on January 23, 2011
Growing up we had a more limited selection. This was due to a combination of a limited budget and an Italian dad who didn't like anything new. Rice was a foreign food in our house, and don't even think about Mexican. Pasta every Wednesday and Hot Dogs and Beans every Saturday for years on end.
posted by JohntheContrarian at 12:01 PM on January 23, 2011
My husband would be happy eating the same thing every day. I can't live like that.
One thing that my family did to mix it up was to have routine meals that you could assemble yourself, and we'd get different ingredients for a little variety. So every Monday was burrito night, and the burritos were always based around black beans and monterey jack, but we'd have other cheeses, different salsas, avocados sometimes, etc so it wasn't totally boring. Once we have kids who are old enough to be trusted around boiling water I'm sure we'll do shabu shabu night once a week all winter.
BTW, if you get accused of being repetitive for guests, shabu shabu is SO fun and easy. All you have to do is buy the ingredients and sauces and people make their own custom meal. It's basically all we ever serve guests in winter and since nobody we know owns a hot pot except us, it's always a treat.
posted by little light-giver at 12:20 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
One thing that my family did to mix it up was to have routine meals that you could assemble yourself, and we'd get different ingredients for a little variety. So every Monday was burrito night, and the burritos were always based around black beans and monterey jack, but we'd have other cheeses, different salsas, avocados sometimes, etc so it wasn't totally boring. Once we have kids who are old enough to be trusted around boiling water I'm sure we'll do shabu shabu night once a week all winter.
BTW, if you get accused of being repetitive for guests, shabu shabu is SO fun and easy. All you have to do is buy the ingredients and sauces and people make their own custom meal. It's basically all we ever serve guests in winter and since nobody we know owns a hot pot except us, it's always a treat.
posted by little light-giver at 12:20 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have about 10 in rotation. Sometimes I will make the same thing over and over. (Right now we are in chicken parmigiana mode). My husband eats most of the food I make. He does not mind eating the same thing all the time. When I was a kid we had set food for certain days, i.e., chicken=Thursday, fish=Friday, spaghetti and meatballs=Saturday, roast beef=Sunday. It was kind of annoying since I hated most of the food and I could predict when it was coming! There was no variation in the way the food was prepared or the side dishes.
I can cook almost anything and I have experimented a lot. As I have gotten older, I realize that I hate to cook and since I don't eat much, meh.
As for guests, I have made the same thing for the same guests. Mostly because they asked for it to be served. Anyway, it is not like they are going to a restaurant. I think as long as the food is good, the company and ambiance matter more.
posted by fifilaru at 1:36 PM on January 23, 2011
I can cook almost anything and I have experimented a lot. As I have gotten older, I realize that I hate to cook and since I don't eat much, meh.
As for guests, I have made the same thing for the same guests. Mostly because they asked for it to be served. Anyway, it is not like they are going to a restaurant. I think as long as the food is good, the company and ambiance matter more.
posted by fifilaru at 1:36 PM on January 23, 2011
Response by poster: Wow! Nice to find so many people taking the time to respond ...
When I used the word 'embarrassed' I didn't mean to imply that I was hanging my head here in shame - I said it in a kind of light-hearted way. I definitely had the idea in my head that 'most people' don't repeat stuff anywhere near as much as I do, but going by the responses here, it seems that a 10~12 item 'rotation' is completely typical.
I'm actually kind of shocked at that, given how much access/exposure we have these days to different food varieties, in our supermarkets, in restaurants, and in society at large, in strong contrast to what it was like just a few decades ago (speaking of when I was growing up, for example).
'We' do really seem to be creatures of habit ...
Thanks for all the responses, folks! (Doesn't really make sense to mark anything as 'best answer' I think, though ...)
posted by woodblock100 at 3:16 PM on January 23, 2011
When I used the word 'embarrassed' I didn't mean to imply that I was hanging my head here in shame - I said it in a kind of light-hearted way. I definitely had the idea in my head that 'most people' don't repeat stuff anywhere near as much as I do, but going by the responses here, it seems that a 10~12 item 'rotation' is completely typical.
I'm actually kind of shocked at that, given how much access/exposure we have these days to different food varieties, in our supermarkets, in restaurants, and in society at large, in strong contrast to what it was like just a few decades ago (speaking of when I was growing up, for example).
'We' do really seem to be creatures of habit ...
Thanks for all the responses, folks! (Doesn't really make sense to mark anything as 'best answer' I think, though ...)
posted by woodblock100 at 3:16 PM on January 23, 2011
So interesting to see all the comments here. I tend to make lots of different things each week, but I think this is because growing up my parents made the same things over and over; Sunday was ALWAYS roasted chicken. I usually have 20 meals or so in rotation, but like a lot of others here, tend to change out the sides, ingredients, etc. so it doesn't feel exactly the same. I love to experiment, so I guess I'm lucky my kids were never picky eaters! Cooking for only a few now, so smaller amounts but still like the variety.
posted by garnetgirl at 4:39 PM on January 23, 2011
posted by garnetgirl at 4:39 PM on January 23, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fixedgear at 3:39 AM on January 23, 2011