Sad fact of life

2 hours of cooking for a 10 minute meal sounds like a skill issue.
- My last dinner was 12hrs of cooking for a 10min meal. I love slow cooker beef and veggies stew
- Yeah that's like first time making a recipe. Third time around, the kitchen should be doing most of the work for you. You can just casually prep and blend while listening to a podcast.

Get a dishwasher.

You forgot the 40+ hours of work a week just to afford the ingridients.
- You forgot breathing in and out 24/7 to stay alive to get to your soul-sucking job.
  
  Life would be so much easier if we didn't have to constantly breathe.
- Working many of the hours to afford a car. So that you can get to/from work.
- Yep, you don't cook.
  
  Thanks for your input, Chef Boyardee. I always make sure to put great store in ad-hominems from fictionalized canned MRE mascots. Take your shitty ravioli high horse and go ride off into the sunset with the Sunkist tuna.
  Edit: "fictional" to "fictionalized"

My solution is just to act like I'm cooking for 12 people, and have leftovers for the rest of the week.
- Yep I batch cook too, I make 4 portions then eat 2 and freeze 2. Eating over 2 days obvs
  
  Yup, I'm doing the same. Cooking 4 portions, then eating them all while crying

do you people just cook for a single meal wtf
- If you’re Single yea why not
  
  so you don't end up like the meme? idk what being single has to do with anything. if you're spending two hours to cook it better not be for one meal; that's a huge waste of time.

I've seen people complain that loading and emptying the dishwasher takes an hour.
- Total time for loading is broken up over quite a few meals for me (usually). It also can take a little time extra if you have to do some extra drying on unloading. That said, it’s probably 20 minutes total AND uses less water AND means that I don’t have to do the majority of the work. I love my dishwasher.
- HOW
  
  I get that it can feel that way, but if you actually time it, it's like 15 minutes.

Make it so it last 3 days. Not really a big deal.
- I feel like the post is more about the moment of, not the days after. Making several days worth of food doesn't delay the need to do dishes once you're done eating tonight's dinner.
  
  No but having one plate, one reusable box, one fork, one knife and one wine glass to wash is a lot less than all the things I use for cooking.
  Knives, spoons, blender, pans, pots, containers, and most annoyingly, the cutting board. Because you want to take care of that nice wooden cuttingboard and make sure it's clean and dry.
- Like they're going to eat left-overs.....
  I might get away with white rice that I can make fried rice out of the next day
- I think you over estimate people's ability to cook these days.

Lucky you! I've got a simple solution, only use single use plastic, then all you have to do is just put a big plastic bag over your table and when you're done eating you just pick up the bag, close it all up and throw it away and that way you just leave the problem to your grandchildren and they'll die from climate change.
- climate change AND microplastics in their food
- I also add shredded PFAS to my tomatoes 🤌
  
  Pretty
  Fucking
  Awesome
  Shit that is poison
- You do the cooking with single use plastic too?
  
  TV dinner.
  
  Tin foil, tin pans, microwave. Be more creative!
- Genius!!!

leftovers are the goal
- The term is meal prep

Make less elaborate meals or learn to chop faster.

just cook bigger portions, i usually make enough food to last half a week
- I’ve been eating the same two-pound portion of taco meat for the past four days. Usually in soft-shell tacos, but sometimes in frittatas. The trick is to be dead inside.
  
  This is ideal because the tortilla IS the plate.
  
  You're not dead inside until you move to hard tacos.
  
  I love tacos. I could eat tacos every day and never get tired of them. All varieties are good with me. Corn tortillas, flour tortillas, crispy fried tacos, taquito, even crunchy taco shells. There used to be a dive bar near where I lived in 2015 that would do $5 for 5 beef or bean crunchy tacos with cheese, lettuce, dice tom, and sour cream and I'd easily polish off 10-20 of those with a beer or two (I don't live near there anymore and the bar closed down right before COVID due to the building be demo'd)
  My wife isn't big on eating the same thing for more than 2 days in a row and I miss the days of eating tacos 4-5 times a week by choice.
  You're not dead inside. You're living a dream of mine right now.

Kinda like life. The journey is actually the goal

Listen to podcasts, or watch something during cooking dude.
- that's how my podcast list came to be

2 hrs?
Do you spend 6 hrs a day cooking and do not do any clean as you go?
Wtf are you preparing? Are you stuffing a turkey each meal?

We recently got an airfryer. it helps cut down prep time and ease of cleaning to the point I don't get upset about it anymore. Would highly recommend if you haven't got one already

Slow cooker is fren
- Turns beef into beef flavored chicken, I love it.

looks like its another night of pbj sandwich. again.
- You say that like it's a bad thing

The one who cooks shouldn't be the one to clean unless, of course, you live alone.
- I live alone and I think this is a great idea
  
  Hmm... Maybe after dinner, take a walk and ask random strangers to do your dishes. 😆
- My demented father cannot even use the bathroom correctly. He will not help me.
  
  What happened to all that Spaghetti-Ohs money?

During the pan my relationship with food became standing over the sink and eating quickly prepared meals. Only now that I'm in a relationship are real meals happening again because she loves to cook. She had to persuade me to buy a two-seater kitchen table before we lived together.

That’s why I know I’m never going to be a foodie or even remotely enjoy cooking. I just don’t want to spend all that time only to be done eating so soon. Some dishes just aren’t worth the time invested.
If you enjoy cooking as a hobby, great. But since I don’t, I’m choosing easy to make things whenever possible.
Heck, I don’t even like going to restaurants. The wait is usually far too long compared to the actual meal.
- Cooking isn't just a hobby. It's a necessary life skill.
  
  Yeah, and part of that skill can be recognizing some meals arent worth it just to enjoy as a hobby. Like I dont fuck with recipes I cant make large batches for leftovers and freeze
- I like cooking but only for other people lol. If it’s just me you know I’m throwing in this week’s seventh Red Baron Classic Crust Pepperoni pizza.
- I also kind of hate the foodie thing (probably class resentment), so I like making easy "one pot" type meals that aren't too fussy on the timing. Like tomato baked beans, dal, tossed chickpeas, etc.
  I like that even if I decide to just do the simplest version imaginable. Like lentils with salt and pepper, it's still going to be delicious and nutritious. Then if I feel like doing a bit more work on it, say adding some more interesting spices, I get to see the benefits of every little bit of extra effort immediately.
  But I'll fukn die before I call myself a foodie rofl.
  
  I'm a foodie and I make those kinds of meals. I just probably use more spices than average.

Meal prep, and cooking stuff that doesn't need much involvement.
I eat 6 meals per day when I'm trying to gain weight, and it can be done with very little time spent cooking.
- Boiled chicken and rice with a side of protein shake doesn't count as food.
  
  I haven't had the need for that in a long time. I've been working out for so long that my maintenance calories are 3700 right now. I can eat whatever I want and still hit my protein goal within my calorie budget

I wash as I cook. Usually you have moments when you're waiting anyway. Means I have serving dishes only afterwards.
Had to make it a habit though in order to force myself to do it. Took years to train the habit.
- I wash as I go too, but there are still the after dinner dishes, and like the main pot/pan left over, the forks, the endless cups the just accumulate everywhere with having a whole family with adhd..
  I tend to make everything by scratch, so I've only myself to blame (it's cheaper tho). Washing as you go helps, but it's not a full cure.
  I posted cookies I made last night, and the only reason I didnt melt the butter with the lemon zest was to save pulling out and dirting my sauce pan I just cleaned from dinner.
- I’m trying to not do that, because I always forget that I’ll need the things I’ve just washed again.
- I do that, but the more complicated the meal, the less down time there is, and the more stuff there is you can't clean up until the end.
  Also, if you use serving dishes, rather than just serve out of the pot / pan, that's another thing to clean. It's true that cleaning a pot or pan is normally a bit harder than a serving dish. But, IMO the extra bit to clean means it's not worth it.
  It is a bit of a triumph when the only thing to clean after dinner is a single pot or pan though. And, pro-tip, you can make the pans easier to clean after dinner if you dump a bit of water in them as you're sitting down to eat. Even 30 minutes is enough to turn the remains of a delicious sauce into sludge at the bottom of the pan. But, soaking while you eat makes it super quick to scrape it out afterwards.
- This is what I do, so nice to have just a few dishes at the end

im a fast eater

Weekly meal prep. Yeah it means repeated meals, but you can switch it up every week. It's the only way I get by. Plus I feed 5-6 people. So I'm not making one meal at a time, I'm making twenty or thirty.

How old is this woman, and where does her hairline start? Is she in her 30s or 60s? Is her hair blonde or white?
- Old, near the top, but it still flows down. Dunno exact age. Blonde, but not everyone loses hair color.
- Pretty sure it's from a film (I can't remember which)~~- the character had cancer~~.
  
  It's Pamela Anderson in "The Last Showgirl"
  
  I think it might be from The Skeleton Key.

Just spend 2 hours eating, easy

And that's why my "necessary life skill" cooking lifehack is to just know that if you cook something big enough, it'll last you enough portions for two or three days without that much extra cooking work. And you'll only have to clean the cooking pot half (or one third) of the time.

Thats why Im having waffles tonight

Idc just give me big enough sink and Space to unload dishes on and im all good

OK, tell me what in the world you are cooking that takes two hours. And putting something in the oven for an hour is not really any work, is it?
- You underestimate how bad we can be at cooking. It takes me like an hour just to peal and chop up ingredients for even a simple dish like mashed potatoes or stir fry.
  
  Stop ringing the potatoes and peel them instead!
  And grammar jokes aside, I try to do prep work ahead of time sometimes. Potatoes can be peeled and placed in a bowl of water in the fridge prior to cutting and mashing. I will chop up things like broccoli and carrots for stir fry. I make a gumbo where I take a pepper of each color, red green orange yellow, and dice them small, so like mini dice. I've gotten pretty good at it, but I'm no chef or anything, so it'll eat up fifteen minutes or so, so for the gumbo I dice my peppers, slice the green onions, put them all in a bowl in the fridge ahead of time. Extra points if it's during the workday.
- For real, folks need to watch more Jamie Oliver. Condense your pans and ingredient lists, make sauce for a few days, use parchment paper, etc
- Spoken like someone who has never made soup.
  
  Right, simmering something for an hour at low temperature is not an hour of work for you. Same principle applies as for the oven I mentioned.

Clean as you go and there is very little left to be done after the meal.
- Remember, you are dealing with people that never cook, and for some reason think they know what they're talking about.
  
  And I suppose you have personal knowledge that they never cook, since they are constantly pulling your shitty food off the grocery shelves?
- There is a reason why the cooks and bussers are different people. Not everyone wants to get dishwater in their food from whatever tool they use to clean, nor do I have time while things are cooking and requiring near-constant attention to properly wash my hands 10 times as i go back and forth while cooking a single meal.
  
  Whatever. Really, I just love how there is always someone willing to climb that hill and tell me how to cook. It takes no time to clean as you are cooking. If you can't properly wash your hands that is on you but somehow I manage to cook my meals and the cleanup at the end is always brief.
  
  What? Cleaning as you cook is about cleaning the shit you use to cook as you make your food.
  That just mostly means wiping shit down, stacking pots and pans as they're used, and organizing before you start (mise en place is a huge help in this).

Meals in countries that take food seriously last longer and are meant to be enjoyed with family and friends. Its just our shitty culture that causes this problem.
- What do you mean by countries that take food seriously? I lived in a few different countries (never in the US) and can't really picture that
  
  If food is viewed and enjoyed as an experience rather than a necessity as a culture, I think it leads to huge shifts in so many aspects of daily living.
  
  I dont mean EVERY meal but getting together with neighbors, family, friends ect. is more common in places like Italy for example.

This is why i dont eat. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Jk kind of lol

Avocado and canned tuna for the win baby.

And after all that cooking turns out you have leftovers for like 1 extra meal at best
- My kids are getting older and we're getting to the point where we need to cook bigger. Even takeout has gotten to the point where we need more. Its unsustainable, they will have to fight each other.
  
  There can only be one
- Skill issue.

sounds like the problem here is how your count your time
- Your Count.
- In hours and minutes?
  
  In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee?

So true! I am trying to cook one pot or bake recipes, dump it all and forget about it. It is the only way not to go insane with 1000 pots and dishes to clean.

it's a skill. learning to live single after growing up in a family is a big change. i still remember paying a co-worker fifty bucks once to wash my dishes.

Imagine if you had to hunt for it.

This is why Huel.

Those numbers are off. It takes me about half an hour to cook a meal. I clean while things are cooking if I can. And it takes me about the same time to eat. I get that it's a joke, but it's entirely unrealistic unless you're doing things very wrong.
- Depends on what you're cooking.
  For example: I can throw together some pasta and have it be done in 20 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, 2 hours, or 6 hours. All depending on the type of pasta I'm making, how many people I'm serving, and how complex I want to get and how many layered flavors I'm trying to build or if I want to make my own fresh noodles or use some dried noodles in the pantry.
  However, no matter the process I use, at the end I usually only have one pot, serving utensils, and dishes used for the meal. I clean while I cook very effectively, but there are times where timings of cooking techniques prevent that and I'll have to do some quick cleanup before serving.

Cooking a steak takes 5 minutes. You make a side salad while it's frying. Everything goes into the dishwasher in a few more minutes. Not sure what your problem is...
- Thanks! Now my girlfriend has dumped me because I ruined her cast iron pan.
- This is great, do you have any more recipes?
  
  If you have a Ninja Speedy, you can cook loads of dishes in 10-15 minutes, but only for 1-2 people at once. My fav is to cube potatoes and pork belly at 2cm size, mix with salt, spices and oil, put everything in the device and cook for 12 minutes in steam + air fry mode.
- A dishwasher not my hands? What is this wild technology you speak of?
  Edit, I was attempting humor.. gosh, not everyone has a fuckin dishwashing machine..

This is what doordash is for
- But then I have to work an extra 10 hours of my minimum wage job just to eat for 10 minutes. The ratio is even worse!

It takes 5-15 minutes to prepare whatever you’re cooking. It takes an hour or two for it to sit in the oven while you don’t do anything other then wait for it to cook. It takes 5 minutes to wash everything after.
You spent 20 minutes actually doing anything and there’s 16 hours in a day. Boo fucking hoo.
- Said by someone who never cooks anything interesting
  
  I just throw shit in the microwave and call it a day personally
  
  Right and I bet you think you’re a big man chef with your microwave meals
- Do you exclusively cook meals that go in the oven and that's it? No sauces to simmer, etc?
  I think if I'm ever staying at your house, I'm ordering McDonalds lmao
  
  I cook damn near every night and I'd like to think my food is decent, not amazing but decent. I'm not making my own sauces but will do lots of searing the meat on a cast iron and then throw in the oven while the vegetables are being steamed. Takes about 30-40 minutes and 10 minutes to clean dishes. The only way I'm cooking for 2 hours is if it's a weekend and I'm batch cooking for lunch meals.
  If you're cooking every meal with homemade sauces to simmer, that is great but your standards are higher than most people.
  
  None of that takes any serious effort. Putting together a sauce and letting simmer is 5 minutes of prep time. The cooking part is the pan sitting there simmering and you stir occasionally.
  Honestly if that is a TON of work for you maybe the issue is incompetence.
  So many lazy folks on here holy SHIT.
- Because there is no variety in foods and how they are prepared.