Being an adult is so fun

Everyone is focused on the cooking time and not the punchline, which is still needing to do the dishes.

That's why I get take-outs, don't have to do the dishes.

Also, can we take a moment to talk about how great the performance of whomever that woman in the meme is? Looks like an Oscar worthy performance to me.

I used to feel this way about cooking. I started trying to find joy in the repetitive parts of life, so they didn't seem so annoying. It's definitely a journey, but if you keep at it, you get to a point where cooking feels like a creative outlet. Once you have enough experience to create something new from your pantry and quit following recipes verbatim you'll have fun. It took me a few years to get there, but you're going to have to cook your entire life anyway, might as well get something out of it.

What are you cooking that takes 2 hours every day? I cook most of my own meals and i don’t often go over an hour of cooking and most of that is just waiting.

You are both cooking too slowly and eating too fast

I know the standard advice is to wash dishes as you cook, but I never know when the cooking is passive enough to warrant doing dishes. If I stop staring at the thing I’m doing I get distracted and it burns.

Clean the dishes while waiting for your food to cook and then leave the remaining dishes you didn't clean because you were still using them until the next dish run.

I always cook as much of whatever I'm making as I can, then put it in containers in the fridge or freezer (depending on the dish and how much).

And I have some base recipes that I cook that are easy to quickly make other things with. One thing I've done for almost two decades now is make a basic kinda "half-bolognese" (can't think of a better English description right now). Just onion, garlic, meat (or in my case vegan alternative), salt, pepper and some stock of your choice. Then freeze that divided into a couple of portions per bag or container. Very easy to use for a lot of recipes.

I also buy bags of dried beans (way cheaper than undried or pre-soaked) and soak those then freeze them like above, same thing there with being good bases for many things.

One of my current favourite recipe that's quick, cheap and filling without any of the above prep is falafel in tomato sauce. A local brand here in Sweden makes almost weirdly nice falafel that's $5 for 800g (28oz), which is like 50 falafel balls. I put the falafel in my air-fryer (oven or frying pan works just as well) and while those cook I sauté some onion and garlic in olive oil then add spices (the current version I love is with some smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, thyme, black pepper, lots of turmeric, a bit of soy sauce, a stock cube and either MSG or other umami base). Then add the falafel once done and crushed tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes. Works great with rice, pasta, potatoes in whatever variation you like, couscous, and my current fav which is coarse bulgur with vermicelli (roasted noodles). I wouldn't have guessed it before trying but the falafel is so good in the sauce!

That's why you cook enough for 15 meals and re heat it over the week.

Big batch of pasta gang represent.

You're cooking the wrong recipes if its taking 2 hours every time.

As someone who has been cooking for himself for a long time, cook large amounts and refrigerate each serving in separate microwavable containers for later.

I also try to make things that can all go onto a single plate to create less cleanup.

1. Eat slower than 10 minutes. My God have some company over. If you're spending 2 hours cooking there's no way doubling the recipe takes much longer.

2. Make the company or your significant other do the dishes. If you're in a situation where you're cooking for two hours then doing the dishes yourself, something is wrong.

This is why my SO and I try to clean as we cook so it's easier for later.

I heard dishwashers are actually more energy efficient than hand-washing, so no that's one problem mostly solved. As others commented cook portions that last two or three days or freeze some of it.

I cook and clean for an entire family inside of 40-50 minutes 5 nights a week. All of that is mostly "from scratch" and delicious. At some point it becomes a skill issue.

I had this whole comment typed up but I genuinely don't know where to start because I don't have this problem. If you do, and you want some help, let me know and we can work something out together.

imagine thinking cooking is the hard part of adulting

Skill issue

I mean... just yesterday I slow cooked something for 8 hours and ate in 30 minutes with some left over. That doesn't mean I have to treat it all as "cooking time".

If I am cooking something more labor intensive then I may just simultaneously cook something else for the week/meal prep/clean used dishes in the gaps in time.

Still It does feel like that sometimes. The only other thing you can really do is cook enough portions for a few meals so that you can reheat for later meals.

I just got my first ever dishwasher and it's a game changer.

You’re doing something wrong if it takes you two hours to make dinner.

Skill issue.

Cook 4 portions.

1 for now

1 for lunch

2 to freeze

PB&Js are quick and Delicious

I don't mind that, but what I do mind is that it now costs as much to make food at home as it did to dine out two years ago.

LOL, no. I make eggs Benedict every morning, sauce and all, 15-minutes start to finish.

The more often you cook a specific recipe the quicker you get at it.

Cast irons are awesome

That s why I meal prep

2 hours of cooking is when you are feeding other people or food prepping for the rest of the week, you spend the same time scrolling some predatory food delivery app and waiting for the food as you would spend making the tacos or wings yourself

This meme is occasionally true in our house, once you factor in prep time. My wife definitely makes this complaint once we’ve finished eating in 10 minutes.

If you're spending that long cooking, then you're using your time poorly.

Meal prep doesn't have to be like making 20 of the same meal and freezing them, instead, meal prep is supposed to cut corners and make cooking more efficient.

Say, for example, I'm making a sweet potato chickpea curry. I need half a cup of sweet potato. I'm not going to peel and dice half a sweet potato. I'm going to peel 3 sweet potatos, dice half, cube the other half, refridgerate half my diced, blanch and freeze half my cubes, and roast the other half of the cubes in the oven in olive oil and put them in the fridge. Then make my curry with the rest of the dice. Now I have some roasted sweet potato to put into a salad tomorrow (along with some leftover chickpeas), cubes for the next time I do a roast, diced for next time I do a curry or pizza (sweet potato and mushroom pizza slaps) and any leftovers or scraps can be frozen and go in a soup.

Then later, I'm not going to cook 1/2 a cup of brown rice, I'm going to cok 2 cups, set aside 1/3rd in the fridge for a stir fry later in the week, freeze 1/3rd of the cooked rice to heat up some other time later in the microwave and use the remaining 1/3rd in my curry. These two steps alone might cost me an extra 30 minutes today, but they are going to save me hours later in the weeks to come. And I can still freeze half of my curry to defrost and eat later.

I live with my mom and brother, I cook and they take turns washing the dishes.

And that's where the dishwasher comes in. Toss things in the sink as you go and no longer need them, eat, load the dishwasher with the sink things + the final dishes to wash, wipe things down and done.

man people here really just don't want cooking to be easy huh?

Never trust food that takes longer to eat than to cook.

Such a bad time investment.

A steak cooks in 5 minutes and buy a dishwasher already.

Use uncoated paper plates. Save some water

it's absolutely wild to me how some people cook, if i cook something for 2 hours i'm going to end up with like 50 fucking portions that taste really good.

A normal meal should take like 30 minutes if you're feeling fancy, and oftentimes way less than that.
Just fuckin boil some pasta, fry some protein, and make some sauce..

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