Observation:
It takes less time to toss a steak or a couple of pork chops into a hot skillet and steam or sauté some broccoli or green beans than it does to wait for a frozen pizza to bake, or to make pasta. Yes, I know the pasta label claims it only takes 12 minutes to cook, but that doesn’t include the time required to boil the giant pot of water, now does it? And the pizza only takes 25 minutes to bake, but how long does it take your oven to get to 400 plus degrees?
The skillet is hot in seconds, the chops are cooked in 10 to 15 (sprinkle with a little lemon pepper or something), and if you’re cooking your broccoli for more than 5 minutes, my friend, we need to have a little chat about overcooking the ol’ veggies. So even if you’re a little slow with the knife, you ought to be able to have this entire meal on the table in 15 minutes. OK, if you’re really slow, it might be 20.
Which is, by the way, less time than it takes that giant pot of water to boil.
I have to go make dinner now.
Migraine aura picture from 
Yea, even stir-frying chicken and veggies only takes 15 minutes tops. Now, the instructions on microwave meals are so involved it can take that 20 minutes to decipher them.
Comment by Jen — February 15, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Yup. I also freeze individual bratwursts for quick meals, too. Semi-thaw in a plastic bag place in a bowl filled with water, then slice and saute. Serve over a nice salad or in a quick soup.
That reminds me of another lame excuse - bagged salad greens. How hard is it to tear (or cut if you must) some leaf lettuce into bite sized pieces, place in a salad spinner, fill with water once or twice while swishing, then spin? Drizzle with balsamic vinegar, EVOO, salt and pepper and you’ve got a salad in less than 5 minutes. Go fancier (or if you aren’t serving another vegetable) with some cherry tomatoes, crumbled chevre or bleu cheese, avocado slices, olives, sliced hard boiled egg (of course they are handy to always have in the fridge) and it takes perhaps 5 minutes more, if you have to hunt for the olives and cheese in the back of the fridge.
And little to no worries about e. Coli 0157:H7 from industrially processed bagged greens.
Another time saving tip: if I am slicing onions and have plenty of time, I slice or dice extra and store them in a zip plastic bag in the freezer. When I am running short on time or just need a small amount, out comes the bag, whack it on the counter to break up the onions, and into the pan. Nothing like the fragrance of cooking onions to say dinner is coming.
Comment by Anna — February 15, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Wow! 25 minutes for a pizza to cook. Even from cold, my oven will have cremated a pizza inside 20 minutes. Anyway, its irrelevant now I’ve stopped eating them.
Comment by Neil — February 15, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
I am ALL for eating lower carb, less crap foods. But honestly, I’m already spending about $150+ a week to cook for my family, there is no way I could afford to have meat like you’re describing every night. There are nights I need to cook different items for cost effectiveness. Also, when you work 100+ hrs a week, using bag salad IS a time saver. I have Fibro and can not stand and cook more than 10-15 mintues (even though I do and suffer later). When you work a lot, and the burden of ALL the cooking and ALL the cleaning is on you. Anything that saves time is worth the additional expense. I’m just adding a different angle to the whole thing. Add to the pile, eating a piece of meat with steamed broccoli all the time is really kind of boring to me and my family. We like variety and since there are so many veggies that are off limits eating low-carb, it gets rather bland just eating the same 3 or so. Ya know? Just food for thought! :o)
Comment by Yvonne — February 15, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Yvonne, I hear you on the convenience factor. I use bagged lettuce sometimes too. The time-saving outweighs the cost. And it’s still basically fresh wholesome food. About the meat thing, I think there are cost effective meats out there. I find that cooking (or bringing home) a roitisserie chicken is still more cost-effective (and healthy) than using pre-prepared unhealthy food (which often costs more anyway). And about variety. I think variety is nice. But what’s more important? Alleviating “boredom” - or eating healthfully? We don’t eat for amusement (if we want to be healthy). It’s about feeding our bodies. For me, personally, I don’t think chicken and broccoli several times per week is “boring”. I mean, it’s not thrilling either. But the point of eating is to fuel our bodies. I definitely don’t think boredom should be used as an excuse to eat unhealthfully. Obviously we all need to prioritize based on what’s more important. And maybe for some people, alleviating boredom IS important. But that does come with a potential cost (financially and/or health-wise).
Comment by Sarah — February 16, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
But see, don’t assume I’m eating unhealthy for “boredom’s sake”. I’m not at all. My family eats a low-moderate carb diet (we’re all somewhere in between) - my husband has since gone off his Liptor, my 16 year old daughter lost 60+ lbs, I’ve lost 80+ lbs and there is NO pre-packaged foods in the house whatsoever. We rarely eat fast food and if we do, it’s the typical, burgers without buns and salads as a side - but this is if we are traveling (which is required with our business) and we can’t afford to eat steak and veggies at a sit down restaurant for every meal.
I don’t think enjoying food is a character flaw or leads to food ‘issues’. It’s kind of like the thought that everyone who’s fat must had food “issues” (and we probably all know skinny people who eat to soothe themselves - they just got the “lucky” genes in regards to obesity). I think God made food to enjoy. And we do enjoy it.
So yep, my point was, I do pay the price for HEALTHY quicker food. I don’t see using things like bagged salad and frozen veggies and even pre-cut veggies at my supermarket as some sort of character flaw. I work hard for my money and yep, many times it’s spent on convenience.
Comment by Yvonne — February 16, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Hi, everyone - thanks for your comments!
Neil - I didn’t make up the 25 minutes figure. Back in my high-carb days, my favorite frozen pizza was DiGiorno, which I was almost positive needed to bake for 23 to 27 minutes. Sure enough, here are the directions: http://www.kraftfoods.com/Digiorno/cooking.htm. Other brands may vary, of course.
Yvonne, Anna, Jen, Sarah - thanks for your input in a lively discussion. The idea behind this post was simply to refute the idea that the typical high-carb convenience foods are actually all that convenient. I didn’t mean to imply that I eat a chop and a green veggie every night, either; we make stir-fries, slow-cooker meals, egg dishes, baked and roasted things, etc. Bagged salads and rotisserie chickens have crossed the threshold of our house more than once, too. Rotisserie chickens are one of the great advances of capitalism - a fully cooked chicken that costs only pennies more than a raw one! Sign me up!
Really I was just reacting to the notion that pasta is a “quick” meal. Maybe it is if you’re opening a can of Beefaroni. But if you are starting with a box of dry spaghetti, forgetaboutit! There are so many other meals that you can have on the table quicker.
And Yvonne, I am so with you on the idea of enjoying food. We don’t eat the same thing every night. My husband and I are both pretty good cooks, which helps. It also helps that we do sometimes have time to cook something that takes more work. Anyway, I think newcomers to low-carb are sometimes mystified about what’s left to eat once you’ve done away with grains and starchy vegetables. So, if you’re still following this thread, would you be interested in sharing some of your typical dinners?
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Comment by weight loss for women over 40 — February 17, 2008 @ 9:15 am
fast food at home … poeple don’t realise the joys of the kitchen these days …
a slow cooker is great for those who don’t want to cook at all; just leave in running 24/7
Comment by wanderer7 — February 17, 2008 @ 10:49 am
Yes, I think you’re right that cooking real food doesn’t have to take that long. I like to cook about a pound and a half of ground lamb in a cast iron skillet and it only takes a few minutes. I break up the lamb into bite sized chunks as it’s cooking. My wife calls them “lamb balls” but I don’t find that very appetizing so I just call them “meat balls”. ‘Course my wife won’t eat anything I cook, so maybe she doesn’t consider them appetizing
Since I have this meat to myself, there’s lots of left-overs that I eat for lunch and/or dinner over the next several days. Most of the time there is a nice gel that forms under the white saturated fat in the fridge. I very often eat the left-overs cold (aren’t I lazy) or re-heat them in the skillet with some coconut oil. Yum
Comment by Bryan-oz4caster — February 17, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
Good post! I use some “timesaving” conveniences now and then, but I can get a rare steak with blue cheese butter on the table in 6-8 minutes. Cooking really doesn’t take as long as people think - or at least, it doesn’t have to.
Comment by Tracy — February 20, 2008 @ 4:50 pm