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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3146 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 31, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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It's december 31- I'll start a New Year's resolutions thread. For myself, I'm going to seriously cut back on fast food by eating at home whenever possible. I expect to facilitate this through better meal planning and prep, specifically by having an under-20-minute meal in the fridge available so that working late doesn't result in a run for a burger or fried chicken, and planning a menu every Saturday.

An aside on new year's resolutions- almost all of them fail. My view on the matter is that this is because they are vague and don't actually have goals or mechanisms. "I'm going to get in shape" is not a plan, it's a vague sentiment. "I'm going to go to the gym three times a week and skip deserts except on Sundays and special occasions" is a plan, and unlike the previous version, might actually happen.

So, Motteizeans, what are your New Year's resolutions, and what are your plans to accomplish them?

  • Burgers - I am declaring 2024 the year of the burger. I will make at least 52 unique burgers at home. My rule for "unique" and "burger" is that it could plausibly appear as a standalone menu item at a restaurant on the burger section. Switching cheese around isn't going to cut it, but using a special cheese combo that would make it a distinct item would. Burgerish things count if they could appear on the burger section of a menu, such as a pesto turkey burger or Greek lamb burger.

  • Books - Read 52 books. What it says on the label.

  • Boardgames - Play tabletop board or card games 52 times. I kicked the year off being introduced to Wingspan by friends, thought it was cute and fun, and intend to pick up a copy. Playing games gets me away from my stupid phone and computer, engaged with actual humans.

What these have in common is that they start with B, but also that they have a nice rhythm to them. They're all things I like doing anyway, but sometimes need a bit of prompting to do (well, I don't need to be prompted to make burgers, but I do need to remember that I don't need to just spam basic bacon cheeseburgers). Getting in the habit of them being weekly or more should generally be enjoyable and easy enough.

  1. Dry January, no alcohol for the entire month.
  2. Fast food no more than once a week.
  3. No more than one caffeinated beverage a day for the duration of January.
  4. Gym three times a week (I almost always go at least twice a week already so it shouldn't be too hard to scale up).
  5. Keep up my Russian practice (several minutes of Duolingo every day, possibly take a class when I get up to a reasonable standard).
  6. Complete and release my next album for my solo project.

Same as last year: keep punching my to-do list in the face until one day I can begin doing things I want to do instead of being preoccupied with tying up the loose ends of things I haven't finished or fielding the various entropic have-to-dos that crop up. In brief: keep tightening up with the long term view of gathering some slack.

First significant project on the agenda is to build out some built-in bookcases that will furnish me (get it) with enough storage space to absorb all the overflow that's accrued, with extra space to use for staging following projects (sorting through my tools, disposal of surplus, etc).

I want to make the yard a hospitable place, where the children want to spend time this year. Ideas:

  • Buy a gas powered weed whacker, cut down most of the vegetation in early spring, and trim along the paths every couple of weeks, so the toddler doesn't feel like she's pushing through a jungle when she follows me outside.
  • Replace the guinea fowl with chickens; preferably cute, fluffy chickens the kids enjoy watching.
  • Finish the path through the yard. Currently we're wading through thorns in jeans and boots in some areas.
  • Dig in some fertilized soil and grow a few vegetables.
  • Plant a new fruit tree. Last year we planted a fig, so if it does well through the winter, it might be another of those.
  • Put up a swing set?
  • Line the seasonal pond so that the kids can splash in it without getting covered in mud

I've always wondered if it was possible to rent a goat for a couple of weeks in the spring. Have a back yard petting zoo. Return it when all the plants are trimmed.

Depending on where you are. I knew some teens who were doing that as a fundraiser once, though I think it was just during daylight hours, and the goats would go home at night.

What do you have in mind for under-20-minute options? I have more or less the exact same failure mode, and I’ve been relying on my girlfriend to have reasonable food available.

Soup is good. Set aside a day and devote it toward food prep (ideally during winter, since the heat from cooking will also help lower your heating bill). For soup, you can either freeze it or can it. If you plan to freeze it, buy a bunch of small freezer boxes so you don’t need to thaw a week’s worth of soup at a time. Then cook the soup as normal, divide it among the boxes, and you’re all set for weeks or months into the future. If you prefer to can the soup, make sure you slightly undercook the soup before putting it in the canning jars, as the canning process will continue cooking the soup. This is especially important for any soup with diced vegetables or beans in it, since the vegetables and beans will all turn to mush otherwise. Again, I’d recommend using smaller rather than larger canning jars, unless you’re trying to cook for a family.

You can do the same with plenty of other foods as well. Can some roast or diced ham, or freeze some shredded pork or chicken, and you’ll always have a quick main dish on hand. Then add some vegetables (either canned or fresh) and a baked potato, and you’ll have a pretty complete meal.

For quick “fresh” meals, I tend to rely on various types of sausages. Fry up a couple of brats on the stove, heat up some sauerkraut and baked beans, and you’ve got yourself a ten-minute meal.

My setup is the following: grab a bag of frozen chicken thighs from Aldi. Pour low-sodium Italian dressing in the bag, let it sit in your fridge. Pull out a thigh and slap it in a panini-maker or a George foreman grill; cooks in less than five minutes. Combine this with a simple salad or humus and baby carrots.

Keep burger meat around, it's way easy to form it into a patty, throw it in a pan with some salt on it and cook it for 4 minutes each side. Truly, the same thing goes for steaks and pork chops, too (though without the patty-forming step), and then you can even add some wine afterward, reduce it for a minute and add a cornstarch slurry to make a pan sauce.

Always having pre-cooked sausage in the fridge with a reasonable side option. So far I've got ramen in pasta sauce(turns out it's just pasta), having frozen vegetables in the freezer, stir-frying apples, or grilled cheese.

It makes my cajun self feel a little humiliated to rely so much on already-cooked food at home. But it's much faster than cooking chicken thighs and incorporating a roux into stock or anything of the sort.

Stir fry with a home made scratch sauce takes about 15 minutes with practice, maybe 30 without or if you have to slice the vegetables instead of using a pre-packed mix. There's a few variations you can spin on it too (add peanut butter = ersatz satay, switch the meat for cashew nuts, switch noodles for rice, etc).

2 parts soy sauce
2 parts ketchup
1 part vinegar
1 part honey
Five spice / garlic granules / chilli powder to taste
Adjust to taste.

My new-years resolution is to lose weight. I've been a bit overweight all my adult life, except when I participated in slimemoldtimemold's "only eat potatoes" community trial which worked really well. This year I'm doing it again, but just by myself. (One also saves a ton of money doing it, which helps!) The plan is to not eat anything except potatoes and vitamin supplements until Easter – except for important celebrations, like birthdays and such.

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