What constitutes a "home cooked" meal? DH complains not home cooked enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a new DH.

Well, this is what happens when you opt out of being self-sufficient and put your entire well-being in the hands of a man. It's copping to a traditional gender role, and now her husband feels entitled to be an asshole. Sorry ladies, but it's the 21st century. You better be pretty damned sure you haven't married a neanderthal before you decide to ditch your career.

OP LOST her job, didn't stay at home voluntarily. Way to rub that in.

[Anonymous]

I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the nasty dcum lib women man haters

I'm sorry, there isn't enough punctuation here to understand your post. Are you suggesting that the DCUM, liberal, women man-haters should ignore the nasty? That liberal woman man-haters should ignore the nasty DCUM? That man-haters should ignore nasty DCUM liberal women? That haters should ignore the nasty DCUM liberal women and men?

Please clarify -- your post is, obviously, a valuable contribution to this thread, and I want to make sure I can appreciate it fully.

[Anonymous]

One poster called him an entitled whiner and one called him a douche. I'll go with the douche description. Maybe he wants mama's meat and potatoes. Them thar newfangled meals that have quinoa, or millet or kale might not be tied to the apron string enough for him. My guess is that he wants pot roast, or roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and a hot vegetable. What would his mama say.

Hope you can call him out on some equally ridiculous gender role things. My dad used to take the oven apart and fix it, handle all the plumbing problems, repaint rooms, do all the lawn work and change the oil of the car

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a new DH.

Well, this is what happens when you opt out of being self-sufficient and put your entire well-being in the hands of a man. It's copping to a traditional gender role, and now her husband feels entitled to be an asshole. Sorry ladies, but it's the 21st century. You better be pretty damned sure you haven't married a neanderthal before you decide to ditch your career.

OP LOST her job, didn't stay at home voluntarily. Way to rub that in.

Well, if she lives in DC there are plenty of jobs. If her DH is this much of a dick she needs to start looking seriously, and stat. The kind of crap that he's pulling is what leads to divorce for any self-respecting woman. My DH would never, EVER speak to me in this way b/c A) he's not a dick, and B) he knows that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and our child and that I could find a replacement for him with no problem if it came to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

Um, yes, your meals are exponentially better than takeout. I do WW and you can calculate your recipes - burritos made with whole wheat tortillas, brown rice, canned beans and low-fat cheese are about 1/4 of the fat and carb load of a restaurant burrito. Ditto your pasta and sauce that isn't loaded with fat and cheese.

Is this the Betty Crocker worship thread all of a sudden? Good Lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

It's absolutely healthier than take-out. But in no universe does pasta with jarred sauce constitute a homemade meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

For two reasons:

1) It is way cheaper. Since you're down an income, I have to assume cost of food is a consideration in your household? But you just described a meal that costs about $5 to make, compared to dropping at least $20 on even the cheapest takeout for two.

2) You identified why it's considered better: You control the add-ins. But yeah, to go fully whole foods/home made, you'd have to make the toritillas yourself, soak the beans, etc. But I don't think really anyone considers that anymore, so it's a moot point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

For two reasons:

1) It is way cheaper. Since you're down an income, I have to assume cost of food is a consideration in your household? But you just described a meal that costs about $5 to make, compared to dropping at least $20 on even the cheapest takeout for two.

2) You identified why it's considered better: You control the add-ins. But yeah, to go fully whole foods/home made, you'd have to make the toritillas yourself, soak the beans, etc. But I don't think really anyone considers that anymore, so it's a moot point.

Except for to OP's husband, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Slavery was abolished in the United States on December 6, 1865. Are you a member of a fundamentalist church or sect? You do not have to run a restaurant for your DH just because you sahm.

[Anonymous]

Even Miss Patmore gets wages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that DH sounds like a jerk.

Putting that aside, I do sometimes wonder whether my go-to meal of Barilla Plus pasta and Rao's sauce with frozen broccoli on the side constitutes a healthy, homemade meal that is any better than takeout. Or when I use canned black beans, tortillas, and rice for burritos. I assume it is healthier than takeout because I'm controlling some of the oil and sodium, and I can toss in some fresh veggies, but it's not the same as a fully homemade meal from scratch.

It's absolutely healthier than take-out. But in no universe does pasta with jarred sauce constitute a homemade meal.

It does in some universes! Not gourmet, but it was prepped, assembled, and cooked at home transforming ingredients from one state into another. That's cooking at it's most basic.

[Anonymous]

OP, I once got scolded here because, on a thread requesting easy "homemade" recipes for time-strapped weeknights, I suggested frozen meatballs, jarred sauce, spaghetti, and a fresh salad. Some bitchy martha stewart wannabe made fun of that menu saying it was no better than mcdonalds. I say fuck her, and fuck anyone else who strolls in to a hot meal on the table and criticizes it.

I mean really. How far must we go to call spaghetti and meatballs homemade? Make the meatballs from purchased ground beef? Grind the sirloin myself? Grow the herbs on my windowsill? How about the pasta? Am I allowed to buy it dry, or do I only get the coveted "homemade" designation if I whip it up from scratch? Oh, wait... that flour was purchased already processed... With some people, you just can't win.

[Anonymous]

Make the douche a chicken dinner.


Stuff the chicken with lemon wedges and 4 cloves of peeled garlic:



Chop the sage, rosemary and thyme; mix it in the bowl with olive oil or Crisco™.



smear herb chopped oil mixture onto chicken:



Cook for 20 minutes per pound of chicken at 400ºF.



Take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 30 minutes before cutting:



Cut into pieces and serve on top of creamy pasta with sliced mushroom.



Recipe for pasta is easy peasy:

PASTA WITH CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE
2 servings-- for more, just double or triple recipe proportions!

freshly cooked pasta
200 g/7 oz mushrooms, cremini, Portobello or common button mushrooms
1/2 clove of garlic
a small bunch of parsley
100 ml/0,42 cup fresh cream
salt
white pepper
butter or extra-virgin olive oil

- Put mushrooms, garlic and parsley in a food processor and run for a minute or two until everything is chopped into small pieces. Or chop by hand, it’s pretty quick that way too.
- Cook the mushrooms in butter or olive oil over medium heat until the liquid has evaporated.
- Add cream, pepper and salt and continue to cook until creamy, then add to the freshly cooked and drained pasta.
- Serve as it is or with freshly grated parmesan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ignore the nasty dcum lib women man haters

I'm sorry, there isn't enough punctuation here to understand your post. Are you suggesting that the DCUM, liberal, women man-haters should ignore the nasty? That liberal woman man-haters should ignore the nasty DCUM? That man-haters should ignore nasty DCUM liberal women? That haters should ignore the nasty DCUM liberal women and men?

Please clarify -- your post is, obviously, a valuable contribution to this thread, and I want to make sure I can appreciate it fully.

I love you, 9:07!