I hate cooking. I must cook.

ok, this post might take a while but I WILL FIND THE HACKS! for someone who loves wasting time, and yet has many interests in addition to a grueling software job, cooking just doesn't make the cut to be a priority, until........I stand on that weighing machine and reassess my entire life goals.

Cook ? No Cook ? can eating out ever be healthy ? A desi in the US who is on a strict diet restriction (doctor's) and extremely picky about taste, and always counting calories (ok macros. ok fine, both). Will I find a way ?  Soon, Soon.

Why I think I dislike cooking

1. I love food - and cannot eat the stuff I make on most days.
2. I grew up in a both-parents-working-nuclear family in the India of the 90s where cooking was only a means to an end and usually considered (needfully) a distraction from the busy working-and-getting-kids-through-to-college life. I imbibed similar ideas.
3. #2 also meant that I never learnt the right way - never observed in the kitchen as a child - ( except well when dhai bhalla was being made - those tikkis I can drain the water out of like a pro )

It almost looks like we did - here is what changed -

1. Schedule and plan ahead, make it a game - what to cook, when to cook and whose turn it will be
2. And of-course shop ahead. NO EXTRAS - throwing veggies - raw or cooked into the trash makes me associate negative feelings with cooking. Plan well.
3. Don't aim for the shortcuts, aim for doing it well
4. Accept that food is not going to be a lavish delicacy everyday, and yet the process can be a relaxing activity at the end of the day.
5. clean as you go
6. Fixing my attitude towards calories - no you cannot eat a 1200 calorie diet for the rest of your life, the wedding is done, stupid obsessions need to come to an end - eat like a normal human being now. "Put that tablespoon of ghee in the pan now." and see how the food magically tastes decent.
7. Bored ourselves of eating out and finally appreciate the value of a home cooked meal.

Sample Meal Plans