Big Fat Lie

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2003
Big Fat Lie
870
Sat, 09-11-2004 - 1:41pm
I'm the mother of 2. I have 2 boys, one is 2 1/2, the other is 4 months old. Before I had my second baby, I was a full time nurse and was making more money than my husband. That being said, he never really had a problem with it. The extra money helped us pay for extras. Well, I decided after the second child, that I would stay at home most of the week. I work only 2 days a week, 6 hours a day. Now all of the sudden, I do EVERYTHING. He does not get up at night with this baby, he does not keep the house clean with me, NOTHING I do is important enough. (He plays softball once a week, goes out with the guys after etc.) I do not do anything. (Actually I get to go to Weight Watchers on Fridays while my mom watches the kids.) I have no life anymore, and his life is fantastic! I tried to take a class, but he wouldn't help with the kids enough so I couldn't stick with it.

When we got married we were going to share all responsibilities, take care of the kids TOGETHER, do the housework TOGETHER. It was all just a BIG FAT LIE!!!!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: debcote
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 7:05pm
Yes, a pressure cooker is very different and far more likely to go awry if unattended. Pressure cookers put the fear of unattended cooking apparatus in me. Even if the fear is unwaranted, it's still there. The very idea of ANYTHING cooking unattended just gives me the wilies now, even if pressure cookers themnselves are likely much safer than they were in the 70's.

For the record, I also don't use those timer coffee pots that turn themselves on while you're still asleep so the coffee is ready. I don't want ANYTHING heating anything else when I'm not there except the furnace and the hot water heater.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-19-2003
In reply to: debcote
Wed, 09-22-2004 - 8:32pm
Hmmm . . . I don't think I can tell you how. {{blush}}

It's weird b/c I'm usually so adverse to extra fat (i.e. I drain my ground beef/chicken when I stir fry, cut off all excess fat from meat before cooking) but for some reason I don't mind it in my crock pot dishes. With the roast beef I'm making tonight it's like a gravy to add a little moisture to the meat & veggies. I don't drown the food, but I don't mind a little bit (unlike your DH!) :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 12:17am
In all my years of working in the financial print industry, I have only been through one busy season when I did NOT gain weight.

that year was the year I took Lois' idea and ran with it. On Monday mornings (the last "day" of my weekend" and a time when most kids would be in school), I would do my marathon cooking session and put up all my lunches and dinners for the week. Not only did it save me TONS of money and time, which I *did* expect, it also was the only year I didn't gain weight during filing season, which I did NOT expect. Basically, we in financial print live off of fattening foods during the filing season because they tend to be the ones easiest to come by in the middle of the night with little or no prep time.

The inconvenience of being tied to the house those Monday mornings was MORE that overriden by the additional sleep I was able to indulge in (microwaving meals already prepped can be done while I was showering for work), by having a lunch ready and packed and all I had to do was grab it from the fridge and put it in my backpack, by the thoroughly eliminated stress of trying to figure out what I could cook in what little available time I had, trying to clean the kitchen (much easier when the cooking's done and all there is are the plates and one serving dish). It was the most stress-free filing season I'd ever experienced and I deeply regretted it this year that I wasn't as organized and didn't do it again.

There are HUGE pros involved in bulk cooking that more than override one or two days' worth of inconvenience.

Karen

"A pocketknife is like a melody;
sharp in some places,
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2004
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 12:42am
Is this something you picked up from a book, or just improvised on your own? I could see having a daddy-day to take the kid(s) to the zoo, renting 3 or 4 chick flicks, and trying to make a day of it once a month.

Mondo

Avatar for 1969jets
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 8:54am
You write "If you are spending two hours a night preparing dinner, it's because you want to, not because you have to."

Yes that is very true. But for me that is what this whole debate is about. People should be free to live their lives the way they want to live them. I do some bulk cooking (soup, spaghetti sauce) but for the most part our family enjoys having fresh food prepared daily. That is one of the reasons I stopped working ft. So that I could provide that for my family. I was unable to provide that while I was working ft and it bothered me and it bothered dh as well.

That doesn't mean EVERYONE has to do what I do. Other people are free to live their lives the way they want to live them. That is what gets me so riled up about this debate.

Jenna

Avatar for kerry88
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 9:26am
Oh I totally agree, it's a time saver and quite possibly a savings on calories, etc. if you have prepackaged meals that for which you know the caloric intake. I was going to post to Lois that she made it sound easy and like something that everyone should do. But it's just not for me.

I really hate frozen food - really hate it, it's one of my little quirks (one of many, lol). When my mom came to live with us we went grocery shopping together once. I got home, was taking care of the baby, and she put the groceries away. When I went to make dinner that night and discovered NONE of my meat in the fridge, I was livid! She'd frozen it ALL. I couldn't believe it. She said that everyone does it, and it's easy to microwave it to defrost. I can honestly say that meat is STILL in my freezer, and I have no intention of ever using it. First of all, if I microwave it, I'm pre-cooking it. Ick. If I leave it out to defrost, I'm opening myself and my family up to millions of germs that could fester on it. Gross.

Weight has loss has never been an issue for me - if I need to lose some, I lose it pretty easily. Freezing food wouldn't make any difference for me. I can totally see your (and Lois') point about convenience, etc. though. Who knows, when I have another baby I may have no choice! :)

Kerry with Campbell Elizabeth 11.03.06 and Benjamin Brady 12.10.03
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:29am
How do you define unattended? I put a roast or a cake in the oven, then go off and do things in other parts of the house. Does that mean I am leaving cooking food unattended? I never leave the house when the oven's on, but I do leave the room.

I try to cook from scratch several times a week. I too use bulk cooking, but I add convenience items like prewashed, bagged lettuce. I don't see any difference between tearing and washing lettuce and pouring it out of a bag. I mean, it's still lettuce.

No way do I spend two hours, but then again, if I didn't leave the kitchen , I probably would. Tonight we are having stuffed shells. I made them 2 weeks ago and froze them before I cooked them. I will stick them in the oven for an hour, pour some bagged salad and veggies into a salad bowl and make some garlic bread. I figure it will be approx 10 minutes worth of effort, but the prep time start to finish will be over an hour, since they take an hour to cook. So am I cooking for an hour or 10 minutes? I'm not sure.

Susan

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:48am
There are a couple of ways. Obviously, the first rule is to trim every bit of the fat you can get off before cooking. Second, brown the meat first without using oil; it will sear the outside and help keep the fat inside the meat. Also, invest in a little Arrowroot starch, and stir that thoroughly into your cold liquid before cooking; it will thicken your sauce and bind some of the oil. Finally, get a separating measuring cup, and give DH the job of transferring the food to a serving dish, since he's Jack Sprat, after all.

http://store.everythinghome.org/peblsagrse71.html

To drain the fat after cooking, pull the meat out and set it on paper towels first, before putting it in the serving dish. Then remove the veggies, etc. with a slotted spoon, leaving the liquid behind; cover all that to keep it hot while you deal w/ the liquid. Pour the liquid into a separating cup, and put in in the freezer for 5 minutes. (You can just let it cool at room temp, but that will take longer, of course) Then pour the liquid, sans fat, into something you can microwave, zap it for a minute to get it hot again, and put it back in with the rest of the dish. A bit of hassle, but it works.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-12-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:50am
You can take it out of the freezer the day before and put it in the refrigerator.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: debcote
Thu, 09-23-2004 - 11:54am
The other thing you can do, which I often do, is to routinely triple the amount of food you cook, if what you're cooking is the sort of thing that will keep. You eat one third of it, and put the other 2/3 in the freezer. Voila, two extra meals are ready and waiting.

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