Hacker News Reader

Comment by djhworld | Hacker News Reader

I think the biggest problem for me as a single person is the way most stuff sold in supermarkets is designed for family meals. Which is fair, families probably represent a significant portion of their customer base.

But it becomes problematic for me because I either have to eat the same meal 4 days in a row (or freeze it) or only use half of the ingredients and shove the rest in the cupboard, or throw it away because its perishable

I wouldn't mind a service that works out a set of meals you can make for the week that makes the best use of ingredients (minimises waste) and brings some variety.

I suspect the economics don't work out on it though

View on HN

In Texas, H-E-B sells exactly what you are describing. They have four types of meal kits: eat, heat, cook, and prep.

https://www.heb.com/static-page/meal-simple

I buy at least 3-4 of them a week because they're perfect for a single person who wants to eat in and maybe not prep as much but still wants a wide variety of meals to eat.

Yep. The chipotle chicken breast with potato and broccoli is my favorite.

Some perishables like fruits and vegetables are terrible to buy. Cilantro comes in a massive bunch from which I take three sprigs, and its rotten in a couple days. Bananas are unedible until day 2, then I have maybe a 3-day window to eat all the bananas before they are flabby, brown, and mushy. Even if I throw a handful of arugula in every single one of my meals, its massive tub is barely half empty by the time it starts rotting in my fridge a week after purchase.

Even if I plot and plan to use all my cilantro in 3 days, all my arugula in 1 week, power through 3 bananas a day during my bunch's window of opportunity, I can still end up going out for dinner which throws everything out of schedule. Or maybe I forgot to pull out the chicken out of the freezer and into the marinade this morning, so there is now no point in cooking if I need to wait 2+ hours after I get home for my bird to thaw and flavor.

Cilantro/Basil/Parsley/Green onions: place the stems in a glass of water,cover with a plastic bag and keep in the refrigerator. It will last more than one week.

Mushrooms: place in a brown bag in the refrigerator. They will last more than a week. They slowly dry up and can be rehydrated like dried mushrooms.

Bananas: when they are about to ripen place in the refrigerator. The skin will turn brown and look miserable but the inside will be just fine. You'll gain two or three days more time to eat them.

Arugula,spinach and other salad greens: Put the leftovers in your lunch bag and snack at work.

Can confirm! Also, - bread is awesome in the fridge, lasts weeks. - put ice cubes in a plastic bag to stop sublimination - drown basil in olive oil, squeeze out the air, cover in olive oil, then refrigerate - lasts months - peppers: soak and refrigerate in vinegar

I struggle with cheese - olive oil can work but it's awkward.

I HATE bread once it's been refridgerated/frozen... completely destroys the structure and texture of the bread. Only don't mind if you're going to do toast, french toast or some other bread pudding or stuffing application. It's unfit for sandwich use after.

For hard cheese: parchment paper and a ziplock bag.

Any tips for Avacados? I tried the brown bag but getting them to the right texture that isn't too hard or spoiled is maddening.

Leave them out and as they begin to get soft & ripe place them in the fridge. It'll slow it down, like bananas, and keep them ripe a little longer. When i was using avocados as snacks this was the only way I could keep them for multiple days.

As someone who often cooks for myself, bananas are a pretty terrible example because you can literally buy one banana if you want. Perhaps I've been violating a taboo all my life, but I have never had a problem breaking up a bunch of bananas in the store.

Fresh herbs I agree. It's one reason I tend to grow them. [ADDED: There are also a lot of frozen and freeze dried options these days that I often take advantage of.]

There are lots of meats you can pull out of the freezer and put in some water for 30 minutes or so.

I'm actually sympathetic to your basic point but it's just not something I find to be a huge problem.

> I have never had a problem breaking up a bunch of bananas in the store.

Ah, so you're one of those people. Don't you realize you're condemning those poor banana bunches to an ignominous death in the dumpster? Nobody's going to buy a bunch with an uneven number on bananas. :(

Being serious though, I don't think you're violating any major taboo. I see people do the same thing all the time. You're actually performing a public service for all those people who want fewer bananas but are afraid to split the bunches themselves.

TIL this was a thing :-) But then I've never been very good about rules.

I'll also usually cook two or three dishes that share all those ingredients. So for example, if i buy pre-made pesto sauce, i'll make pasta with pesto sauce, and chicken breast with Pesto sauce. If i buy a lot of Mexican ingredients (beans, cilantro, ground meat et all) i'll make a Chilli and taco bowls.

With bananas I make a banana milkshake when they are too soft to be eaten. With cilantro bunch, I keep some for garnishing rest I make chutney. Simple recipe of cilantro, garlic, green chilies, slices of fresh/frozen raw mango or even raw mango powder and salt etc goes in blender and out comes the chutney.

I (not quite sub-consciously) ensure I always leave some bananas to get to that 'black, but not crushed' state - solely to make milkshakes from. I give myself a pass on the calories, as I'm "being green and eating my 5-a-day"

It's ok, I am the one who is quite happy to pick up the odds and ends and make a loose bunch

When I buy bananas, I tend to grab a couple of the ripest ones in the pile, plus a few of the greenest ones.

Pro-tip for Bananas: When they start to have black spots on the skin, throw them in the freezer. Use them in a smoothie, it will give your smoothie a really nice creamy texture, almost like an ice-cream and it's all natural!

Yeah, soft bananas are also great for banana muffins.

For banana bread and muffins, you actually want bananas that are basically past ripe enough to eat. The sugar content is significantly higher.

Frozen bananas can also be used for banana bread pancakes (which are not only tasty, but don't require eggs--that's what the bananas are for). Recipe here (I use regular flour, not the whole wheat they call for): https://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/06/whole-wheat-brown-sugar...

I have a love/hate relationship with Avacados. When you time it properly it's amazing, too early/too late and you're screwed.

Dry or freeze your herbs?

Older simpler technology makes for some good habits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_dehydrator

For cilantro, get a mason jar with a little water in it. After the cilantro is in, cover the leaves with a plastic bag. The cilantro will be good for about a month.

Put your cilantro in a ziplock bag, roll it up to exclude the air before zipping up and keep it in the fridge. Will keep for quite a lot longer.

Peel and freeze your bananas before they go bad. Use the frozen bananas for smoothies, or thaw them for cooking(eg banana bread).

mushy bananas become banana nut bread... you cannot fail this.

I've found that by shopping at higher end grocery stores, or at least focusing on the organic/craft-oriented departments, the quantities tend to be smaller and much better suited to my childless, bachelor existence.

There was also a learning curve to preparing food for just myself to consume. The priorities are different from the family household I grew up in, so much of what I had learned didn't apply very well unmodified, to my adult life.

Families make the costly perishable ingredients go further by utilizing carbohydrates like pastas and breads as fillers.

I now make many of the same dishes I grew up eating, but without the pasta or bread, which I've entirely stopped purchasing to the very clear benefit of my health/weight.

When you dispense with the fillers, it's a lot easier to consume the perishable ingredients in one or two meals.

It definitely seemed strange at first to eat things like lentil or chicken soup or a meat ragu with pork ribs sans pasta or bread. But once acclimated, the recipes have changed a bit to be less liquidy while more meaty/beany with more veggies where applicable, and are very tasty and nutritious. It's basically decadence, and healthier than eating all the carbs.

>Families make the costly perishable ingredients go further by utilizing carbohydrates like pastas and breads as fillers.

As do many restaurants. I've (not very originally) joked that Tapas is Spanish for expensive and appetizers generally often seem pricey for the size of the portion. There are various reasons for this including the fact that there's a certain overhead to an individual order.

But it's also the case that typical main dishes tend to have a fair bit of "filler" that tapas/appetizers do not. At good restaurants, the rice or potatoes (or vegetables) may be nicely and even somewhat exotically prepared but the raw ingredients cost very little compared to the protein.

Seriously, try the tapas (or table) in Spain. The original is always better than the imitation. Besides being the price of a typical US sit-down burger or grilled chicken dish, it's much higher quality and healthier! Also for readers who aren't aware, tapas is usually a shared meal and best when everyone going agrees to get different tapas dishes or arrangements. Of course the jamón ibérico de bellota will be higher priced than a typical steak, but well worth it IMO. "Filler" in Spain tends to be olives, cheese, and bread.

Funnily enough I have JUST launched a little side project that is attempting to do exactly what you are describing. (Or will do).

There's a few more features I need to add before I'd consider it MVP level and but it's getting close.

http://cookmatic.co

Basically you can paste in recipe URLs (so far only supports seriouseats and bonappetit) it parses the ingredient list and generates a shopping list combining everything you need to make all the recipes).

Future features include adjusting the portion size to scale up and down and combining recipes in a manner that minimizes ingredient waste when shopping

Have you taken a look at Paprika? It imports from almost any site, adjusts portions, and generates a combined grocery list. The only thing is doesn't do is the last thing: combine recipes in a way to minimize ingredient waste.

I am getting Access Denied errors when adding to queue or pressing the plus button on the ingredients list.

A couple of years ago I became an empty nester and decided to get rid of my cars. I switched to delivery: CFA box, meat box, and regular grocery delivery.

My meals are a bit repetitive (I often make, as you note, the same meal for four days) but that makes my life easier. But what has amazed me is it really doesn't take long to make the kind of meals I like to eat -- often 30 minutes an almost always less than 60. I can't be bothered making fancy sauces and the like, so I eat healthier than I probably ever have in my life. It's really a great deal to feed myself for four days for only a few bucks and for not much more time per meal than it would have taken to heat up a premade package.

Even my gf and her kids like my cooking which astonishes me.

I live in Palo Alto so can use the BBQ year round -- BBQ and Instant pot account for a lot of my cooking.

> the way most stuff sold in supermarkets is designed for family meals

Dude. Leftovers. I used to make a couple of family-sized meals on the weekend to have for lunch and dinner throughout the week. I’d also dine out 2-3 times a week to mix it up a bit.

Dude. Read the whole comment before replying:

But it becomes problematic for me because I either have to eat the same meal 4 days in a row...

"Lunch and dinner throughout the week" is not what parent is looking for.

Right. That's why

> I’d also dine out 2-3 times a week to mix it up a bit.

You can buy stuff in much smaller portions in most Japanese grocery stores, which I think is much better. There are also some grocery stores that have the option to buy unpacked produce, like Wholefoods.

Cue Steve Martin hot dog bun rant.

"In [Father of The Bride, George Banks [Steve Martin] heads to a local market in order to cool off after having had a bit of a meltdown over his daughter’s impending wedding. While there, he has an even bigger meltdown over the fact that while hot dogs are sold in packages of eight, hot dog buns are sold in packages of twelve. So, he decides to take a stand by ripping open packages to remove the four offending buns. When a befuddled clerk tries to stop him, George says that the hot dog and hot dog bun corporations “are not ripping off this nitwit anymore, because I am not paying for one more thing I don’t need. George Banks is saying ‘no’!” LOL He winds up getting arrested and is sent to jail, where his wife Nina (aka Diane Keaton) has to bail him out."

http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2011/06/28/the-father-of-the-b...

It isn't just singles. I have a family of four and do basically all the cooking. I struggle to make use of the entirety of many perishables I buy simply because they're packaged in such huge volumes. Leafy/bushy things like herbs comes to mind, as well as some prepackaged vegetables (grape/cherry tomatoes) and fruits.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com