Being picky about the food we eat... (Kitchen Nightmare Related)

[game-lover]

I'm not especially picky. In fact, I'll try most anything at least once.

I've cooked my own meals and I've microwaved. It depends on how I'm feelings/how lazy I am at the time.

Still, there are some foods I don't like and that won't change so I don't dare try them unless I am forced.

 

[antidonkey]

I'm not picky at all but I hardly ever use the microwave. Sure it's faster but the food never tastes as good. If it's frozen food, chances are it's getting cooked in the oven. A few exceptions would be hot pockets or burritos. The microwave is used mostly for reheating leftovers but it also depends on what the food is. Leftover pasta gets reheated on the stove. I'd rather have a better flavor later than something bland but now.

 

[Victim of Progress]

3) Never, ever, buy margarine for anything.

Go to your store, and look at the ingredients for butter. If its like the butter I buy, it should just list pasteurized cream and salt. That's it. Now, go read the ingredient list for margarine. Have eye strain yet? I love the taste of butter (best yet, you can buy unsalted butter) and rarely use oils to cook anything where I can substitute butter.

Thanks to the internet and other sources, we can do a much better job about controlling what we eat compared to twenty years ago.

Hah, funny that you say that. I use margarine so much (especially when I eat it with toast) that I might as well hook myself up to an IV drip with it. And the fact that it can be made out of petroleum only makes it that more delicious.

I wouldn't call myself a picky eater, but there are foods which I will or will not eat. But I am an absolutely terrible at cooking, and rarely make my own food. It doesn't help that I grew up with "delicious" homemade slav food, which robbed me of any desire to mimic any food I have eaten at home. I also eat a lot of pre-made dishes. Maybe that will change in the future, but I'm pretty happy with the diet I have right now.

 

[Illesdan]

I'm very picky. Besides being a vegetarian (the only animal product I'm particularly comfortable eating is honey), I also try to avoid anything overly processed or with any sort of artificial additives. I do eat frozen foods fairly often, but they're all from special natural/vegetarian brands, and I cook them in my toaster oven instead of the microwave (it takes a lot longer, but I find the end result is tastier and less dried out).

1) Your microwave is not your friend.

I never really bought into this mindset until I did some research, and realized that the microwave is a terrible contraption. You want vegetables quick but none of those annoying nutrients, well the microwave is for you! I found you lose 98 per cent of your food's nutrient value just by a wave of the microwave's hand (by the way, duration of time in the microwave doesn't matter). Hell, I'll heat up my oven to heat up leftover pizza before I'll use the microwave.

Do you have a citation for this? Everything I've seen suggests that this is a myth; cooking vegetables in the microwave loses less than boiling, in that what the microwave essentially does is closer to steaming them, whereas when boiled, nutrients will seep out into the water. Naturally, overcooking is going to ruin both nutrients and taste no matter how they're cooked.

I'll use an oven for pizza reheating, but only because the microwave makes it soggy...

At the newspaper I work at, we tend to get a lot of food-related magazines (Relish, Dash) and we have a weekly segment that is dedicated to foods and how to and how not to prepare them. I tend not to believe things written on the internet (microwave cooking has been ragged on by yahoo links for a few years now) but I've seen it a few times in the paper, and the latest one was a few months back about vegetables losing 98 percent of their nutrients in the microwave. 60 percent boiled and thirty-something steamed.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Yeah, it's not a good idea to live on processed foods...

For the longest time, I barely touched the microwave. Only ever to really warm up pre-cooked foods and even then I barely did because I don't like eating left-overs.
Aldi (a supermarket in UK) do some absolutely lovely steamed salmon with herbs and chilli. Pop it in the microwave for 6 minutes and it steams itself in the bag. It's great with veg and potatoes.

My boyfriend has opened my eyes to microwave cooking, I always boil my fresh veg but he always microwaves it and it tastes just as good. You can part bake things in the microwave too then stick them in the oven.

I cook my own meals when possible. Since moving back home and considering my mum no longer works, she usually does the cooking but I'm more than capable and always make them something when they fancy something different.

I don't watched Kitchen Nightmare but I think Ramsey puts on a bit of a front for the camera...

As for being picky, yes and no. I have no problem going out for something to eat because I usually find something I like. I prefer my food well cooked (veg and cornflakes mushy, crispy bacon etc) and lots of fat just puts me off.
I don't like anything hot and spicy, chicken on the bone, pizza, anything too cheesy, anything cheese and onion, peppers, chillies, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, lamb, pork chops, beef, steak, burgers...

I'm a bit of a pain to cook for.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Gordon Ramsey, ahh, that guy cracks me up. :')

I'm not really a picky eater, but I do try to eat healthy whenever I can, easier on the stomach and my body will probably thank me in a few years down the line.

I was taught from a young age how to cook and properly prepare certain meals. This escalated into baking and I just ended up with a love for food preparation!

I will admit to lazy days when I chuck together

- 2-minute noodles
- Packet of Cup-a-soup
- Spices
- Hot water
- Microwave the heck out of it.

I feel dirty inside...and I wouldn't wish that concoction on my enemies. (It's the smell)

Besides for lazy days, the microwave is primarily for reheating purposes.