Just how do YOU accomplish "Simplicity in the kitchen"?

[SteveinMN]

I mentioned this morning in this month's cook-at-home thread that this forum's subtitle caught my eye. Simplicity in the kitchen. Am I doing that?

I'm certainly achieving "cheaper in the kitchen" as I cook more at home and we forego takeout and similar convenience meals. I've also gotten much better at using up food; today I cleaned out the fridge and the only prepared food I had to toss was a couple of tablespoons of leftover frozen-vegetable mixture. There was some produce I had forgotten about, some of which I think was hidden when our houseguest had to stuff her groceries in with ours. Minor stuff compared to days of old.

But "simplicity"? Simplicity to me implies fewer ingredients, less-complicated cooking techniques, less time spent in the kitchen. Are those assumptions held by others? We discuss what to do with sudden bounties of ingredients and inventive ways to mix bits and pieces into something enjoyable, but is that really simple?

Aside from the fact that I'm okay with leftovers but have never been okay with "every Wednesday is spaghetti day", I don't think I'm doing very much on the simplicity front. Then again, maybe I don't want cooking to be any simpler...

[Gregg]

DW and I both love to cook, especially me. Our meal planning and prep are anything but simple (at least when we have a chance to do what we like). We get off on complicated dishes with lots of moving parts that can take days to fully complete. Its a choice, a hobby, an avocation...a labor of love, but its not simple. We have a lot of fun cooking and our family and friends don't seem to mind doing their part.

[CathyA]

My kitchen definitely isn't simple. When the kids were living at home, I easily spent 8 hours a day in the kitchen.......preparing, cooking, cleaning up, etc., etc.

We do dishes by hand, which seems simple, but isn't.

I love cooking from scratch, which probably isn't "simple".
I have limited my variation in food dishes. I've just gotten worn out. I've turned to Lettuce wedges quite often, instead of making a mixed salad. But I do add things like feta cheese and sunflower seeds to it.
I use jarred spaghetti sauce. I use frozen ravioli. We love leftovers. Sometimes when I go to the trouble of making something like Chili or meatloaf, I make enough for several meals, or freeze some.
Once a week I like to make a meal of a baked potato with a bunch of saute'd veggies on it.

I'm sure alot of my meals aren't simple at all, but DH must think they are. The times that he's cooked on my birthday or Mother's Day.........he's in the kitchen for hours and the meal always runs late. haha

I think alot of meals are simple, in that they use simple/healthy ingredients........but that doesn't mean the process is easy.
For example........Sometimes on Saturdays, we grill out steaks and veggies on skewers. It looks like an easy meal, but you have to prepare the steaks with a bunch of herbs, and wash and cut all the mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper, onions, then make a marinade and baste them. The baked potato in the microwave is easy!

So like Gregg says, its a labor of love and its not simple. But when DH says to the kids when we're eating a meal together when they are home, "You need to appreciate all the great food that mama prepares. Not everyone cooks like this." ....it makes it all worth it. :)

[treehugger]

Simplicity for its own sake in the kitchen isn't a priority for me. I love to cook and it functions as my hobby as well as a way to keep us fed, healthy, and on budget. So, I don't think I have much to contribute to this topic. I will say that I do simplify some things by cooking in bulk and using planned leftovers to limit my actual cooking days to ~3 per week. This is what works for my time and energy levels.

Kara

[Jilly]

I eat only simple foods. No complicated recipes, rarely more than three or four ingredients, and the only things I can think of are soups, casseroles and marinara. Maybe that means simplicity. Maybe it means that I have a boring, unsophisticated palate. I like to think of how I cook and eat as being more in the realm of frugal, as in using food to its fullest expression and with as little waste as possible. I do not shop according to meal plans, but plan what I will eat by what is on sale. I am sufficiently old enough to have a good idea of what I can do with ingredients when I get them home. I still have to look up the recipes for some things, though.

That also means simplicity to me, I guess. It also reduces having to toss out stuff that I forget I have. I still fail at that during the periods when my health does not support my tastes and wants when I shop. Recent garbage has been some frosty bread in the freezer, a half-head of iceberg and some really sad cherries that cannot even be used in a smoothie. In my defense, the cherries were in a bag of other great ones and should have been tossed when I got them home.

I used to love cooking elaborate meals for myself and others, but if that was still possible for me, I would think that the pleasure of cooking, eating and sharing were part of my standards for simplicity.

I eat only simple foods. No complicated recipes, rarely more than three or four ingredients, and the only things I can think of are soups, casseroles and marinara. Maybe that means simplicity. Maybe it means that I have a boring, unsophisticated palate. I like to think of how I cook and eat as being more in the realm of frugal, as in using food to its fullest expression and with as little waste as possible. I do not shop according to meal plans, but plan what I will eat by what is on sale. I am sufficiently old enough to have a good idea of what I can do with ingredients when I get them home. I still have to look up the recipes for some things, though.


We discuss what to do with sudden bounties of ingredients and inventive ways to mix bits and pieces into something enjoyable, but is that really simple?

Yes, absolutely.

As for vegetables, those are my favorite foods and I cannot remember the last time there were any leftovers, much less any to toss.

[Jilly]

CathyA, frozen ravioli? Is that worth remembering to look for in the market? I have not had any since I stopped making it from scratch. I gave up making pasta and buy the dry stuff now. I have seen the frozen ones, but have not tried it yet.

[JaneV2.0]

Not everything has to be simple. If cooking is a pleasure/avocation/art for you, why overthink--thus complicate--it?

Me, I simplify by only doing cleanup when I run out of dishes/pots/utensils. In reality, not so simple. Sometimes I use (recyclable) paper plates. I don't do really complex meals; I like the one-pot kind, but I need lots of flavors and variety.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I'm not an elaborate cook. Possibly why I haven't been much on the cook at home thread lately, because I'm still cooking mostly at home, but I keep making the same boring things I've already posted about making a few times before - boring!

So things felt very streamlined and simplified in the kitchen yesterday. Because I made a few things for the week on Sunday night, and put some extra lemon juice and blueberries and cherries in to freeze (yes they do so freeze well IMO if you use them in a resonable time period, yes I had too many!). I also cleaned out my fridge and surveyed all the food I have for the week and thought about what needed to be used more quickly. I'm better at using up food too, some still goes to waste, less than used to.

But I'm not an elaborate cook. I'm not above piece of meat and a veggie, sometimes a starch - and that's dinner (Standard American Diet?). Now I may fancy it up a bit, drizzle olive oil on a piece of fish, cook the veggie in olive oil and garlic (I usually do doctor veggies that way, too boring alone), add spice and onions etc. to rice etc.. But it's still not very elaborate. I'm not above soups where I don't even follow a recipe and just throw stuff in, or lentil soup - and I often don't have any (veggie or chicken) broth to use when I make soup and it's still fine. I eat very few canned foods, but I'm not above canned tuna or canned salmon as an ingredient. I soaked and cooked garbanzos last week (pats self on head), but I'll use canned beans in a pinch. I use jarred tomato products, I didn't can them myself! (though it would be cost effective to, so maybe I'll get around to trying it this year). I just pick up a salad at TJs for lunch sometimes, so it's not 100% eat at home. Now, I would *like* to stop that (do something greener), but I only have so many ideas for satisfying lunches so far - not enough variety yet to rely entirely on it - it's a lot harder to craft good meals I *can't* eat at home, I can work on it though - try more salad recipes. I take some shortcuts, I probably eat too much cheese for instance. That's definitely a LAZY cooking HACK: when all else fails: cheese! :)

[AmeliaJane]

As with everything, I'm sure that simplifying means different things to different people. It's even meant different things to me at various times in my life! Right now, it's

--cooking a large entree on Sunday that can carry me through the week. I really hate having to cook from scratch on the weekdays (although I will tonight, since my weekend plans got rearranged at the last minute. But most of the prep is done, so all I have to do is heat and assemble).
--specializing in dishes where the meat and veggies (and sometimes starch) all cook together. If I have to make veggies separately, they are much less likely to happen.
--no tiny things. There is nothing that drives me more bonkers than making a thousand small fiddly things. I hardly even make cookies. Yay for squares!
--shopping weekly. I realize that this is contrary to every piece of frugal advice about not going to the store too often. I waste a lot less food now that I am not trying to guess how much I have to buy to get me to the next (unpredictable) trip. I also seem to do better about sticking to my list when I can say to myself--get it next time--and by next time I have forgotten it.
--I love elaborate sandwiches and salads, but I tend to save those for eating out (also ethnic cuisines). It's too hard to make and keep all the fiddly bits fresh and on hand, plus my dr. asked me to limit carbs so I prefer not to have a whole loaf of bread around the place either going stale/moldy, or getting eaten.

However, cooking is something I enjoy when I have time, so I'm not too motivated to super-simplify it beyond the above.

[CathyA]

Jilly..........I usually buy the frozen Kroger cheese-filled ravioli. I really like the flavor more of Buotoni (sp?).....that's the dried stuff in the refrigerated section, but its more expensive. I do buy the tortellini they make for the Tortellini soup I make. (Its really good........chicken stock/my frozen tomatoes/a ton of spinach/tortellini pasta. Yum!
I like the frozen ravioli and I sometimes add lots of mushrooms and onions to the jarred spaghetti sauce, and sometimes a bunch of spinach. You can also make a white sauce for it instead of the marinara sauce. It comes in beef filling too, but we like the cheese.

[KayLR]

Maybe we need to define "simplicity" in this context? I see what some of you are saying as possibilities. I mean, in simplicity, aren't we seeking to enjoy the fruits of our labors as "choices we make" and not thrust upon us by societal pressures? For example, maybe our meal preparation isn't the most simple, but maybe it's intentional and something we enjoy as a family activity, rather than running thru the fast food line, which is lots simpler.

[catherine]

I really love Helen Nearing's Simple Food for the Good Life. She was a woman after my own heart--really didn't like cooking, but just appreciated food in its natural goodness. In it, she has all sorts of really simple foods, such as Scott's "horsechow" which was their version of granola, containing uncooked rolled oats, raisins, lemon, sea salt and olive oil.

DH and I are completely different in the kitchen--he loves "messing food up" with sugar, fat, sauce, you name it. I keep saying, just give it to me PLAIN! And it's just a concept that's beyond him. He is a great cook, but sometimes I have to rein him in!

[rosarugosa]

I agree that "simplicity in the kitchen" can mean all kinds of things to differerent people, just like "simple living." My version is that I don't cook. :) Seriously though, I have my berry & salad thing down to a science. Spin/prep romaine on Sunday & store it in salad spinner in fridge (thanks Tiam for that one!) Buy fresh tomatoes weekly. Open can of olives about every two weeks and put in container in fridge, same with beets. Buy goat cheese crumbles and keep in fridge. Olive oil is bought in large bottles but decanted into a small bottle with cool pouring doodad, and red wine vinegar is also decanted into a smaller bottle that has a good "sprinkling" top. So the stage is set, and now I can whip up my lunch for the next day in less than five minutes at night after work. I will occasionally make us a salad entree at night and throw in something extra like smoked trout or salmon, or leftover chicken. Frozen berries from Costco are scooped from resealable bag in freezer into a container at night and placed in fridge, and these are thawed by breakfast the next morning. This system yields me two delicious and healthy meals per day for less than $4.00 for both.
DH is a great cook who enjoys cooking, so his version of kitchen simplicity differs from mine. One thing I've noted is his philosophy on multiple gadgets vs. a good set of knives and cutting board. He says the gadgets are more trouble than they're worth, especially once you factor in cleaning and storage space. He says you can do almost anything you need to do prep-wise with good knives & a cutting board. I can vouch for the yumminess of the results :)

[Blackdog Lin]

It's such a great question Steve! I must've read that sub-heading a hundred times without really thinking about it.

Yeah, I can see, just like in "Simple Living", that there would be many variations of definitions to people. For me, it means being a good steward of our kitchen bounty, as in being frugal and not being wasteful. And eating more-healthy homemade foods (as opposed to eating from restaurants) seems like a more-intentional, simple-living thing too. Which leads to the simple pleasures of sitting down with family members to enjoy the fruits of one's labors, and the simple pleasure of appreciating someone's efforts in the kitchen.....it's all kind of jumbled together in my kitchen-simplicity definition. :)

[Rosemary]

We have a mixture of what I consider simple and more complicated meals. The simple ones are just things that I cook, no recipe needed. The complicated ones have lots of ingredients and usually I have to dig out a book to remember everything. We eat the simple way about 5-6 nights/week.

But my simple is what some of my friends would consider complicated, because everything starts with whole foods, and usually in their most unadulterated state, e.g. dried beans vs canned.

Simple meals I've made in the past week:

beef barley soup. Took it camping (cooked at home, refrigerated, and put into cooler; reheated at campsite). Ingredients: grass-fed beef soup bone, barley, lots of carrots, bell pepper, bok choy, peas. Time: about 20 minutes hands-on with chopping veggies and pulling meat off bone/shredding.

chicken taco salad. Had some cooked chicken breast; seasoned it and made salads.

bratwurst, sauerkraut, and roasted brussels sprouts.

Breakfasts are always simple. I consider pancakes/waffles/muffins to be fussy breakfast foods, and rarely make them. Fussy even though I don't need to reference a recipe. Too many things to mix together. Simple breakfasts: fruit+nuts, leftover dinners, roasted veggies+avocado (that is, the veggies are ready to go in the fridge, but even if not, easier than baking), yogurt+berries, cheese+fruit, etc.

Lunches are usually simple but real food. We don't eat sandwiches on a regular basis. Soup + salad is the usual pattern, or leftover dinner.

[CathyA]

I love left-over dinners for breakfast. DH hates that. He has oatmeal with walnuts/brown sugar/cinnamon/raisins.
I usually have a slice of gluten-free bread with peanut butter or eggs.

[redfox]

LOL! By hoping DH cooks...

[SteveinMN]

Wow! I never expected so many people to weigh in so quickly!

I should say that I (usually) enjoy cooking. There are days when -- like any other chore -- it's a drag to fit in proper meal prep. I've gotten better at responding to that by having on hand a frozen dinner or two I can just heat up. But most of the time, it's a happy task to cook.

In reading these responses, though, I'm reminded that I have simplified some without even realizing it. I almost never make cookies (as AmeliaJane points out, squares and bars are just as good and much less labor). Or meatballs. Or ravioli. There are foods I used to make from scratch but don't anymore because commercially-available products are almost as good, much less time/work, and not much more expensive. I have become more efficient in using my tools -- for instance, I'll cut up vegetable ingredients and garnishes before cutting up raw meat so I don't have to wash the knife and cutting board during prep. I've even toyed with the idea of getting a second chef's knife so I don't have to clean between ingredients. But do I need it? I have a dishwasher which uses less water to wash than I do by hand, so I use it.

When I was young and single and just starting my career, cooking was simple. I made two hot dishes casseroles a week. One was lunch for the week and the other was dinner. If I hated a dish by the end of the week, I tossed the recipe. I'm not sure I could go back to that, though.

So maybe cooking is simple enough...

[jp1]

We are decidedly less simple in the kitchen now than when I was single. When single my rule of thumb was 45 minutes for prep, eating and cleanup. If a meal took longer than that I had better be making it for more than just me. Dinner was regularly a bean burrito with random veggies, basic spaghetti and homemade marinara, a grilled cheese, or something easily simple and quick. I was perfectly fine with that style of eating but SO likes more of a meal and wants meat of some sort most nights. We've got an assortment of quick go to meals for when we're too tired/lazy to cook, but we do a lot of stuff that takes more effort/time. I'm ok with that since I like good food and prefer to work from scratch or at least with reasonably healthy packaged food like ravioli. Lately we've been doing a lot of stir-fry with random veggies, whatever we got from the CSA that week. Now that I'm learning what order to add them so they're all done at the same time it's actually a quick and easy meal.

When I was a kid my mother's idea of simple in the kitchen was Swanson's TV dinners. just peel back the foil for certain parts of the meal that need to brown, pop it in the oven for a while and presto! Dinner's ready! Not even much cleanup since the dish you cook it in and eat from gets tossed in the trash... If that's simple than no thank you.

[Tussiemussies]

Simplicity in the kitchen for me means:

Using china instead of paper plates
Using cloth napkins instead of paper
Cooking from scratch including cooking more than enough to possibly freeze half of the meal
Running the dishwasher only when it is full
Cooking from scratch all of the time to save money on food
Making a week's meal plan and when grocery shopping sticking only to that list
Not rushing in any aspect while prepping/cooking/clean up
I enjoy buying new cookbooks from time to time but I know a lot of people just get recipes from the Internet
Cutting down my dish detergent with water
I buy in bulk for things I use when I have coupons for it and it is on sale


Hope this helps....chris

[Zoebird]

We keep it simple by having a very basic meal plan with easy-to-prepare meals. DH does most of the food prep, so it has to be very simple. Here is our basic menu:

breakfast: eggs in butter and vegetables or fresh juice

lunch: "supplemental meat" (ie, left overs) plus salad

snacks: nuts, seeds, and fruit

dinner: meat (two fish; two steak/beef; two chicken; one venison) plus salad (raw in summers, warm in winters)

desserts: frozen berries with yogurt or coconut cream, sometimes with a square of chocolate chopped up
drink: tea or water

Special treats include making our paleo banana muffins which might be flavored (carrot, pumpkin, beet/chocolate, etc). that's a very rare and special treat. Sometimes we also make paleo pancakes.

I typically only eat breakfast and dinner, sometimes a snack, and sometimes a dessert. DH and DS eat most of the rest. :)

We also have minimal equipment. Our juicer died, so we're looking at getting a really good blender so that we can make pate, pureed soups, as well as juice. But in terms of appliances, we have a crock pot and soon will have a blender. And otherwise we have a muffin tin, a pie plate (i like to make quiches on occasion, and we roast potatoes on it), an iron skillet, and a pot (for steaming veg/etc). And a tea pot for boiling water on the stove. And we have minimal dishes (3 salad plates, 3 bowls, 3 mugs, 3 sets of tableware) and we use tea towels as napkins.

All of our storage containers are either glass jars (reused) or plastic containers (reused).

It keeps our kitchen simple, I think.

[Ahh The Simple Name]

I have a few blog posts at http://www.ahhthesimplelife.com (http://www.ahhthesimplelife.com/) that deal with this topic:
For simple recipes: click on our EAT Simply heading, then click on COOK Simply for “Fourth of July Salads,” “5 Simple Inexpensive Dinner Recipes,” and “Best Ever Homemade Tomato Sauce,” a favorite with our readers.
For some suggestions about getting dinner on the table fast: http://www.ahhthesimplelife.com/10-easy-tips-to-help-you-get-out-of-the-kitchen/
Kind Regards, Carol

[Rogar]

I do single person cooking much of the time. I would imagine things would be similar for a couple, but probably a whole different story for homes with kids. I cook in bulk when ever possible and freeze or otherwise store part of of the recipe in smaller sized containers for later. It takes some experimenting to find what freezes well. Most soups and sauces with out cheese, potatoes, or milk will freeze well. Homemade pizza dough, pie dough and some bread dough freeze well. I don't eat too much meat, but same goes. Granola is made in several quart batches. I may cook several chicken breasts and freeze in portions for later use in chicken salad or additions to recipes. Bottom line is that I may only do real cooking two or three times a week. The rest of the time it's more like assembling, thawing and reheating, or simple warming.

I may have one of the smaller kitchens in the county and keep counter space to a maximum by storing as much as possible in cabinets, and have minimized cooking gadgets and pots and pans.

[Selah]

I try to keep things simple in my kitchen by:
Shopping with a list.
Using cloth napkins, china and flatware.
Running a dishwasher.
Keeping stocked up so I don't have to waste time abandoning a recipe mid-stream to go out and get a missing ingredient.
Having cooking utensils that are strong and sturdy enough to work well and last a long time.
Distinguishing between when high quality is needed (e.g., knives, pans) and not (a cheap serving bowl can function just as well as an expensive one).
Being careful not to break or lose my stuff! I have a stash of "potluck" type serving dishes that I don't care if they get broken, borrowed, or lost for good.
Cleaning out my fridge regularly to find lurking items and (hopefully) prevent them from expiring and getting wasted.
Making large batches of soup so I can have some to freeze.
Soaking grains and pulses so they give more nutritional bang for the buck.

I REALLY need to work on not letting fruit and vegetables go bad, though. I'm starting to make a concerted effort to write the recipe down on my shopping list (the name of the recipe), so when I get home, I won't forget why I bought that mango and leek!
Significantly cutting down on buying processed food, as much as I love it!

[artist]

For me simplicity doesn't necessarily mean quicker, especially when it comes to the kitchen. I feel that simplicity starts with having good quality cooking tools that can serve multiple purposes. In this way I don't have a kitchen full of clutter, utensils and small appliances that rarely get used. I also love to do things by hand if possible. Kneading dough by hand, slow cooking meals, using a variety of fresh ingredients, veggies from the farmers market and fresh herbs from my garden... etc.. are all a huge part of what I think of when I think simplicity in the kitchen. Cooking for me is a simple pleasure and a process to be enjoyed, the smells and textures of food to be experienced. Quick cooking in the microwave or processed foods, do not appeal to me in anyway.

[AmeliaJane]

Oh, yes, on the appliance front being picky about what I acquire. I did not get a stand mixer or food processor until I was in a kitchen big enough for them--now they are on a little cart I can pull out. I occasionally look enviously at other people's espresso makers, soda stream machines, ice cream makers, etc but know I would not get enough use out of them to justify the space. I have a couple of grilling appliances I should probably dispose of to the Goodwill--they are not worth the trouble of cleaning after use.

[Ahh The Simple Name]

Here is a blog post on this subject from my friend Christy King of The Simple White Rabbit: http://thesimplewhiterabbit.com/2013/07/09/simplify-the-kitchen/

[Ahh The Simple Name]

Having a minimum of versatile tools fits. The ones in my latest blog post are versatile, time saving, and not at all expensive.
10 Time Saving Kitchen Tools
http://www.ahhthesimplelife.com/10-time-saving-kitchen-tools/

[ApatheticNoMore]

I'm really liking the half habit, half resolution I've gotten into of using more glass. I've been buying food in glass instead of plastic or tin when I have the choice. It is much easier to wash. Glass comes clean easily in a way plastic etc. never will, and I hate dishes. I have to intuitively think it's better for the environment (at least than plastic) although people could debate that. My storage containers are mostly glass and the ones that are are much easier to clean, plus all my plates and bowls always have been.

[bthatch]

For me, simplicity means fewer ingredients (just the basics). I do not have children so I am aware that makes making dinner and meals less complicated, especially since we know what we want and there is no issue with one picky eater and such. I do not like to cook with a bunch of sauces and mixes, and just an extra condiment that makes the process take longer. If I need to marinate meat I let it thaw the night before and marinate it in a bag in the fridge while I'm at work...usually bake it in the oven and it's done. I use fresh veggies and just saute them quickly in a pan with a tiny bit of coconut oil. Simple yet still good and the best part...when you use less ingredients, it's usually a healthier dish.
:)

[mira]

This has been very interesting to read - so many different takes on it.

For me, simplicity in the kitchen means having the least number of tools/utensils to do the most number of jobs, having a constant sore of basic ingredients (spices, herbs, canned tomatoes, pasta, rice etc) so that there's always something to make a meal with, getting the best value/most nutritious food & ingredients by always scrutinizing the ingredients listing and price-per 100g/ml or unit etc...

It's more about the mechanics behind the cooking for me rather than the cooking itself (although I do normally insist on doing it from scratch!).