I want chicken, I want liver...

[Mistress M]

Ok, so I want to take a survey here...wait, have we done this before? Getting old and the mind is starting to go ...anyhoo...

What did you have for dinner tonight? What's a typical dinner for you? I keep seeing all these commercials, and I wonder: am I only person who actually cooks? especially those stupid lean cuisine commercials with everyone being all: "I had a box of chocolates and a sweaty sock..." and getting mad at the one woman who ate a real dinner until she excuses herself by saying it was lean cusine

Tonight, I made some salmon I had marinated, artichokes (they were on sale, 2 for $1!!) and some rice pilaf. This is pretty standard for me...two-three times a week I'll cook up a nice meal, and then eat the leftovers the next couple of days. Just cause I'm single and poor doesn't mean I can't eat right!

So what's typical for you? what did you have for dinner tonight? is it usually all fresh, or out of a box, or picked up from the chinese resterant down the street?

[Cozmo D]

Yvette is cooking salmon cakes tonight. I don't know what veggies yet, but I'll be eating left over collard greens with plenty of hot sauce.

We have been eating a lot healthier lately. She either cooks or we eat leftovers 5 to 6 nights a week. We'll eat out 1 or 2 nights, usually Chinese or pizza. Our usual cooked fare is either chicken or fish, with an occasional (ground turkey, chicken or bison) burger night and an even rarer steak night. We'll do lamb if we can find it at decent price. We have green veggies or salad just about every night, and a starch of either rice or potatoes most nights as well, though on burger night we will often let the bread or buns be the starch.

DAMMIT! Now I'm starvin!!!

[pmFan]

Tonight I grilled some left-over prime rib, Amy heated up corn (out of a can) and instant garlic mashed potatoes. Kids had baked fish sticks and tater tots (although my youngest also had some corn and mashed potatoes).

Typically for us it is 1 night out (varies - Hooters, Bennigans, chinese, Chili's, etc). The other nights are a starch (potatoes, rice, or baked (nuked) potatoes), a veggie (canned corn, anned beans, fresh beans, or salad), and a meat like chicken or burger. Many nights it is a casserole with the basics in it (poor food *always* tastes good!).

[can]

Yvette is cooking salmon cakes tonight. I don't know what veggies yet, but I'll be eating left over collard greens with plenty of hot sauce.

OMG i LOVE collards.....
i don't eat dinner usually unless Jason is cooking it... today i had a petite sirloin and fresh broccoli, a baked potato and a small salad for lunch...
i work at Ruby Tuesdays so i got to cook it myself.. and all that only cost me $6.00!!!
woo hoo...
On the occasion when i do get the time to cook, i like to make stir fry with chicken, or spaghetti with meatballs, or a big salad... or sopa de pollo with avocado...

[Etherspin]

subway veggie roll with southwest sauce for lunch, ricotta and spinach tortellini, often carrots and celery with spicy dips, or sweet potato & pumpkin with cabbage,satay and sour cream.. ill admit im a sucker for dominos thin and crispy vegorama pizza and thus am overweight by vegetarian standards..

[justafan]

went to a friends house tonight to watch the NU bowl game. He made grilled ribs and fried some chicken wings up. It was delish. There was strawberry cheesecake for dessert and a few chocolate chip cookies - washed down with a few cold miller lights.

A normal night is meat(chicken, steak or pork) a frozen veggies(cooked of course) and a starch.

[Mistress M]

This is most interesting...so far, it looks like most of us prepare at least some of our food -- particularly the meat dishes -- and sides are semi-prepared (frozen veggies, canned veggies, etc)...keep the answers coming!

[ChrisLDog]

Last night we had a Costco/Trader Joes meal. We had the Mandarin chicken and frozen veggies from Trader Joes and the spinach salad from Costco. Sometimes we get the rotissarie chicken from Costco and have just the chicken and one of their salads. Mmmmm, so yummy.

But usually we have some kind of frozen entree with frozen veggies and a salad we make at home. We usually go out for dinner about once a week as well.

For lunch though, it's usually a sub sandwich or a burrito or one of the 2-piece chicken meals from El Pollo Loco.

There's just no time to cook and clean up a real meal!!!

[Terrick]

last night i split the cost of a $7 pizza with a friend. at my apartment, i usually eat crackers and cheese or crackers and peanut butter. with juicy juice.

[Cozmo D]

last night i split the cost of a $7 pizza with a friend. at my apartment, i usually eat crackers and cheese or crackers and peanut butter. with juicy juice.

You can't afford proper food but you can afford to drink Juicy Juice?

You stumbled out of the nest a little too early kid!

[Terrick]

i don't like pop, so i drink milk, water, and juice. a bottle of juicy juice usually lasts me a week and a half. i'm not sharing with five other people anymore, so i can afford a two dollar bottle every 11 days.


i'm trying to sublet and move back home soon anyway.

[Wheeljak]

You can't afford proper food but you can afford to drink Juicy Juice?
You stumbled out of the nest a little too early kid!

Aw, c'mon, Coz! Are you telling me that when you were 18 years old, you weren't filling your stomach with garbage like that, too? Shoot; when I was 18, I was never more than 15 feet away from a can of aerosol cheese. Sometimes, I'd even cut out the cracker middleman, and just suck that orange glop straight out of the can.
And for dessert: dry kool-aid powder, from scoop to mouth.

[Mistress M]

Aw, c'mon, Coz! Are you telling me that when you were 18 years old, you weren't filling your stomach with garbage like that, too? Shoot; when I was 18, I was never more than 15 feet away from a can of aerosol cheese. Sometimes, I'd even cut out the cracker middleman, and just suck that orange glop straight out of the can.
And for dessert: dry kool-aid powder, from scoop to mouth.

ohhh, no! maybe it's a mediterranean background, but at 18, I lived off of pasta fagoli with homemade sauce. I would make a huge pot of sauce and put it in little containers in the freezer and heat it up every night when I made the pasta. I think that was the worst of my "not balanced meals" days cause I was so poor. But for $5 I could eat decent food for a week. But that's one thing I learned from my family -- even if you can't pay your bills, you still better be eating right. I remember when my parents divorced and my mom and brother and I couldn't even afford to buy meat, there was still sauce on the stove every night, and we still fed anyone who came to the house -- even if all we could offer was beans and rice!

(and a sneaking suspicion tells me it was always the same at Coz's house too...:wink

[Cozmo D]

i'm trying to sublet and move back home soon anyway.

[Cozmo D]

Aw, c'mon, Coz! Are you telling me that when you were 18 years old, you weren't filling your stomach with garbage like that, too? Shoot; when I was 18, I was never more than 15 feet away from a can of aerosol cheese. Sometimes, I'd even cut out the cracker middleman, and just suck that orange glop straight out of the can.
And for dessert: dry kool-aid powder, from scoop to mouth.

Nope, not me. When I was 18 I was a serious pothead. My Mother or my Grandmother fed me and they didn't buy nothing but good food. They only kept the most nutritious types of food and munchies in the house, which was good since all my munchies money went to herb.

[Cozmo D]

ohhh, no! maybe it's a mediterranean background, but at 18, I lived off of pasta fagoli with homemade sauce. I would make a huge pot of sauce and put it in little containers in the freezer and heat it up every night when I made the pasta. I think that was the worst of my "not balanced meals" days cause I was so poor. But for $5 I could eat decent food for a week. But that's one thing I learned from my family -- even if you can't pay your bills, you still better be eating right. I remember when my parents divorced and my mom and brother and I couldn't even afford to buy meat, there was still sauce on the stove every night, and we still fed anyone who came to the house -- even if all we could offer was beans and rice!

(and a sneaking suspicion tells me it was always the same at Coz's house too...:wink

Yep. We were brought up in a traditionally Caribbean manner. Meals were ALWAYS balanced! Meat, starch, green vegetable, and usually a yellow vegetable to boot. I was lucky enough to be blessed with a moms and grandparents who always had food in the fridge.

I left home at 18... and rented a room in my grandmother's house. She fed me even better than my moms did. Grandpops threw me out at 20 (because my cousin got pregnant, somehow he figured it was my fault ), moved back in with my moms. Grandmoms made him let me back in, so I had 2 places to go back and forth to with free full meals in each. Stayed that way until Yvette and I got married when I was 21... I had taught her how to cook proper meals by then.

One thing that I never was is stupid (or hungry)!

[Wheeljak]

Yep. We were brought up in a traditionally Caribbean manner. Meals were ALWAYS balanced! Meat, starch, green vegetable, and usually a yellow vegetable to boot. I was lucky enough to be blessed with a moms and grandparents who always had food in the fridge.

I left home at 18... and rented a room in my grandmother's house. She fed me even better than my moms did. Grandpops threw me out at 20 (because my cousin got pregnant, somehow he figured it was my fault ), moved back in with my moms. Grandmoms made him let me back in, so I had 2 places to go back and forth to with free full meals in each. Stayed that way until Yvette and I got married when I was 21... I had taught her how to cook proper meals by then.
One thing that I never was is stupid (or hungry)!

So basically, what you're saying is that when you were a youngun, you never really had to feed yourself... consider yourself blessed.
Shoot... during my last year of college, I was stone cold broke, and my class schedule didn't allow much time for a way to earn some money. I was steady finding ways to stay alive for a week on a box of spaghetti, a gallon of milk, a bunch of bananas, and a box of Grape-nuts. I would have wasted away if not for the charity of good friends, who would treat me to some meat and veggies sometimes.

[Chief]

dammit.....where is the damn govt cheese when you need it?????

[Cozmo D]

So basically, what you're saying is that when you were a youngun, you never really had to feed yourself... consider yourself blessed.

Nope, not really, though I was cooking full meals by the time I was 11 or so. I was a latch-key kid long before the phrase was invented.

And yes... I consider myself blessed... always!

[pmFan]

dammit.....where is the damn govt cheese when you need it?????

HA! I remember those days! I liked the cheese! And PB!