Darienne

No photos. Just made and froze 9 containers of Martha Stewart's (with some changes, of course) chicken soup. And 8 containers of Ratatouille. Each container is one meal for two persons (us).

Welcome to the forum, xDraug. And welcome to the cooking life. And I have to admit that I was 67 years old before it ever hit me, so you have such a headstart on my learning curve.

Batch cooking is how we live. How we have lived for many years now. How I missed this topic I cannot say. We are the proud owners of an incredible 1976 chest freezer in the cellar which still runs beautifully, plus a large chest 'dog' freezer in the garage (where things go for their primary freeze-up), plus two full fridges (we had a son live with us for a few years) each with a freezer and thus, although I hate the 'chest freezers' with a passion, we have LOTS of freezer space and trust me it is well used. I started to make a list of all the dishes I batch cook and those which Ed batch cooks and how we pack things and freeze them and mark them and thaw them and reheat them and how I keep track of them. But I probably don't have anything useful to add to the posts already up. We are neither of us accomplished cooks and are probably satisfied with meals which fall short of the mark. So, many thanks Marlene for starting this topic and I'll gladly follow it now. And check our Canadian Tire for those meal prep containers (thanks Faux Pas).

I've already been there and done that and I don't like it and I won't ever do it again.

Never.

I use butter and salt and pepper and that's it. I don't care about the size of the curds, just the degree of cooked. In fact, I had one egg scrambled on toast for breakfast today. I was just in the mood and it was delicious.

"I'm never buying any more new cookbooks", she said. "In fact, I'm giving a lot of mine to the local library". Famous last words. Then the local library, with the 'dreadful' cookbook collection, bought Bonnie Stern & Anna Rupert, Don't Worry, Just Cook, Foreword by Yotam Ottolenghi, Penguin, Random House, Canada, 2022, and I am in cookbook heaven looking at the recipes and reading the stories. I am definitely going to try some of them. Wonderful. I think I just might have to buy this book.

I'm with you on this one. Never, never, never put any dairy into the egg.

I'm a one person egg cooker and eater. I had an unfortunate experience as a toddler, WWII time which is significant, with a British woman babysitting me having come from a country with severe rationing, and by golly, I was going to eat that soft boiled egg. Well, I did...temporarily...and then never ate eggs again in any form as a separate component, until I learned to cook my own scrambled eggs the way I like them.

Perhaps a small thing, but mine own. ...assume that because I cannot find a recipe in a soup cookbook...or any other cookbook...in the index under 'eggplant', that there are no eggplant recipes in the book. Accidentally my eye caught the title of a recipe listed which included 'courgettes' in the entry and then realized it was a British cookbook and looked under 'aubergine' and lo and behold! There were my eggplant possibilities. The cookbook in question was published in 2007 and you would have thought that there might have been an entry in the index which cross-referenced eggplant to aubergine.

First thing I opened this morning and got my (still sick) morning off to a horribly disturbed start: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2022/10/from-poisoned-party-to-toxic-toast-how-to-get-nerve-poison-out-of-your-food/?utm_source=Food+Safety+News&utm_campaign=f6b2cc0f55-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f46cc10150-f6b2cc0f55-40727769 Read this only after you are feeling strong. It's devastating. Added question: How did I get to be 81 years old, having since about the age of 40, read countless articles about the best diets to follow, what foods to avoid, and so on and so on, and this is the very first time I've ever read anything like this?

Dear Suzilightning did send a big box of cookbooks to my small rural library some time in 2020. She was duly thanked by our librarian and the books were much appreciated.

I came very late to this cooking game...about 67 I think. Prior to that I had cooked...but I had also made beds and cleaned toilets. Then suddenly the appearance of an unfamiliar word...ganache...triggered a tsunami of cooking...and buying of new and second hand cookbooks. Now I'm much older and not improving with each shining hour. Not complaining..well, maybe just a bit ...but rather setting the background. So now I've come to that point in my life where it's time to downsize many aspects of life, in this case my cookbooks. I don't live close enough to anyone to give any of them away, but I do belong to a small rural library with a dreadful selection of cookbooks and so it's about to benefit from my largesse. It will catalogue the goodies and sell the others. I'll get started just as soon as I live through this horrible cold/flu/bronchitis/? .

I own one of the cookbooks put out by Rick Bayless and one by Diana Kennedy....but my long term go-to cookbook is Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking, 1967. I've owned the paperback since 1967, which predates my interest in cooking by a few decades.

I'm quite sure that you are correct on this one. Good to know that you have had the same experience. The packaging is long gone I'm afraid.

I have no idea what a normal sodium content should be...and I am just too depleted to do more about it today than complain! Thanks for the phone number.

Is it my imagination or is the Lactantia Salted Butter more salted than usual? The current batch I'm using is salted to the point that even I am having trouble enjoying it. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

If I were to make it, and I think I just might, for the baby food, I would simply use whatever amount a small baby food jar holds (Google... 4 ounces) of my prune spread that I make to eat on toast. Equal amounts of dried prunes and water, cooked to soft and mushy, processed in the food processor with a goodly dollop of minced ginger.

I really do think we need a "WOW" icon.

And Pomegranate arils?

Food Safety News again, from the publisher Bill Marler, probably not the happiest thing to read first thing in the morning....Publisher's Platform: My 5 minutes with FDA. It's so discouraging. Always.

A Book of Middle Eastern Food. I bought this book in 1974, still in the days when I still loathed cooking. And I've made dishes out of it ever since, starting with Tabbouleh and Hummus which I've always loved. One of the best features of this book, and one that I have always loved in a cookbook, is the stories that Roden gives the reader... who ate the dish and when and why, and what were its beginnings. Fascinating. I see that the Orange and Almond Cake, listed in this presentation, is also in this book and I think I'll make it very soon.

Are you suggesting that we emigrate to Germany? I'm sure we are too old to emigrate anywhere.

This morning Ed went to our nearby small sized city (I was going to say 'medium', but I think that would be pushing it some) and did the groceries as usual and although russet potatoes were on the list, he came home without them, but rather with 'Fancy Pak washed potatoes' from Simcoe, ON. He looked for russets in three major shopping grocery chains and found only potatoes designated as 'white', 'yellow' and 'red'. No russets. Nary a one. The purchased potatoes, not even called 'white' were however in a bin marked 'russet potatoes'. No, he didn't ask about this fact. Went to the brand website. It says they grow white, yellow and red potatoes. Has anyone else had this experience of not being able to find russet potatoes?

Oh oh, I seem to have gotten my wires crossed. I wondered why you wanted you wanted to know about how we used our new air fryer but didn't notice the topic. I've now edited the first post. Of course those are not potatoes...those are onions which I dehydrated. Sorry about that.