Life in the fast lane!!

Stu

Stu

Active member
Watching the TV the other night listening to a woman banging on about how people haven't got time to cook as we live life so fast. And it got me thinking...

At no time in our industrial history have we worked fewer hours for so much (relative) reward; wages, holidays, sick pay.

I can travel to the Highlands for a weekends ice climbing, a journey that in itself would have taken twice the time I spent climbing just to get there. Easyjey, RyanAir etc.

Leisure is one of the fastest growing industries in the world (evidenced from the above perhaps?).

How does this all add up to the claim we live in a fast paced world. Surely we've got more time on our hands? Isn't it just a tired old media strap line which some how is used to explain why families don't sit down to eat? There may be more to do but isn't it our decision on how our hours are spent. Sorry M'lud, can't control my yobbo kids... we live in a too fast world!








Rant over!!
 
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darkplaces

Guest
Well life isnt a constant speed. I'm busy trying to book myself weekend events, evening events then I suddenly get a free evening/weekend and have bugger all to do..

So we end up just being busy taking leisure, cramming caves or quarrys inbetween food and work. We have such high expectations of filling our lives with interesting and wild and fun things todo, and why not. I actually find it so bloody boring to sit down at a table, be all nice and pass the napkin and have a dinner party, what crap, snobbish, boring, waist of an evening. When you could have been grunting your way down a passage with some good friends, have something interesting to say and pull out a crushed pasty and be loving every minute of it.
 
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dunc

New member
We do have it easy these days, compared to many years ago in terms of the workplace..

We don't spend as much time doing jobs around the house - cooking cleaning etc as we used to.. A lot of people work then the time they have don't see the point in working at home for hours so cooking etc is done quickly and conveniently so as free/leisure time is maximised - I mean you get fk all reward when you die if you've been a hard worker so why not enjoy yourself as best you can!!?

Years ago attitudes were different, people and lifestyles change - people don't place anywhere near as much value as sitting down for a proper meal as they once did..
 
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tiggs

Guest
Ok question for you... do you think that we have a better quality of life now than say people our age had 20yrs ago...or do you think that its got better (less chores) or worse (more pressure to be doing something 24/7)

I LIKE cooking, if i have good quality ingredients not poo from the supermarket, problem is people instantly assume if you have time to cook you're obviously a saddo without a life.

I generally find cooking relaxing, i mean if i am really stressed i go make a lasagne from scratch, i love the whole process and the finished product obviously. I also tend to make a double quantity of stuff like casseroles, spag bol and lasagne and shepherds pie ( n cauliflower cheese!!) and freeze it so i can whip it out when i am in a rush/or in one of those i cant be arsed moods ...proper food, no fuss.....:D
 
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tiggs

Guest
and the last few times friends have come over at meal times i have done a roast dinner, homemade yorkshire puds, proper joint of meat from the butchers, roasties, veg... gravy made with real meat juices.. followed by homemade apple pie and custard....have people begging for more :D
 
kay

kay

Well-known member
When you say 'lasagne from scratch' do you mean really from scratch? Including making the pasta?

How many people here do 'proper cooking' - for example starting from vegetables which need to be peeled? I certainly do, though I do use short cuts that weren't available to my mother, like using tinned chopped tomatoes in sauces. And I don't usually work up the energy to do a pudding as well as a main course :wink:


There are two ways I can think of where life definitely is busier. Firstly, in my lifetime house prices have changed so that it now generally needs two incomes rather than once to buy a house. Secondly, distances travelled to work have increased, and many people are spending three hours a day or more commuting.
 
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tubby two

Guest
Damn right tiggs. a good feed is well worth the time spent making it. We're a bunch of students so it's our job to be lazy and slobbish but wee still manage to sit down together for a meal most days.

The only down side is more dishes from cooking than a take away i guess.

Yesterday i got well excited cos i'd got a squash from the grocers, i'd never had one before and did'nt know how to cook it and it didn't even taste that great- but it was still well exciting!!!

In fact, almost exciting as tellin those i'd just fed that the haggis they ate was 33% lung.... mmmm!

tt.
 
Stu

Stu

Active member
House prices is a fair point. The house I own I couldn't now afford to but and it's hardly Sheffield's finest area.
 
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tiggs

Guest
I meant from scratch as in i make the meat sauce from real mince, a proper onion n garlic and tomatoes and herbs ( yeah ok i use tinned toms and dried herbs) etc not from one of those jars, and i make my own white nutmeggy cheese sauce and grate the cheese and then assemble it not dig one out of the freezer counter of the supermarket (nor use those sauce in a jar things!) Some peoples idea of proper cooking seems to be slap it in the microwave and ping 5mins later here is your dinner YUK YUK

I buy veg that needs to be peeled (tho for some obscure reason i like them to be soil-free when i buy them, its just a Tiggs-foible!! ) I tend to keep puddings for special occaisions
 
kay

kay

Well-known member
Yeah, OK, I'm with you on the lasagne. But I don't grate the cheese for the cheese sauce - thinly sliced melts nearly as quickly and is half the effort.

I like my veg soil free too - especially potatoes. It's one of the downsides of moving to an organic supplier that I have to wash the potatoes and carrots. But it's worth it for the taste, and to have carrots that shrivel and go dry if you leave them too long like they used to when I was a kid, not go black and slimy like supermarket ones.
 
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tiggs

Guest
I struggle to find decent organic stuff near me but do now shop at the local market on a saturday and buy meat direct from the butchers which has far more flavour and isnt all wrapped in yukky plastic. I dont like this ooo yes this will still be fresh in 3 wks time idea. I also like the personal approach you get with dealing with local suppliers.

However I do think that there IS more pressure to be doing stuff all the time and that these so called time saving devices make it so that you have more pressure to think of ever more imaginative things to do in your spare time which leads to pressure. Everyone seems to be suffering from stress in various different formats...perhaps if they made their life just a little bit less full they would have more fun doing the simple things in life (like making lasagne "almost" from scratch :wink:)
 
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tubby two

Guest
Mud free veg- boo. i like eggs from the farm with the chicken-shit mark of quality instead of that silly lion thing. one annoying thing about newcastle that- no farm nearby.

This does remind me of a funny thing i heard on the radio a while back about how people down south didnt like morrisons as they thought it was a cheap shop for us common northerners- then they interviewed this feller in morrisons who said it was 'reet grand' or something like that, especially them homemade pies you just put in the microwave. good point, well made.

tt.
 
kay

kay

Well-known member
Don't know where you are in N Yorks, Tiggs, but try Beanstalk in Addingham between Ilkley and Skipton who also have an on-line shop and will deliver.

Sometimes I feel that, if we had it a little more difficult finding the necessities in life - keeping warm, getting fed, etc, we would not have time to wonder whether we were getting the most out of life and would be a lot less stressed. And sometimes I don't feel quite so jaundiced.
 
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dunc

New member
Sometimes I feel that, if we had it a little more difficult finding the necessities in life - keeping warm, getting fed, etc,we would not have time to wonder whether we were getting the most out of life and would be a lot less stressed
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Would it not be stressful trying to find food and warmth for yourself or family, I can see your point but if it was harder then surely that would provoke stress? (in other words one mistake/error/ilnness/etc means less warmth and food for yourself and loved ones..)

Its like what you hear on TV about people in this country living in poverty - I mean come on - they wouldn't know what it was if it slapped them in the face! "lack of sufficient money or material posessions for a life of moderate comfort" as it says in the dictionary.. Hmmm, having food and warmth isn't enough - seems to be multiple tvs with sky/cable, computers, phones, and other 'necessary' equipment that is required to not be "in poverty". That line of what is moderate constantly rises so there is always pressure for everyone to advance with it..

House prices is a fair point.
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House prices in this country, a problem..? nah! bit like the bargain fuel prices we have too! :LOL:
 
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Dave H

Guest
It was much better when women knew their place in the kitchen, now they want to go out to work, instead of cooking, cleaning and raising kids all day. :eek:ldgit:
And they have the cheek to complain that they are tired and don't have enough time to do THEIR jobs. Some don't even have the dinner on the table when their husband gets home and try to stop him relaxing all evening after his hard day at work.
:LOL: :twak:

I was only joking - please don't take offense!

In our house we tend to share cleaning and whoever is home first cooks the evening meal. I do let the wife do the ironing, but then she only works part time anyway.
Now the kids are older, we don't get a chance to relax until it's nearly time to go to bed in the week so that's possibly worse than in the old days. But if we want to go out on the whim at the weekend, it's much easier than it used to be.

I'm not sure that earning more means a slower pace of life, as everyone seems to live at the limit of their resources.
 
Rachel

Rachel

Active member
hey tiggs, I agree completely about the joys of relaxing while making a big shepherds pie or whatever. I'm really into homemade soup at the moment - brie and courgette or sweet potato and wensleydale are the current favourites.

Next time you're up here caving, have a look at the organic farm at Clapham. It's right on the A65, on the other side of the road to the village. It's a bit hit and miss, selection depending on whatever's been growing well that week, but I suppose that's what organic food's about.
 
pisshead

pisshead

New member
I agree that cooking can be relaxing and fun, also I love inviting people round to eat - it makes the effort of cooking really worth it, there's a reason to make dessert, and it generally tends to turn into a drunken evening with much wine and lots of good interesting chat.

The challenge I've recently set myself is curry from scratch - it's hard - I'm getting quite good at thai - a Maddah Jafferies (might be spelt wrong) 'curry bible' gives you recipes for curry pastes (fresh chillis, ginger, shallots, spices) but other curries are quite hard...

...people generally agree that they are nice, but I've not had one that tasted of curry yet! :D
 
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tubby two

Guest
How scratch is scratch? are we talking getting fresh spices and curry leaves etc? i can see how that could be impossible... but the rest is mostly pretty easy. You need a good shop, i live in one of those 'vibrant' areas of newcastle which has the bonus of an excellent indian shop. Though you might still get mugged on the way home.

Try a book called '50 curries of the world' or '50 best curries', i cant remember who its by but its on my shelf and very good...

tt.
 
pisshead

pisshead

New member
tubby two said:
How scratch is scratch?
tt.
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pretty scratch - grinding corriander and mustard seeds etc. in pestle and mortar...adding spices like turmeric, paprika...i have some really exciting things like galangal root (like ginger but more aromatic) and kaffir lime leaves too :)

but it usually tastes best if i give in a bit and use some curry powder!
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
I like beans on toast...

20p loaf of bread from Netto and 16p can of beans. Quick, simple, sometimes with a little cheese on top if i'm feeling extravegent.

I know that i could do better, and that it's not the most healthy thing in the world to eat all the time, but soo what? Why try to be as healthy as possible? I get so much stick from my housemates about "5 portions of fruit and veg a day, blah blah blah". Did early man eat 5 portions a day before? No. And did he survive the ice age? Yes.

For a year now i've eaten what most people around me to be crap, but yet i'm the healthiest i've ever been. I think health and food are too inter-twined in modern society, lies put into our heads by the food industry.

Couple of "proper" meals a week, half pint of milk a day, one vitamin tablet a day, and then crap to fill you up and give you energy inbetween. Fine.

(not having a go at anyone here, each to their own)
 
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