How much time do you spend cooking?

[Morning Glory]

Obviously it may vary according to the day, the meal or how busy you are

In my book, cooking includes preperation of ingredients and the cooking when you are in attendance. So if its in the oven for an hour, that hour doesn't count.

I'm no longer fit enough for extended cooking sessions. I cook and prep in fits and bursts. So, I tend to go for simpler cooking solutions. I am quite fast and efficient though.

How much time do you spend?

 

[TastyReuben]

Let’s see…if it’s a weekday…hmmm…maybe 5 minutes for breakfast (bowl of cereal) if that, and lunch is typically reheating leftovers or making a sandwich, so 10 minutes, and the evening meal, probably closer to 45 minutes.

Weekends…breakfast would be more like 30 minutes, lunch might be closer to 20 minutes, but a main meal, especially on Sundays, can easily be an hour.

 

[Barriehie]

Breakfast is rare but 15 minutes.
Lunch is usually a sandwich or AF hotdog so 8 minutes.
Dinner can be up to an hour with multiple dishes.

 

[Gone Hiking]

It depends. I like to cook a lot of braised dishes, so it's often 3 or 4 hours from the time I start pulling out ingredients until dinner is ready. Even while the food is cooking, I'm making side dishes and cleaning up. Leftovers become lunches or dinners over the following days.

 

[detroitdad]

Anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Now that my bride is part time, she is doing more of the cooking. Unfortunately, I'm spending less time in the kitchen.

 

[TastyReuben]

Everything for our salads:

49 minutes and 11 seconds to get everything washed, chopped, and assembled into:

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

Right!

There's "active and inactive time" with all meal preps, so I pick my battles.

If I know that I'll have an entire, say three days free to myself, with NO OTHER responsibilities, to dedicate to a recipe(s), I'll plan it out according to my schedule.
I'll make an involved, batch cook, of something or another.
I also love to bake stuff in batches and freeze what we don't eat within the next, oh, three days...

On a day-to-day basis:
less than 5 minutes for a quick breakfast for DH (I wait until brunch or lunch to eat my first meal of the day) - cold cereal, yogurt, fruit, you know the drill
leftovers re-heated for lunch - less than 5 minutes (or sub for linner - late lunch/early dinner)
supper is something that was from the deep freeze and nuked - less than 10 minutes, including any sides
I hate to say that I've taken to "frozen heat and eat meals" or the batched stuff as of late, being as I have just WAY too much to do in my day... and I keep several of them in the deep freeze (Thank you Trader Joe's)

I love to make a nice spread for Sunday Brunch though...
That can take ... maybe 30-45 minutes with multiple components, such as:

Eggs
Taylors Ham/Pork Roll or Sausages or, ya know, BACON, maybe Spam® or Vienna Sausages
Potatoes of some sort
Cut up fresh Fruits
Some kind of Bread item
A fresh pot of that ever present steamed White Rice

Then I'll make sure that the table is all set and ready for action along the way

(I give a "two minute warning" so that if SOMEONE needs to go potty-we're all good)

ORDER UP!!!

 

[karadekoolaid]

Per day? I cook every single day, I'd guess. Usually a couple of hours in the afternoon, plus my son's breakfast - about 10 minutes.
Today and yesterday were exceptions; 6 hours per day.

 

[Z-Cook]

For most cooking days and for the most part - unless I'm making something special or something I want to try out - I generally make dishes and meals that are uncomplicated and that are either quite fast to put together or can be left to cook unattended. I braise and bake a lot and slow cook or fast fry. Timers are essential as it's very easy to get on with something else and forget

When cooking, probably about 30 - 40 minutes a day on average.

 

[badjak]

Breakfast is easy as I don't eat it

Brunch/lunch is generally left overs. But since I don't have a microwave, it requires reheating on the stove top and maybe rice or pasta to cook 10-15 minutes?

Dinner active time? No idea.
Choppping onions, garlic, chili's. Maybe pounding in mortar & pestle..
Cleaning & cutting veges
Frying some form of meat on the stove top or maybe on the charcoal grill
Assembling, stirring, tasting, checking...
Maybe an hour on average?
Up to several I decide I want nasi rames or a small rijsttafel.

Then the other stuff
Making sambal, processing fruits/vegetables etc

 

[Morning Glory]

Everything for our salads:

View attachment 141619

49 minutes and 11 seconds to get everything washed, chopped, and assembled into:

View attachment 141620

That seems quite slow compared to me. I'd have to try making the same thing though to be sure.

That isn't meant as a criticism!

 

[GadgetGuy]

It depends on what I'm cooking.