Survey on oil

You had asked what "we" used most and you got your answer. Now it's up to you to decide what "you" will use most. That is what tastes best, is probably the first thought. Obviously you are going to use butter or some such for buttering your bread, toast, etc. instead of veggie oil because it tastes better even tho the veggie oil is better for you (?). Both have 100 calories per T and the butter may have salt in it. That's just one example. You don't have to have a battery of oils etc to cook with. I personally keep butter, Pam and peanut oil to cook with and probably don't use any one of those daily - maybe 5 times a week. A skillet isn't the only tool to cook with when you consider casseroles, pots and pans of all shapes and sizes. Until you have cooked for a period of time you are not going to be doing a lot of fancy cooking and with all your jobs there will probably be a few "go to" recipes you will use over and over, maybe w/variations and big stews, roasts, soups that you will turn to to help you out. So concentrate on finding maybe 5-7 completely different meals that you can cook over and over until you could do them in your sleep. Everyone has to start someplace Most cooking classes start w/teaching students how to make omelets. There are so many kinds from French thru American thru Italian: fluffy, flat, hard, soft and so on. As a gardener you know that a person can't just jump in there and grow gorgeous roses, perfect tomatoes, etc etc and the same goes w/housework: washing, drying, dishwashing, cleaning, cooking, shopping, and so on. You'll get it and get it good because you have a lot of excellent reasons to do so. Patience and take it slow. You'll get there!!

Ann

The one my DH uses for his basic everyday put in the pan is the Canola

Ann,well said!!!
Thanks Nan
Everybody has been so helpful here,with tons of great info,now I'll have to do rest,but you guys have started me down the right path!

I agree, start with a bottle of Canola. or safflower for the health benfits. Or another- it really doesn't matter. W got in the preference zone, not the start with basics zone.
Maybe we should have a thread for "beginning to cook." or good easy meals.

I like the easy meals that you can cook in one skillet ,less clean up!!!LOL

Most of the world population probably subsists on one-pot meals. ^_^
You can probably start with your meat, and veg, add water and then grain or pasta , simmer to finish., like a "helper," or rice mix package.

I grew up on the tail end of the great depression. When we had fish we caught them in the local creek. When we had vegetables we grew them. A single cow provided milk, next years beef and butter while a few chickens and pigeons were in the mix. We trapped for fur and meat. Little was wasted and most became a one pot meal. Trading services for food was a common practice. We had an ice house built each fall. Mom cooked on an oil stove and used a cave to preserve garden raised food. We had to buy or trade for salt and summer ice. Pork was canned or smoked when on occasion dad came home with a pig for his weeks work on a neighbors barn. We were in church every week where we kids had a nickel for the collection and dad and mom had a quarter. Dad was so proud when he could finally put a paper dollar on the collection plate. I was born in thirty six and got my first bicycle in 1944 second handed. Most steel was still one way or another serving the war effort. I never saw a new bike until 1947 and it was not on our back porch. We got off school to gather milkweed seed heads or pods that got put into flight jacket insulation. The tin cans we gathered for the second use of the steel in them got us a ride in a jeep.

We have not forgotten how our dads survived. Some of those skills were passed on to our kids and now grandchildren. When the going gets tough the tough get going. Gardening is somewhere close to square one to get through difficult times. Creative food prep is right in there too. There were no steaks in those days when the same meat would make a two or three day one pot meal for the family. We kids never knew any better. We made it through.
The only thing I remember a specific dislike for was dandilion salad even when we had a sweet and sour dressing. Still do not care for it no matter who makes it or how it is made.

Thanks Doc,
That was very interesting reading about your life at the tail end of the depression.
I heard many stores from my father and mother who lived threw the depression as well,and it was either eat Possum,or Rabbit 3 times a day if lucky,dad would say they had rabbit soup for breakfast.lunch and dinner!!!
That reminds me we have a couple different sizes and styles of crock pots,the wife never used hardly,I could make one pot meals with them!!!
Thanks again
Don

Oh, crock pots are a good thing!!

Yep,I think I'll try a pot of beans tomorrow night!
Cook on low,throw in some slices of bacon and Grandma always out a potato in there as well,Takes out the gas,if you get my meaning!!!LOL

Don't forget the onion................if all else fails the onion will save the day. :))

I never forget the onion,but I prefer to have mine diced and put on fresh with my beans .
Wife like hers cook in with the beans,but the fresh gives my taste buds a smile!