On 30 Apr 2008, at 19:17, Lisa Sporleder wrote:

> I cook lots of stuff in those times when I'm doing other things  
> somewhere near the kitchen and can just give something a stir every  
> 5-10 minutes without devoting much attention to it.

Unfortunately that's my problem, there's no way I can concentrate on  
my job (computer programmer) with food in the oven as it takes me  
longer than 10 minutes to get my concentration back if I have to go  
and see to something else.


> I bake chicken a family pack at a time...put meat in pan, put pan in  
> oven, set timer, don't think about until timer goes off...lunches  
> for the week.

Again, it's a nice idea if you eat in the day but I would end up  
eating this as a single day's food...

> As for roasting, my indispensable kitchen tool is the programmable  
> meat thermometer.  You set the thermometer for the temperature that  
> you want to take the roast out of the oven, poke the probe into the  
> roast, put the roast in the oven, and when the thing starts beeping,  
> take the roast out.  The probe attaches by a thin, flexible cable to  
> the temperature setting/beeper part, which is magnetic and sticks to  
> the side of my stove.  No more checking on the roast, no more  
> overcooking because I got busy doing something else.  Wipe off the  
> probe and cable with a damp cloth after use, and it's ready to go  
> again.  It was a little pricey, but so worth it!

Sounds like a good idea!  Unfortunately the house I'm in now is not  
really suited to it - the oven that works is 2 floors down and there  
are 3 fire doors between us.  Any oven thermometer I could hear in my  
room would probably be loud enough to kill a small mammal.


> If I had to cook a full-fledged meal every day, I'd end up eating  
> crappy foods that my body doesn't handle well.

I find the opposite! When I snack I end up eating worse stuff, or at  
least much less variety, and don't bother to prepare veg.


> If eating through the day and not eating after about 3 p.m. means  
> I'm doing IF, then that's what I'm doing most of the time.

I think it depends on the size of your eating window.  If you are  
eating 9-3 your eating window is 6 hours so your fasting window  
(assuming you don't drink any calorie-rich drinks in the evening) is  
18 hours.  Currently my split is usually 5/19 to 3/21.

If I ate every other day I'd probably have two meals that day - so I'd  
have a 6 hour eating window and a 42 fasting period, which is double  
what I have now.  (I might do the veg every day thing though).

> But check out that programmable meat thermometer!  Simplifies  
> roasting considerably.

Will do, thanks.

Ashley