TV dinners vs home cooking vs restaurants vs fast food

[Spitfire]

Which one are you? Or are you a mix?

Do you just microwave a preprepared dinner then go out on the lash?

Married or single, what's the difference when it comes to this? Can you be bothered to be an enterprising cook when alone or do you default to something easy?

Do you eat better when the Mrs/girly is around or is it the same no matter what?

Do you cut corners in the pursuit of an easy life and can't be bothered to go all Michelin Star on yourself?

Added a poll for interest.

For me, like to cook but haven't mastered Thai dishes yet, but sometimes a bit lazy and definitely eat better when the wife cooks as she is a decent cook.

[richard]

Well I clicked other. I'm a real mix.

Sometimes cook for myself (stews and casseroles)
Sometimes eat out on the cheap wholesome food side Breakfast and English cafe food
Sometimes eat out at a noodle stall (Neabkehard)
Sometimes eat out at good Thai restaurants when I have Thai company
Sometimes plunge into the depths when in Isaan and eat anything that moves and grows (don't always have to cook it)

[crazy88]

Everyone in the house cooks .Lunch generally Thai just down the road and a variety of home cooked in the evening. Eat out a couple of times a week. The odd junk food fix on the fly. Off to have a meal at the best chinese (for duck) I have ever been to and I lived in Hong Kong. Sadly it is in Chiang Mai so a fair trek for most of you tonight. Makes the Hilton look like a 7/11 version. Just to rub it in further, I am not paying!

Crazy 88

[Spitfire]

I was wondering what I had missed in the options section, maybe 2 choices was not enough.

Edit - Still in the edit window so upped it to 3 choices, so you can add/edit if you will gents and ladies.

[migrant]

Mother in law was head chef at a local Thai restaurant so I passed my apron to her, but I like to cook and do so at times

[lomuamart]

We very rarely eat out and my wife does 90% of the cooking - both Thai and western although the western is always flavoured up a bit.
I always get my own breakfast and she does lunch and dinner. We tend to buy food once every 5-6 days, my wife does the dinner in one go and I live off it until it's finished. Easier that way for her as she dosn't have to cook every night. I'm just about capable of preparing my vegetables and even using the rice cooker. Meat dishes just get the reheat treatment.
About the only main meal I'll do is an Indian curry.

[richard]

About the only main meal I'll do is an Indian curry.

Lomu, we all know you as the visa and curry guru on this site

[Spitfire]

Lomu, we all know you as the visa and curry guru on this site

To be honest, you could probably extend that to beer and beaches really.

[richard]

and Golf

[Vital Spark]

I've lied a bit here, because I've picked the 'I cook it myself' bit, but actually Mr.VS does all the cooking. I can, but I just don't enjoy it, he does, and loves it.

He rarely cooks Thai food because it's far cheaper (and more tasty) bought locally, so we have a wonderful menu from around the world. Over the past two weeks he's made: falafel, gezpacho, lasagna, chicken korma, pork stew, roast pork (with all the trimmings) and a few other dishes. We buy most of the ingredients from Macro as they are much fresher and have a better variety of stuff than ***** Tesco. We eat out lunchtimes at the weekend and our favourite is an Isaan restaurant which does the best gai yang (barbequed chicken) I've ever tasted.

VS

SF: If you'd had 'The husband cooks, and I mostly enjoy it' option I would've picked it. But I guess I'd be the only one....

[Khundon1975]

Well SF I had to vote for other.

We both love to cook but I hate chili and my wife eats very little English or European food, unless it is smothered in chili flakes.

In Thailand our kitchen was fitted out with two preparation areas with 2 hobs, 2 ovens extractors etc, set at different heights, as I am tall and my wife is, shall we say vertically challenged.
This enabled both of us to cook separate meals whilst being able to talk and be together.
I would be cooking an English, French or Italian dinner and she would cook Thai, usually about 3 times a week.

The other times we would go out to a hotel or Thai eatery, where I usually managed to find something that suited my palate, whilst my wife would go through the menu, as they do.

In the UK we do the same (cook 3 times a week and eat out the other nights) and in Italy we always eat out, after all, why bother to stock the fridge at home for a few days, when there are so many little family trattorias within walking distance who serve fantastic, classic Italian dishes, all of which (except fish and shellfish which she eats with relish) can be converted to Thai, when the "secret supply" of chili flakes makes an appearance from the wife's handbag.

As for fast food, well in Thailand it means a different thing. There you can get good, well cooked, nutritious food to take away on most streets, while here in the UK its all gloop, full of MSG in a foil dish. Yuk! But I do succumb to a Big Mac about twice a year. Do I hear cries of shame, dirty sod, chuck him out?

I always cook for myself when I'm on my own and the microwave is only ever used to make my porridge and the wife's con-gee and has never been abused with a TV dinner.

The good thing about the UK is that we shop on-line at Waitrose once or twice a week for most items, that saves time and the schlep to the shops. A local butcher delivers our meat and a friend supplies fish and shellfish.
In Thailand I loved to go to the morning market, but nothing like that exists here, mores the pity
Yeah, lazy I know, but life's to short to waste it in a queue for the checkout, when the time saved can be put to more constructive use.

[STEVE G]

When I'm in Thailand I only eat Thai food either cooked by my partner or in local style restaurants.
When I'm away working I prepare my own food as much as I can manage but it's pretty basic stuff as I don't have the time or facilities for anything else.
I am finding that as I get older I prefer plainer and healthier foods and in Thailand it tends to be something like Tom Yum Pla with a plate of vegetables and rice and in Europe I survive much of the time on wholemeal pasta with a simple spicy tomatoe sauce made with olive oil and garlic.

[PeteC]

Breakfast is most always Thai food out after the little one gets taken to school. One weekend day is always a nice buffet breakfast at a nearby hotel, 50-50 Thai/farang food split. Lunch is usually a non-event as we're too busy....sometimes a sum tum or similar break around 1400 hours. Dinner is home cooked Thai 5 and foreign 2, and as a family as I insist upon it. It's the only time we an sit down together, relax and talk.

If we're away for a holiday, all rules are off. Beer and ice cream for breakfast! Pete

[margaretcarnes]

KD is very lucky to be able to eat out 4 times a week in the UK! I cook at home and enjoy being able to make a variety of meals - strangely the Thai cooking has only developed since being back in the UK, because when living in Thailand the quality of even stall food is so good it isn't worth doing it yourself IMO.
I do go out with friends for a meal now and then. Usually Indian, but since developing the curry cooking at home I'm finding the restaurant meals leave a lot to be desired here, (while 'pub grub' is so predictable.)
Unlike Bangkok where there are some very enjoyable and well cooked Indian meals to be had.

[HHADFan]

We're all over the map as far as eating. I cook for myself or both of us sometimes, the gf cooks for both of us, just for me or just for herself sometimes, we eat out for nice meals or cheap ones. It all depends on how busy we are, what's in the house, and what we feel like eating.

We eat no TV dinners and eat western style fast food only a couple of times per year. I'd rather make my own pizza or burger rather than eat out. We buy most meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables at the local markets.

We have a western style kitchen inside and a Thai style kitchen out back so we can each cook in a familiar environment.

The gf tends to eat out more than I do as she is out at work much of the day.