Dilemma!

Hello everyone,

I have a dilemma. I usually cook food in batches so that I can either reheat it or combine it with something else to make a new dish for dinner. The batches work well for me because they reduce the amount of work I need to do in the kitchen.

Now most web sites state that we should eat fresh food and that reheating it causes the food to lose nutrition. I really, really don't want to increase the time I spend in the kitchen. But I feel guilty for not doing it.

What is your take on this? Should I buck up and start making 1-2 portion meals?

Do whatever is easier for you. For me, cooking every night is just not going to happen, so cooking larger meals and portioning them out ahead of time is easier. If I didn't do this you bet I'd be hitting up the fast food more often.

If you really feel that guilty, add a side of fresh vegetables to your pre-made meals.

Guess what else causes lost nutrition? Not having time and picking up something quick and grody.

You're making homemade food, you're a million steps ahead of so many people - stop feeling guilty for re-heating it and be proud!

That's right - making your own meals at home is much better than eating pre-packed stuff or fast food. I think that's just the way to do it: make up a batch of a few staple items than can then be combined later in the week with other fresh ingredients to make a variety of meels. I'll chop a bunch of veggies, make some chicken or lean ground beef, maybe some rice and keep them in the fridge to make meals all week.

You're doing great and leaps above what most people even think of. What little you may lose is way less than what you gain!

Maybe reheating food causes it to lose a tiny bit of nutrition. Let's say that you have a choice of a home-cooked meal made from real food that only has 98% of the nutrition that it did when it was first cooked, or a packaged meal made in a factory from god-knows-what.

Any nutrition that you lose is probably going to be less than the accuracy of your original meal-- you'll never be 100% precise in cooking, and the tomato that you got this week won't be exactly the same as the one you used last week.

Homemade, real food will always be better than processed or fast food. Keep doing what you're doing. If you make sure to add lots of raw fruits and veggies you get the vitamins you need. A side salad and piece of fruit for dessert and you're covered.

I do the same thing with the advanced prepare, but I do the veggies on the day of, roast them on my george foreman girll just pile on and cook-this way im getting the best of both-lose a little with the reheat, but gain it back with the fresh vegetables!

If it's a choice between reheating healthy homecooked meals or eating freshly prepared crap, go with the reheating. When push comes to shove, whatever regimen you are doing has to work for your lifestyle.

If you decide later that it works for you to cook in smaller batches, great. If not, I don't think it's going to matter much.

I tend to cook dinner fresh most nights, but I almost always make a batch of soup or something on the weekends and portion it out to take with me to work for lunch. You have to do what works.

Thanks everyone! You all made a good point. Healthier but slightly stale meals are way better than the cooked to death takeaways.
And as Hoser said, I can never be as accurate in logging in the calories in things I cook, so it shouldn't matter too much.

I certainly feel less guilty about preparing food in larger batches. Maybe, if it works for me, I might try and get up early to prepare my food and that way at least my lunch can be fresher.

But that is a distant dream. I probably would need to go more for baking because I can just set the timer and leave it for the time. Sigh! More cooking isn't something I see anytime soon. But I will still feel less guilty.