Depends if you like cooking, and if you have the time to do it properly.
That’s two separate but related issues. I definitely disagree as to the second issue, as I doubt there’s much more time involved in preparing a nice meal than in dining out at a fancy restaurant. Besides, it’s not too hard for your typical middle class American to find a couple hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to cook.
As to the first issue, I agree that there are probably people out there who hate to cook, even if it’s an occasional special project. Still, those people have other options. For example, I have a family member who doesn’t cook; is cheap; and enjoys fine dining. So he finds special deals like restaurant week in New York and enjoys fancy meals for a fraction of the normal price.
To be sure, one could come up with a scenario where there are no special deals available; one hates to cook; and all other options are cut off in some way. And while I agree that may happen from time to time, it does not seem to be the general rule. In my experience, there are usually work-arounds available.
There’s a reason you pretty much only see childless folks Instagramming dinner.
What exactly is that reason, in your view? I can think of a lot of possible reasons which do not contradict my claim. I cook perhaps 30 or 40 meals a year with one of my children and it’s never occurred to me to Instagram them.
You can generally keep the kids in line better at an Applebee’s than when you actually have to watch the food. (Yes, I know Applebee’s isn’t a real fancy restaurant, but it’s the sort of place most people think of when they think of dining out somewhere nice). And the real competitor to cooking is often pizza delivery or a drive-thru, not dine-in.
IMO, the reason for that is that the meals you want to show off are usually the fancy foodie sort. To pick my most food-photo-friendly friend as an example, she posts things like “My take on wing night: grilled tare duck wings and sesame snap peas and carrot sticks” and “Chili lime chicken lettuce wraps and black bean cheddar quesadillas. #dinner” on a regular basis. One, kids don’t know what most of that is, but will still tell you that it must be gross with a certainty that could not be shaken with nuclear weaponry. Two, they tend to prefer eating the same things over and over, which makes your photos really boring. Three, preparing food yourself is more time consuming than preparing it from a box, so lots of parents get out the Kraft Dinner and hot dogs, or the like, and that is again not worth posting photos of. Four, if you do try to get ambitious, usually the kids are involved in the cooking, which makes it more likely to be sloppy, and which is likely enough of a distraction that you don’t want to be bothered getting out the camera. (And when you do, you’re not showing off the food, you’re showing off the kid)
I’m saying it’s easier to control children when you don’t also need to be cooking at the same time.
Ok, so you are saying that it’s easier to control children if you take them to a restaurant than if you prepare dinner and eat at home? Right?
And that last paragraph was expanding upon the point I was making above, not in direct response to anything you said.
Well you seemed to be making the following argument:
If you have children, it’s not practical to work around the expense of a meal out by preparing food at home because it’s hard to prepare food while there are children around.
The lack of instagram pictures of dinner from people with children shows that people who have children face a time shortage while preparing food at home.
I take it you are now abandoning the second point?
I’m not a parent, but it seems plausible. It meshes with what I remember of being a kid, certainly, and what parent friends say.
Not entirely true. Most of my meals as a kid were home-cooked. But they’re not the sort of thing that would generally be considered “nice”—they were mostly repetitive, easy to make, and uninteresting. Most families I’m familiar with, including my own when I was younger, are more likely to go out to a middle-class sit-down restaurant when they want something “fancy” instead of make something ambitious at home(aside from special occasions—Christmas and Thanksgiving are both big fancy-home-cooking events in most families, Sundays in some, but days like that are comparatively rare).
I’m not referring just to cooking at home, but to a particular type of cooking—the fancy meal, not the “box of this, bag of that, and boiling water” stuff that so many families eat regularly. That does the job, but it’s not the kind of awesome you were referring to when I made my original post.
I’m not a parent, but it seems plausible. It meshes with what I remember of being a kid, certainly, and what parent friends say.
Frankly it seems ridiculous to me. It’s a lot easier to control your children at home than out at a restaurant since at home you have access to a wide variety of things the children can do including watching television.
Not entirely true. Most of my meals as a kid were home-cooked. But they’re not the sort of thing that would generally be considered “nice”—they were mostly repetitive, easy to make, and uninteresting. Most families I’m familiar with, including my own when I was younger, are more likely to go out to a middle-class sit-down restaurant when they want something “fancy” instead of make something ambitious at home(aside from special occasions—Christmas and Thanksgiving are both big fancy-home-cooking events in most families, Sundays in some, but days like that are comparatively rare).
I’m not referring just to cooking at home, but to a particular type of cooking—the fancy meal, not the “box of this, bag of that, and boiling water” stuff that so many families eat regularly. That does the job, but it’s not the kind of awesome you were referring to when I made my original post.
I have no idea what your point is here. Is it your position that if you have children, it’s not practical to work around the expense of a meal out by preparing food at home because it’s hard to prepare food while there are children around?
Is it your position that the lack of instagram pictures of dinner from people with children shows that people who have children face a time shortage while preparing food at home?
That’s two separate but related issues. I definitely disagree as to the second issue, as I doubt there’s much more time involved in preparing a nice meal than in dining out at a fancy restaurant. Besides, it’s not too hard for your typical middle class American to find a couple hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to cook.
As to the first issue, I agree that there are probably people out there who hate to cook, even if it’s an occasional special project. Still, those people have other options. For example, I have a family member who doesn’t cook; is cheap; and enjoys fine dining. So he finds special deals like restaurant week in New York and enjoys fancy meals for a fraction of the normal price.
To be sure, one could come up with a scenario where there are no special deals available; one hates to cook; and all other options are cut off in some way. And while I agree that may happen from time to time, it does not seem to be the general rule. In my experience, there are usually work-arounds available.
What exactly is that reason, in your view? I can think of a lot of possible reasons which do not contradict my claim. I cook perhaps 30 or 40 meals a year with one of my children and it’s never occurred to me to Instagram them.
You can generally keep the kids in line better at an Applebee’s than when you actually have to watch the food. (Yes, I know Applebee’s isn’t a real fancy restaurant, but it’s the sort of place most people think of when they think of dining out somewhere nice). And the real competitor to cooking is often pizza delivery or a drive-thru, not dine-in.
IMO, the reason for that is that the meals you want to show off are usually the fancy foodie sort. To pick my most food-photo-friendly friend as an example, she posts things like “My take on wing night: grilled tare duck wings and sesame snap peas and carrot sticks” and “Chili lime chicken lettuce wraps and black bean cheddar quesadillas. #dinner” on a regular basis. One, kids don’t know what most of that is, but will still tell you that it must be gross with a certainty that could not be shaken with nuclear weaponry. Two, they tend to prefer eating the same things over and over, which makes your photos really boring. Three, preparing food yourself is more time consuming than preparing it from a box, so lots of parents get out the Kraft Dinner and hot dogs, or the like, and that is again not worth posting photos of. Four, if you do try to get ambitious, usually the kids are involved in the cooking, which makes it more likely to be sloppy, and which is likely enough of a distraction that you don’t want to be bothered getting out the camera. (And when you do, you’re not showing off the food, you’re showing off the kid)
I don’t understand your point . . . are you saying that it’s easier to control your children in a restaurant than at home?
Assuming that’s true, I don’t see how it contradicts or qualifies my point. Can you explain?
I’m saying it’s easier to control children when you don’t also need to be cooking at the same time.
And that last paragraph was expanding upon the point I was making above, not in direct response to anything you said.
Ok, so you are saying that it’s easier to control children if you take them to a restaurant than if you prepare dinner and eat at home? Right?
Well you seemed to be making the following argument:
If you have children, it’s not practical to work around the expense of a meal out by preparing food at home because it’s hard to prepare food while there are children around.
The lack of instagram pictures of dinner from people with children shows that people who have children face a time shortage while preparing food at home.
I take it you are now abandoning the second point?
I’m not a parent, but it seems plausible. It meshes with what I remember of being a kid, certainly, and what parent friends say.
Not entirely true. Most of my meals as a kid were home-cooked. But they’re not the sort of thing that would generally be considered “nice”—they were mostly repetitive, easy to make, and uninteresting. Most families I’m familiar with, including my own when I was younger, are more likely to go out to a middle-class sit-down restaurant when they want something “fancy” instead of make something ambitious at home(aside from special occasions—Christmas and Thanksgiving are both big fancy-home-cooking events in most families, Sundays in some, but days like that are comparatively rare).
I’m not referring just to cooking at home, but to a particular type of cooking—the fancy meal, not the “box of this, bag of that, and boiling water” stuff that so many families eat regularly. That does the job, but it’s not the kind of awesome you were referring to when I made my original post.
Frankly it seems ridiculous to me. It’s a lot easier to control your children at home than out at a restaurant since at home you have access to a wide variety of things the children can do including watching television.
I have no idea what your point is here. Is it your position that if you have children, it’s not practical to work around the expense of a meal out by preparing food at home because it’s hard to prepare food while there are children around?
Is it your position that the lack of instagram pictures of dinner from people with children shows that people who have children face a time shortage while preparing food at home?