28 Feb 2026: Meal Prep and a Rice Cooker

I am trying to get more into meal prep for my lunches. I switched offices recently and added a long commute. Since I can't go home for lunch anymore I figured meal prep would be much more cost effective than trying to buy lunch everyday. The temptation to go out to eat is still there. Super easy to just pick up something from the gas station or at a food place but that turns into a very pricy ordeal when done every week. I had done some prepackaged and frozen meals from leftovers.

I learned the hard way that quinoa does not freeze well. I thought I had read something saying it does. I made a curried quinoa salad and popped it in the freezer for later lunches. There is no good way to explain the texture. It was spongy in not a good way. Also, all the curry flavor was lost compared to it being freshly made. There were just tiny hints of flavor. I wouldn't have thoughtI used curry powder at all if I didn't remember it being in there. Leason learned on that one, some things just can't be made that far ahead of time. Thankfully quinoa is easy enough to make.

I upgraded my rice cooker this month, too. I was using an instant pot to make rice for the longest time. My previous rice cooker was too small and the nonstick pan was scratched making me not want to use it. Instant pot makes amazing brown rice. White rice, mot so much. No matter how much I rinsed it or not I can not avoid the sticking to the bottom. I tried less water and it triggered the "burnt food" notification. More water made it soggy. I know I have hard water but there was no winning on this. I was also having to soak the pot to get the stuck to the bottom rice off. I felt like I was wasting a quarter of the rice being cooked each time. The motivation to make rice was going down quite a bit.

One the plus side, with the new rice cooker I can make a greater amount of rice with no waste. Also discovered why the rice was coming out yellowish at the bottom of the pan. Apparently hard/mineral heavy water will cause that. Good to know it wasn't just burning everytime.

24 Jan 2026: New Food Preservation Tools

I live in a bit of a food desert so making things at home and being able to preserve them in some ways has become a growing desire. I have been trying round out my food preservation kit the past 6 months since I participate in a bit of a co-op that purchases bulk produce at a cheaper rate to share with the contributors. This means I end up with quite a bit of produce at one time and, unfortunately, it is easy to have stuff go bad when it is just me trying to eat them all. There is only so much freezer space. I purchased a budget pressure canner last year and it has been great. 20 pounds of apples because sauce, juice, and some nice chutney. There are plans to make some canned chicken stock but I haven't gotten there yet.

Yesterday, I recieved the dehydrator I ordered. Also, budget device since I didn't want to spend over $200 but wanted something that was a bit more versatile than the cheaper plastic counterparts that just dehydrate. I wanted a device that could proof dough or make amazake as well, not just do the standard dehydration. I have a microwave that is getting retired that has an "option" to dehydrate and do low temp convection processes. I am not super happy with it but is a hand me down, too, so I can't complain overall. Figure a dehydrator would work just fine.

I have to say, I am super and pleasantly surprised by the dehydrator. I proofed some dough last night to compare how it worked with the microwave/convection oven I have been using. I should have taken photos, but was maybe a bit too excited by the results. The one hour proof in the dehydrator more than doubled the dough. The one hour proof in the microwave maybe barely doubled it. The only thing I maybe should have tried was to use the same temperature. The microwave is 105F at the lowest but could get the dehydrator down to 85F. That was the only big prep difference and I'll have to compare properly next loaf of bread I make to see if the temperature was a thing. The baked bread turned out way less dense than previous batches and apparently changed the cook time needed a little.

I am currently waiting on some apple chips to finish in the dehydrator. I had some older apples just waiting for a use and thought this might be better than just aanother crisp or cobbler. This will be getting used a lot in the future. Less wasted food makes me happy.

04 Jan 2026-Week 1 Baking Challenge

Needed to be a new recipe. I have had this Butternut squash cake recipe sitting in my cue to make for awhile now. Had the butternut squash so figured now would be a good time to try it. It came out more like a butternut cobbler to me than a cake. Probably my fault for that and not having an appropriate sized dish to make this in. It is tasty enough. Would I make it again? Probably not. Mostly because I feel like I like butternut squash more savory than sweet. For a first try, not horrible. It will get eaten, just not my favorite. Pics coming soon