Interesting few days, where my experiments at home have lead on to the following interesting observations:
a) The shelf life of an open pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ 4 days ]. The 4th day- it starts going greenish and gives off an odour which puts you off dahi for the next 48 hours.
b) The shelf life of an unopened pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ Dunno - mine did 1 week ]
c) The shelf life of packet milk, broken and stored in a container inside a fridge [ 2 days ]. The 3rd day it like curdles with a reduction in viscosity. Although it looks and smells ok, packet milk is not safe after the first day, unless you want to die of Food Poisoning. The Tetra pak Nestle milk does about 3-4 days after being opened. [I wasnt food poisoned with the tetra thing after like 3 days. Thus i know]
d) The shelf life of boiled rice stored in a fridge - 24 hours. Beyond which it hardens and becomes inedible.
e) Boiled rice left outside the fridge - goes brown - and STINKS like hell - all in like - 8 hours in humid, warm chennai climate. ** GOD ** The smell in the damned kitchen still wont go way - after 2 days.
f) What happens when an open pack of Milk Bikis is left in the fridge for like one month - Answer: The biscuits go soft. With not too much deterioration in chemical quality [ Meaning it does not rot or stink ]
g) What happens when a nicely ripe bunch of malai pazhams (bananas) are kept inside a fridge for a week (after they became ripe) - well they become black - and the whole fridge starts giving off this nice sweet smell - the banana insides become like - dark honey coloured - i did not dare to check how it tasted.
- In the like 20 days or so, ive used up about two 500 ml Pril (the lemony, green dishwash liquid) bottles, thrown away more rice (boiled/spoiled or boiled/frozen) than what i managed to eat and have developed a HATRED for Maggi Noodles, Aashirwad Heat n Eat Dal makhani, Ratna Cafe down the street and have almost started to worship my (rapidly diminishing) jar of Vadu mangai - for how its sustaining me.
- On the brighter side - there have been no major fire accidents (with the kitchen,um, gas stove) and i have managed to survive without resorting to eating out too much :)
I guess it is time i moved on to experimenting with recipes & stuff :) Eh !?
a) The shelf life of an open pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ 4 days ]. The 4th day- it starts going greenish and gives off an odour which puts you off dahi for the next 48 hours.
b) The shelf life of an unopened pack of Nestle Dahi inside a fridge [ Dunno - mine did 1 week ]
c) The shelf life of packet milk, broken and stored in a container inside a fridge [ 2 days ]. The 3rd day it like curdles with a reduction in viscosity. Although it looks and smells ok, packet milk is not safe after the first day, unless you want to die of Food Poisoning. The Tetra pak Nestle milk does about 3-4 days after being opened. [I wasnt food poisoned with the tetra thing after like 3 days. Thus i know]
d) The shelf life of boiled rice stored in a fridge - 24 hours. Beyond which it hardens and becomes inedible.
e) Boiled rice left outside the fridge - goes brown - and STINKS like hell - all in like - 8 hours in humid, warm chennai climate. ** GOD ** The smell in the damned kitchen still wont go way - after 2 days.
f) What happens when an open pack of Milk Bikis is left in the fridge for like one month - Answer: The biscuits go soft. With not too much deterioration in chemical quality [ Meaning it does not rot or stink ]
g) What happens when a nicely ripe bunch of malai pazhams (bananas) are kept inside a fridge for a week (after they became ripe) - well they become black - and the whole fridge starts giving off this nice sweet smell - the banana insides become like - dark honey coloured - i did not dare to check how it tasted.
- In the like 20 days or so, ive used up about two 500 ml Pril (the lemony, green dishwash liquid) bottles, thrown away more rice (boiled/spoiled or boiled/frozen) than what i managed to eat and have developed a HATRED for Maggi Noodles, Aashirwad Heat n Eat Dal makhani, Ratna Cafe down the street and have almost started to worship my (rapidly diminishing) jar of Vadu mangai - for how its sustaining me.
- On the brighter side - there have been no major fire accidents (with the kitchen,um, gas stove) and i have managed to survive without resorting to eating out too much :)
I guess it is time i moved on to experimenting with recipes & stuff :) Eh !?
** UPDATE ** (Prompted by the comments)
Well - most of my experiments are purely based on a scientific,um,curiosity.
Ive gotten pretty sick of cooking for myself alone - I only remember food when i get hungry at home and THEN try and cook - which is pretty irritating.
Plus the economics of cooking for just 1 person does not compare too favorably with the one person eating out all the time. The overheads are too much [ Like the Dahi, Milk, Gas, doing the vessels, stocking other things etc. ] for just one person - Heres a little cost analysis:
Good meal made at home -
Half a pack of heat n eat chappattis - (3 pcs) - 18/2 = Rs. 9/-
About 1/3rd of Nestle Dahi - (200 gm!?) - 13/2 = Rs. 6.5/-
Half a pack of Dal Makhni (MTR/Aashriwad) - 42/2 = Rs. 21/-
About half a measure of Rice (Boiled) - Rs. 2 /-
** Daily overhead divided by 3 ** - { Milk, gas, Pril liquid, scotch brite, Sugar, Salt, Oorugai, Coffee Powder, Tea Sachets etc, } - Rs. 10 / -
Total (Per Meal - @ 3 meals a day) : Rs. 48.5
[ Remarks: The meal is big enough to be a brunch. Somedays i have 2 meals like this. Some days i end up a wee bit hungry and end up eating some cornflakes at night or something ]
Satisfaction Rating: 4.25 /5
Cost Vs Satisfaction: 4.25 / 5
Cost Vs Satisfaction: 4.25 / 5
Eating out - Non grand / Plain decent food
Lunch down at Rathna Cafe near the VN Temple: 38/- Very good South Indian meals good until 2:30 in the afternoon. After which they begin watering down their sambhar :)
Satisfaction Rating: 4/5
Cost Vs Satisfaction: 4.25/5
Lunch at the Woodlands in Panagal Park - Next to Nalli: No meals on Menu - So an ordered meal of maybe chappattis, subji - about 70 /- [ No extras or Drinks or Dessert ]
Satisfaction Rating: 3.75/5
Cost Vs Satisfaction: 3/5
It is just a little analysis, you know, If youre at home and you start making food for 3 / 4 people - you can afford to throw in a Salad, Fruits, Green Subji etc. - without affecting the overhead per meal too much - and bring up the ratings close to 5 :)
Posts
3 comments:
Seems like an awesome start to the bachelor life. Dude good that ur now talking like a researcher (more like me)... PS for the banana, if u keep em in a plastic bag and tighten it hard enough (that not much air is inside) u can have those bananas edible in the fridge for atleast two weeks [Experience]
Vadu Maangai - Damn now my mouths watering
Rice that has hardened in the fridge (as long as it doesn't smell bad) can usually be revived by sprinkling water on it and heating for a few minutes.
It's amazing how food here takes so long to spoil. I keep opened boxes of youghurt for weeks on end. Biscuits left outside don't go soft!
And if I can cook, then so can you I'm sure :)
Nina: Ive already grown bored of cooking by myself only for myself :) I dont foresee myself enhancing my skillsets to include more sophisticated forms of food
Theres another reason too - ive updated info on that in the post :)
Post a Comment