I have plenty of time and no problems affording standard cooking - I just don't like it. And I particularly don't like the cleaning of multiple pots, pans and assorted utensils afterwards (I also can't stand a messy kitchen however, so I always clean dish(es) and anything else right after eating).
I've been living alone for most of the years since I moved out on my own at 18, 21 years ago. The first couple of years I experimented a bit with slightly more advanced cooking than scrambled eggs and toasted bread, but I realized what I just said above, and my feelings on that haven't changed at all.
A typical day of eating for me looks like below (assuming a day where I don't go out to eat, which I rarely do more than a couple of times a week at most when I'm not on vacation).
I'm also aiming to cut down on bread and cheese (I love fresh bread and a good cheese) this year.
I'm at the supermarket pretty much every single day as I want some things fresh. That includes bread and various things I buy from the butcher and deli departments.
I use a microwave oven to heat premade or precooked food from the deli.
Breakfast: 2-3 hard boiled or scrambled eggs with bacon, ham or veal fillet from the supermarket butcher. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet (a typical salad tastes a bit like cardboard to me, but some fried vegetables are pretty good when mixed with meat etc.) so the scrambled eggs might be mixed with red pepper, mushrooms, onion, tomato.
Lunch: Fresh dark bread (sometimes light ciabatta bread instead) from the baker. Coupled with cheese and some meat, could be one of the above mentioned, or it could be the local Bulgarian meatballs, кюфтета.
Snack: Chocolate... I mean apples, pears, bananas and kiwi. 3-4 times per week some fresh orange/carrot juice, which they make at the supermarket since I don't like the cleaning job involved in using the nice juicer I bought a year ago.
Dinner: Chicken breast or fish. I'm sadly missing beef here in Bulgaria, as it's more of a pork and chicken eating nation, so the beef selection is usually scarce in supermarkets and I mostly have it when I go out to eat.
If I'm having chicken I might add a eg. a deli mix consisting of some fried vegetables with sauce and additional chicken slices.
As far as using cooking for game I'm sure it can be an excellent tactic. Since I don't really work against my own instincts I make do without it, and if cooking absolutely has to be involved I make a girl I've been seeing for a little while cook for me instead. A good test to see if she's LTR material anyway, since she will most certainly have to be the one responsible for most of that in a serious relationship (I will probably still feel perfectly capable of making my own lunch sandwich, or peel my snack banana).
I've been living alone for most of the years since I moved out on my own at 18, 21 years ago. The first couple of years I experimented a bit with slightly more advanced cooking than scrambled eggs and toasted bread, but I realized what I just said above, and my feelings on that haven't changed at all.
A typical day of eating for me looks like below (assuming a day where I don't go out to eat, which I rarely do more than a couple of times a week at most when I'm not on vacation).
I'm also aiming to cut down on bread and cheese (I love fresh bread and a good cheese) this year.
I'm at the supermarket pretty much every single day as I want some things fresh. That includes bread and various things I buy from the butcher and deli departments.
I use a microwave oven to heat premade or precooked food from the deli.
Breakfast: 2-3 hard boiled or scrambled eggs with bacon, ham or veal fillet from the supermarket butcher. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into my diet (a typical salad tastes a bit like cardboard to me, but some fried vegetables are pretty good when mixed with meat etc.) so the scrambled eggs might be mixed with red pepper, mushrooms, onion, tomato.
Lunch: Fresh dark bread (sometimes light ciabatta bread instead) from the baker. Coupled with cheese and some meat, could be one of the above mentioned, or it could be the local Bulgarian meatballs, кюфтета.
Snack: Chocolate... I mean apples, pears, bananas and kiwi. 3-4 times per week some fresh orange/carrot juice, which they make at the supermarket since I don't like the cleaning job involved in using the nice juicer I bought a year ago.
Dinner: Chicken breast or fish. I'm sadly missing beef here in Bulgaria, as it's more of a pork and chicken eating nation, so the beef selection is usually scarce in supermarkets and I mostly have it when I go out to eat.
If I'm having chicken I might add a eg. a deli mix consisting of some fried vegetables with sauce and additional chicken slices.
As far as using cooking for game I'm sure it can be an excellent tactic. Since I don't really work against my own instincts I make do without it, and if cooking absolutely has to be involved I make a girl I've been seeing for a little while cook for me instead. A good test to see if she's LTR material anyway, since she will most certainly have to be the one responsible for most of that in a serious relationship (I will probably still feel perfectly capable of making my own lunch sandwich, or peel my snack banana).