Ask HN: Have You Automated Cooking?

[yesitcan]

I want to control what ingredients I consume but I don’t want to spend 1-2 hours/day on cooking. Have you managed to automate cooking? Maybe a DIY device? Professional tech that costs an arm and a leg? A Tesla robot?

It seems like it should be doable and I’m surprised there aren’t any consumer products out there meeting this need.

[gus_massa]

Not so automatic, but we are very happy with our Samsung Hotblast https://www.samsung.com/in/microwave-ovens/convection/28-lit... (or a similar version). You setup the temperature to 200°C (392°F), the time to 20 or 30 minutes and you can go to another room while it cooks. It takes some time to find the perfect time, and sometime you must use the microwave or grill instead, but it's perfect for cooking in a short time.

[taylodl]

You need to invest in cooking skills and utensils so you don't have to spend 1-2 hours per day cooking. The Ninja Instant Pot is amazing at what it can do - you can pressure cook, slow cook, etc. These tools save a lot of time when cooking from scratch.

Regardless, meal planning is a vital part of the regimen. You need to plan out your meals for the week and I know people who also pre-cut their vegetables and stuff so all the prep work is already done so that during the week all they have to do is through their pre-planned meal together. They tend to spend 1-2 hours on Sunday getting everything together so during the week when they're hectic they only need 20 to 30 minutes of meal prep.

None of this requires fancy tech and a lot of money.

[lq9AJ8yrfs]

My espresso machine is semi-automated and lots of folks seem to go for fully automatic coffee experiences. Mr Coffee all the way to K-cups etc.

There are some crazy things [1] going on in the oven world, though Miele seems to have blown the marketing. My wife and kids all furrowed their brows when I told them about the fish in the ice block. They don't understand or care about physics, they just like tasty food they know how to prepare. "Why would you cook a fish in an ice block in the first place?"

[1] https://www.mieleusa.com/m/in-dialog-with-food-miele-to-unve...

[eschneider]

I've had to cook from scratch for many years because I've lived with people with various food restrictions and sometimes that's just the easiest way to do things.

That said, you really don't need to spend 1-2 hours a day on cooking. If you put a little time in and level up on some basic skills, you can make shockingly good meals in 10-20 minutes.

It's mostly a question of figuring out what you like and getting good at making those things, then generalizing the skills you have into making more things.