I let my wife pick dinner again. I offered her oven fries but she opted for instant mashed potatoes with instant chicken gravy. She regrets that decision. But it was tasty.

Beef was free. Cost per person: $1.30 Cost if you have to buy the beef: $3.55

Bonus pic. Worst miss en place ever is in the comments.

I need to stop asking what they want. Roast me in the comments.

  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialEnglish
    7·
    3 days ago

    Wot wot… no toasting of the buns?!

    Heresy!

    Btw, one way to level up your burger game is to drop the cheese in to a pan and let it melt a good bit, then place the bun on top and twirl until all the cheese gets transferred. Then combine with everything else. It’s simply the bee’s knees.

    Another trick I picked up from Bobby Flay was to coat both sides of the burger with black pepper before grilling. It greatly helps to lock in moisture and add a slight spiciness, if that’s your thing. No idea if that works in a pan, though…

          • BussyGyatt@feddit.orgEnglish
            2·
            3 days ago

            im always looking for cheap ways to inject flavor in my meals from my ramen and pb&j days. the oils used to grill are also extra filling easy calories and i like to use some of the leftover grease from frying the meat to grill the buns, it would just get wasted otherwise.

            • FauxPseudo @lemmy.worldOPM
              51·
              3 days ago

              Justified. But if I add too much flavor on a wife designed meal she says I ruined it. She likes her comfort food bland.

              • Hossenfeffer@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                Oh, I get this.

                My wife quite likes pasta with just some basil pesto stirred through it. Pasta from a packet and pesto from a jar. I once hand-made some pasta and made pesto from scratch. Her reaction: “It’s ok, but I prefer the normal version.” She generally prefers meals from her childhood to be the simple nostalgia version rather than my “zhuzhed up” version. Which makes sense, I suppose.

                • FauxPseudo @lemmy.worldOPM
                  3·
                  3 days ago

                  You haven’t felt an icy shoulder until you have ruined your spouse’s comfort foods by trying to make them better.

                  I remember when I knew this would be an ongoing issue. She sat there with a scratch made pierogi on a fork. Just looking at it. “What’s wrong?” “I’m going to taste this and then I’ll never be able to enjoy freezer pierogi again.” “Sure you will.” “No. Those have been great my whole life. But I’m going to taste this and every pierogi I’ve ever had will suddenly suck. And if I eat another freezer pierogi I’ll think about this one and wish I had it.”

                  I never made them from scratch again.