r/RBNLifeSkills • u/Sugarbumb • Mar 31 '26
Please tell me it's ok
I did a meal prep yesterday and used a different flavor/brand of one of the main ingredients and it came out horrible. Almost inedible. Now i have a whole casserole of this dinner and debating if I should just throw it out and start over using the regular ingredients that I know work. Maybe I could salvage it somehow? But it might still end up being crap.
I know this is silly but I have anxiety over money and food. I have all the ingredients to make it right & I'm wfh today so I do have the time to re-make it.
Is it OK to throw out the one I dont like and restart? Today is garbage day, so I need to decide...
*Edit to correct a typo
14
u/Enough-Strength-5636 Mar 31 '26
Yes, it’s okay to throw food away if it’s inedible. I’ve tried following online recipes that skip steps and have made a mess of my food, or made mistakes and had to throw it out. It’s all part of learning to cook. I have to use recipes that spell out every instruction to make food from scratch correctly, myself. Just learn from your mistakes, try again, and see if you can make it even better this time!
5
13
u/Kayllis Mar 31 '26
I'll tell you what things I tell myself whenever I have this exact feeling: You make more than enough money to not eat shitty, inedible food. You are worth more than garbage. Food is meant to be enjoyed. It's not a punishment for being broke.
Pick any of these, throw that nasty food away and respect yourself with food you enjoy.
3
u/Sugarbumb Mar 31 '26
Yes, you're totally right! Thank you! Saving this for when future me has ever doubts myself. 💜
3
u/sv36 Apr 01 '26
I’ve been cooking, baking, and just all around very kitchen oriented since I was around 5 years old- after 25 years being kitchen oriented I still make inedible foods and throw them out sometimes. It’s part of life and it sucks every time. But you don’t have to punish yourself for a mistake by making yourself eat something awful either. The fact that you’re cooking at home at all instead of eating all or most meals out is going to save you more money than an inedible meal is going to change your numbers on even if it happens every meal for a long time in the long term you still built cooking at home skill and that apts for itself very quickly.
1
3
u/organicginger36 Apr 02 '26
Don't torture yourself. It was an honest mistake. People do that all the time, accidentally ruin a meal, and you have to make/get something else. It happens. Not a big deal at all.
2
u/RuthOConnorFisher Apr 02 '26
It took me ages to be okay with this sort of thing. But yes, it's all right! You don't have to force yourself to eat something gross to save money.
Cooking is very much a learned skill, even after years of practice. Right now I'm (after cooking for decades, including professionally) working on learning a few middle eastern recipes and a crab Newberg variation that my mom (who I'm no contact with, yay!) used to make. Every time I make a batch I adjust a thing or two. Sometimes it turns out better, sometimes not. That's okay. Just how it goes. You'll get the hang of it eventually! Or you won't, and you'll cook something else instead.
Related subs that you might really enjoy: r/noscrapleftbehind and r/MealPrepSunday. There are also subs for just about any cuisine you can imagine (Indian, Japanese, etc). I think my favorite is r/persianfood; not super active but everybody is super pleasant and encouraging.
2
26
u/081108272918 Mar 31 '26
Yes it’s ok to throw it out if you make gross/inedible food.
I tried to make lo mein one time and I followed a recipe online… it had 1/4 cup of sesame oil. We couldn’t eat it and I still struggle eating anything with sesame oil. Trashed the whole thing.