New Topic

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I'm requesting a new topic area that is place where we can just be helpful to those who are maybe new to cooking, or need to be able to serve up cheap, but tasty meals that offer variety and good nutriton.

We have areas for ethnic foods, seafood, dairy, soups, almost anything one could think of, except for making good meals cheap. I know such a resource would have been invaulable to me way back when I first started experimenting with food, and learning to cook. I had a family of 6 (including myself) to feed, and the wages of a U.S. sailor to do it with. I've learned much since those days and would love to be able to assist those who are in the same circumstances, that is, limited skills and little money.

We have a host of people here who know how to cook, and know how to cook well. We have the ability to turn a can of potted meat into a near gourmet meal (I know, a bit of an exageration, but not by much).

So, is there interest in such a topic? Let the mods know if you want to see a topical area for such information. I'm letting everyone know that I'm interested. And now, I'm going to find a subject field where I can post one such meal.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[suziquzie]

Goodweed Rocks! (Gin, glitter and all........)
I second the motion.

 

[pacanis]

Devil's advocate......

Are you saying that if someone wanted to make a "cheap meal" out of say, hamburger and just a few other ingredients, it should have it's own topic rather than posting it under beef? Or asking how to cook something under general cooking questions, or, I only have these ingredients?

Sorry, I guess I don't get it
I don't know what I'm doing and like simple ingredients and I always seem to find a place to post my questions.

I know what you're saying, but it seems like you could almost do away with several topics..... or maybe the post would need cross-posted within the forum because it would surely fit under an existing topic.

I am sooo confused.....

 

[vilasman]

I believe he's saying that, say if I were a college student, poor broke and first time away from mom's cooking. And I had that carosel thing of spices and went to the store and picked up ground beef and had some oodles of noodles
and i came on the board and said help!

The new forum would be a forum that by it's title and description would be the obvious place for me to go and ask for Help!

 

[pacanis]

I believe he's saying that, say if I were a college student, poor broke and first time away from mom's cooking. And I had that carosel thing of spices and went to the store and picked up ground beef and had some oodles of noodles
and i came on the board and said help!

The new forum would be a forum that by it's title and description would be the obvious place for me to go and ask for Help!

Yeeees, but does that mean the existing forum topics should only be used for TNT recipes and not for asking for help?

Someone recently suggested a "chat" section for a more instantaneous responses to questions, even though typically you can get an answer within 5 minutes. At the latest.
Now, I'll assume that is not the only reason a chat section was started, but in my honest opinion This has to be the hardest forum I've ever been on to Search for something. There are so many topics, the engine can't narrow it down even using advanced.
I know, I was looking for something the other night and I pretty much knew the answer wasn't going to be in "guess this photo", but there it was as one of the threads I could look for my answer in.
Do we need another separate topic to ask for help in? I guess if we can no longer ask for help in the existing topics.....

I don't know... just saying what I think

 

[vilasman]

if you think this one is hard try egullet

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I'm not so much requesting a place where one asks questions, but a place where those who know how to make an inexpensive meal could post a complete meal. For instance, is Poultry really the place where I want to create a meal of roasted cornish game hens, and steamed brocoli with a cheese sauce, and a side of roasted acorn squash with cinamon and ginger, and some kind of desert, say an apple crisp?

I want a place where we can construct entire meal ideas, using skills, and techniques for not only putting together the meals, but maybe the best places to purchase the ingredients, and what qualities to look for say, in picking a cantaloupe for a fruit salad, or how to match herbs with various veggies.

Yes there are a great many topics available, and one for each item in a meal, be it fresh veggies, fruits, meats, fish, breads, bbq, etc. But there is no one place where I can help someone create the skills to put together a range of meals, or even a single meal, with the exception of maybe a Thanksgiving feast. The individual topics don't give us a broad enough spectrum to create a meal.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[bullseye]

I'm requesting a new topic area that is place where we can just be helpful to those who are maybe new to cooking, or need to be able to serve up cheap, but tasty meals that offer variety and good nutriton.

We have areas for ethnic foods, seafood, dairy, soups, almost anything one could think of, except for making good meals cheap. I know such a resource would have been invaulable to me way back when I first started experimenting with food, and learning to cook. I had a family of 6 (including myself) to feed, and the wages of a U.S. sailor to do it with. I've learned much since those days and would love to be able to assist those who are in the same circumstances, that is, limited skills and little money.

We have a host of people here who know how to cook, and know how to cook well. We have the ability to turn a can of potted meat into a near gourmet meal (I know, a bit of an exageration, but not by much).

So, is there interest in such a topic? Let the mods know if you want to see a topical area for such information. I'm letting everyone know that I'm interested. And now, I'm going to find a subject field where I can post one such meal.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I'm thinking that such a forum would be a great beginning. The problem is, as the responses come in, the variety of recipes/meal templates will accumulate; this would necessitate the creation of sub-fora to differentiate the different categories. In the end we would have . . . Discuss Cooking. What I would like to see is a tag for posts that actually contain a recipe. If that were the case, I could do a search for what is in the fridge, say, mushrooms or cabbage or whatever, limit it to recipes, and not have to weed through the Word Association Game, etc., to find ways to cook what I have.

Just my $.02.

 

[The Z]

...Sooooo, the forum would be something like 'Meal Help', which may be a good place for the sub-forum thread "I only have these ingredients" and another sub-forum for newbies to ask more general questions about flavor matching and simple menus?

The idea has merit. For sure.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

All good replies. That's why I say that many heads are better than one. You guys and gals fill in the parts that I miss, or find the holes in the plan. I still think the idea is sound. Executing it properly seems a daunting task.

And I agree, if a post has a recipe, a tag would be a great help in finding it.

Seeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[quicksilver]

Goodweed, I think it's a good idea. Starting out is daunting enough. But to have to search all over makes it more daunting. And you'd have to know enough, not only about food/meals, but about the Forum to know enough to look furthur and where to find what you need.
The Z's got a good idea how to make it work I think.

First I agreed, then I disagreed, and back and forth. Then I remembered when I started out. (They didn't have computers back then, but that's beside the point.) I had all the basics down and a couple of specialties, but wanted to explore. This forum would have helped, but you can get sidetracked just trying to find your immediate need for answers. Yes, cookbooks help, but too clinical, and often times, not very visual. (I don't mean photos, but words of real people, who you get to know more than some anonymous author.) And cookbooks don't usually come in meal format.

You got my vote

 

[GB]

I guess I just do not see how this would be different from all the existing forums we already have. Give me an example of the thread titles we might expect to see in this new forum. The only one I can think of is "I need ways to prepare inexpensive meals" or something like that.

One thing we try to do when creating new forums is think if there are already areas of the board that cover those topics. We understand that we have a TON of forums already and it can be very daunting to new members or members who are not comfortable on computers to be able to navigate the vast amount of information that DC contains. We try to not have any redundant sections of the board as that just adds to confusion. We also look to see how much activity a forum will have. We do not want forums that only have 10 or 20 posts in them. that just adds to clutter and makes things harder to find. Those 10 or 20 posts usually can be put in existing forums just as well.

With that in mind, What types of threads would you think would go into this new forum that could not fit in existing forums?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I guess I just do not see how this would be different from all the existing forums we already have. Give me an example of the thread titles we might expect to see in this new forum. The only one I can think of is "I need ways to prepare inexpensive meals" or something like that.

One thing we try to do when creating new forums is think if there are already areas of the board that cover those topics. We understand that we have a TON of forums already and it can be very daunting to new members or members who are not comfortable on computers to be able to navigate the vast amount of information that DC contains. We try to not have any redundant sections of the board as that just adds to confusion. We also look to see how much activity a forum will have. We do not want forums that only have 10 or 20 posts in them. that just adds to clutter and makes things harder to find. Those 10 or 20 posts usually can be put in existing forums just as well.

With that in mind, What types of threads would you think would go into this new forum that could not fit in existing forums?

Maybe this doesn't have to be a forum per se, but rather a resource with strategies for those new cooks who need help stretching their grocery dollar, while still being able to prepair healthy and yummy meals. I like "The Z's" idea. The idea of this forum would be to create complete meals rather than learning how to cook just one item of a meal. It would help people put together differing food items and teach them some strategies for shopping, picking out the foods that should be in their homes, and how to put them together quickly without sacrificing quality.

I know this is a tall order. And I definitely see your point about the existing forums. But there is really no forum that addresses complete meal production, an all in-one-place forum where someone can quickly get ideas for dinner, or lunch, or even healthy snacks for after-school.

That's why I'm putting the idea out for everyone to chime in on. If this would be valuable, then it should be here. If it is more trouble than it's worth, then it shouldn't.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[amber]

I agree with pacanis, I dont think another forum would be necessary.

 

[GB]

I am not opposed to the idea. I just still do not see how it would work. What would the type of thread titles you would expect to see be?

There is no area for complete meals because it would be too hard to find what you are looking for. If you have multiple dishes spanning different types in the same thread then everything gets lost a week after it is posted. You can always post your meat recipe in the appropriate meat forum, your starch recipe in its forum, your veggie recipe in its forum, your dessert recipe in its forum and then have links to those recipes within the posts. That way you would have your complete meal. For instance you could have a Ribs recipe in the post forum and in that thread there could be a link to a recipe for black eyed pea salad in the beans forum. a year from now when you remember that post and want to find the recipe for the black eyes pea salad you will know to logically look in the beans forum for it. You may or may not remember that is was in a thread about rib or a forum about how to cook inexpensive complete meals.

Like I said, I am not against the idea. I am just having trouble seeing how it would work.

What thread titles do you expect to see in it?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I am not opposed to the idea. I just still do not see how it would work. What would the type of thread titles you would expect to see be?

There is no area for complete meals because it would be too hard to find what you are looking for. If you have multiple dishes spanning different types in the same thread then everything gets lost a week after it is posted. You can always post your meat recipe in the appropriate meat forum, your starch recipe in its forum, your veggie recipe in its forum, your dessert recipe in its forum and then have links to those recipes within the posts. That way you would have your complete meal. For instance you could have a Ribs recipe in the post forum and in that thread there could be a link to a recipe for black eyed pea salad in the beans forum. a year from now when you remember that post and want to find the recipe for the black eyes pea salad you will know to logically look in the beans forum for it. You may or may not remember that is was in a thread about rib or a forum about how to cook inexpensive complete meals.

Like I said, I am not against the idea. I am just having trouble seeing how it would work.

What thread titles do you expect to see in it?

You just had to ask the hard questions, didn't you. I like your ideas about linking recipes together. I guess the techniques forum could include shopping, flavor pairing, nutritional pairings, etc, as well as purely food preperation techniques.

Of course, anyone else who would like to see the new forum, chime in. I'm having trouble fleshing this idea out.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Andy M.]

Then should we also have a forum for expensive meals and another for not too expensive/not to cheap meals?

I think we can get it done within the existing forums with informative titling.