Poll of the Day > There just are no deep paper bowls in the stores....

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I came up with a sort of alternative.

I make fast pasta (don't judge me), where I microwave ragu sauce and poor it over pasta, after sprinkling garlic powerder/pepper and grated parmesian cheese on it.

But the cheese sticks to the bowl and is super hard to get off of it, and ruins sponges when you do. It really sucks.

I tried using the shallow bowls they sell in the store, but they are not deep enough to mix the cheese/spices let alone the sauce in afterwards.

So, i have started using aluminum foil to line my bowl. It's a bit of a waste, but honestly it's $2 for a roll of foil that lasts 20 times or so.....waaay cheaper than paper bowls would have been anyway. I just remove the foil and throw it out, and BAM no mess!!!

I just thought I would pass this tip on because I have never heard anyone else do it before.

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use regular bowl, fill with water afterwards to easily soak any food.
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Just get a brush dude. And soak.

The reason you've never heard anyone do this before is because it's stupid, and not hard to just wash a dish.

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Nah you guys don't know.

It's the parmesian grated cheese, it sticks to the bowl, it's super hard to get off, soaking doesn't help at all. If you use a scrub brush/sponge it sticks to the sponge/scrub brush and ruins it.

It's been a problem forever.

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How many times a week are you eating pasta?

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deadpigs101 posted...

How many times a week are you eating pasta?

Not too many, it's my backup if I have nothing else to eat pretty much.


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People have been using parmesan cheese for millennia.

It is not hard to clean it.

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What a waste of foil.
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Just take a bite and shake parmesan into your mouth as you chew.

If you're burning the cheese onto the bowl so badly that you can't remove it without ruining the tool you use, you're cooking the cheese way too long. Sprinkle it on after everything else has been warmed up and give the whole thing an extra 20-30 seconds in the microwave to melt the cheese.

Nah, the cheese isn't cooked (directly).

It's how I like my fast pasta specifically. Normally with pasta I sprinkle parm on top and there is no problem.

But fast pasta is different, its a way for me to make pasta very fast and cheap when I'm hungry but have no tome.

You cook the noodles like normal, but instead of adding sauce and THEN adding the parm, you add the spices and parm right on the past while it's still hot (you don't rinse it).

You can't do this with shredded parm etc, it has to be grated.

When you do the grated parm melts and sticks to the noodles, which is yummy once you add sauce (because it's already stuck to the pasta, so you get melted parm + noodles + sauce in every bite.

It's actually quite good for being so easy/fast (hence why I call it fast pasta).

The problem is, the parm ALSO melts and sticks to the bowl. This might not normally be a big deal, but, by the time you have finished eating the parm has cooled and now is stuck to the bowl like glue. A normal sponge won't get it off, you can't wipe it off with a paper towl etc. You have to use brillo or a rough sponge to get it off.

Even if you do though, the cheese will stick to the rough sponge or brillo and is impossible to get off that (without spending forever).

Even if you heat the cheese up with hot water, it still sticks to everything like glue.

You can though use say a spoon to scrape the cheese (mostly) off onto the spoon and then use your hands to remove it from that, and then just get the small amount of remaining cheese with a sponge etc, but it's always a pain in the neck.

Using foil avoids all that hassle, or even needing to really wash a bowl etc, and it's cheaper then buying paper bowls (Which are not deep enough anyway).

So it's an easy solution.

It would also work for mac and cheese for instance (not as hard to clean, but I do a similar thing with that cause I don't like melted yellow cheese).

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I use parmesan both grated and shaved and never had a problem with stuff sticking so hard a simple sponge couldn't get it off.

Now dried egg yolk on the other hand

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Well it is to glass bowls, but I'm pretty sure I had it happen to ceramic in the past. Anyway it's def a prob, but I found a work around now.

I just need to get better at not over-cooking my pasta (keep doing that cause I get distracted).

I hate over cooked pasta.

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wait, you rinse pasta after you cook it?

just strain it and it's good to go
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

wait, you rinse pasta after you cook it?

just strain it and it's good to go

If I have a pasta sauce I have made which is hot, then I rinse the pasta (it also keeps it from continuing to cook a bit). It' gets rid of the extra starch on it as well etc, adds a bit to the flavor.

I don't for fast pasta though as I use the heat of the pasta to melt the cheese. I microwave rague with meat sauce and poor it on top after mixing the cheese and spices on.

I like to use either rigatoni or Rotini for fast pasta.

I prefer thick spagetti Al' dente for traditional pasta with a sauce I actually cook.

I don't bother cooking a sauce pretty much anymore, so it's just fast pasta, usually about once a week (but I skeep weeks sometimes).

It's very cheap though. If you buy a box of pasta and a can of rague meat sauce for $3 total (1 for the pasta and less than 2 for the sauce), with the cheese, it comes to $3 total).

If I'm really hungry I'll eat a half pound (half box) of pasta but honestly I only usually make about 1/3rd, so it's about $1 to $1.50 a meal that way. Much better than going to olive garden for isntance and quite good.

Eventually i'm going to try and spend $75 or less a week on food. I'm not doing that right now but once I eventually start living on Social Security, I'm only gonna get $1k a month or so. I figure $600 for rent, $100 for other expenses and $300 for food should work long term. Cheap things like fast pasta will help me reach that goal, while still having more expensive meals every so often.

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wolfy42 posted...

Eventually i'm going to try and spend $75 or less a week on food

For you and how many people

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Metalsonic66 posted...

For you and how many people

Just me, everyone else is dead.

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Then 75 bucks a week is plenty

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Metalsonic66 posted...

Then 75 bucks a week is plenty

Easily, yes, but, I want to have money for eating out etc, going to get mongolian bbq etc, even so it's not that hard. It's generally $20 almost anywhere you go out to eat now adays, but I tend to just eat once in such a case, so $75 shouldn't be a prob.

Still having meals that are $1.50 here or there, that I still enjoy will allow me to spend more on other meals.

I could eat on $20 a week if I needed to, and the food wouldn't be that horrid. Tuna fish sandwichs, mac and cheese, chilli, hot dogs, swiss cheese sandwiches, fast pasta (more then once a week) etc. I could make a $3 a day plan work, but.....it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable.

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helIy posted...

Just get a brush dude. And soak.

The reason you've never heard anyone do this before is because it's stupid, and not hard to just wash a dish.

This. How is the goofy, illogical way you are doing this any faster, than just making it like normal?
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ultra magnus13 posted...

This. How is the goofy, illogical way you are doing this any faster, than just making it like normal?

I mean, my new way is actually cheaper then using paper bowls/plates, and it requires no washing of dishes, so it's logical just for that (not even including the cheese part).

But no, a brush doesn't work unless it's a very strong one like a brillo/steel pad or the rough sponges, and then the cheese gets stuck on them, making them have to be discarded.

Foil on the other hand costs almost nothing, gets thrown out direclty, keeps sauce etc off the bowl and is super cheap. You can even get the rolls for $1 at dollar stores (if I end up doing this alot ..which I think I will, I'll stock up).

I live in a basement and wash my dishes in a bathroom sink, so it's quite nice not to need to wash a bowl.

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wolfy42 posted...

You can even get the rolls for $1 at dollar stores (if I end up doing this alot ..which I think I will, I'll stock up).

Get a Costco membership.

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wolfy42 posted...

The problem is, the parm ALSO melts and sticks to the bowl. This might not normally be a big deal, but, by the time you have finished eating the parm has cooled and now is stuck to the bowl like glue. A normal sponge won't get it off, you can't wipe it off with a paper towl etc. You have to use brillo or a rough sponge to get it off.

I've put parmesan (which then melted) on countless pasta dishes and never once had it stick to the bowl so badly that I couldn't easily take it off by wiping with a simple dish cloth. I've cooked spaghetti carbonara in a stainless steel pan and not had any issues removing the parmesan that I melted in the pan on the stovetop (the egg was another matter, and why I prefer to use my cast iron pan for it). I don't know what you're doing with your parmesan that's making it stick so badly you can't remove it without destroying your scrubbing tool, but it's definitely not a problem I've ever heard of anyone having.

Be a dang ass bourgeoisie and just throw out your dishes after one use and buy new ones.

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Lick the bowel.

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wwinterj25 posted...

Lick the bowel.

Lol, best suggestion yet:)

It's a big/deep bowl or I probably would heh. I love the flavor of melted parm + pasta sauce.

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how bout u jus learn to do the dishes lol

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FatalAccident posted...

how bout u jus learn to do the dishes lol

I've done all the dishes my whole life, for everyone else. I ever worked as a dishwasher under the table for Little Ceasars pizza when I was 11....I know how to wash dishes.

It's a real problem, just most people would never actually experience it I guess, because they don't use grated parm like I do, so don't see what happens.

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wolfy42 posted...

It's a real problem

It's not though. Everyone here has had some sort of pasta with cheese on it enough times, and have done dishes enough times, to know that it's just not hard to clean it.

Lets say that it is somehow burnt on there and scrubbing it will somehow destroy the sponge, just let it soak in hot water and some soap for like 15 minutes dude.

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