New York

A watched pot never boils

I hate to waste time waiting for water to boil or chicken to brown, so I live on takeout. I've further enhanced this aspect of things by narrowing down my dinner choices to a collection of 5 takeout places, all of which can produce a meal to go in less than 6 minutes. To streamline things even further, I do not choose my takeout options by the whim of what type of food I'd like. Instead, I choose by which restaurant fits on my "errand path" for the day. For instace, if I need to go to the laundromat, I'll do Chinese as its across the street. A post-office run neccesitates Italian, thanks to the convenient pizza place down the block. If I take the express train it drops me off one stop away, but I can make up that walking time by picking up hot deli food (already packaged, it's in-and-out in two minutes.) The local train is a treat if it comes before the express, and means I'm having falafel. Combine the actual time saved with the time I avoid spending on dinner decisions (I estimate 15 minutes a day), and I'm saving 91 hours a year.