Simple living lot trait (quick meals)

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:
I know a lot of people (me included) have wished to be limited in cooking by what ingredients we had at hand. But I don't think this lot challenge is designed for just that. I think it's for really simple living, where you only eat whatever you grow or can buy at the local farmer's market. This challenge is for what I would call "old time living" where you don't have fancy yogurts, microwaves or processed foods, and you have to cook whatever you eat; or for "I'm totally broke living" where Cheerios are too expensive for you to buy on your non-existent budget and you literally have to live off the land and cook everything without shortcuts.

Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

I do agree that we ought to be able to drink a glass of milk, and I wish we could buy oats for oatmeal, but again, a bowl of oatmeal would have to be cooked, so it isn't a quick meal.

For that matter, some of the meals in the 'quick meal' category would need to be cooked in the microwave or on the stove ebfore eating, so maybe we've all gotten spoiled by that oversimplification. At least ssome of the foods in the quick meal category might be classed as leftovers.

You do have a good point. I have the challenge on pretty much all of my lots except my wealthiest sims because there’s no limits on what foods the super wealthy can access, and I do enjoy it very much. Maybe then they could add a harvestable orange tree so my sims can still have o.j. ?

"Pamtastic72;c-17954935" wrote:

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:
I know a lot of people (me included) have wished to be limited in cooking by what ingredients we had at hand. But I don't think this lot challenge is designed for just that. I think it's for really simple living, where you only eat whatever you grow or can buy at the local farmer's market. This challenge is for what I would call "old time living" where you don't have fancy yogurts, microwaves or processed foods, and you have to cook whatever you eat; or for "I'm totally broke living" where Cheerios are too expensive for you to buy on your non-existent budget and you literally have to live off the land and cook everything without shortcuts.

Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

I do agree that we ought to be able to drink a glass of milk, and I wish we could buy oats for oatmeal, but again, a bowl of oatmeal would have to be cooked, so it isn't a quick meal.

For that matter, some of the meals in the 'quick meal' category would need to be cooked in the microwave or on the stove ebfore eating, so maybe we've all gotten spoiled by that oversimplification. At least ssome of the foods in the quick meal category might be classed as leftovers.

You do have a good point. I have the challenge on pretty much all of my lots except my wealthiest sims because there’s no limits on what foods the super wealthy can access, and I do enjoy it very much. Maybe then they could add a harvestable orange tree so my sims can still have o.j. ?

I would love to have orange trees for oj!

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:


Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

You know people do this, right? When we grow peas, we always eat them raw when they are fresh and in season. It's a very common spring snack. The kids love them this way, even more than microwaved, really.

It's also super-easy to make homemade yogurt. I would have loved to see yogurt (using your own milk, maybe with optional fruit) as an option under canning. (Yogurt isn't exactly a preserve, but then, neither is chocolate syrup, custard, or mayonnaise; it makes as much sense as any of those.)

As far as oatmeal is concerned, you already have to microwave it. I don't see why you shouldn't still be able to do that, if we were also able to grow or buy oats.

Again, the whole point is not that every quick meal option should still be available with the simple living challenge. It's that some of them would still make sense even with the challenge. We might draw the lines differently with respect to specific items, but some of them very clearly make no sense.

"Amapola76;c-17955006" wrote:

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:


Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

You know people do this, right? When we grow peas, we always eat them raw when they are fresh and in season. It's a very common spring snack. The kids love them this way, even more than microwaved, really.

It's also super-easy to make homemade yogurt. I would have loved to see yogurt (using your own milk, maybe with optional fruit) as an option under canning. (Yogurt isn't exactly a preserve, but then, neither is chocolate syrup, custard, or mayonnaise; it makes as much sense as any of those.)

As far as oatmeal is concerned, you already have to microwave it. I don't see why you shouldn't still be able to do that, if we were also able to grow or buy oats.

Again, the whole point is not that every quick meal option should still be available with the simple living challenge. It's that some of them would still make sense even with the challenge. We might draw the lines differently with respect to specific items, but some of them very clearly make no sense.

I said this earlier in the thread:

"Pamtastic72;c-17954878" wrote:
I wish they would just put the quick meals back with the challenge. Or require the ingredients. Like for cereal you at least need milk, same for yogurt, pb&j require bread & a preserve, ham & cheese would need bread + cheese + red meat etc. That or put them on the grocery list and let us purchase them, especially yogurt and orange juice especially orange juice since we don’t have harvestable oranges in game. We could buy cheese crackers too, or they could require having flour and cheese.

If they added oats to the grocery store they could be a required ingredient not just for oatmeal but also the oatmeal cookies for the baking menu. Then you could use them to make your own cereal...like granola. It would be the best of both worlds.

I think if you have children, it's best to go off the Simple Living challenge. They can become picky eaters, who want only quick meals, and they really don't care if you've made aubergine parmesan from scratch. Then go back on the lot challenge when they get older. But that's just me.

"Amapola76;c-17955006" wrote:

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:


Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

You know people do this, right? When we grow peas, we always eat them raw when they are fresh and in season. It's a very common spring snack. The kids love them this way, even more than microwaved, really.

I was thinking the same. I've never even heard of microwaved peas as a separate meal, it's not the thing where I live. So I thought it's just a bowl of fresh peas. ?

And I agree about yogurt, too. I would also like to see some sandwiches as a quick meal. We should be able to eat bread + cheese as a sandwich and not as two separate meals.

"Amapola76;c-17955006" wrote:

"Isharell;c-17954928" wrote:


Yes, I've got peas but I would have to cook them before I had a bowl of them. If you want to eat peas as a 'quick meal' you'd have to grow them and eat them raw.

It's also super-easy to make homemade yogurt. I would have loved to see yogurt (using your own milk, maybe with optional fruit) as an option under canning. (Yogurt isn't exactly a preserve, but then, neither is chocolate syrup, custard, or mayonnaise; it makes as much sense as any of those.)

As far as oatmeal is concerned, you already have to microwave it. I don't see why you shouldn't still be able to do that, if we were also able to grow or buy oats.

Again, the whole point is not that every quick meal option should still be available with the simple living challenge. It's that some of them would still make sense even with the challenge. We might draw the lines differently with respect to specific items, but some of them very clearly make no sense.

They could add a Fermenting skill tied to cooking (similar to the Canning skill) and add things like yoghurt. That would be fun! Maybe this is something that could be added with a destination pack. Sims could ferment their own yoghurt, tofu and sauerkraut. I would also love to see an option to cook oat meal on a stove (the animation is already there).