Week 5

This week was pretty good.

I cooked a pot of curry on Thursday with my sister. I boiled carrots, onions, potatoes, and beef first, then add the Golden Curry sauce mix in it. When I was doing it, my sister washed and steamed the rice. This process went very fast and smooth. I had good time talking to my sister.

The most benefit is convenience. On Friday and Saturday, I only need to put it in microwave for 1 minute, and I can eat without messing up the kitchen.

I cooked another dishes on Sunday and froze them with curry. I reached my goal which is cooking on Sunday and Thursday.

I was happy for what I done. The operant conditioning theory works well on me. I don’t want to be punished (do a housework for a week), so I cook. After I cook, I get reward(mess up kitchen and convenience for other days).

I am satisfied with my program now. I would not change anything for this week. I think the program may makes me addict on cooking. haha.

Week 4

The program does not work as smooth as I thought. I totally forgot about it because I was kind of busy this week. = ( I worked on the paper and Chapter 10 quiz on Thursday, studied for the test on Friday, and went to whole day volenteer on Saturday and Sunday. I feel bad for this week. The reinforcement are not enough for me. I think I need to add some punishments to my program to make sure that I am actually doing it. I will ask my sister to force me to cook with her, and if I reject by any excuse, she can ask me to do housework for a week, such as wash all dishes, take garbage outside, or hang the clothes out… This positive punishment should be effective because I will not have problem that can not punish myself. My sister will also be glad to ask me to do them if I do not cook on Thursday and Sunday. I will use fixed ratio schedule for positive punishment because it is the most efficient schedule. The other part of program just remains the same. I hope it will work well this time.

This is the 15 great reasons to cook at home.
http://healthycooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/eat_home_and_lose_weight

There are also a lot of website to teach you how to cook, and the pictures are looked so tasty. I hope I can start makine them tomorrow.

Week 3

I plan to cook on Sunday and Thursday, and I can make one or two dishes for two or three days, such as a pot of curry. I will put them in containers and freeze them as Andrea and Lisa said. The negative reinforcement will be that I do not need to clean the kitchen and wash a lot of dishes after I eat. This reinforcement is effective for me because I really do not like to wash dishes. It is very convenience, and I also don’t need to spend much time on it. I will also ask my sister to cook with me, so the cooking time can be enjoyable and interesting. We can decide the menu and share the work together. The positive reinforcement will be closer with my sister and extra cash. My sister and I have seven ages different, so it is a good opportunity to spend time with her. I also can use extra cash to buy some desserts which attract me very much. I will use variable interval for schedule of reinforcement because my behavior will be more resistant to extinction, and it is easier to use a day or a week than a number of meal.

I do not use punishment because I can not really punish myself sometimes. Therefore punishment is useless for me. I find a websit (http://yaniku.com/). It includes lots of home cooking tips that helps me alot.

Week 2

I did not totally follow my plan this week. I went to supermarket on Friday, and I thought I could start on Saturday, but I did not. I went to dinner with family on Saturday. On Sunday, I made spaghetti and salad for dinner that was a good start for me. I was satisfying what I cooked and glad that I took the first step. However, I did not use kitchen again after that. I told myself that I was tired and busy today, so I would do it tomorrow. On the other day, I feel that I was doing something important, so I would think about it later. I think the reason that I keep eating outside is convenient. I can eat the food immediately without doing anything, and I do not need to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen after my meal. I think I should find someone to cook with me that may make it more interesting, or I can start from the easy food that will not take me too much time.