AprilMay1895

When I was in "that other program," we were essentially instructed to not cook with alcohol (wines, beers, liquors for flavoring) and we could not take cough or cold medicine with alcohol in it either.

Personally, I think that's all a tad bit too cautionary for my liking. I've never downed a bottle of Nyquil, nor have I tried to get drunk off of beer brats. lol

I'm curious to see what everyone else's take on the idea is, especially those who have created their own recovery process...

suki44883

Well, everyone has their opinions about that. Me, I drank way too much beer. I never abused the real vanilla in the cabinets or drank mouthwash. When I go to the doctor and they prescribe something, I take it without any second thoughts. I have no problem taking NyQuil when I have a cold. I've never once even thought to abuse it. I got pain pills from my dentist when I had a tooth pulled. Never once abused them and in fact, only took a couple of them because after the first day, the pain wasn't so bad that Advil didn't work. There are people who would tell me that I'm tempting fate, but I have about 3 1/2 years sober and it's never been a problem for me in any way whatsoever.

onlythetruth

Here's what I've developed over time (works for me; not saying it's the right way for anyone else!):

I do NOT drink alcoholic beverages or anything containing "raw" alcohol (desserts, medicines, etc.). However, I use mouthwash with alcohol, and I eat food that has been prepared with alcohol as long as it has been cooked a long time (like a stew prepared with wine). I also have no problem with NA beer or "virgin" cocktails.

Terminally Unique

I like my 26.9% ABV Listerine mouthwash; you can just feel those germs dying. I don't know, that zero alcohol weak stuff just doesn't feel the same without that burning sensation, and a 30-45 sec rinse never made me go on a binge. Then again, I was never one to drink mouthwash.

I don't do NA beer or cold medicines with alcohol, and my intake of foods cooked with alcohol was always extremely rare, so I don't give that much thought. I doubt that I would be phased if I had some food that was, though. YMMV.

soberlicious

TU...LOL Listerine!! I agree. I don't have a problem with that. Like OTT, I don't eat anything that has "raw" alcohol in it, but don't mind if it has been cooked away. I also have no problem personally with NA beer, but I don't drink it because it's gross. For me, pain meds are a no-no and I will tell them not to prescribe. In the event that I really do need them one day, I think I would enlist some help in taking them as prescribed, since I was previously addicted to pills. Virgin cocktails are fine with me too, but usually too much trouble or too many empty calories. There are times when I'm out with friends and they do a shot, they get me a virgin one LOL kinda funny to slam some grapefruit juice. Diet Coke and coffee are my poisons now.
I think if you really know yourself and you are really honest with yourself, then you will find what is right for you when it comes to this kind of stuff.

AprilMay1895

Yeah, I think the Nyquil I'll be sketchy about taking just because I remember it making me feel intoxicated so I'll stay away from that....plus the bottle comes with a shot glass, they're just toying with us. lol I'm not about to throw away my precious cooking wines though. I was so excited when I starting drinking again that I could finally cook really great meals with wine sauces. I actually hated ever drinking wine, but the flavor it adds to food is amazing. So, if I ever want to chug my $2 bottles of white or red wine made with added salt for cooking purposes, I'll consider a diet without it. Now about the alcohol based hand sanitizer...should I be licking my hands after I use it???

Dee74

I don't knowingly ingest alcohol.

It's not a dogmatic thing or a fear based thing - I just am repulsed by alcohol now.

Once upon a time I would have argued to a standstill I drank for taste - I see that for the lie it is now. I actually find the taste of alcohol deeply unpleasant...

and yet curiously I noticed I was using my alcohol based listerine at about twice the rate of a non alcohol based brand..so I stopped using listerine - my teeth are still fine

D

AprilMay1895

Ya know, the more I think about this, the more I think about putting a lot of extra red wine in my next recipe and being excited for it...probably not a good sign for the future with my cooking wines. lol I wonder if they make NA wine for cooking?

soberlicious

I think they do April, but another option could be to explore some other kinds of cooking that use some flavorings/spices that are new and exotic to you. Could be a new cooking venture and then the whole cooking with wine thing might be less important. I don't know LOL probably not best to take advice from me. I'm a southern cook. Fried chicken, meatloaf, mashed potaoes, fried okra, black-eyed peas, greens...lol we don't cook with booze too much.

Dee74

NA wine is basically grape juice in my experience LOL.
there are some suggestions for substitutions here:

Alcohol Cooking Substitutions - Alcohol Substitute Recipes

D

Scolova

I really like deep fried chicken and fish in beer batter, but I'd have to trust myself to buy just one can \ bottle and treat it like a hazardous material until all of it was in the fryer or dumped out.
I keep nyquil in the house, but I use it very rarely. I loved Dennis Leary's old stand-up skit about "The giant F'ing Q!", but that stuff is REALLY bad on the liver as well.

AprilMay1895

Yeah, the cooking with booze could be regional. In the mid-west we have all sorts of culinary monsters, like beer battered cheese curds, beer brats, beer soup, beer batter for fish too! I'm starting to think that in this area if it can include cheese, booze and deep frying...you have a winner. LOL Now that I think about the wine thing though, when I was in AA and wasn't drinking last year, my mom made prime rib with red wine au jus...it was amazing, but I could taste the alcohol in the wine...and I remember enjoying it too much and using extra sauce. ahaha Craziness...weird that an addiction can go so far like that.

TallWater

I think it's a little nuts, but at this point the temptation is heavy.

Terminally Unique

I don't have a superstitious belief that if I accidentally ingest minute amounts of alcohol I will lose control. Nevertheless, Nyquil has 25% alcohol, and some other cough syrups have more, so I stay away from that stuff. You can certainly get a little buzz off it if you're sick and start taking it, and there is always alcohol in my house. I can just envision being sick and weak, getting a buzz off Nyquil, and then the Beast really coming alive, as if injected with adrenaline.

I can hear the Addictive Voice now:

onlythetruth

This is what I mean about it being an individual thing! For me, I tried to avoid all foods which were prepared with alcohol, until I started realizing that often I was unknowingly eating foods that had alcohol in them and that this had absolutely no impact. So I stopped worrying about it.

Now, the Nyquil thing is, to me, a different matter. Taking Nyquil is the equivalent of taking cold medicine with a glass of sherry! Given that there are dozens of effective cold medicines that do NOT come with the "glass of sherry" component, there is no reason to take Nyquil.

AprilMay1895

Yeah, boo to the Nyquil. I didn't know the stuff was 25% alcohol...no wonder teenagers abused it, that's just asking for trouble. lol

I think though, that alcohol that has been thoroughly cooked into the food should be fine. My mom was a little overzealous with her red wine au jus...meaning I think she made the stuff with the wine and THEN dumped in another cup of wine after cooking. lol I think this time around when I explain to my parents I'm not drinking, I better actually explain why so they don't think "A little booze won't kill her!"

FT

When I was still a drinker, I tried to drink a glass of cooking sherry once when I ran out of cold duck. I almost gagged on the sherry, which had a very high salt content since it was formulated for cooking. However, I successfully drank sherry at other times that was NOT cooking sherry.

As to cooking with wine now, I do it once in awhile, but most of my recipes are for cooking sherry. I never did like sherry much anyway, but having a bottle of it in my fridge doesn't tempt me any more than having soy sauce in there does.

I guess I am practiced at "shifting" now, but over the years I've been confronted with alcohol on many occasions and am never tempted to drink it. Ever since I became a non drinker, it doesn't matter how much alcohol I'm around, I just don't' drink it. I still fall back on "what would a non-drinker do?" in all situations, IF my addictive voice pipes up. It rarely does anymore, but I know it is still there. I know that because, oddly, I ask how it is doing now and then if I don't hear it talking. I suppose I pity it in a way, because similar to AprilMay's beast/AV, it forgets to wash its hair and rarely puts on clean underwear since it never gets to go anywhere anyway.

FT

jamdls

I used to use a lot of cooking wines and I got rid of them all when I quit drinking and I if I had a choice at a restaurant I would not order something that I knew was cooked in an alcohol sauce but if I didn't have a choice I wouldn't worry about it. I don't remember ever getting a buzz off of food cooked with alcohol, and like Dee stated I too can't stand the taste nor smell of alcohol so if I could smell or taste it in the food I wouldnt want the food. I use alcohol free mouthwash that I get from my dentist and that's just cause they give it for free every time I go visit them. I started taking a benzo after I got sober for anxiety attacks and then to help me sleep and a lot of people told me no no that would lead me back to alchol...well I've never had a desire to take more than prescribed and 99% of the time I take 1/2 a pill which is half the prescribed amount and I've been sober over 4 yrs with no problem.

soberlicious

Well, I say the nyquil is bad stuff too, but probably mainly because I know someone who was very addicted to it. Anything that could potentially give me a buzz is a no for me. I have a real distain for that chemically buzzed feeling now. It holds no appeal for me, in fact it's the opposite. That said...I am all about the natural adrenaline rush. Being up high, going fast, things that are "scary"...all good things for me. Less dramatic stuff like learning something new, accomplishing something new, and good belly laughs also equal healthy highs for me.

gneiss

I didn't really bother with mouthwash, I could always scrounge up enough change for a couple beers. I use mouthwash and other products with alcohol in them. NyQuil was best used to knock me out on the end of a dope binge, when I was desperately in need of sleep and unable to get any. It wasn't really for the alcohol as far as needing booze, just for the sleep that it brought. I still don't use it often, it gives me medicine head really bad the next day. And my mom and aunt seem unable to cook without alcohol, so I don't worry about it. I have never been tempted to go on a binge with mom's spaghetti sauce or my aunt's fruitcake. I even make beer can chicken occasionally.

BUT... would never have been able to handle this early on. I was careful about any alcohol products for a year or so, and after that I started introducing cooking wine and that sort of thing, but only once I was comfortable going to, say, a friend's barbecue where other people would be drinking. I had to trust myself not to use first.