Help Firebird Learn to Cook?

[Firebird]

It takes a bit of thought / planning to get started on this, but then you'll always have things in the freezer and within a couple of weeks you won't have to cook from scratch every day.

@debthaven2, I like this idea but we have a ridiculously small freezer.  Not sure how much we're going to be able to store in there.  I have trouble making a frozen pizza fit. 

However, if we're cooking more versus buying processed crap, that will free up some space. 

[Firebird]

Yes, but at some point of bacon saturation it is no longer worth it to cook the accompanying food, because there is so much bacon that you might as well just cook bacon.  Which is typically my suggestion, but so far the "lets just eat a pack of bacon" has not been successful as an every-meal event.

hoops902 - So basically, your heart is just a soggy lump of greasy blood that moves a little every now and then? 

And here was me thinking it was a cold dark rock all this time...

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2013 17:14:38 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Yes, but at some point of bacon saturation it is no longer worth it to cook the accompanying food, because there is so much bacon that you might as well just cook bacon.  Which is typically my suggestion, but so far the "lets just eat a pack of bacon" has not been successful as an every-meal event.

hoops902 - So basically, your heart is just a soggy lump of greasy blood that moves a little every now and then? 

And here was me thinking it was a cold dark rock all this time...

It's a cold dark rock surrounded by a layer of greasy blood.

[Firebird]

Ahh, that explains it.  Thanks for clarifying, @moneyjenny82

[constanz22]

I would suggest buying a couple "Taste of Home" cookbooks. There are tons to pick from but all of their recipes are pretty easy and made with "normal" ingredients.

I love to cook, or at least I used to. I hate cooking for one person, so, now I guess I kind of dislike cooking. It just feels like a chore, and between dirtying a bunch of dishes and taking the time when I come home exhausted from work...blah...I kind of can't stand it anymore. But, I have some "regular" meals that I cook often, and I also use the crock pot, and don't mind leftovers at all. I'd actually rather eat the same dinner 2-3 days in a row than have to cook all those days, so, I've found what works for me. You can cook nutritious meals that don't take a ton of time to prepare or have to buy all kinds of fancy ingredients.

[Pants]

Firebird - we eat in almost every meal, plus make enough for lunches. Like you, we have 2 working parents and a little one (she is on solids now so she eats with us.) We do not have the time after work to cook a meal to feed to us and baby before it is her bedtime, so we typically are working a day behind - cooking food for tomorrow and the next day that we can just reheat.

We meal plan on Friday evenings or Saturdays, then do the grocery shopping for the week. We usually have 3 main dishes plus 1-2 additional side dishes (for meals that don't include veggies) plus snacks for DH and I during the work day - fruit, nuts, yogurt, etc.

We typically cook Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays or Fridays. Sunday we make whatever the most labor-intensive meal is. We try to make meals last for 4 dinner servings and 2-4 lunch servings - so the recipes say serves 6-8. 

At least once a week we have a one-pot slow cooker meal, usually stew or a hearty soup.

Saturdays and Sundays we eat Thurs/Fri's meal, sandwiches, whatever we feel like.

We are trying to eat healthier, so have been doing lots of experimental cooking lately, since our usual staples were not very healthy. Typically we have 1 staple meal and 2 experimental meals every week. I expect this balance to change as we find more things we like.

Good luck! It's fun once you get into it, I swear!

[Sam_2.0]

Firebird - one of the best tools for me in learning to cook & manage the food budget/meal planning has been using eMeals. I got the deal for $29/year. Each week they email you a shopping list and recipe plan. All ingredients on the list are organized by section of the store so you can shop quickly, and they are numbered by meal (so if there's something you REALLY don't want you can just cross those items off). We have a plan for 2 and it feeds DH and I plus DD. The meals are healthy and very tasty And all stuff I can cook!! Most take about 20-30 minutes or they are crock-pot meals you can cook all day. I spend $50-60/week on the meals which has seriously cut down on our grocery spending (mainly since there's a plan and very little waste). Shoot me your email and I can send you a couple plans to look over if you are interested.

[Peace Of Mind]

This is a lot of reading and I really don't have time since dinner is almost done but I would suggest you starting with big, but simple things.

Like baking a ham (very easy!), roasting a chicken, turkey - something that will be easy that will last a couple of days.
Throw in sweet potatoes wrapped in foil at the same time or baking potatoes.
Throw in asparagus at the same time or broccoli on the stove or make a salad.

All you would have to worry about is a few ingredients and timing.

If you get a crock pot there are some great 4 or 5 ingredient recipes I can share with you when you are ready that are very tasty!

The basic ingredients for most recipes is:

Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper
Italian Seasonings
Oregano
Thyme
Sage
Parsley

Onions (real)
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery... stuff like that.

[taz157]

Mar 20, 2013 11:06:27 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Unfortunately, I'm kind of like doxieluvr.

Great thread! I've bookmarked it so I can come back to it and read what other's have said. I could really use the ideas.

When DH is out of town, I can make something for DD and I, and it will last for 3-4 meals. When DH is in town, I'm lucky with 2 meals; however, he's trying to lose weight by watching what he eats more than anything right now. (FWIW, DH's goal is to lose 100 pounds and he's already lost 10 in the past 2 weeks. Both of us know it's not healthy too lose that much in 2 weeks; however, when your goal is to lose 100 pounds, you can already guess he's really overweight. For the past 2 weeks, he's been busy working and has been watching what he eats and drinks. His downfall is sodas.)

Keep the ideas coming!

[thyme4change]

taz - often times the weight loss starts very quickly.  Usually because for the first time ever you might be eating right and exercising, and your body is just flipping out.  A more "healthy" pattern is to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so a year to 18 months to reach his goal.  Be prepared for the rapid loss to stop suddenly, and it can be very frustrating for him.  Just keep encouraging him and hopefully he can make it through the hump.  Also , even the 1-2 pounds can be frustrating.  My husband would lose 1 pound in two weeks, and he would get stressed out - trying to think of all his eating and all his exercising and wondering if he was doing it wrong, trying to figure out if he was really watching portion sizes, etc.  You have to just keep your head down and keep on going.  Good luck to your DH.  I hope he reaches his goal and is able to keep it off forever.

[taz157]

Mar 20, 2013 19:21:25 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

Shoot me your email and I can send you a couple plans to look over if you are interested.

Check your PMs.

[taz157]

Mar 20, 2013 21:17:31 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

taz - often times the weight loss starts very quickly.  Usually because for the first time ever you might be eating right and exercising, and your body is just flipping out.  A more "healthy" pattern is to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so a year to 18 months to reach his goal.  Be prepared for the rapid loss to stop suddenly, and it can be very frustrating for him.  Just keep encouraging him and hopefully he can make it through the hump.  Also , even the 1-2 pounds can be frustrating.  My husband would lose 1 pound in two weeks, and he would get stressed out - trying to think of all his eating and all his exercising and wondering if he was doing it wrong, trying to figure out if he was really watching portion sizes, etc.  You have to just keep your head down and keep on going.  Good luck to your DH.  I hope he reaches his goal and is able to keep it off forever.

Unfortunately, this isn't DH's 1st rodeo trying to lose weight. When DH was unemployed, he lost about 40 pounds about 4 years ago by exercising and changing his diet, then he started working and it creeped back up. He's not happy about his current size and I think he does realize that it could take a year or so for him to get to his goal weight. A friend of his and DH had a bet to lose 100 pounds starting about 6 months ago. DH's friend has already lost 50 of the 100 pounds while DH has only lose the 10 in the past couple of weeks. Trust me, DH definitely has my full support for helping him reach his goal. Thanks for the words of encourgagement, realty check, etc.

[Apple]

I am gone 12+ hours a day and still cook nearly every night.  I don't get home until after 6:00 and my goal dinner time is 7:30 (there are nights we've eaten much later).

My "staples" tend to rotate with season, more grilled stuff in the summer.

One thing I always keep in the freezer is cooked ground beef.  I cook up a big package and then put it all in a ziplock bag and freeze it.  This way it makes every meal where I'd used ground beef that much easier (chili, tacos, shepherd's pie, spaghetti...)

On the nights I can't think of anything we often end up with breakfast for dinner (french toast, or ham, eggs and hashbrowns) or a pasta, sauce and meat (spaghetti with the precooked ground beef, or alfredo sauce with chicken).

Casseroles are easy if you don't mind cream of crap, or make your own cream of crap.

I've been doing stir-fry more often lately.  Thinly slice some meat (beef, pork or chicken--DS likes shrimp, I don't, so sometimes I cook his meat separately).  Use a "wok oil" (comes pre seasoned with ginger, garlic, etc--I got mine at Grocery Outlet, but they have it in the Asian section at the regular grocery store), set your pan on "high" (the only thing I ever cook on high), and cook the meat (key is not to over fill the pan--I use a cast iron skillet--if there is a lot of any ingredient, cook it in batches, it only takes a few minutes).  Once the meat is cooked through, I take it out and put the veggies in the skillet (I just use a bag of premixed asian veggies).  I might toss a little more oil and some soy sauce while it's cooking.  You can use stir fry sauces, but I find that the wok oil and soy sauce is enough (well, sometimes I add a little garlic powder).  If there are enough veggies it can make a meal in itself, or you can cook some rice or even pasta (also using a little wok oil for flavor) to go with it.

I do roasted veggies pretty often--cut up veggies (I use potatoes, zucchini, english squash, eggplant, carrots--after cooking them in a little water, mushrooms, asparagus, sometimes even frozen veggies).  Drizzle a little oil on top, then season (that's where I play with it the most, sometimes it's Italian seasoning or basil and some salt, other times I add garlic powder, sometimes I do a roast seasoning, or a pepper blend, pretty much anything).  Roast at 375-400 until done (30 minutes to an hour depending on how big things are cut and how done you like them). 

You can also bake a simple chicken breast different ways--seasoned with different types of seasoning, cooked with BBQ sauce, cut up and cooked in the skillet with seasoning, cooked in a little butter with lemon pepper seasoning...

I use my cast iron skillet more than anything else.  Once you get one nice and seasoned you can go stove top to oven, you can cook pretty much anything in it, and it adds a nice flavor.

You can also make a big pasta salad (take leftovers for lunch). 

It's really nice when you can take one meal and turn it into something else.  I took leftover refried beans and turned it into taco soup last week or the week before (added canned tomatoes, kidney beans since I didn't have black beans, some salsa, a little chilli powder, and cooked chicken).

I love enchiladas but they take too long, so I just take all the ingredients and layer them in a casserole dish like a lasagna, same taste, less work.  It also freezes really well.

[Sam_2.0]

Here's a great gluten-free, fat-free alternative to cream soups: www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/soup-or-sauce-sos-mix.html

[KaraBoo]

I've been using my "smart" phone more and more lately to help with my meal planning.  I downloaded a free app called AnyList and have been playing with it.  It helps me by putting my recipes in the app (just the ingredients for now) and creating my shopping list for the week.  It's a lot of work to begin with, but it's starting to get easier as more and more of my staple recipes are in the system.  

My grocery bill for the last couple of weeks have been cut in half for my family of 6 because I'm actually buying what I "need", along with any door-busters I happen to run across, rather than just what looks good.

You can also create multiple lists for the different stores you shop at.  When you need an item, just mark it off the list.  For example, I have a standard list of things I buy from Sam's Club - the list stays the same, I just mark what I do or don't need for that particular trip.  The lists can be reset at any time I choose.  Saves me time from trying to remember from one trip to the next what I bought or what is a good deal.  There is a comment section for each item as well that can be used for price comparison or cooking tips or anything you might want to track.

As for my staples - I hate eating the same thing more than once a month (and I'm the only one that will eat most leftovers), so I have well over 30 recipes that I know how to cook/make per season. A lot of the recipes are rotated all year long (like spaghetti), but others are only made at certain times during the year (soups in the winter).  Crock pot is used during the summer, oven during the winter for example.  Most of the meals are what you would find on a "home cooking" menu from a local diner - roasts, baked chicken, tacos, spaghetti, etc.