Easy healthy meals for someone who hates to cook

teagirlmedium

You sound like me. I started eating more vegetables and fruits because I do not like cooking. I am making up my own meals. I have started to take pictures because I am just happy I am no longer burning food. I would suggest picking simple ingredients that can go with mostly everything and just add random stuff to them that you think you might like. Such as onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, spinach, noodles, rice, potatoes and the vegetables you find in most frozen bags of mixed vegetables. I usually add one meat item to these such as ground hamburger, chicken, or this boneless shoulder thing my friend has at his place. When I think of a simple meal to cook I think of under 30 minutes or something I can walk away from (anything thrown in a crockpot), I have had little luck finding examples of these meals that use meat. So good luck, will be checking in for other advice.

neanderthin

You seem to know why your overweight, most don't.Good luck learning to cook because that will become important going forward.

italysharon

Thomas' English Muffins (I like the whole wheat ones)
with:
gardenburger and hummus
laughing cow cheese triangle and egg
LC cheese and turkey burger
sauce and mozz cheese- pizza muffin

Salads
with:
feta cheese
canned beans or veggies
some nuts
salad topper in a jar

Lean Cuisine dinners (loaded with salt though so not so healthy)

Tysons pre cooked chicken- grilled flavor and teriyaki flavor… wonderful over rice and with veggies- can do the whole meal in the micky.

Deitz and Watson precooked chicken sausages

Grill:
everything- pre marinated meats, turkey sausage… lots o stuff

get a food scale, makes life so much easier
measure, measure, measure

italysharon

okay, a lot of that stuff is loaded with salt, but in a pinch they are good to have around so you don't grab something worse.

when you have time, do what everyone else said

DawnieB1977

italysharon wrote: »

okay, a lot of that stuff is loaded with salt, but in a pinch they are good to have around so you don't grab something worse.

when you have time, do what everyone else said

It probably takes about as much time to make an omelette as it does to shove something like that in the microwave!

PasTypique

I eat fast food at lunch five days per week and have found the following to be "healthier" choices (paired with unsweetened iced tea):

Arby's chicken or turkey salad (no bacon, half the dressing)
Wendy's baked potato and side Caesar salad (surprisingly filling)
Taco Bell crunchy tacos (3)
YaYa's chicken sandwich, salad, or dinner (with steamed veges and brown rice)

I'm not only trying to lose weight but cut sodium as well. The above meals are under 1000 mg of sodium (Wendy's meal is about 300mg). I have Kashi GoLean cereal for breakfast and a protein bar for a snack. However, I have learned to cook as I am no longer single, so my dinner is always prepared with fresh and healthy ingredients. This gives me the variety that I crave and let's me control the sodium, since half of my day's allowance is used at lunch.

My advice is to take a cooking class. Not only will you have fun and learn something truly useful, but you will meet interesting people who are in the same boat as you. You make it sound like it's the worst thing in the world but once you gain some knowledge and confidence, it is actually quite easy AND you control what goes into your meals (and you can save money). I love stir fries and have dozens of variations that take less than 20 minutes to prepare and they're super yummy!

If you don't want to take a cooking class (or in addition to), use YouTube and watch and learn from other people who post videos of themselves cooking. It truly is not that difficult.

segacs

"If you can read, you can cook." Old adage, but true. Just open a recipe book and follow the instructions. It's not difficult.

goddessofawesome

segacs wrote: »

"If you can read, you can cook." Old adage, but true. Just open a recipe book and follow the instructions. It's not difficult.

But the OP didn't say s/he said s/he HATES to cook. With that said I DO agree with your quote.

OP: you're just going to have to suck it up and start cooking. If you like to throw something in the microwave, make a bunch of food on the weekend and package it up so you can nuke it during the week. Or get a crock pot, toss a bunch of things in there -- my favorite is to take chicken breast, dump a bottle of bone suckin' sauce on it, cook on low for 8 hours, pull it apart with forks and serve over rice. You can make soups, stews, chilli, pot roasts, lots of delicious foods in a crock pot and the best part? NO WORK REQUIRED!! And again, if you make enough you can have meals for the entire week.

glassyo

I'm gonna go against all the people saying you should suck it up and grow up and learn to cook. You know what? As an adult, if you hate cooking, and no one else is depending on you to feed them, you don't need to learn.*

I've gone *mumblemumble* years and rarely, if ever, have cooked. Every time I do, it doesn't turn out anything like it's supposed to. Except the time I threw a chicken breast and some bbq sauce in a crockpot (that was damned good) or when I made a really simple chicken breast, cup of water, packet of italian dressing in the crockpot. That wasn't half bad.

Mostly, I've survived on turkey jerkey, chicken filets and side salads at fast food places (bringing my own dressing to save on the sodium), cottage cheese and/or greek yogurt, eggs (in the microwave, not even on the stove), tuna packets, canned chicken (both no salt added) for dinner. Amongst other things. *Sometimes* I'll have a frozen dinner but that's not often anymore.

*Altho, if you learn to cook, you'd also have more of a variety of foods you can eat.

neanderthin

glassyo wrote: »

I'm gonna go against all the people saying you should suck it up and grow up and learn to cook. You know what? As an adult, if you hate cooking, and no one else is depending on you to feed them, you don't need to learn.*

I've gone *mumblemumble* years and rarely, if ever, have cooked. Every time I do, it doesn't turn out anything like it's supposed to. Except the time I threw a chicken breast and some bbq sauce in a crockpot (that was damned good) or when I made a really simple chicken breast, cup of water, packet of italian dressing in the crockpot. That wasn't half bad.

Mostly, I've survived on turkey jerkey, chicken filets and side salads at fast food places (bringing my own dressing to save on the sodium), cottage cheese and/or greek yogurt, eggs (in the microwave, not even on the stove), tuna packets, canned chicken (both no salt added) for dinner. Amongst other things. *Sometimes* I'll have a frozen dinner but that's not often anymore.

*Altho, if you learn to cook, you'd also have more of a variety of foods you can eat.

Yeah, why learn to cook, that makes sense considering most eat multiple times a day.

lchadwick2

I don't buy the "I lost 100 lbs" while holding a foot long sub with more bread and meat than veggies, but I HAVE grown to like Subway.

I get a veggie salad with a little mixed cheese and parmesan cheese and olive oil dressing. I load it with just about all the veggies and even avocado when it's available.
I take that home with a burrito tortilla (my favorite is spinach), divide the salad into thirds, and make a wrap out of it. 3 meals for less than $7. And you get to watch them put the salad together which is better than most restaurants. No cutting and no cleaning up.

I don't call myself a vegetarian but I eat less and less meat all the time.
And looking at the nutrition statistics at the end of each day, how full I feel, and how much muscle I'm retaining, I don't think I'm missing anything.

DeWoSa

Autum1031 wrote: »

I appreciate ALL of the suggestions, thank you! I did more research last night on MFP and came across some additional recipes. It is so very hard to break the habit of how I like to eat. I know it's common, but it's frustrating to me that I've twice lost a significant amount of weight, only to gain it all back, because I didn't like what I was eating (and not eating) to achieve that. (Also, I never did get down to a healthy size, just healthier than what I am now). The happiness of being healthier never outweighed the unhappiness of eating foods I disliked (and not eating the foods I enjoyed), so I always gained it back.

OP, I was just like you -- I hated to cook and I had no idea what to cook anyway. I didn't know how to eat properly.

I weighed 213 pounds and was given this food plan (used by a wide variety of people, not just tailored to me):

Breakfast
1 cup grain
1 cup dairy
2 oz protein
1 serving fruit

Lunch
1/2 cup grain
4 oz protein
1 cup salad
1 cup vegetables

Snack
1 serving fruit

Dinner
1/2 cup grain
4 oz protein
1 cup salad
1 cup vegetables

Snack Before Bed
1 cup grain
1 cup dairy
1 serving fruit

I just stuck foods I liked into these slots. Examples:

Grain: Cheerios, bread, crackers, granola, etc., corn, beans, peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, etc.
Dairy: milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.
Fruit: apples, blueberries, bananas, oranges, grapes, etc.
Vegetables: Bird's Eye frozen veg. broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, etc.
Salad: bag lettuce, basically, for me, but also cabbage, kale, etc.
Protein: chicken, pork, steak, hamburger, etc.

The only thing that needed cooked was the protein and some grains. I'd just nuke the veg. On a Sunday, I'd get about three month's worth of proteins from Sam's Club, then freeze them in 8 or 16 oz (or thereabouts) sizes using my Food Saver. For the next three months, all I had to do was pull one out of the freezer.

The cooking was minimal, I always knew what I was going to eat each day so I didn't just zip to <insert fast food place or vending machine>when I was hungry, and it worked very well for me.

The food plan also gave me a really good idea of what to order at restaurants and how much to actually eat of my restaurant meal (with leftovers for tomorrow for the win!)

Notice this food plan doesn't have any desserts or condiments. I added condiments as needed but I didn't add desserts.

The end result of this food plan was lost weight, a sense of control over my portions, and a dawning understanding of cooking.

All this information is on a take-it-as-you-need-it basis; good luck with your journey!

Cheers!

MoiAussi93

I hate to cook as well, but have realized you don't need to cook complicated things to be healthy. The microwave is your friend even if you don't eat processed foods.

For breakfast I microwave three eggs seasoned with some dill. This takes about 90 seconds, plus another 30 seconds to beat the eggs. If I am not in the mood for eggs, I have a protein shake (a scoop of powder mixed with water...no blending required) and a piece of fruit.

Lunch and dinner are some combination of protein and veggies and fruit. I only buy frozen vegetables...you can microwave them in 2 minutes and don't need to clean or chop or peel anything. And they don't go bad before you can eat all of them. I either eat them plain, or squeeze some lemon juice on them, or occasionally some balsamic vinegar for variety. Keep a wide variety on hand so you don't get bored. Once in a while as a treat, I buy more interesting frozen veggies with some type of olive oil or butter sauce...but watch the calories with these and the other added ingredients.

For protein...either baked chicken breasts (I either season with lemon pepper, or a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, or sea salt, pepper and rosemary...all three of these options are about 1 minute of prep. time) or canned salmon. I love canned salmon...high in protein and healthy fats and no cooking at all. Occasionally I bake fish...again I just season with a little olive oil, lemon, or lemon pepper...about one minute of prep time. I just make this in my toaster oven, and make enough for two or three meals at a time.

I also eat on average two pieces of fruit a day...usually apples as snacks or with meals. Bananas or pears on occasion. I usually have peanut butter (natural peanut butter...no sugar, only ingredients are peanuts and salt) with the apples...adds protein, healthy fats, and it is really good...like a dessert.

I also snack on unsalted raw almonds...but count them because they are high in calories, even though they are very healthy...a serving is about two dozen almonds... or on dark chocolate. Minimum 70% cocoa dark chocolate...no fillings or anything like that. It is actually relatively low in sugar, high in antioxidants and it can be very healthy in moderation. A couple of small squares is all I need.

Sometimes for variety I have plain unsweetened yogurt. Either have it plain, or mix in some cinnamon and/or frozen raspberries. Don't buy the flavored yogurts, they have a lot of sugar added. Flavor them yourself without the sugar.

That is 90% of my diet.

skaterbutt

I work in a busy firehouse, so we often don't have much time to cook big dinners. We use two books a lot, "The Runner's World Cookbook" and "Clean Eats." I would recommend both of them...they have tons of great recipes for all levels of cooking.

Autum1031

I didn't mean to completely disappear from this post-- I've been taking the past week to go through this entire list and write down things I think I can do, also doing some more research on some of the suggested sites, so I can start trying 1 or 2 new recipes a week.

Believe me, I do know that I have to do some cooking and/or stop the frozen/take out meal train, I'm just trying to find some easy meals--which many of you have provided for me, thanks! I don't only hate cooking, I am terrible at it. I have tried some of the simplest recipes and I always ruin them. If there's rice, it will be over or under cooked. If it can be burned, it will be. It will always be overly-seasoned to my taste buds if I follow most recipes. The list goes on. Sigh.

Thank you all...I hope this time I can make it work.

melimomTARDIS

If you hate cooking, try eating simple stuff, like a bowl of cereal and milk for breakfast, a cold sandwich for lunch, maybe a greek yogurt and some fruit for dinner?

When buying canned and frozen meals, watch the salt.

flabassmcgee

I spend Sundays prepping food for the week. For example, I'll make a big batch of oatmeal, salads in mason jars, and roast chicken breasts, steam vegetables, etc. It's better to cook one day and eat for a week rather than cook every day.

I also utilize my crock pot at times. It is sooooooo nice to throw everything in one pot and come home to a tasty, effortless meal.

Lord007

I have 2 suggestions:
1) any crockpot recipe will work. You put it all together in the crockpot, turn it on/ come back later at it's done.
2) spend part of one day doing meal preparation. Plan your meals out for the week and buy your groceries to support those. Do all your prep on that one day, so that when you are ready to eat it takes as little time as possible to cook it. For example, I've made a spinach mushroom quiche on Sunday, so I can have 1 slice for breakfast during the week. I only had to reheat it and then enjoy.
Restaurants and fast food seem easy, but when you take into account the time you spend going there and getting the food, it's not much different than if you stayed home and cooked for yourself. PLUS home-cooked usually is easier on the bank account.

MakePeasNotWar

You would be amazed at what can be microwaved. I have microwaved frozen and fresh veggies, potatoes and sweet potatoes, pasta, rice, soups, etc. My 84 year old father-in-law microwaves chicken and he microwaved a ham once. No idea how that tasted, but it's possible, that's all I'm saying. You can even get microwave cookbooks.

I also really liked having an Actifry. I could just put the ingredients in and walk away while it self-stirred and got everything cooked nice and evenly. It comes with a cookbook, and I bet there are a lot more recipes online. They are DEAD EASY. I miss my Actifry

I'm all about fitting things into your lifestyle as much as possible. Change is hard, and a ton of changes all at once can sometimes be overwhelming. Why not make it easy, at least until you get some momentum going?