I can't cook... where do i go from here!?

Lois_1989

I feel your pain. I hate lunch the most. Sandwiches are off the menu, I just cant fit them into the calories, I did have fruit and yogurt 3 x a week but got sick of it and I have just changed it to wraps because I figured I needed the carbs after the gym at lunch. Breakfast I have the same cereal everyday until the box runs out, then I buy a different cereal. It does get pretty dull... when asked "What do you want for dinner" I normally reply " a small pill that will fill me up, yet give me the correct dietary nutrients my body needs"

stealthq

iNikosaurus wrote: »

What ends up making it hard is I am terrible at math and end up screwing up royally, repeatedly in trying to calculate it. So do you calculate everything you put in then you get how many calories the whole meal has. and say you want each meal to be 300 calories each do you divide the calories it equaled by 300 and however many times it goes into it is how many servings you have? how do you measure that out in grams? It rattles my brain haha. Math is my worst subject T.T

Yes, that will work.

1) sum all calories in entire recipe
2) calories in entire recipe / # calories you want in a serving = # of servings
3) weigh entire recipe
4) weight of entire recipe / # of servings = weight of one serving that has # calories you want in a serving.

ETA: took out all quotes in the thread except the last one - somehow they ended up too messed up to fix easily.

HeidiCooksSupper

We all learned to cook one thing at a time. We all tried new foods one at a time. I'm retired and I still am learning new things. I just found out turnip greens are delicious. Who knew? You only learn by trying.

The web is GREAT for cooking. And zillions of both amateur and professional cooks have put instructive videos on Youtube. Don't underestimate what you can find to help you. For example, I just went to Youtube and searched "how to boil noodles" and there were lots of videos that would show me how.

We aren't born knowing that when a recipe says to "cream together the buttter and sugar," that they aren't talking about the cream that comes from a cow. We all had to learn it -- some of us from our mothers -- but now with the web it's like having mom on call to help you learn how to cook 24/7.

bkhamill

This is one of my favorite recipes that I created after having a similar dish in a restaurant.

Chicken and Tortellini Soup
8 Servings (1 cup each) you can easily fit two servings of this into your calorie goals and make a meal of it.
Ingredients:
1 – 48 ounce carton of Low sodium chicken broth
8 oz raw trimmed boneless chicken breast cut into small pieces
1 – 9 oz (2 ½ cups) package of Buitoni Spinach Cheese Tortellini (from the fresh deli foods section)
1 cup of diced carrots (or use the matchstick carrots you can get at the store)
¼ cup chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
3 cups raw baby spinach
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1 tsp cracked black pepper (or to taste)
1 cup of water
To Prepare: Pour broth and water in soup pot. Turn burner on high. Add in the chicken, onion, garlic, and carrots. Let boil for about 8 minutes, and then add the pasta and the spinach. Add in seasonings and boil about 8 more minutes and turn down to simmer for 10 minutes and it is ready to serve.
Nutrient Analysis
Calories 178 Protein 13g
Fat 4g Calcium 9g
Saturated Fat 2g Sodium 972mg
Fiber 2g Cholesterol 40mg
Carbs 19

kristydi

stealthq wrote: »

iNikosaurus wrote: »

What ends up making it hard is I am terrible at math and end up screwing up royally, repeatedly in trying to calculate it. So do you calculate everything you put in then you get how many calories the whole meal has. and say you want each meal to be 300 calories each do you divide the calories it equaled by 300 and however many times it goes into it is how many servings you have? how do you measure that out in grams? It rattles my brain haha. Math is my worst subject T.T

Yes, that will work.

1) sum all calories in entire recipe
2) calories in entire recipe / # calories you want in a serving = # of servings
3) weigh entire recipe
4) weight of entire recipe / # of servings = weight of one serving that has # calories you want in a serving.

ETA: took out all quotes in the thread except the last one - somehow they ended up too messed up to fix easily.

Or just use the recipe bulider then its saved for the next time you make that recipe.

stealthq

kristydi wrote: »

stealthq wrote: »

iNikosaurus wrote: »

What ends up making it hard is I am terrible at math and end up screwing up royally, repeatedly in trying to calculate it. So do you calculate everything you put in then you get how many calories the whole meal has. and say you want each meal to be 300 calories each do you divide the calories it equaled by 300 and however many times it goes into it is how many servings you have? how do you measure that out in grams? It rattles my brain haha. Math is my worst subject T.T

Yes, that will work.

1) sum all calories in entire recipe
2) calories in entire recipe / # calories you want in a serving = # of servings
3) weigh entire recipe
4) weight of entire recipe / # of servings = weight of one serving that has # calories you want in a serving.

ETA: took out all quotes in the thread except the last one - somehow they ended up too messed up to fix easily.

Or just use the recipe bulider then its saved for the next time you make that recipe.

That works too, to get the number of servings in the recipe, but you'll need to save it first with an arbitrary number of servings, then come back and edit the servings number until you get the calorie value you want. But, no math

It won't help for getting the weight of each individual serving. For that, you'll still need to do 3) and 4).

JoRocka

iNikosaurus wrote: »

jgnatca wrote: »

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/foods-everyone-should-learn-to-cook#.jjv0XWMpo

http://www.food.com/recipe/mix-and-match-stir-fry-355636

http://foodconstrued.com/2011/05/herbs-and-spices-chart/

Some of these look really interesting but some look not so healthy. Like grilled cheese aren't the healthiest right? The cheese has too much fat, bread is too much carb and butter or margarine you use adds up as well. I also enjoy my grilled cheese with ketchup cause it tastes far to plain without it to me. Some good idea's on those pages though. Thanks!

high calorie =/= unhealthy =/= bad
fat =/= bad
carbs =/= bad

there is only to much or to little of something. But outside of medical/allergic immediate reactions- nothing is inherently unhealthy or bad. You just might over do it and you have to be careful about it.

Stop thinking so hard and just go cook something.