For people who can't cook
catsdogsh
Posts: 130 Member
Does anyone else have this problem? I maintain two house holds, mine and my very frail elderly inlaws. I work full time and I've never known how to cook in my life, so not starting now lol So I use Lean Cuasine, Smart Ones, protein shakes, salad, fruit. Basically low fat food I don't have to cook. Then some friends tell me that's not healthy?
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I don't cook a lot. I just think all the frozen meals have too much sodium so I check everything. And I add more vegies.0
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Me too. I even find its way easier to log calories this way0
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I have always cooked, learnt in school and at home, but was never really good at it, didn't really like a lot of what I made. But when I stopped fearing fat, my home cooking started to be thoroughly delicious, and I understood how some people can have cooking as a hobby
I eat a lot better now, more healthy, and don't suffer from cravings anymore. I keep it simple; most days are "lazy cooking" and freezer meals. 0 -
If it's prefrozen cooked in a cardboard box, you're better off making something yourself.
Unless it's frozen pizza, stuffed crust. Then party on.0 -
I never learned how to cook either. Growing up I was fed convenience food like TV dinners, Mac and cheese etc. I'm not a very good cook now, but I do try. With all that sodium I'd worry about high blood pressure and kidney stones down the road. Have you thought about crockpot meals? You can make a really good BBQ chicken by tossing in 3 ingredients.0
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I used to live off frozen dinners and fast food while losing weight. Once I started watching sodium when trying to get out of a plateau, I moved on to cottage cheese and greek yogurt, eggs, some fruit, fast food salad with my own 2 ingedient dressing.
Some frozen dinners out there have some pretty good macros. It's rare I eat them now but when I do, I eat a higher protein one.
Obviously cooking meals yourself will probably be healthier but, unless you have a medical reason not to eat something in a frozen meal, it won't kill you.0 -
I know this isn't what you want to hear, and I totally understand elderly care woes. But if you can try to master a few techniques, you can cook some healthy and easy meals. Try the food network or youtube for how to's. Look up sauteing - this is the basis for hundreds of meals. I also think back to my early cooking days and I didn't consult a recipe and tried to wing it. Sometimes that works, but most often, not so much. A basic cook book from the library might be helpful too.
You don't have to do everything from scratch, use boxed soup stock and canned beans & frozen vegetables and make a vegetable soup or chili using the spice packet at the grocery if you don't have spices. How about scrambled eggs with some vegetables? Cook the vegetables first. Saute some onion, spinach or broccoli, mushrooms. Turn the heat down to low then add in the whisked eggs, continue to stir until they are done. So filling! and cheap.
Roasting vegetables are super easy. Cut them up, add in a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Put them in a roasting pan in a pre-heated oven and cook about 30-60 minutes - stir every 15 or 20 minutes. Eat plain or on top of pasta or any grain. While the oven is on, you could bake a sweet potato or two as well - wash the outside, puncture the skin a few times and put on foil - cook at least an hour (but you could start them in the microwave for a few minutes to cut down on oven time.
How about buying an already cooked chicken from the grocery? Cut it up for several meals, add some to a salad or make tacos with canned refried beans and a spice packet.
Good luck!!0 -
Anyone can cook crockpot meals. Sometimes you need to brown the meat first, but often you just cut things up and throw them in there. Flip a switch & whallah!
This will give you several servings, so you can make your own freezer meals.
http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/tips-how-to-use-slow-cookers
http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-easy-vegetable-beef-soup-264723
http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Main-Dishes/Slow-Cookers-Chili
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Eating prepped foods will not hurt you. (If you have a reason to watch sodium or carbohydrates, then you might need to be careful.) I love cooking and am definitely a home-cooked-meal missionary, but you can lose weight as long as you are eating fewer calories than you burn each day.
If you do want to learn how to cook, there have never been more resources than now, so you shouldn't have a hard time getting started. Don't feel obligated though; you're doing a lot right now! Good luck!0 -
I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.0
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I learned to cook via youtube! Made my first pico de gallo last week! It's all easier than it looks.0
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If you really do. not. want. to. cook. there are still some other things you can add to your diet to mix it up a little. Are you specifically looking for low-fat, or is low-calorie okay, too? Fat, in the right amount, is part of a balanced diet.
Some ideas for you:- Yogurt.
- Hummus (use it as a dip for fresh veggies).
- Low-fat (and low salt if the rest of your diet is high in sodium) cold cuts, like turkey breast and ham. You can ask the deli person to make you a thick (1/4"-ish) slice, and cut it up into your salad.
- Rotisserie chicken
- Prepared fresh food from the market's "food bar"
- Canned soup - look for "healthy" or "light" varieties. Add a bunch of frozen veggies to them, to make them even more of a meal.
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You can certainly lose weight doing that.
But, in reality, cooking does not have to be difficult or involved. There is no need to get all Food Network in your kitchen every day. We cook very simply at home. Our dinners are usually grilled or baked meat (take meat out of package, sprinkle some salt and pepper on top or if you want to be more involved use other seasoning mixes, put in baking dish which possibly will need a tiny bit of oil in it but often does not, or place directly on grill, leave it alone until it is done. Eat it.), raw cut up veggies, and then an easy side like rice (which we make in the microwave) or mashed potatoes (slightly more involved.) Couscous is also a super easy side--heat liquid (water with a bit of butter or chicken broth are good options) to boiling, take off the boil, pour in couscous, put lid on pot and let it sit for 5 minutes. Eat it.
That's it. No sauces or recipes with long lists of ingredients which must be chopped, julienned, shredded, diced etc. Cooking is easy.0 -
I don't know how to cook complicated recipes but, usually if I find it on Pinterest I can figure out how to make it. I just made a Taco pasta bake last night from a recipe on Pinterest had 5 ingredients and I had one. It was delicious and came together in 30 mins. If I look at a recipe and see like 10 things I don't have and probably never will I skip that recipe. My husband he is a great cook and can come up with things off the top of his head. I will never be like that. I do not enjoy cooking and never will but, I enjoy what I get when it's done.0
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For me, I just don't want to. Plus, I attempt to cook maybe 2 or 3 times a year and it never comes out as palatable as I want it and I don't have the patience for trial and error.
I even made THE MOST SIMPLE chicken crockpot recipe....boneless skinless chicken breast, a cup of water, some dry zesty italian dressing mix and it came out TOO zesty. 0 -
I am available as a personal chef.0
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I never "learned" how to cook. I just started looking at recipes online, watching cooking shows, and throwing stuff in a pan and seeing what happens. As long as the food is cooked through, the worst that will happen is that it won't taste great, and often it turns out fine in spite of me!
In other words, you don't have to know how to cook to know how to cook. Sticking some chicken pieces in the oven, and throwing some veggies and tofu in a stir fry is not really something difficult you need to be taught how to do.
But as long as you don't have to worry about sodium, and make sure you are eating a variety of foods, I don't see why the way you are eating would be unhealthy.0 -
Does anyone else have this problem? I maintain two house holds, mine and my very frail elderly inlaws. I work full time and I've never known how to cook in my life, so not starting now lol So I use Lean Cuasine, Smart Ones, protein shakes, salad, fruit. Basically low fat food I don't have to cook. Then some friends tell me that's not healthy?
If and only if the frail elderly in-laws are on doctor's orders to keep low-sodium diets, the frozen dinners with the pretty pictures fail and are "unhealthy". Otherwise the friends should either mind their own business or volunteer to do your job.0 -
I don't cook - cuz I don't want to. I own one frying pan, and one corning-ware pot. I make hard-boiled eggs, occasionally bacon - and very very occasionally brown hamburger.0
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Does anyone else have this problem? I maintain two house holds, mine and my very frail elderly inlaws. I work full time and I've never known how to cook in my life, so not starting now lol So I use Lean Cuasine, Smart Ones, protein shakes, salad, fruit. Basically low fat food I don't have to cook. Then some friends tell me that's not healthy?
If and only if the frail elderly in-laws are on doctor's orders to keep low-sodium diets, the frozen dinners with the pretty pictures fail and are "unhealthy". Otherwise the friends should either mind their own business or volunteer to do your job.
I agree with this, however if there is a reason for sodium restriction you might want to learn to prepare a few things. As others have suggested, slow cooker meals are wonderful. You can make a big batch of something and you don't have to baby sit the food. It just cooks itself. If you don't have a slow cooker try to get one with a timer so it will turn itself down to warm after a given number of hours. Even easier! Good luck!!0 -
Legs_McGee wrote: »I don't cook - cuz I don't want to. I own one frying pan, and one corning-ware pot. I make hard-boiled eggs, occasionally bacon - and very very occasionally brown hamburger.
I've made hard boiled eggs in the microwave.
(Still soooooooooooo not cooking.) 0 -
Legs_McGee wrote: »I don't cook - cuz I don't want to. I own one frying pan, and one corning-ware pot. I make hard-boiled eggs, occasionally bacon - and very very occasionally brown hamburger.
I've made hard boiled eggs in the microwave.
(Still soooooooooooo not cooking.)
I must learn your ways!0 -
Legs_McGee wrote: »Legs_McGee wrote: »I don't cook - cuz I don't want to. I own one frying pan, and one corning-ware pot. I make hard-boiled eggs, occasionally bacon - and very very occasionally brown hamburger.
I've made hard boiled eggs in the microwave.
(Still soooooooooooo not cooking.)
I must learn your ways!
Young grasshopper, we will travel to a far away land known as the Amazon of Dotcom where we will search for a large egg in the Nordic Ware region. It will be boiling (it's an egg boiler).
amazon.com/Nordic-Ware-Microwave-Egg-Boiler/dp/B0007M2BN0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459452164&sr=8-1&keywords=nordic+ware+egg+boiler
They came out really well!
(Every night I also crack an egg into a bowl, add a couple tablespoons of carton egg whites, cover and microwave that sucker for 1 min 8 secs. Does cracking the egg constitute as cooking?)0 -
CassidyScaglione wrote: »I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.CassidyScaglione wrote: »I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.CassidyScaglione wrote: »I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.CassidyScaglione wrote: »I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.
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CassidyScaglione wrote: »I'm puzzled by people who say they don't know how to cook... it isn't like you are being handed a pot and a bunch of raw ingredients and told to wing it... recipes list ingredients, have preperation instructions, heating instructions, time instructions, serving instructions... as long as you can read you can cook.
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I am not the best cook but I have found a lot of easy things to cook. I usually stick with stuff that takes less than 30 minutes to cook because I have a tight schedule and work full time as well. The crock pot is really helpful. Throw some stuff in, cooks all day, ready when you get home. Want some bbq pulled chicken? Super easy just slice up some onions and cover the bottom of crock pot, throw in chicken, cover in BBQ sauce. It doesn't get any easier than that, right there.
Plus you can watch youtube for a lot of simple reciepes and it will walk you through it so no confusion. No one taught me to cook but I don't like starving... And the frozen dinners won't feed my fiance. I would spend all night microwaving a *kitten* ton of those to feed him. And the extra sodium they put in it, just not worth it. Plus I would be sick all the time because they are too processed.0 -
Perhaps you misunderstood. I work full time and care for 2 households. I'm responsible for the complete care of 2 elderly inlaws who can't even walk. I don't have time to learn how to cook or follow a recipe. Lucky when I have time to eat sitting down!!0
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Legs_McGee wrote: »I don't cook - cuz I don't want to. I own one frying pan, and one corning-ware pot. I make hard-boiled eggs, occasionally bacon - and very very occasionally brown hamburger.
I've made hard boiled eggs in the microwave.
(Still soooooooooooo not cooking.)
How do you hard boil an egg in the microwave? inquiring minds what to know! I have a hard enough time trying to not make them explode when I use my poacher. Do you put it in water and bring it to a boil? 0 -
Sounds good to me0
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