Lunch & Dinner Meals for the Cooking Impaired

tpeirona

Hey guys. I'm 24 years old and never really properly learned how to cook as my boyfriend used to do all the cooking [I cleaned, fair arrangement I'd say ]. Anyways, he recently moved across the country for work and in the meantime I'm here fending for myself. I was hoping that you guys could suggest some healthy meals that are easy to prepare/cook.

I'm really a novice at most things, I don't even know how to make chicken (please don't judge, I don't know how I've survived this long either haha) so if you could include detailed instructions that would be awesome. I'm open to pretty much any type of food. Thanks in advance!

SconnieCat

I love my slow cooker. Right now I have a turkey breast in there with carrots, onions, celery and apple. I rubbed the turkey breast with sage, thyme, and rosemary then put it in the pot for 1 hour on high and then 7 hours on low.

Since I'm super busy during the week, I'll do "slow cooker meal prep" on the weekends where I toss ingredients in a bag, write what it is and the cooking instructions in a Sharpie on the outside. Then, night before I pull it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost.

The next morning, pop it in the cooker and bam. 7 or 8 hours later I have a meal


As for chicken, no judgement as chicken can be screwed up easily. A great tip I can offer is invest in a digital meat thermometer. It'll help you know when your food is done (as an FYI, the internal temp of your chicken should be 165°F).

Also, grab a couple of cookbooks or watch YouTube tutorials. If you don't have someone to physically be with you to teach you some skills, there are some excellent demos.

Good luck and if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!!

juls1686

Hey Friend,
I live 10 minutes away from you, have known you our whole lives and think that I should start teaching yo fine booty to cook!
Wanna hike/run Saturday day and/or Sunday morning?!?

iwannabinnarnia

Do you have a crockpot? You can put a whole chicken in it with just a little bit of chicken broth before you leave for the day and when you come home it's fall off the bone tender. Another easy meal would be to boil up some pasta, get veggies that you like (ex. cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers).. cut them up, mix the veggies with the pasta and pour on some fat free italian dressing. a nice summer salad. You can add the left over chicken into the pasta salad also.

CrescentCityGirl

I feel impaired in the kitchen too. Definitely would recommend a crockpot!!!! I asked for suggestions last week and received great responses. You can find it by searching for crockpot recipes in the forum search link.

tpeirona

I love my slow cooker. Right now I have a turkey breast in there with carrots, onions, celery and apple. I rubbed the turkey breast with sage, thyme, and rosemary then put it in the pot for 1 hour on high and then 7 hours on low.

Since I'm super busy during the week, I'll do "slow cooker meal prep" on the weekends where I toss ingredients in a bag, write what it is and the cooking instructions in a Sharpie on the outside. Then, night before I pull it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost.

The next morning, pop it in the cooker and bam. 7 or 8 hours later I have a meal


As for chicken, no judgement as chicken can be screwed up easily. A great tip I can offer is invest in a digital meat thermometer. It'll help you know when your food is done (as an FYI, the internal temp of your chicken should be 165°F).

Also, grab a couple of cookbooks or watch YouTube tutorials. If you don't have someone to physically be with you to teach you some skills, there are some excellent demos.

Good luck and if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know!!

I will definitely be taking your advice and trying to do some crockpot prep. Never thought to youtube cooking demos but will have to try that too! Thanks for the suggestions

Mangopickle

You tube is awesome for learning how to cook. I love food wishes with chef john. Easy chicken salad recipe. Drain a can of chicken. Add 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup frozen peas or shelled edamame, 1/4 cup frozen corn. Salt and pepper . Stir and serve. You can treat canned salmon, tuna or a pack of fake crab the same way.

conqueringsquidlette

I use emeals' crockpot menu and I like it, if you want somebody to take all of the thinking out of it for you. :-P They have groupons available near constantly, too.

hkied

crock pots are great but I am into fast... I have a plastic pampered chef bowl (rice cooker) I put it in the micro to make 5 min. rice pour green chili enchilada sauce over it and add the chicken you can buy all ready cut up you just have to warm it. It litterally only takes 10 min. and you have dinner!

ponycyndi

I love to cook, and practice new recipes constantly. I'm a big fan of buying new ingredients, then just following the directions. No kidding, even cuts of beef have cooking directions on them, based on what method is best for that cut. Dry beans, rice, quinoa, etc that come in packages all have directions, and recipes on them too.

DonaldChadDavis

I like spaghetti with classico sauce.

I use:

Jennie-O ground turkey (lean)
Healthy Harvest whole grain spaghetti
Classico Tomato and Basil sauce

Makes 5 servings.

I had some for breakfast.

strawberrypopsicles

Hey, I'm cooking impaired too. Ground turkey is probably the easiest meat to cook -- you just put in in a pan and stir it occasionally until it's not pink and then drain the liquid. You can put in in spaghetti, lasagna, or season it for tacos
Otherwise I would suggest following recipes until you get the hang of putting together a meal

nyiballs

I have two words:

Lean Cuisine

rockmama72

Eating Well has a ton of easy recipes. This week I made a new salad recipe every day and all were delicious. No cooking, just chopping and assembly. They also have lots of recipes that serve two (rather than a whole family). Check out this link: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/easy_recipes