I can't cook... where do i go from here!?
iNikosaurus
Posts: 26 Member
Basically I try to google foods and sometimes i get good hits but most of the time not even close. I need some meal idea's 
. My problem is I don't really like many foods. Healthy or not and when i like a food i tend to have a lot of it!
Breakfest foods:
Well i try for either oatmeal, eggs with some turkey bacon or maybe even cereal.
Snacks:
These are what i usually have 3 times a day. One is usually fruits and yogurt, the other maybe a cereal bar but i don't know many others. I'm not too big on nuts. i never feel full end up super thirsty and wanting to snack more.
Lunch foods:
Um...... sandwhiches are the go to but... too many carbs from bread. I don't know what to have for lunch... haha
Dinner foods:
I usually have dinner at work. I generally only like chicken when it comes to meats but i dont like too spicy or tangy. Otherwise I don't know how to cook and spice it.
As for veggies i like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflour, carrots a little and potatoes.
(Sometimes i like ground turkey or ground beef)
So if you can suggest some foods and how to make em that would be nice. Otherwise i shall search google some more haha.
My biggest no no's are: Spicy foods, mushrooms, green peppers, red peppers, olives.....cabbage.... pork...that's all i can think of haha.
. My problem is I don't really like many foods. Healthy or not and when i like a food i tend to have a lot of it!Breakfest foods:
Well i try for either oatmeal, eggs with some turkey bacon or maybe even cereal.
Snacks:
These are what i usually have 3 times a day. One is usually fruits and yogurt, the other maybe a cereal bar but i don't know many others. I'm not too big on nuts. i never feel full end up super thirsty and wanting to snack more.
Lunch foods:
Um...... sandwhiches are the go to but... too many carbs from bread. I don't know what to have for lunch... haha
Dinner foods:
I usually have dinner at work. I generally only like chicken when it comes to meats but i dont like too spicy or tangy. Otherwise I don't know how to cook and spice it.
As for veggies i like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflour, carrots a little and potatoes.
(Sometimes i like ground turkey or ground beef)
So if you can suggest some foods and how to make em that would be nice. Otherwise i shall search google some more haha.
My biggest no no's are: Spicy foods, mushrooms, green peppers, red peppers, olives.....cabbage.... pork...that's all i can think of haha.
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Replies
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no one is going to be able to answer this really.
It's just to broad of a subject and way to subjective.
You don't have to eat a huge variety of dishes weekly- I pretty much cook like 5 dishes really well- and I just rotate through them- I eat out 1-2 times a week (1 at the restaurant where I work and it's one of two dishes- Lebanese salad with grilled chicken or grilled salmon)- and then my BF and I go out once- either mexican- or all you can eat brazillian.
Otherwise I eat 2-3 types of chili or chicken soup (crock pot). Or I make stir fry- or just baked/oven seared chicken breasts- lemon pepper- or with some sort of onion/garlic.
I eat frozen veggies- or asparagus or zucchini.
Dinner is almost always scrambled eggs with sauteed veggies in them with a side of bacon. Dessert is popcorn or ice cream
And that's about it for cooking. I dont' eat a lot of variety.
Ultimately all you need is to do is pick a meat and pick a veggie and just say- easy steak and zuccihini dinner.
or easy onion/chicken dinner.
(I am lazy- I ALWAYS type "easy" in to the search bar.)
Spaghetti and stir fry are probably the two easiest thing to do. But again- no one can really tell you- get a 4 ingredient cook book- or just keep googling and expanding your skill set.0 -
There are a ton of recipes on the internet and cooking websites, plus thousands of cooking books at any bookstore, so just start from there. Try allrecipes.com, where you can get recipes based on the ingredients you have.0
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Would you like to learn how to cook? Are there certain foods you would like to learn to cook? Perhaps if you post a specific recipe request, someone would be able to share a recipe or even a step-by-step that you could follow!0
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I can sympathize, only in my case it's not that I can't cook it's that I don't have a lot of time to cook. I have only been counting calories for two weeks with mfp, have lost 6.5 lb so far (44 to go!). I am finding it's easiest to stay within my calorie allowance by staying consistent in what I eat. Mornings...1 poached egg with two slices of dry toast and an extra thin slice of cheese. If I vary it's to grab a special k frozen breakfast sandwich instead. For lunch...a meat (chicken, fish, pork or beef, whatever it was I last cooked) along with 1/2 cup brown and wild rice and 2 cups of frozen veggies. Supper...very similar to lunch but the veggies will be fresh or stir fried. When I cook supper I make at least enough extra for lunch the next day, maybe enough for a couple days. Put on a pot of rice (or reheat, one pot will last me most of the week) , meat in the oven, not much 'cooking' needed. Seasoning is usually just seasoning salt, or lemon/dill for fish. Also lots of no-salt as I love salt but have to avoid due to high bp. Soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, mustard and occasionally ketchup are staples. Snacks are an apple, orange or special k pastry crisps.
It's only the start of week 3, maybe I will get sick of this menu soon. A couple of days ago I bought extra lean ground beef, was supposed to be for both hubby and myself but he went on a trip and I am left eating it all....almost through it but ugh, I am sick of that one! However, hunger is an excellent spice so I do manage to get through it
My advice would be find a few things that are easy for you, that you like, and stick to those for at least a couple weeks until you are ready to change it up a bit.0 -
I eat the same stuff repeatedly. Chicken and some vegetable. Pork and some vegetable. Left over protein chopped up on a salad the next day. Breakfast is the same day in and day out. The only changes are if I go out or like last weekend treat myself to an amazing maple bacon donut.
Only thing I noticed in your question that stuck out was you saying you are Thirsty and it makes you snack... That's easy to fix. Drink more water
But honestly, don't feel like you have to be a 5 star chef. It's fun to cook scallops and panko crusted asparagus sometimes but that is not my main menu.0 -
I figure this would be a hard topic for people to help with because even i'm having a hard time with it. It doesn't help that I just don't know any specific dishes that i'd like to make or anything like that. That being said, some of these things you mentioned sound pretty tasty! I have a crockpot but for the life of me am afraid to leave stuff in there for long periods of time and then i'm not sure about portioning and then when it comes down to counting calories ..... its so much harder to figure out how many calories you are eating when you prepare a meal for say 10 servings vs one for 1 serving. I'd have to split the total calories in the prepared meal into 10 servings first which is a big hassle, i'm not sure how others do it!0 -
I hear ya, i have cook books and home and use the internet. I guess the problem is that I don't know what i want to make. All i know is what i don't like and if i post that on google it finds all those ingredients in a recipe and as for the book i'll have to spend days and days readying through the cookbook. Not to mention probably modifying them to be 'healthier'. so on that part it's tough too xD0 -
PeachyPlum wrote: »
If only it were that easy. When i think of something i'd like to eat i tend to look it up on google. I don't know any dishes by name really. So like... if i want chicken that's garlic-y i'll post on google "Chicken with garlic" Glance through a bunch of pages and try the first one i have all the ingredients for that sounds good. So it's just coming up with the meals that i'm not sure. What words i should look for when i'm making that search. It doesn't help when i know nothing about spices and what they do. My go to spices are salt pepper and garlic salt.0 -
takala2015 wrote: »
This actually opened my eyes a little bit. Here I am thinking i should have a different meal for every day so i dont get bored of the food i'm eating but maybe i should have 2 or 3 day meal plans and switch them up each week. I know one reason i fell of track with healthy eating was being bored of eating the same thing everyday. Maybe one week i'll have chicken breast and the week after a ground beef. maybe i'll learn some stir fry recipes... who kows! These are some excellent suggestions Thank you! 0 -
iNikosaurus wrote: »
I figure this would be a hard topic for people to help with because even i'm having a hard time with it. It doesn't help that I just don't know any specific dishes that i'd like to make or anything like that. That being said, some of these things you mentioned sound pretty tasty! I have a crockpot but for the life of me am afraid to leave stuff in there for long periods of time and then i'm not sure about portioning and then when it comes down to counting calories ..... its so much harder to figure out how many calories you are eating when you prepare a meal for say 10 servings vs one for 1 serving. I'd have to split the total calories in the prepared meal into 10 servings first which is a big hassle, i'm not sure how others do it!
Splitting into 10 is dead easy. Calculate cals for the whole recipe. Weigh the whole recipe. Put 1/10th of that weight into each of 10 containers, and cal count is 1/10 of the whole.
Even easier, if you're the only one who's going to eat the food, just eyeball the portions. Some days you'll have a little less, some days a little more. Doesn't matter, it all averages out.0 -
Lovefastball99 wrote: »
Mhm that's what i used to do but i got bored of eating the same thing over and over. Bland food that i couldn't cook right. how much is too much spice or too much condiments. Oh no, this ketchup doesn't fit in my calories or my salt so i guess i have to have my eggs plain (which is boring and tasteless to me)
ohhh as for the thirsty, i meant nuts make me thirsty so i dont have nuts as a snack. Otherwise i drink however much i need to which is about 8 cups at least. I don't get thirsty often but i hate the thirst i get after eating nuts. that and they aren't filling.
fancy cook over here! i don't even know what those things are haha. I guess i do have to find two or three dayplan meals and just rotate them. 3 different foods that have enough variety from eachother so i dont feel like i'm eating the same thing over and over.
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Go to Pinterest.. Type in what you will eat and it will populate a bunch of stuff for you with only those ingredients. I do that when I don't know what to make and its near the end of the week and the fridge is getting empty.0
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If you can read you can learn to cook. Go to sites like epicurious to find menu/recipe ideas.0
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learn how to make one dish a week, and in 2 months youll have 8 dishes to rotate between. A cookbook for cooking for one or 2 with easy ideas would also work for you.
link is for cookbooks for 2- that way you can split it in 2 servings and have an easy calorie count, just enter it in the recipe builder.
http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=easy+cooking+for+2&rh=n:283155,k:easy+cooking+for+20 -
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.T0 -
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!0 -
Go to Pinterest.. Type in what you will eat and it will populate a bunch of stuff for you with only those ingredients. I do that when I don't know what to make and its near the end of the week and the fridge is getting empty.
Pinterest takes your ingredients and comes up with a meal for you??? Sweet! I will definitely check this out.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »If you can read you can learn to cook. Go to sites like epicurious to find menu/recipe ideas.
Lol well yeah, humans can do anything they put there mind to. Doesn't hurt to ask people on here for their suggestions on the steps i take. As i state in this room i do use google but for more idea's i'm looking to others for suggestions. Thanks though i'll check out that site
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »learn how to make one dish a week, and in 2 months youll have 8 dishes to rotate between. A cookbook for cooking for one or 2 with easy ideas would also work for you.
link is for cookbooks for 2- that way you can split it in 2 servings and have an easy calorie count, just enter it in the recipe builder.
http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=easy+cooking+for+2&rh=n:283155,k:easy+cooking+for+2
Oh wow thank you this could be quite good. That's also a terrific idea. On the weekend when i go shopping i should have a meal in mind for the week and go with it and a new one each week would keep my taste buds on their toes. thanks!0 -
iNikosaurus wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »If you can read you can learn to cook. Go to sites like epicurious to find menu/recipe ideas.
Lol well yeah, humans can do anything they put there mind to. Doesn't hurt to ask people on here for their suggestions on the steps i take. As i state in this room i do use google but for more idea's i'm looking to others for suggestions. Thanks though i'll check out that site
That's the way I learned...I picked up a cook book (before internet days) and just went with it. It's basically just a "do it" kind of a thing I started with recipes marked "easy" and went from there...20 years later, I'm a phenomenal cook.
I prefer sites like the the one I mentioned to google because you can look things up by meal or what kind of food you want, etc and a ton of recipes will pop up....0 -
My question is--would you like to cook? If the answer is yes and you're a beginner I'd suggest looking around for cooking classes to get you started. Cooking is fun and creative. It's something that is not a waste of time to learn since you always need it. Yes, you can learn from books or the internet, but it's harder than a class where someone shows you and explains. If you don't have money for a class, do you know someone that cooks well? You could ask them to show and explain a few things. At first repeat your recipes alot and then change them up and expand from there. I started out making popcorn and scrambled eggs when I was 12. Now I cook for 5 people everyday. Good luck.
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iNikosaurus wrote: »
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!
i had a grilled cheese for lunch just the other day.....0 -
Meh. I'm no cook. I look at the calories I have left and the macros I need to fulfill and put the things that work in a pan with oil and garlic. Tonight it was 5.2 ounces of tilapia and 12 tablespoons of egg beaters with a laughing cow cheese. All on the same plate. Fuel.0
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I eat a lot of things that might not be a traditional 'meal' per se, especially if I am serving the family a food that I can't eat (celiac plus allergies). Costco rotisserie chickens are great... combine that with some steamed broccoli, cauliflower, peas or whatever you like, and it's a pretty healthy meal. I'm happy to skip the peeling, mashing, boiling of potatoes, and what have you. I've also been known to make a supper of shrimp cocktail
with a bowl of berries for dessert. 0 -
I can cook, but am not enthusiastic about it. Microwave prepared foods - I buy a pint of chicken chili once a week for 2 meals, fish takes about 3 minutes, frozen veggies are quick too. I have a grill - chicken breasts cook in five minutes, steak in 3 or less. Anything is possible if you want it bad enough.0
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I don't mind eating the same foods most of the time. V8 juice, Greek yogurt, banana(s), salad, avocados, pistachios and/or sliced almonds, are on my list nearly every day. I bought some Cuties at Costco today to add some variety, hah! I like to cook up a large meal (I live alone) and break it up and freeze into several servings as another poster mentioned here; measure it all, add up total calories for the dish, and divide it by how many portions you want. My motivation is getting on maintenance so I can eat out again, woo hoo!0
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iNikosaurus wrote: »
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!
It is possible that you are limiting your foods because of some idea of what you consider healthy. Grilled cheese can be healthy -- it depends on your goals.0 -
Kraftfoods.com is great for starting out and learning to cook. You can put in what you have on hand and it will give you options. Usually most of their recipes are easy to make for beginners and will also have the nutritional value with the recipe.0
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That or I frequently just scroll through the food section looking for ideas.Go to Pinterest.. Type in what you will eat and it will populate a bunch of stuff for you with only those ingredients. I do that when I don't know what to make and its near the end of the week and the fridge is getting empty.
Budget Bytes is one of my favorite recipe sites.
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