What to eat when you hate cooking!?!??

What worked for me was to analyze my aversion to cooking and change my attitude. Now I set aside a couple of Sunday afternoons a month, put an audiobook on my bluetooth speaker and make about 4 main dishes. I put a chuck roast in the crock pot, roast a pork tenderloin, barbecue some chicken breasts, make rice or pasta to put with these things and package it all up in single serve containers. I've gotten my BF to join in and together we get all our food prepared and actually have fun.

SherryTeach wrote: »

What worked for me was to analyze my aversion to cooking and change my attitude. Now I set aside a couple of Sunday afternoons a month, put an audiobook on my bluetooth speaker and make about 4 main dishes. I put a chuck roast in the crock pot, roast a pork tenderloin, barbecue some chicken breasts, make rice or pasta to put with these things and package it all up in single serve containers. I've gotten my BF to join in and together we get all our food prepared and actually have fun.

I'm a person who hated cooking as well. I would hate to do it this way. I prefer to make something that takes 10 minutes every night. So, there are a couple different ways to get home cooked meals easily.

It took me a few months in to this weight loss thing to realize I could eat WAY more if I made my food.

If you're only going to eat frozen foods...Have you tried Amy's? I just have a hard time recommending anything other than cooking at this point. And this is coming from someone who has used her oven 3 times in 7 years.

I bought a nice rice cooker. It's super easy to throw in rice, broth, organic canned chicken, veggies and spices. Its like cheating. Tastes good, healthy, and one pan that washes easily.

Hi! Great question! I'm like you, not always wanting to cook! I've had small children to cook for, one grown, two in elementary school. Often I didn't have the energy to cook. We didn't eat many processed foods. I am already used to preparing easy, quick meals and snacks that are "balanced" even if they aren't "hot" traditional meals.

We did eat a lot of stuff with melted cheese. (I even have a quick pizza dough recipe that makes the perfect amount of thin mini pizza pizza shapes that can be mixed, rolled, cut out, arranged on a pan, sauced, baked and ready to eat in under thirty minutes).

We're trying to eat healthier. I hate the time it takes to defrost frozen meat so I often cook a few meat items a time just to avoid having to freeze meat in packages. I don't like to buy frozen veggies because they always seem to get freezer burned and taste rubbery. I also hate a lot of food prep (chopping up things).

For me, it starts at the store. I avoid most pre packaged meals. They have lots of weird unhealthy additives, too much sodium, etc. They often don't cook evenly in my microwave. You can buy parboiled rice. I'm usually too impatient to wait almost an hour for brown rice to cook...it's much healthier and you could get it going and go paint your nails or something, if you don't have a rice cooker.

Only buy healthy foods you like. Don't buy something because you should like it. This way you'll enjoy eating and preparing whatever you bring home.

I buy fresh and frozen fruit, veggies we like, Greek yogurt to eat, bake with and use as a base for sauces, substitute for cream cheese and sour cream and for smoothies. Hummus and carrots are a quick snack. Whole wheat sandwich rounds, whole wheat or whole grain versions of crackers, bread etc. I still need to watch how much whole grain carbs I eat. I buy avocados too. Meat that is thinly cut cooks quickly in a pan. Salmon is super easy and quick to bake in the oven. You can buy veggies in stir fry packages or rough chop peppers, onions, etc, yourself. I buy raw spinach already prepared. You can use that fresh in quick omelets, on pizza, in wraps, tacos and on sandwiches. You can cook oatmeal fairly quick on the stove or in the microwave. The easier it is to cook the less fiber it seems to have. Zucchini, sliced thin a and sauteed is quick. You can buy garlic in a jar or quick mince fresh cloves for your dishes. Pasta (choose the heathiest version you like the taste of or limit portions) cooks up as quickly. I like olive oil, garlic, tomatoes tossed in with the pasta and that comes together quickly.

At this point I don't care if the components of a meal come together perfectly. I have a tendency to want to eat as soon as I notice I'm hungry. At this stage of the game I need to pay attn to portion sizes, eat more veggies and not cave into eating fast food.

May I suggest you make a list of your favorite foods to eat, choose healthiest versions of those foods and practice preparing simple things at home. Have on hand fresh, quick things to eat when hungry. Peanut butter and apple, or celery, wraps. I like the flexibility of not having preplanned meals so I can adjust to what I'm in the mood for. Others enjoy planning meals, and seem to think it's easier that way.

I have a muffin recipe I've altered that works fine with whole grain flours, using applesauce to reduce sugar content. I make w/w or whole grain pancakes for my children too. I'm relearning how to cook just for myself. You can use smaller baking dishes for oven baked foods, which may reduce cooking times.

Good luck! Let us know what is working for you!

Not inexpensive, but made fresh and delivered weekly:

http://www.veestro.com

Most of the entrees are under 300 calories, and I think only 1 is over 400. They are vegan but I have served them to non-vegan guests who really liked them. My favourites are the red curry, three layer scramble, croquettes, and pizza.

I put 2-3 days' worth in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer. They last about 8 weeks frozen. If you do try it, wait for a 20% off sale (they have them almost every week).

lelaomara wrote: »

Ex: Rotisserie chicken: can be eaten as is, hot fresh. Meat separated from the bones ave used to make tacos, burritos, chicken salad, in salad, recooked/boiled for chicken broth soup, used on sandwiches, etc. I have frozen the meat (cooked chicken in small pieces defrosts ok. Can be used in omelettes, etc.

^^This. You can just cut the meat off as needed and microwave it (it has a tendency to become dry, though, so you may need a sauce of some kind to help). It's a relatively cheap protein option if you're just feeding yourself. One smallish chicken goes a long way.

I also use a rice cooker/steamer and steam vegetables. Absolutely minimal prep required, add a little salt, pepper, and a touch of olive oil and voila.

I also occasionally use products from Nutrisystem if I'm wanting something a little different I've used them before so I can usually find stuff on Ebay that I know I like and sometimes Big Lots will have stuff.

Salads for lunch and dinner, low fat yogurt, granola, fruits, Slim Fast etc. My diary is public if you want to check.

hiltz83 wrote: »

I resort to processed foods because they are convenient and I hate cooking. It's so easy to pop a lean cuisine in the microwave. Even worse, I go to fast food because it's....fast! But I know it's all terrible for me...suggestions for healthier low calorie froze meals or dinners that can be microwaved?

Whatever you can con someone else into making?

Seriously though...the crockpot can be your friend if you dislike food prep. Lots of soups are low calorie, can be frozen in single-serve portions for later nuke-and-eat and you can buy a lot of the ingredients pre-cut to go. Main thing to watch out for if you're using canned items is high levels of sodium/added sugar...get around that by using frozen if possible or scanning labels for low-sodium/reduced-sodium and sugar-free, lower sugar optio

And here's a lazy favorite of mine...

PITA PIZZA

Pack of pita bread
Jar of pizza sauce
bag of mozzarella cheese
bag of pepperoni (I use turkey pepperoni)
Any other toppings you like

Basically, cut each pita into quarters, drop however many you're making into the toaster two at a time, toast them crispy, add the pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni and whatever toppings and then nuke for around 20-25 seconds to melt the cheese. Super easy, easy to customize...(leave off the pepperoni to make it veggie and add whatever veggies instead...no cheese if you're vegan or vegan cheese if you can stomach that..no suggestions there as I've never found a truly GOOD vegan cheese...etc etc.)

It's also easy to make it "BBQ chicken"...BBQ sauce instead of the pizza sauce..."white pizza" with a lower calorie Alfredo sauce..etc etc etc.

I love to cook. I get home 3 hours before my wife, so I do all the cooking. I find it is relaxing. I also love researching new recipes and preparing new things for her.

That doesn't mean I don't have meals that aren't as healthy as they could be, but if we are eating something unhealthy, it means I went out of my way to research it, prepare it and serve it. We eat out less than once a month and I almost never go to a fast food restaurant.

I like to cook, but I do have a few quick go-to meals. The easiest throw together dinner for me is veggie and cheese omelets or egg scrambles. Just saute whatever vegetables you want ( I like spinach, grape tomatoes and mushrooms), add eggs, cook and top with cheese. Also, par boiled rice, canned beans, pre cooked chicken, jar of salsa and frozen corn thawed under running water. Boom! Burrito bowl.

The thing is, once you get in the habit of cooking most of your meals, you will probably become more adventurous and maybe even find out that you enjoy it.

You've gotten some good suggestions about meal prepping, crock pot cooking, and easy recipes that you can rely on. I would also look on Pinterest for some ideas, but a really popular site with healthy recipes is skinnytaste.com

You mentioned lean cuisine meals that you pop in the microwave, have you tried any of the various frozen skillet meals that are available these days? There are ones from Bertolli, PF Changs, Evol, I've found some that are quite tasty and they all run about 500 cals/serving. I keep a bag or two of those in my freezer for nights when I really don't have time to cook, they are a little light on the protein, but sometimes I will throw in some chicken strips or other meat that I have in the freezer. Also if you are single, they are usually a two serving bag, so if I'm just cooking for myself I eat half and save the rest for lunch the next day.

Lastly, not sure if they have any of these around you, and they can be sort of expensive - but I've gone to meal prep places where you spend about 2 hours putting meals together (and it is completely foolproof, if you can read and tip a spoon you can do it) and walked out with 12 meals that I could put in my freezer for busy nights.

I love to cook/bake, and it gets easier with practice. I can't do the whole cooking only on the weekend thing, I like to cook my meals fresh every night. Try to research a few 20-30 minute meals and start with the one that seems easiest to you. Eventually you will work your way up and may actually enjoy cooking. Good luck!

Homemade pizza on pitta bread
Baked spuds and coleslaw with cream cheese and avocado

I would suggest learning to love it for meats and things that require to be cooked and exactly what BillyB says above.