hopeless cook

A few pointers I would give are as follows.

Invest in a good cook book, esp if you like or need the pics to go aong with the recipe. Some books will give serving suggestions too. You can often pick them up cheaply at charity shops or boot sales. there is a thread on here about cook books, but a good all rounder for the novice is either Delia or The Good Housekeeping CookBook. Borrow from the library too.

Don't run before you can walk. Find simple meals that don't take too much time. Even substituting home made mash for the chips can be a start and try different veg - frozen ones are good value and nutritious and you can mix and match to suit your tastes.

Buy decent quality food. If you read through this board you will find that it's often a lot cheaper than buying frozen ready meals, apart from the nutritional value and additives debate. Start by looking round at the market stalls - good for fruit and veg and meat. If you have Alsi or Lidl near you - go there and see what they have.

If you start making simple dishes, you'll be surprised how easy they are and you'll never need to buy ready made or sauces again.

Eg - Spaghetti Bolognaise:

Brown 1 lb mince. Added chopped onion and a few dried mixed herbs and some garlic if you want. Then add tins of chopped tinned tomatoes (I add up to 3 plus a jar of passata (sieved tomatoes) if I want it to go along way) Add some sliced mushrooms. Add seasoning to taste. Simmer until cooked. For a real Italian taste, simmer for up 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally,but 1/2 hour will have it reasy to eat.

Cook dried spaghetti in large pan of boiling water until tender. Drain and serve with sauce on top. Serve also with crusty bread and/or salad if you want.

The sauce can be made beforehand. It freezes well so is almost an instant meal when you get home from work. Once you start with a couple of recipes under your belt, you'll be away - honetly. It just takes a bit of practice. Have a look at some of the threads where people give menu plans for ideas on what to have. I'm sure Squeaky will be able to find a link, won'tcha squeaks?

The others will be along in a while with more suggestions, I'm sure.

HTH
TM

Hi,

You don't need to go 'big bang' and change everything at once. Firstly it will cost a lot for all new ingredients, and take what seems to be a long time while you're getting used to preparing and cooking things you're not used to.

If it was me, I'd swap the tinned vegetables to salad for the summer, later I'd get a steamer, freshly steamed vegetables taste so much better. They have timers to stop cooking, and they normally have a quick guide on the side saying how long to cook for. So the vege's never boil dry in the bottom of the saucepan, and they don't get overcooked.

It's just as quick and easy to cook rice, pasta or potatoes (if you get the pre-washed sort that don't need peeling) as using oven chips.

At weekend's when you've got more time, try a recipe or two each week either from a cookbook, or look on this site, you'll build up the new ingredients gradually so won't be horrific on the grocery bill, and you'll build up your own list of favorite recipes. Once you've tested the recipes, you can also do big batches to fill your own freezer for using in the week.

When I went to University (a long time ago), there were 2 boys who'd never cooked, but each week they tried something new at the weekend, they were the best cooks in the kitchen by the end of the year.

P.S.
Local colleges normally do lots of one day/weekend cookery courses, as well as evening courses. The one day ones tend to cover things like Christmas cooking, cake decorating etc. The evening ones can be on different types of ethnic cuisine, or special types of cooking like patisserie. So something to think about if you like the idea of joining a class this autumn, but buying a cookery book and trying yourself is going to be cheaper.

I wasn't ignoring our wonderful collection of recipes, Squeaky.:) I just think that if you a complete novice, then it's easier to sit down with a decent cookbook that to spend hours reading a computer screen. Also, most decent 'basics' cookbooks have sections on how to prepare and cook the ingredients and what to do if you go wrong etc.

Why, I'm sure in no time at all, MLE will have progressed to our recipe boards

I'm not a bad cook but don't particularly enjoy it although I'm getting a bit more enthusiastic. I'd go for things that will either go in two pans pasta/rice/potatoes and meat/veggies plus sauce. Or casserole/slow cook where it's all bunged in. That way as well as getting tastly food - I don't feel it's taking all my time and effort. Plus althoguh I'm cooking for 2 - I make enough for 4 practically every meal and freeze half that way when I'm late home from work - I can get something tasty and quick.

Pick a day when you've got time. Pick a recipe for something you fancy the look of/something you usually buy ready made and have a go! My Saturday experiments are still the talk of the family many years after the event & they weren't all bad honest
I make my own oven chips - peel and cut potatos, pop in a pan, bring to boil and leave for a couple of mins, throw into a s/steel roasting tin with tbsp of olive oil, give a shake and throw tin in oven (about 200 c) for 1/2 to 3/4 an hour. During cooking when I'm poking & prodding whatever else is in there I give them a good shake in the tin to crisp them up a bit more. Kids love them!
Also make my own parsley sauce in a couple of mins - used to take longer but practise makes perfect! Only trouble is kids won't eat parsley sauce in school because it isn't as nice as mine :rolleyes:
Good luck!