Can't cook don't cook! Time for change.

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  • scroogey
    scroogey Posts: 160 Forumite
    One of my favourite dishes is Portugese Sausage which I learnt to cook from a book my mum had as a kid at school called learning to cook. Basically brown the skins on some sausages, pop into a casserole dish add a tin of tomatoes and an onion and bake for about 40 mins at about 200c I usually add mushrooms as well and it's a dish my boyfriend adores! I usually serve it with mashed potatoes but i think it'll go equally as well with rice.
  • LincsLad_3
    LincsLad_3 Posts: 611 Forumite
    Excellent thread - there are probably many of us who could do with looking more closely at some of the junk food in our cupboards and freezers (including me!):rolleyes:

    Just one tip on buying fruit (and veg really) - try and buy stuff in season as it will taste so much better. As an example, you can get strawberries from the supermarket all year round now, but the ones you buy in December (flown in from somewhere like from Chile or Australia) taste more like straw than berries !

    The second part of May and on into June is the peak season for home-grown strawberries, so get the family along to the local P-Y-O strawberry farm where they are far better-tasting and a LOT cheaper than Asda or Tesco ones!

    (But lay off the raspberries in July, cos they are all MINE! ;) )
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    My family mock me - 'We don't want strawberries and runner beans yet - t'isn't summer". I'm accused of being racist because I won't buy Spanish strawberries, only English.
  • firrybabe
    firrybabe Posts: 122 Forumite
    I picked up the asda magazine today and there's some save time, save money recipes in there. Looked nice, easy and tasty !
  • I to was a "crappy eater" until i saw jamie's dinners!! the chicken nuggets bit made me feel ill!!!

    Since then its been 5 weeks since i have cokoed anything frozen!!

    Try some food websites:
    https://www.deliaonline.co.uk is GREAT for beginners! It tells you how to boil an egg, make roast potatoes EVERYTHING!!! foodgeeks.com is another good one and so is https://www.ukfood.tv and the bbc site has some good recipes too.

    I brought a Veggie steamer (can't be ar*ed to sit and watch a saucepan boil) for £13 in robert dyas and am going to purchase a slow cooker this week (about £20 in argos). I cook Shepherd pie quite a bit!!! Brown the mince, drain, chuck in an onion, some garlic, mushrooms or whatever you like. Drain and out in a casserole dish thingy cover in a little bit of gravy and then top with mash! cook for 45-60mins and sorted! Another good one is do the same with the mince but add a little curry powder when browing, cover with Tortilla's and cheese and you have a different meal.

    One of the easiest recipes i was given was grill some sausages, cook some pasta (my son LOVES fresh Tagliatelle BUT some 19p tesco value fusilli is just as good), stir in a pasta sauce (the dolmio smokey bacon one is LUSH), slice the sausages, add to the pasta and serve! YUM!!

    I'm feeling very chuffed today, i've just cooked a full roast for my family - stuffing, 3 veggies, roasties with NONE of it from the freezer!!!
  • As of monday my husband and I are on a diet. We've got quite fat (and poor) by living off take-aways and ready meals, so now we need to eat healthily on a budget.

    The major problem is I can't really cook and don't have much time in the evenings as I only get home from work 2 hours before I go to bed and don't want to slave in the kitchen. Any easy receipe ideas etc would be gratefully received. We do have a slow cooker btw.
  • Ticklemouse
    Ticklemouse Posts: 5,030
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    See the blue box above your post, with the yellow "Indexed collections". Have a hunt around that - it's got all sorts of recipes, including lots for the slow cooker.

    click here:
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=46654

    Just start with really simple meals - meat (stewing steak etc) with an onion, some seasoning of choice and some water/stock, cooked in your clow cooker and you have a lovely tasty lean dish - serve with a few veg and /or rice.

    Simple dish - brown some pork chops, put in the bottom of a casserole, add par-boiled, sliced potatoes and some chopped onion, add stock/gravy mix and put in the oven until the spuds are soft. (medium oven, Gas 4, 1 - 1 1/2 hrs) Delish, low fat and you can add steamed veg - hey presto, full meal.
  • Stews are very easy to make and you can literally throw everything in and let it cook-especially if you invest in a slow cooker:D

    My fav is lamb stew. Brown off an onion or leek, add the meat and brown for a couple of mins. Add to SC with any spuds I have needing using up...sometimes even use new pots with skins and they tast great. I normally also add a tin of baked beans, carrots, swede and anything else needing using (dont normally add mushrooms though). You can either use gravy, thickened stock, a sachet mix or even a tin of soup. Normally cook on slow for about 5-6hrs or longer and you have a perfect meal which is healthy and wholesome.

    I suppose you could use most meat/poultry with the above.

    Meal Plan too.

    Good Luck

    PP
    xx
    To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it,
    requires brains!
    FEB GC/DIESEL £200/4 WEEKS
  • If you really cannot cook, then why not start with Saint Delia. She has a series of "How To .... " on her website, which you can look at here.

    And then you can progress to her recipes, here. It might be worth wasting an hour or so simply mooching around on that site.

    There are plenty more, but I do think that Delia is good in building confidence by talking you through in nice easy stages.

    HTH
    Warning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac ;)
  • thriftlady_2
    thriftlady_2 Posts: 9,128
    Combo Breaker First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    Forumite
    Here's a cheap and easy one;

    Boil up some rice (brown rice if you want to be super healthy)
    Add some cooked frozen veg like peas and sweetcorn
    Fry some spring onion/ordinary onion in a pan and add one of the following
    diced Spam
    chopped bacon
    chopped chicken
    minced beef
    prawns
    ham
    Use as much or as little as you can spare.When the meat is cooked stir in the rice and veg and add a shake of soy sauce.

    You can add garlic and fresh ginger too,beansprouts,carrots,celery,mushrooms
    whatever you've got.

    I can recommend some good farmshops around Worcester if you're interested. :)
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