Help me become a moneysaving domestic god!

brisck1

Hello all!

I have recently made a change in my life which means that I now have a lot more free time than I used to and I want to use this opportunity to make myself more domesticated from cooking to cleaning and hopefully beyond (and of course all in the moneysaving spirit)!

Im hoping that there are a few domestic gods and godesses out there who are kind enough to share there knowledge with me and help me become the house trained man that I aspire to be!

Anyway to kick things off the first thing I want to address is that I am completely clueless at cooking! I know some of the basics, like how to cook pasta and boil and egg, but apart from that my skills havent grown much since I was a student!

What Im wondering is if anyone can recommend a good book for beginners which not only deals with the basics but also has a nice variety of recipies so I dont end up eating the same food every week (oh and lots of nice pictures to help me:p)?
To follow that up i'd also love to find a book with recipes aimed soley at serving 1-2 people (as I live alone). Most of the books i've browsed at the book stores are aimed at family and I dont want to overspend on ingredients when I dont have to!

Will post more as I think of them! Thanks in advance!

Rob

savingforoz

Hi Rob. I'd recommend checking some online resources - Delia Smith's book and websites are reckoned to be good for beginners. I'd also highly recommend Jamie Oliver's "Ministry of Food". Lots of piccies, simple instructions, and with a good variety of recipes.
Hope this helps, and have fun!

Penelope_Penguin

brisck1 wrote: »

Anyway to kick things off the first thing I want to address is that I am completely clueless at cooking! I know some of the basics, like how to cook pasta and boil and egg, but apart from that my skills havent grown much since I was a student!

Try a look at this thread for a basic cookery book (I'll merge this thread to it later).

Why not just cook half the recipe serving 4 for the 2 of you Alternatively, cook the lot, and freeze the leftovers; that way you have a "free" home cooked meal for the day you work late or CBA

Penny. x

PlutoinCapricorn

I am in a similar position: I now have no excuses for not getting my flat sorted out and for not cooking etc.

I am sure that you will find a lot of useful advice from other people on here: one problem may be knowing where to start.

One thing that does occur to me is that those receipes for more than one person are fine because you can freeze the other portions to eat later. This is actually more economical in many ways: buying in large quantities is usually cheaper, you use less electricity when you cook in batches.

kazwookie

Go and look in the local library and see what books you like in there for cooking, borrow them, at least to start with it will give to a variety.

Re the cleaning, get rid of any rubbish and junk you have first, then you will be able to see what to clean

Good luck

greenbee

If you want to learn to cook rather than just follow a recipe, I'd recommend Nigel Slater's Appetite - each recipe includes variations, so once you know how to make it, you can adapt it. Many of the recipes are for one or two, but with explanations as to how to make them work for more.

I wouldn't worry about cooking for one if you have a freezer - I generally cook vast quantities (I learned to cook in industrial quantities and have never really got the hang of cooking for limited numbers), and then portion things up and bung them in the freezer. This means that I have healthy, economical food available for when I don't have the time to cook, and if people turn up unexpectedly I am always able to feed them!

If you're planning on doing a lot of cooking, you need to make an inventory of your kitchen equipment and work out what you need to invest in. You don't need much - I'd recommend:

• a couple of decent chopping boards (hardwood, and don't immerse them in water, scrub with coarse salt and rinse), probably one large, one medium (OK so I have about 7, but I'm lazy about washing up!). Bamboo is good and fairly readily available at the moment.
• Knives - don't worry about what's fashionable. Your existing knives may well be fine, and just need sharpening. If you've got good quality but neglected knives, they may need regrinding. If you have an electric sharpener, you can do this yourself, otherwise see whether your local butcher offers a re-grinding service. You need one large chef's knife, which you can use for most things. It's important that the knife is large and well-balanced enough to allow you to chop without lifting the knife from the board. I like Victorinox Fibrox knives as they have non-slip handles, and have this one. You will also find a couple of small paring knives and a serrated citrus knive useful. Oh yes... and a vegetable peeler...
• Pans - make do with what you've got at the moment, but if you decide to replace them, do so gradually and get decent quality - proper, solid, heavy-based pans. If you get ones with metal handles they can go in the oven as well as being used on top. I prefer not to use non-stick as it sometimes comes away with the food (stopping the food sticking to the pan :rolleyes:). Frying pan, milk pan, a couple of medium-sized ones and a casserole - plus a steamer might come in handy.
• Scales - VERY important... but you don't need digital ones. Those are gadgets. Ordinary old manual add & weigh work fine.
• Wooden spoons... a couple of spoons and maybe a spatula, plus a silicone spatula
• Other bits - a ladle, large slotted spoon, large metal spoon, fine sieve, colander, a couple of glass bowls, large mixing bowl, measuring spoons...

You DO NOT need a garlic press (crush the garlic with the flat of the knife and then chop), or a pizza cutter (scissors).

powershopper

and if you venture into the realms of baking, soooooo satisfying, the Bero Book is the ONLY one!!! good luck,.

brisck1

Wow lots of great info already thanks alot!!

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

I am in a similar position: I now have no excuses for not getting my flat sorted out and for not cooking etc.

I am sure that you will find a lot of useful advice from other people on here: one problem may be knowing where to start.

One thing that does occur to me is that those receipes for more than one person are fine because you can freeze the other portions to eat later. This is actually more economical in many ways: buying in large quantities is usually cheaper, you use less electricity when you cook in batches.

Good point! My only problem with this is knowing what can be frozen or not (and how best to freeze) but also how to best re-heat from frozen, are there any guides for this sort of thing? i.e. Meat, fish, dairy, pasta?

greenbee wrote: »

If you want to learn to cook rather than just follow a recipe, I'd recommend Nigel Slater's Appetite - each recipe includes variations, so once you know how to make it, you can adapt it. Many of the recipes are for one or two, but with explanations as to how to make them work for more.

I wouldn't worry about cooking for one if you have a freezer - I generally cook vast quantities (I learned to cook in industrial quantities and have never really got the hang of cooking for limited numbers), and then portion things up and bung them in the freezer. This means that I have healthy, economical food available for when I don't have the time to cook, and if people turn up unexpectedly I am always able to feed them!

If you're planning on doing a lot of cooking, you need to make an inventory of your kitchen equipment and work out what you need to invest in. You don't need much - I'd recommend:

• a couple of decent chopping boards (hardwood, and don't immerse them in water, scrub with coarse salt and rinse), probably one large, one medium (OK so I have about 7, but I'm lazy about washing up!). Bamboo is good and fairly readily available at the moment.
• Knives - don't worry about what's fashionable. Your existing knives may well be fine, and just need sharpening. If you've got good quality but neglected knives, they may need regrinding. If you have an electric sharpener, you can do this yourself, otherwise see whether your local butcher offers a re-grinding service. You need one large chef's knife, which you can use for most things. It's important that the knife is large and well-balanced enough to allow you to chop without lifting the knife from the board. I like Victorinox Fibrox knives as they have non-slip handles, and have this one. You will also find a couple of small paring knives and a serrated citrus knive useful. Oh yes... and a vegetable peeler...
• Pans - make do with what you've got at the moment, but if you decide to replace them, do so gradually and get decent quality - proper, solid, heavy-based pans. If you get ones with metal handles they can go in the oven as well as being used on top. I prefer not to use non-stick as it sometimes comes away with the food (stopping the food sticking to the pan :rolleyes:). Frying pan, milk pan, a couple of medium-sized ones and a casserole - plus a steamer might come in handy.
• Scales - VERY important... but you don't need digital ones. Those are gadgets. Ordinary old manual add & weigh work fine.
• Wooden spoons... a couple of spoons and maybe a spatula, plus a silicone spatula
• Other bits - a ladle, large slotted spoon, large metal spoon, fine sieve, colander, a couple of glass bowls, large mixing bowl, measuring spoons...

You DO NOT need a garlic press (crush the garlic with the flat of the knife and then chop), or a pizza cutter (scissors).

Really awesome info there, thanks! Is Nigel Slater's Appetite good for beginners though? Does it go into enough detail for a noobie like me to follow?
I also have a few questions about the equipment - firstly the chopping boards, My brother uses glass chopping boards because he says wooden ones are unhygenic but it seems like glass is a good way to wreck your knives, so is he talking out of his netherly region?
Also knives - I just bought this set a few days ago in anticipation http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8420840/Trail/searchtext>KNIVES.htm They seem fairly sharp, do you think they will be good enough?
As for the casserole pan, I have a slow cooker which was bought as a house warming gift, will that work or do you recommend buying a proper one?

As for the others they're on my shopping list now!

powershopper wrote: »

and if you venture into the realms of baking, soooooo satisfying, the Bero Book is the ONLY one!!! good luck,.

Yes I will definitely want to be into baking when I ready for it, thanks I'll check it out!

Also I think someone mentioned Jamie Oliver, I borrowed one of his books, Jamies Dinners, off a friend and found that he likes to use lots of really exotic ingredients in his recipies and it doesnt seem very easy to save money on them, is the book you recommended like this also? If so im not sure it'd be for me at this stage.

Thanks again! Oh and please dont merge this thread yet, I will be asking about cleaning and other household stuff later

greenbee

brisck1 wrote: »

My only problem with this is knowing what can be frozen or not (and how best to freeze) but also how to best re-heat from frozen, are there any guides for this sort of thing? i.e. Meat, fish, dairy, pasta?

You can always ask on here, but most things can be frozen, particularly once cooked. You just need to make sure that you reheat them thoroughly before using (best to defrost first, so take out the night before and leave in the fridge, then take out of the fridge when you get home from work if not completely thawed). Stir well while cooking, and stick something metal (spoon, knife blade) into the middle and test against your skin to see whether it is hot!

brisck1 wrote: »

Really awesome info there, thanks! Is Nigel Slater's Appetite good for beginners though? Does it go into enough detail for a noobie like me to follow?

Yes - I've got a few non-cooks to cook based on his recipes, and there is a good, well written introduction with lots of useful stuff in it. Try getting it from the library before deciding whether to invest.

brisck1 wrote: »

I also have a few questions about the equipment - firstly the chopping boards, My brother uses glass chopping boards because he says wooden ones are unhygenic but it seems like glass is a good way to wreck your knives, so is he talking out of his netherly region?

Ignore him. Wood is hygenic when looked after properly. Just don't chop your veg in the pool of blood left over from chopping meat, and you should be fine Basic hygiene is important in the kitchen, but it's common sense not rocket science. I don't know any professionals who use glass - they may use plastic, but that's just because its easier to colour for coding and it goes in the DW.

brisck1 wrote: »

Also knives - I just bought this set a few days ago in anticipation http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8420840/Trail/searchtext>KNIVES.htm They seem fairly sharp, do you think they will be good enough?

They'll certainly be fine for the moment, but get yourself a steel/knife sharpener so that you can keep them sharp. A good test (if you aren't confident testing them with your fingers!) is to run them across the skin of a tomato. You should be able to cut it without having to apply pressure. Sharp knives are a must - treat them with respect (tip... when you put a knife down, put the blade under the chopping board to prevent it being knocked off and landing on your feet!), but blunt knives slip and cause far more accidents.

brisck1 wrote: »

As for the casserole pan, I have a slow cooker which was bought as a house warming gift, will that work or do you recommend buying a proper one?

A slow cooker is fantastic. I recommend you use it as much as possible!

brisck1 wrote: »

As for the others they're on my shopping list now!

Don't buy everything at once. Wait until you've worked out what you really need... beg/borrow if necessary, and have a look at what your friends have got, ask them questions. Make sure you buy the right thing. I spent 3 years looking for the perfect frying pan! Remember, you can always ask for things for Christmas/birthdays, and in the meantime make do with cast-offs from other people. You'll be surprised what you get. I've got a vast range of Le Creuset acquired either when older friends felt it was too heavy, or when fashions changed and people wanted the new colours. Personally, I'm quite happy with the original volcanic orange, and I would never have been able to afford to invest in this much of it myself! Also try freecycle...

brisck1 wrote: »

Yes I will definitely want to be into baking when I ready for it, thanks I'll check it out!

You'll need a few more bits of kit then...

brisck1 wrote: »

Also I think someone mentioned Jamie Oliver, I borrowed one of his books, Jamies Dinners, off a friend and found that he likes to use lots of really exotic ingredients in his recipies and it doesnt seem very easy to save money on them, is the book you recommended like this also? If so im not sure it'd be for me at this stage.

Nigel Slater is pretty down to earth, and always recommends alternative ingredients. The library is your friend while you decide which cookery writers you like best!

brisck1 wrote: »

Thanks again! Oh and please dont merge this thread yet, I will be asking about cleaning and other household stuff later

There are lots of threads on cleaning etc, so make sure you use the search function (instructions at the top of the board). Try the weekly flylady thread (new one starts tonight) for a basic cleaning routine.

Good luck with the cooking... there is lots of expertise here... check out Mr Bad Example's threads if you want to see how good the teaching is!

buxtonrabbitgreen

I would just recommend Marguritte Patten everyday cookery if you can get hold of a copy. It is probably out of print now but it was basic enough for me when I first started cooking. It doesn't use a lot of ingredients that you haven't got. And is still the book I turn to first when I want to know how to make something.

brisck1

Hmm the only Marguritte Patten everyday cookery I can find on amazon was published in 1982, is this the right one?

Anyway great info so far, I have have my birthday coming up August, so at least I know what to ask for this year!