Can't cook, won't cook, don't know how to cook thread (and I need to save money!!!)

brighthair

oh this book is great

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Healthy-Balanced-Little-Kitchen/dp/1905862156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301335544&sr=8-1

ceridwen

My thoughts on this:

- That means a vegan diet AND fish on top of it
- Re any fat used for cooking - that means the healthy type of Spray Oil used for sauteing with (ie there is now spray containers of olive oil - specifically designed for those on a diet who want to use Frylight spray oil but its not healthy enough for them to do so - I would imagine).

Vegan ingredients wouldnt go off on for some time on you and you could have some fish in the freezer to top it up with at intervals (assuming you can find a source of suitable fish - ie not swimming round in those polluted seas and not from a conventional fish farm either). Well - that depends on how healthy you want the fish to be...but if you are on a budget...then you will have to choose between "sacrificing" health considerations and just take whatever fish comes from our polluted seas/conventional fish farms on the one hand or forget about having fish at all on the other hand. Choice is yours. I made the choice to do without fish and just be vegetarian

But being sure its "fresh" enough and "seriously low fat" definitely means vegan - or possibly macrobiotic. There are (a very few) single vegan cookbooks and, from memory, there is a pretty good macrobiotic cookbook by Keith Floyd (think thats his name....).

So - my thoughts are you need to alternate between vegan and macrobiotic to have a diet that fits your criteria AND is budget-conscious.

EDIT: Cant lay my hands on my best macrobiotic cookbook at present to check - but I'm nearly sure tis Keith Floyd as author. Re vegan cookbooks - I find some of them "deathly" - but I DO like the mini series by Linda Majzlik - eg "A Vegan taste of Italy", "A Vegan taste of India", etc...you get the drift. Should be on Amazon somewheres - though I obtained mine privately...

'Fraid its a step too far for me to think of how one can get a diet like that without doing any cooking. I could come up with a diet that was healthy and didnt involve cooking - but it wouldnt be a budget one or as "low fat as possible"...

VJsmum

Hi

Anything without meat will generally last longer than something with meat. I am not vegetarian but don't eat meat all the time - favourite non dairy veggie meals include

lentil cottage pie (or shepherdess pie)
Aubergine and pasta bake
Vegetable curry
Chilli bean stew
puy lentils with veggie sausages (although I use real ones :cool:)
mixed bean goulash (really easy - dry fry an onion (or use the sprays you can get = 1 cal) open various tins of beans ie kidney, black eyed, butter, even baked, about 3 different types mix with a tin of tomatoes and add some paprika to taste, heat on the hob. Maybe add a chilli if you like it hot. would normally have soured cream or yogurt but you could just leave that out. Serve with rice or a pitta bread or naan or on its own.)

If I think of more i'll come back.

bees**knees

Well done for taking the first steps !
My advice would be to get a simple cook book - the little Be-Ro cookbook from their website is a favourite of mine and many others. Start simple with recipes and instructions you understand. There are loads of websites which explain cooking terms and processes.

Ask as many questions as you need to - its the only way to learn. There's always someone here who will help !

Remember that 'Home Cooked' food doesnt contain the preservatives that are in alot of manufactured foods so unless you eat it all up within a few days then you have to be prepared to portion and freeze.

Dont get hung up on best-before-dates or 'should I eat it or bin it'. Just be sensible and use your eyes and nose. If it doesnt look or smell good then it probably isnt worth the risk.

Always make sure food is REALLY hot ( right to the middle) when you reheat.

Dont refreeze something that you have defrosted UNLESS it has been cooked after thawing.

Most of cooking is just common sense - you might not produce fancy food like the TV chefs but you will most certainly learn to make food better than any you can buy in the supermarket !

HTH - ( an ex home-ec teacher;))

ifonlyitwaseasier

well as a batchelorette i think you need to read this thread

the recipes in the first post are a good starting point for you

MrBE started small but has taught himself (with contributions from forumites) to cook

BitterAndTwisted

I'm also a non-meat-eater who eats the odd fishy thing (but I do also consume dairy) and I cannot recommend Rose Elliot's recipe books highly enough. None of her recipes are particularly complicated or demanding and most of them would suit a novice with decent reading and comprehension skills.

As a previous poster has said try out a new recipe once or twice first to get the hang of it before you attempt a six-gallon batch for the freezer. With more cooking comes more confidence and you'll soon find yourself adapting recipes you've mastered to whatever ingredients you have to hand.

If you're like me there will be some things you won't ever be great at: for instance I have too heavy a hand for flaky or puff pastry so I just buy it frozen and try to do something exciting with it.

Have a go at making soup: it's incredibly easy and the results can be astoundingly good and tasty. If you buy veggies when they're on special offer it will be cheap, too. It might help to keep you motivated to carry on with your home-cooking.

cat4772

good luck with this.

Wanted to add that if you want some guidance on techniques then youtube tends to have some useful video clips that explain things visually e.g. when is butter & sugar 'creamed' or how to chop an onion!

The other thing is... have a go. we often make 'bita' soup. which is simply a bit of this, a bit of that a dollop of and a smidge of... sometimes with wonderful results and other times we wish we knew what we'd put in so we could avoid it again!

VJsmum

cat4772 wrote: »

good luck with this.

Wanted to add that if you want some guidance on techniques then youtube tends to have some useful video clips that explain things visually e.g. when is butter & sugar 'creamed' or how to chop an onion!

That's true, at the weekend I learned how to pipe an iced shell border onto an anniversary cake. I've tried and it's worked!!!

Sue14

I don't know how long tomato puree lasts once opened, but what I usually do is divide it into 1 tablespoon portions in ice cube trays and freeze, then I just need to get a cube out of the freezer for each tablespoon required, HTH.

cat4772 wrote: »

Wanted to add that if you want some guidance on techniques then youtube tends to have some useful video clips that explain things visually e.g. when is butter & sugar 'creamed' or how to chop an onion!

Totally agree with this! In recent months I've started to try new things, (after being mega fussy all my life, lol!) examples being butternut squash, peppers and leeks, and I wouldn't have had a clue how to prepare and cook them without the help of videos on youtube!

willing2learn_3

Okay i've returned to this thread as I have a few days off - going to be adventurous today....well....for me anyway! :-/

going to buy butternut squash, bake it and put in a salad......there will be lots left over and I thought i could then freeze it and then take it to my mother's on sunday to add to a salad there - she doesn't eat healthily and every time i go up there i'm offered a fried egg sandwich for lunch....lol. I am seriously trying to do the healthy thing and I usually end up going to the local shop and buying stuff....

so how do i freeze the squash once baked....and do i have to defrost before sunday or does it only take an hour or so once out of the freezer?

My last cooking attempt resulted in mouldy banana loaf after 3 days, so want this to work, hate cooking, want it simple but I want it healthy - want it all i know! LOL!

thanks for any help (yes i live alone, no kids, if you hadn't guessed!)