AAAAAHHHH I cant cook!!!

madkitty

brill brill brill loving the studentrecipes.com site :beer:

crazyguy

madkitty wrote: »

brill brill brill loving the studentrecipes.com site :beer:

good luck it wont take you long to get the hang of it and when you make a nice meal the sense of achievment will feel good to.

lilykim

You could always get you boyf to do the cooking!

Purple1974

I had absolutely no idea how to cook either. I'm living alone and in my 30's. I'd always relied on popping a pizza in the oven, getting a take out etc.

A few months ago, some friends came to stay and taught me how to do a Spaghetti bolognaise from scratch, she even typed it all up for me nd although I've only managed it once on my own, it came out ok (well, I'm not dead lol).

Although I felt like I'd mucked it up, I still felt a huge sense of achievement when it had done.

Also, (and this is what I did), if it's a meal you can freeze, make it in bulk! I managed to freeze 5 portions.

compmad1

Get a slow cooker and just add ingredients --- passata 29p per pkt Aldi/Tesco, cheap mixed herbs, some onions (you can buy frozen ones everywhere if you are short of time) and any type of meat. (chilli/curry powder to vary it.) People can get very hung up on recipes and life is too short. Persuade your boy-friend to show his cooking skills off! He will be glad of whatever he is given I'm sure.

Oldernotwiser

Don't turn your nose up at meat and two veg, even when you've learned to cook. Cooking from a recipe is great but you don't have to do it every day.

wik

Hi.... I would like to recommend Mary Berry complete cookery book.

also here is a simple recipe...

2 chicken breasts cut into about 1inch cubes
a small tub of low fat creme fraiche
2 teaspoons of pesto sauce.
Fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pasta shapes of your own choice...

put the pasta onto cook as per instructions on the packet.

heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken, stirring until cooked through... about 10 mins, then add the creme fraiche and pesto and simmer until the sauce thinkens

add to the pasta and enjoy...
serve with some fresh vegetables... look out for things like baby corn and mange tout - these can be cooked in very few minutes.

wik

alwaysonthego_2

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES


Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

meritaten

Casserole - dead easy and you can adapt it to almost any meat!
Basic Casserole recipe as dictated to my kids
Get your meat (for casseroles the cheap cuts are fine)
now for beef casseroles they sell cubed steak or stewing beef and you use red wine with those
for chicken casseroles - get thighs (cheap and taste better)
now you get your flavour base going
chop an onion and some carrots and celery and fry them on a low heat until just transparent.tip them into a casserole dish
add a little more oil to the pan and turn up the heat and fry your meat until its just browned on all sides. now add them to the veg in the casserole.
now add either a good glass of wine or some chicken stock (or beef stock if using beef) to the pan and bring to boil. stir it to get the bits off the pan.
add that to the casserole dish. if it doesnt cover the meat and veg you can either add more wine or chicken (or beef) stock.
cover and cook for a couple of hours on gas 4 in the oven.
you can add garlic to the onions and other veg when they are nearly cooked (garlic will burn after a couple of minutes in frying pan so dont add it too early).
you can also add a teaspoon of mixed herbs if you like when you add the last lot of stock.
thats basically it for making a casserole! if the casserole sauce isnt as thick as you would like - just mash some butter and flour together and add little lumps of it to the casserole! an ounce of flour and an ounce of butter would do about a pint or so of liquid.

Mrs_Beatson

Im no chef so always think 'I can't cook, but I DO cook for my OH & 4 kids every day,, you'll suprise yourself!
My 'recipes' ...

Stew

Grab big casserole dish
Thrown in cubed stewing steak (some will say trim fat or brown first, I do neither!)
Peel a couple of spuds, chop in to 4, thrown into dish
Open can of cheap sliced carrots, throw in dish
Add 2 beef oxo cubs
Also add enough water to cover ingredients
Thrown anything else you fancy into it, any left over veg
Cover & cook for couple of hours,
Add gravy granules to dish, this will thicken it up beautifully.
If you want to be REALLY flash & impress him, make dumplings (follow the recipe on the back of the suet box, really easy)
Add dumplings to dish, put lid back on, for 20 mins
Serve
Eat!


Shepherds pie

Peel spuds, boil spuds
Brown mince in big saucepan, drain fat
Add beef oxo & veg oxo
Add onion ( I keep a bag of frozen chopped onion in freezer, bout £1)
Fry for a min or two
Add can of cheap sliced carrots with the water
Add bit mofe water to almost cover ingredients
Add mushrooms (frozen, sliced, freezer £1)
Add peas (frozen, etc etc)
Leave to bubble away until all cooked

Check spuds, if knife goes through easily them babies are ready for mashing
Drain spuds & mash (I get OH to do that) add litle butter, milk if you like.
Add gravy granules to mince, to thicken it.
Put mince in a dish, top with mash, sprinkle with grated cheese, grill til looks yummy
Serve
Eat!


Still with me?

Roasts are easy

Wash a chicken pop in roasting dish with a little oil put in ove, it will tell you cooking time on the chickens label.
Peel spuds boiluntil knife doesn't pass through, you want them a little cooked but not as much as for mash
Drain spuds
Add to another tin with oil, bung in oven.
10 mins before chicken is finished (double check it cooked by sticking knife inm juices must be clear) start cooking your veg of choice
Make gravy with gravy granules & boiling water
Start dishing up chicken onto plates (will be plenty of meat left for another day)
& potatoes
Thrown ready made yorkshire puddings in oven, they take only 4 mins
Dish up veg
& yorkshire pud
Serve
Eat!

Spag bol
Brown mince
Drain fat
Add beef oxo
Add onion
Add peppers (frozen etc)
Fry for a min or two
Add tinned chopped tomatoes
Add italian mixed herbs
little water so that it can bubble away while you cook spaghetti


Ok these are quick & easy, but they'll be fine to get you started. With more experience you might make gravy from meat juices or stock from chicken bones, you might not! I use frozen pre prepared veg because its convenient for me quite cheap too. If you want to cut up onions & peppers, do!

With these basics you can try them, add whatever you'd like to them. Apologies for the many typos, my keyboard/predictive text has a mind of its own!:rotfl:

Hope this helps

Have fun, hope all goes well for you xx

Mrs B xxx