not a good cook but need to try and save money on grocery shopping!

meritaten

I may well get flamed - but, a good alternative to ready meals is to use prepared Sauces etc. that way you can choose fresh meat or fish and veg and just buy the sauce or spices, follow the jar or packet directions and know you will have a tasty meal. its a good 'halfway' alternative to making a meal from scratch. it will give you confidence too. I keep in a few jars of ready made sauce and packets of 'mix'. For when time is short or I just cant be 'arrrsed' to make it myself.

monnagran

Until you get more confidence I would try a sort of halfway 'cooking from scratch.'
For instance...Get some chicken breasts or thighs, put into a baking dish, cover in a condensed chicken or mushroom soup, Sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on the top and bung into a moderate oven for 40 minutes. Freeze what you don't use for another day.

Boil a cauliflower or some macaroni, make up a packet of cheese sauce, pour over. Voila! Cauliflower or macaroni cheese.

Buy some frozen pastry. Roll out and line some round sponge tins, (or proper quiche dishes if you're feeling posh) Beat up some eggs and milk, add some grated cheese, chopped onions, broccoli, mushrooms, herbs, whatever floats your boat, and bake for 30 minutes. Again, make a batch and freeze for future meals.

May I suggest that you go on to Am*z*n and get one or two of 'Jimmy Young Cook Books.' They are very simple recipes using more or less store cupboard ingredients and after 40 or 50 years use they are still my favourites.

Good luck.

x

savetosave

Made gnocchi with spinach and Stilton sauce in the week, delicious and dead easy. ( not for slimmer s though),
Packet gnocchi in boiling water as per instructions on packet.
double cream warmed through in pan, add chopped up spinach, crumbled up Stilton and some grated cheddar. Mix cooked gnocchi into sauce. Can add halved red grapes and rocket if you fancy or a chicken breast for non vege.

tiger_eyes

BritishBibliophile wrote: »

But even now I'll often have to try a recipe three or four times before I consider it good enough to eat regularly. It'll be edible the first few times, but it takes a bit of practise to get it tasting good rather than edible.

Absolutely. I find that not only does cooking in general take practice, each individual dish often takes a bit of practice to get right. The first time I made pancakes was a disaster and now I can make great pancakes without even needing to think about it. One of my favourite possessions is a recipe book that I write in myself - that way I can annotate recipes as I practise them. It's like a record of past kitchen disasters: "If you halve the quantities, lower the cooking time, moron!"

Elsewhere

I make a lot of soups - very easy and most are quick to cook. I make a large pot and freeze it in old chinese takeaway plastic containers - one holds 2 good helpings - that way you don't have to have the same soup over and over (so long as you remember to label them - they all look a bit similar once they're frozen :rotfl:).

If possible I buy veg etc that's going cheap in the supermarket because it's at it's use by date - here's a great recipe for lettuce soup, for instance - a good way to use up the tough outer leaves that you might throw away.

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/recipebook/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=633

Sprouts, swede, squash, carrots, celery etc. ... the method is pretty much the same for all of them. The only thing to remember is to cook for as short as time as possible, until the ingredients are just tender for the maximum flavour.

Curries are easy too. I buy jars of curry sauce when it's on offer. Fry up a few veggies - onion, carrot, cauli etc. (maybe not sprouts or cabbage - greens aren't so good if stewed for the time a curry needs to cook)! Add the jar of sauce - chuck in a tin of chick peas ( or even baked beans) for some protein and boil gently for about 20-30 mins.

Gigervamp

Now that spring and summer is coming, you might want some lighter recipes.

Stir fries are good. You can buy the ingredients ready prepared and they only take minutes to cook.

What about vegetable tarts? Get some ready rolled puff pastry, lay it out on a greased baking tray and lightly score a "frame" about an inch from the edge. Inside the frame, spread some pesto or tomato puree, then place chopped up courgette, halved cherry tomatoes, some sliced red onion and sliced red or yellow pepper. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and herbs if you wish, then bake for about 25 mins.

This is lovely with a salad and some new potatoes.

katiegizmo

We eat a veggie diet on a tight budget and we never get bored. Some favourites of ours I don't think have been mentioned and really easy
Pasta with garlic & chilli - cook your pasta & whatever veggies/beans/quorn type additions you want and fry up a couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs. When all cooked stir some garlic oil, chilli flakes (or fresh if you wish) and the breadcrumbs into the pasta. Top with cheese. Scrummy, quick and cheap. Also stir in cream cheese and herbs/spices to pasta, and you can fry(no oil) some seeds to add crunch.

Wraps - get a mexican spice sachet and add half to some quorn pieces/mince with a little oil in a pan. Boil up some rice and when done drain leaving a tiny amount of water and add in the remaining spice mix and quorn pieces. Keep on a low heat and warm some tortillas (microwave if you have one). Add a good dollop of rice mix to each tortilla and wrap - can add hot sauce/tom puree/cheese according to taste. You don't have to use quorn, I mix it up with veg or beans whatever is floating around, butternut goes really well. The rice makes it a really filling dish so you can swap this for all veggies if you want something lighter just add all the spice mix to the cooked rice/veg if you are not frying anything

My go to veggie book is Rose Elliots 20 minute meals. My go to book when I can't remember HOW to cook is Jamie's Ministry of Food. A lot of my food evolves away from the original recipe and it's a lot more fun that way

Good luck xx

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect the OP is really my sister: she's a lousy cook and has not much interest in doing it well either.

To be honest, the only way to gain confidence and skills in cooking is to practice, practice, practice. No-one ever sprang from their mother's womb knowing how to cook.

I'd start with something fairly straightforward like a student cook-book and give some of those recipes a whirl. And trust your taste-buds but accept that if you're used to a diet of shop-bought cook-chill foods home-cooked meals might start out tasting a bit bland because of all the salt and sugar they contain. In which case use as many fresh or dried herbs as you can get your hands on.

SailorSam

meritaten wrote: »

I keep in a few jars of ready made sauce and packets of 'mix'. For when time is short or I just cant be 'arrrsed' to make it myself.

Once you've had a bit of practise making your own sauces is pretty simple, tinned tomatoes and onions seem to be a base for just about everything, just add dried herbs & spices to your own taste, Read the ingredients on a shop-bought jar and begin there but leaving out the added salt; sugar, and Enumbers.

LameWolf

~_Aridjis_~ wrote: »

when I make quiche myself it doesn't taste half as good!

Imho, half the trick to making tasty quiche is to use a good, strong cheese. I make a Qu0rn, cheese and tomato quiche on average once a month, and I use the really strong, "Extra Extra Mature" Cheddar we get from the farmers market.

I agree wholeheartedly with the poster who suggested using herbs to add flavour to your meals.

Fwiw, I too am a reluctant cook. If I'm honest, I loathe cooking; but my DH loves food cooked from scratch.:o