Want to eat healthier but recipes still say microwave

comeandgo

Try your local butcher. Mine has lots of meat and chicken items all freshly prepared ready for you to put in casserol and into oven. Fish is easy to cook again in oven.

yuppiebaker

As others have said above, it's the contents of the ready meal which are the issue, not the fact that it's cooked in a microwave. Ready meals tend to be highly processed, high in salt and in sugar. They're also low in fiber (for the most part) which may be why you're suffering a bloating problem.

It may be worth investing in a copy of the Readers Digest Microwave Cookbook - plenty of minimal prep recipes in there which barely count as cooking.

For a start, increasing your non-starchy veg intake (e.g. brocolli, green beans etc) will definitely help with vitamin intake, and cutting back on highly refined white carbohydrates (products high in white flour, sugar) will help to balance blood-sugar.

dronid

gwin wrote: »

I live alone and don't cook. All my main meals are microwave. I want to say up front I have no intention of learning to cook. It doesn't interest me and I don't wish to be empowered as some food sites claim

As others have said, the method of heating the food is irrelevant. It's the nature of the food you're eating that is less healthy. If you're not wanting to learn to cook then you're going to have a problem with food generally. You'll effectively be paying paying for some high end ready meals, to improve ingredient quality and, bear in mind, a lot of the high end ready meals are designed as luxury rather than healthy eating so are much higher in fat and sugars.

Seriously do consider cooking. It's quick and easy (unless you want it to be slow and complicated ) costs a lot less and is much better on the diet.

gwin

Can't believe how helpful everyone has been, thank you.
I was never sure if it was microwaving that was the problem or the frozen meal so you have cleared that up for me.
My issue with cooking has always been that even 'beginner' websites or programmes seem to assume you have some knowledge of the basics but I literally don't. You feel like you will be ridiculed. I'm squirming even now thinking about it.
Or they will name foods or ingredients I've never even heard of, never mind knowing how to pronounce them or where to find them.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply.

elsien

Don't worry, you're not the only one.
If you want really straightforward easy ideas, people here can point you in the right direction and explain things you're not sure of without making you feel daft.
Tell us what you like and we can simplify it. (You are talking to the woman who had to phone my mum for instructions every few minutes when I got a care job which involved helping people prepare simple meals.)

suki1964

gwin wrote: »

Can't believe how helpful everyone has been, thank you.
I was never sure if it was microwaving that was the problem or the frozen meal so you have cleared that up for me.
My issue with cooking has always been that even 'beginner' websites or programmes seem to assume you have some knowledge of the basics but I literally don't. You feel like you will be ridiculed. I'm squirming even now thinking about it.
Or they will name foods or ingredients I've never even heard of, never mind knowing how to pronounce them or where to find them.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Delia is your friend.

She will even teach you how to boil an egg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delias-How-Cook-Book-One/dp/0563384301


She taught me how to cook and I still revert to her when I'm looking for timings

trailingspouse

We've all of us had to learn to cook at some time or another!!

Look out for cookbooks that are aimed at kids or students, as they often include 'how to' sections, and don't make as many assumptions about what you might already know.

But if you really don't want to cook, there's no-one here going to force you to start.

littlegreenparrot

If your not interested in cooking that's fair enough, but please don't not learn because your embarrassed. No question is stupid, and none of us were born knowing

I get a veg box most weeks, some weeks I still have to google something because I've never heard of it and don't have a clue!
Google/you tube are your friends.

Try and find in the Library Delia's cookery course books, or Jamie Oliver's Ministry of food. I think their both very good on the basics, Delia explains how to make toast :rotfl:

I don't know what you consider to be cooking, but if you do feel inspired start simple. Something nice on toast, scrambled eggs, omelette that kind of thing. It might come out looking the way you planned, but it will almost always be edible!

elsien

I can still remember seeing a recipe that said dice an onion and having to phone mum to ask what diced meant, and was it big or little bits?
Recioes aren't going to fail because you don't do them exactly right. And mine never end up looking anything like the pictures. But if they're edible it really doesn't matter.

mardycow

I too do not do cooking however, since being diagnosed diabetic i have had to abandon my ready meals. I buy frozen chicken fillets or breasts, frozen veg. bagged salads, cucumber, toms etc and that is what i now eat mainly, tinned tuna is great. so that is easy enough. i cook the chicken in a frying pan with a little olive oil, doesnt make me a chef but at least it is much healthier,