Help my brain (more than my stomach) be more patient in cooking!

dekaspace

I am not lazy but part of the reason I overeat is that food doesnt seem satisfying which is when if someone cooks for me even if they are a far worse cook it tastes good as its complete i.e even something basic like the worst cheapo value burgers and some reheated chips would taste better than me making premium butchers meat because I dont like own cooking.

But part of the problem is to me things I make feel shoved on a plate and/or I cook less as a meal and more of just cook one large portion of say meat or potatoes and eat nothing else with it rather than a normal portion of meat and potatos with leftovers so I am unsatisfied.

Sorry if not making sense its just something I notice is I eat a lot of 1 thing i.e meat and no veg and potato or a lot of veg or potato on its own so it tastes dull therefore unsatisfied.

Any ideas on how to fix my brain on this?

summerlady_2

I've also seen your post about having a slow cooker, in which you say you like stews.


To make a more balanced meal, could you perhaps try some one-pot meals, where you cook all the components together?. That way you won't only serve up meat, or vegetables.


When I am tired I tend to do the same as you in that I grab something quick instead of preparing a balanced meal. As I live alone I don't have to cook for anyone else, which allows me to do this.


To try to prevent this I cook several portions when I have the time, and freeze what I can.

dekaspace

summerlady wrote: »

I've also seen your post about having a slow cooker, in which you say you like stews.


To make a more balanced meal, could you perhaps try some one-pot meals, where you cook all the components together?. That way you won't only serve up meat, or vegetables.


When I am tired I tend to do the same as you in that I grab something quick instead of preparing a balanced meal. As I live alone I don't have to cook for anyone else, which allows me to do this.


To try to prevent this I cook several portions when I have the time, and freeze what I can.

I am useless at things I know little about, my experiences with slow cooker are shove meat in for a few hours on high with little water, when it gets close to end time add veg and short before end time add gravy.

It tastes bland and salty that way and the meat just crumbles to dust so must be doing it wrong.

summerlady_2

We are all "useless" at things until we learn.


Look up slow cooker recipes and practice. You will get better.

Gigervamp

I made a chicken casserole yesterday in my slow cooker. I chopped up a couple of red peppers that needed using up, an onion and a couple of carrots. Chucked those in, then added some free range chicken thigh fillets, a pot of chicken stock (you could use a stock cube and water instead), about half a teaspoon of smoked paprika and salt and pepper.

I'm told it was very nice (I don't eat meat).

Do you add any herbs or spices, and stock to your slow cooker meals? Also, why do you add things at different times? One of the reasons I love the slow cooker, is that I can just bung everything in at the start and leave it to do the cooking.

PasturesNew

I am like you. I cook for me and cooking doesn't excite me at all; it's depressing. So I head for the kitchen to get "fastest food that looks edible" - and, instead of a variety of items, it usually seems best/easier to have 1-2 items. After all, this gets through things that need using up faster/better than having to manage lots of things that've been bought/started.

A slow cooker can expand your eating repertoire, best not to try to get too fancy with it or it'll become a chore again. I like: "500g raw mince + couple of stock cubes + random tins of veg + tin of tomatoes" as the basis for cooking stuff that I'll like. I've now tried a few jars/pouches of curry sauce (given to me by somebody who has food overload) and they've mostly been great.

I use the microwave a lot. It's surprising what you can microwave. e.g. oven chips, fish fingers, veggie sausages, fish cakes.

I keep frozen peas in the freezer as they "finish any meal" with a splash of veg.

Dried goods in the cupboard include: Instant custard (to make banana custard); stuffing mix (just eat it made up/microwaved); instant mash (for when I've got no spuds and am fed up of chips).

I've also got: basmati rice (it's nicer than cheapo and £1.30/Kg at Lidl); small pasta (Mr S) as it cooks fast (I nuke macaroni cheese with that); couscous (god knows why, but it's there and I eat it 3x a year for something different); dried noodles (great with some of those frozen peas).

I've also always got suet/flour, so I can make dumplings. Good old comfort food.

I can't use my oven .... waiting to buy a mini oven (right spec/price and I'll get one).... and I do miss pies, pizzas and quiches. Mini pizzas (50p) can be nuked as can quiche. Microwave pies are vile, don't even think about it.

I tend to make something in the SC, then eat it for the next 3-4 meals and finally freeze the final portion. I'll try to eat it with something different each time. e.g. a curry with 5 portions might end up as curry/rice twice, curry/pasta once, curry/instant mash/peas once and the final one's frozen.

Yesterday I just had one pitta bread with some grated cheese in it - and a banana. CBA.

Last week I'd had a 2.5Kg bag of spuds I'd bought about two weeks before, so last week there were a lot of spuds with cheese/beans being eaten, to use them up before they went green/sprouted. Now I've got through them all I've no spuds! But can't buy more or I'm back to square one.

I do like scrambled egg (with/without beans) on toast. I'll make that some days. Out of eggs at the moment as I'd bought 15 about 4 weeks ago and had to "get through them all", so was bored of eggs by the time I'd done that, so now on a break from them.

I'd say: Just try to identify one new thing to try each fortnight. Then it's not such a drag.

Anne_Marie_2

PasturesNew, when you buy a large tray of eggs, why don't you make a quiche or two, portion and freeze? (I've got a tray of 30 at the moment, but have plans for them, quiches being one, but a load of lemon curd too, as my lemon tree is overloaded and I'm needing to get that sorted out this week).

OP, definitely make use of your slow cooker and make all in one recipes. Don't be afraid to add herbs and/or spices to give your food that bit of zing.

I'm a great lover of roasted veg, which I do in large trays in the oven, and then portion and freeze. Great for having as veg on the side, adding to soups, stews, casseroles. It's a great way if your veg are going a bit past their best, much better than binning them.

Potatoes (for PasturesNew too)....better to buy in small quantities if you are not going to use them. However, make a pile of mash at one time, rather than one portion, and then portion off and either chill or freeze. You can then use as straightforward mash or as a topping for shepherd's pie.
Same with roast potatoes/wedges/oven chips. Partially cook, portion and freeze. (I know that you can buy these already frozen in the UK, but they are expensive to buy here, so I always make my own.)

Use frozen veg if you cannot be bothered to do fresh. Hardly takes any time at all to simmer in a pan, or in the microwave, and there won't be any waste, as you will just use what you need.

Newly_retired

Many foods keep longer than you might think, so maybe there is no need to use one item up so quickly that you gat fed up of it.

IndigoGirl

As has already been said, we don't know anything until we learn it. I wasn't born be able to cook. Yes I had someone show me the basics as a child but I've taught myself other techniques and recipes since then.

What about starting off by finding a week or a fortnight's worth of recipes that you can cook? Start simply and build up. So for example, if you like chilli con carne, make a batch using some mince, onions and a bought sachet of seasoning. Portion it up and freeze for other days. Cook some rice or if you can't, look out for microwave rice (a doddle) and have that. Another day, have a portion of the chilli with tortilla chips, soured cream, cheese, salsa etc and there you have nachos. Another day, put it in a flour tortilla wrap with stir fry veggies or salad and you have a burrito.

You can follow the same idea with curries, soups, chicken or sausage casserole etc.

Once you have a repertoire of recipes and some stashed in your freezer, you'll find it easier to pull together a quick tasty meal without always having to toil in the kitchen.

As for the slow cooker, I've never added things at different times with the sole exception of corned beef hash. I just chuck everything in together and taste and season at the end. For corned beef hash, I cook the potatoes, onions and carrots in the gravy until almost done then add the cubed corned beef so it doesn't completely disintegrate but you could add it at the start if you want.

I've never had any problem with slow cooker food being tasteless. Do you season it? Are you adding too much water or do you use stock? And if you're cooking on low, it will take more than a couple of hours. I usually do low for 6 hours or high for 4 for a typical stew although it depends on your cooker's wattage.

I suspect you're feeling unfulfilled and unsatisfied because a huge plate of the same thing is rather unappealing. We eat with our eyes as the saying goes so it needs to look nice and tempting. It's not very MSE but just to get you off on the right track, what about some pre-prepared veg that you just need to steam or simmer, no prep needed? Or frozen veg, I just saw that great suggestion above. We need different types of food for nutrition and to feel full. You need fibre and vitamins from the vegetables/bread as well as the protein from the meat.


Hope that gives you some ideas.