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Help with cooking

swordpath

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For the first time in my life, I have to grocery shop AND cook/prepare food for myself. I don't want to be the unhealthy ramen/frozen pizza bachelor, but I'm living rather frugally for the time being. Need some nutritional, easy to prepare meals/food item ideas. My dinner tonight was scrambled eggs mixed with sharp cheddar cheese and bits of turkey, whole wheat toast and carrot sticks.

High protein is a plus.
 

Haight

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Buy fresh fruit, vegetables, string cheese, yogurt, and a couple packs of beef jerky.

I call that the "Cave Man" diet.

Roll with it while you ruin a lot of food on your way to learn how to cook.

Cheers.
 

cafe

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Buy an all-purpose cookbook, like Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, or Pillsbury. Buy a few cookbooks designed for quick meals, easy meals, or small meals. Start with simple stuff. You'll get it.
 

1487610420

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Pasta with any mix of:
-mushroomz
-corn
-bean sprouts
-carrot
-lettuce
-tomato
-any other veggetable you like
-cheese cubes
and your choice of extra protein if you like meat, I use shred chicken (good for leftovers) with pieces of bacon, I'll put them in a pan with olive oil, wine/balsamic vinegar and some spice, oregon, pepper, I suggest you buy a bunch of them and experiment to your liking.

You can also do bolognese, just buy hamburger meat [fresh shreded, here we can choose it and ask to do it in the market place), maybe shred some onion and add in a pan with some olive oil, tomato juice [buy it in package or toothpaste like tube] and salt to flavour with prefered spice, pepper oregon..

Spice and herbs really adds a different flavour and helps reducing the need for too much salt.

More simple also healthy food: some frozen sword-fish [in packages], potato, carrot, brocolli, all boiled in a pan of water just until it covers everything with a teaspoon of salt. Serve with olive oil, lemon juice.

That's just some stuff from the top of my head. Google for recipes, there's a ton of sites and stuff out there.
 

Randomnity

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Chicken drumsticks are really easy to make (throw in the oven or bbq until no pink inside, will be about 20-30 mins with no effort) as well as one of the cheapest meats and delicious (especially if you add spices).

I buy a lot of fresh veggies that I like, like baby carrots, cucumber and broccoli for snacks whenever (can be dipped in salad dressing like ranch if you want). Fruits too. Can't get easier than pulling it out of the fridge and eating it.

I like bagels and bread for convenience, not really the healthiest but ok for filler. Both can be frozen (so the whole thing doesn't mold) and thaw quickly in microwave or toasted directly.

I eat a lot of plain yogurt and granola for breakfast, I usually have bananas which are cheap and very good for you, and also get berries or fresh fruit to mix in when it's in season (cheap). Eggs are also pretty cheap and high in protein and nutrients.

Mostly for dinner I just try to have some carb (rice, baked potato, pasta, sweet potato, etc), some green fresh veggie (whatever's on sale), and often meat, with the plate 1/2 veggies, 1/3 carbs and a bit meat. If you shop the sales and don't buy too much junk it shouldn't be too expensive. Variety with the components is the key to not getting bored.

You can google "easy recipes" or "30 min meals" or something if you want to be more fancy than that, though.
 

Udog

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An easy and tasty way to cook chicken breasts.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. While oven is preheating, cover the chicken breasts with a small amount of lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
3. Cook for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

And there you go. Takes about 5 minutes of actual work, and 35 minutes to prepare. Combine with some frozen veggies, salad, or other sides for a quick and easy meal.
 

disregard

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I've really gotten into cooking and eating healthily lately.

Every night I eat an oak lettuce salad with cherry heirloom tomatoes. You get the lettuce from trader joe's. There is a red head and a green head in the bag. Bleu cheese dressing.

And I switch off between boneless skinless chicken breast w/ bbq sauce, salmon filet w/ spinach & feta in the middle, and prime rib steak (all from TJ's. Their meat quality is the bomb)

It's amazing how fun and delicious it is to eat healthy.

And for dessert I usually go for a fuji apple w/ honey peanut butter.
 

swordpath

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Thanks for the suggestions so far!

On average, how much do you guys spend on groceries per month?
 

Biaxident

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Thanks for the suggestions so far!

On average, how much do you guys spend on groceries per month?

Eggs, dozens of eggs. They are one of the most versatile foods you can get.

Between $100-200 a month. Depending on how creative I feel.
 

Sparrow

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I spend about $200-$300 bucks.

If your good at following step by step instructions you can cook up some good stuff!

Check out recipes @: AllRecipes.com - the top web site for recipes, food and cooking tips

Im not the greatest cook in the world but I find that making stews are pretty easy, just throw a bunch of broth, potatoes, and frozen chicken in a pot and your good to go! I make that filipino dish called adobo alot, its pretty good!

Adobo:

-Oil pan
-Add garlic & 1 chopped yellow onion <-cook till onion is transparent
-Throw in 1 pound of chicken (till slightly browned) <-- you can use frozen chicken if you want, if you do that throw it in after you add the liquid.
-2 cup of water (add more water if you want to, taste it first)
-1 cup soy sauce
-3 quarters cup of apple cider vinegar
-(if you want, throw some potatos! yumm)
-Add a little bit of chili powder if you want some spice ;)
-Around 1 teaspoon of pepper
-3-4 bay leaves
-Cover & cook on low for an hour, stir occasionally

Serve on top of rice!
 

Dyoni

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The number of people who become adults without getting any experience in cooking is puzzling to me. Seriously, your folks cooked every meal for you until now, and never showed you how?

Anyway, just go to the library and get a few cookbooks. It's not rocket science, you'll get it.
 

disregard

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I spend over 400 a month. I dont really keep track, but at least 200 a paycheck. It isn't cheap to eat healthy, but I'm including all of my breakfast and lunch items as well.
 

kyuuei

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I spend on average 400-500$ a month for a family of four-six. (We get company a lot via my sister and her husband or my baby sister's boyfriend.)

When I was living on my own, I had to look for ways to have the foods I needed without them going badly, or cooking too much at once, etc.

I wrote in another thread about superfoods and the importance of them. If nutrition is important to you, than identifying which foods help you the most can determine your grocery bill.

Some things I used as a lone cooker:
- Brown rice. It keeps well (I keep it in the fridge, it lasts WAY longer there because it has a bit more oils in it than white rice) and it's easy to cook up and serve with anything. Also, good for you and filling. Samurai warriors were a fan of brown rice for it's nutrition, flavor, and quick long-lasting energy. I think it's a great way to start off the day..
- Whole wheat pastas are easy, quicker than rice even, and are versatile. You can literally put anything in pastas, and store brand versions are cheap now a days.

As far as veggies go:
- Eat the rainbow. It's a catchy phrase, but accurate. Get all kinds of different veggies. What I did was buy the frozen ones, because they last so long, and custom created mixes that I liked with different meals. (So I had asian mixes and italian mixes, etc.) They also come pre-mixed. Frozen veggies are wonderful and quick.

- Peanut butter with omega-3's in it rock, and when it comes to breads, when I lived alone, I put most in the freezer and kept just a few slices out overnight to defrost in the old sandwich bread plastic so it wouldn't dry out while defrosting. Bread keeps well in the freezer and in the fridge if you eat it a lot but not fast enough for the counter.

- Eggs were mentioned earlier, but I totally believe in them.

- Beans taste like whatever spices you put in them, and are SO easy to cook in a crock pot and they're really cheap. Lots of nutrients, and you need your legumes.

- Spices can offer a lot of different tastes with the same kind of foods, so keeping a couple varieties of choice favorites can be an easy way to mix up the same old routine. Or, if you're like me, hot sauces will satisfy any bland blahs.

An emphasis on veggies and complex carbs with the right amount of protein will keep your grocery budget down. Learning to cook for one isn't so hard either. Usually I did a routine of cooking for two meals, and putting the half of dinner away for lunch the next day. So I never felt like I was ALWAYS cooking, and I had fast sandwich fixings and some healthier frozen things in the freezer for days I had no time/was lazy.

I also recommend learning some crock pot recipes. Those require no work at all, taste great, and are an easy way to cook things like beans and meats. You can set the next day's meals for overnight and enjoy them with no effort really.

If your grocery is like Kroger, and do manager specials on foods about to expire, you can get really awesome usually expensive things for cheap. Sometimes I get some awesome premade salads (usually $4 a pop) for $1.50 - $2, and get to try new things. If I buy those things, I consume them usually that day or the next.

These are my tips :yes: Versatile ingredients, a variety of colors in veggies, and multi-nutritional veggies, fruits, and meats and grains will keep you on the right track.



NOW! On to cooking all that shit you just bought. :yes:

If you have/get a crock pot, the only thing you have to remember is to have liquid in it. A can of broth, or a can of soup, water, anything really. To give an example of a recipe:

- Dry package of beans
- Twice the amount of liquid as you have beans (broth or water)
- Any meat you want in it (chicken, leftover meats, steaks, porkchops, HAM HOCKS :drool: )

Put it on low, and cook those things overnight together. A couple hours before you want to eat it, you can add frozen veggies to thaw and cook or rice, or just eat it as the beans and meat they are. :wubbie:

It's a simple recipe, and you don't need beans in there. Liquid + anything = crock pot.

- Pan frying is easy.. any meat like chicken pieces, you can put a bit of olive oil in it and cook the meat over medium heat until when you open the chicken piece it's white in the middle and all through it. Frozen veggies are easy to add to pan-frying as well, you just cover with a lid and let it steam themselves hot.

- In the oven, you can cook almost anything on the bake function. Chicken breasts, covered in some shake-n-bake can go in the oven until done in the centers. You can also create casserole leftovers out of rice, soup, and any leftover veggies/meats you have by combining them all in cookware and putting them on a bake function.

- Finally, the internet is the best cookbook you can own. Don't bother buying a bunch of cookbooks until you know what you like cooking. Find recipes you like, then you'll know what to buy out of convenience.
 

Randomnity

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It isn't cheap to eat healthy

It depends where you live and what you call healthy (can be very different for different people) but I disagree. It just takes more effort.

If you shop the sales on veggies, eat things in season and cook everything instead of buying prepared food, it can be very cheap. Being conscious of relative price helps - for example boneless skinless chicken breast is usually about 18$/kilo here whereas skin-on, bone-in chicken chicken is about 7$/kilo and easily deboned/deskinned. Drumsticks are much cheaper still at about 4$/kilo, and if you shop the sales carefully and buy in bulk/freeze things you can get everything at 1/2 or even 1/3 of their normal price. A meal's worth of drumsticks would cost me on average 1.50-2$, whereas a b/s chicken breast would cost about 4-5$ on sale for the same amount of meat. Taste preference might vary, though.

Same thing goes for veggies - most are fairly cheap in season and up to 3x the price out of season. Some are fairly constant year-round though, like bananas. In the winter, frozen veggies are sometimes cheaper and just as nutritious or even moreso, though not as tasty.

Beans and lentils are dirt-cheap and very healthy, too. And tasty when prepared right. Good replacement for meat for at least some meals. Brown rice is very cheap and pretty healthy. I don't like it though. I eat a lot of potatoes and yams (skin ON, always) for my carbs...delicious (yams esp.) and fairly cheap (potatoes esp.), and not completely void of nutrition (yams esp.).

I spend about 200-300/month on maybe 95% fairly healthy foods (things without ingredient lists or at least minimal ingredients, like yogurt) and 5% indulgences (well ok, some months more) and there's a LOT of areas I could cut and still eat healthy - mostly I would cut down on the junky stuff anyway: meat and fancy cheeses/breads, and actual junk food, and buy things more for nutrition/price instead of taste. I could do 200/month easily (and might try sticking to that soon actually), and probably 150 or even 100 if I never indulged myself, but that's no fun. Food is my biggest splurge because it's what I enjoy the most. :)

All you have to do is pay attention and shop mindfully and you don't need to spend a fortune. Well, you'll always spend more than if you ate only ramen and pasta and KD but you'd get sick of that pretty fast - mentally AND physically. :sick:
 

rav3n

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Marinated teriyaki flank steak is really easy and lean.

2 tsp grated ginger
1 clove minced garlic
Honey to taste
3 tbsp light soy
1 tbsp water for 8 hours or 2 - 3 tbsp for overnight marinating.
Optional: A shot of sake.

Mix ingredients well and poke tons of holes into the flank steak with a fork. Marinate in a sealed container at least 8 hours or better yet, overnight, turning once.

Grill to desired doneness. Best at rare to medium rare. Cut on the bias into thin slices.

The above measurements are best guess measurements since I don't normally use a recipe.
 

Ivy

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tomato sauce with onion and butter | smitten kitchen

I made this twice. The first time I used cheap tomatoes and it wasn't very good- I ended up having to blend it, strain the seeds out, and turn it into creamy tomato soup. But this time (just tonight) I used the San Marzano tomatoes it calls for. AMAZING. And so darn easy. If I can do it, anyone can.
 
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