Please help with meal ideas for complete cooking beginners

[alreadyinchristmasmood]

Hi everyone!

I need help! I can't really cook (well maybe easy meals and some soup) and I only eat crap. I somehow like cooking and used to do it before, but never got to an advanced level

Long story short: I am out and about all day. Doing my second degree at university and working full time. Time is limited but always home at weekends and evenings after 7, so not too bad!

However, since I'm at uni a lot I keep buying random crap such as slices of pizza, bagels etc which doesn't help because I'm going to the gym (3x times a week, trying to shift a bit of weight) and it's so unhealthy. I don't have a place at uni where I could eat so cooked food is not a good idea, unfortunately.

Was wondering if anyone had some ideas of:

1. What to take in my bag for uni that could somehow replace lunch and be healthy
2. What to cook in the evenings that's not too unhealthy and easy to cook (if you have recipes, or links I would be really grateful!)

Thank you

Try Gousto or Hello Fresh boxes. There’s so much choice, simple to follow intructions and will help you learn to cook. My DP is finding them really helpful to learn and I’m liking not having to think too much!

What’s your budget like?

I would buy lots of prepackaged salads and vegetables and do some cooking at weekends.

Soup
Chilli
Roasts
Lasagne

@BuffaloCauliflower Oh I didn't even know about these boxes! I'll look them up! Thank you!

@Calzone: thanks! My budget is okayish I think, I am willing to spend a fair amount of money for eating healthy, but It'd be ideal if I could save some cash by cooking myself something decent

@Calzone do you have an easy recipe of chilli that you always use?

No problem, definitely worth a go. I’ll PM you a code for Gousto so you’ll get 60% off your first box and 30% off any other boxes in the first month.

A piece of salmon, or other fish, just cooked the oven for twenty mins. Add pepper and lemon juice if you want to. Cook some veg on the hob at the same time.

My DD is making fajitas at uni tonight. Chicken, onions, peppers ready to fry and pop in wraps.

@BuffaloCauliflower oh yaaaaaay, thank you! I checked them out, they seem great!

@Leeds2 That's a great idea. Also diet friendly. I ll keep cooking salmon/other fish/chicken/pork with veggies. Easy and healthy.

@HSMMaCM - Yay for fajitas. It's been ages since I've ate fajitas. I normally also add a tbsp of mayo on the wrap & tomatoes. I also love tuna wraps so that's another idea that come to my mine. I can also take fajitas/tuna wraps to uni, so thank you!

It's also really easy to steam salmon in the microwave. I just place salmon in a Pyrex dish, add lemon juice and black pepper.
4 mins and it is done. Steam green veg the same way.

Also tinned sardines are very healthy. Easy to take to uni and just add to salad. Boiled eggs you could also take.

Do you have access to a microwave for lunch? If you do you could take some soup in a microwaveable pot (Sistema, though be careful as they do leak, so keep upright in a bag) or else a vacuum food thingumabob.

I often take in leftovers from the night before to reheat.

For dinner: omelettes / frittata (with sliced potato and onion - nice cold),
pasta with:

• halved cherry tomatoes and chopped garlic, thrown into the pasta once drained for a few secs to warm through, with cheese. Bacon could be fried and added
• fry chopped bacon, add to drained pasta then throw a whisked egg (with salt and pepper added, and mustard or garlic) and either serve as is (so the egg is basically raw, but as it should be) or cook for a few secs
• pesto and cheese on top

-all can be served with garlic bread

• fry chopped bacon (or beef), and onion, add sliced Brussel sprouts and cook for another minute, then add cream and some mustard or garlic. Wonderful!

I really like this cookbook. It's simple, but has sensible recipes in.

If you get a slow cooker you can make loads of delicious meals that require hardly any effort or skill! Bung it all in in the morning and it’s done when you get home. Colman’s packets are slow cooker friendly for casseroles/chicken chasseur etc and there are hundreds of great recipes online.

For lunch how about a couple of wholemeal pitta breads stuffed with whatever you fancy (Tuna mayo or grilled chicken with salad maybe)? Much healthier than bread sandwiches or pizza.

Remember when cooking to cook enough for 2 days. So cook once , eat twice. It means only cooking half the days and often the flavour improves over the time.

My ds who’s 16 has just taken an interest in cooking and loves the Mexican packs El Paso for fajitas and things.

We also eat lots of pulses which are really cheap and healthy

Wow! So many great ideas. I actually wrote them down. Please, keep them coming. I'll also try youtube for recipes, I know there's plenty of video ones!

Eggs. Boiled, scrambled by themselves or through a meal, in an omlette / spanish tortilla, is a good place to start.

BBC Good Food website has a recipe for every dish under the sun. Also you can browse by main ingredient, or type of cuisine, or ease of cooking, or time taken to cook. Recipe books - Niger Slater's "Real Fast Food", Jamie Oliver's "Ministry of Food", and any Delia Smith.

Cooking really is easy if you can read and follow instructions. It only gets complicated when you are trying to cook and serve a lot of things at once.

To quote a friend
“If you can read you can cook”
It’s just following instructions.

Look at some recepies with minimal ingredients, there’s a website called the minimalist baker which is good for that.
Also a big yes to Delia Smith