Simple cookery book recommendations for husband learning to cook one weekly meal

[Diversion]

My DH cannot cook! He can bung things in the oven so frozen stuff but cannot cook from scratch although he can manage an omelette. I have cooked for our whole family, six of us and now just the two of us and my Dad twice a week since forever. DH is due to reduce his working hours shortly and I have requested that on his day off whilst I am at work, that he cooks our tea/dinner/evening meal. Please can anyone recommend a simple cookery book which uses basic ingredients, nothing fancy which will give step by step instructions and encourage him to taste and add seasonings etc. I don't require a fancy meal, just something simple and homemade which has flavour and is not overcooked/soggy/burnt. Just to add he is a wonderful husband and amazing Dad who has lots of talents in other areas just not cooking 😀Just one meal a week cooked for me would be an amazing treat. I do keep a very well stocked pantry and freezer so he would not need to even shop for ingredients really.

Nigel Slater- 'A Cook's Book' offers some good opportunities to adapt to your own taste, there are a couple of recipes in his Christmas Chronicals that we have become year round favourites, such as leeks with haricot (or butter )beans with sausages (I'm veggie so use Linda McCartney red onion and rosemary sausages instead of Italian sausages, i also put garlic in as I love it . Thre is a puy lentil with mushrooms and roasted aubergines that we also have year round- very much comfort food, again we adapt the recipe as it needs to be less indulgent in summer than in winter/

I also check the food stocks I want to use up before the week's shopping, and tap them into AI, giving a general idea if i need something quick or more elaborate- its quite good and comes up with some recipes I wouldnt have thought of- today I had a glut of brown onions, some chestnut mushrooms, and some chard -just had a fab Japanese onion and mushroom soup with lentil spaghetti noodles - would never have thought of that and it was really good

I wouldn't do videos, I'm a decent cook but cannot work from videos, they are always too fast. Online recipes can be good though, Delia, BBC Good Food are my usuals.

The other thing thst might be worth trying are magazines, BBC Good Food or Sainsburys have good recipes.

My DH is a fairly basic cook but doesn't like Gusto - it's too complicated. Also tends to be quite fatty.
He is a fan of Delia, and also likes Nigel Slater. He would tend to find recipes in the paper rather than online but if I share an online recipe he'll use that, or just use the packet instructions (though we had some fish he made last night that was not that exciting, the packet said "bake in oven" and it came out dry).
Or just tell him to look at the BBC Good Food website, that's always pretty straightforward.

I don't like videos either for the same reasons.

Simply Cook us another option - we prefer it to Hello Fresh. DH quite happily cooks using these recipes, but not from a cookery book. The recipes aren’t too complicated, and are tasty.

I don’t think videos can replace written recipes, but they can act as a useful illustration of how to actually cook the dish.

Why do some posters feel the need to be complete dicks on every thread they contribute to? There are many reasons that someone has never cooked and isnt confident in being able to select the correct type of recipes. OP seems happy to do the research into finding a suitable book so why the need for the childish remarks. None of you are as funny or original as you think. It is just disruptive to the thread and makes the people doing it look daft.

OP I have found Jamie's 30 minute meals good, quick and easy.

Delia is also good for basics.

Hairy bikers / Dieters range of books is very good.

Don't discount online recipes as well. Often having more pictures video etc helps.

Some simple things to start might build his confidence. E.g ready made chicken skewers that he could pop in the oven and then maybe stir fry some veg and serve with flat bread. Nothing technically difficult but a nice end result.

Making a curry using pataks spice paste. There is a basic recipe on the jar, usually just a case of frying off adding meat and veg, tinned tomatoes etc

Something like tacos or fajitas using the kits. Easy and most of the work is chopping salad stuff to go with it.

How about the Roasting Tin books - the recipes are easy (more or less just bunging everything into a roasting tin) and delicious, there's a few I make regularly.

Delia Smith or Jamie Oliver- you can likely pick them up in a charity shop as both are old now. Delia is like an idiots guide and Jamie has some good recipes which have minimal ingredients but still taste nice!

Of course he can cook, he’s just never had to! It’s just a case of following instructions, so any cookbook will do. Depends what type of cuisine he’d like to cook really.

I think you still can’t beat Delia Smith. Her cookbooks are excellent but Delia Online is free and famously gives instructions for boiling an egg. Take it from there.

I would agree with this. Both of us are rubbish cooks but feel incredibly accomplished with a meal kit. It takes the headache out of selecting a recipe, shopping for random ingredients, weighing etc - which can be overwhelming enough to cause procrastination for some. Just one or two meals really is enjoyable to prep and you can just save the recipes. My DH is worse than me in the kitchen but assigning him the Sunday roast has been a good option - relatively simple no real skills required and no pressure on time - also always very much enjoyed.

Annie Bell 'How to Cook'. Straight forward, easy to follow recipes.

Exactly this. He really saw you coming, OP.

Chef John on YouTube taught my DS to cook.

He can't even walk to the library and ask for a cookbook to borrow either I bet.

Has he asked you to sort out a cookery book for him or are you just naturally assuming you have to take responsibility for that? You have had four children, how did they learn to cook, maybe give him some of the resources you used twenty years ago to teach them if he asks for help. Or just tell him an omelette once a week is fine to start (I actually think an omelette is quite hard to do if you've never cooked before because you have to be quick and organised and responsive to the cooking, a one pot casserole is far easier).

He is not a wonderful anything if he cannot do the simple task of looking after his family. And provide an adequate role model for his children. Cooking is not rocket science. Point out to him that women do it!

I second this suggestion- simple and delicious

Recipetineats is an Australian website and there are a couple of cook books as well. Every recipe has a code you can scan to take you to a video of how to cook the dish. I gave one to my son who lives at home at the same time I told him he was cooking dinner once a week. He has found it fantastic and her recipes are foolproof.

Start with some simply cook boxes. You can then use the recipes again.

You can buy them individually but just sharing the bundle link so you can see all of them but Rukmini Iyer one tin recipes are great as it’s mostly just chuck it all in at the same time, or chuck most of it in, set the time and then chuck the last few bits in.

im veggie and absolutely love the Green Roasting tin book

www.amazon.co.uk/Rukmini-Roasting-Collection-Books-Around/dp/3008557082?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A22BLIMESG4W0G

Forget recipe book, get a Grubby box or similar for 2 meals a week. That will teach him.

I love Delia and use her recipes a lot but I don’t think she’s a good choice here. Her instructions are usually lengthy paragraphs!

Jamie Oliver recipe books better I think as others have suggested, pick up a book from a charity shop.

BBC good food has so many simple to follow decent recipes and I’ve pointed my uni age dc in this direction.

For YouTube, Nicky at ‘Kitchen Sanctuary’ is good and she has the recipe written in the video description, so you can follow and pause as needed.

I agree. I follow a few cooks on Facebook and, as a lover of Indian food, there is one I particularly like because she posts videos and has the recipe on her website.

I am making her chicken tikka tonight.

I agree with @BarbarianBabs that The Roasting Tin series of books are excellent, and the recipes are very easy indeed.

Another suggestion if you are near a Tesco is to pick up their free magazine which has just been published. It is full of recipes.