I need help learning to cook!!!

[erja]

Okay, I've never been great at cooking, especially not being able to budget meal plans.
Our general meal is usually a frozen ready meal (lasagna, etc), never really anything from scratch.

But, to kickstart a better diet and to budget (priority!) I need to start batch cooking, and meal planning more efficiently.

I know no easy recipes to start with or even how to go about batch cooking, what can be frozen, what can't be. I'm so clueless about cooking from scratch!!!

Where do I start???

I agree with the poster who suggested mastering some basics. If you learn a good mince and a good stir fry then you can amend the meat, veg and spices for loads of dishes that are cooked in a similar way but will each taste different. If your purpose is budgeting then search recipes on the internet rather than buying books, you can find tried and tested versions of most things e.g. "Delia's lasagne" (www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/pasta/lasagne-al-forno) or "Jamie Oliver's lasagne" (www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/jamie-s-classic-family-lasagne/).

If you aren't a cook, then don't dive into a lasagne first. Just make the mince (low heat, cook it slow) and serve it with boiled rice, or baked potato and grated cheese, or noodles; once you've mastered mince then learn the white sauce and making up a lasagne. Stir fry is quick and you can just adjust the veg / meat and spices once you get to know cooking times; always fry your onions and garlic first and add tomato or other very wet veg towards the end when the meat is cooked. Never buy tomato-based cooking sauces buy cheap tins of chopped tomato instead. Get some key spices your family like (e.g. garlic, mixed herbs, pepper, fresh chillies); don't buy spices you don't know for just one recipe.

For cooked brunch on the weekends get cheap fruit and veg, chop it up and freeze it, add any leftovers in a pot. Learn how to make pancake mix but without sugar; just mix flour, butter and eggs, then mix in the chopped fruit and cook with a tiny bit of oil in a pan, then put it under the grill instead of flipping. Or use the same pancake mix for a savoury with chopped or grated and frozen cheap veg e.g. grated courgette, chopped spinach and grated cheese. Omelette: lightly fry up steamed potato with your onions and chillies, add whatever veg you like chopped finely (green beans, tomato etc) and then add whisked eggs.

What do you like eating?
Go to bbcgoodfood and find recipes of what you want to eat. Check out the ingredients and instructions. Make sure it’s not too tricky then have a go.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/

Start simple. Learn how to boil and scramble an egg, make basic pasta sauces, then as you grow more confident try other things.

Making lasagne from an array of jars is not really cooking, but I suppose it’s a step in the right direction.
Start with spaghetti bolognese. I think the key to making this taste nice is long slow cooking, i simmer mine for at least two hours. Lots of mince recipes seem to say to cook for 30 minutes, I don’t think that really works. That’s the first step of lasagne. Then learn how to make a white sauce and you are good to do lasagne.
Once you can make bolognese, you can make chilli and shepherds pie
Burgers are easy, just form mince in to burger shapes, add chopped onion or spices if you want. You can make them from lamb or turkey mince as well. Add mint to the lamb ones.
I would advise avoiding Nigella’s books or recipes, they tend to assume you know what you are doing a bit more. Jamie Oliver or Delia Smith are much better. Before you start set out all the ingredients, weighed or measured out. Choose a recipe and have a go would be my advice. Read it through before you start, get everything ready, then just follow the instructions.

Luckily, DP is a much better cook than me but what I find useful are the Schwartz packet mixes. You buy your meat or fish plus a couple of different veggies (it's all listed on the packets), so you have some peeling and chopping, but the fiddlier bits of herbs and spices are all in the packets. For me, it gave me more confidence to start with and I used to think of it as 'half-way cooking' - not completely from scratch, but not just ready meals.

I forgot about delias basics book. I taught myself using that when I was a teen and then went on to college to train to be a chef. It really is a great book for beginners with all the basics.

Simple things like once you can make a very simple white sauce (butter, flour, milk) you can adapt that by adding cheese, or mustard or herbs.

I really rate www.bbcgoodfood.com. Take some time to have a look through for inspiration.

Several people have suggested starting with mince and I agree. Most mince dishes have the same "base" ingredients - mince, onions, celery, garlic, carrots and beef stock. For bolognase you and chopped tomatoes, for chilli you add chopped tomatoes, kidney beans and spices and for cottage pie you add gravy. If you look up mince dishes on he bbc good food website it will give you further ideas.

When I batch cook mince I cook 1kg mince with the "base" ingredients listed above (but say 6 carrots, 6 onions etc). I use a huge saucepan for this. I then decant some to separate pans depending on what I'm making and then I add the corresponding ingredients for the different types of meals. If that's too complicated then you could just make one type meal, portion, cool and freeze.

Cookery books are great (my shelves will attest to this) but I think you might be better to start with the internet. The BBC Good Food site has so many good recipes.
I second another person who suggested a slow cooker, I use mine at least once a week. You can find loads of pre-prep recipes online (Pinterest is my go-to) so you chop your veggies and meat, stick them in a freezer bag and then throw it all in the slow cooker in the morning before you go to work with the stock/water/tinned toms and come home in the evening to a delicious meal.
What are your favourite meals?

Donal Skeehan Meals in minutes is a great book. A huge help, everything from planning, shopping equipment. One pot, quick prep, slow cook

I second learning to cook mince. You can just make it as a big pan of bolognese sauce and freeze in portions, especially if you are budgeting carefully. Then you can mix things up - make a lasagne with a pot of cottage cheese instead of white sauce, a moussaka with baked aubergine slices, chilli by reheating it with a tin of kidney or black eye beans and some chopped fresh chilli or cottage pie by bulking it out with a tin of green lentils or baked beans and topped with mash. It also works well as a topping for a jacket potato.

There is also a very simple vegetarian chilli recipe here cookieandkate.com/2015/vegetarian-chili-recipe/

which freezes well. I use it with jackets rice or wraps (dc prefer the self assembly fun of the latter) and mix it with left over bolognese sauce for a slightly different cottage pie.

The Covent Garden Soup book is also really good if your family like homemade soup and crusty bread for supper - most of the recipes are simple and use straightforward ingredients.

this is my goal - we are possibly not eating the healthiest things but I've never really cooked before and I've managed two weeks of home cooking so far i am quite proud of myself. baby steps
I've made spag bol (admit from a jar!) this was the first time I've ever cooked mince
chicken Korma
mushroom and beef stew
chilli con carne
And bbq ribs

Do you know anyone that can cook who would be willing you walk you through a few basic recipes until you felt more confident?
YouTube is a great idea.
Practice really does make perfect and remember, there are no cooking mistakes, just lessons to be learned.

Easy tomato sauce from scratch (for anything requiring a tomato sauce e.g. pasta)

Passata, onions, herbs and spices to your liking, tomato puree, small bit of oil.

Put the oil in the pan and fry the onions until starting to brown.
Add passata, some puree until it thickens the sauce, and herbs/spices.
Heat until hot then add to whatever ypure cooking.

Can also used a tin of chopped tomatoes as well if making Bolognese, or want tomatoes in your dish.

Just make sure you use plenty of herbs. I get the bigger tubs of them. Works out cheaper and we definitely use them frequently.

I found a site called “Receipe Tin Eats”, Nagi is the site owner.
She lists all her receipes into types of food - Asian, mexican, etc / beef, chicken, vegetable.
A really helpful site for finding simple receipes for lots of different kinds of food.