It's a cooking one! (Help me, I'm useless)

[HungryHippo9]

Hello! I appreciate this isn’t AIBU but thought I would get more responses and tips in this section. It’s a cooking thread...

I’ve recently started a new job working long hours and I won’t be home during the week until after 7:30pm. Over the years I have wasted so much money on takeaways, meal deals and microwave meals and I really want to change that. I’m trying to be a bit more responsible with money and save up for a mortgage.

For context, I am 26, live by myself and I have no kids so will only be cooking for myself. I am a terrible cook (mum did all the cooking when I lived at home so silly me never took an interest and tried to learn) and have no patience what so ever. I honestly can’t think of anything worse than having to stand and cook a meal after a long day in work either. I am ideally hoping to batch cook easy/healthy/cheap meals on a Sunday for the week where I can then just pop them in the microwave or oven whilst I go in the shower and get into my pjs!

I prefer to shop in Aldi or Lidl as I find Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury’s quite expensive and for some reason when I shop in Aldi/ Lidl I will actually buy proper food to make a meal rather than just junk food like I do in all the other shops (not sure if it’s because the other shops tend to have the junk food scattered around everywhere and it’s more in your face if that make sense).

I love most foods including, pasta, red meat, fish (except salmon). I am hoping to learn to cook some easy and convenient meals which don’t include lots of ingredients and cost me a fortune to make, so mumsnetters if you’ve got this far please could you suggest some meals for me! Thanks

Cut cherry tomatoes into halves and roast them in the oven with some crushed garlic cloves, salt, pepper and olive oil. Meanwhile cook pasta and mix with roasted tomatoes and serve with grated parmesan.
Roast butternut squash with garlic, onions, salt and pepper and olive oil. Remove from the oven when soft, put into a pot, add some vegetable stock and blend with a handheld blender. Add a small bottle of double cream and chopped basil. Let it simmer. Meanwhile cook pasta. Remove most of the sauce and freeze it in small dishes. Mix pasta and some of the cooking water with the sauce, serve with grated parmesan. If you like a bit of hotness, drizzle some chilli infused oil over it or add chilli flakes into the sauce.
In a pan, fry some chorizo, add sun dried tomatoes and garlic. Meanwhile cook pasta, mix it with the sauce, add some basil and serve with rocket and parmesan.
Blend basil, a little garlic, slightly browned pine nuts and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, add lemon juice according to taste, add grated parmesan or gran padano. Presto pesto and it can be served with pasta, chicken, sandwiches, drizzled over eggs or salad.

Get a Book called meals in Minutes by Donal Scanlon, brilliant

Pasta bakes are always good.
I also make a base with mince and then do chilli, spag bol, cottage pie .

Also look at how to keep fresh ingredients better.
Most importantly check your fridge temp. Old ones can be higher. Should be about 4 degrees. It makes massive difference.
I move my salad leaves into a box with a tissue on top. First let them dry outside though. They last couple days extra then. I have a salad every day so they don't even get to wilt tbh😂 open bags ov veg if it's in a plastic bag. If veg last longer you reduce waste and save money. Plus have to go to a shop less.

Tuna pasta salad. You can precook the pasta in peace the night before if you fancy.
Chickpea and halloumi salad.
Edamame beans asian salad with prawns. (Sounds posh but it's really just green leaves, thinly slices cucumber, cooled edamame beans, the cheapest coldwater prawns and dressing made from sesame oil, ginger, chili and lemon. Dash of cracked black pepper to finish it off)
'Things which will go off soon' salad
Leftover chicken? Buffalo chicken and blue cheese salad.

My favourite from "I can't be arsed cooking" the sardines. Asda sells skinless and boneless ones.
Simply bread, butter, crumbled sardines, spring onion, squeeze of lemon.

I have a couple of favourite books, economy gastronomy, which is based on a series of “bedrock” recipes which can then be turned into 4 or 5 other things throughout the week, and Ginos Pronto! Which is 20 minute recipes. Last night we had the minty chicken from that book, chicken breast marinated with yogurt and mint sauce, grilled with microwave new potatoes and fried onion, mushroom and pepper (or veg of choice!)

I second the suggestion to buy Jamie's Ministry of Food book - it's meant for people who don't know how to cook, and is great for recipes with simple ingredients. The casserole recipes are fab for batch cooking. I like how the recipe for all four meats has the same starting ingredients. We sometimes have the casserole for Sunday dinner then the leftovers with a baked potato later in the week.

Just been reading through the thread looking at all your ideas whilst my hunters chicken ready meal is in the oven hoping to make a proper one myself soon!

On another note - I did manage to make egg mayo and tuna salad for sandwiches this week, yay! (I really am that useless )

I love all these suggestions! There isn't one meal that I don't think I wouldn't enjoy. Definitely keen to make the easier meals first such as pasta so I'll give that a go this weekend and go from there. Both my best friends are brilliant cooks so I'm hoping they may help me at some point as well.

You've all definitely given me the motivation to start practicing as I can't live off ready meals forever, plus their costing me a bloody fortune! I will make a start this weekend and let you all know how I get on. Also going look at cookbooks and I've already seen a slow cooker on amazon that looks fab. Thanks guys

I often make kedgeree when I don't have much time. Buy smoked cod or haddock, wrap in foil and bake in the oven for about 15 mins. Meanwhile hard boil an egg or two and put aside to cool, fry an onion and a chopped red chilli, add some madras paste (I use Pataks) - then add rice (sachet of Tilda ready cooked or similar), break up the fish and gently stir into the rice mixture, peel the egg, cut into quarters and add that to the pan and serve. I buy jars of Pataks paste and freeze in ice cube trays, put into bags and pop them into the freezer.

Hunters chicken is really easy to make honestly it is i use bottle bbq sauce squeezed over bacon wrapped chicken and grated cheese takes less than an hour to do.

I was you about 20 years ago.
My mum got me a large slow cooker.
Three Sundays a month during Steve Wrights Sunday Love Songs, I’d make a batch of something - curry, stew, bolognaise, meatballs, Cottage pie, pasta bake etc. By mid afternoon I ‘d have 6 portions ready to freeze.
I then had something different every Monday to Thursday and every Friday a small cod and chips (the chippy was across from the station).
It was a life saver, I left home at 7am and got in my front door at 7pm. By 7.30pm I had a homecooked hot meal as I’d just microwave it.
I also used to cook whole chickens, portion them up, freeze them and they were great with a quick salad in the warmer months.

I find that a lot of the time consuming bits about cooking even ‘quick’ recipes is the washing, peeling and slicing or chopping of the various veg. For convenience I buy a big bag of chopped onion and chopped garlic. They both go in the freezer. You can also get peppers, chillis,us grooms and lots of other things cheaply and preprepared to go in the freezer that don’t compromise too much on taste and texture.

Mushrooms* not us grooms 🙄

Making pesto is a good one. I do a thoroughly inauthentic version most weeks to use up any soft herbs, salad leaves and cheese that needs using. You'll need a food processor though (but they're incredibly useful - I use mine at least once a day).

For example, last week I blended parsley, baby leaf spinach, parmesan, mature cheddar, cashew nuts, olive oil and garlic. I seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice, bit of water to loosen.

Like I say, inauthentic, but perfectly nice stirred through hot pasta for an instant meal. It keeps for a week or under a layer of olive oil.

Incidentally, when I learned to cook it was drilled into me to use good salt and pepper (I use Maldon and whole green and black peppercorns) - it's such a small detail but it DOES make a difference.

Sausage and squash stew is a winner here. Chunky chop onions and fry until translucent. Chop sausages into three bits and add to the onions. Add crushed (lazy) garlic. Add cubes of butternut squash or any veg you like really (although if something soft like broccoli add it in for the last five minutes). Tin of tomatoes, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of dried, mixed herbs, a pint of stock and let it bubble away. Serve with crusty bread or mashed potato. You can make as little or as much as you want. You could also have sausage, mash and instant gravy with any left overs to mix it up a bit. Good luck!

Oh that sounds absolutely delicious @Ohtherewearethen proper comfort food! Will add that one to my list. Thank you

I often cook dinner in 30 mins and don't want to be standing over the stove. We love the slow cooker especially on days when you have to get home and back out again quickly. This time of year is great for stews and casseroles, also chill. Also love to put frozen Mediterranean veg, some sausages and a sweet potato all in the same baking tray, cook for 30 minutes. Maybe drizzle some sweet chilli sauce. Fresh pasta is super quick.

My slow cooker changed my life.
I love to cook but ever since I had DD and DS I found it so difficult to find the time to do it as well as caring for a toddler and a baby.

I have a bit of an obsession with frozen vegetables. I've always got in frozen diced onions, peppers and mushrooms as it saves time in the morning.

You can do some really flavoursome dishes in it because it's been cooking all day all the flavours amalgamate together and it's all just so delicious.

My favourites have been
Bolognaise
Chilli
Beef stroganoff (the beef goes so tender because its been slow cooking all day)
Curries
Jambalaya
Stew
Bbq pork joint (really lazy, just a pork joint, some bbq sauce and a load of veggies shoved in.)

I've got one of those apple slicer gadgets, I use it to make potato wedges, 30 seconds to slice and bung in the oven.

The amount of amazing dishes you can do in a slow cooker is just amazing. Just shove it all in and leave on the low setting all day. Come back home to delicious smells and delicious food. Make loads of it and you've got the same delicious meal for dinner the next night too.

You can search on you tube, there are some really good slow cooker recipes people have put up.

@HungryHippo9 how could I forget the leeks!! Add chopped leeks to the pot too. It really is nice and not difficult to do.

I've done a load of batch cooking this afternoon actually! 👍 I'm early pregnancy and utterly exhausted at the end of the day so I need things I can just reheat in and know it's healthy.
This afternoon I have made:
🥘 French onion soup (it is SO easy. Big pan, chop onions, cook down slowly with a little oil and a star anise or two, add good quality beef stock, cook down. Done!!) serve with cheese on toast.
🥘 Ratatouille (chop up onion, garlic, aubergine, courgette, squash, peppers and cook down, pour chopped tinned tomatoes over, add herbs if you have) serve with any protein... salmon takes as long to cook as this takes to reheat or perhaps a poached egg.
🥘 bean cassoulet. Sounds posh but it's basically bean stew. Finely chop and cook down onion, carrot and celery. Add garlic, drain off all of the beans... borlotti, chickpeas, kidney, haricot... I literally walk down the aisle on the supermarket and pick up lots of different cans! Throw them all in, stir, add passata or chopped tomatoes, rosemary.
🥘 meatballs. Roll mince into ball. Easy! 😂👍 add herbs etc if you're feeling it!

All of the above freeze really well and can be reheated from frozen too. If you don't have an abundance of Tupperware, you can put meals into ziplock bags 😉

Shortcuts... I love "lazy" garlic! (Jars of chopped garlic!)
Waitrose sell a frozen "sofrito mix" (diced carrot, onion and celery) it's a really great base for so many meals... I haven't spied it in Lidl or Aldi yet but they usually find good things and produce their own!
Frozen spinach is an amazingly healthy addition to almost any meal.

Buy large potatoes
Throw in oven
Baked potato!!!

You've had some great suggestions on here. Jamie Oliver's 15 and 30 minute meals is good. My Bible is "Cook the week in 2 hours". It's for a family, but you can easily adapt to one person, or batch cook two portions for the freezer.

Try www.thebatchlady.com.
Loads of quick and easy ideas there

Definatly buy the big Delia Bible,not just for the recipes but because somewhere is there if you want to know how do I it will be in there.
Simple quick meals can be fish,new potatoes and veg,baked potato,pasta with pesto and pine nuts or bits of crispy bacon,macaroni cheese,couscous(pour on hot water and the chop in lots of veg,also good for packed lunches).It doesn't have to be complicated until you get the hang of it.
On the internet lots of YouTube tutorials and as mentioned above the good food recipes are reliable.
If you're on your own then try and meal plan or you'll end up with lots of half packs of things and no idea what to do with them.Tinned beans,not just baked,tomatoes,rice,pasta,couscous and some frozen veg and herbs/spices ,Tom puree,mayo for your store cupboard.Onions ,potatoes,garlic,peppers and fresh greens as you need them.
Nothing beats a good sandwich for lunch but you seem to have that nailed.Add fruit ,job done.

I’m the same as you. My mum is an amazing cook and I could’ve learnt so much from her but didn’t! I bought a load of cook books and use online recipes like bbc good food too. I batch cook on a Sunday as I go to the gym most evenings and my hair takes ages to dry so being able to heat something up from the fridge is amazing. Your confidence will grow as you go along. You will get quicker and tidier. I now enjoy cooking! I’ve saved loads of time and money. I do still have the odd shop bought pizza or takeaway but I mainly cook now.

I make Bolognaise, chilli, curry, soup, chicken pie and fish pie. My friend and I take it in turns to cook for one another once a week and that has really improved my cooking and given me an incentive to try new recipes. Macaroni cheese is so quick and easy.

Asda do a basic 3 litre slow cooker, it's perfect for about 3/4 portions. Think I paid £9 for it, well worth it.