Please help! I can't cook! I can't operate my oven! I'm fat and unhealthy!

[frankie80]

Title says it all really.

My DH does the cooking but he works long hours, which means I wait til he's home or get a take away.

DD is fed at my mother's (looks after her before/after school) so I'm fortunate there.

My mother never taught me to cook, or to do housework (although I'm okay at that). She refuses to show me even now as she thinks I should 'figure it out' etc.

I have NO idea what the symbols on my oven mean. Nor the symbols on the packs of food. I don't understand weighing of food.

I don't know how long to cook things like steak for, I even exploded an egg I was trying to boil.

I can make a sandwich and I can use my microwave (one thing I can do, wowee)

I'm a fussy eater too. I don't like pasta/pizza/most vegetables/fish/curries

I want to be healthier and slim. I want to be able to cook for my family.

Please tell me where to start. I tried some books but they didn't help because they had food I don't like or spoke about 'settings on the oven' without me knowing what it meant!

Please give me really really simple foolproof recipes for normal meals? Quick ones too?

I'm very embarrassed by this so please don't make fun of me.

To cook mince

Heat a glug of oil, add mince to the pan and break it up a bit.
While that's browning dice two onions and finely chop a medium carrot, so that the pieces are smaller than the onion pieces. That way they cook at the same time.
Add the onion and carrots to the mince and fry on a low to med heat for 10mins stirring around every minute or so.
Season with salt and lots of pepper. I also add a glug of Worcestershire sauce and a squeeze of tomato purée.
Add about a cup of water and simmer the mince on a low heat for another 5 mins with the lid on.
I cheat and thicken it with Bisto. Do you have that? If not then we'll teach you to make gravy.

After it's been cooking for 20 mins all together, put it in a dish an roll pastry out over the top. You will need ready rolled short crust.

If you haven't got pastry, use spuds, mashed, for the top. You'll need about 1kilo of spuds to get a really solid pie and you should peel and chop them then boil them before you start the mince.

Let us know what topping you decide on.

it might be something simplier as DH is working til 10pm tonight and its just me and DD

You can buy ready made pastry too - just roll it out, transfer your meat into an ovenproof dish, and cover with the sheet of pastry (you could beat an egg in a bowl, and paint the top of the pastry with a thin layer of it, and it will come out lovely and brown when it's done. I don't have a pastry brush I use the back of a spoon in stead, there will be loads of egg mix left over). In the oven at 200 for 20 mins or half an hour and there's your pie.

You could use the chicken casserole recipe a pp gave you above in place of the mince, too, for chicken pie.

Could I tactfully suggest that if someone is trying to lose weight then steak pie is not the healthiest option.It is packed full of calories and fat.

A lighter option would be to serve a hearty beef casserole with veg and a jacket or new boiled potatoes.

Deep blue, OP has a limited palate and is just starting out.

OP I suggest for the losing weight aspect of this that you cut out sugary snacks first. Most home cooked savoury food is not excessively high in calories unless you add heaps of oil and butter but we won't let you do that .

unreal- I do appreciate this. But she has told us that she is looking for simple cooking and wants to lose weight.
A beef stew or casserole is far easier to cook and less calories than a steak pie so counts on both scores.

What is the problem with that?

I didn't have the steak pie. I had fish and chips which I made in the oven successfully. Now I understand the dials on the oven, and the instructions on the packaging, I think I'm going to be okay!

It's just cooking meals from scratch I need to work on as there's no instructions for that!

(and yes, I do need to cut out sugary sh*t, I eat waaay too much chocolate but I'm exercising more which is a start)

I think you're making great progress already!

Just take it slowly, one new thing at a time, you'll be fine :)

Great you can use the oven now. Did you look at the Jamie Oliver cooking skills course? I think you can do it as an adult, would you consider it or a different one?

Sugar is addictive. When I cut it out of my diet (goes in phases) I get cravings for 2 days or so and then I actually don't want it. For a while anyway. It is quite easy to cut out, just a bit strange at first.

You can buy ready made pastry too - just roll it out

You can buy it ready rolled as well.

Frankie well done with the cooking.

I think you should write down everything you cook and comments on it, it will be the perfect 'learn how to cook' book.

As for cooking from scratch I'm sure everyone at some time or another uses a packet or jar of something, and they often have recipes attached.

And soup, you can use tinned soup in recipes.

An easy one

1 tin condensed mushroom soup
chicken (breasts or diced)
1 jar creme fresh

Put it all together in an ovenproof dish and stick in the oven for 30 mins

"1 tin condensed mushroom soup
chicken (breasts or diced)
1 jar creme fresh"

I thought the OP was trying to eat healthily and lose weight?

I'm not sure this recipe is helpful.

me again, sorry guys

I need some salad ideas based on what I have. I'm considering being brave and trying a salad for lunch tomorrow for the first time!

I don't have any salad dressing though...or lettuce. Lots of stuff is now done so need to get another food order in.

I do have: eggs, potatoes, peppers, ham, apples, strawberries, satsumas, mullerlight raspberry/cranberry, carrots, pasta (which I don't like), soups, snack a jacks, margarine, mini babybel lights, milk, orange juice

I do love eggs, although I've never eaten one cold, in a salad or what.

You can have warm eggs in salad!

We boil eggs while getting other salad ingredients ready - sometimes including boiled potatoes and steamed green beans. I actually really like a warm salad.

Often combine the above with tuna, avocado, and the usual lettuce/cucumber etc. I actually find that with chopped boiled eggs and avocado, it doesn't need a dressing, as they add a creamy element to the texture.

But the great thing about salad is that there's no right or wrong way! How about you try adding one thing (like a raw or cooked veg) each time that you aren't sure about, as a way of increasing your range?

You could just make a plate of different cold things as your salad eg grated carrot, boiled potato, boiled egg, ham, thin sliced apple.babybel?
With that kind of sald you would usually have mayo or creamy dressing. In future for salad with lettuce, tomato etc you need an acid like vinegar or lemon juice to mix up with oil and then I add a bit of mustsrd but its not necessary.

I like getting one of those cooked chickens off the hot counters at supermarkets for salad
Really nice is the chicken, lettuce, cucumber, spring onion, shavings of Parmesan cheese and Caesar dressing
I take the meat off the bones of the chicken, it keeps in the fridge for a couple of days and you can eat it cold

Sometimes I have a plate of stuff for tea like ham, chunks of feta cheese, cucumber, some hummus, cous cous and just have a salad type meal like that

Oh and this is an easy beef stew, it tastes meaty even with the tomatoes in it, you can add mushrooms or chopped bacon too
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/beef-and-ale-stew

Frankie do you have any shops you can get to easily?

I would cook the potatoes (boil them in water til soft, start with the water cold, if you have large chunks it will take about 20 minutes) then dress them while they're warm (the warmth of the potatoes will warm the dressing and it will all be tastier) - drizzle some olive oil over, lemon juice if you have it, salt, pepper, a little bit of mayo or yoghurt, and shake them about to coat them. I would cut strips of raw pepper and mix in - yum. In future crunchy green le~ttuce would be a nice addition.

Then boil a couple of eggs - if you start them off in boiling water from the kettle, they're easier to peel. How long to boil for will depend on egg size and if you keep them in the fridge, but prob about 5 minutes for a slightly soft centre. Peel and quarter. Add to salad. Scoff!

I work in a shopping centre - nearby we have subway, mcdonalds, KFC, farmfoods, costa, clothes shops.

I don't like mayo or coleslaw so I chickened out of the salad cos I didn't think I would like one. I meant to take soup in with me but forgot not a good day. It's almost lunch do ill need to just buy something, but what?

Do you like jacket potatoes? If you do, try to find one. Get one with cheese and beans or chilli and you'll be full, with vitamin C and protein.

A subway sandwich probably the healthiest / best value off that list. Unless you have somewhere at work to heat food, in which case you could get a healthy ready meal or soup from farmfoods?

If you can get to an Asda, they do some quite good "ready to cook" meals. Like this, this, this, and this. They are ready to go in the oven, just follow the instructions. We use them quite often as an easy meal after work.

I know this probably sounds a bit silly, but the Usborne first cookery book was really helpful to me when I first moved out and was learning to cook. It's aimed at kids, but it's actual real food (not sandwiches cut into funny shapes), it's not too complicated, and they break everything down into steps. It's still the book I pick up now when I want to do things like pancakes and I can't remember how much of everything to use! Worth having a look for in your local library.

Frankie, if you were in a restaurant what would you order? What are your/dhs favourite meals?

I second the idea of using a children's cookery book, or maybe a book aimed at students who have just left home. They are always written for absolute beginners.