Cookery book for newly widowed elderly gent

[CMOTDibbler]

FIL is in his 80's and newly widowed. He's overwhelmed by doing everything himself and told me last night when he'd had a few wines that he's really struggling to cook basic recipes and though there are lots of cookery books in the house they are all for 'fancy' dishes for 4 where he wanted me to talk him through stew, shepherds pie, pasta sauce etc
I'll give him my Delia Smith cookery course books, but wondered if anyone had recommendations of other books that might be suitable. He doesn't like online recipes, and is currently easily flustered

Another one for the Nigel Slater, it is great and so simple

When cooking for one the best things are either batch cooking for a selection of freezer staples or quick cooking. Mary Berry’ cook now eat later is good for simple heart food that can be prepped/part prepped in advance, and Jamie - I still use 15 minute meals and save with Jamie, I don’t have ministry of food.

My mum got me this

How to Boil an Egg: 184 Simple Recipes for One - The Essential Book for the First-Time Cook www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0716022206/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_MBM4QSPT1S42DGVQE4AZ?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

It does literally go through some basics like boiling eggs (times for how runny you want the yolk, freshness of eggs) through to some meals that need some prep that could be batch cooked. I still use it 30 years later!

It sounds as though he also needs help to identify what's in the freezer and a plan for using it up.

Agree batch cooking will be the way forward.

Can you order him some marker pens and tupperware for his batch cooking?

You are lovely to be helping him so kindly.

What about something like hello fresh or gousto? Ingredients are delivered with an easy to follow recipe card? Got my DH into cooking which I never thought would happen.
Or else something like the Marcus Rashford /Tom Kerridge full time meals, I think some supermarkets have the recipe cards, e.g. www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/full-time-get-cookingwithmarcusandtom.html
They tend to use simple measures, e.g. "a mugful of water" and no fancy kitchen appliances or equipment which might simplify things for an 80yo

Does he enjoy cooking?

If not, honestly I’d just say that he order the delicious ready meals from marks and save himself the stress

Cooking in a bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorne

She was from the same generation so the recipes will be quite nostalgic. Simple recipes which don't need many ingredients or cookery skills to produce and can be elevated once he gets some confidence in producing them.

It may sound a little weird , but this book ,which I bought many years ago for my children, is really good , and I suspect you can pick up secondhand beginners cookbook

Rainbowshine my mum brought me How to Boil an Egg when I left home as well about 25 years ago.
I'm now a pretty good cook, even if I do say so myself 😆

My Dad did a cooking course in similar circumstances. It was actually really good because he met some people and it provided some interaction
He has now remarried and my lovely step mother is an excellent cook but he can still help much more in the kitchen than before (I'm sure my mother is doing hollow laughter in her grave about that )

Cooking in a bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorne

OMG my mum gave me this when I left home nearly 40 years ago and I just had a Baby Belling.

Agree about Gousto - I've learnt lots of new techniques and a few years on some of the recipes are now staples for us.

Lovely little drama-comedy on radio 4 a few years ago based on this (same title).

I was going to recommend 'one is fun', I had a copy years ago, it was donated to a VI form student many years ago.

Are there any cookery courses near him? When my mum was terminally ill the hospice ran a cookery course for 'gentlemen or a certain age' to teach cooking, they did some simple meals but they also made bread and pastry.

Has he got a freezer? I'm trying to get my dad into the idea of making something like a cottage pie but once you have the mince and veg and potatoes cooked to put one portion in the oven and freeze three in foil that can be cooked from frozen.

I'm also trying to get him to use the slow cooker and meal plan as he finds it a 'bit of a faff' to cook a meal so gets lots of ready meals.

I try to plan things over a few days, so I might make a chili and then the following day the left over is put with rice in a tortilla and either eaten or frozen for another time.

'How to Cheat at Cooking' by Delia. Easy recipes which can be frozen as a lot are for four.

"cookfulness" is a cook book with lots of basic recipes, developed for people with chronic pain or long term illness, but actually it's quite handy for anyone. There's tips for portions and short cuts (frozen diced onions etc).

I cook a lot but i still find it useful

With batch cooking it's helpful to know what sort of containers to use, and how long to reheat and things like should you put a helping of the main (say stew) and a helping of the accompaniment (say mash) in the same container or is it better to keep them seperate so you can mix and match. I used to be stumped by whether to use plastic so it's easy to microwave or foil for the oven. Not sure if there is a good book to go over things like that but once you get yourself sorted it is a good way to cook.

www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Cooking-One-Penguin-handbooks/dp/0140461787?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

If I am right, this one even tells you how to boil eggs!

Thanks all. I have a stack of books for him now and will hand them over on Sunday. He could really do with going to a course, but of course things still aren't running because of COVID and he's also stuck in a bit of an anxiety trap about seeing people after 2 years totally at home, and 2 years before that when they didn't get out much as MIL was initially having mobility issues, then diagnosed with cancer after her knee replacement

Another one for Ministry of Food. I bought this for my Dad for Christmas.

It's a shame there isn't some kind of thing to match people up. I've also been shielding but would happily go to someone like him and talk through/cook with him
Might see if there is somewhere I can volunteer locally as I've worked as a carer previously