What does home cooking mean to you?

[HomeCookingWannabe]

Hello, this is my first post having lurked for a while.
I've always had a terrible relationship with food and think nothing of just eating chocolate or toast for dinner. I've made various attempts to "fix it" and none have worked long term but i'm trying again. I dream of being a "home cook", eating healthily and making proper meals like lasagna or shepherds pie for dinner, but with a busy job I'm completely fine taking some short cuts (like shop bought pastry).

So just figuring out what the rules are, and wanted some advice on what everyone else does? Incase relevant, I live alone and am veggie

Love this @AtleastitsnotMonday , I hadnt thought of peas but such a good example

If you don't mind stuff being a bit sweary check out Nat's What I Reckon on Instagram/FB. He breaks down lots of stuff to make it easier. Dc (20s) has cooked a fair few of these and they're really good.

First came across him early in the pandemic, sharing "End of days Bolognese" _Ze9zIafM?si=b_GkyRemOF5FBzZU

Edited because it autocorrected sweary to sweaty

Great! Part of my reasoning was that if I was going to spend £28 on a recipe book then I more or less had to commit to getting use out of it .

And following on from @AtleastitsnotMonday, I happily use stuff like pre-chopped frozen veg (especially onions) & very lazy chili, ginger etc if it suits me.

I swear by the BBC Good Food website. Despite getting sucked in by hundreds of recipe books it's the website that I always come back to.

I don't believe there is a definition of 'home cooked' but for us it's using plenty of fresh veg with some tinned tomatoes/pulses and often served with pasta/rice/bread/salad.

Some veggie recipes to try that are quick and easy:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/caponata-pasta

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-vegetable-curry

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burnt-aubergine-veggie-chilli (takes a bit longer but can be frozen)

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/bean-halloumi-stew

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spicy-chickpea-stew

I like the BBC good food website too.

I have a three week rolling menu with lists made up and saved on Ocado. They all take under 30 mins to make and many a lot less plus minimal faff/mess. I always make extra and freeze so some weeks I barely cook at all!

includes things like stir fry with rice noodles using frozen stir fry mix and then whatever other veg is in the fridge thrown in, with a quick soy / rice vinegar / peanut butter type sauce - takes 5 mins

through to lentil shepherds pie using frozen mash - I make extra of the lentil mixture and freeze

also some hello fresh recipes from the website but just buy the ingredients

And curry using a paste

so some shortcuts but not full on jars of sugary sauces or ready meals - some convenience type foods but not ones with junk ingredients in

Its really helped and three week menu means it doesn’t feel repetitive! I’m also veggie cooking for one

This^
In simple terms It means mostly buying ingredients.

@gynaeissue hello fellow. I actually started building a master list of things i could cook to help me pick from but a) not 100% confident on all of them, b) some are a bit bland and therefore not as tempting as takeaway, c) i dont do a forced rotation, though i'm thinking about it.

Going to start noting all these sources and recipes and just each day think of a home cooked dinner which is nutritious and consists of mostly natural/scratch ingredients albeit with some frozen/tinned shortcuts along the way.

Fingers crossed this sticks

I was going to recommend this as well. I have several of the Roasting Tin series of books and they got me out of a cooking rut.

I think making wholesome vegetarian food is actually harder.

I totally disagree with this comment. Although we are omnivores we eat a lot of vegetarian food.

I'm not sure i'd ever be someone who makes cookies tho, that is pedestal level for me!

Making cookies is very, very easy compared with making something like lasagne though!

The key to making it 'stick ' is not to be over-ambitious imo. If you start trying to spend hours in the kitchen making complicated multi-process dishes, you will soon give up. There are so many simple dinners you can make like veg chilli, veg curry, roast vegetable salads, dhal etc. I agree with the previous poster that the BBC Good Food website is great. Good luck!

I think what makes it not count is that each of the elements are ultra processed. Also the presence of ingredients not typically found in a domestic kitchen.

How much freezer space do you have? Because the one thing in my opinion that makes huge difference is home made stock. Vegetable stock takes very very little time to prepare but is so worth the effort.

I think AGlinnerofHope has a super list, and with those meals you can make enough for two or three days, and then just supplement with vegetables or salad.

Agree. It’s my new bible!

Generally making stuff from scratch. So no ready meals, no microwavable rices, no jars of sauces. Cans of chopped tomatoes, beans etc ok. Basically following a recipe or making your own.

I never learnt to cook as a teenager/ young adult... until I had DC!
I started off using packets and jars.
Then I started changing some ingredients that have to be added- simply because I didn't like some stuff or combos.
Sometimes I added an extra herb or spice- I love turmeric it improves most dishes for some unknown reason!

Then it was simple recipes and come to now, I am able to cook most day to day dishes from scratch!
Just do things slowly and remember a jar of sauce isn't that bad if you add plenty of fresh vegetables... or experiment with pulses for meat free options!
And don't be afraid to cook something and then don't like it. We all have different tastes its normal!

Brilliant book!

I like recipes which involve everything going in the same pot / pan / tin.

Home cooking means you do most the cooking yourself (eg not microwaving a ready meal) but there's nothing wrong with shortcuts like spice blends, canned chopped tomatoes, jars of roasted peppers, canned pulses etc and using a cooking sauce eg curry, sweet n sour on a work night, or meal kits like hello fresh is fine too, you make the rules!

If time is tight I would look for inspiration like Jamie Oliver has at least a couple of books of fast meals, he also has recipes on his show made in a microwave for instance. Channel four catch up has lots of back catalogue for inspiration.

@RomainesToBeSeen I shall start working my way through, thankyou!

Thankyou @DancefloorAcrobatics , good to see its not me that took a while to learn to adult! :)

Got tonight and tomorrow's dinner planned (but not yet bought), so day at a time.

I live alone, not veggie and batch cook and freeze a lot

As examples I make
Lasagne - from scratch but use fresh lasagne sheets from the supermarket
Cottage pie - all from scratch
Beef stew/sausage casserole - from scratch
Salads - shop bought dressing (Wagamama as I love it!) with feta or shop bought rotisserie chicken
Use it up pasta bake - with whatever veg/cheese/meat I have, from scratch except the pasta
I have a shop bought pizza once a week
Quick meals like omelette, stir fry (buy the sauce)

Most of my not from scratch is stuff like crisps, biscuits, snack stuff I guess but meals are generally all from scratch with the odd short cut

@buffyslayer i dont mind batch cooking, infact its often a necessity when you live alone as always leftovers, but i'd prefer to get into the habit of cooking most nights where I can and then rely on frozen batched for when time poor.

I remember a quote from Mary Berry, stating she's never made puff pastry since she left catering college ! Shop-bought, all-butter, is fine.

You might benefit from a hello fresh type box, to see what a dish's ingredients look like laid out. Or chose a favourite dish of yours and find a highly rated YouTube video.

You don't have to make your own pastry but cookies are extremely easy! Don't feel intimidated by that at all (the trick is to blend the butter really well and don't overbake them). Brownies that use oil instead of butter are even easier and only use one bowl. Don't over blend or overcook these.

Part of home cooking is knowing how to shop- for example reading the ingredients of a ready made pastry to make sure there's not too much shit, buying good quality chocolate for baking, being careful about veg- no soft onions or floppy carrots, etc. Get the longest dates possible and know which shops are best for which items.

This isn't for everyone but I keep lists on my phone of successful and unsuccessful products, for example lidl passata in the box is much better than their tinned tomatoes, sainsburys brand tomato paste is disgusting, Waitrose tinned chickpeas are nice and soft, etc.

Of course he cooks more, he has dependents. It's harder when it's just you.

To envision/define full meals, a plate of half vegetables, a quarter whole grain carbs and a quarter good protein (no fake meats), maybe with fruit or unsweetened yoghurt for dessert is a good goal.

Just look at the comments a bit at a time, they won't disappear.

Don't be purest about it, transition and gradually do more homecoming over time. No need to be fancy pants every time either. I love some meals that take 90-120 mins, which isn't that bad when you divide it over 4 portions, but I also have 30-40 min meals which also provide 4 portions & per meal aren't too far off competing with microwave meals for effort! This year I'm upping my game on easy salads, mastering easy vinegarettes, quick pickled veg & jazzed up rice & couscous instead of plain .. all low effort

There's no need to insist on staying in peak form, being purest either. Some days I just CBA and that's fine! We all like a little holiday sometimes. Other days I'm 50/50, shop bought pie and roasted, seasoned veg for example or a burger/pie with home-made chips and tin of beans/sweetcorn or mushy peas .. cos life!

The Skint Foodie was always a good read, I thought https://www.theskintfoodie.com/recipes.html

and Jack Monroe has her detractors but her recipes for one can be good
https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/category/recipes-food/