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

For vegetarian recipes, I really like Easy Cheesy Vegetarian. I've not had a duff recipe from there and also she doesn't have fancy ingredients that are bothersome to buy. Also can filter recipes by cooking time.

Maybe do a batch cook for the freezer once a week as a starting point and while the kitchen is a mess, you could make a pasta or bean salad that will last a few days in the fridge.

Hi gang,
I really hate when MNers leave stories open ended, so as I'm 3 weeks into my cooking journey I thought I'd update you all so you can FINALLY sleep at night and stop wondering how i'm doing ;)

So, in 3 weeks, I have had 5 takeaways, which is a massive reduction from usual, and they were :
2 celebrating good news - New house, new job
1 just craved McD 🙈
2 - I don't actually have a full kitchen atm coz of building works, I only have a camping hob, microwave and a small air fryer, so I treat myself to pizzas but post-kitchen i can obviously just cook one from tesco. I think I can settle into a routine of cooking Sat-Th and having takeaway (or pizza from freezer etc) on a Friday night as a treat.

In that time I have also made :

• Mushroom Orzo risotto
• crispy tofu in homemade sauce
• Tagliatelle
• Fajita bowls - My guac was banging!
• Shepherds pie (found a teeny tiny oven dish that fits in my air fryer)
• Apple Pie
• I also had access to a proper hob one day so I batch cooked 8 portions of chilli.

I am beyond proud of myself but mostly want to say a massive thankyou to everyone for inspiring me and helping me find my feet. I'm starting to live the cooking life I always envied in others. The main difference being i've taken food seriously and prepare earlier in the day rather than waiting til 9pm and realise i'm hungry. Also, to those who recommended the bbc good food app, i've signed up for a year and I love it! Thankyou twice over.

Xx

@gynaeissue Made my first ever lentil shepherd's pie tonight, and I also used frozen mash. What a winner! Thankyou

YAY! So pleased

Good on you!

My husband does all the cooking. He’s slightly obsessed and could be a chef.

If I lived alone, I’d definitely be eating a lot of toast. I might buy ready made salads from M&S too.

I have zero interest in cooking and having to turn on the oven would be a step too far. I might stick a baking potato in the microwave periodically.

Pretty sure there is a vegetarian Delia. Nice recipe for tomato and cheese tart iirc.

For me home cooking is using ingredients that are not pre prepared, like sauces etc. so for an example using onions and garlic and herbs as a start, add meat or vegetables, more spices and chopped tomatoes eg. But tonight we were home late from a weekend away so we used a jar of sauce for the pasta. I'd consider that convenience food. But that is totally fine!

I highly recommend the new Deliciously Ella book, Healthy Made Simple. All the recipes have fewer than 10 ingredients and they're super simple and so tasty. Some recipes are for 1 or 2 portions and others are intended to batch cook so you can fill the freezer. Definitely count as cooking from scratch, even though some of the recipes are very quick! Glad to hear you're enjoying cooking for yourself!

Cooking rhe things from scratch that you buy made for you. So bread, pasta sauces, curry sauces, pastries, cakes, biscuits.

I find it therapeutic to do these things, but can't always. Today I made a roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings, all from scratch. Then I made an apple and cinnamon cake for dessert.

The amount of crap that goes into bread is shocking so I'm glad to make my own sourdough.

I can make gravy from scratch too, but I used granules today. I puck my battles!

Basically, very low UPF diet, we use full fat and no diet food now after years of low fat and sugar free. Turns out that stuff is killing us.

You can do whatever you want in your own kitchen, of course. But since you are asking for our opinions, I would say home cooking means cooking food from scratch with fresh ingredients, and preparing the fresh ingredients yourself. I think it's fine to purchase some things pre-made, like puff pastry, dry pasta and cheese blocks. But I don't think good home cooking should include pre-made sauces, pre-shredded cheeses, pre-cut vegetables, garlic and lemon juice from jars, cake mixes from boxes, etc. Just my opinion.