30 and never cooked a meal from scratch in my life - input needed

[Girlwhonevercooks]

Hi. I am a bit embarrassed to be making this post. I'm 30 and I've never cooked an actual homemade meal in my life. My diet is abysmal. I live predominantly on ready meals that you put in the microwave, meal deal sandwiches from Tesco and takeaways. I have a few questions. Do you have any recommendations for meals that can be made without using the oven? As it uses a lot of electricity and I can't afford to use it very much. I have a cooker and a microwave. What else do I need? Also if there is a cookbook for someone who is a complete beginner, please recommend one to me. Any other advice would be appreciated MN.

You can get rubber feet or a non slip rubber mat from amazon to stick on the underside.

It takes a bit of practice, and can also 'feel' more expensive getting things like spices the first time around, but they last a long time. Simmering a sauce lets the flavours develop but that steam coming out of it is the moisture evaporating, which is why it reduces. If you simmer with a lid on the pot it can help, and/or put a bit of extra water in/tin of tomatoes/some stock etc.

I'd start small and simple with a miso soup you can prepare in an empty coffee jar - chop up enough veg to make 3 portions and freeze the excess in 2 plastic freezer bags so you can defrost and go another day. https://thebatchlady.com/recipe/miso-soup/
Then move onto something like this (again its a batch cook recipe so you can make extra for the freezer) https://thebatchlady.com/recipe/spicy-bean-burgers/ the only unusual ingredient is the fajita mix but you could substitute for curry powder or chicken seasoning.
Or this https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/spaghetti-alla-puttanesca/

A quick and healthy lunch made in the microwave https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/courgette-tomato-and-cheese-gratin-33p-microwave-vegetarian/
Microwave mac and cheese - https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/marmite-mac-n-cheese-in-a-mug-36p-microwave/
Microwave meatballs https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/thai-inspired-meatballs-with-coconut-slaw-97p-microwave/
Microwave chilli https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/chillaf-aka-chilli-pilaf-50p-vegan-microwave/

I use decent kitchen scissors to chop chicken (or other meat; pork or beef), I hold up a breast over the pan and chop small pieces off, saves having to clean a chopping board.

Making a curry, I'd have browned the chicken (highish heat, maybe on 7 or 8) then added onions (frozen chopped ones are great) and some squeezy garlic puree in a pan with a lid (on a med heat 5 or 6) then added a sauce / sauce ingredients, once bubbling turn it down to a low heat, maybe no 3 to simmer for 20mins or longer. Then prep rice. I buy ready made nans, the huge ones are delicious and just need cutting to size to go in the toaster.

To stop your cutting board slipping without having to buy anything, just lay out your damp dishcloth underneath it - same with mixing bowls etc.

Good food. Pesto pasta

@blueIKEAbag gives a good list but I would suggest swapping one of the Pyrex dishes for a 'flame proof casserole' - basically an all metal or ceramic pan that you can use on the hob and then put in oven. Or just use as a pan, or just use in the oven.

I agree with putting a wet cloth under the chopping board.

I had to learn how to cook for me and (then) DS4 when I became a single parent. This was the book I bought to help me with that. Super easy and cheap, fresh recipes. I can’t be doing with recipes that are long winded and use loads of ingredients and faff. If I can do it, anyone can! I actually really enjoy cooking now

amzn.eu/d/6RXD6Iq

Also I highly recommend buying an air-fryer, you'll never look back!

If you watch TV and happy to watch a bit of cooking then I think Ready Steady Cook was really good for helping show basic skills, how to know to improvise a bit. The newer series are on I player I think.

Yep, that is how I learned to cook.

I could follow a recipe and had a few dishes I could do from scratch but Ready Steady Cook taught me to improvise.

Brilliant start !
In terms of minor improvements, I would have the ring at 5 probably rather than 6 and I would cook the chicken until it's no longer pink inside before adding the sauce ( usually takes around 10-12 mins depending on how big the pieces are). The sauce has evaporated because it was on for too long at a high heat, so I would turn the sauce down to about 3-4 once it has heated up initially.

I usually chop an onion and pepper and add that half way through the chicken cooking - you may need more oil for it. Or an easy way to add veg is put some frozen peas in with the rice. If it's microwave rice, I guess you could add them to the curry for a few minutes only.

Well done OP, once you have mastered cooking the chopped chicken, you're set for lots of dishes - stir frys, pasta dishes etc.

Oh and if you want to add garlic, you can buy it frozen ready chopped up. Not quite as flavoursome but saves a lot of faff, same for onions and peppers.

We taught DD using Hello Fresh. They're great.

OP said that she wanted recipes that don't involve the oven as it was too expensive to run so I doubt Hello Fresh would be in budget................

But her starting point is ready meals, bought sandwiches and takeaways.

Hello Fresh and anything cooked in the oven is likely to be cheaper.

Bad advice. Two of tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, onion, carrot celery is far better than a jar ... in taste and nutritionally.
Cooking from scratch is far better.

This

Second on the Delia Book
One pot recipes avoid the problem of timing everything to be ready at the same time

It can be really easy. After the chicken and onions are fried you could a tsp of curry powder or paste (for 1 min) then add some coconut milk, tinned chopped tomato and a dollop of mango chutney. Just taste it when it's cooked for a bit to see how the flavour is doing and maybe add a bit more of one or the other. I would probably have put a couple of squares of frozen spinach in for greens too. Chopped coriander at the end.

Oh for goodness sake. At the minute OP is struggling to understand how long to cook chopped chicken for, she's a way off from adding dollops of mango chutney and having fresh coriander to hand.

A jar of curry sauce added to some fresh chicken and vegetables is still going to be a lot healthier than a ready meal or takeaway. The time to start moving away from jars is when OP is comfortable with the basics. And to be fair we cook from scratch a lot but often use a jar for curry, because where does it end - grinding spices by hand because a paste is too UPF ?

I disagree - I think it's better to dive in with a simple recipe. But it's up to the OP. She can take our advice or ignore it.

Hello everyone. I had a slight setback today. I tried to make spaghetti bolognese. I used Tesco quick cook spaghetti, Loyd Grossman pasta sauce, beef mince and pre-chopped garlic. I also added grated parmesan on top when it was on the plate. So the issues were that the spaghetti itself was very chewy and mushy. It was edible, but only just. It didn't taste especially good. I also learned that I need some pasta tongs or something to get the spaghetti (or other type of pasta) from the pan to the plate, as it was quite a faff trying to do it with a fork and spoon.

Does anyone have any advice on how to know when pasta is cooked Al Dente? I assume mine was overcooked as it was so mushy.

Yeah, look at the timing on the packet but start testing it a couple of minutes before. Just take a single strand out with a fork. You can throw it against a wall and if it sticks that's a sign it's done but I prefer just to taste it. You want just a little bit of bite there.

I then empty it all into a sieve, make sure all the water has gone then put it back into the pan. Then I put on a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and stir it all round so the spaghetti strands stay separate and don't stick together.

Also, put a decent bit of salt in the cooking water as it comes to the boil and before you put the spaghetti in to make it taste better.

Edited to say: personally I wouldn't use quick cook spaghetti, maybe that was another reason why the texture wasn't so great. I'd use regular. Marks and Spencer do a 'remarksable value' one that is pretty good.

If you can't do things from scratch I find the Colemans or Schwartz sachets much nicer than using a jar for things like bolognese or chilli. The packet has an ingredients list, but it's usually just onion and tinned tomatoes with maybe peppers and kidney beans for chili and mushrooms and onion for bolognese. I agree with PP quick cook pasta isn't great and I've found it does have a mushy texture. Definitely drain it into a sieve and I too put it back in the pot with a bit of olive oil or butter before serving. Reading your whole thread I honestly think you should just invest in a small slow cooker op, so easy to just add ingredients and leave it to do it's thing.