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What the hell should I get for food? And how the hell should I prepare it?
h3ndu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So yeah,
I just finished eating a brick of cheese for dinner, and realized that that's probably not that good.
My entire life someone else has cooked for me, at home it was my mother, at school I bought lunch, when I joined the army I ate at the dining facilities, at college I bought the meal plans. Occasionally I would eat out, and still do from time to time, but now I'm living seperated from all of this, and have been since the end of the last semester - and well - my eating habits are pretty bad.
I usualy end up buying TV dinners just because I don't know how the hell to make my own meal.
It's pretty pathetic.
My waist line has yet to suffer from this - I'm in good shape, but I need to learn what to get to eat correctly on my own, and how to make those things into a good meal. Otherwise, it's going to end up being me just eating a loaf of bread and calling it a meal, me eating a can of corn and calling it good, or something else retarded.
HELP ME!
PLEASE!
I just finished eating a brick of cheese for dinner, and realized that that's probably not that good.
My entire life someone else has cooked for me, at home it was my mother, at school I bought lunch, when I joined the army I ate at the dining facilities, at college I bought the meal plans. Occasionally I would eat out, and still do from time to time, but now I'm living seperated from all of this, and have been since the end of the last semester - and well - my eating habits are pretty bad.
I usualy end up buying TV dinners just because I don't know how the hell to make my own meal.
It's pretty pathetic.
My waist line has yet to suffer from this - I'm in good shape, but I need to learn what to get to eat correctly on my own, and how to make those things into a good meal. Otherwise, it's going to end up being me just eating a loaf of bread and calling it a meal, me eating a can of corn and calling it good, or something else retarded.
HELP ME!
PLEASE!
Lo Que Sea, Cuando Sea, Donde Sea.
h3ndu on
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#1 suggestion is to start small, just a step up from there... look farther down in the frozen foods aisle, where they have packages of mostly-prepared food that you have to heat up and maybe mix together a bit, but NOT in the microwave. These may not all be much healthier than TV dinners, but some can be, and they'll help you get used to doing a little more prep than just 'toss it in the microwave.'
What kinds of food do you like?
We could give you better recommendations if we knew your economic status and what you like to eat when you go out.
http://www.whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/
"Learn to Prepare Tasty Five-Ingredient Meals in Under Ten Minutes"
Now that you can cut things up and boil, a good next step is to learn to fry/saute. Put some poil in a pan, head it up until it's sizzly, and toss the vegetables you've learned how to cut in there. Keep them moving until they look cooked, and now you've got stuff you can add to pasta/sandwiches/whatever that's even tastier. You don't want t constantly agitate them, but you don't want them to sit still so long that they burn. It's all about getting a feel for it.
The whole "move it enough to keep it from burning but not enough to make your arm so tired that it falls off" is pretty much how you cook anything. Eggs burn pretty fast, so keep them moving and soon enough you can make scrambled eggs/eggs over easy/whatever eggs you like. Meat like steak or chicken takes much longer to burn so you leave it sitting there for a little while, flip it over, let it sit, flip it over, etc until it's done (you can cut it open to check). It's mostly trial and error until you learn what you are doing (warning: consuming raw or undercooked meat can be hazardous to your health). Fish is typically thinner and thus will cook faster. As long as you grease the pan with oil or butter first, the worst you'll probably ever do is burn something.
And once you can saute and boil and cut you've got the chops to make pretty much anything that doesn't require baking. For example, you can make soups, chilis, stews, pastas, pasta salads, salads, sandwiches, steaks, etc. It's just a matter of following the recipe closely.
Then you can move on to baking! But, that will be a little while. Improvolone's link is a pretty fantastic one.
*"forever", in this case, equals 1-4 years.
Still, I think that's a good starting point. Not necessarily asking your parents, since you didn't mention them in the OP so I assume they're not an option, but what foods do you like to eat? Once you have a list of things you like to eat, look up some recipes on YouTube, where you can see how people cook them.
And eating out isn't always bad. Making a sub on italian bread with deli meats, lettuce, tomato, green peppers, cucumbers and some mayo is delicious, but you can also pay someone to make it for you at Subway and you get the same ingredients as you'd get if you made it at home (since you'd still buy bread and pre-sliced meat at a store anyway). I bring it up because while cooking for yourself is good, knowing what to eat when you can't cook for yourself is also a good skill to have. I suppose there's a reason no restaurant serves a block of cheese on a plate as a meal (just as an appetizer).
I found the above thread to be very helpful when I found myself in a similar situation to the OP.
You need to get that book. "A man, a can, and a plan"
It teaches you very simple recipes based on canned goods and meat and conveys them in a very clear way. As a bonus it's made of thick cardboard, like books for toddlers so you wont destroy it when you spill something on it. As another bonus, it features recipes that say stuff like "pour in half a beer. Drink the other half"
Yeah, those "bag meals" are a good stepping stone if you've done near-zero cooking. Usually only requires a large non-stick pan and some water. Can give you an idea of things to make on your own too - soon you'll be wondering why you can't get your own fresh chicken, add some sauce and veggies and throw them in a pan.
Buy some Progresso or Cambell's ready-made soup. Make sure it's ready-made and not concentrated so you don't have to add water. Open the can, dump the contents into a pan or pot (but not a frying pan). Put it on a stove burner, turn the burner to "Med High" or around 8 or 9 out of 10, and stir occasionally (I usually do once every minute, but that's because I'm slightly OCD, usualy 2-4 minutes is fine. Stirring is basically just to move the stuff inside around, no need for quick or violent stirring, just put a spoon in there and move it around some, scrape the bottom and sides of the pot with the spoon to make sure nothing is sticking). Once it is boiling turn the stove off and take the pot off the hot spot of the oven (usually I move to a different burner that isn't hot). Now you have some hot tasty soup which makes a great fast tasty meal, especially when in conjunction with Sandwiches (or, if you prefer, a block of cheese
Once you're comfortable doing that, buy some Ramen Noodles (in the packages, not in the bowls). You can microwave them, or, as i prefer (and this will help you learn) boil the water on the stove, add noodles (be sure to take the seasoning package out), "simmer" (lower the heat to where it's still boiling, but not to where it's boiling violently and put a lid on the pot) , stir occasionally. After about the noodles are done (take one out with the fork, let it cool for 30 seconds, and eat it, is it the consistency you like? If it's too tough or crunchy, leave it in, if it's too wet or mushy, take off immediately, you can't make it tougher) turn the stove off and take the pot off the hot spot of the oven. The water should stop boiling almost immediately. Open the package and dump the contents into the pot with the water and noodles. If you want, you can drain some of the water *before doing this* which I often do. Now you have a warm easy-to-make very cheap chicken (or whatever flavor you like, I prefer chicken) soup.
Once you've gotten Ramen down, Get some Mac 'n Cheese. Start the recommended amount of water boiling (on the back of the box. While you're reading, make sure you have the milk and butter required to make it). While you're waiting for the water, open the box and remove the Cheese sauce mix. Once the water is boiling, dump all of the macaroni in there. Lower the heat and let it "simmer" again, and stir the contents right away, and then stir "occasionally" again. Macaroni takes longer than Ramen, but again, you can just test it until it's how you want it, usually about 15 minutes for me. Once it's how you like it, remove it from the heat (don't forget to turn the stove off!) and Strain the water away from the macaroni. The easiest way to do this is to have/buy a "noodle strainer" and then you simply put the noodle strainer in the kitchen sink (if it's the big kind) or hold it over the kitchen sink (if it's the handheld kind) and dump the entire contents of the pot/pan in. The water will flow out through the holes, but the macaroni will remain. Then carefully dump the macaroni back into the pot you just used. The more difficult way, if you don't have a strainer, is to use the pot's lid. Make sure it's a proper lid that is meant for the pot. With one hand, hold the pot over the sink, and with the other hold the lid on the pot, but not centered on the pot, tilted to one side so that there is a small opening on both sides. This opening should be large enough to let water out freely, but small enough to keep the macaroni in. Slowly and carefully (while maintaining good pressure on the lid) tilt the pot/pan until the water pours out. Slowly increase the tilt until the water pouring out is reduced to a trickle, at which point you may re-upright the pan/pot. After straining it, put it back on a cool part of the stove and add the milk, the butter, and the sauce packet like the back of the box says. Stir until it is fully mixed and the butter is melted. Now you have tasty Mac 'n Cheese! This can often be used to serve two, or for two meals for one. Especially with Hotdogs (see below).
As an addendum, you may cut up some hot dogs (usually 3 for me) into slices (or pieces, whichever you prefer) and microwave them. Usually, I microwave for 25 seconds, then stir them up/flip them over, and microwave again for 25 seconds. You add the hotdogs in when you're adding the milk and cheese and butter.
Now that you've learned the complexities of those, it's time to move on to meat. Buy a pound of hamburger meat (It can be "ground chuck" if you don't want to spend as much money) and whatever flavor of Hamburger Helper you prefer, make sure to look at the back and get any milk or butter requirements for making it. Store the meat in your refrigerator. Now it's time to use the Frying Pan! Put the hamburger into the frying pan and turn the heat on to around "Medium" or about 6 out of 10. Before the pan gets very hot, mush the meat up and make it cover roughly the entire bottom of the pan with a Spatula or Egg turner (whatever you call them). Wait until you hear it sizzling for a little bit (maybe 45 seconds to start out until you get comfortable with how long it takes. Warning: the pan gets progressively hotter for around 5 minutes, so it'll take less and less time. The usual time is honestly more like 2 minutes, but I don't want you to burn it). Stir the meat up and try to get it to flip over, note, the hamburger isn't supposed to be one big piece, it's supposed to be a bunch of small ground pieces of "ground" meat. The desired goal is to get the meat brown instead of pink. Wait another 45+ seconds, and stir and flip the meat again. Repeat a few times, and "chop" up any large clumpings of meat that are bigger than maybe one inch on a side with the spatula. Do this for maybe 15-20 minutes, make sure you meat is thoroughly brown (cut up any largish pieces you have and ensure that their center is thoroughly brown). If there is grease that is still sitting in the pan, strain it off using the second method of straining (not a strainer), except it is recommended that you pour the grease outside or, if you must down the drain, turn the hot water on first and leave it on while you do so. You may lose some meat, but not very much. Now, follow the back of the box with what to do, since you know what "simmer" and "stirring occasionally" mean. Cover, of course, means to put a lid on it...Now you have some delicious Hamburger Helper! This feeds 2-3, or is good for 2-3 servings for yourself. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can open a can of vegetables (usually I prefer corn or peas), drain it of water (by leaving the lid on top once you open it, and holding one finger on the center of the lid to hold it in and turning the can upside down/tilting the can over the sink). Add this before the "Simmer" step.
Buy a pound of hamburger (or ground chuck) or a pound of ground sausage (I prefer Italian for this), or, if you're feeling crazy, a pound of each. Buy some spaghetti and any spaghetti sauce you want (I prefer Prego, many prefer Ragu) of whatever flavor you want (original is fine). Put a large pot of water (probably 1.5-2 quarts water or more, with the water only filling about half the pan) on the stove. Turn the burner up and begin the water boiling. While you're waiting for the water to boil, brown the meat (sausage doesn't get as brown as hamburger and the cooking time is slightly longer, but it's effectively the same, though greasier usually). If you do sausage and hamburger, only brown half of each (to make 1 pound total) or brown both pounds (if you pan is big enough) together at the same time, and then put 1/2 of it into a tupperware container and refrigerate for future spaghetti-ing. Once the water is boiling, but about half of a small box of spaghetti in there, usually I break the spaghetti in half so that it is all touching water to begin with. If you don't want to do that, then you can wait until the bottom gets squishy enough to get the top in. Once the meat is brown, throw the entire jar of spaghetti sauce in there. Lower the heat to simmering, and simmer for however long it takes the spaghetti to finish cooking (probably max 20 minutes). Spaghetti takes longer to cook that macaroni, but you can test it the same way. Alternately, you can do the "throw it against the wall, it's not done until it sticks" method...but I don't like mucking up my walls. Once the spaghetti is finished, strain off the water and either serve separately (to be mixed when you put it on your plate) or mix together then and there. Now you have delicious Spaghetti! Serves about 3.
TL;DR of it is start small, experiment, and get better. I highly recommend playing around with adding things to base recipes to experiment, and especially adding seasoning to the Hamburger Helper and the Spaghetti.
Other tip: Buy sandwich stuff, crackers, peanut butter, and Jelly. You'd be surprised how much PB can supplement your meal.
Except the results in this case is "YUM!" instead of "hmm, interesting."
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Exactly this
Site's like allrecipes and recipezaar can be helpful in finding things to make. I think they even have mini-cooking class articles and videos.
1) Gather veg. Usually this means:
-a small onion
-half a bell pepper (colour doesn't matter)
-3 or 4 shrooms
-a tomato
-head of brocolli
-garlic (chucks, not diced)
Chop everything the fuck up. Put into into an oiled wok, or pan failing that. Let it cook (covering helps). Ususally medium-low heat works (3-4/10)
2) Whilst veg cooks, put brown rice in a pot with water. Boil until it's soft (taste test).
3) If you have the time, take some frozen chicken, nuke it until soft. Chop it up, put in the wok/pan when the veg is mostly done. Cook until... cooked :P.
4) Put rice on plate, put everything else on top. Soy sauce if you got it.
Bam, stir-fry.
Also, in relation to the above...
Pasta and Stirfry are easy dishes to start out with.
Also, this man is your friend:
You should watch his TV show
Taco Soup (or "It's not chili, dammit!")
1.5 lb ground beef (browned and drained) - optional. It just makes it heartier.
1 can corn
1 can white hominy (don't drain)
1 can yellow hominy (don't drain)
1 can Rotel** diced tomatoes (Original)
1 can Rotel** diced tomatoes (Mild)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans beans, rinsed and drained (black beans, kidney beans, whatever you want)
1 package taco seasoning
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch** dry seasoning mix
Put all ingredients in large pot and simmer for 30-60 minutes (30 for more of a "soup", 60 for more of a "chili"). Stir occasionally. Garnish with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, and/or black olives. However, it tastes pretty good without any of that stuff.
**The brand doesn't matter; it's just the kind my grocery store carries.
I've also realized the rice cooker has a steamer tray. As the rice cooks, I can open a bag of frozen vegetables or dice some fresh ones up and just toss them in the steamer basket for between 5 and 10 minutes. Maybe add some tofu, some meat alternative (morning star frozen 'chicken' strips) or some precooked meats, and some dry spices like crushed red pepper.
Then, once the rice and the veggies are done, I add my sauces, stir for a bit, then enjoy. If you're feeling a little riskier, you can even add the sauce as it steams, and the flavor will cook in more, but it will also drip into your rice and risk burning or making the pot harder to clean.
Seriously, though, it costs around $15 for a sturdy rice cooker, a few dollars for months worth of rice, and then maybe $2 for a sizable bag of frozen vegetables that could last you 3 or 4 meals.
Beyond that, my next step up has been fajitas. Fajitas are essentially just stir-fried peppers and chicken with some seasoning, then placed over some tortillas adorned with refried beans, cheeses, salsa, etc.
Salsa also makes a great cheap snack, just make sure you're getting the right salsa (Pace brand sauces are delicious and come in pretty big jars at a low price; many grocery stores also sell $1 sized bags of tortilla chips. For more fun, combine the salsa with canned chili and some cheese for a more respectable dip).
He teaches you how to make good food.
And also why it is good.
My contribution is two words: Baked Chicken. Throw some boneless skinless chicken breasts into a pyrex casserole dish, top with sauce of your choice (BBQ, Teryaki). Cook at 350° for 35-45 minutes, check for doneness, devour. You will also have leftovers. Learn how to steam frozen vegetables and bake a potato, and you're set for life.
I have generally no restrictions as far as food goes, no money issues, no allergies, no distaste really for anything I've tried so far.
I think, from what has been posted so far, I can put together a couple of weekly meal plans so I can make an easy to follow grocery list, and then shuffle them around every week or so to keep it varied.
How varied are your diets? Do you guys follow meal plans?
Oh - and this was just too funny.
Awesome, easy, cheap, nutritious recipe for quesadillas:
-Flour tortilla
-Shredded cheese
-Black beans
-Salsa, guacamole, and any other goodies you want to add
Open and drain a can of black beans. Fill it back up with water and empty the can into a small pot.
Heat the pot on high and let it boil a bit. After a few minutes, try a few beans and see if they're cooked through and have a nice texture.
Take the pot off the heat, and prepare a frying pan by adding 3 tablespoons of oil and heating it on medium-high (accuracy isn't critical, you just want enough to keep the tortilla from sticking to the pan).
Cover the tortilla with some shredded cheese, add about 1/3 of the can of beans along with the salsa and other ingredients, and fold the tortilla over into a half-circle shape. Flip the quesadilla back and forth until both sides look golden brown and take on a crispy texture. Enjoy.
Truly, a penguin speaks the truth. Boneless chicken breasts are your best friends when you are starting to cook. They're really pretty cheap (especially if you don't care about brand names, and you shouldn't), chicken is good lean meat, and you really cannot screw them up unless you leave it in the oven for like 10 hours. Remember that chicken by itself is really boring, but it tastes good with just about anything.
The other classic simple chicken dish is to bread them. Either make your own bread crumbs (for which a food processor is a good thing, and really you want one of those anyway) or buy them pre-made. Toss in whatever herbs you like, coat the chicken, cook. You can either bake it as described above, or do a simple pan fry with some olive oil.
A few other things:
1. Get a fire extinguisher if you don't have one for the kitchen yet, keep it available.
2. Salt is your friend, but not too much. A little salt makes things taste more. Chicken tastes chickenier, pasta tastes pastaier. Too much salt just makes things taste salty.
3. Learn to make cornbread. It's ludicrously simple and SOOOOOO good.
4. In addition to the good Mr. Brown, I'd check out a cookbook called "How To Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Once you can cook some really basic things, like the steak - potato - veg combo listed above, get yourself some kind of pantry going and stock your freezer and fridge. You're always going to be tempted to fall back on 'block of cheese' if you're forced to choose between that and the mystery can that's been in your cupboard since 2002. Try to eat regularly, because you'll also fall back on block of cheese if you're so hungry that you can't bring yourself to get up and cook. Browse sites like tastespotting and foodgawker - they're just pictures, but probably 90% of the time those pictures lead to recipes, and you can find amazing recipes and great ideas that way. Don't be afraid to fuck up, because you probably will fuck up. It's just food, and it's better to fuck up and learn than to never try at all.
Also good kitchen gear to start out with: a frying pan, two pots (one big one for pasta, one smaller one for sauces/veg/rice, with lid), a colander/strainer for pasta, a 9x9 or 13x9 (or both) casserole dish, a cookie sheet, aluminum foil (saves on washing cookie sheets, great for wrapping foods to freeze or refrigerate), a meat thermometer, a flat spatula, some big spoons or cheap silicone flexy spatulas for stirring. As you get better at cooking - and you will get better - you'll probably want more than that, but for absolute essentials that's pretty much the list. Salt, pepper (in a grinder is best), dried garlic and dried onion will probably get you through the most basic of basic recipes. If you want a list of what I would consider the most essential stuff to keep at all times in your kitchen, I can give you one, and so can most of the people in this thread, probably.
then, while that is marinating, make a box of pasta-helper or something similar (rice-a-roni is also easy) then when the the directions say 'let the pasta sit for 5 minutes for sauce to thicken', pull out your chicken, grease your frying pan, and plop the chicken on it.
you'll know when to turn when the edges turn white. flip it, let it sit for another bit. I check when it is done by touching it with my fingertip, when it feels like the tip of my nose (firm but with some give) I know it is done. If you are still learning how to cook chicken make a small cut in the thickest part of the meat and make sure there is no pink. all white.
take off the pan, I slice it up and put it on top of my pasta. delicious.
you cut it in half because it cooks so many times faster and easier that way. don't worry if one of them is thinner than the other, you slice it all up at the end anyways.
super easy delicious dinner that you can mix up with whatever pasta/rice dish you like, or don't marinate the chicken and eat on the side with bbq sauce.
oh gosh I want some chicken now.