To the cooks out there...help me!

[finn's mom]

Seriously, it is just not in my nature to prepare meals daily for my husband, and I hate it! I love to cook and I'm good at it, which makes it all the more frustrating that I can't seem to get it together.

My brain simply doesn't wrap around the concept of stocking a fridge, freezer and pantry with "basics." It's also a dilemma figuring out what to cook. I really have the desire to make meals at least four times a week for my husband and I to enjoy, but just can't seem to make it a reality!

Recipes aren't really the problem, although I welcome those as well! It's just suggestions on what to buy at the store when I don't necessarily have a "game plan" for the day/week/month. I really just need a push, I guess. :D

[Randi]

It's always a good idea to have rice (I use Basmati), potatoes and some frozen veggies in the freezer. I usually have corn, broccoli and spinach. The above things, you can use with almost any meat.

One of the meals I make often is chicken breasts cut into smaller pieces, I marinade them in olive oil, chili (get the chili with seeds in) and lemon. This I have with rice. When it's almost done, I pour the frozen corn in boiling water for a min. For sauce, you just need very little milk (or cream), which your pour on the pan you fried the chicken on. Very easy. :)

Pasta is also good to have available. Now and again, I cook a huge pot of Spagetti Bolognaise sauce, then freeze it in smaller containers (enough for one or two portions), so when one day you're busy or tired, just take one of those out - and all you have to do is cook the spagetti. Remember to also have some have freshly grated Parmesan, that will go in the freezer too. ;)

Happy cooking! :D

[Karen]

Stock up on some chicken breasts to keep in the freezer, ground meat of some sort (beef, turkey, pork - whatever's one sale), canned tomatoes and pasta, rice - then you can combine one of the proteins with whatever fresh veggies are around in a myriad of ways - in tomato sauce over rice or pasta, baked with one or the other. Spices are good to keep around ... as just using different combination of spice can take a piece of chicken, for example, from "Sicilian" to "Mexican" to "Florentine" to "TexMex" to French - to just about any direction! Same thing with hamburger or ground turkey ... or even a pork chop

If you have freezer space, buying the meat and freezing it in individual portions makes a lot of sense, as it is faster to thaw and you can use as much or as little as you want.

Some stuff canned - tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, etc. are great to have because they last a long time and are inexpensive and flexible ...

Does any of this help?

[finn's mom]

Karen - it all helps, haha. I am a clean slate when it comes to this! ;)


Thank you, both of you!

[Karen]

If you are a really really clean slate, always have on hand flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, corn meal - they keep just about forever if stored correctly! Applesauce in a jar is great to keep around, yummy, baby-edible and grown-up edible, too.
I don't know what's "in season" down there, but keep an eye on produce, some stuff freezes really well, others - like "winter" squash (hubbard, acorn, butternut, etc) keep a long time if kept somewhere cool and dry, as do potatoes and onions. But don't buy a huge bag of either potatoes or onions, though they are "cheaper" that way, and it can be tempting. As a small family, you're not likely to use them up before they start to go bad. And you can buy bacon when it's on sale and throw it in the freezer - it's nice and flat, doesn't take up much space, and you can just hack off as much as you want to cook at a time, even when it is frozen.

Because you are in Texas, I know the growing season is much different than ours up here, so pay attention to produce prices - whatever is cheapest is likely in season, and at its yummiest. It's apple season up here, almost - and I look forward to it, as I don't like the tasteless apples we get imported from other states sometimes, but love the local ones. Then again, grandpa had a small orchard, I may be kinda biased!

[RICHARD]

I like to 'cook big' on sundays.

I'll cook extra meat on the grill or, now that the weather is cooling, in the oven!

I've done a pork shoulder for dinner on sunday. A piece of pork steak for dinner. The rest I save for the week.

Maybe pulled pork sandwiches on Monday.

Tuesday? A nice pork/bean soup.

Wednesday I do something to change up the schedule?

A large salad with tuna, olives, shrooms and tomatoes?

Thursday I'll pull out left overs from the days before or a box of Hamburger Helper? a few veggies?


Friday, eat out or grab a pizza, saturday? I don't cook at all!:D

[Grace]

If you have a 'game plan', shopping comes so much easier.

We sit down on the weekend and try to figure out what we would like to eat for the coming week. There are always one or two meals that produce left-overs, thus relieving you from cooking every single night.

Once the menus are determined, you can make out your list for the week - then you know you'll have what you need on hand.

We also have an on-your-own night every couple of weeks. He can have soup or a frozen dinner. I usually do a salad for myself.

[carole]

well not sure i would class myself as a cook, but i have always cooked meals for my family, we hardly ever dine out, or get take out, i love nothing better than eating a home cooked meal, although i do wish someone else would cook it for a change. lol.

I am no gourmet cook, a very plain fish,chicken ,meat and three or four vege type person,. i don't like fancy food at all. I basically have the same thing most weeks, changing the menu a bit sometimes as to save bordem.

Sundays we nearly always have a Roast chicken, i do let the supermarket cook that for me, and do the roast veges myself, in a low fat cooking spray , as to make them not fatty or unhealthy, with greens as well. I never deep fry anything, always use low fat options and eat nothing over 3grms saturated fat

Twice a week in the winter we have homemade vegetable soup, and rolls for dinner, i sometimes make a fruit salad or apple crumble, a weightwatcher one which is much lower in sugars and fats.

I have fillet steak and salad and a few and i mean a few oven fries, about ten for me and 20 for hubby.

I make up a mince recipe , i think you call it hamburger over there, and have them in either burgers or tortillas with lots of yummy salad and a dash of cheese. When i make hamburgers, i just finely chop up some onion, add some paprika and rubbed parsley,grated carrot and roll them with wet hands into balls and flatten, then i either grill them on my george foreman grill or in the low fat spray.

I sometimes make a fritatta a WWatcher one of course.

Hubby has chicken and pasta once a week,and oven baked fish with salad and veges. I have chicken and salad ,or veges. I steam all my veges in my steamer,as to keep the goodness in them.

As you can see nothing fancy here, but all quite good wholesome down to earth healthy meals.

Anyhow good luck, it is easy once you get started and besides when Clara become older you will need to make her some healthy options,so get cooking Kari.:)

[kitten645]

It really is best to plan a weeks worth (at least) of meals and work backwards toward the ingredients. You'll always have to shop for fresh ingredients anyway and along the way you will build up a pantry and your shopping will turn into just fresh ingredients. Everything else will be there. Keep in mind what you already have when planning the next meal so you don't end up throwing away past date goods. I have found it VERY helpful to list EVERYTHING I've got in my pantry, fridge and freezer. It keeps it fresh in my mind and I don't end up with four jars of mayo in the fridge cause I didn't remember I already had some! Good luck!

[Nomilynn]

Check out SOS Cuisine. It's a Canadian site, but the recipes are awesome and they post a weekly action plan, grocery list and budget for you right as part of the website. They also have a large variety of recipe selections, like Budget, Easy, Quick, Gourmet, etc, but once you sign up you can see all the menu's and modify your weekly menu. When you modify your menu, it automatically changes your action plan and shopping list.

I love the site; I've got a personal recipe cookbook going as well so when they give me a recipe I don't like I can replace it with something from my cookbook. Please let me know how you like it!!

http://www.soscuisine.com/?sos_l=en

[finn's mom]

Thanks so much, you guys! This is all going to help! I am definitely going to check out that website, at least to start me out!

[finn's mom]

Oh, man, that site is awesome. Too bad there's not one like that for the US (as far as figuring what's local and the savings and sales, etc). I hope I stick with it, because I think it is fantastic, and really...just what I need! It even tells you what to put in the freezer, when to take it out, etc. I need to have my hand held with this, haha! But, I know there are tons of recipes on Pet Talk that I can replace recipes on the site with, so that's cool...and I have lots of magazines and cook books at my disposal at home. :D I feel good about this and am going grocery shopping with Clara today! I may tell my manager at work that I'm not returning. He will be disappointed, he asks me every time I'm in there when I'm coming back. Makes me feel good that I'm missed, but a little guiltier each time, too. Ugh.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Good luck on telling your manager today! You got a lot of good suggestions, but I thought I'd add a few, since cooking is new to me, too, or at least preparing food for everyone is.

We usually buy lots of fruits and veggies, and I chop up the veggies and put them into plastic baggies in the fridge. That way they are ready for whatever we make- pasta toppings, omelets, fajitas, etc.

We also keep our protein stuff in the freezer for as needed (we are vegetarians which makes it easier since most the protein we eat is mostly pre-cooked). I usually make a pound of cooked pasta and keep it in the fridge to add sauce and veggies when we want to eat some. Also, couscous- I like the taste better than rice and it is done in 5 minutes.

[Pinot's Mom]

Couscous is EASY and always a staple in our pantry. You can put all kind of veggies in it, too. Other things always on hand: wholegrain pasta (you can throw whatever's on hand in that with some Parmesan & ground pepper, and it's a meal), soups, canned tomatoes & tomato sauce, Hamburger (buy the meat, make up patties, wrap them and put them into a ziploc & freeze to be used whenever), boneless, skinless chicken breasts (same-separate, wrap, ziploc, freeze), prepared pizza shells in the 'fridge (can be topped with any veggies, meat, cheese & spices on a moments notice), eggs (anyone can make an omelet & it's not just for breakfast!), cheddar cheese & parmesan cheese, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, onions, green beans (and other veggies, but these keep a little longer), whole grain bread, oats (to be used as oats, as well as added to ground beef for meatloaf), chicken broth...and of course, salt, pepper, garlic, butter, vegetable oil, vinegar, basic italian dressing (the universal marinade). That's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck!

[finn's mom]

Ok, guys! I'm super excited! I went on the website, filled out my profile and went shopping today! The price estimate was pretty darn accurate, which was cool. I am making our dinner right now, and things are going great. My kitchen smells wonderfully, and it's because of food I'm making, I love that feeling. I have always loved cooking, and I have high hopes that this site will help me a lot!

[popcornbird]

Things that I ALWAYS have to have in the house:

Fresh:
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Potato
Green Chilis
Cilantro
Parsley
Fruit...depending on what's in season
Milk
Eggs
Cheese
Bread

Tomatoes and onions are the most important, because a LOT of recipes contain them, and its so much easier if you just have them at hand. Onions last a long time so I just buy a big bag, but I buy tomatoes every week. Green chilis and herbs add flavor to food, so I like having them at hand.

In the freezer:

A few bags of chicken
A few bags of ground chicken...I always keep 1 lb in each bag.
A few bags of red meat (generally in our house its goat, but sometimes lamb or beef)
A few bags of ground beef
Some frozen veggies
A few frozen meals that I keep for when I 'don't feel like cooking'. I generally make them myself (chicken nuggets, kabobs, spinach pie, veggie dishes)...but sometimes I get ready-made stuff.

(I generally get enough meat to last me for at least a month)

Random things I keep in the house:

Olive oil
Vinegar
Basmati rice
Whole wheat Pasta
Flour
Baking soda
Baking powder
Sugar
Yeast
The good old spices that you can't really cook without...(Salt, chili powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, cumin powder, corriander powder, cinnamon, cardamom, etc.) Whatever is needed in your most common recipes...keep it at hand.

I generally plan my meals ahead of time. Breakfast is usually something easy and ready (cereal, waffles, toast, egg, etc.). Lunch...I usually make something for my husband to take to work, and myself, eat whatever I find in the fridge. :p I'm not big on making myself lunch. Dinner is what I usually plan for, and if you're going to be cooking something with meat, I find it really easy to just take it out of the freezer before going to bed. Its thawed by morning...you can prepare, and just forget about it until its time to cook.

Keep in mind that with two adults, you don't need a LOT of stuff, so make sure you get the quantity that you will finish in a week. Fresh stuff tends to spoil quickly if not used. The dry pantry stuff is what should always be around. ;)

Have fun cooking. My husband and I don't eat out often...its more like a treat for us when we do. Its just so much easier to keep track of our health and weight when we know what we're eating, and when you eat out, you generally eat a lot more calories than you would at home.

[finn's mom]

Well, dinner was a success! The potato soup and fish were awesome, and the butternut squash was really good, too, although the texture wasn't David's favorite (it was pureed). I loved it all, though! :)

[Nomilynn]

I'm so happy you liked the website. I just got the email letting me know that my weekly menu is ready for me!! :D