Cooking

[Morgan C]

I've been on a really healthy diet for a couple months now (no dairy, no processed carbs - this includes white rice/pasta and of course any sugars.. altho I fail on the latter often, but in very small doses), mostly to clear up my skin (which is working).. and to stop myself from going insane just having toast and eggs all the time I've slowly been learning to cook. As a bonus, I've been counting my calories (for weightlifting.. I'm loathe to call it bodybuilding when I'm still so skinny and don't ever want to be 'big'), and finally have broken my weight plateau and am gaining weight at the perfect amount for minimal fat gain.

Unfortunately at the moment my cooking skills are limited to putting on some brown rice/pasta and frying up some meat, maybe putting some spices and olive oil on, but the other day I tried following a recipe for a stew that came out pretty decent (with help from mum + sister XD). I suppose its better than last year when my cooking prowess consisted of
1) boiling water
2) unpackaging 2minute noodles
3) putting 2minute noodles in microwave for 2 minutes.

So, what are some recipes that you guys use, for those of you that cook? Preferably something that only takes like 30 mins or so to cook because by the time I think of cooking something I already starving.

 

[Sam Bottner]

I don't really cook much, but one thing I make for my family sometimes is just dijon mustard, olive oil, salt/pepper, garlic on chicken and then just like fry it up/grill it or whatever you're into. Takes very little time if you don't have to make much.

 

[JayB]

Tip 1) Don't use microwaves. In 20 years microwaves will be our generations cigarettes where all the old folks will be like " We had no idea they could give you cancer and kill you!"
Even though they tell you not to stand in front of them... and it's called "nuking" food lol, people still use them haha. Plus they make all food taste like utter shit
/end microwave rant lol

 

[narcossintese]

You can make a sukiyaki in less than 30 minutes and it is pretty healthy (and delicious!). If you have access to japanese ingredients I can teach you.

 

[JayB]

Chicken and yellow rice is pretty easy to make and that shit is awesome

 

[XnaySaturo]

Tip 1) Don't use microwaves. In 20 years microwaves will be our generations cigarettes where all the old folks will be like " We had no idea they could give you cancer and kill you!"
Even though they tell you not to stand in front of them... and it's called "nuking" food lol, people still use them haha. Plus they make all food taste like utter shit
/end microwave rant lol

How do grade 10 physics??? -_()_- Bunch of fail right there imo.

Just get a cookbook and try anything that looks good. Experiment. Can't be too hard, just follow the instructions! There's plenty of books that are specialised for healthy eating and stuff like that. I really like to cook desserts. My #1 recipe is blueberry almond maple pie.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

I'm assuming you live on your own.
Try to figure out things that will cost less than $5/meal to make. Hint-it won't be pre-packaged. Rice and pasta are good to start with.

Spending $20 on a rice maker allows you to save $100s on rice rather than getting instant rice.
Go to Costco and get a big tray of ground beef. Portion handfuls into sandwich bags and freeze. A handful is about 1/4lb and 1 per meal is enough for 2 people.

Cheap goulash $3 to feed 2
Pasta
1/4lb ground beef
1/2 small onion
2 cloves garlic
Can of diced tomatoes
brown the beef with onion and garlic. Dump in the tomatoes and let it simmer while the pasta is cooking. Stir together, add salt+pepper and cheese if you want.

Spaghetti - can of pasta sauce + onion + garlic + teaspoon sugar + ground beef (optional) + packet of hotsauce (optional)

Wraps are easy and fairly inexpensive and nice when it's hot.

Burritos are easy too. Tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese, ground beef with half can of refried beans and some leftover rice + taco seasoning package.

If you have a blender you can make smoothies - Orange/cranberry juice, fresh berries/fruit (or canned peaches/mangoes), ice - super quick healthy breakfast or afternoon snack
If you can get them cheap, Pitas or baguettes give you more options

Preferably something that only takes like 30 mins or so to cook because by the time I think of cooking something I already starving.

I'm the same way. Luckily my wife keeps me from starving to death!

Make a food calendar with Google Calendar or iCal so you remember to take meat out of the freezer the day before you need to cook it.

 

[JBroll]

Tip 1) Don't use microwaves. In 20 years microwaves will be our generations cigarettes where all the old folks will be like " We had no idea they could give you cancer and kill you!"
Even though they tell you not to stand in front of them... and it's called "nuking" food lol, people still use them haha. Plus they make all food taste like utter shit
/end microwave rant lol

A better tip would be to learn how to use (and how not to use) microwaves and how to not miss the important bits of high school physics.

A common question should be "Can I make this myself?" How many people do you know who spend $3-4 on a loaf of bread, a jar of 'mayonnaise' that's more suited to paint fallout shelter walls than dress sandwiches, or some bottled salad dressing? (If you're one of these, there's $10 down the drain in just one sentence.)

Jeff

 

[26]

I think it's important to get rid of any wrong respect for recipes or cooking in general.
Getting a feeling for timing when frying meat or cooking vegetables is important, first of all.
There are only so much ingredients (that every country uses in different combinations), - so just having a close look to the food you like in restaurants, combined with some basic knowledge about spices will tell you a lot.

 

[GarethSE]

Fuck with spices, seriously.
A good spice rack is your best friend.

 

[Morgan C]

I'm assuming you live on your own.
Try to figure out things that will cost less than $5/meal to make. Hint-it won't be pre-packaged. Rice and pasta are good to start with.

Spending $20 on a rice maker allows you to save $100s on rice rather than getting instant rice.
Go to Costco and get a big tray of ground beef. Portion handfuls into sandwich bags and freeze. A handful is about 1/4lb and 1 per meal is enough for 2 people.

Cheap goulash $3 to feed 2
Pasta
1/4lb ground beef
1/2 small onion
2 cloves garlic
Can of diced tomatoes
brown the beef with onion and garlic. Dump in the tomatoes and let it simmer while the pasta is cooking. Stir together, add salt+pepper and cheese if you want.

Spaghetti - can of pasta sauce + onion + garlic + teaspoon sugar + ground beef (optional) + packet of hotsauce (optional)

Wraps are easy and fairly inexpensive and nice when it's hot.

Burritos are easy too. Tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese, ground beef with half can of refried beans and some leftover rice + taco seasoning package.

If you have a blender you can make smoothies - Orange/cranberry juice, fresh berries/fruit (or canned peaches/mangoes), ice - super quick healthy breakfast or afternoon snack
If you can get them cheap, Pitas or baguettes give you more options


I'm the same way. Luckily my wife keeps me from starving to death!

Make a food calendar with Google Calendar or iCal so you remember to take meat out of the freezer the day before you need to cook it.

I don't live on my own, so cost isn't THAT big an issue but still something to consider. Also, we don't use instant rice, can't imagine what that'd taste like. But rice in the microwave is fine, takes 25 mins for brown rice but turns out decent. I'll have a look at those other things you listed in a bit.

I pretty much need to just mess with some veges (I ignore them when cooking cos I cbf but I know how to make em, shouldn't be hard). The only thing I really need to know how to make are some sauces to go with rice/pasta and the meat+veg I can already make. Preferably not prepackaged/processed as unfortunately 90% of 'healthy' preprocessed options are complete shit.

 

[amarshism]

Ok. My kinda thread. Tell me what food you like and I'll tell you some sweet recipes. Excellent for training. Food is so important when you're trying to make lean gains. My previous two professions were chef and semi-pro rugby player so I feel adequately qualified to advise.

 

[Morgan C]

Ok. My kinda thread. Tell me what food you like and I'll tell you some sweet recipes. Excellent for training. Food is so important when you're trying to make lean gains. My previous two professions were chef and semi-pro rugby player so I feel adequately qualified to advise.

Ok, I really need to be studying so that's why I haven't really read everyone's responses thoroughly.. so I'll answer this and then go study >.>

Any meat is good - chicken, beef, lamb preferably, not a HUGE fan of pork its either hit or miss. Bacon is fine though. Fish is also hit or miss.
Brown rice/brown pasta/wholegrain bread I eat for carbs.
Love eggs.
No dairy (see OP).
Veges.. Mum cooks a lot of thai-style curries and meals, so anything along those lines. Lots of greens. Also the traditional stew style veges - potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, etc.
I despise - mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicums.


For example, I just earlier made some brown rice with some lean beef burgers I found, chopped them up cos they weren't cooking well in a pan. Put some spices on that. Woulda been nice to have some sauce/veges to go with that.

 

[JBroll]

If you're using the microwave for rice cooking, think about a good steamer/rice cooker/slow cooker/brooding kitchenpiece of doom/whateverelseyouwanttocallit just to be safe.

If you're not living alone, getting a few hands together to make a simple risotto (see the Good Eats episode) can be well worth it - very cheap, tasty, filling, and the 'sauce' happens on its own. Another option is to consider stir-fries - when done right these can be great, but there's a bit more to the 'when done right' than there seems to be at first glance. In some meals you won't even need to go out of your way to make a sauce; for the rest, these should cover most of what you need.

EDIT: If you were cooking your burgers in a pan, there's a good chance you threw away a good sauce base without even realizing it. END EDIT

For vegetables, consider making salads regularly - figure out what ratio of olive oil to vinegar you like on your salads, toss in some salt and pepper (and whatever spices you grow to like in there), whisk, and toss into some salad. Toss small cubes of day-old bread into a mix of olive oil, spices, and perhaps some vinegar (again, play around until you like something) and put them on some foil or a baking sheet in the oven at 350 until they're brown. (If one side starts to come out soggy, nudge them around every 7-10 minutes - you'll probably only need to do this once, but it makes a huge difference.)

Learn how to do at least a bazillion things with an egg. They are *absurdly* versatile.

Finally, watch cooking shows that aren't made for snooty rich twats until you reach the point where you don't need to look in a recipe book or online to make something fun with what you have. Don't pay attention to the recipes any more than you'd mimic presets - figure out why things work (Good Eats is great for this) and dive in.

Jeff

 

[JMarz]

Reading this made me hungry..

Alas, cook up some chili ramen, wrap in a tortilla, eat. Fucking delicious.

 

[SocialNumb]

I came in looking for a sandwich but something is wrong here. The wrong gender is in the kitchen. It's like opposite day. Cue Twilight Zone music.

Kidding of course.

 

[Notuern]

Kidding of course.

I so agreed with your post until i read that part.

 

[Morgan C]

I'll be coming back and rereading this thread again and again but obviously I can't take it all in at once.

Woke up late today, was gonna just make some rice+tuna but then there was bacon waiting to be eaten so I made some fried rice.

1cup brown rice in the microwave for ~23 mins, while I cooked 8 slices of bacon. Then the rice went into the pan along with 1/2 a leek and 4 eggs, then I chopped up the bacon and popped that in. Some olive oil + salt/pepper and done. It turned out pretty fkn good considering I was completely winging it, but the egg sorta made everything a bit soggy - not sure how to fix this for next time?

One bowl of that is only 400 cals.. I had 1 and half and I was completely stuffed. So 600 cals and I need another 2000 today. I have no idea how people struggle to lose weight (can understand gaining it in the first place, fast food kills).

 

[iHate]

push the rice to the sides of the pan, like make a hole in the middle or push rice to one side, fry up the eggs, then mix

 

[JBroll]

Right, the eggs should get fried *before* getting mixed in.

Stir-fries can be very flexible - once you have a bit more practice, familiarity with the ingredients you'll want to use, and *the habit of preparing everything before the first thing goes in the pan*, a dish assembled from 'winging it' can be expected to be anywhere from good to amazing. Keep at it and it'll only get better - especially when you start picking up more fresh vegetables and trying to find new ways to use them.

EDIT: A secret to stir-fry success (since your rice, although pretty, does look a bit clumpy)... cook good rice (although you want to avoid white rice, consider using it here) with a bit more oil than usual and freeze it overnight (or longer) so that the grains will stay defined and not become a big mush with occasional texture mixed in haphazardly.

Jeff