Cooking holds no fears for me. Rarely have takeaway. Wifey usually cooks fresh but I can do it too though I am working on expanding my repertiore. The web is chock full of recipes and it doesn't always have to be expensive. If you follow instructions accurately you will get a good result. Cooked up a chicken curry from scratch from first time last week ('tis quite easy actually). The jars and packets are salt and sugar fests - and it just isn't the same.

It's the sugar addiction which is my downfall.

Kow wrote:

Cooking fresh food will surely work out cheaper than takeaways all the time? And a lot of stuff like stews is throw it all in the pot and forget about it till it's done, so it's not a lot of work. Unless you're doing really fancy stuff then most cooking isn't that much of an investment of either time or effort.

I know it looked like I had them a lot but in general it was one £10 take every two weeks and the odd £4 chippy.

Just gonna look at it as a new hobby, I always go deep on stuff when I think of it like that.

My best cooking tip is to stick some music on, goodfellas soundtrack maybe, and treat it as a thing to enjoy. Helps to have a significant other so it become 'me time' with a glass of wine. Seriously tho, music helps.

Buy nice olive oil and a decent balsamic vinegar. Salad becomes the best thing ever.

Let's not get carried away.

(sorry ds, am trolling hard, stick to it lad, yall be alreet)

nick_md wrote:

Helps to have a significant other so it become 'me time' with a glass of wine.

For me, cooking for two made it worth the effort. I don't get much real enjoyment out of cooking for myself.

Part of my issue is that I need a bigger freezer, so I can properly cook in batches. It used to be that buying for one was expensive, these days it's almost impossible. Everything is sold in quantity. Without the ability to freeze, buying fresh for one results in a lot of waste.

Andy wrote:

nick_md wrote:

Helps to have a significant other so it become 'me time' with a glass of wine.

For me, cooking for two made it worth the effort. I don't get much real enjoyment out of cooking for myself.

Part of my issue is that I need a bigger freezer, so I can properly cook in batches. It used to be that buying for one was expensive, these days it's almost impossible. Everything is sold in quantity. Without the ability to freeze, buying fresh for one results in a lot of waste.

This is very true; I thought my missus was an amazing cook (and she is) until she said she only cooks now because she has someone to cook for.

We have a rice cooker that we use all the time. It makes the best rice.

Yoss.......?

nick_md wrote:

We have a rice cooker that we use all the time. It makes the best rice.

Yoss.......?

DS needs to learn a saucepan, he's already mastered crutches.

MODS

Got myself a crockpot after we've moved (cooking is now my task, used to be B that did all the cooking. I'm mainly pointing out nice places to eat so far). Not sure if that does rice (google says yes but I haven't tried it yet) but it's easy for making chilli's, curries or just slow cooking meat. Chuck it all in and wait, you can even leave the house without being afraid of setting it on fire. A bigger one is easy for batch cooking as well. Or just use it to marinade meat (can be on the bone, it will fall of so easily and is so tasty) that you then use in a salad or put on a sandwich. Got the pot second hand, but it's almost brand new. Like with so many kitchen appliances, people buy it and hardly use it. Was $8,- for a 4-6 person one.

Need to follow up on that a bit more myself as well. As you I found it quite daunting to start with, so just went with 2-3 days cooking and preparing, but now I'll know the supermarkets a bit better and have realized how many different creams there are (half half, heavy, sour) and how expensive dairy is (and that there's no quark at all) I should get to the next step. Batch cooking and having week / menu's. Planning with going 5 days, and make sure I'll have in the freezer for the weekend. In case I want to eat out.

That slow cooker was the best thing I got so far though, thinking of getting a smaller one for cooking rice at the same time. As we only have one car I need to pick up B from work, and I don't fancy needing to do much after we get home (usually around 8pm)

Darko, you will end up leaner, healthier, better skin, eyes that both oook in the same direction, you'll have more cash and be more regular.  You won't know yourself in a few months.

Now that's just cruel.

Can't stand quorn mince. My wife's stopped eating red meat and has bolognese with it. I make a separate one with meat, because I just can't eat that stuff.

Nothing against going veggie and would be happy to eat less meat (don't eat too much anyway), but that ain't the way.