Does anyone else struggle to cook?

haha, what would you advice to eat for someone who often burns 6k cal a day

Hi,

Im just learning about nutrition and fitness at work, I could maybe help you with that if you wanted

Your very welcome. Just remember that chicken must be cooked through. My very first job was in a chicken takeaway and they drilled it into us. If your not sure, your better lowering the heat but cooking longer. Make sure there's no pink in the middle!

Thank you for the tip!! Whatever helps to make cooking easier I’m all for

I recently had to return to eating meat which I haven't done in more than five years. It's meant rediscovering how to make that type of food palatable as I've very much gone off the taste. I have bags that I use to freeze individual chicken breasts. I've discovered that I can mix up a few teaspoons of various herbs and spices that I like, pour them into the bag and shake it and the defrosted chicken *** so it gets an even coating. I then make a little foil bag, pour the chicken *** into the foil, seal and cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, open the bag and allow it to carry on cooking for another 30 minutes. It's super healthy as there is no oil, and the spices give it a good flavour. It's easy enough to steam veggies or make a salad to go with it and the chicken itself only takes a few minutes to prepare.

I see as feast for my senses, my supersensitive nose, after what I go through outside

we all have our sensitivities, and avoid those things.

But what about the other end? and use them to give us pleasure

Cooking? I often can't be bothered to even microwave.

[spam removed by mod]

I will share my favourite and very simple receipe, of my own design, where I prepare food in few batches ready to put into oven

Ingredients:

1kg of sweet potatoes, or 1kg of potatoes (Albert Barlett I find best for roasting)

Spices mix, 1tsp of cumin, 1tsp of cinnamon, 1tsp of turmeric, 2tsp of paprika, 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1tsp of salt, 1tsp of black pepper

2 red onions, or 2 white, or 1 of each

Occasionally, to have a change in my menu I add carrots and/or butternut squash

1 halloumi

Occasionally, to have a change in my menu I add tomatoes and/or peppers

Preparation:

Peel potatoes, cut them in wedges, or any other shape that you fancy, to make 1 bite pieces best.

Put cut potatoes in a plastic bowl and empty spices mix on top, by shaking the bowl up and down spread spices over potatoes, or you can use hands to flip them and stir, until you spread spices over all, more or less evenly.

Peel onions, cutting top and bottom away, cut them into 4 pieces, or 5, or 6 :P

Divide potatoes and onions into 4 portions

Spread 1tbsp of olive oil (or rapeseed oil, I switched, it supposed to be healthier) over baking tray

3 portions go into plastic containers and 4^th on a baking tray, spreading them, 1 layer of veggies on tray is best.

Cut halloumi into slices (thinner then 3mm to have them crispier, thicker to have them chewier)

Divide halloumi into 4 portions

Wrap 3 portions in foil and put in a fridge, 4^th keep on a side.

If you decide to add any other veggies follow the pattern, carrots and butternut squash go with potatoes, peppers and tomatoes go with halloumi.

Cooking:

Heat up oven to 180°C,

Put in baking tray with potatoes for 20min

Beware when you open oven, there might be steam escaping, depends of type of oven.

Take out the tray, flip potatoes upside down, spread halloumi slices over potatoes

Put the tray back into oven for 20min

If I want to have it all crispier, I switch off oven and leave it like that for 5min

Beware when you open oven again.

Take out the tray and enjoy.

Next day you have portions ready to put on a tray and roast.

.

I'm trying to batch cook. However, cooking is a forced exercise for me. Too many variables in the one go. Plus, the hypervigilence over hygiene and safety.

but it is probably a lot easier for me then most of us, I have super sensitive nose, like I can tell that oil is hot enough by smelling it

downside is I can tell colleagues at work by smell, and someone with perfume overdose syndrom makes me dizzy if he stoped close to me

or water with lemon juice, pure water means you go straight to the toilet and you are hungry again in 1h

and to stop putting on weight some excercising is advised, I like cycling

and do not eat anything sweet just after other food

Martin said:

too salty add a sliced peeled potato, then remove the potato before the food is cooked - the potato will absorb some of the salt.

good tip, I did not know, it never ends, learning how to cook and I started when I was 32.

Nick Squiggler said:

Cooking for one is difficult,

I agree. it was easier when I had flatmates, they ate what I made and I had lab rats

I find Jamie Oliver's receipes pretty straightforward, maybe try them?

I did enjoy cooking in the past, but I lost my appetite for food for the last three years. Probably is the age, or I have a disease that I do not know. I took all kinds of vitamins, tried natural plants, like CBD oil. Now I focus on quality food because I care too much about my stomach and strive to follow a diet. After my stomach surgery, I realized that food makes you enjoy life if you eat in time and decent proportions.

u had to say toe nails aaaaaaaaaargh 

I do love cooking, but not for myself, I enjoy cooking for other people, it;s completely different, it's giving flavours and creative energy to people I love, that's wonderful. Cooking for yourself is more like cutting your toe nails, needed but not fun.

Yes, I let my wife do the Sunday roast, then I stick all the leftovers, including gravy, into a pie on Monday. For me, at least, the pie is often better!

Yes, but my struggles aren't quite the same as you describe. I don't have dyslexia, but I really don't like coordinating multiple things at once. I find the stress of time pressures in cooking also unenjoyable. I can cook and I can cook well, but I find it costs too much in stress to cook a lot. Since the food will be eaten so quickly I find it hard to justify all the effort! But I DO love food, especially high quality food.

I've found some short cuts now that help - like cooking double and freezing the leftovers (like others have suggested) or having them the next day/day after. I'm glad that my partner is okay with cooking, so sometimes they do it all, but usually we cook together.

I love one-pot meals, and leftovers are a gift!

Of course, cos brown rice is healthy, brown bread is healthy and so brown sauce makes processed foods brown.

it was ok used lots of brown sauce