i did some cooking tonight as part of my health kick today, sweep and i went and did some shopping and i thought i’d try a stew so i got some veg and stewing meat and i put it on my slow cooker but as it was cooking i decided to make something else as i had a bit of extra chicken so i cooked the chicken in strips with some onions and mushrooms, boiled some rice, made some paxo and bread sauce and it was done, tasted a bit weird so i’m going to try another sauce next time but all in all a success so after i ate i put the left overs in the food waste bin and put any extras in freezer bags for later 
so i have some paxo and rice on ice lol and my stew is ready so i’ll have that as my next dinner with some yorkshire pudding and paxo.
i thought i could make all of my dinners for the week and keep them on ice in containers so when i was hungry i could just choose something and heat it up in the microwave, like i could save energy doing that as well instead of heating two helpings each i can heat one helping for 2 people etc and the slow cooker is great, i think i am enjoying experimenting just now with food and its saving me money as well, i use to spend a fortune on ready meals and they were full of crap mostly,
my next venture is to try and make the perfect salad, it needs to be perfect though and nice and crisp with a proper sauce, i also like coleslaw so i’d like to make my own of that too.
my biggest problems when doing shopping is the lights in the shops bc they affect me quite badly, my eyes get sore and i was feeling dizzy bc of it, i just wanted out but i waited at the veg and sweep went and got me some stuff then i took it to the counter and paid, i also keep plastic bags in my jacket pockets bc i have an abundance of them and the recent charges on them have made me want to recycle them lol.
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Wow, so people really eat Yorkshire pudding? I thought only people in Charles Dickens novels ate that stuff.
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Good post. Great idea freezing enough homemade meals for a week and then eating off of them.
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@77nick77 its great bc you can do all your cooking in a one day and when you need it you just take it out, defrost and just microwave for a couple of mins and bang its done lol, you need to check if its freezable tho, i need to get containers for the meals tho, that was sweeps idea.
@SnowyOwl1 i am just experimenting on my own just now lol, i have been reading the labels and trying to find some things that are easy to cook, i tried a chow mien the night before but it wasn’t great so its a bit kind of hit and miss at the moment but i still ate it, i am just trying to think ahead about what i like and what can go with it, i can’t follow recipes very much just now but i might check it out for some visual ideas so thanks and my sister and sweep are there for some pointers lol and that helps.
I always figured that if you can read; then you can follow a recipe.What confuses you daydreamer? Most recipes list the ingredients in the order that they are used. And any terms that you don’t understand you can easily look up what they mean online. For example: I kept reading recipes for desserts that called for “lemon zest”. I had NEVER heard of that term before so I looked it up online.I found the answer: lemon “zest” is simply the outside yellow part of the lemons rind. To use it in a recipe you just get a sharp knife and scrape it off. OR use a cheese grater. Problem solved. Another example: A recipe I tried for the first time called for me to “poach” 4 tomatoes. I had no idea what “poaching”: a tomato was. So I looked it up online.To “poach” a tomato is simply boiling a pot of water and putting the tomatoes in it for about 30 seconds, then you take them out and take the skin off which peels off easily from boiling it for 30 seconds.And it softens them a little. I had to teach myself to use a double-boiler to melt chocolate. But you get the idea.
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I’m making a lemon cake for my mom for her birthday in three weeks. I made a cheesecake a couple of times but never a regular cake. But I looked up MANY recipes online and I know I can do it.
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idk @77nick77 i get really confused following it, its too technical,
its weird because i can follow instructions to build furniture and things but they have exploded diagrams and that, i always get mixed up when following a recipe usually and do it wrongly and then when you have finished it looks nothing like the pictures and tastes horrible lol,
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Practice makes perfect. Maybe you are just looking at the wrong recipes. Maybe you’re looking at recipes that a experienced chef or a trained chef would make. If simple recipes are good enough for you then that’s what you’ll do. Because if you want to make certain dishes or meals you can type in your search bar “EASY” beef recipes, or EASY chicken recipes. Chow Mein sounds pretty complicated to me but you did it. Even if it didn’t turn out perfect.
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its just what i know just now, things that i know i like and i will enjoy i think i have a mental list of ingredients in my head that i am trying to expand, if i get stuck i will try and get a recipe book, there was a recipe book for sale at the charity shop on slow cooking i was going to get but i didn’t bc i thought it would put me off lol so i might see if its still there.
@daydreamer
Very cool. I’m glad your giving this a try. It’s a good step.
Just another part of taking better care of your self… and it is amazing how much cheaper it is… and how much healthier it can be.
It’s taken me a year to get comfortable with cooking more often. But I’m glad I’ve been working on it.
Good luck.
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whats your favourite meal?
dont mention the french lol,
i cant eat a lot of spices bc of my condition, i take omeprazole bc of it and i’m taking gaviscon as well, i’ve got dyspepsia so it kind of limits what i can eat.
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I like doing this too. I lived alone for long time so no way to keep the $$$ under control without cooking & using leftovers.
I made homemade pizza tonight. I ended up cutting knuckles almost to bone on can of tomato sauce. I ended up in ER…Hurts but not bad enough to stitch up, needed super glue repair to heal. Cooking is still worth it.
Even fast food restaurants here are running near $8.00 for just regular meal deal + drink…almost impossible to even eat out but fellow diners + good quality is so bad, I can do better at home. Even using the convenience foods is better deal as even the salads have only fried meat offerings sometimes…It’s all junk food at some restaurants. Better off with Hamburger Helper…
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So far I’m all about soups and stews.
But I’m learning more Mexican dishes.
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Yorkshire pudding? Wow!
Keep trying-like Nick said-you have to practice…
Sounds like you cooked a pretty good meal though!
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you get used to shops and supermarkets , it is an alien environment…no pun intended.
take care
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mmmmmmmmmmm…cheese cake.
take care
I’m not a great cook but I love olive oil with my salads. I used to make a chicken salad with kale leaves and drizzle some olive oil on top. Healthy and tasty.
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