So my cooking skills are very limited and it's very hard to get my grocery bill down when I'm buying frozen dinners all the time. DH and I are trying to lose weight so we need to eat reasonably healthy. I buy bread and do low-fat pb and j, but there are only so many pb&j sandwiches you can eat. Plus, we usually do the sandwiches for lunches and frozen meals for dinner. My cooking knowledge is tiny, but here's what I know how to cook: spaghetti with canned pasta sauce, hamburger helper, shake and bake chicken, and boxed macaroni and cheese. I do have a George Foreman Grill, but all I've made on it is hot dogs, hamburgers, and plain chicken - and the chicken can get very boring. Hot dogs would be cheap but we only eat the low-fat ones so that adds up the price. Hamburger meat is expensive.
The Shake and Bake Chicken is something we like, but it takes so long to cook.. I think we generally like the frozen meals for their convenience. I've read somewhere about people making their own "frozen dinners" by cooking and freezing them in little trays or something. I like that idea but how do I prevent them from getting freezer burn?
I was thinking of getting a bag of frozen chicken breasts and making a bunch of them with the shake and bake seasoning and freezing the extras. I have tupperware, clear clingwrap, aluminum foil, and freezer ziplock baggies. What do I need to do to keep them from getting freezer burn, and how long should they be microwaved for when we want to eat them?
I apologize for all the silly questions, but my mom never taught me this stuff growing up, and now that we don't speak anymore, it's too late to ask. I'm also too embarrassed to ask people at work, so I hope some of you wonderful cooks out there can help me. Thank you!
Recipes/Cooking Tips for a Newbie?
May 26th, 2008 at 08:31 am
May 26th, 2008 at 08:45 am
May 26th, 2008 at 08:48 am
May 26th, 2008 at 08:49 am
We actually started subscribing to "Taste of Home" cooking mags. I have posted quite a few of their recipes on my blog - and many of their recipes are listed free online. We still like the magazine format though and subscribe for a few dollars a year. We copy the best recipes and compile them in a binder. We subscribed to another dinner online publication but I did not like how they picked out all the meals for the week (though did include shopping list, etc.). We like the freedom of picking and choosing. They usually have meals by price, # of ingredients, time to cook, etc. So you can pick what is important to you. We usually just pick anything that looks good!
They just have simple, but excellent recipes. It's a good way to transition to more home cooking.
May 26th, 2008 at 01:08 pm
May 26th, 2008 at 06:58 pm
June 8th, 2008 at 04:51 am
for healthier options (i noticed you and your partner are trying to lose weight) try using tomato based curries instead of coconut.
i really love tandoori chicken grilled - just marinate the chicken with tandoori paste for a couple of hours (or the night before) and then grill it. i usually have that with a salad and a baked sweet potato.
sometimes i just have plain white rice with steamed vegetables, which sounds boring, but is really delicious once you start to appreciate the natural flavours of the veges.