How are you at cooking?

Cooking, finances, shopping and any regular tasks that are challenging

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firemonkey
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How are you at cooking?

Post by firemonkey »

Re daily life skills: How are you at cooking? I’m very much a chuck it all in one frying pan/wok/casserole dish/saucepan merchant. Too many instructions and timings and I can get thrown. Another big problem organising myself to prepare a menu plan and buy the ingredients.
Dan
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by Dan »

Remembering to buy the ingredients is indeed a trouble I have too, so I always keep a list on my laptop that I update as soon as I think of something. I accidentally ordered an insane amount of oil last time, ahaha, as well as tonnes of fairy liquid. Oh me.

I actually just recently started cooking more, and it's quite therapeutic, as it's really not as hard as I thought. Obviously, I'd never manage to flip a pancake, but I do love my salmon fillets, and they can be frozen, so that's awesome.

What I struggle with:
1. Peeling vegetables and potatoes. In fact, I just cook potatoes with the skin on, as I don't really mind it so much, lol.
2. Turning some things over in a pan. To be honest, I'm normally just cooking for myself, so I just use a spatula and my hand to flip things - it's a bit of a gamble for my skin though! Still, the worst that's happened is that it hurts a bit and then goes away, haha. I can flip things like fish fingers, bacon, etc. with a spatula, but salmon fillets, a food I adore, is a little heavier and floppier, so it's fairly difficult to negotiate a truce and flip it.

One thing I do recommend is that eggs can be done in the microwave. They're not as good as fried scrambled egg, but they're fairly close. It's quite easy to do, and to be honest, you don't even need to add milk or water if you don't want to complicate matters. A little salt is quite important though, and I tend to add a bit of butter too, because fat is yum. I've tried adding cream cheese (like Philadelphia) before, but it was a little bit of a failed experiment. I do think milk is the best with scrambled eggs though. It bulks it out and makes it less omelette-lite.
jelly1000
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by jelly1000 »

Not very good. It takes me forever to chop food so something supposedly basic like spag bol is v difficult for me. I find pre- prepared meat with sauce, pre chopped potatoes with garnish e.c.t although a bit more expensive a lifeline. Currently enjoying being back with my Mum who cooks dinner every evening though.
firemonkey
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by firemonkey »

Chopping and peeling veg is a major problem for me. I have those pasta in sauce or microwave rice rather than potatoes. I hardly ever have veg as balancing cooking the frozen veg and the pasta/rice just seems too difficult.
Tom fod
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by Tom fod »

Tim

Have you considered pre chopped/frozen veg. I must admit I buy the microwavable rice pouches as I value the convenience since I don't have to juggle manage timings so much but appreciate it is an expensive way to buy rice, though it is way easier for lots of reasons including washing up!

The other pain is if you live alone buying fresh seems to mean quantities are way over what you can use. I'll often do a jacket potato in the microwave. or boil enough for a couple of days and reheat mash etc
Tom
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With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
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firemonkey
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by firemonkey »

Tom. I've got one of those big bags of frozen veg. My issue is cooking the frozen veg and microwave rice together. I don't fancy juggling electric ring,oven and microwave. I would prefer to use the microwave for both rice and veg but not sure how to do them together.
Tom fod
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by Tom fod »

Tim

I don't think you can. Microwave I guess you cd cook veg then put rice in immediately after as individual portion rice packs usually just need 2 mins.

I must admit I was scared of Gas hob at first
Tom
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With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
allesandro
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by allesandro »

I'm rather good at it when I want to be: that is, when I have guests. I'm not rather good at it when I'm not motivated.
Xam
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by Xam »

I'm trash at cooking.
When I want to eat "healthy" food, all I do is slicing some cucumber and putting some feta on it, point.
I guess I could be good at it if I tried to. But I don't care that much.

However, speaking of food : I tend to have an habit of binge-eating, which makes me cook even less. And that's a problem.
RedRevolver
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Re: How are you at cooking?

Post by RedRevolver »

It depends on how I'm feeling and how good the recipe is. I need to have all the right equipment too, I'm not very good at 'making do' in that respect.

I find American pancakes best for flipping, as you only need a spatula. Plus, they can be really yummy with lemon and sultanas in as you fry. Nom nom nom...

I did go through a phase of making fantastic cakes! Like Delia Smith's triple-layered lemon cake covered in white chocolate frosting. So good.
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