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AudioGames.net Forum → Off-topic room → easy meals to get started with cooking your own food?
so as a few people on here know, I've been extremely busy as of late.
One of these reasons is because I've been getting myself a new apartment, and last night was the first night I spent there.
To keep matters short, because I'm very tired, what foods do you think I should make, asked by someone who's never made anything more than porrage and the occasional egg.
Quick responses are appreciated.
Hi Lord Lundin.
First off, I'd recommend starting with easier stuff to prepare, some instant stuff you can just chuck in the microwave or in the oven. Some of that sort of thing can be down right nasty of course, but some can be extremely nice, as well as being practical, eg, the local supermarket here do some lovely shepherd's pies that Mrs. Dark and I are quite fond of even though you just need to throw them in the oven.
once your okay with that, move on to trying different pieces of equipment.
personally, I use the George forman grille to do bacon, burgers etc, I make some things in the oven such as fishcakes, I use a slow cooker (also sometimes called a croc pot), to make things like chilly or stew, and recently I've got an electric steamer which is wonderfull at preparing steamed vegetables.
The thing I do least is use the actual rings on the top of the oven.
I rather like using jars of cook in sauce particularly in my slow cooker, and I have started doing stir fry, though that does take a bit more coordination and isn't something suggest if you are just starting off.
Generally don't be afraid to short cut and try things out and you should be okay.
Oh, and a decent set of oven gloves are absolutely %100 needed.
I confess I am not the world's greatest cook. Part of this is practical, since doing things like cleaning fresh vege can be a pain if you can't soee so it's easier to buy pre prepared stuff, part of it is that I confess I am lazy, and part of it is provided you don't go dirt cheap it's quite amazing how nice a lot of very instantly doable things are, for example, while the instant mash potatoes of the add milk and rehydrate variety are pretty grotty, there are some absolutely amazing frozen mash potatoes out there that really rock!
~Similarly, why should I bother struggling to carve a full roast turkey or chicken joint myself when I can just buy the joint ready sliced and chuck it in the slow cooker for six hours?
I'll say one thing which amazes me sometimes is now I am actually cooking for both of us, given that it's me! rather than mrs. Dark who cooks, I was quite surprised how easy things have turned out, though then again since Mrs. Dark and I tend to have pretty similar food preferences, eg, lots of cooked things, no salads that is another thing which just worked out better than I could have imagined.
I would recommend getting a NuWave oven and/or cooktop, but I don't know if they're available in your country. The Instant Pot is nice too or so I hear.
@Dark
No thanks, the last time I had a microwave meal from Asda here I was violently ill. Then again at least for me I'm a few moments walk from a butcher and a baker. No word on a candlestick maker though 
@LodLondon: I'd say work your way up to an induction hob or a talking one of those, I believe they exist in Scandinavia.
Either way, try this:
1. Things you need: Two slices of bread. Bag of prawns
2. Method:
A. Toast brad in toaster
B. Defrost prawns, spread over toasted bread
C. Add sauce of choice and enjoy.
Other things that are somewhat easy*
1. Jacket potatoes, you should be able to get them ready to microwave in a shop, you don't need anything in them and they are good
Sandwiches. I know....I know, but sandwiches are easy to make and good, especially if you get creative with what you add in it. Scooby Doo, anyone?
Lastly, try this:
Get tortillas/nachos (Doritos will not do)
Put them in a bowl, add cheese, place in microwave for ten seconds
Allow to cool for a few moments, the bowl will be red hot if done right. Now, carefully take it out and set it down, you'll have a mass of melted cheese and nachos. It's another good thing to snack on if you're feeling lazy.
Oh and one more: Try this:
Ingreedients:
1 Jacket potato
1 handful of cheese (your preferred type)
1 tin of tuna fish,
1 can opener
Method:
1. Carefully find where the jacket potato is sliced, it should peel apart into two sections
2. Take your handful of grated cheese and put it into the middle of the jacket potato so it coats the inside of it
3. Do the same for the tuna fish.
4. Microwave it for approx a minute (depending on microwave)
A jacket potato with tuna and cheese is very, very good...
@Dark (again): I dunno where you're shopping but the microwave meals in this bit of Wales put me off the stuff forever....the States is little better.
EDIT: I believe there's a site with beginner recipes out there, have a sniff around online and don't be afraid to bookmark links on your computer to go listen to them again.
@Draco the moral of the story is, don't buy cheap stuff from Asda 
.
when I said "instant stuff" I didn't mean necessarily those microwave meals that are say some supposed roast meat, vedge potatoes etc, I mean those that are things like risotto, pasta etc, stuff you wouldn't make yourself, though you are correct you need to get from the right place.
Generally these days what we mostly use are things that can be chucked in the oven, eg, joints of beaf, chicken kieves, fish fillets in crumb chicken wrapped in bacon etc.
Indeed, if you want a quick meal that is great that's an easy one, just buy a chicken breast, get two slices of bacon, wrap breast up like a parcel and throw in oven for about 25 minutes on 100.
@Drak, what the heck are those various devices? I have no idea what a new wave oven or those things are, perhaps some more information might help here.
The NuWave oeven is a rather small, compact oven that uses conduction, convection, and infrared to cook food. It beeps and has actual buttons instead of a touch screen so is very useable.
The NuWave cooktop is a small induction cooktop. This also beeps and has buttons.
A really easy fresh meal for one that tastes amazing. Get a medium size potato and a carrot and wash them. Chop them up any old way. Chop up half an onion and a bit of cabbage. Put them all in a big saucepan with a handful of frozen peas. Add some water til the vegetables are just about covered. Place on the hob, cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Add one or two beef stock cubes, salt and pepper, stir well. Turn the heat down to as low as it can go and simmer for two hours stirring every 20 minutes or so. Tip it into a big bowl and scoff with a spoon and a piece of buttered bread. Awesome.
Hello.
I would like to inform you that Brad does not like to be toasted. He finds it rather painful.
+3
@Dark: Or any supermarket, I used to years ago get awful stuff from M and S, greasy fatty fish, anyone? Their meals for ten pounds range, ugh.....my agrandmotheer used to swear by those tings....they never ever went off....
But I'd actually argu for making your own pasta as it's a skill you learn that you can apply to baking as well, and let's face it beating the pasta with a rolling pin is relaxing honestly
On my phone again so no edit...
But I'd suggest @LordLondon you take a nose around BBC Good Food, they got recipes roken down by ingreedients, I've used several of them, for my own food.
I'd also suggest buying scampi and cooking it, add in mashed potato in the microwave with butter or margarine, it's good to eat and easy to make. Also, I'd suggest trying this:
I'd also say if you can find those chicken, mushroom whnd whatever pastries, they are easy to throw in a microwave and eat once heated, add in microwave fries, and it's good. Also, slow cookers are useful. Problem is that when I put things in, I never sleep thanks to the smell of cooking food overnight for thinks like steak or chicken or ribs or whatever's in it. Tell ya what, it saves on heating bills for the winter really, heh
@Draco, againjust because your buying something with an easy cooking time doesn't mean it has to be dire, eg grilled fish is quite easy and Marks and spensor do a pretty
I do tend to buy fresh pasta and do a full spag bol in the slow cooker, that pretty good.
@Dark: Not sure if M and S have improved recently, or if it was simply my late grandmother's lack of cooking talent though. I do remember she used to give my family M and S meals, the plastic wrapped ones every so often, and none of us would ever touch them after the first one. I don't know if it's where she got them from, or how long they'd been on the shelf, but at least in the case of the ones she gave away, the fish was rubbery and too chewy, the potatoes were like biting into rocks, and the gravy refused to be poured. And that was after following the instructions on the box.
I'd suggest since Dark brough up spag bol, which is a good dish to have any time of year, I'd also like to suggest prawn seafood pasta, just make pasta or spaghetti, put prawns and tomatoes and whatever else you feel like in it (I go for diced fish personally) and cook it and serve. Or you coudl if you're feeling adventerous try and make a soup recipe.
Then again there's always chilli and nachos honestly too, and oddly enough I actually do from time to time, make my own guacamole with avacado and chickpeas. It actually goes well with tortilla chips, and it's nice on a hot day like today really....
One more that's surprisingly easy is this:
Take a loaf of of bread, and carefully remove the top and put it asid for later. You get off easy this time Brad 
Then, carefully scoop out the inside taking care to keep the walls and bottom of the loaf intact so you end up with a hollow loaf. Then, stuff the loaf with whatever you want, vegetables, cheeses, meats, whatever.
Lastly, put the top of the loaf back on and slice it down, sandwichs, litearally, for days. And it's extremely easy to do.
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