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I know what OP means about diskling to cook. Too much prep work, too many dishes to wash afterwards.
You don't need to cook 3-4 dishes, 1-2 dishes are enough. I love dishes with rice, vegetables, and meat in the same dish because you have all food groups all at once.
Pasta is really fast and easy and so cheap. A box of 16 oz. pasta is $1, a jar of marinara sauce is about $3 (can't remember exactly right now). Add "U-shaped" sausage for about $5. So easy and less than 30 minutes and you and your wife will have enough to last you for 2-3 meals.
Chicken is about $2/lb. while beef is about $5/lb. Ground turkey is about $3/lb. while ground beef is $5/lb. So stick with chicken (Healthier too!) and lots of vegetable (if you're okay with that).
If you like raw broccoli, yay. Just cut them up into small florets and dip into your favorite sauce (Ranch goes really well). No cooking at all.
Wash dishes as a pot of stew is simmering or a pan of chicken is pan frying. Then you won't be overwhelmed at the end of the meal.
Re-use the same bowl. If you cut onions and use a bowl to hold them until you need to cook them, re-use that same bowl to eat with. When I cook eggs, the bowl I use to stir the raw eggs is the same bowl I use to pour the cooked eggs into. I wipe it clean first with a napkin though.
Good luck. I don't like to cook either because I'm freaking lazy, but I push through that feeling and still cook. It really is satisfying to sit down to eat a meal you just cooked, and it feels good providing for your family in that way.
I just got married so I have my wife to share the chores.
I tried to cook more when I was single, but never succeeded!
Well, noW that you gots yerself a wifey, let Her do all the cooking. (Tongue in cheek JOKE people)
SERIOUSLY cook extra and in bulk. Even a whole roasted chicken will keep for 4 or 5 days in the fridge alone.
Freeze the rest.
Also may be invest in a seal a meal or otger sealing device and bags for it. All dry ingredients can be sealed with an oxygen absorber in a pouch and kept in cupboards. Add water and voila you got a meal. They say you can seal wet ingredients too, but I've never tried.
A whole rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart is,already done for you, and the previous days "leftovers " or "extras" are out for $3.50. You get two leg quarter meals, two breast half meals, and debone the rest and the wings for chicken salad for sandwiches . 4 meal portions and 2 sandwiches easy. Or make soup with the debonings and say rice, diced carrots, onions and celery for healthy soup.
A large chuck roast will provide a few meals.
Side dishes abound.
Just Google "healthy cheap dinners" and see what comes up. Most likely a lot of recipes.
Plan your menu as noted with the sale papers. Buy the BIG bag of rice, you can keep in your pantry dry, or cook several servings and zip lock bag up portions and freeze already cooked.
Buy staples in bulk for your pantry, like beef and chicken and vegetable bullion cubes. They last a long time. One cup water, two cubes, a tablespoon of corn starch and you got instant gravy, for example. And not pay $1.25 for a bag of instant or more for a jar of gravy. Beef bullion cubes in a cup of water only is au jous.
Go EARLY to the store lije at 7 am, they will mark down expiring meats and you can get good deals. Otherwise shop the,sales papers when meat is on sale freeze in a zip lock bag for at least 6 months.
Zip lock bags are your friend. Use them, buy in the bulk pkgs.
Google Google Google, Pinterest for recipes galore. Just do a search.
Also watch what Sunday papers of the month habe the most coupon books in them and pony up for a paper or two to save. Compare to store brand though, store may be cheaper.
Plan, set up your pantry stock and shop sales.plan and you will do well.
Do it together for added romance surrounding a mundane thing like cooking/cleaning up.
May I suggest you master the art of the stir-fry??
It's so easy, uses one pan/wok..and all you have to do is chop up a bunch of veggies of your choice (or just a few) and mix with your favorite form of protein.
Your protein could be tofu, pork, chicken beef, egg--and not much of it.
When done, add in some store bought sauce (there are good ones in the Asian section) and you have a tasty meal high in nutrients and simple to cook.
You could serve over rice or rice noodle if you wish -- or if trying to lose weight, skip the rice or noodles.
All you need is a cutting board, a sharp knife and a wok or pan to cook in. Easy clean up.
Frozen dinners. Cooking is a waste of time lol. If I want something else, go out to eat, but there are tons of good and healthy frozen dinner options and life’s too short to waste time just acquiring the calories I need to survive.
It's already been said in this thread, but -- cook a big batch of something, and warm your nightly portions in the microwave
(and this goes for the slower-cooking breakfast cereals too).
For me (a vegetarian), it's most often a stew of potatos, garbanzos and greens. Or chili. I make enough to last almost a week,
and those kind of dishes seem to get better after they've sat in the fridge for a day or two. But maybe I'll mix in something different too
(like ready-made tamales), rather than have the same dish six days in a row. Or you could fix two recipes at the same time,
and then alternate which one you warm up in the days ahead.
You have already reduced your cooking profile by half by getting married :-), which is what my hub and I have done for the last 40 years, alternate cooking dinner, whoever doesn't cook cleans up. I was a terrible cook when we met but since we were so broke for many years we almost never ate out. We like good food so we both learned how to cook.
Now retired we still alternate dinners. Not many decent restaurants in our small town so still eating at home unless on vacation.
Simple (good) food is fast and easy to make: a protein, a veggie, a starch. Chicken, green beans, baked potato. Stir fry with protein you like, rice. Meatballs/sauce on pasta, salad. Yes I know how to make stews and soups and more elaborate meals and have the time to do that but the OP is young and employed, less time to cook and less desire.
Eating Asian food for takeout is ideal, too time consuming to make at home and the portions are so large you can take-out one entree and split it usually. Whenever possible we make a double batch of dinner and freeze the 2nd. Once a month we make a big batch of our favorite noodle and chicken oven casserole and get 6 dinners to freeze. IMO lasagna is way too time consuming to make at home. Buy frozen at grocery.
Eventually your taste buds will discover that your homemade food is better quality than most restaurant food and you will be spoiled. (Exception for me is good Vietnamese and Thai restaurants).
My dream would be having a personal chef at home cooking the same food we cook now. Oh and a maid.
You can cook in bulk, divide into portions and freeze / store them.
For instance, cook a 10 lb bag of inexpensive chicken quarters in a pressure cooker.
Reserve the stock, and freeze in large ice cube forms. (2"x2"x2" ice cube forms)
Debone the meat, divide into portions, freeze. (I use silicone muffin forms for meat pucks)
Take the bones and scrap and make some more stock in the pressure cooker, rich in calcium.
You can even make chicken rinds with the cooked skin. I microwave them until chewy / crunchy. Dust with salt.
Addendum
Presto 8 qt stainless steel pressure cooker is an excellent choice, and will fit some of the accessories of the Instapot products, as well as 24cm lids from other similar 9.5" pots (Tramontina) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Presto-8-Q...ooker/10771203
As previously mentioned, Tramontina (Brazil) is an excellent product. Note: there are two grades of tri-ply pots. One is just the base, the other is the whole pot (and a bit more expensive). So if you see price discrepancies, check out the tri-ply. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontin...r-Set/19581116
Diameter: 9.344 inches (24cm); lid and steamer insert will fit Presto 8 qt pressure cooker.
{{Great for separating meat and stock cooked in pressure cooker}}
>> CAVEAT re: Tramontina tri-ply<<
USE only LOW to MEDIUM heat. (Which deals with some complaints about hot handles and sticking food!)
Using a high heat setting causes the tri-ply base to become very hot, which may cause foods to stick, burn or scorch if added to very hot cookware. In fact, the use of high heat can permanently discolor and damage your cookware and void the warranty.
IF YoU MuSt RoCkEt SeAr, use CARBON STEEL or CAST IRON pans.
PIZZA
If you have a decent oven, and want to make great pizza - - -
You need a “Baking Iron” or “Baking Steel”
Forget pizza stones (waste of $$$) http://slice.seriouseats.com/archive...ron-pizza.html
And if you can find a steel dealer who will cut a slab of 1/4" steel for you, you can save $$$.
(Depending on your source of flour, etc, you can make a pizza from scratch, for $0.49 to $0.89 per 12" - 14" pie.) https://youtu.be/ldo56hGAzHA
To deal with rocket hot baking steel, you will need a pizza peel to slide the pie on and off. (Dust with corn meal)
Once you get the hang of homemade pizza, you'll never buy overpriced premade again.
Buy bulk. Save a bundle.
(Ex: from Sam's Club)
25 lb. bag bread flour $7.93; $0.07 cup.
Fleischmann's Instant Dry Yeast - 2/16 oz. bags, $4.68 for 32 oz., or 64 tablespoons. $0.07 per batch.
...
4 cups of flour $0.28 + $.07 yeast is nowhere near $1.00.
...
In fact, I can make a homemade personal size 10" pizza for under $1.00 per pie.
...
#10 can crushed tomatoes (102 oz) : $3.22, $0.03 oz.; 1/4 cup is $0.06
5 lb. bag shredded mozzarella : $11.82, $0.15 oz.; 1/2 cup is $0.60
...
Add in miscellaneous spices, herbs, toxins, wine, etc.
(Cheap trick : use jalapeno peppers in place of expensive bell peppers, but adjust quantity to taste - try ½ pepper per #10 can, to start)
I like to make a batch of hot pizza "salsa" by adding processor chopped raw onions, garlic, jalapenos, lemon juice, pepper, salt and spices to the can of crushed tomatoes and store them in an old gallon pickle jar. Due to the acid, salt and other ingredients, will last for weeks in the refrigerator without spoiling. (If you see "fuzzies," time to chuck it.)
I use the "salsa" as pizza base, spaghetti base, and Ramen noodle base.
(Swap basil with cilantro for a more Mexican salsa)
But, I don't know how successful you will be. You've said you and your wife are picky, don't like to cook and don't like to do dishes. There isn't much left except to eat out. So, maybe you were hoping everyone here would tell you you should just eat out?
Unless you want to just buy frozen dinners you can microwave and throw away the packaging, there really isn't any other option than actually getting out pots and pans and dish soap. Good luck.
Frozen dinners. Cooking is a waste of time lol. If I want something else, go out to eat, but there are tons of good and healthy frozen dinner options and life’s too short to waste time just acquiring the calories I need to survive.
No, OP gets the vapors from frozen vegetables. No way is he eating frozen dinners. He has too many conditions to get any real help.
No, OP gets the vapors from frozen vegetables. No way is he eating frozen dinners. He has too many conditions to get any real help.
Yeah, I think you're right. I just don't get all the angst about cooking. It's a basic life skill that every adult should have. Invest a little time to learn the skill. You don't have to be a master chef, but you should at least be able to prepare a few meals. Doing it most every night just requires self discipline, another valuable adult life skill.
And not wanting to clean up after you've cooked? Boo hoo. 15 minutes cleaning up is too hard? Sorry, another adulty thing.
It kinda sounds like the OP just wants their fresh, Asian food to just magically appear without any effort on their part. Not gonna happen.
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