You DID eat a meal you cooked yourself today, right?

Everything on that plate looks dry as fuck

Yes. Chicken breast and a full bag of frozen broccoli that I steamed.

i don't know why people are shitting on your meal OP, it managed to make me hungry at midnight

I just ate a plate of dark chocolate pancakes with protein powder and peanut butter mixed in. Raw, unfiltered local honey as garnish.

yeah what am I 12 this isn't something to be proud of

*meal mogs you*

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>he doesnt know how to cook

10x better than OP but your onions look simultaneously burnt and undercooked

I 2nd this user.
It won't be too expensive if you switch every 2 weeks between services, but remember to cancell.
I didn't really cook 4 years ago. started with meal delivery and eventually was able to transition to making cheap, delicious, less involved meals on my own.

I got into it out of necessity. When I moved away from home, there was nobody to cook for me except me. And I was on a tight budget so going out to eat(except in rare social events) or getting packaged food was not possible unless I fucked myself financially in other ways.
Honestly most of the food I made when I first started cooking was pretty shit and tasteless. I worked at a college food court for two years and learned a lot there. I was moved around from dishwasher to a line server to a grill/fry cook and eventually a lead cook at a Panda Express on the campus. I learned a lot from watching other cooks and the prep people.
If you don't know where to start, just do the basics that you can cook in bulk: rice, beans. chicken(breasts or leg quarters), mixed veggies, etc.
Rice is simple but can be decked out in a lot of different ways. I prefer to cook it on the stove now but used a rice cooker for many years. I tried a few times in a sauce pan but it kept messing it up with sticky rice or not cooked through all the way. Gordon Ramsay explains it pretty well: let it sit once you put the rice in and don't lift the lid. youtube.com/watch?v=Jf75I9LKhvg
Then I moved on to this technique since I was trying to make turmeric rice like in my OP. youtube.com/watch?v=tLiRpUmr8Cg
The key way I do it now is basically:
>olive oil in a pan until hot
>1 tsp chopped garlic
>slightly brown, or until you can smell the garlic
>poor in 4 cups of water(or you can use chicken broth)
>season(I use: chicken bouillon[don't use if you use broth], salt, pepper)
>cover with lid until boiling
>poor in 2 cups of basmati rice
>turn heat down to a simmer(pretty much the lowest setting or slight flame)
>wait 20 minutes and don't lift the lid at all
Ta-da you have some good rice.

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BASED and redpilled

You're better off finding a recipe for something you want to cook and buying the ingredients. Cookbooks can be ok, but be careful because a lot of them are just food porn books that don't actually teach anything.

Your best bet is to learn the basics. Learn how to hold a knife, learn how to saute, braise, sear, learn how to cook a pot of rice, learn how to bake or boil potatoes. Everything you will ever cook is based on the principles of saute, braise, baking, grilling, boiling and frying. Once you have an idea of how to do those things you can start branching out into different recipes and different cuisines. You'll find it easy once you have the fundamentals down. Keep practicing and you'll pick it up pretty easily. I went to a 2 year culinary school and in the first 16 weeks I was taught all the fundamentals of cooking. Everything after that was just practicing the fundamentals in different ways and learning different cuisines. You can easily teach yourself the basics in less than a year at home.

If you're really interested look into The Professional Chef. It's the textbook we learned from at school. It explains the fundamentals better than any food porn cookbook will and it has a fuck ton of recipes that you can learn from as well. You can get a copy on Amazon for like $50. It's a little pricey, but it's the only book you'll ever need

watch any show with guy fieri daily

Carmelize your onions on medium-low you mongoloid.

When you did that realize Crock Pot best are is?

rice, slow cooked pork shoulder, sweet potato

not bad, user.

the average Crock Pot poster, everyone

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>be mentally fucking retarded
>can still cook because all Crock Pots require is putting a bunch of shit in and waiting

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what do I eat before I go to sleep

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>everyone says buying groceries saves money
>get some very basic things for spaghetti to cook with gf
>noodles
>sauce
>mushrooms
>turkey meat
>grated cheese
>cheap bottle of wine
>..
>That'll be $45 please sir

>buying food for GF
>making it

Pick one.

I have a GF but I almost never buy food for her. I live with a gymbro and I buy food for the both of us. We eat fucking chicken, oatmeal, rice, beans, onions, potatoes, sardines, a few assorted fruit, V8 and cheap protein shakes all day every day. Living the fucking dream.

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Spicy cashew pork with sticky rice tonight and tomorrow for breakfast and lunch, my dudes (no pic because it's not too photogenic)

Don't shop at whole foods. Don't buy organic.
I got two week's worth of chicken thighs ($1.69/lb) from Aldi on sale and jasmine rice at $1/lb and I did the math. My meals are anywhere from 50cents to $1.50 at most.

How the fuck do people bulk on tiny meals like this? Are you eating 7 meals a day or something

Yeah I made hotdogs with jalapeno cheese and panfried onions.

Do you ever get leg quarters? My grocery store has them for $0.89/lb and I'll usually get 5 lbs of that. Plus they're pre-seasoned. But all the extra bone affects the price too, it's not all meat technically.

I've heard of people getting leg quarters and keeping the bones around to make broth but that's too much effort me.

>broccoli cooked to hell
>created a burnt crust in an attempt to "sear" the steak
>onions burnt on the outside but still white meaning poorly sliced and thrown into burning oil or butter
>steak sauce
You played yourself

Not today, but my wife made some nice steak and squash for dinner.

I considered doing that too. But chicken bones fucking reek if you don't refrigerate them. I just buy bouillon.

>. But all the extra bone affects the price too, it's not all meat technically.
there's not much bone in chicken thighs at least, dunno about leg quarters.
thighs, it's definitely still cheaper than breasts even accounting for bones.

Yep!

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boneless skinless thighs are way tastier and juicier than breasts. the fat's not going to kill you. you can fit it into your macros easily enough.
BRINE YOUR MEAT for the love of god.

Is that all you eat? Do you take a multivitamin or anything?
Don't know much about nutrition but that doesn't sound sustainable
I have about 15 relatively healthy local restaurants I choose from and spend $15-30 a day eating out, sounds tempting to try to save all that money but I'd probably be suicidal with the lack of variety

is that crisco in the pot?

>brining thighs
No need. The extra fat and the nature of dark meat itself means that it's already joocy when cooked provided you dont burn the shit out of it. Brining breasts is a good idea because there is a very small window between under and overcooking them and brining helps to widen that window. You're better off just seasoning thighs, pan frying and finishing in the oven (or just use a grill for an easier time)

Is that lard? Coconut oil? Margarine?

Cant wait for her to heat me up the leftovers while you're at work tomorrow

Rice, chicken, oats, occasionally pork or beef or pasta for variety. I take supps. I need more cruciferous produce in my diet though I will admit. Haven't made broccoli a regular habit

Coconut oil. Chicken rogan josh.

Are you a chef? I'm honestly impressed by how accurate that assessment of my cooking was. It was a tasty meal but I'm always interested in improving. How do I learn to prepare a better meal?

not him but first off, don't steam the broccoli or whatever the fuck you did blanching all the color out of it, cook it in the oven

literally don't cook broccoli

What u guys eat for lunch, gonna have to make some food, need some suggestions

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i usually skip lunch. eat a small breakfast of greek yogurt with some jam, then eat a yuge dinner.

>tfw eat the same shitty sandwich every day

My line of thinking is to mix and match a protein and a carb.

Chicken with rice
Pork with beans or lentils
Beef with potato.

You get the idea.

>How do I learn to prepare a better meal?
My first suggestion to you would be to slow things down a bit. Half the problems I listed are due to using too high of heat to cook things, especially if you're using butter or low smoke point oils.

If you're cooking with butter, dont go beyond medium heat (medium low if your stove runs hot) because it burns too easily. Same for virgin or extra virgin oils. That just causes smoke which fucks up whatever you're about to put in it.

For the steak and onions, theres a few techniques to get down. First let your meat rest out of the fridge for 15-ish minutes. The colder a steak it, the longer it takes to cook and the more likely your sear becomes a black crust. Pat the steak dry with a paper towel before seasoning too as this gets rid of surface moisture that might fuck up the sear. If you're a true baller, you sear the steak for 2 minutes each side on a cast iron pan then throw that in the oven to finish off. Otherwise just go medium heat with butter or a neutral oil and sear and cook to doneness. And I'm sure I dont need to say this, but let the meat rest a bit after cooking

Onions, just learn how to make consistent slices. This is just a practice thing you'll learn, but it will allow your veggies to be more uniformly cooked. And when cooking them, you can be a little slow with it. Again, dont let things get too hot. Medium-low should be fine.

Broccoli is easy. Just dont let it steam too long. I find 10 minutes to be fine for my taste, which means it's a little al dente. When the broccoli looks vibrant green take them out of the steamer and let them sit out for a bit (they will continue to cook on their own). I wouldn't blanche them unless you're about to use them in a stir-fry or something. Or you can just stir-fry the broccoli for 5-ish minutes anyway

Only kind of meals I eat, user.

>claims to be good at cooking
>steams broccoli

oven baked only

You could microwave it thought.
Really brings out the flavours.

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Roasting is perfectly fine. I just dont do it because I dont particularly like the smell, and if I'm cooking other things, it makes it harder to smell what all I'm doing. Smell is rather helpful when using aromatics that easily burn

Hello Fresh meal kits.
Not even trolling. Their ingredients aren't top notch, but they're good overall and so is their service. They have a wide variety of meals to choose from, with fish, pork, poultry, beef or vegetarian options, and the calories and macros per portion are mentioned.
Their dishes are relatively easy to make, with a step by step cooking plan.
Your mileage may depending on your country, ofc.

maybe im really biased against steaming because growing up (and still to this day) my mother cooks broccoli by putting it in a casserole dish in water and microwaving it. comes out terribly soggy every time and then she eats with with mayonnaise

always hated broccoli until i started oven roasting it

Breakfast: I have my own chickens. 2 eggs from the coop, bacon, crushed avocado.

Dinner: homemade pollo verde, home cooked spanish rice & beans (beans simmered in homemade chicken bone broth. I make them ahead of time and freeze). Plus tomatoes and serrano peppers from the garden.

Doing my best to go all homemade and all homegrown where possible. Too bad I live in Montana where you can't grow avocados.

Chicken breast sauted in olive oil, spinach, and some asian mushrooms i dont remember the name of.

Am I making it?

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>my mother cooks broccoli by putting it in a casserole dish in water and microwaving it. comes out terribly soggy every time and then she eats with with mayonnaise
what on earth

yes yes i know i know. is it any wonder i grew up completely emaciated

That looks gross but whatever it's healthy. If you're living in Japan I don't know how I'd eat regularly. I had a lot of ramen when I was on vacation but that's obviously not sustainable.

Season that chicken man

That's not steaming, that's just turning a perfectly good veggie into an abortion. Good steamed broccoli still has nice crunch and a less bitter flavor than raw which allows it to be paired with a bit of sweet acid like red vinegar or lemon juice

Thank you thank you

Haven’t cooked anything but frozen pizzas in two weeks.

This winter I’m getting 315 bench.

If I were in Japan again and trying to be healthy I'd probably be eating a lot more of the presumably high quality fish.

Throw all your chicken bone in a freezer bag. When the bag is full, throw them in a crock pot and cook on low for 24 hours. Super nutritious bone broth. You can throw an onion, garlic, celery, carrot in there if you want. No need to peel anything because you strain it all out when it's done. Freeze what you aren't going to use right away. Great for rice, simmering chili, beans, soup, whatever.

It was pretty tasty tbqhwufam
I seasoned it with some random asian spices, just says "for chicken" on it, not totally sure what it is tho

Ah, a slow cooker. That's a good idea. Don't you need to scrape the top from time to time? If I remember correctly, that helps keep the broth clean or something.

Needs more spinach. Let the chicken rest outside the fridge a bit, butterfly it, pat it dry with a paper towel, then season it before throwing it in the pan (that looks like it would go very well with garlic, so it's a shame it's not on there). I'm not familiar with those kinds of mushrooms but most ones I know of aren't white when they're cooked, so they are likely undercooked (if that's your thing, more power to you, but I wouldn't have thrown them in the pan then)

Has potential, just needs some guidance and practice

1lb chicken
1lb broccoli
Easy to make. Easy up eat quickly. 900 kcal and good macros

Genuinely good advice, thanks, Ill try this next time

Nah, leave it all in there. Straining it at the end will get rid of all the solids you don't want. If you want you can crack the bones to get more super healthy bone marrow in there. Cook on low for 18 to 32 hours.

I use empty yogurt and other plastic containers to freeze it.

>$9 per serving + $6 shipping.
pathetic. I would honestly just eat out everyday. you're paying prices for if someone prepared if for you, while having to make it yourself

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Most of my meals are derived from potatoes, eggs, onions and mushrooms and herbs. Homecook everything. Poverty fag here. Srs what are you guys doing other than homecooking? Microwave meals and fast food??

Dude, i'm gonna type as sober as possible, that honestly looks fcking pathetic and digusting compared to my meal. and I'm being one hundred percent serious. Sorry we dont cook sht that was perviously in cans. you're a fuking joke dude, and im dead fuking serious. gert areal family that cooks good food, drinks beer and wine and winecoolers and has a good fuking time, and has a milliondollar house on the beach, im seriously.. dont eever potst your fuking poverty dinner on these forums ever the fuk again bro, and by bro i mean never my bro, fuking phaggot.

I miss this old pasta

You sound like a working class chump. I bet you thought it would be a great "investment", how you would wake up to a warm, healthy breakfast to start off your long day. Maybe, you even had a couple thoughts about all the other nifty little uses you could find for the thing, how it would help you cook healthier meals in general, shed a couple pounds off the old gut, boost your confidence around work and with the ladies. Yeah, maybe that slow cooker would start your life cooking again, wouldn't it? I can see your strained hands holding the box and reading through it carefully at the store. A little bit pricey, but you're the type of guy who thinks everything is more than you can spend, aren't you. And look what happened to you. Look what the slow cooker did to you. Fucked you over, and made you clean it like a useless bitch. You don't even fucking like oatmeal. Piece of shit, you've been repeating those three words your whole life, haven't you. Yeah, how was work after that piece of shit fucked you over? I bet it was on your mind the whole day, you probably didn't say shit to nobody. Can't be telling people about your mistakes. How your little fix yourself plan, failed you. Don't want people to start thinking you're the failure. You're the piece of shit, all along. You don't want that do you? You don't want to be the piece of shit everybody secretly whispers about, do you? Was your father a piece of shit like you? I bet he never had a slow cooker. He had a woman, a house, a damn good job. I bet it's slow cooking you the fuck alive, isn't it. Comparing yourself to him. How one day when all the steam runs our of your life, you'll discover how you're nothing more than burnt shit to be scrapped off and thrown in the trash.

Thanks for the tips!

Does making a sandwich count?

Oven roasted turkey, mashed avocado, fresh mozzarella and tomatos, on whole wheat bread.

>avocados and mozzarella
Sounds kinda gross to me, desu. But you do you, famiglia

Avocado and mozzarella are amazing together.
Don't knock it until you try it.

It's also fairly common. Odd you've never had it before.

No I havent eaten a meal in 6 days

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I dont really eat avocado anyway. If it's on something I'm ordering, I dont mind. But otherwise I dont buy it and I dont go out of my way to have it

Avocados are easily one of the most healthy and beneficial foods you can eat. If you really are trying to go for fitness and get healthy, you should try to eat them more.

youtube.com/watch?v=M1PJ9PqpcGA

My parents both worked but we couldn't afford to eat out much and they insisted we not eat pre-packaged meals, so it was someone else's responsibility every night. If you're just starting out and have no one to cook with, I'd recommend starting out with something simple like stir frying chicken breast cut into cubes and vegetables, then move on to more complex dishes. Cook books can also be helpful.

Where are you shopping? Even Whole Foods isn't that expensive.

did you sousvide the steak?, your sear looks very dark what did you do to it?>

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Nope. My work provides all meals, i work 12 hr shifts.

When im on break i cook though.

google a recipe of something you want to make. when u find a good one make that dish. that's pretty much it

yes but i dont do any complex shit that takes hours to make

Not yet but it`s on the cooker. Just finished training.

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this sounds good, capped
continuing the theme, here's how to make delicious mushrooms
>chop 4-6 mushrooms into around 8 chunks per shroom
>put in a pan with a small splash of olive (or whatever) oil, about 2 teaspoons of garlic paste, 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard (the kind with the seeds not the smooth kind) (the mustard is optional), and the juice of half a lemon
>sautee on low heat until the mushrooms have reduced in size and are a dark brown colour
et voila
is absolutely delicious with pretty much any plain meat or carb, my favourites are with roast chicken, steak or mashed potatoes.

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