Cooking from scratch all the time/limited diet

Does anyone else perhaps not eat regularly? Or not eat three decent full meals a day due to having to cook from scratch. I'm just wondering if I'm super lazy, or if it's in part because it's just me here so no family to cook for etc.

I love to cook... but it gets to be a bit much. Time consuming. Anyone have any tricks to get out of this habit? I still can't quite do the majority of restaurant food or take-out often, though I did survive two sausage and egg mcmuffins and a hash brown the other morning without intestinal symptoms - but the headache later on and the next day was brutal. Won't be doing that again anytime soon.

I think maybe it's a single guy thing.

TMP,

Great tips. I've been told 100 times by my mother but how funny we don't hear the same when someone else says so. ;)

It so true that those tips are great to make live easier with the cooking.

"Sweet potato hash sounds pretty darn good to!"

recipe pleez cm ???

Mark, if you have any Polish shop around, just try Polish buckwheat groats which is called kasza gryczana (prażona). It is very healthy (also gluten free), a staple food for Polish uc-ers, and extremely easy to cook. I buy it in sachets and when i don't know what to eat, i always cook it. You just put one sachet onto boiling water and cook (under cover and low fire) for 15 minutes. Then put it on a colander and let it "get through" for 2 minutes. It is eaten with fresh butter on top and tastes best when you drink kefir with it. https://www.google.pl/search?q=kasza+gryczana+saszetki&tbm=isch&ei=wBW4U6SWF--g7AbiuoD4Cg#q=kasza+gryczana&tbm=isch

first off, egg mcmuffins and hashbrowns are the bomb!!! i had one flare where all i ate was hashbrowns and ketchup!!!

but i agree with everyone about the crockpot. get one, mark!! they are awesome and you will always have food in your fridge!! i use mine at least once a week and am good for meals for at least 4 days.

and these are AMAZING. i've made them a few times and everyone loves them.

http://cleaneatingwithadirtymind.com/2013/04/26/paleo-bacon-sweet-potato-hash-is-where-its-at/

I love to cook but most of my meals are very simple because we prefer good ingredients cooked simply with a few spices added.

I agree with TMP with cooking extra for next days lunch.
I also juice and have learned to freeze jello shot cups of greens juice so I only have to clean the juicer once a week or less.

I don't eat much for breakfast so that's super simple. Half-caff and piece of toast and elevenses slices of ham and swiss. We keep slicing ham and swiss chunk in the fridge for energy snack, walnuts and pecans also for that.

Dinner is the big decision of the day and a similar week is this:

Day 1 Chicken (boned) breast sautéed with the herb of the day (basil or thyme) and white wine and olive oil, green veggie usually boiled and butter and salt added when done. Sometimes add a potato, mashed or stovetop fries (homemade). Make extra chicken for lunch.

Day 2 Hamburgers, 1/4 lb each. Sometimes the hamburger becomes taco salad with lettuce and guacamole. Spouse has onion and tomato on his. This takes 20 minutes top, most of the time is chopping lettuce and smashing avocado. Sometimes the hamburger become meatballs with gluten-free breadcrumbs and feta cheese, toaster oven baked.

Day 3 Veggie day for me and spouse has seafood (I quit seafood months ago). Yellow squash for me or green beans (for both of us) and maybe a potato. Veggies fill me up so 2 is my limit.
Squash on a tray in the oven, baked then broiled at the end for crispiness (yum) it actually tastes sweet. Cooked spinach or carrots are also faves.

Day 4 Chicken salad. Boil chicken breast (10-15 min) early in day and put in fridge to cool. Do the same with a couple potatoes for potato salad. Chop celery for both and add walnuts to chicken salad. Sometimes boil green beans and cool them for green bean salad with oil, vinegar and mustard dressing. Great for leftovers and especially for hot days to have cool food.

Day 5 Stir fry. This dinner takes the most prep time to chop veggies.It can be all-veggie but also can add 1/4 to 1/3 lb sliced beef or chicken (to serve 2). It usually has yellow squash, green beans, water chestnuts, coconut milk (I use only the cream at top of the can), green curry paste, jalapeño pepper, ginger and garlic. I've gotten the amount down to a science because I don't like leftovers of this. (Before remission I left out the curry and jalapeño).

Day 6 Sauteed chicken (boned) with olives, white wine and swiss cheese. Very much like #1 but adding different add-ons makes it seem very different. Lemon chicken is also a variation on this. I don't eat tomato sauce but if you do there are many, many variations possible. The key is using boned chicken so fast cook time.

Day 7 NY Strip or other favorite beef or lamb. I have a French oven (same as a Dutch oven) and make a great lamb stew. Takes 15 minutes in the late morning to brown the meat, add chicken stock and put at 200 degrees all day in the oven. I have a crockpot but like the browning on the stove. I make the veggies last on the stovetop so they still have color and texture. The sauce is the best part.

I never spend more than 30 minutes actually cooking and sometime that is mostly prep.
I look forward to the veggies like green beans, yellow squash, kale and potatoes (many ways) as much as anything else.

If you cook a whole chicken there are many, many recipes for that in later days. There are recipe books for rotisserie chicken variations (enchiladas, crepes, sandwiches, barbecued).

The best restaurant dinner I ever had was a very simple chicken breast with mashed potatoes and gravy and a green veg. It was outrageously flavorful. On the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

I make a lot of soup. It's pretty easy to make a lot of. It takes me like an hour to prepare enough for a 12 qt stock pot, then it's on the stove for three or four hours, then I take the rack out of my freezer and put the whole pot in (there's nothing else there). This brings it down to refrigerator temp within a few hours and then I put the whole pot in the refrigerator and eat two meals a day from it for a week.

Just wanted to report that I arrived home from my mom's place for dinner just now. She was all excited because she got a crock pot! hahaha... go figure. She wanted to cook something in it so last night she put a roast in it. Made awesome shredded roast beef for sandwiches.

She went on and on about how easy it is to make stuff... haha. SO now I have to go get one.

In the UK - wondered whether you use a microwave much. I owned one that was microwave/conduction + use both together. Therefore baked spuds take 10mins m/w or if you like them hard 20mins. Mash potato can be done on m/w for about 7mins. Fish about 3 to 4mins on m/w. Mash potat0 with cooked fish made in to round patties then fried little oil, become fish cakes. Scrambled egg, bacon, sausages can be m/w. Rice 6mins, eaten with m/w jar curry sauce and chicken (chicken also m/w). Jars of sauces kept for future use then eaten with paster. If using convection only then you can cook oven dishes, whole chicken with roast pots. Combination microwave though is expensive to buy but I had one that lasted many years.

60hr old UK lady
UC since l8 have been in remission for many years
Taking Asacol only
Can eat anything