What to eat if I HATE to cook???

[partytrouble]

I am having trouble figuring out what to eat, as I HATE cooking and really don't even have kitchenware to do so. I don't like the George Foreman as it is a mess to clean up.
I am a big fan of takeout, but it gets old to eat the grilled chicken breast from the deli constantly....any suggestions? I do have a microwave....

[Laurenfra]

I buy cold cuts and eat them a lot. Burgers from burger places with no ketsup or buns. Hard boil a dozen eggs at a time.

[ipopup]

You can cook everything you need with 1 skillet 1 spatula & 2 wooden spoons.

Just stir fry; brown your meat, pork, or fish then toss veggies in simmer until every thing is done & serve it with a salad. You can use full fat chicken broth if you need moisture while cooking the mix.

With 1 skillet, 1 spatula, and 1 fork you can whip up an omelet with meat, sausages, and vegies, mushrooms etc.

You can open a can of tuna or chicken mix in some mayo and plop it on a mixed green salad. I like to have a bit of dill pickle with mine.

You can brown ground beef in the skillet season with a dash of chili power plop it on your mixed green salad top with a dab of sour cream.

Atkins style eating is KISS; Keep it Simple Sweetie. You can buy mixed frozen mixed allowable vegies use a bag as you need them. You can buy mixed green salad or cabbage salad by the bag. Atkins is really getting back to the basics of eating just good food.

You don't need a plate buy one pretty skillet and you can use it for a plate.

HAPPY EATING

BJ Webb

[partytrouble]

I really appreciate the suggestions, but even browning meat or fish and stir fry is too much cooking for me. I am afraid I am doing a really unhealthy version of the diet, because the majority of my food is turkey/swiss wraps, precooked pepperoni out of the pouch, precooked bacon slices, etc etc.

[Brook]

I really appreciate the suggestions, but even browning meat or fish and stir fry is too much cooking for me.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're going to have to suck it up and do some cooking if you're going to be successful. Continuing to do what got you in trouble in the first place is a recipe for disaster.

Small steps. No one is saying you have to turn into Julia Child's this week

~Brook

[SugarFreeSheila]

It just so happens I'm about to add the following question/answer to my FAQ. Here's a sneak preview, PartyTrouble, and I hope that it helps you ...

I find I'm eating the same meals and cooking the same types of food over and over again because I'm just not a creative cook - and it is getting so boring. Plus, food always tastes better at restaurants, so I'm always tempted to just say, "Forget it!" and just dine out all the time. That can get pretty expensive!
Allow me to say here and now that I am not a professional chef, I can't chop celery 1,000 miles an hour, and am by no means a culinary virtuoso. However, I am creative in the kitchen and am always discovering possibilities, means of duplicating high-carb fare into low-carb, and a plethora of ways to prepare foods I love. The Atkins menu is essentially limitless - after all, we're ultimately only eliminating starches and foods with added sugars here! So much so, in fact, that the tremendous amount of food options can become a bit overwhelming, particularly for those just starting out. For even more meal ideas on what to eat, peruse cookbooks low-carb or otherwise (as this lifestyle is practical and workable!), as well as Atkins-friendly menus and recipes on the Internet. You'll see a bunch and they can really help!

** My best advice if you hate to cook will follow - and I promise it is the easiest way to throw something together. Chances are, it is just the conventional oven you find tedious; but rest assured, you can work around this predicament. So, consider buying a stovetop grill! This can be a LIFESAVER, and a grill (Nathan's Reversible Stovetop Grill and Griddle, for example) can be purchased on Amazon for just $15. With this grill, you can of course even cook two things at once if another member of your family wants something else that evening.

I am temporarily residing outside of my hometown of Dallas, and frankly don't want to get out the big fancy grill every time I want to whip up a filet, bunless burger, scrumptious pork or beef ribs, salmon, etc. Having this "makeshift" grill onhand in the meantime has been a downright lifesaver for me. If you have trouble thinking outside the box, I can assure you that virtually every one of your favorite restaurant-style entrées is always doable with a stovetop grill.
P.S: Even the cleanup is a breeze!

[Effie]

Part of the reasons that Americans are so fat is that we've stopped doing anything for ourselves. Our society depends on drive-throughs, curbside take-out, home delivery for dry cleaning, on-line shopping. It's become so that we don't even need to leave our homes or our cars to get stuff done. The moment I saw this for what it was, I immediately felt a change inside me. I didn't want to be a part of that culture. I want to be self-sufficient and have more control in my life, and it all starts with food. Sure, I'll occasionally go through the drive-through if I'm in a pinch with no food to eat, but that's maybe once a month.

My suggestion would be to find one thing you can cook. Or, you know what? Don't even start with the cooking. Find one thing to prepare. Buy some cans or pouches of tuna. Buy a hot, cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and use the leftover meat for chicken salad. There are still a ton of options for foods to eat that don't require turning on your stove, but do require more than opening a ziplock pouch and putting it in your mouth.

[not2late]

Last night for dinner, I had roast turkey breast (which I bought from the grocery store), a salad and 'fake' mashed sweet potatoes (canned pumpkin puree, pop the pumpkin into the microwave until hot add butter and a touch of cream). My dinner was on the table ready to eat in 10 minutes.

For dinner tonight, I boiled some chopped veggies in a can of chicken broth. Tonight when I come home, I'll pop some of that into the microwave and add some of the leftover turkey. Quick, easy turkey-vegetable soup.

You can buy bags of ready-washed salad green. Many grocery stores have salad bars where you can purchase veggies that are already sliced.

Like the others have suggested, no one's asking you to become a Michelin rated chef over night. Do simple straightforward things, like hard boiled eggs, tuna and mayo salad, chicken and mayo salad, etc.

[Moochiecat]

What about it exactly is it that you 'hate'?

Is it the cleanup? Everyone has given you great ideas about how to make easy quick dinners from purchased foods and they involve minimal clean-up.

Is it the planning? Many times I'll go to the grocery store on my way home from work and pick out what I fancy to eat that night, so you can still satisfy that part of you that likes the spontanaiety (how on earth do you spell that word...? lol) of take-out.

Is it lack of knowledge on how to cook? As mentioned, you don't have to be a cordon bleu chef to make a great meal! There are tons and tons of resources in the way of books or internet sites. Find out what your favourite flavours are and have fun with it.

Is it lack of time? That isn't a very good excuse if a person really thinks about it. You can be boiling up eggs in advance while you are getting ready for work in the morning. You can take five minutes to zip into a grocery store and grab a rotisserie chicken and some cans of tuna and veggies.

There's a question about committment here as well....and you need to ask yourself if you want to eat takeout for the rest of your life, or if you want to take some time, deal with this issue and turn 'hate' into something else...like pride and satisfaction in feeding yourself foods that you've chosen and prepared by yourself. There are so many changes that we go through when we choose a diet plan, and it's pretty much all about choice and control.

It almost sounds like you've built up "COOKING" into something big and huge and insurmountably beyond your capabilities. I hope you have gotten some good ideas from everyone here and that you are able to become more self-sufficient...it's really not that hard, and it can be a lot of fun!

[tabekat]

Attitude is everything. Before Atkins, I too wasn't a fan of cooking. Thats how I ended up 207 pounds. Fast food, packaged food, overprocessed junk food... it all packed on the pounds.

I had to lose my childish "i don't wanna" attitude in order to lose my extra weight.

Now I'm affirming "I love to cook" because the food I cook is healthy for me, it tastes wonderful, I can have a liberal portion of it, and best of all, it doesn't force my body to make more fat stores.

I use my oven most of the time. I pop in a foil dinner. It couldn't be easier.

It certainly is lighter on the budget. And, to borrow an old phrase from a commercial, "I'm worth it"!

Foil dinners: Take a big piece of foil. Place any kind of raw meat in the middle. I like a hamburger patty. Chop up some raw veggies. I like celery and mushrooms, but really you could use any veggie, any combination.

Season it and add a few drops of water. I prefer garlic salt and a small dab of pepper.

Fold up the sides, seal them tight and make a package of it. Bake. It cooks very fast in a hot oven - about 15 minutes. The meat seasons the veggies. Tastes great. Fast and easy.

I also use the microwave quite a bit. I use it for bacon, the mock danish, to nuke mozz over pepperoni, to make cheese crisps, and warm up leftovers.

I haven't eaten in a fast food joint since the 1st of February. 2005. I don't miss them, my budget doesn't miss them and my waistline really doesn't miss them. The fast food industry does not care if their food spikes your blood sugar or causes your body to build fat stores. They care about making a fast buck. Fast food is surely one of the reasons why so many Americans are struggling with obesity.