How to cook when you don’t know how

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The other day I received an email from a young lady (who shall remain nameless) who is on my mailing list.  She was struggling with a few areas of her life and was seeking some answers.  As a young uni student, she battled an eating disorder and wanted to know what she could do to eat healthier and get some exercise into her life without joining an expensive gym.  Her biggest concern was the fact that she had no cooking skills whatsoever.

So, today’s post is going to tackle one of her questions, the cooking side.  Next week, i’ll show her (and you) how to squeeze in some really beneficial workouts into your life on a shoestring budget without having to join a gym.

But before I write this, I need to confess something.  I am a crap cook.  I don’t like cooking.  I will do it if I have to, but I hate it.  Which is kind of ironic because I love food.  As a protein type I live for food.  However, I am married and I have a beautiful wife and I hardly ever cook. But as destiny would have it, last night I had to cook dinner.  It was nothing flash but it highlights just how easy it is to cook a nutritious healthy meal, with ZERO culinary skills.

My first suggestion to anyone on a shoestring budget, especially if you are a poor uni student living in shared accomodation, with no culinary skills is to go out and buy yourself two pieces of kitchen ware.

The first is a Steamer and the second is a George Foreman Griller ($69 from Big W). 

So, on last nights menu in the “RAE” house the kids and I had grilled Kangaroo Steaks & steamed Sweet Potato, Broccolli, Carrots & Zuchini.  I apologise for those who can’t stand Kangaroo, but its one of our favourite cuts of meat.  In fact my son requested this exact same meal for his last birthday meal.  Go figure!!

From start to finish this meal took 20 mins to prepare and cook and that included washing and preparing the veges.  So, for all you people out there who claim they don’t have the time to cook or don’t know what to do when it comes to cooking a nutritious meal, here’s an option:

1. Peel 1 sweet potato, wash and chop into small pieces.  Place on bottom layer of steamer and turn on for 20 mins.

2. Peel carrots, dice, set aside.  Wash & chop broccolli & zuchinni & set aside.

3.  Turn on George Foreman Griller.

4. At the 10 min mark, add the remaining veges into the second layer.

5.When griller is hot, add desired meat.  (In our case, Kangaroo steaks and grill with lid down for 6 mins).

6. Dish up & eat.

So, there you have it, a tasty (if not a little boring) nutritious meal that anyone with zero culinary skills can whip together in under half an hour.  And the great thing about this is that because i have a tendency to cook way too much, guess what I had for breakfast this morning, yep yopu guessed it, some of the left overs plus a couple of eggs.  That’s the great thing about cooking like this.  The leftovers become your healthy snacks the next day, meaning you really only have to cook a decent meal once a day.  By making extras you are guaranteed to have nutritious healthy snacks the next day as well.

So, that’s it for me.  next week i’ll post a great little workout anyone can do in the comfort of their own home without a single piece of gym equipment.

Please feel free to post your comments below.  If you have simple meal suggestions, please feel free to add them.