WWYD, please help mamas.

[Teacher Lady]

I am a single gal (a fur mama right now) who needs to walk away from the fast food and start eating at home. What would be the staples that would be inexpensive, healthy(ish), and help me to "ease" into the whole cook at home thing? I feel a little , but I want to : well and make sure my bank account is . I think I need a list of options before hitting the ground running.
Thank you in advance.

[sarafi]

Originally Posted by Teacher Lady

I am a single gal (a fur mama right now) who needs to walk away from the fast food and start eating at home. What would be the staples that would be inexpensive, healthy(ish), and help me to "ease" into the whole cook at home thing? I feel a little , but I want to : well and make sure my bank account is . I think I need a list of options before hitting the ground running.
Thank you in advance.

Brown rice, brocoli and cheese bowls...this is my current favorite. You can bake two or three sweet potatoes and leave them in your fridge and take them to go. Any soup that you can make and freeze into individual servings. Veggies and cheese in a tortilla wrap to go...yougart and berries, mmmm. I make pizza crusts and freeze them so I am not tempted into ordering a pizza.

And of course anything with beans :-) Good luck, I think you will have fun and will probably feel much better

[kirstenb]

I make big batches of homemade spagetti sauce and freeze them in small portions- that way you have a pretty quick meal if you aren't in the mood to cook. I second the suggestion for soups as well. Grill chicken breasts on the weekend and cut them up so you have grilled chicken for sandwiches or salads during the week. Have hard boiled eggs ready in the fridge. Cut up a bunch of fruits and veggies at once so it's easy to grab when you want some. I was a big grazer before I had my DS, so on the days I didn't feel like cooking I always made sure there were lots of easy things for me to grab in the fridge.

[living_organic]

Do you have a crock pot?

I used a small one when I was single...it was so awesome to come home to yummy smells...it only takes a bit of prep in the morning, turn it on and dinner is ready when you get home.

I love chili or fajitas in a crockpot...or a roast with potatos and carrots...or bbq chicken...add a salad and you are good to go!

[EmsMom]

Truthfully, if you are really used to eating fast food, it is quite a transition to making your own food at home (and actually eating it!). You might try to transition with some frozen "junk" food. For example, frozen burgers (veggie or regular), frozen pizza, things such as that. But whenever you use them, include a vegetable. That would give you some experience in taking the time to prepare food (even if it is just cooking a burger and steaming some broccoli). One day a week try a new recipe that looks good. And keep increasing the days you try new recipes and pretty soon you will have a little repertoire of recipes that you are comfortable with. The reason I suggest this is that if you are in the habit of leaving work and grabbing dinner on the way home, then you could get in the position of having food at home and looking at it and saying "I am wayy too tired to cook today, I will just go and get something and start again tomorrow". Also, I highly recommend keeping your kitchen clean and organized and even "pretty-ing" it up a bit. That can really help on those days when you really, really don't want to cook. I think most of the all home cooking mamas built up their habits slowly over time. I know I did (and last night I still was too tired and burned out to even think about cleaning up the kitchen and then fixing dinner - but I did it anyway eventually).

[Tradd]

TL, I'm single too.

Some things I like to do are to take pitas (you can get whole wheat ones) and use as a base for a quick pizza. Add sauce, cheese, any toppings you like and bake in a 400F oven for 5-10 minutes (keep an eye on it) or until cheese is melted. I can get pitas 10/$1.79. The prepared pizza crusts in the Italian section of the grocery store are $4 for TWO!

Another quick, easy, cheap. Boil whatever pasta you like. Halfway through the pasta cooking time, add frozen veggies. I like sweet green peas with pearl onions, but broccoli, etc., would also work well. The veggies are done when the pasta is. Drain together and toss with a bit of butter or olive oil. Salt & pepper, maybe lemon pepper or other herbs. Voila! Make a double batch for to also have enough for lunch the next day!

[timneh_mom]

I am not single but I use a lot of bagged salads (or prewashed baby greens). All you do is put a handful on a plate and add whatever else you want. Baby carrots are wonderful too. Check out the produce aisle and you'll find all kinds of ready to use fruits and veggies!

When I was living alone I didn't eat that well! Boxed mac and cheese and that kind of thing. Was a lot younger though and no kids and didn't care so much about nutrition. I used to make grilled cheese sandwiches a lot. You can get some yummy different cheeses and try putting a few slices of tomato inside it and have it with a salad. I made a lot of pasta dishes because it was easy enough to control portions for one. I didn't eat a lot of meat because I'm not a big meat eater anyway and it would just go to waste. Had a tiny, dinky freezer that was always a pain so I didn't freeze much.

My mom lives alone and will make a bunch of one thing and eat it all week. I don't do leftovers that well but if you like them, that might work well for you! You can also freeze things like spaghetti and chili very easily, and pull them out later when you're tired or just don't want to cook.

[2 in August]

I think where you need to start is thinking about what kind of food you like then figuring out how to make it healthier and less expensive at home.

So if you are eating hamburgers...they range from $1 to $3+ right? Well a pound of good hamburger (like ground chuck) can be gotten on sale for under $2. You could make at least 4 if not 6 burger patties from that. At Aldi or sometimes the gas station (of all places) you can get a pack of buns for less than $1. So for $3 you've got enough for 4-6 burgers.

If you like french fries for $1-$2 at the fast food place, you can get a bag of frozen fries for about $2 for 2 pounds and bake them. They'll be healthier and lots cheaper. If you want to get even healthier and cheaper buy a bag of potatoes for $3 for 10lbs and cut them up into fries. You could fry them in oil, but I like to spray a baking pan and then put the fries on it, spray them with a thin coat of oil too and bake at about 400 till they are crispy (you need to flip them a couple times). Yum! I also change it up and use sweet potatoes sometimes too. Double Yum!

You get the idea. Start with what you are familiar with and then branch out from there.