Cooking, or not. How do you eat?
Although PIP gave me 2 points as I cannot use a cooker. I still said that you do not need a cooker anyway.
A meal might have been considered to be meat and two veg. But it's 2024, you can buy and choose to eat healthy or not without cooking the meat on the cooker.
The majority of food these days is capable of going in the microwave. I am having Pilau rice tonight and I haven't tried this one before, so it might be yuk.
You can get takeaways, but that is the most expensive way of doing it. Wiltshire Farm Foods isn't too bad actually, they do have a cheap £2.99 range.
You can buy a chicken already cooked, which I still think is likely cheaper than fresh/frozen and the cost of coming out yourself.
But the frozen meals these days from the supermarket are very competitive and a lot better than years gone by!
Comments
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Slow cookers and air fryers are very good.
Also sandwich toasters.
You can use frozen veg which is actually quite economical because its already prepared and you can minimise waste.
I find instant mash a good thing to keep as its so quick and easy and you only mix up what you need.
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my husband cooks for me. I can’t lift, bend or stand up for periods of time. If he’s not here it’s cereal, toast, etc on better days I can part fill the kettle plastic cup by plastic cup and the electric tin opener is fab so I can do hot dogs, soup etc. TBH I don’t know what I’d do without him. How he manages the house, garden, me, a full time job and several part time ones is beyond me.
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As luvpink said above air fryers are good. Much cheaper than putting an electric oven on. I buy a tray of chicken thighs for £2.80 Aldi and I can get 3 meals out of that for myself. (As there was about 10 thighs in my last tray)
I also use the microwave for heating up soups or beans etc.
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They always say go with your worst so I would say what you struggle with the most when you are cooking. So for me it would be chopping vegetables, tiredness and not being able to take stuff out the oven.
In terms of appliances I would recommend a slow cooker because it's better for the environment and it saves you some money because you will be using less energy.1 -
I love the slow cooker it's good for tough meats, cooks itself.
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I have an electric tin opener and a jar opener.
Both gadgets make life easier for me.
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My large slow cooker is my favourite appliance - it roasts, steams, cooks anything but must be hand-washed and is heavy. Exceptionally cheap, pennies to roast a whole chicken for example. Doesn't need constant attention and minimises smells and steam in the kitchen. The little one is used for puddings.
These meals keep me fed for days!
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The tin opener is a godsend. The factory puts the lid on. I don't think they give a thought to removing at the other end!
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ocean
I have never used an electric tin opener ...food for thoughtI might give that a go one day
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I'm solo & only eat one meal a day, plus I low carb, so always cook from fresh. Oven style air fryers are brilliant & the only oven I have. To cut down on cleaning & washing up, I line recycled foil trays with non stick foil whether cooking meat or a bit of veg, season & let it do its thing. I also have two free standing induction plates, very quick to bring anything to a boil, so no needless, painful standing around.
I also have a slow cooker, a small one meal size that will be coming out to play as the weather chills, which will be soon. I have an electric tin opener as well, but have never got on with it, thankfully, now, I only eat tinned fish & they have ring pulls, I have a little plastic hook & pull thing for them. Gadgets or necessities, gotta be the latter!
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Do you have a friendly neighbour who you could offer to pay them to cook you a meal when they make their own food ,i do this for my very elderly disabled next door ,he has what ever i cook for myself we decide each day what to have and it works very well for us both ,he eats well and his payment helps me pay my fuel bill plus its a social thing to chat about the menu ,lol
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I am not old so would feel/do feel embarrassed that I cannot use the cooker safely.
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avocado & beer & icecream👍️
😁
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I think if you have an unseen condition people are judgemental. I did have an accident resulting in my conditions, but for the most part I look "fine"
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I think you are right because I have unseen conditions and even my friends don't understand why I get unwell so much.
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Me and my partner have been trying to batch cook a lot more. We've both been struggling a bit lately, so we were too often ending our work day and being too tired to properly cook. So now we both take one day where we are both off to cook a large italian bolognese, chilli, or curry and split them into meal sizes then freeze them. So if we are having one of those days where we feel too fatigued or tired to cook we can just heat one of those up
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@paddy1 I thought your post was terrific - it would be really good if most people shared and cared. I used to feed an elderly lady. She didn't pay me as such but always gave me a few glasses of wine and a few spondoolies when I went on holiday so I could have a drink on the plane plus I got a little spoilt at Xmas. But it was the social aspect that was the most important thing. She was very lonely.
For myself, I have always batched cook ever since I was young and energetic. These days I have to batch cook. I have to sit and cook, and I find it is better to cook a large amount of something and freeze it in portions. I rely heavily on my microwave that is quite advanced and my mini oven air fryer. I have an electric steamer and a large slow cooker although I don't really like slow cooked food - the veg loses all its taste and is mushy and meat tends to dry out and be stringy. I cook meat by the sous vide method, and I find it excellent. Old fashioned cooking using ovens and hobs is really out of the equation for me. I do however buy a lot of ready meals provided they can be micro-waved!
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I think the cooker is out of fashion.
I do wonder if we will see a change to the microwave and air fryer, similar to what happened when cooker appeared. I have never used the oven, no need to. Sunday lunch just doesn't appeal. I like pasta, rice etc etc.
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I don't think the cooker will just disappear. I think too much still requires hobs and the oven. Though the air fryer is fairly close to replacing the oven I guess. There will certainly be hobs around for a very long time I think!
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@Jimm_Scope I agree. I don't think cookers and hobs will disappear because if you have a family to feed an air fryer won't provide the space that you need for a tray of roast potatoes etc. Last year they aired a ridiculous program on I think C4 showing how Xmas dinner could be cooked for a family using an air fryer. They prog was well edited. RecipeThis, which is about the best air fryer blog in the UK also rubbished the programme. You just can't do it!
I live by myself and my oven and hob has been redundant since Jan 3rd 2023. I do turn on the hob very occasionally to brown a steak etc that has been cooked by other methods (sous vide). I blanch veg in the microwave and freeze them in portions for microwaving. But I need to stress that I live by myself and a microwave and air fryer are ideal for me. With careful planning I can feed a total of 3 people, anymore than 3 and I would need an oven and hob.
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