Bachelor Cooking Skills

I wonder..it'd be interesting to try that. I've never seen/heard of it before. Anyway, my favorite food when nobody else is around..instant noodles (I get sick of them after a week of eating them constantly though). Cheap, easy to cook..and like many other instant meals..unhealthy? :(

a) Pasta. Just add boiling water. j
b) rice + seasoning mixes. Particularly Vigo's Black Beans and Rice.
c) individually frozen, boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. Defrost and add to above.
d) salad in a bag. Cook c & add to d for a semi-healthy snack/meal.
e) frozen pot pies. Esp w/rice.
f) One can of green beans, one can of corn, one can of peas, one can of crushed tomatoes. 1/2 cup small (ditalini size) pasta. = LOTS of good vegetarian vegetable soup, which also freezes well.
g) Instant mashed potatoes - Just add water and butter.
h) canned soups
i) various of those meals-in-a-bag. Esp the kind with vegatables and w/out pasta.

Get a rice cooker and learn to cook, you won't look back and it's just as fast unless you want to get particularly fancy.

Cooking is really easy.. you can debug mysql servers, I think you can learn how to make a simple stir-fry :)

I already have the rice cooker. It steams veggies quite well. And, of course, it makes rice.

The problem is one of portions. Making stuff for one is just annoying. Maybe I can get my cats to eat more human food...

Kasia is always right, erm..well I like to think she always is..a skillet, pan and bunch of stuff can do wonders..more than staring at a bowl of noodles that were fried in palm oil into an oval shape with sodium that could kill a nice sized plant.

Bachelor food that doesn't suck?
Are you high?

My options when I was a bachelor were:
McDonalds
Wendy's
...

If I were forced to cook, it was mac&cheese or a cold cut sandwich. To quote HJS: "Mmmmmm open faced club sand wedge"

Fortunately, I married well.

Good luck with that whole "cooking" thing.

Don't feed your cats too much human food, not even canned tuna or salmon. Cats need taurine, which is some sort of vitamin additive in cat food, it's essential for their health.

http://www.ontherun.cc

If you don't own a Zojirushi NS-ZAC10, you don't own a rice cooker.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007J5U7/qid=1078290878/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/102-6478250-9797714?v=glance&s=kitchen

Ugh, long URLs... that would be:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B00007J5U7

your new place is conveniently located near Aqui (lincoln @ willow).

your first "take out" meal should definitely be from there. get the red potato enchiladas and the flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

and watch out for the speed traps along willow between lincoln and meridian.

The beauty with stir-frys and the like is you can cook for two; have one meal in the evening and then box up the rest for your dinner the next day. Cold stiry-fry is actually one of those things that are still taty the next day.

I think a slow cooker (or Crock Pot if you prefer) is the one of the ultimate bachelor kitchen tools. Commonly used for soups or stews, they can also be used for roasting or baking on occasion. Toss the ingredients in before you head out the door for work in the morning, and when you come back, dinner's ready! Get a couple of good slow cooker cookbooks and you're set!

I have to agree that cooking for only one person is a pain. Buying enough groceries to complete a meal usually allows for 3 or 4 days of leftovers. I have a slow cooker myself and really like it; the trick to it is cooking something that can be tweaked a little different the following day. For example, cook chili on Monday, and use the leftover chili for the topping of some wonderful beer steamed hotdogs on Tuesday. Suppose there are some hotdogs left over on Tuesday, how about (I don't know...) hotdogs and texas style beans on wednesday. I do hate cooking only for myself though... It gets boring fast.

Boil rice (basmati) until aldente, seperate into portions, freeze - I don't know why, but it always tastes better after its been frozen and saves having to eat rice every day for a week.

Along the chili line of reasoning, I began my transition from a burrito-eating bachelor to someone comfortable cooking for groups of 6-8 by cooking big pots of soup. You cook for 2-3 hours on Sunday and produce 5 dinners. (Freeze some so you aren't sick of it by Friday.) Along the way, get a gentle introduction to real cooking by working from a book like James Peterson's Splendid Soups.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471391360/

The crock pot is the way to go. Get one that the inside can be taken out, for easy cleaning. Get a can of Campbell's mushroom soup, a packet of gravy mix (McCormic?) and put in the pot with a can of water, then throw in the steak. Cook it slow for a few hours. You could cook the potatoes at the same time, but that wouldn't be Atkins approved. Just cook two steaks and skip the potatoes.

Hi Jeremy, How are you going, there? Have you ever heard of "Pea Aubergines" came across this in a BBC TV programme televised have not found any images of? yet!

Take a cooking class and kill two birds with one stone: learning how to cook will give you life-long enjoyment of culinary and you will meet new people.

Well part of being a bachelor is spending money on more important things than food, like beer. But you can make easy to prepare foods taste much better if you just give it a little bit more work.

Take macaroni and cheese. Never buy the cheapest brand because it really just tastes like orange noodles. Kraft is the best. While your making it also heat up a skillet and brown some hamburger (like half a pound or a little more) and add some cumin, chili pepper, and salt. Make the macaroni and cheese and then add the browned hamburger. Stir and enjoy.

I like to buy bigger packages of handburger and separate them into patties and put them in the freezer so I can alway add a little meat to a meal when I want it.

Most frozen pizzas taste like ass but for some reason I find Jack's Pizzas really good. Whenever I'm at the store and they are on sale for like 3 for 10 dollars I'll buy a couple and keep them in my freezer for when I don't feel like cooking and would rather not waste the money on drive-thru. I don't follow the directions, though. I cook them for about 10 minutes on 350 degrees, then I turn the broiler on and cook it until the cheese starts to brown. BE CAREFUL AND KEEP AN EYE ON IT THOUGH. The broiler will brown the pizza fast. Keep the door open and watch it if you have to. Nothing is worse than burnt pizza.

Someone else mentioned rice and pot pies and that's a definitely good and cheap addition to one's repitoire. Just buy a few chicken ones when they are on sale and keep a box of minute rice in your cupboards.

Noodles are also a very cheap substance. I make an afro engineered fettucine alfredo often. Basically I don't use parmasean cheese because its expensive and in actually it doesn't add that much flavor. Just brown some garlic and butter with a little olive oil and add a few ounces of grated mozzeralla. Keep it at a low heat so it doesn't scorch. While you're doing this you're boiling water and cooking fettucine noodles. In a small cup mix up some flour and water and add it to the cheese and butter to thicken it up a little. Add some milk and salt and pepper maybe some basil and oregano. Stir it a lot and add to the noodles when they are done cooking and drained. I usually add clam juice and some clams right before mixing but that's up to you.

Poor mans chili. Brown some onions and garlic. Remove onto a paper plate. Brown a pound of hamburger adding a lot of salt, cumin, chili pepper, and red pepper if you have it. Add a can of chili beans. Add the onions and garlic. I don't usually have jalepenos, but I always have a jar of peppercini's in my fridge. Add some of the juice and slice up a few and mix it all up. If your beans are still kind of hard let it simmer for half and hour or so to combine the flavors.

If you go to the grocery store more than once a month you can just look for the things that are on sale and plan meals around them. Certain things are expensive so I only buy them when they are on sale. But I also have the luxory of living half a block from a supermarket and discount supermarket eventhough I live in a small town.

I think it's important to overcook a little because its less wastefull. Take the leftovers with you to work or eat them the next evening.

Well my chili's about done so later.

Hey,
I was googled "bachelor cooking" and came across this blog. Brad, dude, that was an awesome post. Everything I need to know from wut to stock and how to cook it. I'm second engineering at UBC and i dont live on campus (parents live in toronto) so u can imagine what a drag it is to cook on my own. Anyways, thanks a lot for taking the time to make that post. L8r

I Googled "Bachlor Cooking" too and came across both this blog and this mov file: http://people.bu.edu/hipstomp/rainlogancook1.mov

and the blog at: www.livejournal.com/hipstomp

I Googled "Bachlor Cooking" too and came across both this blog and this mov file: http://people.bu.edu/hipstomp/rainlogancook1.mov

and the blog at: www.livejournal.com/hipstomp

Brad - that was superb, please note it goes for grannies living on their own too!

I'am starting to write my three books.One is for children that hates to cook but emergency food. The other one is kids that are willing to cook, and learning how to cook, and the last book is the importance of cooking. I already cook, and I'am only 13 years old.

hum...
the instant noodles work well, but here's what I do to mix it up:

1. boil some water, add wonton soup mix
2. add a cup of frozen vegies
3. wait 3 minutes and then toss in the noodles
4. add extra flavour by adding hot sauce and soy sauce

done!

for a healthier version try using rice noodles instead of instant noodles, cooking time is a bit longer but better for you.

oh and I always buy tones of pot stickers when I go to china town, you just put them in a frying pan with some oil and voila! use lots of oil because they do stick. (hence the name....)

:-) happy cooking!

If you do boil rice and have leftovers make fried rice. Its a great way to clear all the leftovers and actually works best with leftover rice from the previous day.

-chop up any leftovers you have(as long as they aren't wet stuff they can go in)
-smash a clove of garlic and chop it roughly and chop a shallot or 2 roughly too.
-heat a wok (or a skillet/frying pan) on high flame and add a one or 2 tablespoons of oil when it starts to wisp.
-add garlic and shallots striing so they don't burn till fragrent.
-add leftovers to the mix then the rice, keep moving the mix so it doesn't burn
-crack an egg in and mix into the mess. Cook till all the egg is cooked (ie not wet).
-taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
-eat

goes great with ketchup/tomatoe sauce and adding frozen veg/peas (thawed first pls) will make it a wee bit healthier.

Bachelor cooking tip #245!

1.) PASTA. Pasta is so easy to make, its not even funny. You boil a bunch of water, throw the pasta in, set your microwave timer for 10 minutes or however long the pasta box you chose told you, and wait. Once its done you drain it into the sink (careful for the boiling hot steam) and add it to sauce. Sauce you can buy CHEAP from a million places. If you are lucky enough to live next to a wholesale style shopping market, like Costco, just get tons there. You don't need a ton of sauce on your pasta if you are only cooking one serving, sometimes it helps to just dump the pasta straight into the saucepan and swirl it around. You can buy a brick of frozen hamburger patties and fry one of those up, chop it up into tiny pieces while it cooks, and add it to the sauce for a great meat sauce!

2.) BBQ CHICKEN. SO EASY! Go looking for those big bags of frozen chicken whatevers. If you are on a super tight budget get wings, if you can spare the cash get breasts. Then you grab a couple out, throw them on a plate, use the "defrost" setting on your microwave to thaw them out. Be careful to wash your hands and that plate really well because you can get salmonella if you are sloppy with raw chicken. Then you just throw them on a frying pan on medium heat and wait. You really can't mess this up, and overcooking BBQ chicken isn't the end of the world. Once you flip it squirt some BBQ sauce on it and let it sit. Maybe 5 minutes of cooking later it should be done! Make a small cut in the middle of the chicken and make sure its not pink. You can always microwave it if its pink to cook it out. DELICIOUS. Add minute rice with some butter and salt on top... YUM.

3.) A great lunch snack is cheap chili by the can from your local supermarket. Sometimes this stuff is like 80 cents a can or cheaper. Its filling and actually has nutritional value unlike Ramen... If you have bread, then just throw it in the toaster (or toaster oven, which rule) and use the toast like a spoon. Great lunch.

4.) Pancakes! These are so fun to make. And they are easy! Just get some of that pancake mix you only have to add water to. Follow the guide on the back and then use a ladel or 1/4 cup measuring spoon to ladel it onto a well oiled or buttered frying pan. Keep it on medium heat. Wait for the bubbles on the top to stay open and then immediately flip. If its a little burnt who cares? Put that one on the bottom. Syrup is cheap too, and you can splurge and get a whole bunch of different kinds. And your girlfriend will love you forever if you make her pancakes, its a proven fact.

4.) Popcorn for a snack? Kettle corn! This is fun to make as a snack... just go buy a bag of popcorn seeds, these are usually a million times cheaper than microwavable popcorn. Then you just put a little bit of vegetable/canola/whatever oil on the bottom of a medium sized sauce pan, put as much sugar as you put oil, then add a thin layer of seeds. High heat, wait for it to start bubbling, then shake it around a lot till its done popping. Add lots of salt. You might need to break it apart when it cools. Go buy a little shaker of ground cinnamon from the spices aisle and shake just the tiniest amount in when you begin and this will rock.

So many more...

Hope this helps someone!