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Type 2 Lazy chef

I sympathize as I too have really gone off cooking lately (and washing up). So I just have a stock of salad ingredients and chuck a lot of them onto a plate with some prawns or fried halloumi or feta. Or I have fried fish with stir fried above ground vege. Both of these I can do in under 15 minutes and as there are lots of possible variations I am not yet bored!
 
I have very little energy and find it painful to stand for more than a few minutes, so do very little cooking these days.
Easy options: sprinkle lemon juice or spices on chicken pieces or fish fillets, wrap in foil and bake (about 15mins for fish and 25-35 for chickens depending on the size*). Reheat the next day - fish in the microwave and chicken sliced and stir fried for less than a minute. Eat with microwaved cauliflower rice and spinach/green beans/broccoli - frozen packs of cauliflower rice and individual prepared packs of green veg.
When I have help I get grated fresh cauliflower, roast it in the oven with a little oil for about 12 mins then cool and bag, I microwave these from frozen.
I buy ready made salads to eat with cheese/prawns/meat.
And I 'fry' onion using bags of ready chopped onions, put into a oiled pan and cooked for about 3 minutes with the lid on then take off the lid, turn up the heat and fry them until browned. Add to mince and fry for a minute, then into the slow cooker with a tin of tomatoes and some dried or fresh garlic. I split the mix and make half into spaghetti sauce to eat with courgetti noodles and salad, and the rest has a chilli mix added to eat with cauliflower rice and green veg - it makes two meals of each and keeps in the fridge for 3/4 days.

*I have a combination oven/grill/microwave so there is no heating time needed as the oven heats up in a minute or two.
 
This seems to have become a thread about slow cooking so I have a basic question as I have no experience of slow cookers. Do you have to cook meat before putting it in the cooker? If not, doesn't warm meat standing for hours present a health risk?
 
Mr_Pot said:
This seems to have become a thread about slow cooking so I have a basic question as I have no experience of slow cookers. Do you have to cook meat before putting it in the cooker? If not, doesn't warm meat standing for hours present a health risk?
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@Mr_Pot there is debate about this. I sear meat before putting it into the slow cooker but have encountered no problems at all leaving the seared meat in the slow cooker until the timer is triggered. The meat is subsequently cooked right through. In practice, depending on what I’m cooking, the maximum time that uncooked (or purely seared) meat is standing is about 4 hours.

I tend to sear and refrigerate overnight so the meat starts chilled and will have nicely come to room temperature before the cooker comes on. When cooking tougher meats - oxtail or oxcheek for example - they need 11 hours or so, so the cooker is started before I leave home.
 
My slow cooker has a keep warm mode on it that you can trigger yourself or automatically kicks in for 6 hours after the cooking time has finished
 
Bumpyswife_ said:
Hi all any help out there for someone who is type2 wants to do low carb but hates cooking with a passion and left up to me would never follow a recipe. Thanks in advance
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Hi Bumpyswife! I BBQ on the weekend and cook enough for 3-4 days ,like chicken , steak and turkey burger with melted cheese , they are light and last in the frig . I personally don't do food heavy in sauce so the crock pot is out for me.
Gook Luck!
PS...I also don't cook or like the cleaning up process with six meals a day .Urghhhhhh..lol
 
Gwennith said:
I personally don't do food heavy in sauce so the crock pot is out for me.
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Hi @Gwennith A breakthrough discovery for me was that there is no need for lots of sauce in a slow cooker/crockpot. Only a minimal amount of liquid is needed. I basically use it as a method to cook large chunks of meat without a) making the kitchen hot in hot weather b) needing to be home while it cooks.
 
Goonergal said:
Hi @Gwennith A breakthrough discovery for me was that there is no need for lots of sauce in a slow cooker/crockpot. Only a minimal amount of liquid is needed. I basically use it as a method to cook large chunks of meat without a) making the kitchen hot in hot weather b) needing to be home while it cooks.
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It’s so easy to put a joint of beef brisket or gammon into the slow cooker and let it cook for 6-7 hours.
 
Thanks all some great ideas I will have to make some changes I can cook it's just that I would rather watch paint dry than do it. so to help my health I will make a concentrated effort . either that or employ a chef ‍.
 
Mr_Pot said:
Do you have to cook meat before putting it in the cooker?
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I do to brown it off. Usually with onions or garlic or both. The pot inside the slow cooker in our case is removable and can be put on the gas hob to sear the meat immediately before the slow cooking itself.
 
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Goonergal said:
Hi @Gwennith A breakthrough discovery for me was that there is no need for lots of sauce in a slow cooker/crockpot. Only a minimal amount of liquid is needed. I basically use it as a method to cook large chunks of meat without a) making the kitchen hot in hot weather b) needing to be home while it cooks.
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I agree :) I never put liquid in my slow cooker unless the recipe calls for it like red wine etc - even then I usually marinade my meat in it before hand and then reduce it on the stove and add it for the last hour. Meat and if you use any veggies will produce enough liquid without needing more, and if you make any sort of gravy or sauce with the juices the flavour is much more concentrated
 
Hi, I'm interested in this thread because I like to cook but on certain days not so much. Three days a week I do a long commute - 3hrs each way. I come in the door at 6pm (on a good day) having been out since 5am and have to be in bed by 8pm if I'm going to get 8hrs sleep. So I have 2hrs in the evening to do everything that isn't working or travelling on a "commute" day. Cooking isn't high on that list. I'm tired, hungry and need "down" time, not more doing stuff.

I need food that is hands free, low thought, no shop and quick. Sometimes even the thought of getting out a frying pan and engaging with food is too exhausting.

I've managed to sort this on my usual low fat high carb diet. Top of the list is reheated left overs or pre prepared batch cooked etc. In the oven, no supervision, for 20 minutes is also good. Beans and lentils with vegetables and rice. Pre prepared pasta sauce and pasta. Pie/stew and mash. Quiche. I've worried that the pie/quiche, cheese on lentils is too high fat but I balance that with other things. A chicken slow cooked at the weekend will see me through a lot of week day meals but those have been LFHC to date so I have to re think them.

Store cupboard/frozen is good later in the week as perishables run out. Previous example would be tinned sardines on pasta.

With LCHF pre prepared and frozen strikes me as tricky because fatty food doesn't always reheat well and fats don't last that long in the freezer. So some ideas on how that works would be good. A quick pre prepared/frozen starter ideas cheat sheet would be nice if anyone has one :-)

CoP
 
I put a sliced onion and garlic on the bottom of the crock with a bit of grill spice, and then the toughest, cheapest fattiest piece of lamb, pork,beef, elk, deer I can find and put the slowcooker on low in the morning and by the time I get home I have a a moist chunk of meat. No need to add liquids.
 
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