1. LEARN TO COOK
It's always interesting to me to hear from people what they feel about cooking. When I meet people for the first time and tell them what I do, they almost always assume that I am a Cordon Bleu chef, but I'm not. I'm basically a self taught home cook. I love then just to listen and hear what they think about cooking and food. Everyone has an opinion on what it is, and immediately rates their own skill as a cook. When talking about cooking, the same words seem to be brought up by my conversation partner, things like, "difficult", "no time", "I'm too busy", " I just can't cook", "I have never learned". Then they almost always move on to the subject of celebrity chefs. Everyone seems to have their favourite show whether it be the chef or the competition format. They tell me whilst smacking their lips about recipes that they so longingly watched being prepared on TV, but have never dared to try themselves, "What if it goes wrong!!!" their eyes widening in almost a terror like expression as they say the words. "Well" I say, shrugging my shoulders "It goes wrong". "You'll know for the next time, and anyway, who says it was wrong, if you enjoyed eating it, then its fine?".
So, I know that people love to watch others cooking, and most people enjoy eating. I say most, because I have met people who treat food as purely utilitarian, which is still so surprising to me (I say surprising, but really I mean horrifying!!).
When it comes to cooking themselves though, there is very often a barrier that first has to be overcome.
It seems that through being on the one hand bombarded by cooking programmes on TV, books and the glamour of the celebrity chef culture. And on the other being exposed to years of intense marketing of ready meals and flavour enhanced products in the supermarkets, people have forgotten how easy and what a simple pleasure it can be to cook for themselves.
Cooking is for me, like life, it's what you make it. If I thought every time I stepped into the kitchen that I had to create something worthy of a photo in a glossy cook book, I would never do it.
Make a start by defining what you need cooking to be for you. Try starting by taking one of those old favourites like spaghetti bolognaise or chili con carne, or whatever it is for you. Find a recipe with not too many ingredients, and just do it - what's the worst that can happen? As for time, think about how much time you have and work from there. If its 15 minutes, you can certainly have a fresh cooked meal on the table in that time. Check the recipe section in this book for some ideas.
2. KEEP YOUR PORTIONS IN PROPORTION
Portion size can very easily be much bigger than they should. Even eating just a little too much at every meal can result in weight gain or stop you losing weight. The very last thing I want to do is to have you obsessively weighing and measuring every mouthful you eat. However, when you are making a change it can be helpful to have a guideline or a general idea of what you should be aiming for. If you are in a place where it's not so much what you are eating but how much, it can be difficult to work out what is "normal" and by normal, I of course mean what it normal for you, what works for your body. This can be made especially difficult when the sizes of portions have been steadily growing in restaurants over recent years and so sometimes our perception just needs a little adjustment.
Portion make up and size, is one of the most important areas of cooking for yourself. If you rely on take-aways, eating out or fast food, you are giving away this aspect of control over to someone else. This can make it more difficult for you to eat the correct amount that you need as someone has already, to some extent decided this for you. They will not be as interested in your own health as you are.
How much you eat and of what begins at your weekly planning stage. As you are deciding on what you will eat for that week, making the list of what you need and how much you need of each ingredient is where it begins. Then, when you are cooking as you lay out the ingredients you will use, you are also deciding how the portions will look.
As a general guideline, your portions should be made up as follows:
50% Vegetables and/or fruit.
20% Meat, Fish or Poultry
20% Rice, beans, pasta, pulses or potatoes
10% Nuts, oil, cheese, eggs
3. PLAN YOUR MEALS AND SHOPPING
I have noticed that some roll their eyes at the thought of making a shopping list or thinking through what they want to eat for the week. Some say to me "but how do you know what you want to eat next Thursday?" and try to tell me that they like to be spontaneous, or that they don't have time. The funny thing is though, I only shop for food once a week, and the non-planners seem to spend their whole life in the supermarket! For me, I can't think of anything more frustrating or time consuming than having to decide on a daily basis what to eat, what I have in the house and what I need to buy at the shops. The "spontaneity" that people refer to, can actually work negatively, in that you are much more likely to give in to impulses and you are putting yourself in the position of having to face food stores much more often and so are putting temptation in your way. It takes up much more time, and let's face it, life is just too short to spend it in the supermarket! Planning your food for the week will free up time for you in other areas. By working with a basic meal plan and a shopping list, you won't have to be thinking every day about what you will eat that night, that decision has already been taken. It saves all those dashes to the shops after or before work, trying to fit it into your day, trying to resist the temptation of all those packets of crisps and bars of chocolate on a daily basis. By planning you should only need to visit your food shops once a week for your main shop and maybe one more time just to top up on some fresher goods.
Of course, there is always room for flexibility in your meal plan. If you just don't feel like something, you can always swap it for another meal - I'm not THAT strict!
I have to confess, I always love my time planning as it gives me an excuse to sit with a cup of tea and think about nothing else other than food!
Steps in Food Planning
1. Set aside about 20 minutes, make a cup of tea or coffee. You may need a little more time if you are new to planning your food week.
2. Make a note of what you will be eating each day. Normally breakfast and lunch will be pretty much the same.
3. Include snacks.
4. It can be useful to make a plan that uses fresher ingredients at the beginning of the week (or closest to the days after you will visit the shops).
5. Consider any meals you may have outside the home. It may be an idea to use a lighter recipe the day after.
6. Consider your general weekly schedule, how much time will you have on a certain day to cook and choose your recipes accordingly.
7. Consider cooking in bulk to cover 2 or more meals.
8. You can also try and use some different recipes that use some of the same ingredients which makes your shopping list smaller.
9. Consider what you already have in the freezer, cupboards or pantry, either use this in your meal planning or stock up if needed.
For more articles and content, please visit my site http://www.thecookingcoach.eu
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