Stuck in a food Rut

2013

2013

2013

Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2012
Posts
4,345
Hi guys

Im kind of stuck in a food rut im board eating the same meals, not having any idea what to try and take out near me is just cheap, so cant get anything good unless i go out of town.

Im looking for some help and ideas, on new meals to try.

I grew up on quick frozen meals (fish fingers, pizza, jacket potatos ext) so I never really had much choice later home meals or learn many meals. over the years i did learn a how to cook basic stuff sunday roast, stews, burgers and some basic pakistani food curry's, rice samosas, kababs. but I feel like im stuck making and eating the same stuff, I tried to make pasta but end up with curried pasta.

With so many things to try i should have some ideas but i dont.
Also a side note I dont eat much Beef or pork

Im wanting to try other food, please share some of your favourite meals from around the world or home with recipe links if you have them
Italian
india
Chinese
ext


I would be grateful to everyone who shares, so i can get out of this.
 
I'm quite luckily that the Mrs used to be a chef, works in the catering industry (nurtional) and is excellent in the kitchen ;)

Before I suggest anything, what exactly are you fed up of eating now? I won't suggest anything for fear of suggesting something you've been eating for a while.

You can do lots of things with just a meat of choice, vegetables and spices

What's curried pasta ? :confused:
 
Fed up with frozen foods (pizza, fries, fish fingers) and basic stuff i know jacket potato's chips, curry's Indian rice, takeout just to give you a basic ideas I dont know how to make a lot of stuff outside this basic area.

pasta covered in curry instead of tomato sauce which I dont know how to make even when I try
 
Are you stuck in a food rut or a cba to cook rut? If you've learnt in the past to cook those things then it can't be difficult to look up ingredients for a meal you like the look of and have a go at it, I mean that's all people can really suggest here.
 
Best thing to do as start a is just pick your favourite meat or vegetable and see what you can make with that via allrecipes.co.uk. That website basically taught me how to cook anything.

As soon as you've got a stable set of herbs and spices in the cupboard, you'll be flying!
 
One thing I would recommend is finding a Hello Fresh discount code and signing up.

You can get two boxes with 5 meals for 2 people (or if its just for you, 5 dinners and lunches!) for £30 each which is pretty good value. You get everything you need in the box and the recipes are great, as are the instructions if you're not a dab hand in the kitchen. I wouldn't pay full price but on offer its well worth it.

Or you can get the recipe cards for free here https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipe-archive/browse?redirectedFromAccountArea=true
 
As Skillmaster above said, Gousto is my preferred meal box but hello fresh is good too.

We only get them tho when we fancy adding some new recipes to the mix but even then at full price they arent that expensive even cheaper with the welcome code then every so often they will email you again with £15 off or 30% not quite as good as the new sign up deal but still nice.

We are yet to have a bad recipe from either, One of them sent us a mexican bean broth recipe last time and its become one of our favorite meals.
 
Hope I'm not hijacking your thread OP, but I'm stuck in a pasta sauce rut. Tired of the standard tomato based one's and creme fraiche one's I make. Anyone have any good recipes to share? Bonus points for being good for lunch in the week.
 
This is how I do an easy tomato/red sauce, hope it helps. Fry off 2-3 chopped cloves of garlic in a mixture of butter and olive oil, after a few minutes throw in a pinch of chilli flakes and a teaspoon of dried oregano and let them blend for a minute or two. Once that is done add in a can of chopped tomato. At that point throw in a couple of bay leaves (optional step is also chop an onion in half, remove the outer skin and put the two halves into the sauce) and then let it simmer for around half an hour, giving it a stir every now and again. Once the time is up take out the onion halves and bay leaves and job done. If you are doing it with pasta, I would get the sauce to the stage that the tomato has gone in and is simmering, at this point boil your water for the pasta. By the time the water is up to temperature, the pasta is cooked and drained etc the sauce is ready.

It goes really well over pasta on it's own (with some grated parmesan :p), a sauce to accompany meatballs, chopped sausage pasta, you can put the sauce over some chicken breasts with some cheese and oven bake them to go with veg and potato of your choice. I've even used it as a base for home made pizzas. It's pretty versatile and it is simple to do.

Another great and easy pasta dish is a carbonara if you haven't made one already.
 
TacticalFish said:
Hope I'm not hijacking your thread OP, but I'm stuck in a pasta sauce rut. Tired of the standard tomato based one's and creme fraiche one's I make. Anyone have any good recipes to share? Bonus points for being good for lunch in the week.
Click to expand...

Pesto, just mix it in. Easy.

Open a can of sardines, mix it in. Again, easy.
 
Spuj said:
snip
Click to expand...

Thanks Spuj, my normal sauce is somewhat similar to this:
  1. Veg oil (I'm told it's healthier than Olive?) and a small amount of butter, fry off finely chopped onions and garlic together.
  2. Then an Italian herb mix, more often than not dried chilli flakes too, as you suggest.
  3. Chuck in chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer, I don't often add bay leaves so that's a good shout.
  4. Occasionally I'll add a Knorr stock cube to deepend the flavour a bit, but it's less healthy.
Without the chopped onions that a solid base tomato sauce, thank you.

I love carbonara when I get it right, I usually use this recipe. Delicious when I don't scramble the eggs accidentally. Not sure how well it would heat up the next day though.. Might have to test that at some point.

Raymond Lin said:
Pesto, just mix it in. Easy.

Open a can of sardines, mix it in. Again, easy.
Click to expand...

Not the biggest fan of pesto sadly, it's real shame. I should've mentioned that too lol. That being said, the finest one from the Tesco chiller cabinet isn't half bad.
 
My pasta sauce:

Fry smoked streaky bacon, onion and garlic in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Add two bay leaves, oregano and some chilli flakes.
Splash of red wine to de-glaze the pan
Add a handful of cherry tomatoes chopped in half and a diced red pepper.
Add passata and a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Simmer for about 15 mins and add lots of chopped fresh basil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

With Italian cooking it's really important to keep tasting the sauce as it's usually quite easy to remedy it with additional seasoning or spices. Worcester sauce is great for a Bolognese sauce (not great for the above).

Any pasta sauce is good for lunch the next day! Penne is better than spaghetti or tagliatelle for re-heating.
 
Just look on t'internet, there's tons of ideas and recipes across hundreds of websites

Failing that you could buy bargain basement recipe books from amazon

Or maybe try a few days on a waterfast diet, you'll learn to appreciate food then no matter how boring it is heh
 
Chicken Katsu Curry….with either rice or in a bun.

Zr7iG9F.jpg


3rfiODU.jpg
 
list of stuff I like to make:
- turkey with sweet potato
- beef mince with pasta shells and pasta sauce
- sausage casserole
- baked fish and asparagus
- chicken stir fry
- tomato soup with crisp sandwiches for dipping
- bacon sarnies
- pancakes w/ maple syrup
 
I generally do carb free / high fat, but here's a few of my standard midweek go-to's. All are for 2 people (or 1 + lunch I guess).

Stuffed Peppers
Halve 2 peppers, drizzle in olive oil (garlic oil I usually use) stick under grill. microwave some peas in hot water, and when they're done stick some spinach in the water to wilt. Chop red onions, chop some cooked chicken (the nice stuff you can put on salads) and combine it all in a bowl with quite a lot of soft cheese (Philadelphia stuff). Take the peppers out, fill with mixture, top with cheddar and put in oven for about 20 min.

Stuffed Courgette
basically Bolognese without pasta. Fry beef and make red sauce as above. Halve some courgettes and scoop out the seeds + make a channel in them (stick all that flesh in the sauce). Fill the courgettes with it and bake for a while.

Puff pastry pizza
Just had this! Super simple. Get some ready rolled puff pastry and lay it out on a baking tray (and on baking paper). Turn up the sides a bit, spread on some passatta and top with whatever you like to have on pizzas! Bake for 20min at 180.

Decent coleslaw
Not bits of carrot swimming in mayo with extra cream added...! Shred a bunch of veg - carrot, fennel, red cabbage, pak choi, red onion (chop that, don't shred onion), whatever. Put in bowl with rocket, add a bit of mayo (it goes a long way), white wine vinegar and olive oil and stir. Can then have it with things like burgers instead of chips, or with pork chops (good covered in whole grain mustard and put in the oven)

Chicken and chorizo salad
Fry some chicken to get it golden, then stick in the oven. On a plate put rocket / salad, onion, tomatoes, etc. When the chicken is almost done put some chorizo in with it. Make a dressing of Greek yoghurt (full fat), lemon juice & herbs. Put the dressing on the salad and the chicken / chorizo on top. It's surprisingly filling!
 
OP

We've been the same would centre around 3 types of meals. Until we discovered "Hello fresh" yes its a bit more expensive. But the "what do you want for tea" arguments have stopped and I've eaten food I would have turned my nose up at and loved them. Never been a stir fry fan...Now I am.
 
Making your own pesto can give pasta a real lift. Pretty easy with a food processor or stick blender. Couple packets basil , 1 clove garlic chopped, 50ml xvg olive oil ( add more as blending if necessary ) juice of 1 lemon, 100g grated hard Italian cheese (or if you're non dairy veggie like me salt and nutritional yeast) nut wise I use walnuts chuck straight in or pine nuts which require a dry toast in frying pan for about 5 mins or so med heat until they brown.

Whizz it all up and slather over pasta. Good quick meal.
 
I like cabonara it’s a quick and easy. Traditionally you don’t add cream but if I have some left over I add a little bit to the egg. It’s a one pan dish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom