Do you have any advice for me?

[mdmc]

In 2025 I really feel convicted to assist my wife more in the kitchen.
I have almost zero experience preparing food.
In the past we have gotten meals through services such as green chef - they come complete with a recipe and all the ingredients.
I can cook three nights a week using these meals.
What else can I do to help out?

I already to the cleanup and the dishes. I want simple ways to feed the family.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

[GreenWave]

1. Rice and dried beans are easy to boil up and together you get protein!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Your local library likely has a plethora of cookbooks.

Take the one(s) that offer step-by-step instructions. Some even have photos.

Trust me, if I could learn to cook after half-witted home economics grades 7 to 9, you've got this.

[PJMcK]

3. Try this

https://www.amazon.com/Starving-Students-Cookbook-Dede-Napoli/dp/0446381454/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HuxMGAact9aV1Q744HiOTg.ClPhAZdrmJkWoWq3DZW2y0FmJyarcx9RSmeqVadub58&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+starving+aetist%27s+cookbook&qid=1735995643&sr=8-1

Lots of basics. Cooking isn’t that hard. Use good food and don’t overcook it!

Good luck and eat well!

[Oneear]

4. Bake some Cornbread take you 2 Boxes 2 Eggs bit of Milk

Local Honey Gravy with Eggs Bacon Pasteurized Milk Juice

[Irish_Dem]

5. Ask your wife what ideas she has about you helping out more.

She probably has some suggestions.

[Historic NY]

8. Yeah she probably "does".

[mdmc]

6. thanks everyone

I really appreciate the input

[Sanity Claws]

7. What about grocery shopping?

You mentioned the food service but is that only for the evening meal? How do you handle other meals? Grocery shopping can be time consuming, if not planned right.

[SWBTATTReg]

28. And besides just helping in the kitchen as you have been doing, the shopping too will help, and the shopping will

widen your horizons, open your eyes to what's out there, and perhaps you might try something new too. I do enjoy my grocery shopping just for this reason, I explore the isles, seeing what's out there, and I take my time too. Not the hurry that seem to drive so many when they do go shopping, in and out in a short period of time as possible.

[BoRaGard]

9. Scrambled eggs are easy - just pay attention

Bon apetite

[japple]

10. Youtube is your friend. Watch food prep videos. There are a ton on YT, ranging from simple

recipes to very complicated. You can easily fall into a rabbit hole watching them, or at least I have.Or watch cooking shows on TV. You will get good ideas and tips plus some good recipes.

[Emile]

11. Hobo Skillet or Hobo Casserole with hamburger is easy to cook.

Many recipes for Hobo Skillet on line.

https://youtube.com/shorts/zYiPFikQ0TE?si=5c9uCoYMsxR-HMyK

[Hope22]

12. On the nights you cook make enough for two meals.

These can be frozen or served in the next day or two. Frozen vegetables are easy to cook. If you use a microwave it cuts down on pans. Drained and refrigerated they can be added with cheese and eggs to make on easy omelet. Crock pot meals are simple and easy cleanup. My best to you!

[Nanuke]

13. Watch and take notes when she cooks. Use it as a tutorial so she can teach you best practices she uses.

[CousinIT]

14. No advice but to say what a jewel of a husband you are

for doing this.

Labor of love, truly.

[mdmc]

15. actually, I'm pretty awful

but trying to improve

[IbogaProject]

16. Get educated

Start with a beginners cookbook. Then look for Alron Brown's first Food Network show Good Eats. He is real good explaining food safety and explains how and why with cooking. Here is a playlist with 39 full episodes.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSL8Njz6ML7AqqhKWCaDVL43aM_ABr6YU

I will give you one tip, when cutting things hold your fingers on the food hand so your nails are closest to the knife. It takes a little practice but better to hit your fingernail than anywhere else.

Maybe look for a state or local food handling certificate and just review the training info that way you can really learn the do's and don'ts.

Here is another tip which is a tool to cut all the extras from web recipies. Not sure if it is still live.

A tool for easily saving and organizing recipes found online. While you are browsing for a recipe simply put cooked.wiki/ before the url and it gives you just the ingredients and the instructions.

After that you can edit it and save it.

You can share your saved recipes with anyone and everyone can also can browse all your recipes. Feel free to try it.

Example:

Original recipe: https://www.alphafoodie.com/simple-homemade-rice-milk-2-ingredients/

The example won't make a clickable link here but it did just work.

[usonian]

17. You are fortunate to cook for two. Cooking for one is a challenge. So here are some ideas.

Pasta is your friend. I am Italian-American, so this is a given. Frozen Ravioli. All sorts of pasta.
For fun, see if you can find long fusili or mafaldine. Fabulous texture.

I make my own sauce. I gave up on “store sauce”. I’l repost the recipe my Mom gave.
It keeps (or you can freeze)

Slow Cooker. Make beef stew or chicken. Chicken can get exotic with a few spices.
I found (by luck at the thrift store, as it happens) a book of Asian slow cooker recipes.
I can post the index pages later on. And recipes on request.

Frozen fish and seafood. Air fryer makes fish and chips (I like the big steak fries) (oops)
Seafood (frozen) can go into a cioppino or bouliabasse. (Or air fryer)
Cioppino is tomato sauce with white wine, fennel etc. Recipes vary but they are simple.
I cheated and got some in bottle and froze 2/3 of it.

Q: What is the primary difference between cioppino and bouillabaisse?
A: The main difference lies in the broth. Cioppino features a bold and spicy tomato-based broth, while bouillabaisse showcases a delicate and refined saffron-infused broth.

https://cooknight.net/cioppino-vs-bouillabaisse/

Good old TastyBite or other Indian. Get your cooked veggies. 1 minute. With rice.
Hamburger etc.
I like beef and tomato because it’s easy and balanced. Uses thinly sliced beef.
That also gets used making braciole for the tomato gravy, but that’s an Italian soul food thing.
I continue to experiment with Thai basil beef or eggplant.
Lots of asian dishes cook up quickly because ingredients are cut up small.
Get a cooked chicken. What you don’t finish on the spot makes great soup with a few veggies and broth.

My grandparents were Italian. Mom taught me to cook and ny grandfather grew a grand garden.
Walk through a patch of basil plants for a real treat. Intoxicating in a good way. I love basil.

Been cooking single some 30 years and half time for 27 years married.

[SWBTATTReg]

29. Nice, nice, nice!! I love the tips and I do enjoy cooking too, for the fun of it.

[Turbineguy]

18. If you let your Wife teach you how to cook

you will only be able to make food she likes.

[SheltieLover]

19. I've heard it said that cooking is an art and baking is a science

So have fun with it. Don't be afraid of it.

When you get a taste for something, google a recipe for whatever it is and add (or subtract) to your tastes.

Enjoy the process!

[Retrograde]

20. Baking is less forgiving than cooking

You can throw a lot of things into a pot and call it a soup or stew, but baking has more rigid requirements on how to make a cake or pie. Once you get the basics down, though, you can alter the basic cake/muffin/pie crust/bread recipes to your tastes. I recommend Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for More Food" for an overview of how baking works and what can be substituted for what.

[SheltieLover]

21. For sure!

Thanks for the book rec!

I'm not sure at this late date I'll ever remember all the baking substitutions, but that's what books and google are for, right?

[chowmama]

22. Think of a category of food you like and start small. Keep it simple.

Make one thing - say, a main dish and buy the sides and/or dessert.

If you're an omnivore, there's not much simpler than braised meat. Take a tough cut, brown it very well for a short time over high heat, throw a little seasoning and liquid into it, cover it, and cook it over a very low heat or bake it till it gives up. It takes hours, but really no further attention. Maybe look at it midway to be sure the liquid isn't cooking away. You can add more if you need to, but I've never needed to. Let the store supply the sides. This technique gives you everything from pot roast or short ribs to Boeuf Bourguignon. It's always better the next day, so great leftovers. One of my favorites involves beef, tomato sauce, canned green chilis, onions and beer. The leftovers get shredded for BBQ beef on a hamburger bun.

Is supper the only meal in question? For a special easy breakfast, get steel-cut oats. Start them the night before, boiling them for only a minute, turn off the heat, slap a lid on them and go to bed. Don't refrigerate them, just leave them alone. Re-boil the next morning (you will have to stir them a little) for about 5 minutes and you've got good oatmeal.

If you like pizza, try it a few times - you'll get really good at it. (I still can't slide it onto a pizza stone, but nobody's ever refused a slice from off a cooky sheet yet. If they do, it's their loss.) You can start by buying the dough and work up to that later. Get good spaghetti sauce, use it sparingly and sprinkle on a little extra oregano. Whatever toppings you want. And you've got spaghetti for tomorrow night.

Get everything you need to throw together a huge antipasto salad. The same store will have french bread that you can warm up in a slow oven with no effort at all. A little red wine, you've got dinner. If it's a date night and you've got the time and inclination, make dessert an assortment of cheeses with some cut-up ripe pears or other fruit. This whole meal is more assembly than cooking.

Play around. Go easy on the salt; you can always add more if you need it. And, as an old cookbook once told me, just start frying a chopped onion. Ideas will come to you.

[Phentex]

23. To me the hardest part is the planning

coming up with what we want to eat and then making a list for shopping. So you can take the recipes you already have that you really enjoyed and add them in the rotation. Then figure on a couple of easy throw together meals like pasta or a crockpot recipe. Add some make ahead frozen meals for example frozen salmon pattie with a side of vegetables and rice/quinoa. Keep adding to your rotation list until you have a few months worth. Then based on your time to cook, you can pick some meals for the week and make your grocery list. Then shop or order. You might find you both don't mind cooking so much when the load is shared.

[SARose]

24. We have a set food category for each day of the week

Monday - Meatless

Tuesday - Tacos

Wednesday - Asian

Thursday - Pasta or Soup kinda rotate that

Friday - Hamburgers

Saturday - Date night. Usually something a bit “fancy” like steak and baked potatoes

Sunday - Pot roast, barbecue, fried chicken, etc with lots of sides

Good luck!

[WhiteTara]

25. I love the internet

you can browse recipes from various cookbooks, all on one page. I made stuffed acorn squash tonight and perused a few different recipes to incorporate the ingredients I had on hand. Think about whatever food sounds good and research it. Those meal kit things are great, and you can branch out from there.

Feng shui the room and bring in what makes you feel creative in the kitchen.

[applegrove]

26. Corned beef hash and a cabbage salad is timeless.

You can get pre-made cabbage salads at the grocery store. Lots of recipes on line for the corned beef hash. One pan.

[Marthe48]

30. Be in the kitchen

Watch what your wife does to prep, cook, and clean. What do you want to do? What can you do? What is your wife willing to hand over to you? I'll admit it's hard for me to give up my territory, but I enjoyed his company.
I loved having my husband hanging out with me while i cooked our meals. As he got older, he tried making a few things and he enjoyed finding recipes, making sure we had ingredients, and making it. He made potato and zucchini chips, salsa from vegetables we had grown, easy cookies. He would help with clean up and I appreciated his help.
We both liked sandwiches, so we had bacon and tomato, meatball subs, hoagies, hamburgers. He liked bologna, tomato and cheese, and made those himself. We both liked salads, and they are simple to make, never look bad
You got a lot of advice in other posts. Enjoy time together and look at kitchen chores as a chance for that.