Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Teaching someone to cook and grocery shop

Hektore · 04-04-2010, 02:42 PM

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you're doing, but unless she (your response makes it seem like your son does not do the shopping) plans on shopping every day, she isn't learning how much of each item to buy & how to make sure everything used before it spoils. Effective grocery shopping is basically inventory management and I don't think she's going to really get the knack for it until she has to manage her own refrigerator & cupboards. Of course, it's still useful to go and teach how to pick out good produce and cuts of meat.

Maybe you could chip some grocery money and have them plan, shop and cook for a week at your house?

As for the cooking, I'm not sure what the best way to do thing is. I'm basically a self taught cook. My mother didn't cook much (lots of boxed food and take out) and my wife never paid attention to the cooking in their house. I learned by picking out things I liked, making simple versions, and through successive attempts flushed out the simple recipes into some Good Stuff. As an example, I like meatloaf, but didn't know the first damn thing about making it. So I read over about a dozen different meatloaf recipes and started with a simple meatloaf including the common ingredients (basically meat, eggs, breadcrumbs and ketchup).

It sucked. The next time, I added some onion and spices to taste the difference. The time after I added some more spices and peppers, the next time a little more. At the end, I had a good idea of what different things do to a meat loaf, as well as a pretty sweet Southwest style meatloaf recipe that is almost all my own and pretty tasty. Same thing with my chilli recipe, and my home-made BBQ sauce. My current project is a chicken & corn chowder.

One thing I do remember that was useful was an exercise I read online with chicken. Cube a chicken breast (because when baked it's reasonably mild and tasteless) and do a single spice rub on each piece with many different spices. This gives you an idea of what each spice tastes like and how they can work together. After that you can do multi-spice rubs with spices commonly used together.

As an aside: I would be sure to get them a quality crock pot. Ours proved invaluable for my wife and I the first few months. You can get some healthy delicious meals out of it for very little effort and most of the leftovers store very well.

04-04-2010, 02:42 PM	#7 (permalink)
Hektore Junkie Location: Greater Harrisburg Area	I don't think there is anything wrong with what you're doing, but unless she (your response makes it seem like your son does not do the shopping) plans on shopping every day, she isn't learning how much of each item to buy & how to make sure everything used before it spoils. Effective grocery shopping is basically inventory management and I don't think she's going to really get the knack for it until she has to manage her own refrigerator & cupboards. Of course, it's still useful to go and teach how to pick out good produce and cuts of meat. Maybe you could chip some grocery money and have them plan, shop and cook for a week at your house? As for the cooking, I'm not sure what the best way to do thing is. I'm basically a self taught cook. My mother didn't cook much (lots of boxed food and take out) and my wife never paid attention to the cooking in their house. I learned by picking out things I liked, making simple versions, and through successive attempts flushed out the simple recipes into some Good Stuff. As an example, I like meatloaf, but didn't know the first damn thing about making it. So I read over about a dozen different meatloaf recipes and started with a simple meatloaf including the common ingredients (basically meat, eggs, breadcrumbs and ketchup). It sucked. The next time, I added some onion and spices to taste the difference. The time after I added some more spices and peppers, the next time a little more. At the end, I had a good idea of what different things do to a meat loaf, as well as a pretty sweet Southwest style meatloaf recipe that is almost all my own and pretty tasty. Same thing with my chilli recipe, and my home-made BBQ sauce. My current project is a chicken & corn chowder. One thing I do remember that was useful was an exercise I read online with chicken. Cube a chicken breast (because when baked it's reasonably mild and tasteless) and do a single spice rub on each piece with many different spices. This gives you an idea of what each spice tastes like and how they can work together. After that you can do multi-spice rubs with spices commonly used together. As an aside: I would be sure to get them a quality crock pot. Ours proved invaluable for my wife and I the first few months. You can get some healthy delicious meals out of it for very little effort and most of the leftovers store very well. __________________ The advantage law is the best law in rugby, because it lets you ignore all the others for the good of the game.