For people who HATE cooking...

This is not for people who just think they hate cooking - this is for people who really, really hate spending any time in a kitchen. (Or is it just my generation? Generation Xers unite!?)

I know a lot about this and I am stuck on a product called Homestyle Bakes. Everything is in the box. It takes all of literally five minutes - if that - to read instructions that a monkey (my mentality most of the time!) could follow right off of the box. It bakes for about 35 minutes or so. Put a salad with it and you have dinner.

I'm not even talking about the kind where you have to add your own chicken or anything. That's too much work!

It is a step up from a tv dinner and is perhaps much cheaper at about $3.00 a box to feed two really big eaters or 3 normal eaters in an 8X8 pan. Heck, there's 3 of us and when I use them - about 2 or 3 times a week - I will make two boxes in the 13x9 size pan and have some leftover.

The favorite here is the chicken and dumplings with beef stroganoff as a second. These are dishes that I, personally, would never adventure into if it wasn't for this product. There are about 11 or 13 different types out there.

If you want to know if it has nutritional value, then my answer would be that, yes, some do have vegetables in them. Well, it has a lot more nutritional value than if I had the desire to make it myself, I'm sure. Just do the salad part like I do to cover yourself!

I make my own tomato sauce (from cans, of course - 3rd generation Italian, thank you) every week and they die for it here, but I will even admit that I like the lasagna bake from the box sometimes. As poor Grandma is rolling over in her grave...

Be well,

Mrs. H.

I go for the frozen dollar deals ! I love it when Stouffers are on sale. This past month I've stuck with salads in a bag. Talk about saving money when one can eat the same thing for a week or two or three. I will admit I do splurge a bit on the weekend, and of course when payday hits!

Best Wishes, Catchmeifyoucan

I love the Homestyle Bakes. I use them quite a bit. My problem is, I love to cook, but my DW and DD are so picky, our menu is very limited. I usually make a bake, and take it for my lunch a couple of days.

Those are a heart attack in a box. The sodium levels are through the roof.

I spent 5 minutes on my dinner tonight and I HATE HATE HATE cooking!

I took chicken breasts, salsa, dumped in a crock pot and I'm done. Tonight I will shred the chicken with a fork, put it on tortillas with taco toppings. Yummy, cheap & easy.

*I made my own salsa for the first time today. I normaly do jar salsa.

I have used Homestyle Bakes for dinner before. I enjoy them. You do have to watch it if folks with high blood pressure in the family. They are very good though.

Generally for work lunches I take the 1 dollar freezer bargains :).

All processed foods always have additives, preservatives, and.... be ware if some chinese stuffs in it!... :cool:

Those are a heart attack in a box. The sodium levels are through the roof.

I spent 5 minutes on my dinner tonight and I HATE HATE HATE cooking!

I took chicken breasts, salsa, dumped in a crock pot and I'm done. Tonight I will shred the chicken with a fork, put it on tortillas with taco toppings. Yummy, cheap & easy.

*I made my own salsa for the first time today. I normaly do jar salsa.

I appreciate this recipe! I hate cooking too but love to crock pot. haha I tried this and it is delicious! My hubby and baby loved it too. Got any other recipes??? S&T:D

Hey,
Im a Gen xer and I LOVE cooking, but not when its 90 degrees out. Those are ceasar salad nights...:blush2:
I make Chinese, Korean, sushi rolls, Italian, classic American, French...I spend tons of time googling recipes. As a result my kids eat everything, even eel!!!
My hubby likes to cook too. He cooks uo some mean Korean dishes. YUMMO!
Heck, I even have my own veggie & herb garden. I think I am the only x-er who likes to cook. I learned to cook young, cuz I like tasty hot & spicey stuff & my mom's cooking is BLAND stew type meals...ICK!
I have high BP and have some issues with MSG and allergies. I rarely eat frozen/prepared due to that. Most look decent though.
WAM

I don't know what I would do without my crockpot! I like having dinner ready when I get home from work. There's a really good cookbook "Fix it and Forget it Lightly" that has healthy crock pot recipes. Many of the recipes are pretty cheap too. I also eat a bean-based meal at least a couple times a week. My oldest son hates beans or we would eat them even more often. BYW, I'm not a cruel mom, I always save an extra helping from a non-bean meal and freeze it so he doesn't have to eat the dreaded beans!

Hey,
Im a Gen xer and I LOVE cooking, but not when its 90 degrees out. Those are ceasar salad nights...:blush2:
I make Chinese, Korean, sushi rolls, Italian, classic American, French...I spend tons of time googling recipes. As a result my kids eat everything, even eel!!!
My hubby likes to cook too. He cooks uo some mean Korean dishes. YUMMO!
Heck, I even have my own veggie & herb garden. I think I am the only x-er who likes to cook. I learned to cook young, cuz I like tasty hot & spicey stuff & my mom's cooking is BLAND stew type meals...ICK!
I have high BP and have some issues with MSG and allergies. I rarely eat frozen/prepared due to that. Most look decent though.
WAM

How do you have the time? I don't get home usually until about 6:30-7pm and I am so exhausted I just don't want to cook...not that I don't like it, when I have the time, but during the week, I'm just too tired. By the time dinner is prepped, eaten, dishes cleared it's past 8 o'clock! How do you do it?

I usually only cook every 2-3 days. I just refrigerate everything and eat left-overs. I'm somewhat lazy. I do crock-pot stuff, the Electric Wok, the rice maker, the bread machine, easy omelettes. Generally this means throwing stuff in and waiting for it to get done. I make a mean curry though. My favorite styles of cuisine are Indian, and Chinese, with Mexican and Italian close behind, I guess that means I like spicy food too. I have a really tough time with "bland" food like "boiled beef" whatever that is.

i absolutley hate cooking/preparing food as well. this is what my days are like. for breakfast BF usually cooks me an egg n cheese omelet. snacks for the day are cottage cheese and yogurt. dinner is a hot pocket or something else frozen that i can get alot of at sams club for cheap and i can grab it and head out to work. i also buy those bags of lettuce. usually im starving when i come home from work so ill make myself i nice tuna or salmon salad.

One of my favorite Crockpot meals is Meatballs.

1 bag frozen meatballs
1 bottle cheap BBQ sauce
1 jar cheap grape jelly

You don't even have to stir. Cook on Low for 6-8 hours or hi for 4. Serve with bread, on buns, with salad or rice.

for xmas my mom is getting us a crockpot, so that will be nice.

One of my favorite Crockpot meals is Meatballs.

1 bag frozen meatballs
1 bottle cheap BBQ sauce
1 jar cheap grape jelly

You don't even have to stir. Cook on Low for 6-8 hours or hi for 4. Serve with bread, on buns, with salad or rice.


grape jelly????? what in the world????? please explain what this ingredient adds to the recipe :D

grape jelly????? what in the world????? please explain what this ingredient adds to the recipe :D

Flavor, flavor, and sweetness. Although I am not a fan of this, I have made it in homeconomics class. My school has this big basketball tournament every january, invites teams from 2 or 3 states to come. The home ec. students provided the food for the hospitality room, and the bbq/grape jelly meatballs were always eaten up every night. Never any left. But I find the idea of grape jelly/bbq sauce gross, so never even tasted them.

Just another thought...If you're in just a household of two like me, sometimes it's cheaper to eat out! For example, my fiance and I can eat at taco bell for $6.00.

I love to cook. It's my way to unwind. I loke to watch Rachel Ray's 30 minuite meals to get ideas. She usually focuses on ways to eat healthy and on a tight budget.

Everyone has 30 mins to spend on dinner, and plus if you make extra, you have lunch the next day!!!