i blow alot of money on food. i never really payed attention to how much money i could save by just shopping instead of getting food on the road until a couple of weeks ago. a friend invited me over for dinner/beer. we met with his room mate at the store, and got some chicken and beer. the chicken was cheap, too. probably a few meals worth for what i sometimes spend on just one meal.
i'm a guy whos never really cooked for himself though. i can make eggs. so i'd like to start off slow, by learnign some things on the frying pan.
what can i/can't i cook? i've seen my girlfriend cook fish on it, and it looked easy enough
suggestions? instructions? how not to completely screw up and ruin my meal? cheap dishes for myself? i'll eat anything with meat pretty much. rice looks easy too
One of the best advice I can give you is: experiment. Nothing can really get out of hand, and as you said cooking for yourself is quite cheap. So if you screw, well, that's just one bad meal you'll have and you won't lose too much.
Always put some butter or oil (even if just a little) so what you're cooking doesn't attach to the pan. High heat is for frying and such; mid heat for cooking; low heat to evaporate water from your sauces and keeping your stuff warm when your friends are late :p
I wish I could help you more but I don't really know all the english cooking terms. And seriously, you'll be having much more fun by experimenting by yourself, and will probably learn what to do and not to do much quicker. A little beginner's guidebook to cooking might prove helpful, too.
Just try to mix stuff you like and don't be scared - it's just food. You're making fish? You like tomato? add tomato. You like acid stuff? Pour some vinegar in that. Add an onion because it gives taste and also grabs the dish's taste too. Put some salt and pepper. Maybe some chili if you like hot stuff?
Ex-pe-ri-ment! That's how cooking gets funny and how you make - by accident most of the time - delicious meals.
start off with the some easy, but tasty meals like Chilli Con Carne or some pasta sauces. They don't take long to prepare and are simple to make (generally just chuck all the ingredients into a pan).
chilli is dead easy: fry an onion and garlic for min or so, add some mince and brown it. chuck in a tin of chopped, peeled plum tomatos, cumin, chilli powder, paprika, diced fresh chillies and cook for ~hour+1/2. if you want beans in add some kidney beans or baked beans 30mins before the end.
serve with boiled rice. voilá ;-)
just google 'Chili con carne' and you'll get a ton of (accurate) recipies.
The supermarkets in my area have little recipe books near the checkout counter, next to Soap Digest and Archie comics. They usually have some good recipes, and often seasonal too.
Buy a rice cooker, seriously.
This saved my wallet.