I HATE cooking . . .

[MonaJLolitaLucy]

I have always hated to cook but this has forced me to cook some of my meals.  I am on Day 16 and the meals are all starting to taste the same.  I need some QUICK go-to meals; especially for lunch and dinner.   I have been eating tons of salads and have sautéed everything I could possibly think of.   Any suggestions? 

[Tom Denham]

Go to good food blogs like The Clothes Make the Girl or NomNom Paleo and start preparing meals according to the recipes of Melissa Joulwan and Michelle Tam. Or for simpler fare, go to my blog of over 400 Whole30 recipes and start copying me. People who have not learned to cook on their own must copy others until they learn enough to make their own way. 

[LadyM]

The new Whole30 book also has recipes geared toward people who don't necessarily know their way around a kitchen. Master the fundamentals and then play with sauces and spices for infinite variety. The book is definitely a winner in that regard.

 

And in moving forward it's crucial to get comfortable in the kitchen and develop what I think of as assembly meals rather than recipes as your go-to. For best results, the Whole30 doesn't end after 30 days; you adapt its principles for the long run. And the healthiest way forward is to prepare the vast majority of your own meals. For life. So it's worth doing the leg work now.

[texasbred]

Tom's blog is really good.  Great meals, but not too complicated.

[EmilyCole]

Personally, I haaaaaate to cook, so I roast just about everything (so that I can stick it in the oven and go do to something more interesting). Here's what I've learned:

1. Lay out veggies on a cookie sheet, spray with Olive Oil Pam, season with salt and pepper (ground pepper, not from a mill -- unless you really like pepper), stick in a 350 degree oven, flip after 20 minutes, eat after another 15. Boom! 
2. You can do the same with chicken... When you check the chicken, poke it with your finger. If it's squishy (like your cheek), it's not done yet. If it's hard (like your forehead), it's over cooked. Perfect chicken should be as "tender" as your nostril. (Yes, I poke my face while I'm checking chicken so I can compare it.)
3. Garlic-ified Spaghetti Squash... Get a big spaghetti squash, cut both ends off, and slice it down the middle (extra points for not chopping off your finger while doing it). Then get a couple heads of garlic (depending on the size of your squash), peel the whole thing, and jam as many of the cloves into the seed cavity as you can (leave the seeds in). Then spray the cut side of your spaghetti squash with Olive Oil Pam, put it cut-side-down on a cookie sheet, and roast until the squash is squishy when you poke it (like a veeeeeeeeery ripe peach) -- about 40 minutes-ish. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes (so it's cool enough to handle), then flip the squashes over. **Most of your garlic will have fallen out. That's totally fine.** De-seed the squash and "shred" with a fork into a bowl (repeat with both sides, saving the roasted garlic). (Sometimes, at this point, I have to use a paper towel to, kind of, "dry off" the squash and get rid of some of the water.) Then, take your roasted garlic, push it through a garlic press (or smash it with your meat tenderizer), and add it to your bowl of shredded squash with a tablespoon (or two) of Ghee. Super yummy!

[ShannonM816]

Personally, I haaaaaate to cook, so I roast just about everything (so that I can stick it in the oven and go do to something more interesting). Here's what I've learned:

• Lay out veggies on a cookie sheet, spray with Olive Oil Pam, season with salt and pepper (ground pepper, not from a mill -- unless you really like pepper), stick in a 350 degree oven, flip after 20 minutes, eat after another 15. Boom!
• You can do the same with chicken... When you check the chicken, poke it with your finger. If it's squishy (like your cheek), it's not done yet. If it's hard (like your forehead), it's over cooked. Perfect chicken should be as "tender" as your nostril. (Yes, I poke my face while I'm checking chicken so I can compare it.)
• Garlic-ified Spaghetti Squash... Get a big spaghetti squash, cut both ends off, and slice it down the middle (extra points for not chopping off your finger while doing it). Then get a couple heads of garlic (depending on the size of your squash), peel the whole thing, and jam as many of the cloves into the seed cavity as you can (leave the seeds in). Then spray the cut side of your spaghetti squash with Olive Oil Pam, put it cut-side-down on a cookie sheet, and roast until the squash is squishy when you poke it (like a veeeeeeeeery ripe peach) -- about 40 minutes-ish. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes (so it's cool enough to handle), then flip the squashes over. **Most of your garlic will have fallen out. That's totally fine.** De-seed the squash and "shred" with a fork into a bowl (repeat with both sides, saving the roasted garlic). (Sometimes, at this point, I have to use a paper towel to, kind of, "dry off" the squash and get rid of some of the water.) Then, take your roasted garlic, push it through a garlic press (or smash it with your meat tenderizer), and add it to your bowl of shredded squash with a tablespoon (or two) of Ghee. Super yummy!

This sounds great, but I'd remind any new people to please read the labels on spray oils, many of them contain soy lecithin and are therefore off limits during your whole30.

Instead of that, try rubbing them with coconut oil, ghee, lard, tallow, or other oil, then follow the rest of the directions.

[Munkers]

For truly quick meals, I recommend batch cooking like what EmilyCole described above. Roast chicken, pot roast, pork shoulder--some kind of big hunk of meat that you toss in a crockpot or roast in the oven and then have enough protein to last through several meals. Same with vegetables. Slice and roast a kabocha squash. Roast sweet potatoes (diced or whole). I don't cook according to how much we're going to eat in that one meal, I cook according to how much I can cram onto the cookie sheet. For sweet potatoes, that usually means roasting 2-3lbs at a time. Then they're available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the coming days. I also like to shred a head of cabbage at the start of the week. I can do the cabbage raw as a salad or slaw or I can cook it down for a hot veggie side. It's very quick cooking.

 

For more inspiration, check out Melissa Joulwan's website and these links in particular:

Whole 30 batch cooking for week 1

Whole 30 batch cooking for week 2

No cooking required dinners (assuming that you've prepped beforehand)

[Zyriel]

You can also get an oil sprayer in place of something like Pam, in which case you can use the oil of your choice (except coconut). They're great and easily available on amazon or in cooking stores.

[ladyshanny]

I don't cook according to how much we're going to eat in that one meal, I cook according to how much I can cram onto the cookie sheet.

This! Make doubles of everything! If you make a batch of chocolate chili, make a second pot at the same time and freeze it. If you make a curry, double or triple it. If you make a meatloaf, make 2 or 3. If you are going to grill chicken breasts, grill them all, as many fit on your bbq. If you hard boil eggs, do the entire dozen. You get the idea......

[ladyshanny]

In counselling someone in another thread about mass-prep, I got to thinking that it is out of people's "ordinary" to think that it's acceptable to grill 12 chicken breasts and make 2 pots of chili and roast 6 sweet potatoes and make two sauces all in the same day for the same eating-week.  And yet we are programmed to think nothing of buying the Family Size of rice crispies so we don't run out or buying the jumbo loaf of bread or the biggest carton of milk or ice cream.  People buy big because they know eventually they are going to use it....but we think it's weird or out of the norm to stock our fridges in that same big bulk way with protein and veggies and sauces.  

 

If I didn't bulk cook I would. not. succeed.

[SparkInfused]

I was not fond of cooking before doing the Whole30. I have always loved to eat, but preferred it prepared for me, ready to eat. All that had to change in doing the Whole30. I didn't eat out that often, but my husband did most of the cooking. In order to eat Whole30 compliant, I had to take the cooking over. It had to move my schedule around a bit to make that work, as I work full time, have 2 children at different schools, etc. I found it easy to cook, planning for left overs, so I didn't have to cook every day. When we buy chicken, we will grill 6 or 8 at a time. I always keep frozen veggies, canned tuna, and ground meat available because those are pretty quick solutions when in a pinch. If I am going to make cauliflower rice, I chop of 2 or 3, so that I have a bunch to freeze to cook later in the week. Then its just an easy stir fry. Also, I love to buy already cubed squashes. It costs a bit more, but man it makes it easier. I also found that you can buy frozen chopped onions...that's right, you don't have to chop your own onions! Potatoes, Sweet potatoes can be cooked in the microwave, not idea, but works in a pinch. I am learning that things can be cooked several different ways: baked, roasted, sautéed, slow cooked, raw, etc. and each way tastes different. In time, I learned my favorite recipes my memory and then was able to make substitutions and start having fun with the recipes. My husband loves the food and when he can, he cooks with me, which makes for some fine quality time spent together. Even the kids have joined and like to help out. (well the little one just plays with spoons and bowls filled with a little water on the floor, but she calls it cooking).

[SugarcubeOD]

I used to not really cook... I didn't hate it but I wasn't good at it and didn't really care for it one way or the other.

What the Whole30 taught me is that cooking myself healthy, whole meals is the greatest action of self love and self care that you can provide yourself. There is nothing more nourishing to your body and mind than making sure that the fuel you give it is the best quality and best ingredients that you can afford and that you took the time out of other things to prepare it.

 

Not everyone is going to be a chef or loooooove cooking... I will never be that person.  But I get a certain pleasure out of knowing that I can care for myself that way... maybe it would help the 'hate to cook' people out there to start thinking about it that way? Or maybe not... in which case all the rest of the suggestions here are great too!