I don't know how to cook! Can I do this?

[JaneMaddy]

Hello!

I want to start this monday and I have some meal delivery options I was thinking of.  The thing is, I don't know how to cook.  Anything, really.  I want to learn but have a 6month old and need to start really slow.  Can I do this?  I don't eat pork, I barely eat meat, and I don't know how I'm going to get protein in except for fish and eggs.  (How do you even cook the eggs without butter in the pan?  Help!  I'm scared I won't eat enough and I'm breastfeeding.  What other protein can I eat?  What's the easiest to cook?  Is this a terrible idea? 

[ShannonM816]

You can do this. You're going to have a bit of a learning curve, but you can do this. We've had vegetarians do Whole30 using nothing but eggs as protein, and pescatarians do it with just eggs and fish, so this is doable, and any other meats you're willing to eat occasionally other than those are just extra options you can use when you want to. You might find some of the tips in this article helpful.

For the eggs, you use a different fat source to cook them -- ghee would be very butter-like, flavor wise, but not exactly the same. You can make your own, it's not really hard, but you can buy it as well -- look for some at someplace like Sprout's or Whole Foods or a local health food store, or order some online (there are three companies listed on the Whole30 Approved page that do ghee, and I'm sure there are other options out there too). If you don't have ghee, you can use any oil you'd normally cook with -- extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil would work, but may cause your eggs to have a flavor you might not like. A light-tasting olive oil or a refined coconut oil wouldn't have those flavors and would be fine to use. You could also use good quality tallow (beef fat), duck fat, or other animal fat if you want, although if you're not used to eating much meat, those may not be your first choice. If you want to use those, I've found Epic brand at my regular grocery store, in with the other oils.

This is one of my favorite fish recipes. Try that recipe once as written, and if you like it, know that they freeze well, so you can double the recipe next time, and freeze some to have in the future -- if you scroll down to the comments, she actually answers a question about the best way to reheat them. You can also do tuna salad -- either make some mayo, or buy compliant mayo (Primal Kitchen and Tessemae's both have Whole30 compliant options, you'll probably have to order them online though, most stores don't carry them), or use a mashed up avocado instead of the mayo. If I don't have mayo on hand, I sometimes just pour some olive oil over it so it won't taste so dry, mix in whatever veggies, salt, and any other seasonings I'm using, and call it good. You can also bake or grill any kind of fish fillet you like -- if you google Whole30 + whatever kind of fish, you'll probably find recipes for just about anything.

You might also look for different ways to cook eggs, so you don't get tired of them. Things like shakshuka, egg foo young (this recipe has chicken in it --  if you don't want to eat chicken, you could leave it out, it shouldn't make a huge difference in how it cooks), egg drop soup, or egg muffins will give you a change from standard scrambled, fried, sunny side up, or omelettes, just to help keep you from getting board.

And now that I've given you a bunch of recipes -- remember that you don't have to do anything fancy. If you like scrambled eggs and you're comfortable cooking them and you don't get bored with them, have them every day if you want. Just be sure to pile lots of veggies on the plate with them, and then add some fat. If you want to eat tuna fish dumped straight out of the can on top of a big salad with olive oil and lemon juice for a dressing, that works. Save the more complicated recipes for days when you have some extra time or someone to watch the kiddo for you.