As much as I would like to be good at cooking one day, that day is not now.

There is a little cafe/deli/bistro place that made healthy whole foods with not too much sodium/fat, and I have been getting what I needed there. Chicken, fish, steamed veggies, etc. It was a lifesaver.

I've been having trouble since a binge a bit ago, and today was/is supposed to be a day to try again. Well, the place where I get my "staples" has completely changed their menu, and now everything is tangier/saltier/sweeter. (Why, oh why? ) I don't know if it's just citrus doing that, or if it's some kind of sugar (they are trying to find out for me) but even if it's citrus that could trigger binges for me at this point. (Additionally, they raised the prices significantly, but I would pay it if that's what it took to stay on plan, and if they still had the same menu that they've had for ages.)

Being able to just go to that place and buy what I needed at a moment's notice has been a lifesaver. Since I'm just not skilled at cooking, having to rely on my cooking can leave me without healthy food when I really need it (like when I need food NOW), which can then lead to unhealthy eating and binges.

This is a BIG change to my plans, and honestly I am a little panicked. I don't want to eat frozen/processed foods, and haven't been able to find a replacement source for these staples. I just bought some raw chicken and I'm trying to cook it, but I'm worried that it won't taste right and that I won't be able to keep up with the cooking.

I realize this may sound silly to the seasoned chefs out there, or even to those with basic cooking skills. But when I tried to learn how to cook and it didn't go well, I set it aside in favor of focusing on the more important goal of eating healthier and exercising more (and just bought the food I needed precooked), because otherwise it was just too much to take on at once.

Just wondering if any of you had to deal with a significant change to your daily nutritional staples when you were on this journey, and what you did about it.

I realize the answer may seem obvious, just learn how to cook, but that is easier said than done. I haven't even had much success boiling eggs, and so I buy those precooked too.

Thanks for any tips/advice.

I do cook so I can't really relate to that but I've found a few of my "staples" have ended up in the discontinued/changed recipe category, and that makes it really difficult for me since I can be a little picky. I'm sure it's 10x worse if you don't cook. Maybe scout around for other places to see if you can find something else you like? Or try a cooking class, if you'd really like to learn to prepare your own. And really, the simpler things are prepared, the better they usually are for you so you could probably manage the veggies even if you don't cook. Steaming veggies isn't hard at all, you just have to get the knack for it. Or try those veggie steamer bags somebody mentioned around here a couple days ago.

I wish I had better advice for you, but I hope you find a solution!

Try Birdseye Steamfresh frozen veggies, nothing added, just fresh-frozen veggies. Pop in microwave for 5-10 minutes and it's done. Add your own seasonings.

I CAN cook. I can't say I love to cook. If I can get to a good farmer's market and find some beautiful produce, I get excited and want to cook. Otherwise, I keep it simple. Like, crazy simple. I am not a fan of fussy food.

Steamed vegetables are crazy easy:
-buy what you like
-buy ziploc steamer bags
-wash all your vegetables for the week and stick them in the fridge, you can even presort them into bags if you want
-follow directions on bag for time to steam in micro
-add toppings of your choice (I am simple, I like sea salt, cracked pepper, and a mist of olive oil on just about any thing)
-eat!

I have a rice/vegetable steamer and those are easy to use but hey, with the Ziplocs the times are right on the bag! I love the collapsible bamboo steamers as well.

Roasting vegetables is also easy.

You can cook chicken and fish very very simply and still have them taste delicious. I have a grill pan, or I cook them in the oven. Again, you can never go wrong with a little salt, pepper, olive oil, and a squeeze of lime (but I guess not if citrus is a problem for you?).

One of my favorite sides is super easy - saute garlic, onion, halved cherry tomatoes in a bit of olive oil till they're all squishy, then add spinach and cook till it's wilted and done (and then a little longer or it feels funny on your teeth). A whole bag can serve one person if you eat it by itself (to me, it is meal-worthy if you crumble two lean slices of bacon and then have it with a sliced boiled egg. I don't know why, this is just something our housekeeper made a lot when we were kids and we LOVED it so to me, it goes together) or you can toss it with whole wheat pasta (I have to cook just enough at a time because I love me some noodles and will eat it all. If you cook one serving and toss it with all that, it will be MORE than enough!).

I almost always have a big pot of soup in the fridge (I can give you my recipe if you want, it's heavy on the beans but very filling). I serve it with a tiny bit of sour cream and some chopped green onions or just eat it alone.

I'm also a big fan of having bits and pieces of things for meals - a boiled egg, a really good pickle or three or four really good olives, a bit of some kind of cold meat, some cherry tomatoes, a good cheese. It's filling and it feels like party food.

I love a wedge of ice berg lettuce with a really simple vinaigrette dressing of olive oil and salad vinegar, with some salt and pepper. A little shaved Parmesan, some tomatoes, a boiled egg (see how I keep coming back to the same things?).

You CAN adapt and even enjoy your food without becoming a slave to the kitchen. It's too hot for that anyway. It seems REALLY overwhelming so for me, when I first started cooking it helped to focus on a few things I liked enough to eat often and then add new things seasonally. Like now I know I LOVE roasted asparagus and steamed artichokes and cooking them couldn't be easier, you know? Or braised endive.

If I could just leave it at that, I'd be a happier, healthier person. The problem is that while I don't like to cook, I do love to bake. Or I'll make pasta or rice salad with white pasta or white rice and then I just can't stop. So I have some new rules at my house - only as much pasta and rice as we're going to eat RIGHT NOW and no baking unless we're going to take it with us to someone else's house!

Good luck. I know it's freaky when there's a bump in a routine that's working for you but you can do it!

I'm the worst cook. And I don't ever make something that takes more than 10 minutes. I have decided that food is only food and it doesn't matter that my meals are not sophisticated or complex. But they are nutritious enough.

Most of my meals are a variation of vegetables, protein, and some fat. The variety can be endless. My main no cooking dish is, I chop veggies into a bowl and then fold in some tuna from the can or pre-made turkey/chicken from a package. I then add mayo/salad dressing and seasoning like pepper or Sriracha (I love spicy). And then I eat this giant bowl of tuna salad by making wraps with romaine leaves. I used to use pita or corn tortillas, but I overindulge in them.

I also like to stir fry a bunch of veggies and then when they wilt, I add Egg Beaters to the pan. I get a huge omelet from that it's only 150 calories total.

Beans from a can are a great, no cook protein/starch source. For the longest time I was making lean soft tacos with a corn tortilla, refried beans, and veggies. You can microwave the tortilla and beans for 10 seconds and then add the veggies. You can have some sides to that such as salsa or ff sour cream.

I admit I cook like a college student, but since I am single, no one has ever complained.

i completely sympathize! i hate cooking, and because i haven't done it in so long, i don't really cook well anymore at all. there used to be a healthy restaurant i could go to which made it so much easier for me, and it is not in business anymore. i keep lots of yogurt in my fridge as one easy go-to meal. the other suggestions folks have made sound good. i wish i had more ideas---for both of us! good luck!

Thank you all soooo much!

Lauradee, I'm looking for a replacement place where I can get things in a pinch, nothing yet, but working on it. And I will try those steamer bags. Thanks!

Sherrie568, those easy cook veggies sound like a good option, too. Thanks!

NiteNicole, wow you are a wealth of info on cooking options and tips for getting me started. This is a great reference for me. Is your soup made with chicken and veggies, or beans and veggies? Thanks!

Motivated Chickie, yes I am the worst cook too. I was doing a similar wrap thing with cabbage leaves avacado tomato, etc but then found out the turkey lunch meat I was using was a sodium nightmare, so I'm going to try to switch that up with some chicken breast I make, or look for a lower sodium lunch meat option. When you do the stir fry omelet, does that use water or a splash of olive oil or both? I cook (well for me it's primarily been just assembling precooked foods up until now ) like a college student too. Thanks!

Wsw, I love yogurt. I'm supposed to be off of it for a while to help with an ongoing respiratory issue, but it totally used to be a great fallback for me as well. Thanks! And good luck to you as well!

Have you talked to the owner/manager to see if you can special order the "old recipes"?

My husband and I have found that in many restaurants, you can get foods off-menu quite easily. There are several restaurants in which we order food that isn't on the menu (sometimes it used to be on the menu, and sometimes it never was). If the waitress says "we can't do that," we still ask to speak to the owner or manager, because as often as not, the waitress who says "no" is new, and doesn't realize how willing most restaurants are to prepare off-menu items.

To make things easiest on the restaurant staff, we tend to visit at off-peak hours. We've found that if you visit during a lull in business, the staff are much more willing to accomodate special requests.

We had a restaurant that served an amazing roast duck on the bone. The restaurant started serving only boneless breast fillets, and hubby talked to the owner. They made the change because most diners prefer boneless, but they told us that they'd be happy to make the original version, if we gave them enough notice to order whole duck from their supplier. So for a special occasion such as hubby's birthday, we can call and make a reservation (not just for the table, but for the duck).

Hope it helps.

Beans and veggies, although I have a crock pot version that involves chicken. With both versions, you can take out the bits, leave behind the liquid, and roll it up in a tortilla with a little avocado and sour cream. PM me if you're interested.

When I got married, I managed not to do a lot of real cooking for a long time. We lived in New York, why cook when there's so much good food and much of it delivers (because you'll gain 70 pounds in seven years, that's why)!

Then I had my daughter and she started eating and I realized that you can't raise a child on take out (especially in rural Mississippi where there isn't any, but she's now four and can tell you where all the good sushi places are within about 100 miles).

I don't like cooking, I don't like prep work, I do like simple foods and I find my daughter is more willing to eat something if she can see what it is. She's not a fan of heavy sauces and casseroles. My way of steaming, roasting, and overall just being lazy means that I have a kid who will eat anything and it makes things easier on me when I am planning meals. It seems intimidating to go through something like Cooking Light and pick out a meat and two sides and realize that ALL of them require following a recipe and gathering distinct ingredients. I haven't the energy or the organizational skills!

Right now I have another thread about packing "lunch boxes" and last night I thought it would be nice to have an easy template for what I would serve each day (there's a blog about healthy eating for kids and she posts her meal plans a week at a time. I can not do three meals and three snacks that are all unique and different across a week, but I can plan and switch up some things) and then I could get more specific, which would also make my goal of shopping once a week a lot more likely. I know what we like, I know what's in season. I should be able to make this work.

Cooking and meal planning can be totally overwhelming to me (I am often whining to my best friend who is also my college roommate that things were easier when our shopping list was Diet Coke, rum, vodka, oj, magazines, lipstick, popcorn, bagels. Apparently you just can't feed a husband and raise a kid on Cosmo and rum and Diet Cokes). I am trying to make the whole process as thought-free as possible so I know what's going on, I know we have somethings we really like and enjoy eating, and I can shop one time. My "running to the store for one thing" is a one hour round trip (sell, house, sell!) and you know you never walk out with just one thing!

Thank you Kaplods and NiteNicole! I strayed very far off course and haven't been posting regularly, so I apologize for taking so long to get back to say "thanks!" to you both. I appreciate all the suggestions, and I'm going to try/incorporate these as I move forward. Thanks again!

I can cook simple things, really if I can cook things, ANYONE can, lol.

Sometimes I don't even cook...throwing together a salad with chickpeas, boiled egg or the Perdue Selects chicken strips for protein, almond butter on Ezekiel bread, fruit, yogurt, baked fish with the microwave Steamer veggies...so see I don't REALLY cook.

I know how you feel about staples being no longer available, I'd miss it if the Ezekiel bread was no longer around. But this is a lifestyle change, so you have to look for other options.

Buy a George Forman grill! Seriously, it makes cooking SO easy and it tastes very "grilled" too.

Just turn it on, wait for the preheat light to go off. Put chicken on it. Close the lid. 7 minutes later, open lid, turn off machine and eat.

Fish takes 10 minutes, turkey burgers 6 minutes.

I'm not a cook but since getting the george forman I cook every single day on it.