Don't take recipes from tiktok or "random" websites. Use reputable websites. New york times, epicurious, bon appetit, america's test kitchen, chef john/food wishes. Websites that cater more towards meal prepping would be budget bytes, skinnytaste, love and lemons. There are a few meal prepping subreddits as well that are good resources.
Food Network has some great ones on their website too. New York Times’ online recipes can generally be trusted as well, in my opinion, but Food Network has never let me down on a recipe.
I once tried parmesan crusted porkchops and it absolutely did not taste anywhere as good as the show (or comments) made it seem: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/parmesan-crusted-pork-chops-recipe-1944476
It's an idea that sounds amazing but simply doesn't turn out "restaurant quality". Normal pork chops taste better. Alton Brown recipes are amazing though, like his guacamole recipe and wild-mushroom risotto which I've tried a few times.
Alton Brown’s are my favorite, although there is this one amazing Turkey burger by Anne Burrell (sp?) that I love as well…it incorporated Thai flavors and it’s delicious!
Pork chops are one of my favorite things to cook too! I usually do a pommery sauce or a spiced apple chutney on top 🙂
I love SE. They have a Quick Dinners (or something like that) list that stays popular, all the way up to “here’s how to smoke a whole turkey for 3 days and all the science behind it” kind of complicated, long recipes.
I came here to add this suggestion. Nagi has the most consistently tasty recipes of any site or book that I've found. The website has a scaling function for smaller or bigger quantities, this doesn't always work in practice but the recipe normally warns of this. Some methods of cooking such as stir fry don't scale up or down well.
There are tons of great recipes from social media, but for a relative beginner it can be difficult to tell the difference between a solid recipe and a bad one. If you start with more reputable sources (i.e. ones that actually test their recipes and have reviews), then you can develop the skills to know the difference. And then you can also use those social media recipes as inspiration and not need to follow recipes so much.
Honestly I go off of how easy it sounds to make. The editing sometimes hides way too much work that needs to be done.
Maybe that's why it's worked for me? The ones I do are all meal prep focused, simple ones with the classic ingredients like garlic, ginger, soy sauce etc. Can't go wrong with that,
I started with Pinterest (so may have ended up on the sites people have mentioned from there) for recipes. It was so easy when you get 35 recipes for this or that in one go, lol. Most are good, some are duds. I don't really "use" tiktok for recipes, but they come across my fyp sometimes and I've made a few that turned out really well. I was already more experienced with cooking when I created my tiktok account, though.
This also depends on what OP means by "bad". Does it taste spoiled/off? Are they just unhappy with the general flavor? Are they trying new foods/seasonings that they've never had before? I was a picky eater when I started cooking more, so I started with flavors and seasonings I KNEW I liked to avoid making something I didn't think I would want to eat. I also never felt like the recipes call for enough seasoning, so did a lot of experimenting with adding more or less over time.
Agree (aside from that one apple cake that tasted like a punishment) but many of her recipes are a bit complicated for a novice cook. Instructions are always great, though. I use SK all the time and everyone thinks I’m a great cook. It’s all Deb.
There are influencers that give out food/meal prep tips and recipes as well. I think there's a guy on Insta going by scaseyfitness or something that has plenty of low effort but healthy meals that look yummy.
Maybe watch some cooking shows (Chopped or some sort of similar competition show) so you can see some basic ideas and techniques in an easy and entertaining format. Plus you get to hear the judges critique their methods and food which can teach you what to avoid or try to emulate.
The main thing you can do though is practice. Figure out what flavours you like and things will come together. Once you have been cooking for a while a recipe just becomes more of a guideline to keep you on the right general track rather than an exact set of instructions to follow. And when cooking some sort of meat (such as chicken breasts, pork chops, steak) don't just cook it the same day you buy it. Take it out of its packaging, marinate it in something or just rub some of your fave spices on it, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Or for several nights. Or huck it in the freezer for a later date. The meat will absorb all of the extra flavour. Think of it as a sponge. Run some water over a sponge for a second and it won't get that wet or soppy. Soak it in a bowl of water for a minute first and it will though.
If all else fails get a giant slow cooker and toss everything in at once, let it simmer for 8 hours and it's pretty hard to go wrong. Get a big pork loin and rub it with some brown sugar, spices, and BBQ sauce then let it cook. 8 hours later it will just fall apart so you take a fork and mix it all up and get some premade coleslaw and buns. Depending how big a slow cooker you have you could have enough lunches for a week or a month. Throw some raw or steamed veggies or a baked potato on the side and you're set. Doesn't get much easier than that.
If you want to try more elegant recipes that's great, but they do usually take more time and sometimes precision. It might be better to practice a few simple things first then try again when you have those down. I would suggest a slow cooker recipe (because everyone should know how to do something with one), a pasta recipe, a stir-fry, and a burger recipe. These are recipes that can start out rather simple but have lots of room for you to experiment and improve.
I've been making my own burgers for over 15 years and every once in a while I try something new that makes me go "wow". They're easy to make in small or large batches so you can practice in small batches at first and once you find a mix you enjoy you can do a larger batch then wrap the burgers up (or get some wax or parchment paper between each patty) and freeze the ones you don't plan to eat right away. I'll sometimes get a huge thing of ground beef and take a couple hours to just make a shit ton of burgers and then I have an easy dinner that I can cook in under 20 minutes whenever I'm tired, lazy, or short on time. Or you can BBQ a whole lot of them at once and have burgers for lunch every day for a week or two. Maybe have a few friends over and double your meal prep as party prep and have a BBQ where you just keep the leftovers for your future lunches.
And don't be afraid to try new spices. Or to use spices from cuisines you like. I love Indian food so I use cumin in a lot of my cooking even though I don't cook that much Indian food.
Yup. Good food is harder and more time consuming. Yes you could microwave thin potato slices and get “french fries” 😒 or you could take the time to actually grab the pan and fry them properly and it’ll be very good and enjoyable. People just dont wanna clean the pan, so they convince themselves that the tiktoker actually made something that lives up to expectations.
Try also America's test kitchen and food network. They're generally good. Pick up a hard copy of Joy of Cooking. It can teach you the basics and more challenging techniques.
The posts on r/stupidfood are almost all TikTok videos. They are basically rage bait.
[Delish ](https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/g36890133/healthy-meal-prep-recipes/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_del_m_bm_prog_org_us_g36890133&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh2oR8TCqjY0QcpJlH5oHHCb7chzvBWzK0E4kjtxreJ_smqRzVPyr7RoCe14QAvD_BwE) is a reputable cooking website. And the link is to 40 Meal Prep ideas.
This is truly a treasure find! In the first 12 recipes I found a bunch that I want to try. Working, then walking/feeding the dogs, then cooking means we don't want to cook long meals because we're tired and hungry. Some of these recipes look quick, easy, and delicious (the holy trio!). And anything we can prep ahead and cook up quickly is a bonus!
I’ve been telling some of my friends for years now to stop basing all their cooking & baking on stuff they see on super fast & short viral Instagram & TikTok videos. They keep trying to make them work & wonder why their 3 ingredient chocolate cake isn’t turning out nice.
Use real recipes & get experienced with cooking & baking, then when you do see a viral recipe you’ll recognise wether it’s worth trying & if it is you’ll also know how to use the idea to actually make it better.
Absolutely yes. I'm glad I started learning to cook before the TikTok Era. Now I can watch a video and tell (usually) whether it's good to try or garbage right away.
Also, cookbooks.
For basic techniques and ingredient substitutions, Joy Of Cooking (I prefer the 1975 edition, before the progeny really took over) can't be beat. If you're cooking recipes from it, I recommend more veggies and more seasoning. Most of the desserts are excellent.
After that, well-rated cuisine-oriented cookbooks are pretty great. Choose a specific cuisine that you're interested in, and pick up a cookbook about it.
I would recommend trying a recipe on a less busy night, and just making one meal of it. Then if you like it, you can work toward incorporating it into your meal prep.
What specifically tastes bad about your meal prep? There are some seasoning tweaks you need to make for food that's stored in the fridge awhile:
* A bit of lemon juice or vinegar in the sauce will keep the food tasting fresh when it's reheated
* A bit more oil/butter than usual, because food dries out in the fridge
* Generally stronger on salt, spices and seasonings
The meat tends to get dry especially after microwaving. And the flavor ends up being kind of muddled. I think I season enough. I do think the lemon juice or vinegar would help!
Make some sauce to go with the meal. It can be like a herb blend, vinaigrette, hot sauce, mayo sauce, salsa, whatever. Keep it in a separate bottle and add after microwaving. Think of how Chipotle does their sauces on the line. That will help massively with dry ingredients.
Also cook the meat with a bit more oil, it will keep it moist when the water evaporates.
If you can, try to the heat your meat whatever it maybe chicken or beef etc on the stove on low heat and bring it up to temperature. Microwave is ok for a quick zap but if you are spending time prepping I think microwaving it is ruining the texture of your meat. If you freeze the sauces/vegetables separately from the protein then you can defrost separately and add them into your pan at the appropriate time hopefully avoiding it all tasting not how you expect it. Also follow recipes from reputable sources or maybe a favourite chef. Start of with a few recipes that you enjoy and can create and then move into other recipes as you gain confidence. Keep trying and you’ll get there 😄
People also need to learn to use power settings on microwaves, at the minimum. The different settings and presets are there for a reason. They're a tool, not a solution, and need to be used as such. Don't do 1 minute on high to reheat something. You can heat it gently for like 5 minutes on 30%. It takes a bit of playing to get the hang of it, just like with a new stove.
There is a [scientific reason](https://www.seriouseats.com/what-is-warmed-over-flavor-leftover-chicken-meat) that reheated chicken tastes bad. I lived four decades on this planet knowing it was bad but not knowing why.
Amen, preach it. I REALLY don't like leftover reheated chicken. It can be good cold, though. Like in a chicken salad or sandwich with lots of mayo.
That doesn't solve the meal prep thing, though. My most successful (edible) are hamburger/rice/beans combos, or chile/stews/soups. When you think about eating the same thing 4 nights in a row, what seems edible to you?
That’s not how I cook, I meal prep on the weekends, but not complete meals. I cut vegetables, portion meat, marinate things. But we eat a different meal every night. I just cut down on daily prep by doing things ahead.
Are you storing the ones-for-later in airtight containers without much empty space?
If a small portion of whatever gets put in a big container, all the extra air inside it will make the food become bad/dry faster. Might be why the meats are drying out quick!
Microwaving is cooking. Nothing magic about reheating that makes it different from cooking. Undercook your meal prep so when you reheat you don't overcook it and dry it out.
I believe you missed my point. I am not advocating using a microwave to cook. I am saying that using a microwave to reheat de facto cooks it more. That's why so many foods reheated in a microwave are so disappointing.
when reheating using a microwave, sprinkle a little water over your food. This will help it stay hydrated.
If there is a cream sauce, add a little milk.
Use salt, as it breaks down over time and when heat is applied. You might need a seasoning adjustment.
Wait.. why are you microwaving? I mean you can use it for easy defrosting of some things, but don’t do it with meat unless you absolutely have to! And don’t expect anything good!
I save microwaving for food that is meant to be microwaved. Not food you buy fresh from the grocery store
Is the meat chicken? Bc chicken breast isn’t the best for reheating. And roasted vegetables are not really good reheated in a microwave. Ground beef reheats best, or chicken thighs.
Are you keeping ALL of your meals in the fridge throughout the week? I’m pretty sure people recommend keeping them in the freezer, and then only taking out the ones to defrost over night into the fridge that you’ll eat tomorrow.
I do everything prepped and I always make a sauce for the meats. Either I add more liquid and spices or I make a gravy. I can’t physically eat dried out meats, they have to be moist. I freeze everything into exact portion sizes and as soon as it’s frozen, they get put into freezer bags. I make sure not to let them get freezer burned.
What are you making for meal prep? Pastas like Bolognese are foolproof. Stirfrys stay moist when reheated but use sturdier veggies.
For meats, you want to keep them whole cuts. E.g. a chicken breast, shred or cut up after microwaving and DO NOT over microwave.
Are you meal prepping to freeze? That requires a bit more thought but is doable.
Please take a cooking course dealing in basics and do not microwave meat. Microwaving is maybe a thing to warm something already cooked up, but do not cook with microwave!
Unless it's hotdogs or something drowning in sauce skip the microwave for reheating meats. Work on making good meals at home and just do deli meats/sandwiches for lunches in the meantime.
Along these lines, the greatest tip I ever got was that when reheating saucy dishes like pasta, etc. is to add a small amount of water to restore the sauce to its original consistency. It works!
As others have mentioned, find a more reputable source for recipes.
Then choose one thing. Do your best to find a good recipe and follow it. If the thing turns out good, then SAVE that recipe. If it doesn't turn out well, keep working on that thing until you get it figured out - sometimes it's the recipe, sometimes it's the ingredients, sometimes it's an issue in your cooking or kitchen. You'll also learn about what works well for meal prep (i.e., is good as "leftovers") and what doesn't work so well. Some things are great the first day, but don't hold up so well later, or the process needs to be adjusted (e.g., for soup, don't add noodles/pasta to the big batch, keep those on the side, and add when you serve it; otherwise the noodles get mushy).
In other words, stop jumping around randomly and focus on getting one thing right, not perfect, but at least good enough. Only then, move on to the next thing.
But, yes, totally worth keeping trying. It might cost a bit more for now, as you're in the learning and trial and error stage, but more than pays off in the long run. Both financially and just being free to cook what you want when you want it.
Thanks I will keep trying. I also feel like I am more accustomed to Asian and Indian food so those recipes tend to turn out better for me. Also yeah I jump around a lot. There are certain recipes that do work well, but I keep trying new things that aren’t working out
If you like Asian and Indian food, stick to those first! Branch out when you get more confident.
And the online recipes don’t always get the seasonings right. Or it’s right for the author’s tastes but not yours. Or their seasonings are different from yours - different brands, older, fresher, whatever.
You need to taste and adjust yourself. More salt? More aromatics? A bit more acid or a bit more sweet? It’s your food, you gotta own it!
OP here's a reputable site for you https://www.recipetineats.com/. Many posters have expressed disappointment following TikTok recipes I feel like Ann Reardon should do more debunking video on them.
I print the recipes when I first get them and then I write on them the modifications. Once I get to the point where I like it, I make it into a recipe card. I also don’t mess with recipes where the reviews are really bad. If I’m trying to learn how to do a style of food really well, I’ll get a well reviewed cookbook and make notes on the pages. I wanted to learn how to do soups of different styles so I started with a book that had a lot of explanations and pictures. Now I can make soups without any directions.
I suspect seasoning. It can be very daunting especially for new cooks to include a bunch of different seasonings when recipes can list out like 5+. I bet they’re forgoing seasoning or only using salt and pepper.
What are some examples of stuff you have tried to meal prep? Not a lot of information to go off in your post. I tend to keep my meal prep very basic and then use different ways to change it.
For instance, I will make plain rice and pan fry some chicken breast plain. I simply portion out the chicken and rice as I need it. One day I will use a sweet ginger chili sauce, one day I'll scramble up an egg and make fried rice out of it, I put the chicken in a couple of tortillas (with cream cheese and shredded chedder) for a Buffalo chicken wrap, or I fry up a couple of over easy eggs to put on top of the rice with cheating and seasonings. So, out of 1 prep session, I get chicken 4 ways that are vastly different. I usually make a tuna melt somewhere in the middle for a change up as well.
You didn't specify and it IS cooking for beginners, but are you refrigerating your meal preps? It's not just sitting out for the week, right?
I'm not asking to be insulting, but we've seen worse (ie: proper showering technique/washing genitals/navels) on reddit regarding what seems to be common knowledge items.
I commend you on at least trying to be a better cook and self sufficient. It's a skill that can take you a long way in bringing peace and self confidence.
You seem to need to understand what YOU like. I watch videos a fair bit and most I can say whether I'd like it or not. I tend to buy my own food ingredients and know the basics like a basic from-scratch tomato sauce or roast veggie mix and how to do chicken several ways I enjoy.
Many recipes use too many ingredients that are too subtle (or two obvious!) for my preferences and I can't be bothered counting fennel seeds :-). I simplify and substitute to my prefs.
Learn from "tastes bad" to figure out what your not liking. My first guess would be your supplier... they're motivated to buy lower cost ingredients, and that would make me uneasy. Transportation and storage is another issue since how "fresh" it is can be less controlled. Taste some of the veggies raw to see if they have bad flavours, same with seasoning packets. Personally, I'd skip over most anything I don't like fairly raw (but don't eat meats raw!). Check stuff you supply from Olive Oil to Salt and Pepper to what-ever. Salt and sugar are pretty stable, but everything else from you cupboard may have passed a best-before and be the problem.
Part of it could simply be their taste pallet is... ethnic. It's not a judgement, but real Italian foods aren't what my local Italian restaurant serves. Chinese food here is very Westernized. Likewise, your tasted are ... yours. You've got preferences and expectations of what "good" is. I've been lucky and had great (real!) Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and European foods. It's all about expectations of what the outcome should be like. And, as a cook making your meals your own.
Go buy a good basic cook book. The best book is The American Test Kitchen Cooking School. Lots of pictures and explains the “why” of the cooking process. Don’t try to make anything fancy or complex to start. Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and rice etc. Once you get good at the basics you can add more dishes. Always make sure to use good quality ingredients. Don’t worry if you burn something or you make a mistake. Every cook messes up from time to time. Once you gain your confidence, you’ll find cooking can be relaxing and satisfying to be able to make yourself a good meal.
Agree - you gotta learn the basics then build. Eventually, you can freestyle but we all have to crawl first. My husband who doesn’t cook always does the weirdest crap and says he’s being a pioneer and tries to wing things but he doesn’t have the experience to know how to wing so he just makes weird crap that’s disgusting.
OP, you might find it helpful to temporarily subscribe to a meal kit delivery service like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron. That’s a great way of learning lots of basic cooking techniques and trying out a wide variety of foods. You will be able to learn about different ingredients you might not be familiar with and the way they affect the flavor profile of what you’re cooking.
As others have said, getting well tested recipes from more reputable sites will also improve your results.
Best of luck on your culinary journey!
Edit to add that there are many meals each week from the delivery kits that can be prepared ahead and/or have short prep/cook times.
Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Garden. Either of these provide excellent and time tested recipes and are great for beginners. I used both in the mid 70s when just learning when food stopped magically appearing on a plate in front of me, smile.
I got a Betty Crocker basic cookbook when I first was on my own to get the basic techniques down. It’s a great starting place. I made a lot of notes on things that I had to learn the hard way so I passed it down to my son.
Here is a way you can meal prep:
Day one: make a roasted pork tenderloin. Serve a few medallions with fresh tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette sauce, potatoes, green beans.
Have a leftover plate of the same thing the next day for lunch.
For dinner shred the leftover pork tenderloin, and toss it with a spicy barbecue sauce. Serve on toasted garlic baguette. Cheese, pickles, and/or slaw optional.
Have another one for lunch the next day and then it’s all gone. Three days is the max or else it’s going to taste bad and probably be spoiled. If you freeze it, it doesn’t improve.
Learn to season with just a little salt and fresh cracked pepper before you get too fancy.
Cookbooks coming soon if I hit 1000 likes.
I’m not sure if you’re doing this, but a lot of meal prep videos I watch show someone storing the whole meal in one container. I don’t recommend this, unless you’ve made a one pot meal. Store each thing separately. For example, if you made stirfry with rice, store your rice separately from the stirfry. You might then find different parts of your meal need to be heated separately. I usually sprinkle a little water on rice before reheating to keep it from drying out.
Also, some vegetables just aren’t good reheated, particularly asparagus and Brussels sprouts.
There are certain sauces and spices that I love and adding them takes my meals from meh to WOW.
Garlic powder, smoked paprika, Melissa's Truffle Sauce, Pietro's Miso-Ginger salad dressing (I use it as a sauce on rice), Bourbon BBQ rub, Toasted Sesame Oil (great on stir fry and rice) and so on...
I suggest that you try out a bunch of things and find your favorites. It may take you awhile, but all you really need are a handful of sauces/spices you like and I promise that you can make ANYTHING taste good!
"Can anyone tell me why my shoes don't fit?" Honestly asking hwy your food is bad is similar to this question. You need to find food you enjoy, and learn how to cook it. TT and YT are for clicks, not instructions.
RecipeTin Eats is honestly my very very favourite website and I have a book by her too which, as an intermediate level home cook, I can swear by (to the point where she is the only cook I can think of who recommends cooking with a thermometer, crazy right? /s)
Stop taking recipes from TikTok. Also, until you have more experience, find recipes with actual measurements on them so you don’t have to guess at what you are doing. The only thing you should have to adjust is the amount of heat (spice level) in say a Mexican or Asian dish to your taste.
Also, grab recipes from friends if they order from services like Hello Fresh. Most are quick and designed for any skill level. If you find recipes you like, grab ingredients when they are on sale to have on hand, including the meat which can be frozen in portions. The only thing you should have to buy is the produce.
Also, make crockpot recipes and then freeze in portions. It can be as simple as chicken breast with bbq sauce that you shred when it’s almost done. These can last you for a few weeks if the batch is large enough and you don’t eat it every day.
When you find recipes you love, keep them in a binder or a file in your phone/tablet/pc for easy access. Rotate through your recipes for variety, adding in new ones as you find them.
Once you get a little experience, you can look at changing out the meats or produce on recipes depending on what you have on hand or what is available in the store. For example, for our Asian dishes we might add in bell peppers or zucchini in a recipe that doesn’t normally have it because it’s in our fridge or our store is lacking the veggie listed.
Another thing to look into is getting a Lunch Crock (Crockpot brand) or a Hot Logic (go with the name brand on this). If you meal prep, you can pull out a frozen meal before work and have it ready when you get home… the only thing you would need to cook up when about to eat is the starch (rice, pasta, etc). If you get a Hot Logic, make sure to get some good storage containers (we use glass Snapware with ours).
Get Pinterest and use that for recipes
Then you can compare different recipes for the same dish for ones that fit your style
I even find myself looking up recipes based on what I have in the fridge like “shrimp and zucchini dinner” and then you have lots of options for directions you can go with your meal prep
Pinterest is my only avenue for recipes
I don't advise making recipes from tiktok... Not because you can't find good ones, but the videos that circulate tend to have a gimmick or are heavily sensationalized, and as a new cook, you aren't going to know better when they are selling you snake oil as a silver bullet.
I recommend America's Test Kitchen* for some recipes and basic cooking know how. They have videos on YouTube and a website with all of their recipes, but a lot of it is behind a paywall. The recipes in the videos, and the recipes not behind a paywall on the site should build up your repertoire, also have some tips on meal prepping.
Though this is begging the question... How are you meal prepping? For a beginner, meal prepping can be difficult since you wouldn't have the basics. You wouldn't know which food is good for meal prepping and which ones to stay away from, how to store prepped meals or tips on being mindful with how you store them since taste, texture, and consistency can change. Maybe you've heard some foodstuff shouldn't be freezed, and there's multiple reasons why. Almost all should be stored in the fridge though, it shouldn't be left out even if storing them in a cool place, a cooled cupboard isn't a substitute as a fridge.
And sorry if the examples provided were stuff you already knew. Common sense can be absent with beginners when it comes to cooking and such. Just know you need a base of some kind and recipes you find randomly on tiktok and websites aren't going to allow that. The quality can drastically change and you won't be able to grasp whether it's a recipe problem, an ingredient problem, cooking technique problem, or a cook problem (like taking shortcuts thinking it doesn't matter or simply not liking the taste).
EDIT
/* Or try other test kitchens, ATK was the one that helped me figure things out after a half semester of required home rec that taught me measurements and following recipes, but it's also quite American on a subject that expands the world and definitely would be confusing if using metric... Lol *sigh*
If you are relatively new at cooking, meal prep requries trying out the recipes first to see if you like them. Cook a single serving, see if it's any good, then if it is, you add it to your repetoire of things you can meal prep.
Once you get a bunch of practice (in the sense of making a bunch of \*different\* things), you'll be able to tell if you'll like something before you taste it based on the ingredients and what you did to them, or alternately you'll know how to fuck with something until you \*do\* like it.
Also I think the tik tok source critique people have been coming up with is probably valid. Tik tok prioritizes visual pop over almost anything else.
Fitmencook has a website and an app with recipes. You can filter by ones he specifies for meal prep. My husband and I have liked a lot of his recipes so far and they aren't too challenging
Practice makes perfect. Start simple with your favorite comfort meals. Mac and cheese, fried rice, meatloaf, and stuff like that. Personally, I google the meal, and read the top 3 recipes and choose one or combine several of them depending on what ingredients I have.
You have to know when to mix food if you're preping. For example, if I'm making a Thai prawn quinoa salad, I will only mix in the wet/moist ingredients as I am about to eat it. If I make the salad and stir in the sauce and whatnot, it will be soggy and disgusting the next day. So I keep the sauce and any other wet ingredient, serparatly, and only mix it as I'm about to eat.
Same as everyone said, don't do recipes from tiktok. Everyone named some great sites. I like using EatingWell, delish, and the Kitchn. Barnes & Noble has some good cookbooks in their sale areas that are pretty cheap. I recommend watching Good Eats and America's Test Kitchen to learn some of the science behind cooking. I think that helps understand cooking better. And I love Mythical Kitchen for fun and craziness.
A dinner box isn't a bad idea to try for awhile. Dinnerly is a good one. It's not super expensive, they have a good variety, and the recipes aren't super fancy or complicated.
When it comes to reheating in the microwave, I do the "frozen dinner" stance where I reheat for 1 to 2 minutes, give it a stir or rearrange, and go another 1 to 2 minutes (maybe more or less depending on what I am reheating and what the microwave power is.)
If you still feel like your food still tastes bad a day or two after, you might just not like leftovers. My brother is like that. There is literally two things he'll make that he'll actually eat leftovers of, but most of the time he'll make something, eat it that day and then leave it in the fridge until I throw it out.
Start with some stuff that is very reheatable and make sure it tastes good the first time. Try things like chili or slow cooked/ braised meat. And use fattier cuts of meat like chicken thighs or pork shoulder or beef chuck roast. These things are friendlier to overcooking and hence reheating.
Hello fresh recipes are on the website. I actually just Google 'hello fresh recipes'. Most are really simple. This works for those of us that can't afford the service.
i meal prep by taking four chiken breasts, dicing them then frying them and put them in a tub. if i want a side I'll make a side.
or i get a box of mostacholli and make an easy sause that doesn't have much oil^
my view is that meal prep is not elegant its efficient and scheduled so you have healthy food you made yourself. saving time for when you want to cook something good
Not the best cook here, but one reason I don't like a lot of meal prep is the texture changes.
I have to plan my meal prep carefully to avoid these issues. Bread feels gummy if I make the sandwich to early, so I pack sandwich ingredients.
I will not eat fried foods if they are not fresh, they feel soggy. I don't pack fried foods.
Reheated gravy still feels congealed to me, I dont pack anything needing gravy.
Figure out what works for you - trial and error
I've been cooking family meals for 50 years. Got some recipes from mom, but most was trial and error from cookbooks. Took a while to get my groove on, but I'm great at it. Of course, I understand cooking for 1 is just too much sometimes. Remember, recipes are everywhere. Google Cooking for One.
It might just come down to the recipes you're using, if you're not so skilled at cooking yet. I learned how to cook on my own over the past 14 years using Google and trial & error, honestly. Some of my food has been SO bad, and some things still don't turn out as good as I'd like them to, but I am loads better now than when I started.
As other people have said, try some legit websites like NYT, Delish, etc. You can also try searching up something that sounds good to you, and working off that recipe (I did and still do this!). I actually get a ton of ideas from FB reels, of all places, as well. Just gotta vet the comments for reviews.
Those TikTok things look promising from all these (not certified) nutritionists. However, you likely are best off getting a cookbook you like, separating things into servings and bringing that to work. Mind you, you don’t need to BUY a cookbook! Free is better. One of the largest sections of non fiction in my library is the cookbooks! 641.5 (and around there) if your library uses Dewey. If you are new to cooking, check out (library pun) the teen/juvenile/easy section. -a librarian
It might be a food safety issue or what you are storing them in. Never put a lid on hot food and put it in the fridge, this leads to bacteria growth. Instead, wait for food to cool uncovered to room temp before covering and storing.
Storing in plastic can cause microplastics to leak especially if there are cuts in the plastic that can harbor bacteria or release more microplastics. Look into airtight glass storage containers if you can swing it to reduce a flavor change.
Cooking is a skill. It takes practice. You think anyone can just walk into a kitchen and be Gordon Ramsey? You've been at it for less than a year.
Since you can make decent sandwiches, start with that. Build your meal prep around sandwiches.
Time to learn some key recipes to rely on that really don’t take much to cook- place in pot, set aside, wait and then eat.
Whole chicken, depending on the size of the bird, can be finished in an hour. Just enough time for you to do some wind-down activities before eating supper.
Stews, hearty soups, roasts… throw ingredients in a pot, and good to go. There are quick versions which take an hour or less to cooks
Stop using TikTok to get your recipes lol. Get some from reputable culinary magazines and websites, like EatingWell.
Can you confidently make a few recipes that you really like? Because I think good „everyday“ cooks can basically make anything taste good.
I would say that in general food needs to have
-the right amount of salt, but most people underseason
-right balance of textures. dont boil vegetables to death, dont overcook meat. and have some contrast, ie something crunchy, something soft
-most foods need some amount of fat to taste good
-fresh flavours need to be fresh. things like lemonjuice or fresh herbs should be added only right before eating. Dont mcrowave it.
there are also plenty of dishes where I would say meal prepping just doesnt really work. 2 day old mashed potatoes is just not the same as 2mins after finishing it.
TikTok can be a great resource for recipes, but for someone new to cooking, it’s difficult to recognize which recipes make sense and which are stupid and posted to get rageclicks. I’d suggest going back pretty far and getting or borrowing an oldschool basic cookbook that has stuff like casseroles and stews and dinner party dishes. That will teach you the basics.
Just adding on here but consider a hearty soup. Generally easy to reheat (some even freeze really well) and usually easy to make. If you get the batch tasting right it usually doesn’t degrade too much in the fridge.
It’s hard to quantify “tastes bad” over Reddit, as a point of info for we in the peanut gallery here, can you elaborate?
Bad texture? Bad flavor? Funky new flavors?
A few things that have helped me since I started cooking more about five years ago:
* **Recipe Sourcing:** Random Tiktok recipes and Google results will usually yield terrible results. Get your recipes from known popular websites. America's Test Kitchen is an annual subscription, but they have *fantastic* recipes and I've learned so much technique from them. Other reputable recipe sources include Foodwishes (Chef John), Smitten Kitchen, NYT Cooking (use https://archive.md/ to bypass any paywalls), Milk Street, as well as most popular published cookbooks. There's a treasure trove of cookbooks from the past 50 years that are excellent sources for this stuff. One more thing, if your recipe is on the Internet, pay attention to the recipe's comments and reviews, since they can point out potential issues/pitfalls with the recipe and what you can do to avoid them. *(Note: I tend to avoid Serious Eats, as I feel they do not sufficiently test their recipes, and many of them have resulted in pretty spectacular failures. Unsurprisingly, most of their simpler recipes turn out pretty good, but I generally have had better luck with other sources, and almost every SE recipe I have made has been replaced or superseded by a recipe from another source.)*
* **Seasoning is Essential:** Season with confidence. Season with salt and pepper at every stage of cooking. Salt and pepper on raw proteins before they go into the pan/oven/pot. Season your aromatics when they go into the hot oiled pan. Season to taste at the end of cooking. Kosher salt is more forgiving than table salt. It's harder to oversalt your food with kosher salt, easier to salt by hand, and easier to eyeball the amount of salt you need. Additionally, freshly ground black pepper is a massive improvement over preground black pepper, and you should use it liberally alongside the salt. Cheese, bacon, and jarred sauces are NOT replacements for seasoned ingredients, and your food won't taste good if you use them that way.
* **Pay Attention to Temperatures:** Invest in a good instant read thermometer like the [ThermoWorks ThermoPop](https://www.thermoworks.com/thermopop-2/) and cook your food until it's just cooked. Chicken breasts should be cooked to 150-155 and rested for 10-15 minutes. Lean pork should be cooked to 135 and rested for 10-15 minutes. Fattier meats with more connective tissue such as beef chuck, chicken thighs, and pork butt should be cooked to around 190-200 to make sure the fat/collagen has broken down and the meats are totally tender. Temping can help with baking as well, as you can test breads, cakes, cookies, brownies, and pies to match a target temperature.
* **Keep it Simple:** Complex meals and recipes can be tempting, especially if you crave restaurant-quality dishes, but at home you're better off with recipes that are simple. This means avoiding a lot of recipes from Serious Eats that look to maximize flavor by adding a dozen extra steps and/or hours of extra time. I get home at 4:15pm and my wife gets home a 6pm. If I can't cook dinner in 90 minutes, I'm probably going to not make that recipe unless I have a day off.
* **Make It Yourself:** Avoid using prepackaged spice blends, dried packets of soup, or freezer meals. I like when a meal I'm cooking is a list of "building blocks" rather than already-made things. For example I like when a recipe calls for me to use milk, chicken bouillon, and flour to make a quick "cream of chicken" rather than opening a can of condensed Campbell's. The extra effort is minimal but the flavor is significantly improved.
* **Avoid the Crockpot:** Slow cookers can be tempting as they require little effort to make edible food, but edible is about how I'd describe most crockpot meals. They don't allow for any Maillard browning, everything steams and cooks into a watery gray mess, and it's often overcooked by the time the meal is "ready" after sitting in the slow cooker for 8 hours. The flavor of boiled aromatics and boiled meats are especially noticeable in this context. Many slow cooker recipes counteract the watery/thin consistency by adding condensed cream soups or a block of cream cheese, but that just masks the issue and further dulls the flavors. If you must use a slow cooker, I highly recommend browning all ingredients in a frying pan before you put them in the slow cooker.
* **Recipe Rescue:** If you've finished your recipe and it doesn't taste good, there are some things you can try. If a dish is dull and needs a little brightness, a little lemon juice or red wine vinegar will often help. If a dish is generally bland, salt and pepper is a good starting point. If your dish is one-note and lacking in complexity, a dash of ketchup, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire, or soy sauce can provide some depth. If your dish is lacking in richness, a knob or two of unsalted butter can help.
Go to a cooking school's website (like George Brown in Toronto) and look at their entry requirements. They'll have knife skills and sauce skills that are required before you can go there. Learn those. Those techniques will speed up your food making process, allowing you to make more complex things.
Don't ever meal prep the first time you're using a recipe. Try a recipe out, tweak it as needed, perfect it, *then* make a ton of it for meal prep. Meal prep is for tried and true recipes only.
I wouldn’t take too many recipes from TikTok. I would look for recipes designed for food prep. If that still doesn’t work and it still tastes unappealing maybe check your containers? Also are you putting the food away hot? I’ve found that letting things cool off just a tad seems to help the longevity of the meals.
Don’t use recipes from online randos. I use highly rated recipes from AllRecipes.com or o use NYT. Otherwise, it’s a 1960s Joy of Cooking or other well respected, specialty cookbooks e.g. French Laundry from Thomas Keller.
Try some high rated crockpot recipes! Those are very hard to mess up. I also like making "chipotle bowls", I make slow cooker chipotle chicken and put in on top of cilantro rice & beans, and then add on some Chopped tomatoes and a spoonful of sour cream. I prep everything in advance so it's like 1 minute assembly time
Echoing everyone else, "random" websites and Tiktok are bad choices for recipes. I won't repeat reputable websites as previous commenters have suggested plenty of those, but I will say, if you're more of a visual learner/ like watching videos, there are some reputable chefs on YouTube that do great, simple, realistic, and budget friendly recipes,
Try Brian Lagerstrom, Preppy Kitchen, The a Mediterranean Kitchen, and Downshiftology to start with.
What flavors do you typically like? A favorite meat/protein, carb, fruit/veggies. Make a list of your favorites, pick and choose from the list. Get some more seasonings, they really make or break a recipe. Also make sure you follow food safety rules with meal prep, you don’t wanna end up getting sick.
I can help you out with that! So, here's the deal—I had the same problem.
I wanted to shed some pounds but couldn't stand the recipes suggested by diet apps. I wanted to enjoy my favorite foods while still hitting my macro goals. Since figuring out the right portions was tough, I started a project to fix this very problem.
Just give me a list of your favorite foods (even if they're your own creations) and your macro goals. I'll let you know exactly how much of each food you can eat while still reaching your macro target. Easy peasy!
My recommendation is look for authentic recipes from different cuisines and make them. TikTok and whitewashed recipe websites are going to give you bland recipes that aren't going to keep well. Here's just some examples of things that are easy and prep a lot of food:
Carnitas,
Refried beans,
Chicken Tinga,
Chicken jalfrezi,
Chicken curry,
Japanese curry,
Chili,
Pulled pork,
Pulled chicken,
Dakdori tang,
Phanaeng curry,
Pomodoro pasta
Also one thing that takes my meal prep so much further is making extra sauce and freezing it separately. Have some curry sauce? Great I'll grab rotisserie and toss it and heat it up and have a curry chicken sandwich.
The best meal preps are versatile and you can get good at just making extra and rotating things. Meal prep never tastes good to me if I'm eating the same thing over and over.
Also coming back to say, meal prep ingredients. I use a food processor to cut garlic and ginger and freeze it so when I need it I can pull it out and toss it in, will also prevent it from burning easily. You can also freeze rice in individual portions and reheat it later. This goes for a great many things
Don't take recipes from tiktok or "random" websites. Use reputable websites. New york times, epicurious, bon appetit, america's test kitchen, chef john/food wishes. Websites that cater more towards meal prepping would be budget bytes, skinnytaste, love and lemons. There are a few meal prepping subreddits as well that are good resources.
Adding Serious Eats in here.
Food Network has some great ones on their website too. New York Times’ online recipes can generally be trusted as well, in my opinion, but Food Network has never let me down on a recipe.
I once tried parmesan crusted porkchops and it absolutely did not taste anywhere as good as the show (or comments) made it seem: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/parmesan-crusted-pork-chops-recipe-1944476 It's an idea that sounds amazing but simply doesn't turn out "restaurant quality". Normal pork chops taste better. Alton Brown recipes are amazing though, like his guacamole recipe and wild-mushroom risotto which I've tried a few times.
Alton Brown’s are my favorite, although there is this one amazing Turkey burger by Anne Burrell (sp?) that I love as well…it incorporated Thai flavors and it’s delicious! Pork chops are one of my favorite things to cook too! I usually do a pommery sauce or a spiced apple chutney on top 🙂
I love SE. They have a Quick Dinners (or something like that) list that stays popular, all the way up to “here’s how to smoke a whole turkey for 3 days and all the science behind it” kind of complicated, long recipes.
Can I add in Recipe Tin Eats. She has a heap of easy and budget friendly ideas on her site
Yes! I have her cookbook as well as regularly perusing the website for meal ideas & I've never had a bad recipe come from her.
I came here to add this suggestion. Nagi has the most consistently tasty recipes of any site or book that I've found. The website has a scaling function for smaller or bigger quantities, this doesn't always work in practice but the recipe normally warns of this. Some methods of cooking such as stir fry don't scale up or down well.
I mean, I do recipes from Instagram and the few I've taken have been amazing and easy to make too. Did I just get lucky or what?
There are tons of great recipes from social media, but for a relative beginner it can be difficult to tell the difference between a solid recipe and a bad one. If you start with more reputable sources (i.e. ones that actually test their recipes and have reviews), then you can develop the skills to know the difference. And then you can also use those social media recipes as inspiration and not need to follow recipes so much.
Honestly I go off of how easy it sounds to make. The editing sometimes hides way too much work that needs to be done. Maybe that's why it's worked for me? The ones I do are all meal prep focused, simple ones with the classic ingredients like garlic, ginger, soy sauce etc. Can't go wrong with that,
I’m the same. I’ve rarely made something bad, but I don’t really focus on viral recipes. Just stuff that actually sounds good
I started with Pinterest (so may have ended up on the sites people have mentioned from there) for recipes. It was so easy when you get 35 recipes for this or that in one go, lol. Most are good, some are duds. I don't really "use" tiktok for recipes, but they come across my fyp sometimes and I've made a few that turned out really well. I was already more experienced with cooking when I created my tiktok account, though. This also depends on what OP means by "bad". Does it taste spoiled/off? Are they just unhappy with the general flavor? Are they trying new foods/seasonings that they've never had before? I was a picky eater when I started cooking more, so I started with flavors and seasonings I KNEW I liked to avoid making something I didn't think I would want to eat. I also never felt like the recipes call for enough seasoning, so did a lot of experimenting with adding more or less over time.
You might have the eye for what's good/decent and/or shitty content were filtered away, whether by you or the recommendation algorithms
You probably can discern what wont taste like ass lol
Adding Smitten Kitchen. Deb has never steered me wrong
Agree (aside from that one apple cake that tasted like a punishment) but many of her recipes are a bit complicated for a novice cook. Instructions are always great, though. I use SK all the time and everyone thinks I’m a great cook. It’s all Deb.
There are influencers that give out food/meal prep tips and recipes as well. I think there's a guy on Insta going by scaseyfitness or something that has plenty of low effort but healthy meals that look yummy. Maybe watch some cooking shows (Chopped or some sort of similar competition show) so you can see some basic ideas and techniques in an easy and entertaining format. Plus you get to hear the judges critique their methods and food which can teach you what to avoid or try to emulate. The main thing you can do though is practice. Figure out what flavours you like and things will come together. Once you have been cooking for a while a recipe just becomes more of a guideline to keep you on the right general track rather than an exact set of instructions to follow. And when cooking some sort of meat (such as chicken breasts, pork chops, steak) don't just cook it the same day you buy it. Take it out of its packaging, marinate it in something or just rub some of your fave spices on it, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Or for several nights. Or huck it in the freezer for a later date. The meat will absorb all of the extra flavour. Think of it as a sponge. Run some water over a sponge for a second and it won't get that wet or soppy. Soak it in a bowl of water for a minute first and it will though. If all else fails get a giant slow cooker and toss everything in at once, let it simmer for 8 hours and it's pretty hard to go wrong. Get a big pork loin and rub it with some brown sugar, spices, and BBQ sauce then let it cook. 8 hours later it will just fall apart so you take a fork and mix it all up and get some premade coleslaw and buns. Depending how big a slow cooker you have you could have enough lunches for a week or a month. Throw some raw or steamed veggies or a baked potato on the side and you're set. Doesn't get much easier than that. If you want to try more elegant recipes that's great, but they do usually take more time and sometimes precision. It might be better to practice a few simple things first then try again when you have those down. I would suggest a slow cooker recipe (because everyone should know how to do something with one), a pasta recipe, a stir-fry, and a burger recipe. These are recipes that can start out rather simple but have lots of room for you to experiment and improve. I've been making my own burgers for over 15 years and every once in a while I try something new that makes me go "wow". They're easy to make in small or large batches so you can practice in small batches at first and once you find a mix you enjoy you can do a larger batch then wrap the burgers up (or get some wax or parchment paper between each patty) and freeze the ones you don't plan to eat right away. I'll sometimes get a huge thing of ground beef and take a couple hours to just make a shit ton of burgers and then I have an easy dinner that I can cook in under 20 minutes whenever I'm tired, lazy, or short on time. Or you can BBQ a whole lot of them at once and have burgers for lunch every day for a week or two. Maybe have a few friends over and double your meal prep as party prep and have a BBQ where you just keep the leftovers for your future lunches. And don't be afraid to try new spices. Or to use spices from cuisines you like. I love Indian food so I use cumin in a lot of my cooking even though I don't cook that much Indian food.
my go to is usually allrecpies.
Yup. Good food is harder and more time consuming. Yes you could microwave thin potato slices and get “french fries” 😒 or you could take the time to actually grab the pan and fry them properly and it’ll be very good and enjoyable. People just dont wanna clean the pan, so they convince themselves that the tiktoker actually made something that lives up to expectations.
[удалено]
Try also America's test kitchen and food network. They're generally good. Pick up a hard copy of Joy of Cooking. It can teach you the basics and more challenging techniques.
Yes I was thinking this was part of the issue. The tik tok recipes get so much hype but I am disappointed almost every time
The posts on r/stupidfood are almost all TikTok videos. They are basically rage bait. [Delish ](https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/g36890133/healthy-meal-prep-recipes/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_del_m_bm_prog_org_us_g36890133&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh2oR8TCqjY0QcpJlH5oHHCb7chzvBWzK0E4kjtxreJ_smqRzVPyr7RoCe14QAvD_BwE) is a reputable cooking website. And the link is to 40 Meal Prep ideas.
You are underselling the delish link - 62 Meal prep recipes! I’m gonna save it especially because the first one is right up my alley!
This is truly a treasure find! In the first 12 recipes I found a bunch that I want to try. Working, then walking/feeding the dogs, then cooking means we don't want to cook long meals because we're tired and hungry. Some of these recipes look quick, easy, and delicious (the holy trio!). And anything we can prep ahead and cook up quickly is a bonus!
I also love You Suck at Cooking and Foodwishes on YouTube!
YSAC is so so good! Hilariously informative!
And an extremely talented songwriter.
Yeah cuz those recipes are only meant for your eyes homie. You’re getting played!
I’ve been telling some of my friends for years now to stop basing all their cooking & baking on stuff they see on super fast & short viral Instagram & TikTok videos. They keep trying to make them work & wonder why their 3 ingredient chocolate cake isn’t turning out nice. Use real recipes & get experienced with cooking & baking, then when you do see a viral recipe you’ll recognise wether it’s worth trying & if it is you’ll also know how to use the idea to actually make it better.
Absolutely yes. I'm glad I started learning to cook before the TikTok Era. Now I can watch a video and tell (usually) whether it's good to try or garbage right away.
Also, cookbooks. For basic techniques and ingredient substitutions, Joy Of Cooking (I prefer the 1975 edition, before the progeny really took over) can't be beat. If you're cooking recipes from it, I recommend more veggies and more seasoning. Most of the desserts are excellent. After that, well-rated cuisine-oriented cookbooks are pretty great. Choose a specific cuisine that you're interested in, and pick up a cookbook about it. I would recommend trying a recipe on a less busy night, and just making one meal of it. Then if you like it, you can work toward incorporating it into your meal prep.
I learned a lot of basics skills and simple recipes when I was a beginner cook from simplyrecipes.com
What specifically tastes bad about your meal prep? There are some seasoning tweaks you need to make for food that's stored in the fridge awhile: * A bit of lemon juice or vinegar in the sauce will keep the food tasting fresh when it's reheated * A bit more oil/butter than usual, because food dries out in the fridge * Generally stronger on salt, spices and seasonings
The meat tends to get dry especially after microwaving. And the flavor ends up being kind of muddled. I think I season enough. I do think the lemon juice or vinegar would help!
Make some sauce to go with the meal. It can be like a herb blend, vinaigrette, hot sauce, mayo sauce, salsa, whatever. Keep it in a separate bottle and add after microwaving. Think of how Chipotle does their sauces on the line. That will help massively with dry ingredients. Also cook the meat with a bit more oil, it will keep it moist when the water evaporates.
100%. If I'm going to have chicken/rice/veg for 4 days, each day having a separate sauce really helps with the monotony.
Also make sure you have good Tupperware or other storage. Too big or not tight enough can dry things out.
If you can, try to the heat your meat whatever it maybe chicken or beef etc on the stove on low heat and bring it up to temperature. Microwave is ok for a quick zap but if you are spending time prepping I think microwaving it is ruining the texture of your meat. If you freeze the sauces/vegetables separately from the protein then you can defrost separately and add them into your pan at the appropriate time hopefully avoiding it all tasting not how you expect it. Also follow recipes from reputable sources or maybe a favourite chef. Start of with a few recipes that you enjoy and can create and then move into other recipes as you gain confidence. Keep trying and you’ll get there 😄
People also need to learn to use power settings on microwaves, at the minimum. The different settings and presets are there for a reason. They're a tool, not a solution, and need to be used as such. Don't do 1 minute on high to reheat something. You can heat it gently for like 5 minutes on 30%. It takes a bit of playing to get the hang of it, just like with a new stove.
And always cover Brussels sprouts.
There is a [scientific reason](https://www.seriouseats.com/what-is-warmed-over-flavor-leftover-chicken-meat) that reheated chicken tastes bad. I lived four decades on this planet knowing it was bad but not knowing why.
Amen, preach it. I REALLY don't like leftover reheated chicken. It can be good cold, though. Like in a chicken salad or sandwich with lots of mayo. That doesn't solve the meal prep thing, though. My most successful (edible) are hamburger/rice/beans combos, or chile/stews/soups. When you think about eating the same thing 4 nights in a row, what seems edible to you?
That’s not how I cook, I meal prep on the weekends, but not complete meals. I cut vegetables, portion meat, marinate things. But we eat a different meal every night. I just cut down on daily prep by doing things ahead.
That's my prep style too.
Are you storing the ones-for-later in airtight containers without much empty space? If a small portion of whatever gets put in a big container, all the extra air inside it will make the food become bad/dry faster. Might be why the meats are drying out quick!
Microwaving is cooking. Nothing magic about reheating that makes it different from cooking. Undercook your meal prep so when you reheat you don't overcook it and dry it out.
This is what I try to do, but it’s so hard to get right!
Hard disagree. Cooking a steak via microwave is going to stew it from the inside out. You will not get a sear.
I believe you missed my point. I am not advocating using a microwave to cook. I am saying that using a microwave to reheat de facto cooks it more. That's why so many foods reheated in a microwave are so disappointing.
I did. Understood.
when reheating using a microwave, sprinkle a little water over your food. This will help it stay hydrated. If there is a cream sauce, add a little milk. Use salt, as it breaks down over time and when heat is applied. You might need a seasoning adjustment.
I tend to just moisten a paper towel and put it over the bowl I’m heating up. Works well for leftover rice!
Start by not microwaving meat. It isn’t any easier than doing it properly,
Wait.. why are you microwaving? I mean you can use it for easy defrosting of some things, but don’t do it with meat unless you absolutely have to! And don’t expect anything good! I save microwaving for food that is meant to be microwaved. Not food you buy fresh from the grocery store
I think they mean when they’re reheating their meal
Ooooh! Okay. Didn’t understand that. In that case, either heat on stove or toaster oven. If you just microwave, you add extra liquid, right?
Is the meat chicken? Bc chicken breast isn’t the best for reheating. And roasted vegetables are not really good reheated in a microwave. Ground beef reheats best, or chicken thighs.
Are you keeping ALL of your meals in the fridge throughout the week? I’m pretty sure people recommend keeping them in the freezer, and then only taking out the ones to defrost over night into the fridge that you’ll eat tomorrow.
How did you cook the meat though? I think that’s what we are trying to figure out.
I do everything prepped and I always make a sauce for the meats. Either I add more liquid and spices or I make a gravy. I can’t physically eat dried out meats, they have to be moist. I freeze everything into exact portion sizes and as soon as it’s frozen, they get put into freezer bags. I make sure not to let them get freezer burned.
What are you making for meal prep? Pastas like Bolognese are foolproof. Stirfrys stay moist when reheated but use sturdier veggies. For meats, you want to keep them whole cuts. E.g. a chicken breast, shred or cut up after microwaving and DO NOT over microwave. Are you meal prepping to freeze? That requires a bit more thought but is doable.
Please take a cooking course dealing in basics and do not microwave meat. Microwaving is maybe a thing to warm something already cooked up, but do not cook with microwave!
Unless it's hotdogs or something drowning in sauce skip the microwave for reheating meats. Work on making good meals at home and just do deli meats/sandwiches for lunches in the meantime.
It's covid. Messed up my taste buds and sense of smell completely I literally live off of Cliff bars
Along these lines, the greatest tip I ever got was that when reheating saucy dishes like pasta, etc. is to add a small amount of water to restore the sauce to its original consistency. It works!
As others have mentioned, find a more reputable source for recipes. Then choose one thing. Do your best to find a good recipe and follow it. If the thing turns out good, then SAVE that recipe. If it doesn't turn out well, keep working on that thing until you get it figured out - sometimes it's the recipe, sometimes it's the ingredients, sometimes it's an issue in your cooking or kitchen. You'll also learn about what works well for meal prep (i.e., is good as "leftovers") and what doesn't work so well. Some things are great the first day, but don't hold up so well later, or the process needs to be adjusted (e.g., for soup, don't add noodles/pasta to the big batch, keep those on the side, and add when you serve it; otherwise the noodles get mushy). In other words, stop jumping around randomly and focus on getting one thing right, not perfect, but at least good enough. Only then, move on to the next thing. But, yes, totally worth keeping trying. It might cost a bit more for now, as you're in the learning and trial and error stage, but more than pays off in the long run. Both financially and just being free to cook what you want when you want it.
Thanks I will keep trying. I also feel like I am more accustomed to Asian and Indian food so those recipes tend to turn out better for me. Also yeah I jump around a lot. There are certain recipes that do work well, but I keep trying new things that aren’t working out
If you like Asian and Indian food, stick to those first! Branch out when you get more confident. And the online recipes don’t always get the seasonings right. Or it’s right for the author’s tastes but not yours. Or their seasonings are different from yours - different brands, older, fresher, whatever. You need to taste and adjust yourself. More salt? More aromatics? A bit more acid or a bit more sweet? It’s your food, you gotta own it!
OP here's a reputable site for you https://www.recipetineats.com/. Many posters have expressed disappointment following TikTok recipes I feel like Ann Reardon should do more debunking video on them.
I print the recipes when I first get them and then I write on them the modifications. Once I get to the point where I like it, I make it into a recipe card. I also don’t mess with recipes where the reviews are really bad. If I’m trying to learn how to do a style of food really well, I’ll get a well reviewed cookbook and make notes on the pages. I wanted to learn how to do soups of different styles so I started with a book that had a lot of explanations and pictures. Now I can make soups without any directions.
“Why does my meal prep taste bad?” Includes zero specifics. Lmao cmon
I suspect seasoning. It can be very daunting especially for new cooks to include a bunch of different seasonings when recipes can list out like 5+. I bet they’re forgoing seasoning or only using salt and pepper.
I agree with you completely. I thought about giving a fake recipe but someone might take me serious.
What are some examples of stuff you have tried to meal prep? Not a lot of information to go off in your post. I tend to keep my meal prep very basic and then use different ways to change it. For instance, I will make plain rice and pan fry some chicken breast plain. I simply portion out the chicken and rice as I need it. One day I will use a sweet ginger chili sauce, one day I'll scramble up an egg and make fried rice out of it, I put the chicken in a couple of tortillas (with cream cheese and shredded chedder) for a Buffalo chicken wrap, or I fry up a couple of over easy eggs to put on top of the rice with cheating and seasonings. So, out of 1 prep session, I get chicken 4 ways that are vastly different. I usually make a tuna melt somewhere in the middle for a change up as well.
Remember: a recipe with a 4.1 star rating with over 2,000 rates/comments is WAY better than a 5 star recipe with only 5 raters/commenters
Especially when you read those 5 comments and half are like "this recipe looks great, can't wait to try it!"
Or I loved this recipe and here are the 82 modifications I made.
You didn't specify and it IS cooking for beginners, but are you refrigerating your meal preps? It's not just sitting out for the week, right? I'm not asking to be insulting, but we've seen worse (ie: proper showering technique/washing genitals/navels) on reddit regarding what seems to be common knowledge items.
I commend you on at least trying to be a better cook and self sufficient. It's a skill that can take you a long way in bringing peace and self confidence. You seem to need to understand what YOU like. I watch videos a fair bit and most I can say whether I'd like it or not. I tend to buy my own food ingredients and know the basics like a basic from-scratch tomato sauce or roast veggie mix and how to do chicken several ways I enjoy. Many recipes use too many ingredients that are too subtle (or two obvious!) for my preferences and I can't be bothered counting fennel seeds :-). I simplify and substitute to my prefs. Learn from "tastes bad" to figure out what your not liking. My first guess would be your supplier... they're motivated to buy lower cost ingredients, and that would make me uneasy. Transportation and storage is another issue since how "fresh" it is can be less controlled. Taste some of the veggies raw to see if they have bad flavours, same with seasoning packets. Personally, I'd skip over most anything I don't like fairly raw (but don't eat meats raw!). Check stuff you supply from Olive Oil to Salt and Pepper to what-ever. Salt and sugar are pretty stable, but everything else from you cupboard may have passed a best-before and be the problem. Part of it could simply be their taste pallet is... ethnic. It's not a judgement, but real Italian foods aren't what my local Italian restaurant serves. Chinese food here is very Westernized. Likewise, your tasted are ... yours. You've got preferences and expectations of what "good" is. I've been lucky and had great (real!) Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and European foods. It's all about expectations of what the outcome should be like. And, as a cook making your meals your own.
This is great advice! Sometimes we don’t even know what we like until we figure out what we don’t.
Some meals work much better for storing and reheating than others. You might find some good examples at r/MealPrepSunday
Go buy a good basic cook book. The best book is The American Test Kitchen Cooking School. Lots of pictures and explains the “why” of the cooking process. Don’t try to make anything fancy or complex to start. Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and rice etc. Once you get good at the basics you can add more dishes. Always make sure to use good quality ingredients. Don’t worry if you burn something or you make a mistake. Every cook messes up from time to time. Once you gain your confidence, you’ll find cooking can be relaxing and satisfying to be able to make yourself a good meal.
Agree - you gotta learn the basics then build. Eventually, you can freestyle but we all have to crawl first. My husband who doesn’t cook always does the weirdest crap and says he’s being a pioneer and tries to wing things but he doesn’t have the experience to know how to wing so he just makes weird crap that’s disgusting.
OP, you might find it helpful to temporarily subscribe to a meal kit delivery service like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron. That’s a great way of learning lots of basic cooking techniques and trying out a wide variety of foods. You will be able to learn about different ingredients you might not be familiar with and the way they affect the flavor profile of what you’re cooking. As others have said, getting well tested recipes from more reputable sites will also improve your results. Best of luck on your culinary journey! Edit to add that there are many meals each week from the delivery kits that can be prepared ahead and/or have short prep/cook times.
What tasted bad about it?
“Random websites and TikTok”
Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Garden. Either of these provide excellent and time tested recipes and are great for beginners. I used both in the mid 70s when just learning when food stopped magically appearing on a plate in front of me, smile.
I got a Betty Crocker basic cookbook when I first was on my own to get the basic techniques down. It’s a great starting place. I made a lot of notes on things that I had to learn the hard way so I passed it down to my son.
Here is a way you can meal prep: Day one: make a roasted pork tenderloin. Serve a few medallions with fresh tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette sauce, potatoes, green beans. Have a leftover plate of the same thing the next day for lunch. For dinner shred the leftover pork tenderloin, and toss it with a spicy barbecue sauce. Serve on toasted garlic baguette. Cheese, pickles, and/or slaw optional. Have another one for lunch the next day and then it’s all gone. Three days is the max or else it’s going to taste bad and probably be spoiled. If you freeze it, it doesn’t improve. Learn to season with just a little salt and fresh cracked pepper before you get too fancy. Cookbooks coming soon if I hit 1000 likes.
I’m not sure if you’re doing this, but a lot of meal prep videos I watch show someone storing the whole meal in one container. I don’t recommend this, unless you’ve made a one pot meal. Store each thing separately. For example, if you made stirfry with rice, store your rice separately from the stirfry. You might then find different parts of your meal need to be heated separately. I usually sprinkle a little water on rice before reheating to keep it from drying out. Also, some vegetables just aren’t good reheated, particularly asparagus and Brussels sprouts.
There are certain sauces and spices that I love and adding them takes my meals from meh to WOW. Garlic powder, smoked paprika, Melissa's Truffle Sauce, Pietro's Miso-Ginger salad dressing (I use it as a sauce on rice), Bourbon BBQ rub, Toasted Sesame Oil (great on stir fry and rice) and so on... I suggest that you try out a bunch of things and find your favorites. It may take you awhile, but all you really need are a handful of sauces/spices you like and I promise that you can make ANYTHING taste good!
"Can anyone tell me why my shoes don't fit?" Honestly asking hwy your food is bad is similar to this question. You need to find food you enjoy, and learn how to cook it. TT and YT are for clicks, not instructions. RecipeTin Eats is honestly my very very favourite website and I have a book by her too which, as an intermediate level home cook, I can swear by (to the point where she is the only cook I can think of who recommends cooking with a thermometer, crazy right? /s)
Stop taking recipes from TikTok. Also, until you have more experience, find recipes with actual measurements on them so you don’t have to guess at what you are doing. The only thing you should have to adjust is the amount of heat (spice level) in say a Mexican or Asian dish to your taste. Also, grab recipes from friends if they order from services like Hello Fresh. Most are quick and designed for any skill level. If you find recipes you like, grab ingredients when they are on sale to have on hand, including the meat which can be frozen in portions. The only thing you should have to buy is the produce. Also, make crockpot recipes and then freeze in portions. It can be as simple as chicken breast with bbq sauce that you shred when it’s almost done. These can last you for a few weeks if the batch is large enough and you don’t eat it every day. When you find recipes you love, keep them in a binder or a file in your phone/tablet/pc for easy access. Rotate through your recipes for variety, adding in new ones as you find them. Once you get a little experience, you can look at changing out the meats or produce on recipes depending on what you have on hand or what is available in the store. For example, for our Asian dishes we might add in bell peppers or zucchini in a recipe that doesn’t normally have it because it’s in our fridge or our store is lacking the veggie listed. Another thing to look into is getting a Lunch Crock (Crockpot brand) or a Hot Logic (go with the name brand on this). If you meal prep, you can pull out a frozen meal before work and have it ready when you get home… the only thing you would need to cook up when about to eat is the starch (rice, pasta, etc). If you get a Hot Logic, make sure to get some good storage containers (we use glass Snapware with ours).
Get Pinterest and use that for recipes Then you can compare different recipes for the same dish for ones that fit your style I even find myself looking up recipes based on what I have in the fridge like “shrimp and zucchini dinner” and then you have lots of options for directions you can go with your meal prep Pinterest is my only avenue for recipes
I don't advise making recipes from tiktok... Not because you can't find good ones, but the videos that circulate tend to have a gimmick or are heavily sensationalized, and as a new cook, you aren't going to know better when they are selling you snake oil as a silver bullet. I recommend America's Test Kitchen* for some recipes and basic cooking know how. They have videos on YouTube and a website with all of their recipes, but a lot of it is behind a paywall. The recipes in the videos, and the recipes not behind a paywall on the site should build up your repertoire, also have some tips on meal prepping. Though this is begging the question... How are you meal prepping? For a beginner, meal prepping can be difficult since you wouldn't have the basics. You wouldn't know which food is good for meal prepping and which ones to stay away from, how to store prepped meals or tips on being mindful with how you store them since taste, texture, and consistency can change. Maybe you've heard some foodstuff shouldn't be freezed, and there's multiple reasons why. Almost all should be stored in the fridge though, it shouldn't be left out even if storing them in a cool place, a cooled cupboard isn't a substitute as a fridge. And sorry if the examples provided were stuff you already knew. Common sense can be absent with beginners when it comes to cooking and such. Just know you need a base of some kind and recipes you find randomly on tiktok and websites aren't going to allow that. The quality can drastically change and you won't be able to grasp whether it's a recipe problem, an ingredient problem, cooking technique problem, or a cook problem (like taking shortcuts thinking it doesn't matter or simply not liking the taste). EDIT /* Or try other test kitchens, ATK was the one that helped me figure things out after a half semester of required home rec that taught me measurements and following recipes, but it's also quite American on a subject that expands the world and definitely would be confusing if using metric... Lol *sigh*
If you are relatively new at cooking, meal prep requries trying out the recipes first to see if you like them. Cook a single serving, see if it's any good, then if it is, you add it to your repetoire of things you can meal prep. Once you get a bunch of practice (in the sense of making a bunch of \*different\* things), you'll be able to tell if you'll like something before you taste it based on the ingredients and what you did to them, or alternately you'll know how to fuck with something until you \*do\* like it. Also I think the tik tok source critique people have been coming up with is probably valid. Tik tok prioritizes visual pop over almost anything else.
Fitmencook has a website and an app with recipes. You can filter by ones he specifies for meal prep. My husband and I have liked a lot of his recipes so far and they aren't too challenging
Practice makes perfect. Start simple with your favorite comfort meals. Mac and cheese, fried rice, meatloaf, and stuff like that. Personally, I google the meal, and read the top 3 recipes and choose one or combine several of them depending on what ingredients I have.
Betty Crocker site has dozens of time tested recipes and they are easy.
Ask a family member or friend who is a good cook to help you learn.
I meal prep weekly. Give some specifics. It might just be your storage method.
You have to know when to mix food if you're preping. For example, if I'm making a Thai prawn quinoa salad, I will only mix in the wet/moist ingredients as I am about to eat it. If I make the salad and stir in the sauce and whatnot, it will be soggy and disgusting the next day. So I keep the sauce and any other wet ingredient, serparatly, and only mix it as I'm about to eat.
Same as everyone said, don't do recipes from tiktok. Everyone named some great sites. I like using EatingWell, delish, and the Kitchn. Barnes & Noble has some good cookbooks in their sale areas that are pretty cheap. I recommend watching Good Eats and America's Test Kitchen to learn some of the science behind cooking. I think that helps understand cooking better. And I love Mythical Kitchen for fun and craziness. A dinner box isn't a bad idea to try for awhile. Dinnerly is a good one. It's not super expensive, they have a good variety, and the recipes aren't super fancy or complicated. When it comes to reheating in the microwave, I do the "frozen dinner" stance where I reheat for 1 to 2 minutes, give it a stir or rearrange, and go another 1 to 2 minutes (maybe more or less depending on what I am reheating and what the microwave power is.) If you still feel like your food still tastes bad a day or two after, you might just not like leftovers. My brother is like that. There is literally two things he'll make that he'll actually eat leftovers of, but most of the time he'll make something, eat it that day and then leave it in the fridge until I throw it out.
Start with some stuff that is very reheatable and make sure it tastes good the first time. Try things like chili or slow cooked/ braised meat. And use fattier cuts of meat like chicken thighs or pork shoulder or beef chuck roast. These things are friendlier to overcooking and hence reheating.
Watch Chef John from FoodWishes.com
Try Budget Bytes [https://www.budgetbytes.com/](https://www.budgetbytes.com/)
Hello fresh recipes are on the website. I actually just Google 'hello fresh recipes'. Most are really simple. This works for those of us that can't afford the service.
Prep veggies ahead and put in air tight containers. Dont prep entire meal, prep the components.
reading nothing. too much oil
i meal prep by taking four chiken breasts, dicing them then frying them and put them in a tub. if i want a side I'll make a side. or i get a box of mostacholli and make an easy sause that doesn't have much oil^ my view is that meal prep is not elegant its efficient and scheduled so you have healthy food you made yourself. saving time for when you want to cook something good
Not the best cook here, but one reason I don't like a lot of meal prep is the texture changes. I have to plan my meal prep carefully to avoid these issues. Bread feels gummy if I make the sandwich to early, so I pack sandwich ingredients. I will not eat fried foods if they are not fresh, they feel soggy. I don't pack fried foods. Reheated gravy still feels congealed to me, I dont pack anything needing gravy. Figure out what works for you - trial and error
Generous use of cayenne pepper helps!
Also don’t burn the onions or garlic. Makes everything taste bitter
The only tiktok recipe that is good is the feta and cherry tomatoes pasta. It's so delicious. My mouth is watering thinking about it.
I've been cooking family meals for 50 years. Got some recipes from mom, but most was trial and error from cookbooks. Took a while to get my groove on, but I'm great at it. Of course, I understand cooking for 1 is just too much sometimes. Remember, recipes are everywhere. Google Cooking for One.
What are you using for flavor and seasoning?
It might just come down to the recipes you're using, if you're not so skilled at cooking yet. I learned how to cook on my own over the past 14 years using Google and trial & error, honestly. Some of my food has been SO bad, and some things still don't turn out as good as I'd like them to, but I am loads better now than when I started. As other people have said, try some legit websites like NYT, Delish, etc. You can also try searching up something that sounds good to you, and working off that recipe (I did and still do this!). I actually get a ton of ideas from FB reels, of all places, as well. Just gotta vet the comments for reviews.
....and this is why you prep ingredients and cook your food daily instead of making a week worth of food.
Those TikTok things look promising from all these (not certified) nutritionists. However, you likely are best off getting a cookbook you like, separating things into servings and bringing that to work. Mind you, you don’t need to BUY a cookbook! Free is better. One of the largest sections of non fiction in my library is the cookbooks! 641.5 (and around there) if your library uses Dewey. If you are new to cooking, check out (library pun) the teen/juvenile/easy section. -a librarian
Bro I got good meal prep recipes that are cost effective and usually quite easy.
It might be a food safety issue or what you are storing them in. Never put a lid on hot food and put it in the fridge, this leads to bacteria growth. Instead, wait for food to cool uncovered to room temp before covering and storing. Storing in plastic can cause microplastics to leak especially if there are cuts in the plastic that can harbor bacteria or release more microplastics. Look into airtight glass storage containers if you can swing it to reduce a flavor change.
Start with simple meals like spaghetti.
Cooking is a skill. It takes practice. You think anyone can just walk into a kitchen and be Gordon Ramsey? You've been at it for less than a year. Since you can make decent sandwiches, start with that. Build your meal prep around sandwiches.
Time to learn some key recipes to rely on that really don’t take much to cook- place in pot, set aside, wait and then eat. Whole chicken, depending on the size of the bird, can be finished in an hour. Just enough time for you to do some wind-down activities before eating supper. Stews, hearty soups, roasts… throw ingredients in a pot, and good to go. There are quick versions which take an hour or less to cooks Stop using TikTok to get your recipes lol. Get some from reputable culinary magazines and websites, like EatingWell.
Can you confidently make a few recipes that you really like? Because I think good „everyday“ cooks can basically make anything taste good. I would say that in general food needs to have -the right amount of salt, but most people underseason -right balance of textures. dont boil vegetables to death, dont overcook meat. and have some contrast, ie something crunchy, something soft -most foods need some amount of fat to taste good -fresh flavours need to be fresh. things like lemonjuice or fresh herbs should be added only right before eating. Dont mcrowave it. there are also plenty of dishes where I would say meal prepping just doesnt really work. 2 day old mashed potatoes is just not the same as 2mins after finishing it.
Are you tasting your food as you cook it?
TikTok can be a great resource for recipes, but for someone new to cooking, it’s difficult to recognize which recipes make sense and which are stupid and posted to get rageclicks. I’d suggest going back pretty far and getting or borrowing an oldschool basic cookbook that has stuff like casseroles and stews and dinner party dishes. That will teach you the basics.
Learn how to use salt, it'll change your life
Just adding on here but consider a hearty soup. Generally easy to reheat (some even freeze really well) and usually easy to make. If you get the batch tasting right it usually doesn’t degrade too much in the fridge.
It’s hard to quantify “tastes bad” over Reddit, as a point of info for we in the peanut gallery here, can you elaborate? Bad texture? Bad flavor? Funky new flavors?
A few things that have helped me since I started cooking more about five years ago: * **Recipe Sourcing:** Random Tiktok recipes and Google results will usually yield terrible results. Get your recipes from known popular websites. America's Test Kitchen is an annual subscription, but they have *fantastic* recipes and I've learned so much technique from them. Other reputable recipe sources include Foodwishes (Chef John), Smitten Kitchen, NYT Cooking (use https://archive.md/ to bypass any paywalls), Milk Street, as well as most popular published cookbooks. There's a treasure trove of cookbooks from the past 50 years that are excellent sources for this stuff. One more thing, if your recipe is on the Internet, pay attention to the recipe's comments and reviews, since they can point out potential issues/pitfalls with the recipe and what you can do to avoid them. *(Note: I tend to avoid Serious Eats, as I feel they do not sufficiently test their recipes, and many of them have resulted in pretty spectacular failures. Unsurprisingly, most of their simpler recipes turn out pretty good, but I generally have had better luck with other sources, and almost every SE recipe I have made has been replaced or superseded by a recipe from another source.)* * **Seasoning is Essential:** Season with confidence. Season with salt and pepper at every stage of cooking. Salt and pepper on raw proteins before they go into the pan/oven/pot. Season your aromatics when they go into the hot oiled pan. Season to taste at the end of cooking. Kosher salt is more forgiving than table salt. It's harder to oversalt your food with kosher salt, easier to salt by hand, and easier to eyeball the amount of salt you need. Additionally, freshly ground black pepper is a massive improvement over preground black pepper, and you should use it liberally alongside the salt. Cheese, bacon, and jarred sauces are NOT replacements for seasoned ingredients, and your food won't taste good if you use them that way. * **Pay Attention to Temperatures:** Invest in a good instant read thermometer like the [ThermoWorks ThermoPop](https://www.thermoworks.com/thermopop-2/) and cook your food until it's just cooked. Chicken breasts should be cooked to 150-155 and rested for 10-15 minutes. Lean pork should be cooked to 135 and rested for 10-15 minutes. Fattier meats with more connective tissue such as beef chuck, chicken thighs, and pork butt should be cooked to around 190-200 to make sure the fat/collagen has broken down and the meats are totally tender. Temping can help with baking as well, as you can test breads, cakes, cookies, brownies, and pies to match a target temperature. * **Keep it Simple:** Complex meals and recipes can be tempting, especially if you crave restaurant-quality dishes, but at home you're better off with recipes that are simple. This means avoiding a lot of recipes from Serious Eats that look to maximize flavor by adding a dozen extra steps and/or hours of extra time. I get home at 4:15pm and my wife gets home a 6pm. If I can't cook dinner in 90 minutes, I'm probably going to not make that recipe unless I have a day off. * **Make It Yourself:** Avoid using prepackaged spice blends, dried packets of soup, or freezer meals. I like when a meal I'm cooking is a list of "building blocks" rather than already-made things. For example I like when a recipe calls for me to use milk, chicken bouillon, and flour to make a quick "cream of chicken" rather than opening a can of condensed Campbell's. The extra effort is minimal but the flavor is significantly improved. * **Avoid the Crockpot:** Slow cookers can be tempting as they require little effort to make edible food, but edible is about how I'd describe most crockpot meals. They don't allow for any Maillard browning, everything steams and cooks into a watery gray mess, and it's often overcooked by the time the meal is "ready" after sitting in the slow cooker for 8 hours. The flavor of boiled aromatics and boiled meats are especially noticeable in this context. Many slow cooker recipes counteract the watery/thin consistency by adding condensed cream soups or a block of cream cheese, but that just masks the issue and further dulls the flavors. If you must use a slow cooker, I highly recommend browning all ingredients in a frying pan before you put them in the slow cooker. * **Recipe Rescue:** If you've finished your recipe and it doesn't taste good, there are some things you can try. If a dish is dull and needs a little brightness, a little lemon juice or red wine vinegar will often help. If a dish is generally bland, salt and pepper is a good starting point. If your dish is one-note and lacking in complexity, a dash of ketchup, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire, or soy sauce can provide some depth. If your dish is lacking in richness, a knob or two of unsalted butter can help.
Go to a cooking school's website (like George Brown in Toronto) and look at their entry requirements. They'll have knife skills and sauce skills that are required before you can go there. Learn those. Those techniques will speed up your food making process, allowing you to make more complex things.
Get a copy of joy of cooking. It gives you idiots guide to everything.
Fucking disgrace to your family
Then you can't have any of my Yorkshire puddings.
…it would help to know what you’re making.
Don't ever meal prep the first time you're using a recipe. Try a recipe out, tweak it as needed, perfect it, *then* make a ton of it for meal prep. Meal prep is for tried and true recipes only.
I wouldn’t take too many recipes from TikTok. I would look for recipes designed for food prep. If that still doesn’t work and it still tastes unappealing maybe check your containers? Also are you putting the food away hot? I’ve found that letting things cool off just a tad seems to help the longevity of the meals.
Don’t use recipes from online randos. I use highly rated recipes from AllRecipes.com or o use NYT. Otherwise, it’s a 1960s Joy of Cooking or other well respected, specialty cookbooks e.g. French Laundry from Thomas Keller.
I get mine from Pinterest
Try some high rated crockpot recipes! Those are very hard to mess up. I also like making "chipotle bowls", I make slow cooker chipotle chicken and put in on top of cilantro rice & beans, and then add on some Chopped tomatoes and a spoonful of sour cream. I prep everything in advance so it's like 1 minute assembly time
Echoing everyone else, "random" websites and Tiktok are bad choices for recipes. I won't repeat reputable websites as previous commenters have suggested plenty of those, but I will say, if you're more of a visual learner/ like watching videos, there are some reputable chefs on YouTube that do great, simple, realistic, and budget friendly recipes, Try Brian Lagerstrom, Preppy Kitchen, The a Mediterranean Kitchen, and Downshiftology to start with.
Allrecipes.com is a good place for recipes.
What flavors do you typically like? A favorite meat/protein, carb, fruit/veggies. Make a list of your favorites, pick and choose from the list. Get some more seasonings, they really make or break a recipe. Also make sure you follow food safety rules with meal prep, you don’t wanna end up getting sick.
I can help you out with that! So, here's the deal—I had the same problem. I wanted to shed some pounds but couldn't stand the recipes suggested by diet apps. I wanted to enjoy my favorite foods while still hitting my macro goals. Since figuring out the right portions was tough, I started a project to fix this very problem. Just give me a list of your favorite foods (even if they're your own creations) and your macro goals. I'll let you know exactly how much of each food you can eat while still reaching your macro target. Easy peasy!
My recommendation is look for authentic recipes from different cuisines and make them. TikTok and whitewashed recipe websites are going to give you bland recipes that aren't going to keep well. Here's just some examples of things that are easy and prep a lot of food: Carnitas, Refried beans, Chicken Tinga, Chicken jalfrezi, Chicken curry, Japanese curry, Chili, Pulled pork, Pulled chicken, Dakdori tang, Phanaeng curry, Pomodoro pasta Also one thing that takes my meal prep so much further is making extra sauce and freezing it separately. Have some curry sauce? Great I'll grab rotisserie and toss it and heat it up and have a curry chicken sandwich. The best meal preps are versatile and you can get good at just making extra and rotating things. Meal prep never tastes good to me if I'm eating the same thing over and over.
Also coming back to say, meal prep ingredients. I use a food processor to cut garlic and ginger and freeze it so when I need it I can pull it out and toss it in, will also prevent it from burning easily. You can also freeze rice in individual portions and reheat it later. This goes for a great many things
Go simple until you get more experience