This quote has been in my signature forever. I'm highlighting it now. It's one of the key things I know about LC living.

When my current "mentee" tells me she "doesn't cook" my hope diminishes that she will be successful in the long term with reducing and sustaining her weight.

Making tasty meals--even for a family of fussy eaters--doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming. I'm not anyone's Mom, but I hope it's not impossible that a parent can set the stage for lifelong good eating habits by introducing LC foods even kiddos will eat.

What do you think?

Not every meal has to be a peak experience or a complicated endeavor. In fact none of them have to. It is possible to prepare simple tasty meals that are low carb and that require minimal time and effort. That's been my approach. Of course I only have to satisfy myself but I do not see anything about my approach that wouldn't also work for families of more than one person. It comes down to commitment. If you are committed to healthy low carb eating for you and your family you can find a way to make to work. It may take some extra time at first as you figure it all out but it will soon become a habit.

I agree with Jean and the benefit of preparing your own foods and meals enables complete control and awareness of food types, quality, and other ingredients. Heating up things that a manufacturer or other food prep entity has prepared leaves one at the mercy of the food maker who usually has very different objectives to establish a cost point in selling the food to make a business profitable. I don't always trust the ingredient list.

Learning to cook and prepare simple, healthy, whole foods is not difficult, but I understand why those who have never done this are reluctant. My fortune is that I was brought up in a family who ate good, healthy foods and encouraged my siblings and me to become involved in meal prep at an early age. That has made all the difference, and we've passed that along to our own kids and grand kids. My grand daughter (now 6 years old) and son spend time together preparing dinner, and she has a palate far beyond her years. These simple activities give young people confidence and an understanding about what is good and healthy that will be beneficial for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, the availability of pre-prepped meals ready in little time has trained a few generations that they can microwave something to eat quickly, satisfy their hunger, and don't need to know what's in it as long as it's palatable.

THIS! Any recipe that has a long list of ingredients, needs different ingredients cooked different ways, uses multiple bowls or pans, or would make me stay in the kitchen for more than an hour is not one I'm interested in. Unless it's REALLY good.

One thing that helps is having decent tools: sharp knives, instant thermometer, good quality pans. Another is an organized home-made cookbook. I have 3-ring binders that I picked up super cheap at the thrift store. I have them color-coded for meat, eggs, vegetables, desserts (lc of course!), and miscellaneous snacks, sauces, and dips. If I get too many notes on a recipe I just edit the original and print. And of course, many dishes don't need a recipe - I make chef salads & stir fries with whatever leftovers I have in the fridge.

But some newbie cooks could really use a mentor. Years ago the Oregonian ran a series of articles called (iIrc) Sam Can Cook. Sam didn't know how to cook real food at first, but he learned. He also got more than a few marriage proposals.

They could also use easy-to-understand recipes. When I was writing a recipe column for the local paper (unfortunately not lc as I hadn't discovered it yet) I would have my non-cook husband read the recipes. If he didn't understand something I would change it to something he could understand.

Hear, hear. Sometimes, I'd jump on recipe sites or even the Diet Doctor site, and feel like I was being inundated with recipes and meal plans. I wish I could see it through a newbie's eyes, but daunting is the exact word that comes to mind. (It seems the main DD page now has simple "meal ideas" at the top of the home page... good on 'em. ) I scoff at meal plans. I would definitely be meal planning if I had to feed a family, say I'm a SAHM who's used to preparing family meals that are going to be eaten up every night, but a lot of us are single, too busy, disabled, financially strapped... and that doesn't really work as well. I'm more of single-serving gal and I like having a choice and having what I'm in the mood for, hence lots of simple things like eggs and my freezer stash that sounds like Deirdra's. I do meal plans in reverse: I find dishes I can make from the groceries on hand, not buying groceries for planned meals. My groceries are generally staples + what's in season and/or what's on sale.

Exactly.

Grilling a slab of meat on the stove is as simple as it gets. In our house, we love that deadly red meat. I learned how from Chef Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, the only "reality" show we watch. (There's actually some reality in it.)

Rare - front part of chin

Medium - end of nose

Well - forehead

Little tricks like that make all the difference when we are learning.

It is really rather easy.

I taught my kids to cook thru fun things like turning pasta maker and stirring a batch of homemade brownies.....they are now older teens and can cook. Their preference is a pan fried steak and a mix of sauted fresh veggies, seasoned by the umpteen options on twirly by the stove top.

Basics include microwaved Irish potato or sweet potato.

Beyond basics is just a willingness to learn new techniques, like a greased potato set on oven rack next to a roast beef. Just need a meat thermometer.

Start building utensils, pots, pans and specialty items .....

We made lasagne roll ups with a bescemel sauce.sirry, can't find correct spelling.

One made the beschemel sauce...his first time. Less lumpy than my efforts, lol. And other teen helped with prepping 9x13, and rolling up lasagne. He wanted ham added to recipe so he got out the ham and added julienned slices to filling. I made filling and homemade pasta dough.

Pasta is so easy. Flour and eggs. ( I don't buy pasta anymore so homemade was only option. ) Roll out flat. Cut with pizza cutter or knife.

Learning to cook is easy these days. Wonderful YouTube chefs and homecooks sharing the full details that a cookbook cannot convey.

"Look up a recipe" means google to my teens. They like the YouTube format....hard to go wrong.

Ms. Arielle, what is this “pasta” you speak of?? 😂

Our first efforts were real egg and all purpose flour, now we roll out a low carb version we all love.

See first page of my journal, about post 4, maybe 5. Only 'weird' ingredient is xantham gum which is easy to find. Roll between two sheets of parchment, pull off top sheet and cut strips to suit. Pizza cutter is fastest. Pull up each strop and drop in boiling salty water. Its el dente quickly. Thicker than an egg noodle, more body. Tasty.

Im eager to try wider cuts for a lasagne.

That's bang-on, Barbara. I have a similar quote in my sig from Dr Ted Naiman: "You are only going to maintain your results if you enjoyed the process that got you there in the first place." One of my favourite pieces of advice to someone who's overwhelmed with the idea of going LC, especially just starting out, is to avoid fancy-sounding recipes and just make simple food. If you enjoy cooking, great - go make those labour-of-love dishes like bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers or zucchini lasagna. Otherwise, KIS. There are lots of ready-made, pre-prepped groceries you can buy.

This also applies if you "hate cooking." I generally enjoy cooking, but I work a seasonal job that's exhausting while I'm working. I do food prep and a bit of cooking on Sunday, and that's it. The rest of the week, it's whatever I made Sunday, something from the freezer, or something just as easy. There's nothing wrong with calling a few of the following a meal: some cold cuts, cheese, boiled eggs, some raw veggies, berries, a dish of cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, pork rinds and salsa... imperfect LC is infinitely better than the SAD. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

If you hate cooking, stop calling it "cooking" and start calling it "preparing your food." Even if you wanted garbagey mac n' cheese from a box, you'd still have to boil the water, stir the pasta, drain it, prepare your sauce, and clean up afterwards. If you can take the time to do that, you can make something healthier with no more effort or cost. It's an excuse. Plain and simple.

Pick your favourite easier foods, maybe scrambled eggs or roasted chicken, and learn to make them well. Make those your staples. Keep a written list or something online that'll remind you of dishes you really like. It's funny how you can just 'forget' that you really liked (this or that easy recipe.) That's probably all the cooking knowledge you need to have to be successful.

I don't want to hijack your thread, but on my back burner (pardon the pun) has been a post/thread about how to make the easiest, quickest meals.

Thanks for the thoughts, Kristine. There is a cooking forum on this site, which I haven’t used. I’ll be sure to check it out.

In a world of digital devices, I use the messiest recipe collection there is: a pile of print-outs. Mostly stained, wrinkled, and scribbled on. However, looking for “what to eat” I can usually recover a favorite I’ve forgotten about by riffling through the pages. Many of them have titles that begin with the word EASY.😋

LC Zucchini Lasagna? Have that printout. But it always looks…complicated. I even bought a mandoline slicer to make it…one time!🤪

My LC routine is minimalist. Most people probably eat about the same things every day. Reducing decisions is also a “secret” of LC sustainability.

Eat what you love. Love what you eat. LC version!

Cooking is turning something that is inedible raw (most people regard raw fish, meat and most vegetables inedible raw) palatable by applying heat for a sufficiently long period.

Cooking for me is: melt a little fat in a frying pan, then add slab of meat or fish. Cover with lid. After about 20 minutes, add green vegetables. After about 20 minutes out into plate and eat. I use a mixture of spinach, broccoli and Brussels sprouts which I take out of the freezer the night before and defrost at room temp in a pasta drainer, excess liquid is discarded. Salt, pepper, herbs and spices as desired. Or not.

No weighing, no measuring, no fancy recipes from glossy magazines. But if you enjoy that sort of cooking the sky is the limit.

I've learned to grill meat, bake chicken, make cheesecake. It's easy. And takes LESS time than getting takeout, in the comfort of home.

The delicious flavors of real foods (fresh veggies and meats) can be enjoyed raw or simply steamed or baked.

Fake white foods (pasta, rice, potato, bread) require effort to find the right sauces and toppings to make them palatable.

I never used to have pasta without some sort of sauce on it. Now, I eat veggies and meats in their pure state all the time and find them delicious.

Probably an important point is to keep notes, maybe just keep a notepad and pencil in your kitchen, so you can learn what works in your kitchen, with your equipment. For whatever reason, every time I've tried those steak cooking tricks comparing it to touching your hand, I still get it wrong. Way over-or under-cooked. So I memorized this rule of thumb, all around the number 3:
- Preheat the oven to 300 F, also preheat a cast iron pan on the stove.
- Throw your seasoned steak on the pan for 3 min.
- Flip it over, cook for 3 min.
- Put it in the oven for 3 min.
- Put on your plate and tent for about 3 min under foil.
- Optional but highly recommended: throw some butter in the pan, sautee some mushrooms/peppers/onions if you have them. Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce if you have it. You can skip this, but it makes it feel much fancier.

This is for cooking to medium-ish, for NICE steaks like striploin that are always cut the same way from my grocery store. Anything 'crappier' goes in the Instant Pot. Even easier! Throw in some liquid, pressure cook the heck out of it. You pretty much can't go wrong.