so is it pretty easy to cook, even healthy meals?

Question

is lean ground beef much better than regular? and anything you eat at home is better than fast food right?

Answer 1

YES! Lean ground beef usually has between 8 to 10 percent fat compared to regular ground beef that has 30 percent fat.
When cooking at home typically studies show that we use less oil and fat than the restaurant foods. Alothough it depends what you eat at home compared to what you woulud eat out and how you cook it.

Answer 2

Well, you can cook unhealthy food at home, and compared to a fast food salad, it's less healthy.

Watch the food network -- especially Rachel Ray, she does 30 minute meals, and does everything on the spot, and they tend to be healthy. Watching and listening to how the people on there cook will help with general principles, as well as specific recipies. Though they are often a bit on the fancy side -- but they really explain and show you the basics, too.

Buy some of her books, and a basic cook book.

Start with simple, basic stuff, if you've never cooked before. Lots of packages have basic recipes (such as rice, pasta, beans -- those kinds of things, to tell you how you make that thing).

Lean has less fat than regular ground beef. But don't only cook ground beef (though it's useful for a wide variety of things).

The key to healthy is lots of variety, especially lots of veggies and using fresh stuff a lot.

Answer 3

Sure, lean ground beef is less fatty and perhaps more healthy in that respect, but it's still red meat and not terribly healthy in this respect.

The good thing about eating at home is that you know what your putting into your food, and how healthy you make it is your choice - eating at home can be just as bad as eating out, it's all how you choose to prepare your food.

I find cooking, healthy or otherwise, easy, but I also know many who don't. You just need to start playing around in the kitchen and doing some research.

Answer 4

Cooking is easy! Once you get a few basic techniques down, it's just a matter of combining things you like. Cooking is done to your tastes. Recipes are just guides for most even minimally proficient cooks.

Baking, on the other hand, can be a bit more problematic. In baking you are generally dealing with ratios and chemical reactions. Even those 'rules' are easy to learn, however, and before long you can just toss the cookbooks in the closet and be cranking out breads and pies and cakes with impunity.

IMO, lean ground beef is better than ground chuck. It's definitely better for you. If you can get it on sale, it is actually cheaper as well. If you're going to cook off 30% of your ground chuck (fat) and drain it, it's actually much better to stock up lean ground beef when it's on sale and only have to drain off about 2-3%. You pay for all of it, after all.

Home cooked has many advantages over fast food. One is very simple - YOU control what goes into your food. I have allergies, so that's a big one for me. Generally, it is healthier as well. Unless, of course, you're going to make fried okra, fried chicken, pan gravy, fried taters... You get the idea. Then you may want to just head down to Burger King and get a grilled chicken sandwich.

If you're just starting, learn a few very basic recipes and get good at them. Build from there. You can modify and adjust seasonings and ingredients, add other items, change your side dishes - all kinds of things - to create entirely different meals.

If you like fast food, I'd recommend learning how to make homemade pizza dough (very easy), meatloaf (several varieties), different types of grilled chicken (vary marinades), oven fries (vary the seasonings/potato types); things like that. You can start doing the "fancy stuff" once you build up your confidence.

~Morg~

Answer 5

That is the case under normal circumstances. Most home made meals are simple and practical. The most unhealthy ingredients will be the ready made sauces or flavor packages. Whether it be gravy mix or Maggie cubes.
But it is far better than many things you'll find in any commercial eatery ranging from McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell or chinese chop suey diners.

Answer 6

The trick is, there is no trick, don't buy just what they offer, pick out yourself a cut of meat that is lean and looks good to you and even ask the butcher what he thinks of the cut you choose, then ask him to grind it for you, tell him you want it ground twice or the second grind. As for fast food? you did say healthy?

Answer 7

yes anything actually cooked at home is better (not microwave deals) studies have shown that americans were leaner when we used to actually cook and eat our meals together. my favorite recipe site is http://www.allrecipes.com it is a great site for healthy and delicious meals