[PhyukYui]

So I'm going to start cooking for a meal plan, but I've never actually cooked anything, boiled anything, or cut meat before. Is there any tips or good starting guides I could use?

[prime52]

real bodybuilders cook for themsleves your on the right track.

Meal preparation is a critical skill. To be truly successful as a bodybuilder, you should be able to prepare your own food. Nutritionally sound foods eaten throughout the day are necessary to obtain anabolism. Read low fat cook books.

[Thomas_Rivera]

Originally Posted by PhyukYui

So I'm going to start cooking for a meal plan, but I've never actually cooked anything, boiled anything, or cut meat before. Is there any tips or good starting guides I could use?

What specifically are you looking to cook?

I'll throw out all the specific tips on different subjects that I can.

Marinating:

1. Never use a wet marinade on ground meats unless you plan to cook the ground meat in some other wet medium such as a stew, sloppy joes, chilli.

2. Go over night if you can with a marinade. It can be as simple as salt, pepper and garlic powder. Or for a wet marinade, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.

Generally, for overnight marinades include a bit of salt, it helps to ward of microbial things.

Cutting:

Always cut against the grain.

Cutting against the grain | GreatGrub
How to Cut Meat Against the Grain - Cutting Flank Steak and Others Against the Grain

Cooking:

When your cooking a steak I start at a higher heat to sear both sides, rubbed down with whatever spice rub you like, it can be as simple as salt and pepper with a little olive oil. Sear both sides for a few minutes. Cut the flame down to medium high and then cook until desired doneness.

Braising is another way to cook for tough cuts of meat. What you want to do is take a pan, fill it halfway up with some sort of flavored liquid. This can be water with garlic, pepper, lemon juice, whatever you like. And you place your meat in it. What you want to do is cook over low heat with the pan covered for about 2-3 hours. Really tenderizes the meat.

Pan frying is pretty easy. Pan filled with oil half way as high as the food. Turn the heat up so that the oil heats up but DOESNT smoke, smoking is bad, you never want smoking. Place the food in a few pieces at a time, you dont want the heat of the oil to drop too fast or else you'll wind up with greasy food. Let cook for a few minutes on each side.

Boiling, easy, put water in a pot, turn fire on, drop in a few eggs let it boil for a while.

Check food network they have alot of info.

[KM]

On your day off or a sunday, cook your meals for the week that will last. Works wonders.

[MikeNYY420]

^ Why haven't I ever thought of that? Great idea!

[islander]

I would start buy getting your self a half decent set of knives the 4" paring knife is great for lots of stuff. I like a wood or plastic cutting board i find glass to be hard the the knife blade but i do use glass just have to be more carful. Also a good set of pans is key. You probably want to go with teflon non stick kind of ones. At least one small fyring pan with a lid and one meduim one pref with sloping side, good for tossing stuff. I like to have one big deep one with a lid but you might not need one if only cooking for one. One medium sauce pot with a lid is probably enough for making soups and oatmeal. Good knives and pans make sooo much differnce when cooking. Watch your heat when cooking stuff never leave a pan on high and walk away they can warp pretty easily. Never put a hot pan in cold water, can also warp them. Woks are great but I find I can do everything in a deep large frying pan and dosnt take up as much room are great for using a bamboo steamer in. I like to steam my veggies if in a hurry in the microwave with about a inch of water in the bottom with saran wrap on top or in a pot with a inch of water in the bottom with a tight lid. Most veggies take between 7-25 mins. Little toaster ovens are great for not just doing toast but also small things like 2 chicken breasts and things that need baking but are small so you dont want to have to turn on your oven and use all that energy. Then pick up a basic cook book mabey like 'joy of cooking' shows you lots of techniques and has lots of easy to difficult recipes. Also a one or two cup measuring cup that shows other measurements like 1/4 cup etc is very handy i like the glass ones. Depending how involved your gona get a set of measuring spoons. A collander for draining stuff. Some basic spices and sauces. Salt, pepper, granualted garlic, oregano. Soy sauce, bbq sauce. Let us know if you have any more specific questions.

[mostmuscular84]

When cooking for yourself you need to get a good amount of tuperware containers in various sizes. This way you can keep a good amount of food in the refrigerator. Another good pick up is cooler so you can take your food with you wherever you go. One thing i like to cook with is a wok and you can make all kinds of stir fry and make it healthy too.