Cooking noob.

[Pizzamorg]

Halp.

Up until this point in my life I've always been very active, I used to do a lot of running, cycling and used to also work in a supermarket to support myself at Uni so the pints and the pizzas never really added up. I recently graduated, became a "young professional" in an office - tried commuting to work via bike, don't rate it - and have now seen months of nothing but sitting down. As such by not also adapting my diet I'm the fattest I've ever been.

I'm not trying to go on a diet - tried that once, don't rate it - I just want to eat better. IE less frozen crap, more fresh stuff, more cooking for myself. Problem is I used to keep the pounds off so well I never really learnt even the basics of cooking beyond like sticking pasta in water until it goes soft.

So I'm reaching out to you, and asking what is simple to do? And I mean like stick it in a pan and stir it until cooked, if it requires any kind of preparations and stages I see death by food poisoning by the end of the week. I hear you can buy bags of stir fry veg, and stick it with the meat and sauce all at the same time and come out with a decent meal? Is that true, or an exaggeration?

I know about browning meat, and the importance of knowing how long to cook veg and what with, but I only know that individually so if - using the stir fry example - it requires me to do one thing for several minutes, while doing something else for several minutes and then add it together for a few more minutes in a careful and precise order. I will probably fail.