Idiot-proof cooking suggestions

[Mama Zappa]

Mother-in-law is ill. Part of her illness has been severe nausea, loss of appetite and the resultant weight loss. Now that the nausea is under *somewhat* better control, she is forcing herself to eat. However, she's still too ill to cook for herself. And she needs to eat, to get her strength up for some upcoming chemotherapy.

Father-in-law, therefore, is cooking. And not very well - the man's in his 70s after all and back then, men weren't taught to cook. MIL, being cranky due to the illness and also being used to being the chef, is complaining about FIL's food offerings.

Now, we've got a LOT of recipes to suggest, however as I'm a fairly competent cook (not inspired, but I can follow pretty much any recipe and produce fairly decent results), and Typo Knig can usually manage OK also... well, our judgement as to "idiotproof" is perhaps suspect.

As an example, I suggested to Typo Knig that Epicurious has an amazingly simple roast chicken recipe (truss, salt, stick in oven for 90 minutes). He said he wasn't sure his father would even know how to truss the bird.

Some ideas:
Jar spaghetti sauce, pound of hamburger, brown/drain, add sauce, heat through, pour over spaghetti.
Rice done in rice cooker (we'd send one to them) with a few seasonings thrown in.
Boneless chicken, barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce poured over, cover with foil, bake for an hour or so....

Those are the most idiot-proof ideas I can think of. Oh, "idiot" really isn't the right word, the man really is very intelligent, but "clueless-in-the-kitchen-proof" doesn't have the same ring to it :)

[don't ask]

I may try for some recipes later but I dropped in to say that my ex-wife was a palliative care consultant. I recall having a conversation with her where she explained to me that proper management of nausea during early chemotherapy courses often prevents subsequent problems. I have passed this on to a few people who unfortunately had need of the advice, and it seems that insisting on effective nausea control helps if the medical personnel can go along.

[enipla]

Interesting. My father in law is the same way. They where not only not taught how to cook, they where chased out of the kitchen. He can boil water. That’s about it.

My suggestions –

You can buy tortellini as a change from spaghetti. Pre stuffed with cheese. Same with ravioli. Cooks pretty much the same but you have to watch it.

Frozen pirogues. Very good. Sautee in olive oil or butter with chopped onion. Thaw them first in the microwave.

Chicken breasts come pre-flavored, none of the trussing or bones to worry about. Lemon this or Garlic that. Fry in olive oil. They are quite good. You do need to know how to run a fry pan though.

Baked potato with veggies on the side. Add some salsa, cheese and sour cream or nothing. You can make that dish as healthy (or un) as you want. You can cook this in a microwave or oven. Or get it started in the microwave, and finish in oven.

Salad can be purchased pretty much pre-made. Add a tomato and some dressing.

[Hunter Hawk]

Epicurious has an amazingly simple roast chicken recipe (truss, salt, stick in oven for 90 minutes). He said he wasn't sure his father would even know how to truss the bird.
For a simpler alternative, don't truss, salt, and stick in oven for 90 minutes. If a bird is reasonably meaty, IME it's actually better not to truss it anyway.

Boneless chicken, barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce poured over, cover with foil, bake for an hour or so....
Instead of BBQ or teriyaki sauce, another alternative is a mix of half marmalade and half dijon mustard.


Another possibility would be to get him a cookbook--something like French Cooking in 10 Minutes or one of those beginner cookbooks aimed at college students.

[twickster]

Scrambled eggs.

Seriously, make sure he can at least do those -- doesn't sound like it's a given.

[Dolores Reborn]

Ham steak and baked sweet potatoes. Heat the ham steak through on medium heat on both sides (about 3-4 minutes per side.) Bake the sweet potatoes (wrapped in foil) for aboout an hour on 350°.

Bag salad.
One of those "steamfresh" bags of veggies for the microwave.
Pre-cooked bacon and scrambled eggs.
Roast chicken from the grocery store.

This is an easy way to make chicken and dumplings. Take some of the leftover meat from the roast chicken, and chop into bite size pieces. Chop a carrot and some celery. Pour a large box of chicken stock into a pot and simmer the carrot and celery about 15 minutes, until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Get about three small cans of biscuits, and tear into bits, dropping into simmering stock. Stir the meat in and simmer about 15 minutes until dumplings are cooked through.
Eat!

[Marienee]

Is it possible to take them frozen meals? I am sorry not to recall how close they are to you geographically. If not, and if he is going to be using jarred sauces, she might get better nutrition from even bought frozen meals. Illness can change the senses of taste and smell, and if it does it can be very upsetting when former comfort foods bring no comfort because they don't taste right.

Her protein needs will be higher but she will be better off not trying to do a regular 3 meal a day regimen; she ought to be eating very little about 6 times a day, and lots of calories and protein. With my own MIL this meant actually surprisingly little cooking, she ate hot only once or twice a day out of 6 or 7 meals. And at that it was more likely to be a baked sweet potato with bacon (er, Dutch bacon, not smoked, don't know what that's called actually)or twice baked regular potato or something similar.

However, before we go there: what did she like to eat before she got sick?

[Johnny L.A.]

Ham hocks and beans.

Soak a pound of beans overnight. (I use black-eyed peas, but you can use pinto beans instead.) Drain and rinse. Put the beans in a crock pot. Add two smoked ham hocks. Cover with water. Cover with the lid and cook on high six or eight hours. Take out the ham hocks, remove the skin and bones, chop the meat, and put the meat back in. Done. The only way you can mess it up is not putting in enough water -- and you can fix that if you see it getting too low. Too much water? Then you have a bean soup. Just as good.

[Critical Mass]

I remember my mom had trouble with nausea while she was going through chemo. There was one breakfast dish she was able to tolerate that is easy to prepare that provided protein and calories:

Place a piece of bread or toast in a bowl, add a few ounces of milk, one poached or soft boiled egg, a bit of melted butter, salt and pepper. Tastes good and remains gentle on the stomach.

Fruit, vegetables, cheese, sandwiches, nuts and a little chocolate to graze on during the day.

And slow cookers are pretty easy to use. Just a few ingredients and put on slow for the day served with reheated frozen veggies or a store bought salad results in a good meal at the end of the day.

[Dewey Finn]

Some ideas:
Jar spaghetti sauce, pound of hamburger, brown/drain, add sauce, heat through, pour over spaghetti.
I think you're unnecessarily complicating things by asking him to brown the hamburger. He can simply microwave jarred pasta sauce. There are even varieties with meat already in it, and you can buy ready-to-eat meatballs.

And actually, I recommend that your mother-in-law talk to the case manager and the nutritionist at the hospital, both to get an idea of what she should and can eat, and also to get assistance with the meals.

[Magiver]

Chicken soup.

Start with Lipton chicken soup dry mix, add a little extra pasta (acini di pepe) which is like little dots (1/8 of a cup). Add small can of chicken meat. Bring to boil and add 1 beaten egg slowly.

I usually mix 2 packets of soup at a time so that would be 2 eggs. This freezes well and sick people generally like it.

When I make this I buy a roasted chicken from the store and use some of the meat from that but not sure if father-inlaw could handle this without instructions. Pull the skin off, separate out white meat and wash the dark meat to rinse off the grease. What doesn't go into the soup makes a great sandwich with lettuce, mayo, salt, pepper. Goes well with soup.

You can look up the thread on easy recipes where I posted a "hot dog casserole" . It's great comfort food and freezes/re-heats REALLY well. Not sure such a simple recipe works but it does. The onion infuses into the instant potatoes and takes on a new life.

[Jamicat]

My Grandfather is like 85 and people have different diets over 70, mostly low salt.

Pre-pared salads are a good suggestion, just add Cukes, Tomato and Dressing.

Veggies in a can are plenty for two.
I know they aren't fresh. Just open, heat n' eat with usually a dab of butter is fine.

Pan fry meats w/olive oil, boil potatoes and other fresh veggies.
Baking might be too involved, or have heavy hot pans to deal with.

Microwaved foods are great too, just pop in for 5 min and grab a fork.

Soup is good food.

Fresh bread and fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese.

There's a long list of No-hassle stuff you can list for em.

I'm hungry :mad:

[Pigs in Space]

If he's going to be baking or roasting chicken in the oven, send a probe thermometer along with the rice cooker. If he's a gadget guy he'll love it. The key to chicken in the oven is pulling it at 160 to 165 degrees F. Any higher and it'll be tough.

You might check out Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything or his blog. He's got some challenging things but a lot of basics. He tends to do a basic recipe and then a bunch of variations, which is a good way to vary the taste but only learn one recipe. Here's a carrot recipe (http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/recipe-of-the-day-glazed-carrots-with-orange-and-ginger/?scp=1-b&sq=carrot+butter+glaze+minimalist&st=nyt). You can use different flavorings or just salt. He's also got a roast chicken (http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/recipe-of-the-day-roast-chicken-with-cumin-honey-and-orange/) recipe that does not involve trussing, though I'm not sure I'd go with cumin and orange.

It would help to know what your Mom can tolerate. Canned chicken broth and noodles tastes a lot better if you simmer it with a garlic clove and bay leaf, then add a few drops of lemon juice just before serving, but it might be too much for her.

[Pigs in Space]

PS Have you talked to him about kitchen safety, especially cross-contamination? The last thing your MIL needs is stomach troubles. (I just noticed it's MIL not Mom.)

[Lynn Bodoni]

You can buy tortellini as a change from spaghetti. Pre stuffed with cheese. Same with ravioli. Cooks pretty much the same but you have to watch it. My father says that this isn't quite as good as his Aunt Mary's ravioli, but it's as good as you're going to get with a commercial product. He considers this to be even better than sliced bread. And it's very easy to heat up a commercial sauce, too.

I second Magiver's chicken soup recommendation. I usually make it for myself, as my husband doesn't particulary care for chicken, so I only use one packet and less water than it calls for. If I have leftover cooked chicken, I put that in. Otherwise, I dice up some chicken or turkey, and brown it in a little butter or vegetable oil. Or I use about two or three ounces of ground turkey, and brown that (no oil needed). It's very easy on the digestion. I've lived on it, along with Cream of Rice, for days. Not because I wanted to, but because that's about all that I could eat without upsetting my GI tract.

[garygnu]

It would be a bad idea to attempt deep-frying. FYI

[Mama Zappa]

It would be a bad idea to attempt deep-frying. FYI
Er, yeah, I can see that wouldn't go over well... violates the first tenet of this thread "idiot-proof"... hell, the one time I tried deep-frying anything (a twice-cooked pork recipe) I would up with lumps of charcoal :smack:.

Frozen meals aren't really an option, unfortunately - if we lived closer it would work but they're 900 miles away (and we're the closest of the 3 kids). Which is too bad - I could stock up their freezer pretty quickly. I've got some great veggie-beef soup in the freezer that is just begging to be sent.

They definitely have talked with some sort of nutritionist, who of course counseled them on getting high-iron foods (FIL bought liver at the deli, for example). Though part of it is she just needs to take in *calories* and they're not too fussy in what form; she's taking iron supplements for the anemia (and in fact is getting a transfusion today as well). Especially once the chemo starts, it'll be "whatever she can keep down".

FIL seems to be OK with cross-contamination issues so far but it can't hurt to remind him.

Good idea on canned soup - though the sodium is an annoyance, I don't think either of them has blood pressure problems at the moment. Also that'd help MIL keep up her fluid intake (both from the soup, and the salt-induced thirst).

I'll check with them to see if FIL would be willing to use a rice cooker or a crock-pot. Some crock-pot recipes are so stupid-easy (e.g. a pot roast involving a package of onion soup and a can of cranberry sauce) and of course that's a high-iron dish also.

Dolores Reborn, that thing with the chicken and dumplings sounds good! Heck, they could even use a raw chicken breast in that (toss in while the veggies are simmering, fish out and cut up once it's cooked, toss back in....).

Thanks for all the ideas - I haven't addressed every one but there are some good things there.

twickster, that's funny that you suggest scrambled eggs - apparently that was one of the things that FIL cooked, that MIL complained about.

[twickster]

twickster, that's funny that you suggest scrambled eggs - apparently that was one of the things that FIL cooked, that MIL complained about.

So I guess he does need some instruction on those. ;)

[Hello Again]

Though part of it is she just needs to take in *calories* and they're not too fussy in what form; she's taking iron supplements for the anemia (and in fact is getting a transfusion today as well). Especially once the chemo starts, it'll be "whatever she can keep down".

Get a carton of butternut squash soup (sold at Trader Joes and also my local grocery store in a rectangular liter carton). Add heavy cream to taste.

[Pigs in Space]

If they're going through a lot of chicken broth, the stuff in the cartons tastes much better than canned. It's shelf stable until you open it, then you have a few days to use it. Of course, go with the low sodium kind.

Cream of wheat is relatively high in iron and heats up quickly for breakfast or a snack. It'll be a change from the liver at the least.

If it's just calories she's looking for, ice cream can't be beat, and it doesn't need to be prepared. How about bananas with caramel or chocolate sauce?

[aruvqan]

I know we have done the what to eat during chemo thing here at least twice that I can remember, but to recap what worked for me...

Expect stuff to taste wierd if she is on certain chemo drugs. I got unlucky and stuff tasted metallic or musty depending.

Ice cold is good, seems to make it more soothing to eat for me, but I went through it in the summer.
Grapes, fresh melon pieces [take the seeds out of or get seedless watermelon] seedless orange wedges, banana chunks[frozen like popsicles]

Candied ginger, penzies sells a very nice one, cut into tiny quarter inch dice. Ginger helps nausea.

fruit and yoghurt smoothies - add protein powder IIRC there are also mineral and vitamin boosted protein powders, flavored and unflavored. i would get unflavored so you can make it whatever flavor you want. Ask the nutritionist for some suggested brands. There is an athletic website that will custom make blends, one of our powerlifter dopers may know the site.

For soups - go to the health food section of the store, there are a few brands of pureed veggie soups that are quite nice, and totally vegan so they can be very lowfat - I found that sometimes fat content could trigger nausea also. I really like cream of butternut/squash and cream of pumpkin soups.

mrAru kept boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs around, they can be nuked or poached or baked and are reasonably low fat. He also would make me baked cod, poached cod, and poached filet of sole. I had trouble eating beef pork or organ meats [nausea issues] I did a fair amount of rice, noodles and potatoes, and I could eat all of my favorite veggies.

Small meals ... as an example, one thigh baked with a half cup of rice and half a cup of mixed veggies was a typical meal. Some days all I could do was nibble fruit and do lots of iced tea [i developed a strange craving for iced or hot tea, maybe the tannic acid soothed something?]

[medstar]

MamaZappa, have your father-in-law check around in his area to see if there are any businesses that specialize in making several dinners you can put together and freeze until you need them. These would be called Dinner in a Dash, Let's Dish, etc. The premise is that once a month you go to the store and put together components of a meal designed to serve 6 to 8 people. When you leave, you have 6 to 8 different meals (chicken, beef, fish or vegetarian) that you put in your freezer and thaw when you want to cook. You can pay an extra fee to pick up already packed meals, and the reheating instructions are pretty easy. I did this some time ago and was quite impressed with the quality. Maybe this is something your in-laws could handle?

[Mama Zappa]

MamaZappa, have your father-in-law check around in his area to see if there are any businesses that specialize in making several dinners you can put together and freeze until you need them. These would be called Dinner in a Dash, Let's Dish, etc. The premise is that once a month you go to the store and put together components of a meal designed to serve 6 to 8 people. When you leave, you have 6 to 8 different meals (chicken, beef, fish or vegetarian) that you put in your freezer and thaw when you want to cook. You can pay an extra fee to pick up already packed meals, and the reheating instructions are pretty easy. I did this some time ago and was quite impressed with the quality. Maybe this is something your in-laws could handle?
I've thought of the Let's Dish sort of place - I've used that one in particular around here, and it'd nearly be ideal for them. That chain doesn't exist near them but there are others. I don't know how well my FIL would do for assembling the dishes there but they sell them pre-assembled.

[Lynn Bodoni]

If they're going through a lot of chicken broth, the stuff in the cartons tastes much better than canned. It's shelf stable until you open it, then you have a few days to use it. Of course, go with the low sodium kind. I like the Better than Bullion flavor bases. They're sold in jars, in the soup and bullion section of the store, and come in an astounding variety of flavors. We usually just use the beef and chicken varieties. They are lower sodium than cubes or powders, and taste much, much better. Essentially, it's reduced stock with a few flavorings, and it's like a half-solid gel. You DO have to refrigerate the jar once it's opened, but it lasts for a good long time. My husband doesn't like anything that has very much salt in it at all, and he likes this brand.

Even plain rice tastes better with a little chicken or beef flavor base cooked into it.

[ZipperJJ]

I second the probe thermometer idea. If you've been cooking forever, you probably know when stuff is done. If you're new to it, and you care about not poisoning everyone, having a probe thermometer (or two or three) with "done-ness" temps listed on the side is a very very very good idea.

The easiest and most delicious things I've cooked since I've been on my own is pre-marinated, vacuum-packed pork loins (just unwrap, put in 13x9 pan or even a casserole dish, cook for whatever it says, done) ... and the pre-made tortellini. I like the ones that come in a dry bag and can be found on the shelves near the dry noodles. If they have spinach in them, then they've got iron in them. Woohoo!

Pre-made meatballs also rock but with anything like that - pre-made anything - you really have to do your homework with regards to salt.

See what the in-laws think about the taste of Mrs. Dash, a low-sodium salt substitute/seasoning. Not sure if it will do anything for MIL with her taste all screwed up, but it might be a good way to get FIL to eat his veggies without salt or butter. My dad's into that stuff now.

Oh yeah, frozen veggies are pretty easy to make. Even in the microwave. Birdseye (http://www.birdseyesteamfresh.com/) makes nice steam-in-bag veggies now. They also make steam-in-bag rice and other quick meals but once again, be wary of the salt. According to the web site, the veggies have no added salt but I'm sure the other stuff does.

ETA: One more idea...if soups and smoothies are good for MIL, as aruvqan says, then consider getting them an immersion blender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_blender) and/or a single-serving smoothie blender with a detachable cup. The smoothie blenders are nice because you can just throw crap in there and drink the smoothie right out of the cup without making more dishes.

[ZipperJJ]

Ugh ok one more suggestion (I'm not so much an idiot cook but a super lazy one)...if you're making smoothies, look for Greek yogurt in the grocery store - in my store it's in the organic/health food dairy case. You can get single-serving cups with fruit or honey in it and just use that as the base for your smoothie. It's a little more expensive but it's got a bit more protein and calcium than regular yogurt.

I don't like Stoneyfield Farm's Oikos (http://www.oikosorganic.com) brand as much as I like Fage (http://www.fageusa.com/) (Fage's honey is awesome!) but Oikos seems to be more available, and cheaper.

Anyway, last time I made a smoothie I just dumped a cup of that into a smoothie blender, along with a half a bananna and a handful of blueberries and it was the shit!

[Lynn Bodoni]

Get a vegetable steamer. Steamed veggies are delicious. Frozen veggies are ridiculously easy to steam, as they don't have to be peeled or chopped or otherwise prepared. I've been able to reduce or eliminate salt and/or butter on just about all of my steamed vegetables. However, you'll have to pry my dried dill jar out of my cold, dead hands to get it away from me.

[purplehorseshoe]

Came in here to second? third? the Steam-Fresh microwaveable veggies. They taste really good considering they're frozen, and there's a bunch of varieties and multi-veggie mixes.

The cookbook-for-college-kids is a good idea, too. Some of them take idiot-proof to a whole new level.

In general, meals that take longer to cook are easier to prep - time takes the place of effort. When I had appetite reduction issues, sometimes it helped to have something simmering gently all day. The house smells comfortingly of something good to eat, and it sort of "preps" you, to smell what you'll be eating later. It tells your brain, "this is what you'll be eating later, okay?"

I find pot roast to be really easy, assuming they have a Dutch oven. Brown a big ol' hunk of cheap beef - I like chuck or top round - on all sides in a little oil in the Dutch oven, add some chopped onions/carrots/celery/garlic, add broth (a mix of beef and chicken broth works remarkably well for this) to come up halfway up the hunk o' meat, cover with the lid, and stick it in a 300 oven for about four hours. Helps to take it out once or twice to 1) turn the meat and 2) make the house smell delicious.
If he wants to get fancy, he can get those cheap little 4-packs of mini wine bottles, and pour one of those in with the broth. Oooh, fancy! :)

Good with rice, egg noodles, crusty bread, etc. Leftovers taste even better and keep for a week in the fridge. I like to freeze some in small margarine tubs to make an easy single-serving meal.

If they have a electric slow cooker instead of a Dutch oven, that would work just fine, too!

[Snickers]

I posted this in the dead easy recipe thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533383) that's going on right now, but it's worth reposting. Sodium might be a concern, though - have your FIL check the label.

Tomato soup
===========
1 can stewed tomatoes, any variety (I used the onion, garlic and herbs one)
Carton of sour cream - the small one is fine, you don't use the whole thing

Warm up the stewed tomatoes, either in a sauce pan or, even easier, in microwaveable bowls. Stir in a large dollop of sour cream and mix thoroughly. Voila! Cream of tomato soup. Filling with some bread to dip and sop up.

[Dogzilla]

Meals on Wheels

Or call their church and ask for people to bring in food that can be frozen and popped into the oven. Surely the old fella can turn the oven on and stick a pan in there?

Or make a bunch of stuff, freeze in portions, and take it over there.

Right before my grandmother died, she gave my grampa a tour of the kitchen and showed him how to make some stuff. The lesson didn't take and after she died, he could fry himself a hamburger. He could nuke a frozen block o' dinner. He could warm up leftovers of something my mom made. He never did manage to master making a meal from start to finish, even something simple like spaghetti. My recommendation is to find a group of people or organization or call on family or something, have the food made and delivered, and he can just heat meals up instead of pissing off the regular chef.

[maladroit]

Small frequent light meals and healthy snacks are good when dealing with nausea. Graham crackers, apple sauce, yogurt, even pudding. I'm a cancer survivor so I've been through it. But for the cooking suggestions - eggs and toast; soup; nuke a baked potato; roasts are actually really easy. Another suggestion, my cancer center had a nutritionist on staff for free consult appointments. Oh yeah, liquid supplements are pretty good too, like Slimfast or that other one I can't remember the name of, check with your dr.

[maladroit]

One more suggestion, if he doesn't have an electric rice cooker, get one, they're cheap and they're fabulous. Mine has a steamer basket that stacks above the rice pot, great for rice and veg.

[overlyverbose]

For a simpler alternative, don't truss, salt, and stick in oven for 90 minutes. If a bird is reasonably meaty, IME it's actually better not to truss it anyway.


Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of trussing a roasting chicken if you're not trying to hold something in the cavity? Does it hold the juices in better or something? I rarely truss mine and they always turn out well. What am I missing?

To the OP: do they have a grill and do you trust your FIL to handle it? It might take a couple of tries, but a grill can be a great way to prepare a fast, quick and no-clean/low-clean meal. Grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, grilled veggies, corn wrapped in foil... I'm sure it'd get old to grill every single night, but grilling could be a good option for days when he doesn't want to deal with cleanup.

[Mama Zappa]

Out of curiosity, what is the purpose of trussing a roasting chicken if you're not trying to hold something in the cavity? Does it hold the juices in better or something? I rarely truss mine and they always turn out well. What am I missing?

To the OP: do they have a grill and do you trust your FIL to handle it? It might take a couple of tries, but a grill can be a great way to prepare a fast, quick and no-clean/low-clean meal. Grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, grilled veggies, corn wrapped in foil... I'm sure it'd get old to grill every single night, but grilling could be a good option for days when he doesn't want to deal with cleanup.
I think - but am not certain - that the purpose of trussing the chicken is to make sure everything cooks more or less evenly - no underdone breast / leathery drumsticks / charred wingtips, as they're tucked close to the body of the bird so they're not surrounded on all sides by hot cooking air.

They do have a George Foreman grill, though I'm pretty sure FIL has no clue how to use it.

[Mama Zappa]

One more suggestion, if he doesn't have an electric rice cooker, get one, they're cheap and they're fabulous. Mine has a steamer basket that stacks above the rice pot, great for rice and veg.
We are indeed considering such a thing - we need to ask if they think they'd use it. FIL being type 2 diabetic isn't supposed to eat a lot of that stuff, but he can always fix it for MIL. One can also toss a chicken breast up there to steam while the rice is cooking - I've never done this, but it seems like it'd add some nice flavor to the rice below as it drips.

[MissTake]

Would it be cost prohibitive to hire a cook to come in and show him some simple recipes? Maybe call the tech college and see if any culinary teachers need a few extra bucks?

Or, if you do call the pre-fix and take places, explain the situation and ask for assistance. Many of the pre-fix and take places around here allow you just go and buy rather than prepping/bagging yourself. Maybe they can spare a person to show him what boil means.