Anyone else here trying to learn to cook?

kr103185

Hi everyone! I'm new here and I'm about to move in w/ my soon to be husband in about 3 months! I'm not great at cooking and want to learn so that when we move in together I can do the cooking. I'm curious to see if there are others like me, what the hardest part about learning to cook was and how you went about learning? Any ideas/tips/resources are greatly appreciated! I wish there were an easy to use program that made it quick & easy!

Thanks

chrisnjay05212010

I learned first from my dad, he loves to cook and i was always in the kitchen watching and helping. Once i was older, i started to cook on my own, i just followed the recipes i had. I always had to have a recipe to follow!  Start with easier recipes, so you dont feel overwhelmed. Now that i've been doing it longer i can sometimes stray from a recipe and use my own judgement.

I love to use www.allrecipes.com, great site for easy recipes. Pinterest is also really good for having recipes, i started to follow a few blogs that way too.

My biggest piece of advice- All good cooks have a failed meal! DO NOT beat yourself up over it, sometimes it doesn't always work out.  Just toss it and get take out

Also stick around here and check out the weekly meal plans posts, we all post different meals and everyone is more than willing to share a recipe if you are interested.

bpphoto785

I started by cooking dinner for my family in middle school. It was super simple stuff like Hamburger Helper and pizza (we bought the crust and just topped & baked). 

Then I moved onto simpler recipes, like a marinated protein + easy side + veggie. I also went to sites like KraftRecipes.com which has a lot of recipes that are easy. Pinterest can also be great! 

There are a lot of great sites out there where you can search for recipes based on difficulty level. I would start there with the easy stuff. Or think of the things that you & your future husband like to eat and search for "easy (whatever meal) recipe." 

It really is a learning process. You'll make some recipes you love, some you hate and others you find are just easier to order out! 

BlueBirdMB

Honestly, I don't think I ever "learned" to cook.  I can't make up recipes- I don't understand how that works.  I can follow a recipe.  That's all that you need to "learn" to do.  To do that, you need to understand basic measurements- tsp, pinch, cup, quart, etc- and instructions- chop, dice, sauté, etc.  If you want a better understanding of more advanced cooking techniques, I highly recommend digging into Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  You should only try this cookbook once you have mastered basic concepts and recipes.  Good luck!  Check back here for recipes on the weekly threads.

ChristyDM82

I agree with everyone else. My best advice is when trying something new, always have a back up plan (i.e. frozen pizza or cereal). That way if something flops, you'll have a backup! 

Try some slowcooker recipes, too. I think they are harder to mess up (for the most part). I'd recommend trying out some recipes when you are home at first, until you learn how long things take in the slowcooker so you don't come home to undercooked or overcooked food.

Good luck!