Like where can i start if im not good at cooking? how do i decide what i want to attempt to make aswell? i dont want to spend to much to begin but is there also a low cost way to start by chance?
Im keeping this brief but if you have a question for me leave a comment?
Honesty i feel like i eat too much junk, so i should most likely eat better.
I dont feel ready to make a whole meal from scratch, some components from scratch are fine but no the whole thing. Im not quite sure what counts as cooking for me but i suppose working with food and not using a microwave to cook with.
No really what do you like to eat? Even ‘junk’ can be a starting point.
In this case it could be incredibly simple, something as basic as buying a chicken breast, cutting it up, tossing a premixed seasoning (I like Cajun) and just baking it.
The things you’d need to learn are temperature and time. For meats you should have a probe thermometer so you can check internal temperature (especially for chicken) but after a while you get a feel for it.
After that you can use the chicken for “anything” like toss it in a salad, make a sandwich, have it with rice, etc… that’s all “cooking”
YouTube is great for videos on cooking all sorts of things
There’s nothing really wrong with a microwave either, it’s just another way to heat things. Honestly I use a microwave to make rice so I don’t burn pots lol and I buy frozen vegetables that I toss in the microwave, or just do a combo. I microwave frozen brussel sprouts to defrost them and then put them under a broiler to brown them
There are a couple ways to approach this. Find a couple “one pot” or “one pan” meals and try those to get a healthy balanced meal without feeling overwhelmed. Soups and stews can be great for this.
Otherwise a meal should have a protein (e.g. meat or beans), veggie(s), and a carb. Keep it simple if you want to focus on being healthy. Also instead of trying to time everything cook each element separately and reheat when you are ready to eat. I’d do something like:
Obviously this takes longer, but gaining confidence is more important than speed. Also know that even good cooks mess up occasionally and have things come out bad. These are learning opportunities, don’t get put off of trying again because of a couple failires (on that note watch Glen and Friends cooking on Youtube, he shows mistakes and has the right attitude to dealing with them)
Soups are really forgiving. You just need a stock pot. When I’d worry about a soup I was making, a chef friend of mine used to say, “it’s a soup- you could put your butt in it and it would turn out fine!” I wouldn’t take that as advice though.
Just buy stock/broth. Some benefits are:
super nutritious
very easy to make a lot to eat over time
you don’t need to do a ton of fine knife work
water limits your cooking temp to 100C, so it’s much harder to mess it up through overcooking/burning
easy to start simple and add complexity as you level up. It’ll still be super tasty at every stage.
You have tons of choice! lots of simple meals.
what sort of junk food do you like? maybe try looking for a recipe for a healthier equivalent/alternative