A common new years resolution is to learn how to cook, but I think people often don't know how to get started. Like eating healthy and exercising, people likely try to do too much too quickly and then aren't able to stick to it. So, I thought I would dedicate an "eat food, save money" post to learning to cook.
Most of these tips are things I wish I had known when I started cooking in earnest (9 years ago!!).
1. Start small
When you're learning how to cook, starting with a roasted lamb or finicky pastry is not a good idea. Start off slow and with simple dishes. Don't try to dive straight into a recipe with lots of steps and a long list of ingredients. Start with recipes that don't take much time and don't require an entire cart full of groceries (QED meals, in other words!).
If you're planning to cook a meal, don't try to cook absolutely everything from scratch. Try just cooking one part of the meal instead of the whole thing. If you're making fried chicken, for example, opt for some steam-in-the-microwave vegetables as your side rather than trying to make the main dish AND the side dish.
2. Focus on the basics
I think the number one thing that deters people from cooking is the prep. Chopping vegetables, mincing garlic, and stripping herbs takes FOREVER if you're new to it. It's discouraging to do all that work and end up with something that tastes just OK. Figuring out the basics of cooking makes it much more enjoyable and something you'll be more likely to stick with.
Learning how to dice an onion, brown meat, and prep veggies is more important than any arsenal of recipes. When I learned to cook, I watched lots of shows on the Food Network. The thing that's great about cooking shows is that they demonstrate cooking methods in a way that written recipes don't: you can watch someone dice an onion and see how it's supposed to look. If you learn how to brown meat--any meat--you increase your recipe options tenfold.
The sad truth is learning the basics just takes time and practice. But that shouldn't be surprising: learning how to do most things requires time and practice! It's better to take the time at the beginning to learn the basics and then start trying out recipes rather than fumble your way through a bunch of recipes.
Learning the basics is also made much easier and less frustrating if you have some of the right equipment. You don't have to break the bank, but trust me, learning how to dice an onion with a tiny dull knife is WAY more time-consuming than doing it with a big sharp knife. For my money, you need the following things:
1 large stock pot with a lid
1 large high-sided skillet with a lid
1 big chef's knife
1 big cutting board
1 baking sheet with sides
And that's pretty much it. With these things, you can learn all the basics and make countless dishes.
3. Plan ahead
Since learning to cook takes time and practice, planning ahead is indispensable.
Most people work full time. Add commuting to that and lots of would-be cooks don't get home until 7 or so at night during the week. You do not want to take time and lots of effort to get food on the table. Planning ahead will help you have the time to learn how to cook.
Since learning the basics and prep take time, try cooking one of your meals on the weekend. You'll have more time and feel more relaxed. If you're starting small (see tip #1), resolve to cook every Sunday night for a month. It's a small goal and achieving it will go a long way to setting you up for more success.
A little pre-prep when you have the time goes a long way. As you're working on the recipe for that night, prep some of the ingredients for future meals at the same time. If you're dicing one onion for the recipe you're working on, go ahead and dice another one. You can keep it in the fridge in a food storage bag and use it later in the week. Same thing goes for veggies. You can also make extra rice: make 6 rather than 4 servings and you'll have cooked rice ready for later.
This strategy works best (and learning to cook works best) when you think ahead and plan your meals out for the week. That way you can do pre-prep and save yourself some shopping trouble. Here's an example of a possible meal plan:
Sunday: Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables
Monday: Chicken tacos (If you baked extra chicken on Sunday, you're halfway done)
Tuesday: Potato pancakes and roasted veggies (Use up the leftover mashed potatoes. If you chopped extra veggies on Sunday, you're halfway done)
And so on. It takes a little practice and forethought, but you can save yourself time and money in the long run. Once you achieve your goal of cooking for a month of Sundays, try to plan out 3 meals during the week using the weekend pre-prep method.
The other plan-ahead strategy is making sure you have non-perishable extras on hand. Keep an wide assortment of steam-in-the-bag frozen vegetables in the freezer. Make sure you have a couple of boxes of pasta in the pantry and a few jars of your favorite pasta sauce. If you keep staples like these on hand, you won't have to make everything from scratch and you'll have fewer excuses to go out.
4. Accept that you'll make mistakes
Learning to do anything new takes time, effort, and patience. Not everything you make will be a success. You'll try some things and they won't taste good. You'll try a recipe and something won't cook right. There will be some things that you won't even want to feed to the dog.
DO NOT be afraid to toss it and order pizza. The important thing is to TRY AGAIN.
Because the first time you make something that tastes really great is one of the best feelings in the world! But you won't get there if you give up.
Learning to cook seems overwhelming, but if you start small, learn the basics, plan ahead, and accept that you'll make mistakes, you'll set yourself up for success.
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