HOW TO TEACH YOURSELF TO COOK AT HOME from Mila's blog

Whether you’re interested in learning a useful skill, trying to impress your partner or just tired of eating frozen meals all the time, now might be the time to learn to cook on your own. Besides being less expensive than dining out, cooking for yourself allows you to customize each of your dishes while having some fun in the kitchen.

If you get overwhelmed at the mere thought of turning the oven on, we’re here to help. This article gives beginner cooks 10 practical tips for learning to cook at home, along with a few easy recipes to get started. So tie on your apron and get ready to become a master chef!

10 TIPS TO TEACH YOURSELF TO COOK

Whether you’re learning to cook for yourself, your significant other or your whole family, keep these 10 tips in mind as you brave the kitchen:

1. Get Into a Routine

Like anything, learning to cook well requires practice. If you really want to become a good cook, you have to commit to doing it regularly. Try to prepare all of your dinners on your own for one week to get yourself fully immersed in the kitchen. Simply approaching cooking with a positive mindset and a “can-do” attitude will make the process seem easier. You might even have some fun!

2. Start With the Basics

In the midst of your newfound passion for cooking, you might be tempted to tackle impressive dishes like a savory souffle or baked Alaska. But these dishes are only so impressive because they are quite challenging recipes that you should wait to attempt until you’ve developed your cooking skills a bit more. Instead, the best way to learn to cook is to begin with the basics, such as pasta or tacos.

3. Keep It Simple

Because you’re sticking with basic recipes, you can keep your cooking equipment simple, too. When you first start learning to cook at home, all you need is the bare minimum of cooking supplies. Spare yourself from purchasing a bunch of fancy kitchen gadgets and focus on mastering the cooking tools you already have instead.

4. Grow Your Spice Collection

To make flavorful dishes, you will need a sizable spice collection. Most notably, you will need to make sure always to have these essentials on hand:

• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Paprika
• Basil
• Parsley

These base spices will help you create delicious, well-seasoned dishes. As you continue cooking, you will naturally acquire more spices for a wider range of cuisines.

5. Invest in a Set of Pans

Regardless of what you plan on cooking, a high-quality set of pans is a necessity. Purchasing pans from a reliable brand will prevent you from finding pieces of coating from cheap pans in your food. Typically, pans with a ceramic coating provide a dependable non-stick surface and are less susceptible to chips and scratches than other kinds of pans.

To start, make sure you have a frying pan, saute pan, stockpot and cast iron skillet in your cooking arsenal.

6. Make Sure Your Knives Are Sharp

Just like a reliable set of pans is a must, well-made knives are crucial for good cooking. Using a high-quality, sharp knife in the kitchen can save you from frustration as well as potential injuries from trying to saw away at something with a dull or blunted knife. For beginners, a chef’s knife, a paring knife and a serrated bread knife are all the cutlery you’ll need.

7. Plan Ahead

Before you start cooking, get out all the supplies you’ll need and measure all of your ingredients. Doing this will make the entire cooking process go smoother by saving you from continually washing your hands to retrieve, measure and add in a new ingredient. You will also want to make sure you preheat the oven whenever necessary before diving into prepping a recipe.

8. Cook in Bulk

Even if you fall in love with cooking throughout the learning process, there will be days you don’t have the time or motivation to whip up a full meal from scratch. Cooking some meals in bulk so you have enough leftovers to store in the freezer will provide you with a good back-up dinner plan for busy days.

9. Stay On-Recipe

In general, it’s best to wait to go off-recipe until you’ve become more confident in the kitchen. As you keep following recipe ingredients, measurements and instructions exactly, you’ll start to learn how different components work together and what can be substituted for certain ingredients. Eventually, you’ll be able to modify recipes on your own to create custom variations.

10. Be Patient With Yourself

Even for experienced chefs, unexpected things can still pop up out of nowhere and ruin a meal. Although it can be frustrating to see all that time and energy go down the drain, keep in mind that cooking is a learning process and don’t give up. Instead, focus on learning something each time you cook by figuring out what worked and what didn’t, which will make you into a better chef for the future.