1 Make at least two meals per day at home. To effectively learn to cook, you must do so often. Make a commitment to completing at least two meals per day at home when you are starting out to get your “sea legs,” so to speak, and build confidence.
- Avoid complicated recipes that call for 2-3 hours of prep. Instead, shoot for recipes with only 30 minutes of prep time to keep your interest level high and your cravings low.
2 Make a meal plan. When you are starting out, you will most likely need some routine and simplicity in place. To streamline your cooking, make a meal plan for each day of the week, and set aside or mark each recipe you choose. That way, cooking is not a chore.
- Meal planning helps you feel some confidence and strength in your cooking, and it also makes grocery shopping a lot easier each week.
3 Make new dishes at least once per week. When you are just beginning, every dish is a new dish. As you begin to grow comfortable with the food items you’ve mastered, incorporate one new meal each week to keep your meals fresh and interesting, and to keep building your skill.
- Again, the key is to practice, not to make extravagant dishes. Your new dish can be as simple as graduating from a frittata to a quiche, as long as you are incorporating a new skill.
4 Cook for your family and friends. Start small, by hosting a brunch or similarly low- key event. Inviting family and friends to try your dishes will give you confidence, and will force you to truly focus in and hone your craft to avoid embarrassment or unsafe cooking practices.
- When cooking for family and friends, choose a recipe (or recipes) you have truly mastered and feel confident in.
5 Complete meal prep ahead of time. As you work on practicing your craft, prep your meals ahead of time. One of the biggest pitfalls in home-cooked food is the prep time. Between cutting vegetables, creating stock, and fluffing rice, you can quickly run out of time to make your meal.
- Chop your veggies in advance, make a stockpile of chicken (or beef or vegetable) stock, and make a large batch of grains to eat throughout the week.
6 Make time for your meals.Make time for your meals. Once you’ve cooked your meals, make a nice ritual of eating. Create a ritual surrounding all of your meals, and make them special. This will encourage you to continue cooking, and will make not only the process of cooking fun, but also the process of eating and savoring.
- For breakfast, open the blinds, turn on some music or a podcast, and prepare a cup of coffee or tea.
- For lunch, you might set your plate next to a cloth napkin, and sit down to eat and ruminate.
- For dinner, you could light a candle and eat in dim lighting.
