For those of us looking to take better care of our health and perhaps save a bit of money, cooking more meals at home is a common goal for 2023.
But for the amateur, cooking your own meals can be intimidating and seem a little hard. If you want to make your goal a reality, you’ll need to commit yourself to it and look for ways to make the process easier for yourself to ensure you stick to it.
Here are some ways to make home cooking a little easier.
Invest in the Right Tools
First of all, when you’re working with scraps, cooking will always be more difficult, and you’ll be more resistant to it. Investing in a few basic essentials can really help make tackling those dinner recipes a little easier.
Some of the most important things you’ll need are good pots and pans and a set of high-quality knives. Along with your knives, make sure to get a whetstone sharpening block to keep your equipment sharp and help you master your knife skills.
Learn Basic Techniques
Before you launch into complex recipes and overwhelm yourself, it’s a good idea to practice basic cooking techniques such as chopping in different ways, boiling and grilling at the right temperatures, separating and whisking eggs, etc. Once you know how to approach these tasks, you can handle them when you see them in a recipe.
This can be a great time to get your kids involved too – they can learn basic cooking skills from a young age, and you can use this time to educate them about nutrition.
Follow Recipes
Once you know some basic techniques, start using them in some simple, easy recipes for beginner cooks.
Don’t expect yourself just to figure it out all on your own. If you’re not used to cooking at home often, you might not have a lot of dishes up your sleeve. Luckily, there are thousands, if not millions, of free recipes available online. Pick something that looks tasty and simple, and practice making it until you know it by heart.
Get Inspired
If you’re reading an article about cooking at home more, you’re obviously interested in upping your game. Try to keep yourself in the flow by inspiring yourself!
Watching some cooking shows and curating your social media to show you move foodie pages and fun recipes is a great way to motivate yourself to get in the kitchen. The more you learn about food, different ingredients, and cooking in general, the more you’ll want to test yourself and experiment in the kitchen.
Practice Makes Perfect
Remember that cooking is a skill, and you won’t necessarily be great at it on your first try. If you burn a pot of rice or a recipe comes out as a disaster, don’t be too hard on yourself!
Instead, take it as a sign that it’s something you need to practice, and use it as motivation to absolutely nail that recipe or technique.