04: Culinary Skills & Equipment
I do not have the cooking skills, knowledge or equipment to eat healthy or lose weight.
Cooking does not need to be complicated, difficult, or scary. There are only a few essential pieces of equipment and a few basic skills you need to get started. Luckily there are ample free resources that can teach you the step-by-step basics of almost any recipe. When I first started cooking, I really did not know how to make anything outside of tacos. However, through trial and error I have taught myself enough to be considered competent (but not great) in the kitchen and that is all you really need.
EQUIPMENT:
Thrift stores can be a great place to find cheap cooking utensils for beginners. You really just need a few basic things to get started:.
Cutting Boards
Pots
Frying Pans
Crockpot
Mixing bowls
Baking sheets
Mixing Spoons
Pyrex glass storage containers
Knives are one of the few things that you may want to think of spending a little bit of money on (i.e. $150 for a knife set) or invest in a good knife sharpener (for $20 – $30).
CULINARY SKILLS:
YouTube, Pinterest, and cooking blogs can all be great resources to learn the basic skills you need to know such as:
Basic knife handling
Food safety
How to use an oven and stove top
One-pot meals
Fix it and forget it, crock pot meals
Baked chicken, fish, and veggies
Stir Frying
Casseroles
Remember: you are only going to get better at cooking through trial and error. You will not like every recipe you try and some recipes will take much longer than you think they will. If you really like a dish that takes more time and ingredients than you care for, especially on a weekday night, try to decide whether you can cut some corners or leave some steps out without compromising taste. Oftentimes you will find that certain ingredients are not essential to the taste and quality of the recipe.