Food & Cooking✓ Follow-up at 6 weeks2,230 views
I'm 30 and I never learned how to cook
A beginner cooking crash course covering essential skills, starter recipes, kitchen setup, and building confidence one simple meal at a time.
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Follow-Up Result
6 weeks laterCan now cook 10 solid meals from scratch and actually enjoys it
The Problem
I'm 30 years old and I can barely boil pasta. I grew up eating fast food and nobody taught me to cook. I've tried following recipes but I don't know what "sauté" means, I burn everything, and my kitchen has a pan, a pot, and a spatula. I spend $500+/month on takeout and I know it's unsustainable. I want to learn but I feel embarrassed starting from zero at my age.
The Plan
Week 1-2: Get the Basics
Buy 5 essential tools: a good chef's knife, cutting board, large skillet, medium pot, and a baking sheet. That's all you need to start
Learn 3 techniques: how to boil (pasta, eggs, vegetables), how to sauté (cook in a pan with oil), and how to roast (oven at 400°F with oil and salt)
Master 3 simple meals: scrambled eggs, pasta with jarred sauce and vegetables, and a sheet pan chicken with roasted vegetables
Watch cooking videos at 1x speed and cook along — Basics with Babish and Joshua Weissman's "But Cheaper" series are perfect for beginners
Season everything with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil — these four things make almost anything taste good
Week 3-4: Build Your Repertoire
Add one new recipe per week — stir-fry, tacos, soup, and fried rice are all beginner-friendly and customizable
Learn to taste as you cook — add salt gradually and taste after each addition
Meal prep on Sundays: cook a big batch of rice, roast a tray of vegetables, and prep a protein — mix and match all week
Don't be afraid of failure — burned garlic and oversalted soup are how every cook learns
Invite a friend over to cook together — it's more fun and less intimidating than cooking alone
Resources
Basics with Babish (YouTube) — excellent beginner cooking series
Budget Bytes — simple recipes with cost per serving
r/cookingforbeginners — judgment-free community for learning to cook
"Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" by Samin Nosrat — understanding WHY food tastes good
Follow-Up Result
6 weeks in: I can cook 10 meals from scratch and I'm genuinely proud of myself. The sheet pan chicken was my gateway — it's almost impossible to mess up and it tastes amazing. I learned that "sauté" just means "cook in a pan with some oil" and suddenly recipes made sense. My takeout spending dropped from $500 to $150/month. I made stir-fry for my friends last weekend and they couldn't believe I made it. The biggest lesson: cooking isn't talent, it's just following instructions and practicing. I actually enjoy it now — it's become my evening wind-down activity.Know someone with this problem?
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