We all need to face the facts. We are going to be dealing with COVID for some time so you might as well get used to being in the kitchen. Cooking is by no means the easiest job in the world. The good thing is that it’s by no means the most difficult one, either. Like many different skills, hobbies, and passions, cooking ability is increased with practice, repetition, and experience. Nobody starts off amazingly – we’re all terrible at the start. Making foods for other people is an art and something that should be worked on pretty much every day in order to perfect.
The more we know about cooking and the more we know about nutrition, the healthier and happier we’ll be. If you can cook, then you’ll have lots of confidence in many other areas – it’s a fundamental life skill that allows you to stand on a foundation when building up other valuable life skills. In terms of the health angle, you’re obviously going to be more physically and mentally in tune as you go about your daily life. The discipline will also transcend to other areas of your daily routine.
So, what can we do to increase the cooking skills each time you create a meal? Well, it’s all just a case of understanding what you did right and what you did wrong each time you cook. It’s a case of finding what works for you and sticking with it. Once you get those fundamentals factors handled, things will come naturally to you in a culinary sense. Along the way here are a bunch of things you can do to help:
- Cook Regularly And Try New Things
The problem people have with cooking skills (or the lack thereof) is that they don’t do it regularly enough. When you finish work or have had a long day of doing other things, sometimes cooking can seem a little too difficult to do. It’s therefore much easier to grab something from a fast-food restaurant or to get something out of a packet. If you stick to cooking regularly and frequently, though, you’ll likely become a lot more adept at it. Consistently sticking with it and trying all kinds of things will allow you to become skilled – it’s like most things in life. Nobody becomes good at something straight away – what you see is hours and hours of practice coming to fruition.
- You Need to be Motivated
If you’re not motivated to cook or to try new things, then you’re not going to increase your skill at all. The best ways to keep your motivation up are through goal-creation and through recognizing what you want out of your life. If you see yourself in a few years as healthy as you can be with all the cooking ability in the world, then you’ll have to up your skills. Creating goals will allow you to stick to certain tasks as they’ll always be there hanging over you. Your desire to tick these boxes will increase day-by-day. Whether you want to make a particular kind of ice cream or whether you want to create a tasty low-carb meal, a plan and a goal will work for you.
- Read up on Cooking
If you’re crazy about cooking and this is something you’d like to spend a lot of time doing, then the idea of surrounding yourself with cooking advice won’t be that much of a problem for you. Hopping online and reading articles or listening to podcasts would work very well. They’ll inform you with all kinds of stuff – some of it you’ll pay attention to, and some of it will hit you subconsciously. If you’re not enthused about this idea, it’s still worth a go because you’ll have a lot of free time over the course of your life – it’s best not to fill it with pointless scrolling on social media or mindless procrastinating.
- Don’t Be Afraid To Fail
A lot of people are put off by the idea of cooking because they don’t want to make terrible food. Cooking is seen as a beautiful art and can be quite daunting if you cannot do so very well. The truth is that you will make mistakes and fail a lot. You won’t have Gordon Ramsay breathing down your neck and shouting at you when you’re at home, though! Set your standards high and expect your food to come out amazingly – even if it eventually doesn’t. Look at How to make perfect pancakes or how to make a wonderful Crème Brulee if you want.
- Take A Cooking Class Or Two
If you want to become a better cook, then you’re going to need to practice. Getting a lot of hours in matters, of course, but getting productive hours in matters even more. Doing the same kind of stuff over and over again only works up until a point. Teachers would help out an awful lot – you’d receive expert, experienced advice while being practical. You’d be working towards goals and receive qualifications along the way, so if you’re serious about becoming better in the kitchen, then this wouldn’t be a terrible idea at all.
- Learn About Nutrition Facts And Tips
You immediately become a much better chef when you know about different foods and their nutritional values. One of the things that hinder us all when it comes to making good meals is the ingredients involved – if we don’t know what each adds, then it’s hard to piece them all together properly. Get to know what good nutrition is, and you’ll become way more accomplished. The theory doesn’t matter as much as the physical practice, but it’s so handy to know.
- Don’t Cook Alone.
When it comes to cooking with family and friends in your bubble, you’re getting a lot of different benefits. Firstly, it’s more fun and, thus, it makes you want to do it more – which then gives you more experience. Cooking with a partner also makes the job so much easier and less tedious. Sometimes, the idea of cooking on your own can feel so draining – with a partner; the job becomes so much more engaging and educational.
