When I moved into my first apartment just after my freshman year of college, I had no idea how to cook. Most of the food I had prepared up to that point in my life was made in a microwave. My idea of grocery shopping included buying bags of chips, instant oatmeal and maybe the odd piece of fruit.

Moving into my apartment also coincided with the start of my weight loss journey. I not only needed to prepare more of my own food because I no longer had access to a dining hall, I also wanted to learn how to make healthy meals.

I had no idea where to start, so I walked to a local used bookstore and browsed the cookbook section until I found something that seemed easy enough for a novice cook. I took the book home, read the appendices in the back, and started trying some simple recipes. I slowly started to learn what I liked and became more efficient.

During the years since this first foray into cooking, I’ve gained competence in the kitchen. I now enjoy preparing food and trying out new recipes. I’ve even hosted dinner parties where I cooked nicer meals for larger groups of people.

Learning to cook has also been an invaluable skill in my journey to lose weight and keep it off. I have much more control over the quantity and quality of food I’m putting into my body because I prepare most of it myself.

In this week’s blog post, I want to share the four strategies which helped me the most when I was first learning how to cook. I know many busy people struggle to cook meals they actually like to eat. After reading this, I hope you have the tools you need to make more healthy and delicious food at home.

Learn Basic Cooking Techniques

In order to cook with ease, you need a solid grasp of certain essential kitchen skills. No one likes to fumble around the kitchen because it takes them forever to chop vegetables or figure out the best way to cook a certain type of meat.

I recommend starting with basic knife skills. Next, learn techniques like steaming, roasting, sautéing, and grilling. With these basic skills, you can prepare almost any simple meal. You can also invest in a few kitchen appliances to make cooking easier.

YouTube is a fantastic place to learn any unfamiliar cooking techniques. The Kitchn also has a 20-day email course teaching you about kitchen basics.

knife skills cutting board home cooking — Chopping veggies is one of the most time-consuming parts of cooking. Learning basic knife skills makes it much easier.

Use Recipes and Templates

As I mentioned in the intro, I learned to cook using a cookbook. These days, you don’t even need to purchase a cookbook because there are so many great free resources online. Start with recipes requiring just a few ingredients and minimal hands-on time. Many online recipes tell you exactly how long they take at the top of the page. If the ingredients list includes too many unfamiliar items, look for something else.

Although I don’t follow a paleo diet, I find lots of healthy recipes on paleo cooking blogs. These recipes focus largely on protein and veggies and many are quite easy to make. Avoid recipes that try to recreate complicated dishes using paleo ingredients.

Once you get a bit more comfortable in the kitchen, you can develop some flexible, go-to meals you can make with whatever you have on hand. I call these templates and use them for most of my meals these days. Recipes are great, but they can handicap you if you’re not able to put together meals without them. My personal favorite templates are scrambled eggs with veggies, salads, and stir frys.

homemade salad healthy lunch — I make a salad every day for lunch. The beauty of meal templates is you can change textures and flavors without changing the entire meal.

Stock Your Kitchen

It’s tough to cook at home if you’re purchasing every ingredient you need each week. Build up a supply of basic oils, spices, and acids. If you don’t have much at your house right now, start by grabbing one or two new items each week. Over time, you’ll pick up all the things you’ll need on a regular basis.

Here’s a list of some of the kitchen staples I use most often:

Oils

Olive oil

Coconut oil

Avocado oil

Spices

Chinese five spice powder (great for making stir frys)

Chili powder

Cinnamon

Cumin

Curry Powder

Dill

Garam Masala (great for making Indian food)

Ginger

Granulated garlic

Ground black pepper

Kosher salt

Lemon pepper

Old Bay (great for seasoning seafood)

Oregano

Paprika

Steak seasonings – Montreal, Chicago, Mesquite

Whole dried bay leaves (great for soups)

Acids

Lemon juice

Lime juice

Apple cider vinegar

Balsamic vinegar

pantry spices home cook — A shot of my pantry in my old apartment. Notice the top rack of spices and the bottom rack of oils and acids.

Eat What You Like

Lots of people give up on cooking for themselves because all the food they make is bland and boring. This makes me sad because good cooking isn’t as difficult as people think. If you follow the first three steps in this blog, you’ll already be well on your way to making great tasting food at home.

One thing that’s helped me is seeking out recipes that imitate my favorite restaurant meals and styles of cooking. I love Asian and Latin food so tacos, stir frys, pho, and various Indian dishes are all in my regular dinner rotation. Think about which of your favorite foods can be adapted into relatively easy home-cooked meals. A quick google search will likely turn up dozens of food bloggers who’ve had the exact same idea and already did all the hard work (experimenting and creating the recipe) for you.

As you start to cook more of your own food, pay attention to what you like and dislike. You’re an adult and you don’t have to eat any food you don’t enjoy. This is true even if the food in question is supposedly the healthiest food on earth. There are so many options for healthy foods. Get creative and try new things. If you don’t enjoy the way you eat, you won’t be able to do it for long.

If you want more help learning to cook, check out Eleven Easy Meal Templates. This free guide shares my favorite easy, healthy, homemade meals. Sign up in the box below.