Three months ago I decided to actually learn to cook instead of rotating through the same four things I'd been making since university. This is a check-in on how that's going.
Short version: better than expected, slower than I hoped, and I've broken two things in the kitchen that I haven't replaced yet.
My baseline was low. I could make pasta, fried rice, eggs in a few different ways, and a handful of other things that required minimal technique. I ate out or ordered in more than I should have, mostly because cooking for one felt like a lot of effort for an uncertain result.
The thing that finally pushed me to actually try was realizing how much money I was spending on food relative to what I was getting. Delivery fees have gotten out of hand. It seemed like a reasonable time to develop a skill I'd been deferring for years.
I cook at home most nights now, which is new. The food is uneven — sometimes genuinely good, sometimes fine, occasionally not great — but it's mine and I understand why it turned out the way it did, which means I can adjust next time.
The biggest thing I've learned is that most cooking mistakes come from heat and timing, not from ingredients or technique. Too hot, not hot enough, pulled it off too early, left it on too long. Once I started paying closer attention to those two variables, things improved pretty quickly.
A lot of roasted vegetables, because it's hard to get wrong and the results are consistently good. Stir-fries, because I eat a lot of rice and it's a fast way to make something with it. A few things with eggs beyond the basics I already knew. Some soups, which feel manageable because you can taste and adjust as you go.
I haven't attempted anything that required a lot of precision or timing yet. Bread, pastry, anything with multiple components that all need to be ready at the same time — still on the list, not attempted.
Pick five things you actually want to eat and learn to make those well before trying anything else. Cookbooks with long ingredient lists are discouraging when you're starting out. Find simple recipes with short ingredient lists and make them repeatedly until they're easy.
Also: a sharp knife makes everything easier and takes less effort than a dull one. I bought a decent one in month two and I don't know how I was managing before.