Does anyone here know how to cook?

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I can cook. Unfortunately, I am rather picky so most of the things I have made were for others. I do make pizza from scratch for myself often enough.

I've known how to cook since I was in my early teens. So does my older brother. My mom likes to brag about it. Seems like most young people these days can't even make a bowl of cereal because their mother does everything for them. I used to cook supper on weekday evenings as a teenager because my parents were still both at work. Many people think that's horrible. Whatever.

But making nutritious, balanced meals from scratch every day is difficult and expensive. On weekends I might make something special like chicken or homemade spaghetti, but then I have to wash the dishes after, which I absolutely hate. What I wouldn't give for a good dishwasher, but there's no room in my apartment.

Um, not really, and I am to be moving in with my boyfriend very soon. I can't move out of my parents house without knowing how to cook.

OK, it's not so much the cooking, it's more the smaller things that I miss, like how to take in the instructions. Some instructions are easy, but others are confusing. And I'm no good at peeling potatoes, even though I have tried a lot of times. I think it's due to poor motor skills or something. Last time I peeled potatoes, I cut myself a few times. I watched how my boyfriend did it, and he turned the potato in one hand while holding the knife in the other against the potato, and the skin peeled off in nice, neat strips. Then when I tried exactly how he did, I still couldn't do it right. I suggested a potato peeler, but he thinks using a knife is easier. My boyfriend can't seem to realize that just because he finds something easy it means everyone else does.

Also he has an old-fashioned cooker what you have to light with a lighter. I hate doing that as well. You have to turn a knob with one hand whilst holding a lit match right at the back of the oven with the other hand. I'm so scared the flame on the end of the match is suddenly going to burn my finger and I'm going to drop it as a subconscious reaction, and then set the kitchen alight. We will get an electric cooker, because I'm used to electric cookers more, but we can't afford it at present.

I do feel useless. It's a wonder he wants to marry me really.

Screw it.

A simple potato peeler cost less than 1$ (I bought my favorite one for 2,5PLN in Poland) and can be bought in almost any grocery/home-tools shop.
Honestly...
Buying a potato peeler isn't something to have to decide together with a boyfriend - it's price is equivalent of "pocket money" and your boyfriend can still use regular knife if he wants.
We have quite a few potato peelers in our house because each member of my family likes using different one due to different hand sizes and sensitivity.

About gas cooker - buy a gas-stove lighter or a graveyard-candle lighter (I bought my for 5PLN - less than 2$). They are so long so you won't be physically able to burn your fingers. And the spark/flame disappears as soon as you release the switch so nothing bad happens even if you drop it.

Have you thought about getting a countertop dishwasher, or do you not have enough counter space for one?

Yes but I don't like doing it much

I cook everyday and my palate has expanded a lot since I was a kid. I used to hate a lot of foods because of the texture or chunks of food in sauces or stuff like bones in salmon. CBT has helped to some degree to overcome the anxiety associated with food and has allowed me to try and enjoy a much wider variety.

I can cook but I can't help feeling I'm wasting my time when I spend too much time on cooking because I have so many other things I'd rather be doing. I do like baking cakes, cookies, pies etc, though. Baking those things is too time-consuming to do regularly.

I try to avoid cooking food in oil because I hear heated oil is unhealthy. As a result I mostly eat raw vegetables and fruits.

I can cook, just nothing too sophisticated. I can usually make my own soups (chicken corn, chicken rice, beef rice, chicken noodle, turkey noodle, chili con carne, bot boi (pa Dutch boiled pot pie), ham and string beans with potatoes), fry hamburger, bacon, and eggs, and usually broil chicken, sausage and pork chops, as well as make some simple pasta dishes.

I'm not a great cook, but I can do pretty well.

My problem with cooking has to do with all the executive function parts. If you want to cook for yourself regularly, there's this whole shopping-cooking-cleaning cycle you have to have going, and I can't maintain that cycle. So I each a financially debilitating amount of fast food.

I made myself a nice burrito with rice, chicken, cilantro, and red bell peppers tonight.

I don't really think of it as "cooking" but since I've been living alone I've tried to teach myself to make the food I'm used to. For the most part I've been successful. I know what the result is supposed to be. It just takes a bit of logic and a trial and error.

I actually got into cooking because of my sensory issues with taste and texture, since it was easier and more satisfying to make my own meals than to be constantly picking things out or asking for substitutions, but as I've gotten more experienced, I've found those issues fading away. I'm still not fond of certain slimy/jiggly things, but I'm now eating and enjoying a lot of foods that I used to hates, notably eggs, which I used to find nauseating. It's a very useful skill and can save a lot of money, but it's sort of like being good at fixing computers in that all of your friends will expect you to do it for them for free.

Thanks for the thread here. I like cooking and baking a lot really. My favourite recipe is lasagna I found on http://foodjj.com website. It is very easy, delicious and healthy. My whose family totally liked it when I cooked it for them last Christmas

When I lived independently, I cooked almost daily. It was mostly some meat with garden greens. I normally do not feel like making anything big and I can cook on a budget. Where I am back at my parents house, I only make soup, frozen pizzas and meals that don't require much time to make like cevapcici with carrots.

Taught myself from books. Begin small - there are some great beginner cookbooks aimed at children which simplify things, teach processes, and generally use foolproof recipes - as long as you get the measurements right.

Then choose adult books with simple dishes like "one dish" recipes; you have to acquire a lot of different skills, getting the cooking times right, and there is a trial and error process.

One dish that is easy to learn is risotto - there are endless variations you can make to this - vegetarian, meat, fish.. it's also the kind of dish that is easy to make when friends come around, and you can serve it with side dishes of hardboiled eggs, grated cheese, sliced tomatoes for a colourful and easy dinner.

Learn to cook fairly plain food before branching out to the interesting recipes.