How to cook when you're not into cooking

Flexible Meals

Cooking doesn't have to be a daunting task filled with complex recipes and perfect techniques. Marielle Segarra and Margaret Eby encourage expanding your idea of cooking by using simple ingredients and embracing imperfection 1. Margaret shares that even a simple bean salad can be a nutritious and easy meal option, highlighting the versatility of canned beans and fresh vegetables 1. Samin Nosrat adds that even professional chefs sometimes opt for quick and comforting meals like mac and cheese, emphasizing that cooking doesn't always have to be elaborate 2.

An imperfectly diced onion is still a diced onion. Eggs can be made in the microwave. And according to Margaret's book, anything's a sandwich if you're not a coward.

--- Marielle Segarra

This approach liberates you to redefine what counts as a meal, making cooking more accessible and less stressful.

   

Cooking Joy

Finding joy in cooking can transform it from a chore into an enjoyable activity. Margaret Eby suggests identifying any part of the cooking process that brings you pleasure and focusing on that to motivate yourself 3. Whether it's the satisfaction of saving money by recreating a favorite dish at home or the joy of involving family in the kitchen, these small victories can make cooking more rewarding. Marielle Segarra reminds us that cooking is a skill anyone can learn, and there's no single right way to do it 3.

If there's any part of it at all that activates any part of pleasure in your brain, hang onto it and listen.

--- Margaret Eby

Ultimately, the goal is to feed yourself in a way that suits your lifestyle and preferences, without the pressure of achieving perfection.