All, I’m interested in your thoughts. My son is in a college house. Not dorm, but the kitchen is limited. All the appliances are old. There is no counter space. And the tools are a mishmash of what the kids brought from their parents homes that were “spares.” He wants to cook. His time , imagination, and experience is limited. I imagine their shared pantry of ingredients is small or nonexistent. I’m wondering if there are decent cookbooks or websites that would give him a boost with ideas and simple recipes. Like, when I mentioned tonight that he could steam veg in the mic that seemed to be news to him. Thanks!
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I think something like Bittman’s “How to cook everything” could be quite helpful as it has simple yet flavorful recipes with enough variations to be able to improvise depending on available tools and ingredients
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Some ideas here:
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I’ve learned a few things from “Glen and Friends Cooking” on youtube. I’m sure he could find some easy recipes/methods on there.
As far as ingredients, Jaime Oliver has a some videos on youtube called “Jaime Oliver 5 ingredient recipes”. There are some great ideas with minimum ingredients and very tasty results.
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I have the Bittman and honestly I find a 500 pg cookbook intimidating. I was thinking something less than 100 pgs with big pictures and recipes that only have 5 ingredients…
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I will check those out thanks.
When I got my first apartment, my mother made me a huge binder of all of “her” recipes, painstakingly typed up in Word Perfect. While I soon began buying cookbooks and using online sources for recipes, that binder got A LOT of use. It wasn’t just that those foods were a source of comfort for me, it was also that I knew what the end result should look/taste like. This was a huge boon in terms of learning to cook - if something went wrong, I knew it was something I did or didn’t do, not just a dud recipe. And of course, it gave me a perfect excuse to call my mom to ask questions.
Anyway, if you use an app or something to organize “your” recipes, I suggest giving him access to your account or setting one up for him for easy recipe sharing. I’m certain it will come in handy.
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I surveyed my sons (26 and 22) and both said they would not use a cookbook. Despite both being paper book readers and having a mom who owns a library’s worth of cookbooks. The younger one says he used social media channels to get ideas when he was starting out. Now he has enough cooking experience that he usually wings it based on what is on hand. The older one lives on his own and is pretty basic in his cooking - doctored ramen soups or stir fried noodles, rice, pasta, etc. But he enjoys helping me with project meals when he is over on the weekends - kebabs, roasted veggie trays, rice pilaf recently.
You know your son best but I’d probably point him towards YouTube channels that focus on beginning or student cooks looking for easy meals. Like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/@zacl79
I’m not a big TikTok user but again, lots of cooking ideas there (and lots of shitty ones).
If there is a particular type of cuisine that your son favors, there is plenty out there especially for Southeast Asian foods. Also, I presume he has access to an airfryer; you can sure do wonders with that. My son made a garlic shrimp concoction in the airfryer which he put over noodles sauced with a little bit of jarred Alfredo sauce that he said was good.
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Helpful insights thank you. No air fryer. Currently what he calls cooking is warming frozen meals from Trader Joe’s. Or grilled cheese and hot dogs, pasta roni. Part of my desire to help is that he eat a bit less processed food than he does.
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How about the videos of Jacques Pepin cooking at home? He tends to make simple stuff.
Cooking for one is such a drag. All that effort, time, just to feed one person.
So smart that companies like Google feed very good meals to their employees, mostly young and single.
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Is he just cooking for himself, or is the idea that the kids cook together / eat meals together?
Old appliances and no counter space would have me eat takeout and MW foods, too, especially if I’m just cooking for myself.
If you are super-worried about prepared foods, maybe recommend some healthier frozen meal brands, which are proliferating bigly — at least judging from the freezer section in my local Sprouts.
Before (and after) I went to college, I learned to cook by watching someone do it. A small notebook of home recipes written out by me while I watched someone make them went with me.
Some of my friends’ kids and my nephew have learned the same way. 4-5 easy dishes they will be happy eating, cooked with someone at home to learn first.
Teaching meal planning and different ways to cook the same thing is a different aspect, as with your mention of microwaving vegetables – eg things can be cooked according to how much time you have on hand – microwave, stovetop, oven. Making extra of something (eg a protein) to repurpose into something else later. Eggs as an easy meal.
And now there are so many good meal helpers out there. You mentioned TJs – take a look at this thread.
I think if you (or he) come up with a week of easy meals he would eat, that’s at least 2 weeks of meal rotation with leftovers.
(Many folks I know who had to cook for themselves from the get-go after never having cooked a single thing relied on 1-pot meals that they cooked once & ate for a whole week – eg beans and rice of different origins (cuban black beans, indian rajma or chana or dal, mexican pinto beans, and so on), chicken and rice, a hefty soup or stew, and so on. Would have bored me to skinniness 
but it worked great for them.)
Mostly for himself. The housemates don’t all cook, so they are sort of doing one weekly dinner where one of them cooks for the group. Otherwise on their own unless someone has made extra.
Yes. I worry more about space and tools limitations that he has, as well as follow through. Like he’s interested, but the harder it is, the less interested. And it might not be the recipe that is challenging so much as he doesn’t have the ingredients or his roommates have trashed the kitchen or he only has one Tupperware for the leftovers. All the things to contend with when not your own kitchen plus inexperience. Over the summer, he was doing well cooking once a week in my fully stocked kitchen, where a grocery trip was easy. Yeah he doesn’t have a car either. He buys what he can carry from Safeway. Occasional friend will take him along to another store in their car. I texted him an easy chili recipe last night. He may give that a go, and it will help me gauge if he is all talk no action, or not.
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I’ll look.
It’s a hard thing to suggest - my college years were a LONG LONG time ago, so my first cookbooks would seem so antiquated now I would imagine.
That said - one cookbook I still get for people who are “starting to cook” (college, adults, newly married, recently divorced, etc) . . . is Ina Garten’s first book “The Barefoot Contessa”.
Big pictures - check
short ingredient lists - check
no crazy ingredients - check
simple instructions - check
Recipes that work - check (this is a big one)
A variety of things but not too much - check
. . . my 2-cents
Is there a type of food he really likes or is really interested in? That might help . . . sometimes even recipes/instructions for things as basic as “bar food” can be useful (nachos, tacos, doctoring grocery store foods, etc) . … .
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I bought an instant Pot going on 10 years ago, when they were all the rage, and on sale. I have a well equipped kitchen and rarely follow recipes. So I have yet to use the IP, but since it functions as a braiser, slow cooker, and pressure cooker, it might be worthwhile for a newbie without much of a kitchen.
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An instapot or similar is a good idea. Doesn’t take up a lot of space and can cook different things with different methods and in large quantities if desired. There’s a lot of social media and youtube videos on IP cooking. Yes, a bit dated or several trends/fads ago but they should still work. Most of the recipes are scratch cooking or close. In place of watching someone cook, videos are pretty good…picture worth a thousand works and all. Or a very simple IP based cook book could work.
When I went to college my mom send me a rice cooker and a pressure cooker. IP does both, also can be used as a slow cooker. The comment that cooking in a fully stocked kitchen is easier or more convenient is true. I knew how to cook basic stuff before college but ingredients or not having them around was a major hassle. Going to the store and buying all the usual pantry items adds up fast, espeically for one meal…kind of crazy for a college student who might use it once or twice. Thus I didn’t cook that much in college when I got an apartment. It was more cost effective to buy a slice of pizza for $1.
Is an IP good for someone who spends most of his time out of the house? I don’t think he’s home much. His day is full of classes, orchestra, library. I don’t want him to burn the place down.
