In this day and age, I would not be surprised to hear someone ask why they should learn to cook. There are so many places to go to eat. There are a ton of options for ordering prepackaged meals you can just heat up at home without any of the prep work. Then there is simply not knowing how to cook. Another question is, “Where can I find out how to learn to cook?” We have so many options available to us for learning almost anything. Learning how to cook is no different. You have the internet, cookbooks, social media, friends, family, and even television. 
Why should I learn how to cook?
That is actually a very good question. I could give you a hundred different reasons to learn how to cook. For one thing, depending on what you buy and where you buy it, it is actually cheaper to learn how to cook. Another reason is more health-related. You can control what goes into whatever you are making. For me, it often becomes an adventure. There are likely millions of recipes on the internet alone. A simple search on Google or Bing will yield a tremendous amount of ideas. Lastly, it is fun to make something new.
Where can I learn how to cook?
There are any number of ways you can learn to cook. You can spend some money and actually go to a cooking school. The problem with that is that most of us cannot just quit our jobs and go to school. Another method to learn how to cook is simply watching someone else and replicating what they are doing. You can go to YouTube and find hundreds of cooking channels that will likely inspire you to try something different. You can watch them cook and usually find their recipe posted in their description section. There are also any number of websites you can go to for instruction. Other possible resources are friends and family. Never turn down “Grandma’s old recipes”.
What is the best method to learn to cook?
I cannot honestly say there is a best method to learn how to cook. I think a culinary school is likely the most thorough way to learn…if you want to be an actual chef. For everyone else, the best method is whatever method you learn from. Some of us are visual learners, while others can just read something and run with it. I personally learn both ways. Regardless of how you learn it, you will figure it out and fine-tune it by actually doing it. In other words, whether you see it or read it, you have to try to make it. Do not be afraid to mess it up either. Making mistakes is how we learn what works and what does not. However, there are a couple of mistakes I will mention briefly that you cannot fix. Burning something or using too much salt are pretty much unrecoverable errors. I’ll get more into those in the future.
How difficult is it to cook something good?
Most of the time, making a delicious meal is not difficult at all. Depending on what you choose to try, it may take some time though. I have this little mantra that says any good meal is going to take some time to make. Now that’s not always true. There are many simple and quick recipes out there that are really good. Once you figure out some basic kitchen skills or techniques, it comes down to how much time you have and how adventurous you feel. Most modern recipes give exact measurements, cooking instructions, and even nutrition information. Personally, I rarely follow a recipe completely. That is part of what makes it fun. You can tweak it to how you like it. The bottom line is that it is not as difficult as you might think. My best advice here is to take it slow, follow the recipe, and pay attention to what you are doing. As your skills and comfort level increase, you can and will get quicker and more efficient at it. One bit of advice I will give right here and will elaborate on in the future is to prepare your ingredients ahead of time. If you’re trying a new recipe, the last thing you want to be doing is possibly ruining what you are cooking while trying to cut up other ingredients or find that one jar of seasoning way in the back of the cupboard. One other thing I should mention is that you should not go right out and buy a bunch of fancy cookware. You can get the basics down with inexpensive pots and pans. Plus, if you do happen to damage something, you’re not out a lot of money.
Learning how to cook can be fun, enjoyable, and worth the effort.
It is not hard to learn how to cook. Often it is no different from anything else you learn to do. Find something that looks good, get your ingredients, and go for it. A simple internet search or a flip through a cookbook will likely cause you to find something that looks good and you want to try yourself. I would tell you to just give it a shot. That is how I have learned as much as I have the past few years. Do not be afraid to try something new and different. I think you’ll find out that not only will you find something you really do like, but that you’ll have a lot of fun doing it. As I have said many times, there is a whole world out there with many cultures, many cuisines, and countless ways of cooking things. That means there is a whole world of flavors that most of us never get to experience. Once you break out of your comfort zone and give a try at something new, you’ll want to keep going. When you cook a meal that comes out well, it is completely worth every bit of effort that went into it.