(Part 2) Best cooking for one or two books according to redditors

(Had to repost this because I used link shorteners to stay under char limit and it got auto-deleted, so this one is finally fixed)

I'm a native New Yorker, and I'll chime in as someone who was able to buy a place in NYC (brooklyn) before turning 30. Now, the prices have exploded in my area since I bought (2010), but there are other areas that are still in the "reasonable" range.

I was by no means rich. I'm not rich, but I technically own property that has appreciated so I "have" money on paper. I can't spend that money. I am the type of person subbed to r/frugal, /r/personalfinance, and /r/churning. I grew up somewhat poor, and I think that has shaped my complete fear of going broke. For some, it may also fuel the desire to buy nice things. You have to be careful with that second one. I pay off my credit cards every month, but I also take advantage of any "no interest for 12 months" type deals on a Best Buy store card when I need a big purchase. I'm going to talk about buying, and then I'm going to talk about what I generally do financially.

"Avocado toast" really seems to be an example of a bigger underlying problem, which is that people have too many things that they spend too much money on. $14 for avocado on toast is obscene given how cheap it would be to make it yourself. And yes, I understand that they restaurant pays the rent, the servers, etc, but the point is that avocado toast and expensive coffee shouldn't really be a regular luxury. The thing is, how many other places are you basically throwing away excess money, like GrubHub and bars?

I'm not saying don't have fun. I'm saying that you should meter that stuff a bit. If you have the funds and you want to buy a Nintendo Switch, go ahead. That's a one time cost for the system, and it provides ongoing fun. But that's gotta be your thing. Your thing can't be bars AND dining out AND traveling AND expensive jeans AND tattoos AND...

Here are my personal tips for finance that may make life a bit easier. This may not lead to you buying a place, but it can lead to you getting some financial freedom. It's the same theory when it came to packing a ruck: ounces make pounds. In this case that extra money you save (or spend) adds up over time.

First off you need to plan.

I like Quicken. I used to love MS Money more, but that's gone and mint wasn't doing it for me at the time and I haven't tried it since. Don't get the new version every year. Maybe every 4 years IF you feel the new features will help you.

Quicken works best if you have steady income, but if you have income that fluctuates due to hours or tips, you should just estimate a basic income that you typically get and you can always adjust upward for actual. Better to underestimate income. So now you have an estimate of money in.

Now, you need to take control of your bills and calculate money out. Personally, I pay most of my bills weekly so they can't sneak up on me. For example, I went to the electric company website and looked at my bills for the past year, added that up, and divided by 52. That's my weekly average energy spend. It goes up in summer and down in winter. Then, for one bill I paid it off, and then the following week, I had my bank start automatic payments of that weekly amount. This does three things. First, the bills don't surprise me all at once. Second, should anything happen, I'm a month ahead of my bills, so I have some time to think. Third, with the payments going automatically, I don't have to waste time paying bills or trying to figure out what needs to be paid. And your bank send it, so you can't forget, they track it, and you don't need a stamp (if you mail it to someone).

Remember that thing I mentioned about "12 months no interest" on a store card. Don't wait 12 months and get screwed. Again, take the amount, divide by 50, send that much to the card each week for 52 weeks. So if you need a new laptop, and it's going to cost $1,300, that might really hurt your budget. However, at $25 a week, it becomes easy to manage. That's like not eating out once.

I pay for everything possible with a credit card. I could try to figure out a budget, but I'm lazy, and my spending can go all over the place. However, with the card, I just estimate what I usually spend each week and have the bank auto-pay that. This also makes it easy to track the real money in my checking account in Quicken because the output is stabilized. Just like with the other bills. Also, I get cool points and stuff that I will later use for travel or whatever, and I pay no interest.

So, in Quicken, with your general income and spending put in, you can see what your money is doing over time. And you can see if your lifestyle is going to slowly drive you to being broke. When I first got my place and needed a roommate, the area sucked. However, I could see in quicken what the minimum that I needed to charge was in order for me to not go broke. My roommate paid less than a third of the total costs were, but I was at least financially stable for the time being. Now that the area is better, it's closer to them paying half.

Save money

So let's say that you're one of the lucky people that have excess money when you look at your plan. Don't plan how to spend it. I recommend opening another bank account, setting up a regular automatic transfer, and then acting like the money isn't there.

I started doing this when I was in the military and used to get blindsided by holiday shopping. I figured out that if I could put $25 a month into another account, I would have $300 at the end of the year for gifts. That's a big chunk of money when you're semi-broke and it hits you all at once. So having that in reserve was useful.

Again, using quicken, you can see what you can put aside without completely depleting your checking account.

Also, any pay raise you get, just don't increase your standard of living, and set that money aside. It will be a great emergency fund.

Buying stuff.

I was STUPID when I got out of the military. I lived in a place that was furnished when I was in, so when I got out and had money, I bought some nice furniture. I think I blew around $8K thanks to Raymour & Flanigan. It was basically Afghanistan deployment money. I bought a nice table, chairs, a mattress and some other stuff, all for way too much.

You know where you can also get some nice stuff? Craigslist, which is where I'm currently trying to sell that nice table for a lot less than I bought it for. $200 Ikea bed frames in very good condition are going for $50. $150 for a solid table and 4 chairs that someone else paid 800 for, and they may be in great condition.

Unless there is no way to get it cheaper, I don't by anything that's not on sale, and even then it's usually what I need.

There are some places where you usually don't want to go cheap, like shoes or a mattress, or tires if you own a car.

Buy things that will last but you don't need to do it all at once. You can always upgrade stuff later, but just make sure that you don't spend a lot on the placeholder stuff.

Eating

We all need food. And we all feel like there's no time. Cooking is not that hard. Yeah, you may screw up a recipe at first, but you will get better. Most meals you can make in 30 minutes, and if you want to get really efficient, you can do things like taking a day for weekly meal prep (I don't. I should but I haven't really gotten to it).

You can cook scrambled eggs like Gordon Ramsey in under 5 minutes. Your cost: 40 cents. The cost of a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich is maybe $1.25 if you do it yourself.

Buy cookbooks geared toward simplicity.

This was my first cookbook: Cooking Outside the Pizza Box. For many of us, it's aptly named. Other ones that I have and would recommend: Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You) and Easy Menus for Dining In.

If you want to be really cheap, just go to http://allrecipes.com/ or some similar website.

I also invested in a good chef's knife (over $100), but a mediocre one for $30 will be okay, just realize that you will need to sharpen it a little more frequently (like every 3 months), so maybe invest in a whetstone and learn a skill. Sharp knives make cutting so much easier.. A dull knife means you use more force, and are more likely to cut yourself if it slips.

Most of your meals you can make for a fraction of the cost that you pay for it outside. Coffee is the easiest. Yes a coffee maker is pricey, but if you get one that has something like an automatic function, you can get one that you can set up to make you coffee in the morning so you can save time on your prep.

Something like this and a thermos will be invaluable.

Hanging out with friends

I like to be social. Unfortunately, there are few places in NYC that you can hang out, and most of them serve food and drinks, and it's going to cost you. Bars are just convenient. Also, you can meet new people there.

However, if you or a friend have a nice space, maybe try hosting gatherings. You could even do a potluck. The drinks are cheaper, people can bring food, and if it's your place, when the night ends everyone leaves and you're right next to your bed.

She has a cookbook, so there's a start for ya: https://www.amazon.com/Run-Fast-Eat-Slow-Nourishing/dp/162336681X

How about the Newlywed Cookbook?

P.S.: I haven't even thought about a guest book, and I might steal your idea.

I would strongly recommend this cookbook from Test Kitchen. I found it and am absolutely in love with it. Every recipe I have made from it has been restaurant quality and I had 0 knowledge about cooking prior. It's also made for "2" so the portion sizes are just right and even if you don't have a 2nd person, it can just be a 2nd portion for tomorrow's lunch or something, you know? What I love specifically about it too, is that it literally explains EVERYTHING. How to cut each vegetable properly, lots of pictures, explains what brands to look for and why. It also tells you which appliance is best and they test each recipe something like 200 different ways before deciding on the best one so they all taste delicious and are the best/easiest way to achieve that flavor. If they deviate from the norm, they explain why. It's really cool and easy to follow for a complete noob/beginner and has taught me so much about cooking that I am completely grateful. I implore you to try it or even hit the "look inside" button on this link because it shows you a preview and you'll see exactly what I mean. Good luck and have fun! :)

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Gift/dp/1945256060/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=test+kitchen+cookbook&qid=1563026602&s=gateway&sr=8-3

It probably is a struggle at your age. I started at 24 and had a stable job, so I had it easy. So you're a bad-ass for starting now. Unfortunate that your parents aren't more supportive. I hope they'll at least allow you some fridge space for soy milk, etc.

Here's some easy staples off the top of my head:

• PB&J sandwich
  
• Cereal with soy milk
  
• Frozen fries, easy to bake in oven
  
• Baked potato, easy to microwave, add vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance) or vegetable oil and spices
  
• Easy fruit: apples, bananas, oranges, etc.
  
• Easy veggies: baby carrots, broccoli, celery. Maybe dip in hummus.
  
• Easy treats: oreos, clif bars, junior mints
  
• Boca burgers for easy protein.
  
  You'll learn how to cook tofu, tempeh, beans, etc with time and diversify your protein. You don't need as much as people think, and some people don't appreciate that lots of foods have protein, like bread and cereal. Whole grain (high fiber) is good. I've been vegan for 3 years and have never paid attention to protein, and I'm as athletic as I ever was.
  
  Here's some books for easy/student cooking, you can either buy or borrow from a library (if you're in a big city or if your state has inter-library loans). I've used each of these at some point...
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Vegan-Simple-Recipes-Healthy/dp/1845979591
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Students-Go-Vegan-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/0307336530
  
  Here's some sites I found quickly:
  
  
• http://www.peta.org/living/beauty/easy-peasy-tips-new-vegan/
  
• http://www.veganeasy.org/
  
  Don't worry about going 100% vegan all at once. I'm glad to hear you've come back to it again and again. Any reduction of animal products is good, and if you ease into it, you're more likely to stick with it long term. Don't be hard on yourself. Also don't sweat the small stuff (ingredients).

With you on Michael Symon. Everyone should own 2 copies of his 5 ingredient 5 minutes book.

If my dad can cook everything in this book, anyone can. http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Symons-Ingredients-Minutes-Fantastic/dp/0770434320

At one point in my life my diet was approximately 60% burritos and 40% mountain dew. I'd not eat until I was starving then go to the taco truck, get a huge burrito and sometimes two. Then I'd stop at 7-11 and get a refill on a 64oz mountain dew because I figured out that was the cheapest way to get it. My only healthy meals were when I went to my parents' house maybe once every other week.

That happened to overlap with an mmo addiction and lack of sleep and no exercise.

I was very skinny at the time because I'd only go to get food when I was starving and I'm quite tall so I can hide it so I figured no big deal. Anyway health issues caught up with me and I decided I had to do something.

It's about 12ish years later now and I cook 95% of my own meals. The remainder are when I go out with my girlfriend or there's free food at work and I make a bad decision. I also exercise roughly every third day depending on schedule.

Here's the basic process I followed over the course of multiple years to attempt to get healthy.

1. Stopped drinking soda with sugar in it and switched to diet. (Think progress here and not perfect)
   
2. Started trying to cook. Initially I would mimic pre packaged foods I liked because I had no idea how to cook. Things like homemade hamburger helper without the box ingredients for example.
   
3. This led to a casserole era which is easy and tastes good but almost always has way too much cheese and pasta to be considered healthy.
   
4. At this stage I moved out of my apartment and into a rental house that had a yard and I began my grilling phase. I'd get a big piece of meat and throw it on the grill. Then I'd get a big bag of potatoes, cut them up, and put one of those French onion soup packets on it, mix it around with some oil, and toss it in the oven. I ate that a lot. Still not that healthy but it's progress.
   
5. Around this time I began venturing into the gym. I got a personal trainer to write me some programming (it was a basic bodybuilder split initially). This went along with protein powder and lots of tuna sandwiches and chicken breast. Mmmm so tasty. I eventually stopped doing that but it was a start.
   
6. As I became tired of the gym routine that was making me stronger but not eliminating things like back pain I started to read more about fitness. I also started to get tired of eating the same thing every day so I took a bunch of William Sonoma cookbooks from my mom because they have big pictures.
   
7. This triggered the experimentation stage. I found bloggers like Mark's Daily Apple and that led to the world of Crossfit. I thought I had to be super hardcore 24/7 so I went deep into the paleo world and threw out all the grains and sugar in my house. This is when I finally started to eat significant quantities of vegetables. It's also when I really started to learn how to cook because when you take away grains and cheese the food is so much harder to make it taste good.
   
8. Crossfit wore off after a couple years and I lapsed into laziness as I got a much more demanding job. Luckily I was also getting paid nothing and completely broke so I had more motivation to start cooking all my food. This is the cheap and healthy period I'm currently in. I have a gym membership at a huge gym that's near my work and I'm continually trying to find new recipes and ways to eat large quantities of vegetables. I've found that for me I can eat some garbage food from time to time and not have much to worry about so long as I have a very nutrient packed meal as my normal diet. I'm aiming for about 3lb of vegetables a day with some cooked and some raw. I try and go vegetarian a few days a week because Arnold told me to and then have much less meat than I used to eat. I fill in the rest with beans, lentils, some grains, and some fruits. Cheese and sugar are the cheat foods which I minimize in my house but I don't worry about if it's at a party or restaurant. Essentially I'm trying to pull from a wide variety of foods with an emphasis on lots of nutrients.
   
   The important thing for me has always been the experimentation of how to make myself feel good. My motivation is about 50% wanting to feel great and 50% wanting to look good naked. Occasionally I'll start training for something specific like a long backpacking trip but most of the year I'm not thinking about that.
   
   If any of that sounds good to you here's some recommendations.
   
   

• buy a cook's illustrated (or America's test kitchen, they're the same thing) book that looks good to you. I'd recommend something like the 6 ingredient book http://www.amazon.com/Six-Ingredient-Solution-Americas-Test-Kitchen/dp/1936493446 I don't have that but I've looked at it in the grocery store. I'm assuming you don't know how to cook. Apologies if that's a bad assumption. Also check out the Serious Eats blog. It's my favorite source for recipes and they give amazing instructions. They also have a huge library of vegetarian meals which I've always struggled with.
  
• I'd hesitantly recommend the r/fitness faq. Don't take what they say too seriously as it's tailored to young men trying to get big and strong. If you want to get big and strong that's great and you should do it. If you don't then feel free to ignore the dogma over there. There's many ways to stay in good shape. Pick something that sounds somewhat interesting to you.
  
• this subreddit and r/MealPrepSunday are good to follow for ideas. I think people on both eat way too much cheese and burritos but there are good recipe and ideas that come through.
  
• find some sort of role model blogger. I find it helpful to follow a blog that keeps a steady healthy message. I used to spend a lot of time at Mark's Daily Apple and I was into Robb Wolf for a long time. Lately I've been listening to Rhonda Patrick at Found My Fitness. She's pretty intense with the science though if that's not your thing. Check some out and follow some rabbit holes until you find something that sounds good.
  
• keep experimenting and don't try to be perfect. Aim for progress of any kind. The goal is to be better than you were last year and never stop.

i'm a pimp for Michael Symon's 5 in 5 - https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Symons-Ingredients-Minutes-Fantastic/dp/0770434320

doesn't go overboard on the ingredients, meals are really easy to make but delicious. it's not one of those cookbooks that says "easy!" on it but there are 39 ingredients, 4 hours of prep time and the total cost is $47 for a meal for two.

it has helped me build confidence and make decent meals for my family

As a bonus if anyone uses a Kindle in the kitchen, it's currently only $3.99 for the Kindle edition of Cooking for Two. Nice bit of savings from the regular price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945256281/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_Jg5UDbRPPXMJV

Yep, it's called "One Pot" & here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/One-Pot-Skillet-Cooker-Stockpot/dp/0307954412 . Highly recommend.

A good place to start for you might be The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook which has a lot of very "normal" and easy to make food containing easily obtainable ingredients. It isn't the healthiest cookbook ever, but for someone who is poor and trying to go vegetarian it's a good way to ease into it without having to subsist on fried food and cheese or learn how to make a bunch of weird new food.

And that's the thing: You don't have to completely overhaul your diet all at once. I think a lot of people look at all the options out there and get overwhelmed and discouraged. If seitan and tempeh and quinoa and amaranth sound weird and confusing to you then don't pressure yourself to start using them all at once. First figure out how to make a decent cup of rice and steamed veggies, then learn to read the labels of meat substitutes and compare them to make sure you are getting enough protein for your money. Hint: 4 grams of protein for a burger patty is not a meat "substitute"; it's a light snack.

All the weird food can come later when you feel more confident and want to branch out.

I have a book called The Single Vegan that does the same thing.

First of all, I need to pause & express amazement that doctors told you to follow a vegan diet. We hear so many stories about how doctors have told people they can't survive without meat that this kinda blows my mind!

As to your actual question, it kinda depends on what kind of eater you are really. For instance, if you don't mind eating the same thing multiple times per week, I think just a "normal" meal prep plan where you make a bunch of one or two things & divide it up would work. If you can find them, some of those "disposable" (really reusable) plastic containers have portion dividers in them, so you can pack up a main & one or two sides per meal.

If you feel like you'll stray without variety, that's where things get trickier because recipes mostly tend to be sized for multiple people. There is a great cookbook right up your alley though: Vegan Cooking for One. It's divided into weeks and has both recipes and shopping lists, so it's pretty much done the meal planning for you. For people who want help planning or are just kind of overwhelmed by choice, I think this book is a super resource.

Good luck to you!

It's actually meant for conventional pressure cookers (the way the book is set up is that there are groups of recipes for several different "one pots": roasting pan, dutch oven, slow cooker, pressure cooker, saute pan, etc). For my Instapot, I just adjusted the timing on that to reflect what was called for in the recipe. The Instapot defaults to 15min for poultry so in the "Poultry" setting, I adjusted the time to 10 mins (as called for in the recipe) and it turned out perfectly (though I could have browned the chicken skin more).

Here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/One-Pot-Skillet-Cooker-Stockpot/dp/0307954412

The key thing is to find and try new recipes once or twice a week. Some of them will work and some of them won't, but if you take the effort to try new things you are guaranteed to be less bored.


There are a bunch of ways to find interesting recipes:
When you go to a restaurant and have something you enjoy, try to figure out how to make it. This also goes for recipes you know you've liked in the past - as long as you have some idea of what the dish is called you'll be able to find it.
Browse recipe sites and just look for something that sounds interesting that uses ingredients you have around.
Buy a new cookbook - Some people can just read a cookbook of recipes, some people aren't interested unless it has pictures, some people need some kind of hook so it's not just recipes to read (that's me). But whatever your tastes in food and cookbooks, there are some out there for you. You can't go wrong with this one

All the judgment of your mom is super helpful and will absolutely solve your problems! Relax, everybody, we know you are Good Eaters, you don't have to reassert it at the expense of this poor girl's mom. You say you're a student trying to 'pay the rent' at home by cooking for your mom, which is very admirable. As you say, it is probably an opportunity for you to expand her palate. My father is exactly the same way, so I speak from a place of knowledge in this regard! Getting him to switch from pinto to black beans in his breakfast burritos was a MAJOR accomplishment for which I am still pleased with myself, all these years later. Sigh. Baby steps ahead!

If she hates onion but is fine with onion salt, it's probably just the texture that bothers her. I used to be the same way. Fantastic! This is an easy fix! Put that stuff in the blender and puree it. Even better, caramelize the onions and then puree them. Try roasting garlic in the oven, it'll come out all mushy so you can incorporate it into other things very easily. No, that's not how it's normally "done" but at least this way you get to taste some onions in your food!

If she's okay eating onions as long as they're disguised somehow, look into French food! There's not too much garlic (or at least, there are many classic recipes which don't call for it), almost no chilis whatsoever, and compared to something like Thai food, it's less exotic. When you get down to it, French cooking has a foundation in "hunk of meat, beautifully cooked, paired with a sauce and served with wine and probably potatoes." Your mom sounds like she'll be comfortable with the idea of some new version of "meat with sauce" so let's start with that!

There are two women whose legendary status is attributable to their popularity among your mom's demographic: Martha Stewart and Julia Child. I know, I know, people in this subreddit are rending their garments in grief that I would list the two together, but both of these women achieved iconic status by cooking food in an unthreatening way and slooowly convincing a lot of conservative families in the 20th century to expand their palate. So where to begin with these two?

Mastering the Art of French Cooking looks intimidating because it is long and wordy. The good news is, I can just about guarantee that your local library has several copies of this classic, so check it out and browse through to get comfortable with it. This is the most profound, revolutionary cookbook of the 20th century. Millions and millions of grandmothers around the world transitioned from 'steak and potatoes' to 'steak au poivre and sauteed green beans' with Julia's help. I highly, highly recommend checking out her old PBS shows, all of which are pretty easy to find in libraries or online. You can even stream The French Chef on Amazon! Her recipes run the gamut from 'chicken noodle soup' to 'something incredibly complicated and expensive involving lobster which I am never going to make.' Here are some examples of simple, nonthreatening but nevertheless delicious recipes: Fillet of Sole with Lemon Cream sauce, Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce, Roast Chicken.

Let's take a totally separate tack. Instead of focusing on one cuisine, how do you find a variety of simple, unthreatening recipes for your mama to enjoy? This is where Martha Stewart comes in. Her recipes are the best I've found for actual home cooks who may have limited access to ingredients or picky kids (or moms!) at home. Everyday Foods Fast is absolutely wonderful. Simple, straightforward recipes with easy to find ingredients without relying on Rachel Ray style "open up a can of beans" preparation. Example recipes: Sauteed Chicken in Mustard sauce, Grilled Bread and Tomato Salad, Buttermilk Baked Chicken, Creamy Fettucine with Asparagus, and of course everybody on earth should set aside a weekend afternoon to make Martha Stewart's Crack and Cheese holy moly mother of mozzarella if there is a human who doesn't like this check them for a pulse.

I think if you were to try working your way through Julia Child's basics and supplementing that with Martha Stewart on busy weeknights, you'd be able to improve your own cooking skills and expand your mom's palate.

I hope this helps!

Puerto Rican Cookery https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882894110/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GFT1CbK2Z1477

The classic.

I am not a big fan of the mainstream vegan cookbooks. I find they tend to produce "strange" food, at least for my pallate. I prefer vegan cookbooks that focus on whole foods, and use more or less traditional ingredients. Probably just because I grew up eating normal food and find that kind of food comforting. The test for me is whether or not you can shop at a mainstream grocery store and find all the ingredients.

My favorite vegan cookbook, in terms of producing the most recipes that I actually make on a regular basis is the "Student's Go Vegan Cookbook." It's not perfect - half the book is essentially filler - but there are some real gems in there - recipes that are both easy and incredibly good.

I also recently found "Color Me Vegan," and even though I haven't extensively used it yet, I really love the concept. The book has more nutritional basis / information than any vegan cookbook I have ever seen.

I looked up some things online and found out about this cookbook that has been praised as a great way to experience authentic Puerto Rican food. Food is a pretty important aspect, if not the most important one of our culture, in my opinion.

You can also look up documentaries and history books.

So many pastry books out there, they are all usually pretty specialized. If you are interested in old school American pastries you can get American Cookery by James Beard.

For French, the book I would recommend is out of print. For modern American pastries the best place is online. Pinterest is booming with ideas. Pastries unlike bread welcomes experimentation. Good luck.

Boo yeah -- here it is: Supermarket Vegan

http://www.amazon.com/Supermarket-Vegan-Meat-Free-Egg-Free-Dairy-Free/dp/0399535616/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I can't vouch for it as I haven't used it, but I have another cookbook by the same author and have enjoyed it.

I had a similar experience about 7 years ago. My dad had his entire large intestine removed. He's also developed diabetes. I made the same choice you're making now and it's been great. I'm in better shape at 32 than I was at 22. I commend your choice and thought I'd offer an encouraging success story.

As for practical advice, this book is easy and the recipes are quick and cheap.

Here are a few tips or observations from my personal experience -

• being vegan is easy if you like to cook.
  
  

• the other posters are right that not all vegan food is healthy, but you'll find that excluding animal products often leads naturally to excluding unhealthy food.
  
  
• vitamins - Vegan daily multi, some sort of B complex. That's it for me.
  
  I don't know how old you are or if this applies to you, and this might be a unpopular position, but I gave up animal products and alcohol and found the combo to be amazing. I'm not 100% alcohol abstinent, but pretty close. I was vegan for 3 years or so before I began avoiding alcohol and I've found the results to be quite similar. Thought I'd tack that on because if you took up both, you might see even quicker and more profound health benefits. Good luck!

Here's a good cookbook for cooking for two if you are just cooking for yourself.

The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook, Gift Edition: 650 Recipes for Everything You'll Ever Want to Make

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Gift/dp/1945256060/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=cooking+for+two&qid=1555387636&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Ok, you guys have kids together? You’ll do anything to fix everything?

Do you mean that?

You have to change nearly everything about who you are to save this. Do it for the kids.

Here goes:

1. Give her some space. Don’t contact her, at all, for two months. If she contacts you, respond respectfully, but make no dying requests to see her. If she asks what you’re doing, say you’re reflecting on how you mistreated her and you’re practicing taking an active role in the relationship.
   
2. Clean the house. Top to fucking bottom. Vacuum, dust, polish, organize. Scrub everything, especially the kitchen. This place needs to be fucking spotless. Keep it that was forever.
   
3. Buy a cookbook. I personally recommend “Cooking for Two” by America’s Test Kitchen. Easy to scale up for more than two. Link: The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook, Gift Edition: 650 Recipes for Everything You'll Ever Want to Make https://www.amazon.com/dp/1945256060/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_CFIOCbH0PJ24A
   
4. Cook something for yourself from the cookbook, following it exactly, every night for a month. EVERY FUCKING NIGHT, no exceptions. Learn how difficult cooking is - you apparently have no idea or appreciation. Invite your guy friends over. Cook for them.
   
5. For the 2nd month of not talking to her, alternate: Cook one day, go out the next day. Go to a different restaurant every other night. Yes by yourself, for fuck’s sake. Or take the kids. NOT OLIVE GARDEN. Ask your friends, ask Yelp, ask Reddit, find good, unique, non-chain restaurants, sample their menus. Take notes about each one: quality of food, atmosphere, etc.
   
6. Exercise every other day for at least 30 minutes. I don’t care what you do but do something. Taking care of your body is important in a relationship because the other person looks at it a lot.
   
7. Buy flowers for yourself once a week. Get a nice vase. Put them on the table. Understand where the best florists near you are. Ask then if they ever have bouquets people order and don’t pick up - you can get a good deal.
   
8. Get some candles. Light them. Smell them. Enjoy them.
   
9. Read “Five Love Languages“. It sounds like she speaks “Services”, and got sick of being taken advantage of. Not sure about you, OP. Determine your languages and hers. You’ll need that for phase 2.
   
10. Make a list of everything you love about her. Try to hit all 5 Love Languages.
    
11. Get counseling, so you stop getting relationship advice from me, a Ghost of a Pirate, online.
    
    
    Ok that’s your first task. I’ve given you those tasks for a couple reasons: One, to make yourself a better person around food, and two, to make you a better person around the house. That’s great and all, but you still have no idea how to treat a lady. IF AND ONLY IFF you complete the above without faltering, then proceed. I’ve called out where i’m addressing the Love Languages in [].
    
    
12. Call her (not text, yes an actual phone call). Key talking points: You fucked up, you’re sorry, you are fundamentally changing who you are because she’s worth it. You’d like to take her out on a date. She’ll (hopefully) agree. If not, time to cut your losses and move on. She’s gone. You’ll find another girl and you’ll know what not to do, and you’ll know how to cook.
    
13. Remember the 15 restaurants you went to in the previous month? Pick your favorite, call ahead and get reservations, take here there. Please make it something expensive. She deserves it.
    
14. Buy and bring flowers. Be early to the restaurant. Stand in the entry looking for her. Give her flowers. [Gifts]
    
15. Give her one hug. A short one. That’s it. You aren’t dating, you don’t get automatic prolonged physical contact. That’s for people who are dating.
    
16. You have one chance. One conversation. You blow this, you’re done. Key talking points:
    
17. You didn’t appreciate everything she did for you in the past. You’re sorry. You’ll appreciate her more in the future.
    
18. You didn’t treat her like a girlfriend, but like a personal assistant. You were an asshole. You recognize this now and you’re sorry. You will now do ALL the house chores, including cooking (she’ll say it’s ok, you can share the chores, but it’s important that you offer 100% because of how you were doing 0% in the past). [Services]
    
19. Ask her how she feels. Listen. Don’t interrupt or say a goddamn word in self defense. Her feelings are not to be negotiated. Push her words into your long term memory. Repeat them to yourself. Remember what she says. [Time]
    
20. Tell her everything you love about her. Compliment her hair, her eyes, her smile, her kindness, her care, her intellect, her feelings, everything. Tell her how much you admire and love these things. DO NOT MENTION COOKING. We got into this bind because you only loved her cooking, let’s NOT BRING THAT UP NOW. Not the time. Seriously. She is tired of being a chef. Don’t remind her. [Words]
    
21. After dinner, while you’re waiting for the check, reach out across the table and ask to hold her hand. Just hold it, nothing funny. Just hold her hand in yours on the table. Look her in the eyes. Repeat after me: “I really fucked this one up. I love you, and I’m changing who I am because I want to make this work”. Squeeze her hand, then let go.
    
22. (You’re paying, bucko. If it’s not over $80, you probably won’t get her back, because that means you didn’t take her someplace really nice)
    
23. Do not ask to take her home, or go home with her, or to come home with you. You’re not dating, remember? Tell her you’re very happy she came out to see you and you’d like to see her again. If you followed all my steps, she’ll hopefully say something like “yeah, I’d like that”. Hug her, kiss the air next to her cheek, and depart. This is important: YOU MUST LEAVE HER WANTING MORE. Do not push your boundaries and leave her wanting less, that’s a recipe for disaster. Leave her wishing you had kissed her cheek, or her lips. Leave her wanting more, and she’ll be that much more likely to call back.
    
    
    Good luck, my friend.
    

This book has lots of cheap easy veggie meals.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Starving-Students-Vegetarian-Cookbook/dp/0446676756

My go-to is always stir-fry with various sauces, or tofu hash:
1 package firm or extra-firm tofu 1 onion, finely chopped
2 potatoes, cubed ½ cubes 1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste, or Ms Dash
Cube the tofu into small ½ inch cubes. In a large saucepan, heat some olive oil to coat pan. Put in the tofu cubes, and sauté them over medium heat. You will have to turn them a lot, and may have to turn the heat down if it is cooking too fast. Add a little soy sauce for flavor. When the tofu starts to turn light brown, add the potatoes. Sauté them together, and when the potatoes start to look clear, add the rest of the vegetables, along with Ms Dash or salt and pepper (remember it will already have soy sauce on it). Sauté the whole mix together until the onions look translucent, then serve hot. Goes really well with whole grain toast.

There is a recipe very similar to this in American Cookery by James Beard, he browns it well and adds cream to it though.

Smothered Cabbage.

2-3 lbs cabbage, shredded and browned well in 6 tbsp of fat, once it's browned add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper. Cook with no additional liquid, when tender add 1 tbsp vinegar, shake pan add 1/3 cup heavy cream and toss with wooden spoon.

I've gotten a lot of use out of this cookbook.

These are my three favorites. All three have pretty foolproof recipes and everything I've made from them has been totally delicious. Some of the recipes are more complicated than others, but generally they're mostly all made in just one pot and have a nice variety to choose from.


Dinner in an Instant by Melissa Clark
Comfort in an Instant by Melissa Clark
Multicooker Perfection by America's Test Kitchen

ahh now that you say slow-cooker meals i understand why you're disappointed with internet recipes. most of them for slow-cookers are atrocious blog garbage.

if you want good slow-cooker recipes i'd get a cookbook. this one is from a great test kitchen, and although i've not used it i would trust the recipes in there.

also it's not for slow-cookers but these everyday food books are filled with simple, easy recipes as well. a lot of people poop on martha stewart but the everyday food vertical is amazing.

I have been getting really into cooking, and expanding my repertoire of recipes and specialties. I have always been skilled at cooking but I'm trying to amp up my abilities and start mastering more complex dishes. The Newlywed Cookbook should be in everyone's bookshelf. Truly, I have not made a bad recipe from this book. 10/10 would recommend!

I have also always been on the "alternative diet/food lifestyle" train, but my mother recommended "Nourishing Traditions" to me and reading it has been great! I am learning so much more about nutrition and ancestral cooking. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to increase their level of natural, personal wellness, and anyone interested in bone broth, home fermentation, and the like. Even if you don't subscribe to everything she says, there is still so much to learn and take away from this book!

I used the recipe from Puerto Rican Cookery. I highly recommend the book!

THIS

Big fan of Seriouseats.com and I have The Test Lab cookbook but haven't cooked anything out of it yet :(. I also checkout http://www.budgetbytes.com/, http://www.thekitchn.com/, http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ and Alton Brown recipes.

We have 3 (boy was I wrong) 5 America's Test Kitchen cookbooks:

• The Make Ahead Cook
  
• Cooking School
  
• Slow Cooker Revolution
  
• Slow Cooker Revolution 2
  
• Six-Ingredient Solution
  
  These get used frequently.

I find this one helpful.

100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways To Make The True Essentials https://www.amazon.com/dp/1940352010/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_32YCCb6564C93

100 Recipes: The Absolute Best Ways To Make The True Essentials $27.19 is recycled/reorganized content from The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2018 $28.44.

On a personal note I made the Classic Banana bread and the Ultimate Banana Bread (featured in the 100 Recipes book). I enjoyed the Classic much more. Both recipes are in the TV Show Cookbook.

Milk, bread, juice, cereal, cheese, eggs, cottage cheese, bagels, cream cheese, pasta, sauce, rice, ground beef, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, BBQ sauce, soup, crackers, for a quick dinner get one of those roasted chickens at the store, eat then you can make some sandwiches and some chicken salad too, onions, tomato, celery, fresh fruit

Someone else mentioned a slow cooker - that's a great idea.

some helpful books:


http://www.amazon.com/Life-Skills-101-Practical-Leaving/dp/0970133499


http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Cooking-Just-For-Yourself/dp/0572031505/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375037184&sr=8-2&keywords=slow+cooking+for+one

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-One-Seasonal-Preparing-Delicious/dp/0867308222/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375037272&sr=8-2&keywords=cooking+for+one

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Survival-Guide-Living-Your/dp/1416549692/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375037329&sr=1-3&keywords=living+alone+guide

http://www.amazon.com/Wheres-Mom-Now-That-Need/dp/0961539011/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

Get one good knife - chef's knife is handy for most things.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-7-Inch-Fibrox-Granton-Santoku/dp/B008M5U1WM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1375037511&sr=8-11&keywords=chef%27s+knife

And a sharpener for it:

http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-008-Texas-Black-Sharpener/dp/B0014VRLVA/ref=sr_1_10?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1375037575&sr=1-10&keywords=knife+sharpener

Yeah!! So it’s “The Newlywed Cookbook .” We just had sharpies available, and people wrote messages to us on their favorite recipes in the book. It was lovely to read through. My mom wrote on the pizza recipe a memory of us making pizza together as a family.

I dont remember if it has a jerk recipe but check out "Cocina Criolla" and "Puerto Rican Cookery" by Carmen Aboy.

https://www.amazon.com/Cocina-criolla-Carmen-Valldejuli/dp/0882894293/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509991668&sr=8-1&keywords=cocina+criolla+de+carmen+aboy&dpID=7150010W17L&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Puerto-Rican-Cookery-Carmen-Valldejuli/dp/0882894110/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509992191&sr=1-1&keywords=puerto+rican+cookery&dpID=41M%252BNaWt7hL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

It's the quintessential Puerto Rican "comida criolla" Caribbean cuisine from our grandmas and great grandmas.


Perhaps you can find some tasty appetizer/side dish/dessert to go with your jerk chicken. :)

I make a menu at the beginning of every week. Then I figure out exactly what ingredients I will need for breakfast lunch and dinner for that week, create a list, and shop.

I usually do this Saturday morning . I then "prep" all my food on Saturday. I do this by cooking all the meats, and storing them in the fridge, so all that is required for my meals is assembly, and searing/reheating. I make all my major lunch components at this time (like chili mac and cheese, or pita sandwiches or couscous salad).

I also always have a ball of pizza dough in the freezer, a can of tomatoes and some extra mozzarella, because pizza is a life saver if people come over/I don't feel like cooking and I pawn it off on my husband.

My goal at the end of the week is to have nothing left over in my fridge. So I try not to buy many things in bulk that I don't use regularly. I try to minimize the storage component. I think that is the real key.

Two great books are the The six ingredient solution and Complete Cooking for Two(assuming you're not feeding a family).

This book made it easy for me: Vegan Cooking For One

Weekly shopping lists and a recipe for every day

http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cooking-One-Leah-Leneman/dp/0722539231

25$ Amazon.ca Kindle Edition.

Are you able to get a Kindle version with the Android / iOS app or something like Calibre to convert it? If so Kindle and the title should get you hits.

I also imagine the piracy subreddits could find it instantly, but being a popular book there should be ebook versions around. Just maybe not on sale cause popular.

Shalane Flanagan & Elyse Kopecky's cookbooks have some pretty great race day meal ideas (these and Thug Kitchen are probably some of my favorite cookbooks as far as having interesting recipes you can actually easily cook). Regardless of what you pick, the important thing is to give whatever your race day meal is a couple trial-runs so you know it sits well.

​

Cookbooks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1635651913/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/162336681X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Oh my goodness, thank you SO much for your response. I appreciate all the info that you put into it!

1. I'll post over at r/running, thanks for the suggestion!
   
   
2. That's a great point about pacing. I've been starting out fast, near the fastest pace I used to be able to run after consistently training for months - so obviously I burn out fast. I'll work on going the pace I need to, even if it feels too slow, and look at my progress over time.
   
   
3. Committing to a schedule - definitely something I need to do. I'll work on being better about actually planning out my runs, and not completing an amorphous "run for what I feel like" workout.
   
   
4. Have you heard of Run Fast. Eat slow.? I definitely don't want to fall into the trap of overeating with "runger" then not achieving my weight loss goals. I, however, find calorie tracking a bit difficult mentally... and would prefer not to do it, if possible. I'm considering just planning out meals/snacks from that cookbook and some other whole foods cookbooks, then see where that gets me? Or maybe I need to track calories.
   
   
5. I have a Garmin! I absolutely love it. The one I have has a wrist HR monitor, which I'm sure is not as accurate as a chest strap. Thanks for the SmashRun suggestion, I hadn't heard of that site before!

https://www.amazon.com/One-Pot-Skillet-Cooker-Stockpot/dp/0307954412/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504146065&sr=8-1&keywords=one+pot+recipes

I got my sister this and this for Christmas. She could heat the oven for pizza, make microwave quesodillas, and boil water, and that was about it at the time. The books are full of recipes that are designed for people with little to no cooking skills, small budgets, and not a lot of time. They are vegetarian, but don't have many odd ingredients. Her meat eating roommates have enjoyed many of the dishes produced using these books. She has since discovered that cooking can be fun and is finally eating well. I'm planning on getting myself a copy of these soon.

Six Ingredient Solutions is one of my favorite cookbooks. I love the coconut curry chicken. One of the ingredients is a lime, both the juice and zest, they really stretch every ingredient.

The One Pot cookbook from Martha Stewart living. Why? Because I love my crock pot, it is a goddess in my house and it makes the most tasty food. I could make all the typical crockpot recipes blind with one hand tied behind my back but I really want to venture out into new territory, attempt new things then adjust them for my and my family's tastes. The book would help a ton with that, over 120 new recipes plus many are for other "pots" skillets and stockpots.

1. Waiting til 1 so I can go home and have lunch.
   
2. I have done all my work for the day. And all the work for tomorrow as well as I don't trust the person I share my job with.
   
3. Work again. Only at a different place where I get to prep charts for appointments. Yay!
   
4. Save up for a good down payment on a house. Probably won't happen for 7 or 8 years though, and only if I can afford a mortgage as well.
   
5. My cell phone, travel mug, monitor, paper clip holder, hand cream, tape holder, caddie with scissors, pens, highlighers, white-out tape, post-it nots, and scrap paper, two binders, two note books, phone, plastic mats with phone number lists underneath, laptop on stand, electronic stapler, calender book... I think half the nurses desk is enough...
   
6. There are no books close by. =(
   
7. The Invisible Book of Invisibility.
   
8. Chicken and egg sandwich for breakfast.
   
9. The King's Speech. It was pretty good.
   
10. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
    
11. I heart food
    
    Zweihander.
    Fun contest! =D

Congrats! I went vegetarian when I was 18 and taught myself to cook over the next few years (and I'm still learning, 9 years later). I would recommend picking up a beginner vegan cookbook (for example). I second retirethecow's recommendation of my all-time favorite the Veganomicon, which has a range of simple to more complicated (and DELICIOUS) recipes and tips for preparing veggies in a basic, every-day way.

Remember: The key to a truly healthful vegan diet is eating a pile of veggies every day. Get to know the produce department and impress your friends by knowing the difference between a turnip and parsnip.

Also purchased with...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Single-Vegan-Convenient-Appetizing/dp/0722514549

I use this book as a reference:

In Spanish


In English

follow the quantities for adobo, comes out awesome! Sometimes I add more garlic, because garlic

That way I get to make pernil when I feel like it (like next week)

someone linked this awhile back (not mine) that I thought was interesting; it's a variety of cheap/ easy-ish foods from mostly common ingredients

http://i.imgur.com/H7hj5.jpg

edit: almost forgot my favorite cookbook, looks like there's an electronic version now too. ton's of great recipes, and quite a bit of history along side, makes for a good read:
James Beard's American Cookery:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Beards-American-Cookery-Beard/dp/031609868X

I've always loved to cook but I have to admit, I learned a lot from watching 30 Minute Meals. I know RR can be annoying, but wow, she really knows how to explain things to a novice.

Another cookbook that I love and I think is great for new cooks is Every Day Food: Great Food Fast. It's by the people at Martha Stewart and it has easy recipes and clear instructions.

When I first started cooking I too found it stressful, but just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. Now I have my own cooking show on YT and love every minute of it!
.

I have a ton of cookbooks that I use to meal plan. I pick out two things to make for dinner each week, and eat each entree two nights in a row to use up all the servings. If the entree needs a side I do a steam pack from birdseye. Those things are amazing! Asparagus, broccoli and cheese, and wild rice with veggies are my favorites.

Robin Takes 5 is my favorite cookbook of all time. They're all 5 ingredient recipes that are 500 calories or less per serving. They are all also very quick to prepare (30 mins). She is a genius at combining flavors and getting the most out of a couple ingredients. Everything I've made was delicious and there's a lot of variety.

I also like the cookbook and blog by SkinnyTaste. I also have a considerable number of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, but my two favorites are The PDQ vegetarian cookbook and Supermarket Vegan both by Donna Klein.

When I was single and vegan I had this cookbook called "The Single Vegan" http://www.amazon.com/The-Single-Vegan-Convenient-Appetizing/dp/0722514549

It was cool because it had a base of staples that you bought that you would be using over and over again, and then a weekly shopping list where you used up all of those ingredients by the end of the week.

That might not exactly work for you specifically, but it can be daunting to try to come up with things to cook for the night on the spot; it's easier to plan way ahead. It's also emsaddening to see produce go to waste! Hopefully there's a farmer's market around.

That looks like a great cookbook.

I have no idea why, but goddamn, I think everything I saw had a dusting of cumin or curry or both in it. I think you're right: people with no culinary training but lots of idealism decide to try to run a restaurant, and places like Bloodroot are the result.

I like this vegan cookbook - nice and simple, no difficult-to-find ingredients, just good everyday food.

blanched FTW. I never ate vegs until I learned from Julie Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking

[either] (https://www.amazon.com/Newlywed-Cookbook-Modern-Recipes-Cooking/dp/0811876837) of [these] (https://www.amazon.com/Two-Kitchen-Williams-Sonoma-Cookbook-Newlyweds/dp/1616283793) might be cute, maybe slightly cheesy but cute. That cutting board sounds adorable!

There is some strange 'research' (Mainly because there isn't enough data for it to be accurate) that says we aren't supposed to eat meat except for fish. Something to do with how we can eat it raw, but we get sick off of other raw meats. I wish I could remember where I read that though.

I picked up 'Healthy Cooking for two, or just you' (http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Cooking-Two-Just-You/dp/0875964486) a couple years back and it's had some really awesome small batch recipes in it (1/2 of the book is vegetarian, the rest isn't, so you might get some use for you out of it too)

Tabbouleh is an awesome dish too, with a lot of prep to share with someone...I'm looking for a good recipe on that myself though.

I also like Leah Leneman's Vegan Cooking for One. Mostly because of it's weekly meal plans and that all the recipes are for one person only. Veganomicon's recipes are for varying numbers of people and it much easier to double/triple up on Leah's recipes if necessary.

I recommend this book to people looking for quick, easy, healthy meal suggestions.

Not even close.

https://www.amazon.ca/Vegan-Cooking-One-simple-appetizing/dp/0722539231

Lots of people will say to look at the Instant Pot which is a combination electric pressure cooker/slow cooker/rice cooker ("multi cooker"). I had a bluetooth enabled "IP-SMART" 6qt model of theirs (actually three: first had a safety recall, second was dented on arrival, third still exhibited regulation issues). Lots of people are happy with Instant Pots, but I had a lot of issues with the pressure control being flaky for certain recipes. Additionally, much of what makes slow cookers safe when you are out of the house is their low wattage heaters... typically 250-400W... and low complexity (basically it's a small electric blanket that is wrapped around a very heavy ceramic pot). The Instant Pot has a 1000W heater, and is more complex (microcontroller + a thermocouple), so this negates some of the safety aspects of unattended slow cooking... though it is UL listed and has a thermal fuse in case anything goes wrong.

My recommendation if you are interested in pressure cookers and slow cookers:

1. Presto 8qt stovetop http://www.amazon.com/Presto-01370-8-Quart-Stainless-Pressure/dp/B0000Z6JIW $69 More volume than electric pressuer cookers (8qt > 6qt) which is important since safely pressure cooking needs lots of headroom between the food and lid valve so as not to clog. Typically headroom is 1/3rd volume for most foods, 1/2 for foamy foods like rice, etc. Thus a 8qt pressure cooker effectively has a volume of 4-5qt. When using it without building up pressure, it can double as a large 8qt stockpot. I ended up preferring stovetop over electric since I can get an initial brown on meat without having to use multiple pots, and I don't have to wait for an electric heater to come up to temperature (10+ minutes on the Instant Pot for me).
   
   
2. Hamilton Beach 6qt set'n'forget slow cooker http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967A-Programmable-6-Quart/dp/B00EZI26DW $50 Check reviews on thesweethome.com for it, but it beat out a lot of more expensive crock pot models. Oval shape lends itself better for some slow cooker recipes, such as mini, chocolate lava cakes, roasts, etc.
   
   $120 for both.. around the ballpark of the cheaper Instant Pots, you gain an additional pot for stove use, pressure cooker is of bigger size, slow cooker is safe unattended and a more conventional shape, and IMO will last longer. You lose automatic rice cooking capabilities but... by a $20-$30 rice cooker and probably get better rice, or just do it on the stovetop.
   
   By the way, no idea what food you like to eat, but these are two of my favorite cookbooks if you are getting started and wanted to build up some experience:
   
   

• America's Test Kitchen 100 Recipes http://www.amazon.com/100-Recipes-Absolute-Best-Essentials/dp/1940352010/ Good for in-depth explanation of 100 recipes across a pretty big range of techniques.
  
  
• Cook's Illustrated Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Illustrated-Cookbook/dp/1933615893/ Shorter explanations but lots and lots of recipes.
  
  And major shout out to Kenji's (from Seriouseats.com) new book if you want more detailed science information:
  
  
• The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking through Science http://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087
  
  This post ended up being much longer than I expected, but those are my recommendations if you are just starting out. ;) The main thing I've learned since beginning to cook is that 90%+ of the recipes online (and even in print) are untested crap, and to look for recipe sources you can trust. The second thing is that a finished recipe is much more dependant on the technique (the steps you use to modify ingredients at specific times, temperatures, and textures) and way less dependent on the ingredients themselves (you can easily sub ingredients for many recipes once the core techniques are understood).

According to America’s Test Kitchen Multicooker Perfection, it does run quite low and the don’t recommend it for most slow cook recipes.

Seriously... When I first went vegan, this was the only cookbook I could find (in a bookstore - shopping online wasn't a thing). Now I have 65 print cookbooks, 53 e-cookbooks, and probably 100 recipes for hummus (this one is my favorite). We can make anything we want! I have a (still unused) recipe for haggis!

And yet... my entire extended family is a bunch of "bacon tho's" so I'm sending them all to Hyrora's house for the holidays.

It's hard to pick one, but one I haven't seen mentioned is One Pot by Martha Stewart. It has sections for different cooking methods (roasting pan, skillet, slow cooker etc) and all recipes only use the one pot/pan. Everything I've made from that book has been delicious, and most of the recipes are fairly simple.

Grab some books for cooking for Couples. ATK has a good one, that I've used

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything-ebook/dp/B00JEOMV1E/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Cooks+Illustrated+cooking+for+2&qid=1549835767&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Healthy Cooking for Two because both my boyfriend and I need to get ourselves in better shape and learning how to cook healthier would be a huge step in the right direction! It's on my "weight loss goals" wish list :)

A healthier me! will be a happier me! :)

My cousin bought me The Newlywed Cookbook and it's a wonderful variety of recipes for two for a variety of occasions.

The dark chocolate tart recipe and baby lamb chops in particular are superb. I made these for Valentine's Day and I think he would've proposed to me all over again if he could.

So simple and so tasty! Based off of a recipe from Healthy Cooking for Two, or Just You - here's the recipe link.

I was about to list out all my favorite resources, the ones where, looking back, I can point to as being the bedrock of all the cooking knowledge I've cobbled together over the years, and I noticed they have one thing in common: PBS. The cooking shows that air on PBS (and their companion materials) are just awesome. They're not gimmicky, they don't have puppets or catch phrases, but they're reliable. There are other great sources of food knowledge, but if somebody's on PBS, you know they're the real deal.

If I had to learn it all over again starting today, here's what I'd be looking at, in rough order:

Martha Stewart's Cooking School

Martha's got a great new show and companion book to go along with it. The reason I'd start here is because it's structured the way you want it: an emphasis on technique, with clear goals for each lesson. Just about every one of your topics listed above is covered in here, and the recipes are almost secondary. Like, a show or chapter will be about braising, not about boeuf bourguignon. Pretty heavy emphasis on French and European cuisine, but some nice forays into other cuisines, too. Covers all the basics: equipment, stocks, sauces, cuts of meat. Lots of good reference sections, too, like charts on cooking techniques for different rices and grains.

It's mostly pretty traditional stuff. No "hacks" or "science", but she will occasionally throw in some neat updates to a traditional technique. In particular, her hollandaise method is the best I've ever come across. Almost completely traditional, double-boiler and all, but she uses whole butter instead of clarified. Really easy and probably tastes better, too.

Incidentally, most of the substance of the show probably comes from editorial director for food at Martha Stewart Living, Sarah Carey, who happens to have an awesome YouTube channel.

Julia Child

Julia needs no introduction. She made French cuisine accessible to us servantless American cooks half a century ago, and I don't think anyone has done it better since. You'll want to watch every episode of The French Chef you can get your hands on, and also grab a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

You could start with Julia, but her show seems to focus on the recipe first, followed by the technique. So Julia's episode on boeuf bourguignon will be about boeuf bourguignon. She'll teach you all about technique, too, of course, but I think it's easier to start with Martha if you want a run-through of the basics of a technique.

Jacques Pepin

Probably the most talented cook to ever appear on television. The man elevates mincing an onion to an art form. Probably the best shows of his are Essential Pepin, Fast Food My Way, and Julia and Jacques Cooking at home (which used to be on Hulu, if you have that).

Every show he'll cook through a bunch of recipes, and he'll make these off-the-cuff comments on why he's doing what he's doing. How to peel a carrot. How to puree garlic with a chef's knife. Adding a splash of water to a covered skillet to steam the contents from the top while cooking them from below.

There's also a lot of his older stuff on YouTube that will show particular techniques: parting and deboning a chicken, preparing an omelet, and so on. He's remarkably consistent, so if you just watch enough of his stuff you'll get the spiel on every topic eventually.

Jacques does have a compilation of technique, but frankly I think Martha's is better. The photography in Jacques' book is pretty poor, and he devotes an awful lot of space to techniques that have probably been out of fashion for forty years. That said, there's a lot that's still useful in there, so it's worth at least checking out from the library.

(By the way, while you're at it, you should read My Life in France and The Apprentice, Julia's and Jacques autobiographies, respectively.)

There's a lot more to learn, but if you start with Jacques, Julia, and Martha, you'll have a rock-solid foundation upon which to build. Once you've got the basics down, my favorite new-fangled cooking resources are Serious Eats and ChefSteps.

Happy cooking!