Learning How To Cook Again

More than a quarter of Americans don’t know how to cook, but why?

Today, our lives are busier than they have been since the industrial revolution and convenience trumps health and budget every day of the week. As a result, people spend more on restaurants than at grocery stores and have for several years now.

Kids are learning how to order takeout instead of how to cook and teenagers are opting to become YouTube stars rather than flipping burgers. It’s no wonder so many people just don’t know how to cook. Fortunately, there are apps and gadgets for cooking that can help you in making meals at home.

Food Safety Often Isn’t Taught At Home

If you ask the average home cook what internal temperature you should cook various meats on, chances are they would not even know that’s an issue.

Today, there are instructions for safe cooking right there on the packages of chicken meat in the grocery store. But who reads instructions anymore?

Working in a fast food restaurant as a teenager has long been the only introduction to proper food handling procedures many people get, but most people are skipping that life experience altogether these days. Some cookbooks cover this, but most people skip right to the recipe they want to cook and skip learning the basic techniques.

Gadgets Can Help Keep You Safe

We all have that one bottle of ketchup in the back of the fridge that has been there since the Regan administration, but we don’t throw it out because does ketchup even go bad? Fortunately, there are gadgets like the Days Ago Tracker that help you know just how long ago you opened it so you know when it’s time to throw it out.

Do you cook chicken to 160 and beef to 140 or is it the other way around? Knowing internal cooking temperatures for a variety of foods isn’t always at the top of the list for home cooks. The Range Dial Grill Pro can help you figure out the safe cooking temperatures of a variety of meats, helping you to avoid food-borne illnesses.

Apps Can Help You Learn New Techniques

Learning to cook is mostly about learning to follow a process rather than learning individual recipes. Once you learn certain techniques, you can apply them to other recipes. Before you know it, you’re already a great cook.

There are some great apps out there that can help you learn these techniques and build on the skills you have already learned.

Project Foodie is probably one of the best examples of this. Celebrity Chef Daniel Holzman walks you through step-by-step instructions on video so you can see, hear, and follow along. That’s something cookbooks won’t give you.

The app can also help you build a shopping list and adjust the recipe for different serving sizes and number of servings.

Once you have some basic techniques down, you can start using Chef Tap to collect recipes. That way, when you see something you want to try, you can organize it in one place. Then, when you’re ready to try a new recipe, Chef Tap can help you build a shopping list which you can access from anywhere.

Learning The Basics of Cooking Can Be Fun

Cooking doesn’t have to be a chore. Learning the basics from video tutorials of celebrity chefs can actually be a lot of fun. Once you have the basics down, you can build upon them, opening up new culinary possibilities.

If you don’t know how to cook, now’s the time to get started. You can always use a refresher on the basics, especially when it comes to safety.

We all know we are supposed to wash our hands before cooking, but what about after handling raw food, including vegetables? And is it safe to use a marinade after you’ve taken the meat out of it?

Many of us knew the answer at one time but we may not remember until someone gets sick.

See Also: 10 Cooking Tips For Beginners To Help You Master The Kitchen

Learn more about tech and gadgets to help you cook from the infographic below.

This infographic brought to you by KitchenByte