Hi if anyone does not have experience cooking at home and needs some easy, cheap recipes, let me know and I will gladly send you some of my faves. I will also happily tell you my favorite investments for your pantry and my favorite kitchen gadgets.

Okay thread on easy meals to cook that will look and feel like they took effort and also just general kitchen and cooking stuff that I like and find useful to have or know. Sorry in advance for typos. Feel free to add in your own stuff if you come across this thread.

Polenta Recipe. Literally one of the cheapest things to make in my opinion. They also sell premade polenta in tubes but if you invest in a big bad of cornmeal you can feed yourself for a while making your own. This recipe will make like ?????? 4 servings-ish.

Red Beans and Rice. The original cheap but extremely delicious meal.

Easy Chicken and Dumplins (or Mushrooms and Dumplins for my vegetarian friends). This is not necessarily the greatest recipe, but it's great for beginners and tastes amazing anyway.

Perfect Oven Roasted Chicken and/or Veggies. The hardest part about this recipe is probably cutting, washing, and prepping the veggies.

Slow Cooker Beef Roast. Again, this is maybe not the greatest ever roast but it is the easiest by far. Just DON'T OVERCOOK. Add in water or veggie broth if it seems to be getting too dry.

Vegetarian Burrito Bowls. Literally one of my faves. You can make a bunch and have leftovers or pre-prep the food, freeze it, and cook one serving at a time.

Loaded Sweet Potatoes. Great if you just want something different.

SEASONING. If you are new to cooking, the main thing you need to learn is how to season. I suggest getting some seasoning mixes like Lawry's, Tony Chachere's, Mrs. Dash, Fiesta Brand Fajita Seasoning, etc. until you learn to season yourself.

Some of us, like myself, grew up in, ahem, *coughs* white, families that didn't make a variety of foods outside of generic American and didn't use a variety of seasonings (bless my grandma for knowing how to season). That's okay, the time to learn and try new things is now.

The best investment is a slow cooker. Prep the food the night before, turn it on low when you leave in the morning, and boom: dinner is ready when you get home. You can also spend a Sunday afternoon preparing different slow-cooker meals, freezing them, and cooking them whenever.

Another good investment is a combo blender and food processor. You can chop veggies with ease, blend soups, make smoothies for breakfast, make graham cracker crust from scratch, crush nuts for salads, etc.

I also feel like the little kitchen gadgets many people label as a "waste of money" are actually worth the investment, especially if you have a disability. Egg slicers, pineapple and apple corers, and empanada molds are ways to make things faster, easier, and more accessible.

Oh ummmm invest in a stepping stool for your kitchen if you are short so that you can reach things up high, replace kitchen lightbulbs, and clean the vent and cabinet tops. Trust me. You need the clean the vent and cabinet tops.

Get big bags of flour, sugar, cornmeal, and get a box of bread crumbs. They will last a long time and have a variety of uses. Also get a variety of carbs and grains, not just rice and pasta. Buckwheat, quinoa, beans, etc.

Learn to make banana bread. Your friends will love you, your significant others will love you, your family will love you. I like to put dark chocolate chips in mine for extra sweetness.

Potatoes are ultimately cheaper, healthier, and have more nutritional value than (most) ramen noodle packets. It is a better investment to buy a bag of potatoes, and you will gain more cooking experience making potatoes in different ways.

Speaking of ramen, if you are new to cooking, start adding things to your ramen like boiled/fried eggs, veggies, and meat. Look at traditional ramen recipes and find little things you can do to make your ramen better.

Most sandwiches taste better toasted in the oven. Use greens other than lettuce if you can afford to. Dijon mustard instead of regular mustard can make a boring sandwich way better. Add cream cheese to a PBJ (just trust me on this).

Learn to make pizza dough from scratch. It's hard at first but once you get it, it's so easy to make whatever pizza you want. Plus the jar of yeast will last a while. Also pita bread is made somewhat similarly so that will be easy to learn too once you have pizza down.

Also! If you have fresh food that is about to go bad, portion it and freeze it. Pull it out and cook as needed. Especially people only cooking for 1 or 2.

I always tell myself I'll cook the broccoli and then ignore it until it goes bad. Don't be me. Just freeze the broccoli.

I thought of a few more kitchen and pantry essentials while I was cooking tonight!

Lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, liquid smoke, white wine, and Worcestershire sauce are great to make anything more flavorful.

Get a molcajete/mortar and pestle. Get prep bowls. Get a spice rack.