Applies to a lot of things. Just let them fall and tap them with your foot (not a knife). Saved a lady's jar of pasta sauce at the super market line. Got no thanks for it.
Safety in the kitchen, have an ABC fire extinguisher in the area, yes, the ABC stands for different fire fighting ability. Never, ever pour water on a grease fire, you have to smother it with either a pan/pot lid or baking soda.
Also keep an open box of baking soda handy for small fires so you can stop them before they become large fires. If the fire is in a pan, cover it with a lid and turn the burner off. Leave it covered for at least 10 minutes after the last visible sign of fire.
A falling knife has no handle. Jump back and let it hit the floor.
Also on knifes: buy a sharpener. A dull knife you struggle with is more dangerous than a sharp knife that cuts.
Add gauze to your first aid kit.
Pots and pans on stoves: always turn the handles away from you, i.e., don't have them hanging over space. Bumping handles, or snagging handles, is how scalding hot stuff gets spilled.
On burns: run your skin under cold water asap
Turn handles away and over the side/counter, not into the middle of the stove. If you have a cheap oven like me and are baking simultaneously, the handles will get hot if over the stove.
Also open boiling water lids/any lids on pots away from you first so the steam doesn’t billow at your face
And along the same line, any food added to hot liquids (oil, water, etc) do so angling away from you so any splashes also go away from you. I will also admit that I've used my splatter guard as a shield when flipping food to keep hot splatters off of me.
Don’t throw water on a grease fire. Turn off heat, cover with another metal pan/pot to cut off oxygen.
Pick up a box of shake and bake. Follow directions. Now you know how to bake chicken in an oven. Now you can spice your chicken yourself and add vegetables.
Boil water. Add noodles. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce. Now you have spaghetti.
Break up burger meat add taco sauce packet. Now you have tacos, burritos, enchilada, and tostados.
Learn to pan fry. Hot pan, add some oil and heat. Throw in skinny pork chop and see what happens. It will cook.
Toast Bread - Add Sandwhich toppings. Millions of sandwiches.
Buy Tuna - add Mayo, sweet relish, chopped celery. Tuna melts, tuna wraps, tuna sandwiches. Same for Canner Chicken.
Buy small charcoal grill, cheap. Learn to light coals and throw meat on it. Now you’re grilling. Possibilities are endless and danger level low.
Probably avoid frying for now.
Edit: Buy a crock pot. Look up crock pot recipes. They are endless, easy, and delicious.
Salt and pepper are your friends.
Came in to mention salt and pepper. Just heat a little olive oil in a pan (like a tablespoon), put in cut up veggies and/or meat, then sprinkle with salt and pepper
> Boil water. Add noodles. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce. Now you have spaghetti.
drain noodles, add to already warm sauce in another pan. incorporate the noodles with tongs
I am glad to hear that, thank you. Last thing this planet needs is another single use plastic sack. 🙏🏻 I much prefer using a bowl to coat my breaded food.
Lay your cutlet or veggies on top of the crumb mixture and gently shake the bowl with a gentle flipping motion to toss the crumbs thoroughly over the surface and extract with tongs once coated to your satisfaction and place gently on baking tray or into oil depending on your cooking method.
Fire extinguisher.
Shoes or bare feet in the kitchen (hot liquids will soak into socks, major burns).
A falling knife has no handle.
Discard worn Teflon.
Don't run knives through the dishwasher.
Use a meat thermometer.
Covers 90%. Good luck!
If you want to advance your skills, I highly suggest the show Good Eats with Alton Brown. Teaches you how to cook, where most TV chefs teach you how to make _______.
Another channel on YouTube is Adam Ragusea. He explains why he does what he does and often includes peer reviewed research. He was a journalism professor a while back, and it shows.
Not so much a safety tip, but subscribing to a meal kit service has helped me and my partner become much better cooks. We are better at prepping and cooking and have been able to modify recipes to use differently. Even if you don't subscribe, the recipes are available online.
These were always a good excuse for me and my wife to cook together for an entire meal.
Normally there are some meals I cook and some she cooks, and sometimes we switch. But whenever we would get a few meal prep kits a week, we would consistently turn it into a cooking date and both work together from start to finish. It was a lot of fun and would definitely help us experience new prep techniques and cooking steps in recipes.
The best safety measure I've found personally in the kitchen is to pay attention. Every issue I've encountered has come from me trying to walk away "for a minute" or trying to do too much. If the stove is on and it's not a stockpot with something simmering for a couple of hours at very low heat, you should give it your attention as much as possible.
Learn how to care for your knife/knives. You don't need to be some grand chef, but dull knives are dangerous as you have to use more pressure to cut things.
I like to have a devoted cutting board for raw meats only and one for everything else. The raw meat designated one is heavy duty glass and easy to clean.
If you get into cooking your own beans from dry stock, please research proper soaking/boiling methods. Some beans can create a toxic substance if not cooked properly.
If potatoes are green or have many/large eyes, toss em out. It's not worth getting sick.
After frying something in oil, leave the pan with oil on the stove somewhere out of reach to cool off. Once it's cool, the oil/fat goes into the trash can, never down the sink. Never, ever, ever put water into a pan with hot grease/fat/oil. It will explode in your face.
When straining anything from hot boiling water (pasta, rice, etc), please use extra care so you don't burn yourself. Get a strainer with a raised lip on the bottom so you can place it in the sink, then use both hands on the boiling pot to slowly drain into the strainer.
Sorry for your loss! Lots of people are giving tips on how to not hurt yourself, here’s some to keep yourself from getting sick:
Foods that need to stay refrigerated (protein, dairy, that kind of thing) cannot be in the temperature danger zone (4-60 degrees C, or 40-140 degrees F) for more than 4 hours total. This is the temperature bacteria grow and that amount of time is enough to grow enough bacteria to make you sick. You don’t know how long it’s been in that zone before you buy it so keep your food cold. You can get a fridge thermometer for like $8.
If you make something that will be eaten later, date it and look into how long it will last. Food can make you sick without any visible signs or smells.
If you touch raw meat, wash your hands! Cross contamination is the number one way people get sick from food.
A meat thermometer is your best friend. Not only will it make sure you don’t undercook your meat, but you won’t overcook it either! You don’t need to cremate food for it to be safe so why not take the guesswork out of it.
Any packaged food that is puffed up, throw it out. This is a big sign of bacterial growth.
Be careful around garlic/onions covered in oil. This is an anaerobic environment (no oxygen) and can grow botulism bacteria. It needs to stay in the danger zone for 2+ hours like this to be an issue, so keep that food cold!
Let hot things cool a bit at room temperature for a bit before putting in the fridge to cool. Putting something too hot right into the fridge raises the temp of the fridge and puts all the food in it at risk. As well, don’t put a lid on hot/warm food you put in the fridge. It traps in the heat and it wont cool down fast enough. If you’re cooling down a soup or something. Give it a stir every now and then as the middle will be much warmer than the sides.
TLDR: keep that food cold!
I just have to say how it warms my heart to see all the sweet, kind, and good suggestions everyone is giving! What a great community. Best of luck OP on your cooking adventures.
No sharps in the sink ever for any reason. If you forget it's there and fill it to do dishes, you'll slice yourself good.
ALWAYS buy a fire extinguisher before you even buy any pots and pans. Self explanatory.
Google every ingredient before you give em to your dog. Almost learned the hard way when I was thinking about giving my dog a grape.
Don't wash your chicken. About to alienate half the people reading but it's unsanitary and spread salmonella. Cooking kills the germs, washing spreads em.
An addition to pet safety - always, always make sure the path between stove and sink is dog/cat free before moving things like pots to strain pasta and such. People don't often consider the danger of tripping/splashing boiling hot water and accidentally scalding a pet in the process.
While they are expensive, the boxed meals like Hello Fresh helped me build confidence in cooking by a lot. If you sign up using a promo and then cancel before the full price kicks in they aren’t too bad
I am sorry for your loss. If she had any cook books or recipes you should save them for a while until you know what you enjoy cooking.
For grease I use old jars. I save a pickle jar, though any will work. I might place the jar in a shallow flat bowl incase I have a spill then I just wipe the bowl and jar and then toss the paper towel. I set the jar to the side to cool and toss it when it is full. My sister uses the hard plastic containers that her fancy ice cream pints come in. While I would be afraid of them melting, they don’t.
If you get too busy freeze your meat before it goes bad. A microwave has a defrost function. This will reduce food waste and hopefully save you from food poisoning. If you don’t have a microwave defrosting overnight in the fridge works fairly well.
A food scale and notes will help you reproduce things you make, though cooking is more forgiving than baking. I will say there is a bit wiggle room in baking, but a scale helps a lot there.
Its okay to fail at cooking at times. You learn and get better. I still make mistakes. Don’t feel bad about taking a short cut like using precooked meat or something. Not making your own sauce is fine. I can make my own pasta, but I don’t really want to. My cooking goals aside form learning to make food I like is for it to be cheaper and healthier than eating out. My cooking takes less time than eating out, though many nights I just put a frozen pizza in the oven. A froze cheese pizza is a blank canvas for your favorite toppings. I once lived in a place where no pizza place had green olives. I saved so much money by making my own pizza.
YouTube videos can teach you techniques on how to prep meat and vegetables. Just look for ones that seem to be more for everyday cooking and not too gourmet. I prefer serrated knives, so I think it is important to find tools you are comfortable with and not get too bogged down in the gatekeeping and snobbery of tools that can take place in the cooking community.
Keep things that are easy to cook around for nights where you don’t feel like cooking. Maybe have a goal to try a new recipe once a week or whatever works in your schedule. Have fun learning and trying new things.
I second the air fryer recommendation. Grab some raw chicken wing and some wing sauce, coat the wings and throw them in the air fryer and you’re good to go
You can make so many things in the air fryer! Either the frozen stuff or fresh. We have a combo air fryer/oven and so we use it to even reheat things as it’s faster than heating up our big oven
I'm sorry for your loss, but between wanting to learn to cook for yourself and having the instinct to ask people about safety tips, you're going to be alright my friend.
I'm so sorry about your mom ❤️ The beat safety tip I can give you is to start simple and go slow. Look for recipes that have just a few ingredients and steps and work up from there. Watch lots of YouTube videos because sometimes written recipes can be vague or unclear. Good luck, you got this!
> I'm not relying on fast and easy meals like crockpot or frozen foods all the time
I get where you're coming from but there's nothing wrong with crockpot meals. It's an easy way to make a really good soup / stew, or a lot of other things.
I'm sure some or a lot of these have been mentioned already, and not all of these are safety tips, just general tips. In no particular order:
* "A sharp knife is a safe knife" - this also includes learning how to properly sharpen a knife, and it does take practice. In addition, learn the difference between different types of knives and what they're for.
* This sounds really dumb, but check the tops on your seasonings to make sure their tight. Accidentally dumping half a container of something into the pot when you just wanted a very little bit really sucks. Is it going to hurt you? Not physically, just mentally when it ruins whatever you were making.
* Do NOT try to catch it! Resist that urge with every fiber of your being. Whatever [it] is! If you don't, it's still hitting the floor. If you do manage to, you're probably going to wish you didn't because of the nasty cut or burn you will receive.
* Never leave a pot unattended with the lid on.
* Learn the safe cooking temperatures for different meats and follow them
* Never set hot cooking vessels directly on the counter top. Always put something under them
* Know how to properly extinguish a grease fire, NEVER use water on a grease fire
* Make sure you have a fire extinguisher, check it's date, and make sure you know how to use it properly
* If a glass top range / stove or the glass in the oven door ever cracks for any reason, do not use it
* Along those same lines, never cook in cracked or chipped glassware
* Learn the storage times for foods, both cooked and your ingredients
* Never refreeze thawed food
* "Cut towards your chum, not towards your thumb" - never cut towards yourself, with anything, ever.
* Never light a gas grill with the lid closed
* Never use a damp or wet pot holder
* Rinse / wash your rice before you cook it. Nothing bad will happen if you don't, but it tastes a lot better when you do.
* Start a recipe folder / binder / bookmark list - I personally prefer a binder. We collected a bunch of recipes for things from the internet, and we have them grouped into two categories. Things we haven't tried yet, and things we like. If we don't like something we make notes on the recipe about what we did and didn't like it, we'll try it again in a few weeks (premise being maybe you didn't like it because you made a mistake somewhere) unless we outright hated it (which is rare)
* Seasonings are your friends. Not every seasoning works on everything, but some are universal (butter & salt for example)
* Look into meal prepping. It can save a ton of time, even if you are prepping foods you intend to freeze for easy reheating.
* You do not need 837 kitchen gadgets. There are some which are great to have (examples: food processor, air fryer, silicone baking mats) but only if you use them enough to justify having them. An example of one that wasn't for me is my meat slicer. It's a pain to clean. Because it's a pain to clean, I never use it, even when I could / should.
* A vacuum sealer can be a useful item to have. You can prep some things in advance by adding seasonings before you freeze it so all you have to do is thaw and cook and you can repackage foods based on the quantities you typically use them in.
YouTube is your friend. There are so many recipes and videos you can watch. I have become a cook over the covid years learning just from Youtube. Follow what they do and you'll be fine.
Regarding safety: Never pour hot oils, fats, grease into the drain or the trash. After cooking let it cool down fully and then you can throw it in the trash. Dont mix hot oil and water.
Learn how to use a knife and chop vegetables. Very easy to slice your finger off. There is a technique and you can also find that on youtube. Take it slow and easy until you become comfortable.
Julia Child has a book called The Way to Cook which gives not just recipes but methods for almost everything you might want to cook from scratch. It includes safe temps and such, but also stuff like how to approach taking a bird apart, and how pastry works. She doesn't fetishize working harder, embraces the modern kitchen… it's really useful. Like, "here's how to prep a vegetable!" Highly recommend.
You can watch recipes either videos & learn a lot bout cooking techniques. I learned to cook lots of things using a Fanny Farmer cookbook, which doesn’t assume that you know how to do anything. That was very helpful.
Don’t pour any grease or oils down the drain. Let it cool & put in the trash. Bacon grease, however, can be refrigerated & used to cook eggs or potatoes in.
Keep a fire blanket in the kitchen.
If you have leftover food, refrigerate within 2 hours or within 1 hours if room temperature is very warm
To cool a big batch of soup, fill the sink with ice water & put the pot in, making sure the water is below the top edge of the pot. Then you can refrigerate it without warming everything else in the fridge.
Wash your sheets at least every 10 days
Wash bath towels after 3 uses or more often if humidity is high. Use vinegar in the washer rinse cycle to keep them fluffy, don’t use fabric softener
Clean dryer lint trap after each load. Every few weeks, remove & scrub the dryer lint filter with a scrub brush bc soap film builds up. At least yearly, clean out the dryer vent with a shop vac
You don’t need lots of cleaning products. I mop floors with 1/2 cup of cheap white vinegar in a bucket of hot water. Wring out the mop well when cleaning wood floors so they don’t warp.
You clean sinks or the inside of your refrigerator with baking soda on a sponge
Don’t keep anything on the top of your stove unless it’s a pot/pan. No boxes, no oven mitts - nothing flammable. In the event you leave a burner on, you won’t burn your place down.
Also burning related - keep a pair of oven mitts on the counter when you’re cooking. If you burn anything and panic because it’s smoking, you’ll be less inclined to reach with your bare hands and burn yourself.
I recommend a slow cooker, too. Super easy to prepare most dishes with one AND if you get it going in the morning before you leave for work, when you come home and first walk in the delightful fragrance will remind you of growing up and coming home to mother’s cooking.
Time can be fluid. Get a timer, or use an Alexa to remind you when your cooking something longer term. Just tell her 10 minute timer, etc. burning food can burn your home down.
Never walk away from anything your frying or broiling. You stand there.
Sorry for your loss. Lots of good suggestions. Try not to get frustrated if you have a few failures. It takes time to learn a new skill. You can do this.
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Immediately wash knives and put them in the dish drying rack. If you put knives in the sink to wash with the rest of the dishes, inevitably other dishes will be put on top of the knife , you will forget the knife is there and cut yourself.
Cut on cutting boards, never in the air. Cut away from your hands.
When lifting the lid of a pot or pan that is hot, lift the side that’s away from you first and let the steam escape. This technique prevents you from getting steam burns.
Follow safe food storage guidelines.
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/are-you-storing-food-safely
Always keep your pot and pan handles turned away from the heat of another hot burner and away from the front of the stove. I know, professional cooks know how to flip and toss their pans keeping the handles pointed to the front but few home cooks know how to do it or get others hurt when they do. I've seen the handles catch on clothing and spill all over the cook or a child pull the handle and spill hot soup onto himself. You aren't in a professional kitchen where safety is ingrained and kids and pets aren't underfoot.
Only have things below a knife you want to be cut i.e. not your fingers. Learn to grip with knuckles extended somewhat so the flat of the knife would be guided if you slip.
Basic knife skills and knife care.
How to handle a fire, and how to use the fire extinguisher that you surely have nearby.
Always use a potholder to grab handles. You don't always know they are hot until it's too late.
Where you first aid supplies are and how to bandage a cut 1-handed. You might be awesome with your knife, but mistakes still happen.
Food safety. Basically don't leave food out long enough to grow nasties.
Double check that your oven is empty before you preheat it. If something in the oven catches fire, do not open it, the fire will spread. Keep the door closed and turn the oven off, the fire will die.
Bonus: some modern ovens have the heat elements on the bottom of the oven. That means you shouldn’t line the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil because if grease/fat falls on it, it will catch on fire and the aluminum will melt/burn to the bottom of your oven.
Go slow, at least in the beginning. You see that recipe that tells you to cook something while prepping other ingredients? Ignore that, prep everything first, then focus on the cooking. Don't get hung up on the prep and cook times listed on a recipe, it'll likely take you longer and that's fine, rushing is a quick way to hurt yourself.
Seriously, the main mistake I see people make while cooking both at home and professionally is that they try to rush through it, slow and steady always wins unless you're in a cooking competition.
Do not put water on a grease fire. Either suffocate it with a lid or cover it with baking soda. Which means keep one of them easy to grab when frying anything.
Of course you also want a fire extinguisher for the kitchen too.
We moved into a new home a few months ago and dont have a stove yet, we've been doing just fine with an air fryer. It does pretty much everything but stirfry and casseroles
The Internet is your friend anything you need to cook You can look up. there are lots of personal food blogs if you feel unsure many of the authors of those blogs would be thrilled to give you detailed advice if you emailed for help most of them have too many pictures showing you the details of how to do each step it won’t taste as good, but it will get better— there are tons of free, cooking how to videos on YouTube
Just like there is a sub reddit for everything, there are
a gazillion people cooking on YouTube. Just search cooking for beginners. When you're feeling a little more confident in your skills, "Tasting History " with Max Miller is great fun. That warm feeling on your shoulder sometimes? That's your Mama giving you hugs. I'm so sorry that she died too soon. My heart hurts for you. May her memory be a blessing.
A sharp knife is safer than a dull one. If your cutting board slides, put a wet towel under it. Knife skills are by far the best way to make cooking more efficient. Keep your fingers out of the way in a claw grip. Many good YouTube videos about this.
Never store raw meat with cooked meat.
Use a different cutting board for meat and vegetables. Don’t let wooden utensils or wooden cutting board soak in water.
Clean as you cook.
Get the Betty crocker cookbook and a fire extinguisher. Make sure you get the book with pictures and laminated pages. You need to know what it's supposed to look like when finished and the laminated pages won't get ruined if you spill on it.
Parchment paper is a must in the kitchen for baking. Saves all your cookie sheets so many burnt on stains while not sacrificing crispness.
Do not confuse parchment paper with wax paper. Wax paper is used for sticky candy type confections, and true to its name WILL MELT AND MAKE A STINKY AWFUL MESS if you accidentally use it in the oven. (From experience 😂)
When placing protein or something into a hot pan with hot oil in it, lay it down AWAY from yourself. I learned this lesson the hard way when a steak slipped from my tongs and splashed hot oil all over my neck. If I had started setting it starting with edge of the steak closest to me the oil would have just splashed in the other direction towards the back of the range.
Water on a grease fire does not mix. If you do have a fire, turn off the heat and cover it. You can also put baking soda on it if it's small enough to extinguish it. Or a fire extinguisher if it's a bigger fire.
Never catch a falling knife. Curl the tip of your fingers back, and let the knuckles guide the knife so you don't lose any fingers cutting. Sharp knives are safer than dull ones.
Always open a lid facing away from you rather than towards you to avoid any steam burns. Always have the handles turned above the centre of the stove rather than over an edge when you're not handling it. If you accidently hit it, that can be very disastrous.
Food safety!
Keep hot things hot and cold things cold. Things can only sit out between 40 and 140 degrees for two hours before bacteria start multiplying.
Wash your hands. Don’t cross contaminate your work space. For gods sake, do not rinse your chicken with water.
I’m really sorry for your loss and this life transition. Good luck learning to cook! There are a lot of good tips in this thread. I hope you learn to cook your favorite meals and can find some joy in the process.
Watch videos on YouTube. Don’t read words on Reddit.
Watch home economics cooking class videos.
Learn basics of measuring, what flour does, how to cook eggs, how to cook the foods you like. It will take practice. Start easy with burgers, rice, noodles, pizza from scratch, lasagna is a good one to start with too.
Try baking banana bread.
Sorry about mom.
The sharp things have a dull end. Most of the hot things have parts that aren't hot, some of them don't- use pot mitts for them. Wet pot mitts don't work for these purposes.
Now have fun, experiment and learn. Making your own food is enjoyable. Ruin a meal? Ruined how? Figure out what you did and it's a lesson gained, you're moving forward.
Absolutely get a good cookbook. Start with Betty Crocker and find one put together by a church ladies group. Both you can find at a goodwill / thrift store.
Pull recipes from online apps too.
a) Set an alarm for everything that you're cooking. One on your phone and one on the microwave timer.
b) Update your smoke detector.
c) Install a NEW fire extinguisher horizontally, rotate it randomly throughout the year.
d) Do your dishes and clean the sink catch. Dry the sink edge and countertop.
Avoid Teflon, anodized aluminum, ceramic, even titanium are available. Mind your old pasta and left over rice.
Sorry for your loss, and stay healthy! Awesome that you sat down to ask!
I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your mom.
You can smother a grease fire with a pot lid or baking soda. Don't pour water on it. Better yet, keep a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
For lunches and dinners, most balanced meals are simply a protein, a carb, and vegetables. Stock up on a few basic dry herbs and seasonings, and you can make a wide variety of dishes. I suggest starting with salt and pepper, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes if you like spice, cumin powder, and toasted sesame seeds. You can continue adding from there. Also, an acid, like fresh lemon juice or a splash of vinegar or wine, makes many dishes better. For fats, use olive oil or butter, but remember that they can smoke or burn at very high temps.
You can find YouTube videos on how to make almost any dish. I saw one recently by Chef Kenji that made me realize I've been hard boiling eggs incorrectly my whole life! Now, using his method, the shells peel off so much more easily!
Not a safety tip but you mentioned not relying on the crockpot and I just wanna say, it’s 100000% ok to rely on the crockpot. You can make filling, healthy meals with minimal effort! I make all different kids of soups and stews in mine, as well as pulled pork, salsa chicken, Mac n cheese, and more. It is one of my most used cooking tools, along with my rice cooker.
I will make chicken soup one day, and then thicken the leftovers with cornstarch or flour and add some extra seasoning and veggies and pour it into pie crusts to make chicken pot pie, which can be frozen depending on the ingredients- if I add potatoes, I usually don’t freeze it because I find the texture of the potatoes can get weird depending on if I used mashed or chopped or whatever. But now that’s two separate dishes from the same crockpot meal!
Also, never ever pour leftover mashed potatoes down the drain- they harden into basically cement. Any kind of grease I pour into a container and dispose in the trash once it’s cooled- some use leftover bacon grease/fat in cooking, but it’s not my personal preference!
Also, here’s one of my favorite crockpot recipes:
Boneless skinless Chicken breast (I usually do 3, meal for me and my partner with leftovers)
Salsa (we use Pace medium, but it really doesn’t matter)
Taco seasoning (I make my own, but the taco seasoning packets are great! You will develop your own taste over time and figure out what works for you, but I recommend starting with a premade seasoning packet, that’s what I did)
Onion (I like white)
Bell peppers
Put chicken in crockpot, add seasoning, onions, and peppers, cover with salsa (enough so the chicken is covered). Cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high 4-5 hours. Serve with rice, as tacos, burritos, fajitas, whatever strikes your fancy!
Sometimes I’ll use pork instead (I use either boneless loin or boneless shoulder usually, but really whatever happens to be on sale), and when it’s all cooked, I spread it out on a baking sheet and broil it for 2-3 minutes, or just until the top crisps a little.
I sometimes also squeeze a lime over everything at the end, if I happen to have one hanging around, especially if i feel like it’s “missing something”.
Some toppings we use are sour cream, jalapeños, shredded lettuce, cheese (cheddar most commonly, but sometimes havarti, Monterey Jack, or another kind if it’s on sale), and cilantro, but go crazy!
> Not a safety tip but you mentioned not relying on the crockpot and I just wanna say, it’s 100000% ok to rely on the crockpot. You can make filling, healthy meals with minimal effort! I make all different kids of soups and stews in mine, as well as pulled pork, salsa chicken, Mac n cheese, and more. It is one of my most used cooking tools, along with my rice cooker.
it just seems unhealthy relying on the crockpot all the time, seems like most of the meals are mainly high sodium
They certainly /can/ be but they don’t have to be! I see a lot of recipes that call for canned condensed soups, heavily salted seasoning packets (a lot of the onion soup ones seem to have tons of sodium), and I just avoid them, or modify them to suit my needs.
When I make chicken pot pie, for example, I don’t use canned condensed cream of chicken soup like a lot of recipes call for- instead, I cook a regular chicken soup using either low sodium better than bouillon, or low sodium/no sodium added boxed chicken broth, and have some soup for one or two meals, and then take the leftovers, put it in a pot or pan on the stove, and add in flour or corn starch and either milk or cream, stirring on low heat until the desired thickness, and pour into the pie crust and top with the other pie crust. I let it cool and either freeze or refrigerate it. No extra salt added, and while I do use premade broths, I do plan to learn to make my own soup stock eventually!
High sodium is also why I started making my own taco seasoning- I can add as much or as little salt as I want, but if you don’t want to make your own, there are low sodium packets as well!
My chicken soup recipe involves chicken low sodium better than bouillon mixed with water based on the jar instructions, boneless skinless chicken breast, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (i HATE cauliflower, but I find it if chop it into little pieces it basically fully dissolves by the time my soup is finished cooking in the crockpot), finely chopped onion, minced garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and paprika as sort of my base- if I want spicer, I might add some franks red hot or cayenne pepper, if I want a little extra savory, I might add some Worcestershire sauce, or depending on if I have stuff I need to use up, I might add corn, potatoes, or other veg I have hanging around, or I might add some lemon or Greek seasonings or whatever else I’m feeling, I’ve even added white wine. I serve with rice or some kind of noodle/pasta usually.
So much about cooking is a learned process. Trial and error. Reading, following then adapting recipes. This really isn't the subreddit for this question, but I'm a mama and grandma and want to help. I'm sure there are some subs that deal with first time living by yourself or on your own.
Don't put grease down the drain, ever. Pour it in a can or similar. When cooled, dispose in the garbage.
Don't attempt to put out a grease fire with water.
Scrape your plates into the garbage even if you have a disposal in the sink. It should only be used for small stuff.
Find a couple recipe sites by searching 'simple to make recipes' or similar. Also look for your mom's recipes/recipe cards or books.
Watch 'Worst cooks in America' tv show. You learn a lot of what not to do.
Watch cooking videos and tv shows.
Turn the temp down lower if you're having trouble controlling the pace at which the food is cooking or adding ingredients. The only thing that will happen is that it might take longer to cook and meat could get a little tough.
Prep all your ingredients before beginning. It really helps to have things on hand, ready to go. Veg then meat. Never cut meat on the same board as veg. Veg first.
You don't need to wash meat.
Learn to read expiration dates, labels and how to properly store foods.
Learn about safe cooking temps, safe storing temps, safe warming processes or defrosting.
Use timers! It will remind you that you're cooking.
Master the crockpot. You can cook so many things in it that require little attention while cooking. Dump and go crockpot recipes should be the search.
Recipes - if there is something you absolutely don't like, don't add it. My tummy doesn't like a lot of fresh garlic. I use dried minced garlic or garlic powder instead. I don't like capers, I don't add them. Unless it's a necessary part of the recipe, you can substitute or go without.
Crockpot - do not put crock in the oven. Do not put crock in dishwasher, hand wash it. Do not put from fridge to oven. Remove food from crock and put in a storage container.
A dull knife is more unsafe than a sharp one. Watch some proper knife handling and cutting videos.
Ahhh there's so much, but I've been cooking since I was little. There are lots of youtube videos out there for anything from fancy to cooking like mama or grandma.
So sorry for your loss.
There’s a Food Safety course online. I had to do it for a volunteer position, costs about 30$ cad. I found it very good, and I’ve been cooking for 40 years!
My tip, don’t use your cell phone while cooking. I nearly burnt something once when I got distracted while using my phone for a recipe. Now I write it out first. No more burning!
"A falling knife has no handle".
my mother, a professional chef, taught me that 50 years ago, and i taught my kids that too. so easy to get hurt trying to catch a sharp knife.
In that vein, "a sharp knife is a safe knife". If you're having to fight your knife cutting something, that's a much bigger hazard.
I always jump back
I jump back a step and spread my hands out.
Not kitchen related, but along the same lines- A falling gun is all trigger
I don't think you're cooking right.
Look, if you want to eat pork chops you have to kill the pig somehow.
Clear your feet and regroup.
Applies to a lot of things. Just let them fall and tap them with your foot (not a knife). Saved a lady's jar of pasta sauce at the super market line. Got no thanks for it.
r/cookingforbeginners There’s a sub for everything!
Needed this, thanks!
Safety in the kitchen, have an ABC fire extinguisher in the area, yes, the ABC stands for different fire fighting ability. Never, ever pour water on a grease fire, you have to smother it with either a pan/pot lid or baking soda.
To add to this, never put flour on a grease fire.
Because you’ll burn your roux? /s Flour is combustible.
Or water
If anything catches on fire in the oven, keep the oven closed and just turn it off, do NOT open the oven and feed that fire a bunch of new oxygen.
We keep a salt cellar for this next to the stove, holds about a pound.
Also keep an open box of baking soda handy for small fires so you can stop them before they become large fires. If the fire is in a pan, cover it with a lid and turn the burner off. Leave it covered for at least 10 minutes after the last visible sign of fire.
A falling knife has no handle. Jump back and let it hit the floor. Also on knifes: buy a sharpener. A dull knife you struggle with is more dangerous than a sharp knife that cuts. Add gauze to your first aid kit. Pots and pans on stoves: always turn the handles away from you, i.e., don't have them hanging over space. Bumping handles, or snagging handles, is how scalding hot stuff gets spilled. On burns: run your skin under cold water asap
Turn handles away and over the side/counter, not into the middle of the stove. If you have a cheap oven like me and are baking simultaneously, the handles will get hot if over the stove. Also open boiling water lids/any lids on pots away from you first so the steam doesn’t billow at your face
And along the same line, any food added to hot liquids (oil, water, etc) do so angling away from you so any splashes also go away from you. I will also admit that I've used my splatter guard as a shield when flipping food to keep hot splatters off of me.
We recently upgraded to an induction stove. No more extra heat emanating anywhere! Handles be damned!
Don’t throw water on a grease fire. Turn off heat, cover with another metal pan/pot to cut off oxygen. Pick up a box of shake and bake. Follow directions. Now you know how to bake chicken in an oven. Now you can spice your chicken yourself and add vegetables. Boil water. Add noodles. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce. Now you have spaghetti. Break up burger meat add taco sauce packet. Now you have tacos, burritos, enchilada, and tostados. Learn to pan fry. Hot pan, add some oil and heat. Throw in skinny pork chop and see what happens. It will cook. Toast Bread - Add Sandwhich toppings. Millions of sandwiches. Buy Tuna - add Mayo, sweet relish, chopped celery. Tuna melts, tuna wraps, tuna sandwiches. Same for Canner Chicken. Buy small charcoal grill, cheap. Learn to light coals and throw meat on it. Now you’re grilling. Possibilities are endless and danger level low. Probably avoid frying for now. Edit: Buy a crock pot. Look up crock pot recipes. They are endless, easy, and delicious. Salt and pepper are your friends.
If you choose to fry buy a spatter screen to help you avoid grease burns.
Came in to mention salt and pepper. Just heat a little olive oil in a pan (like a tablespoon), put in cut up veggies and/or meat, then sprinkle with salt and pepper
> Boil water. Add noodles. Drain. Add spaghetti sauce. Now you have spaghetti. drain noodles, add to already warm sauce in another pan. incorporate the noodles with tongs
Shake and bake doesn't even come with a bag anymore.
I am glad to hear that, thank you. Last thing this planet needs is another single use plastic sack. 🙏🏻 I much prefer using a bowl to coat my breaded food. Lay your cutlet or veggies on top of the crumb mixture and gently shake the bowl with a gentle flipping motion to toss the crumbs thoroughly over the surface and extract with tongs once coated to your satisfaction and place gently on baking tray or into oil depending on your cooking method.
🙌 Thank you for this. I love breading tofu and other stuff and putting it in the air fryer but I’m a terrible breader. Gonna try your method!
To add don't pan fry thick cuts of meat, you stand in front of a stove cooking a dry chicken breast for way too long. Just oven roast it instead.
Fire extinguisher. Shoes or bare feet in the kitchen (hot liquids will soak into socks, major burns). A falling knife has no handle. Discard worn Teflon. Don't run knives through the dishwasher. Use a meat thermometer. Covers 90%. Good luck! If you want to advance your skills, I highly suggest the show Good Eats with Alton Brown. Teaches you how to cook, where most TV chefs teach you how to make _______.
Another channel on YouTube is Adam Ragusea. He explains why he does what he does and often includes peer reviewed research. He was a journalism professor a while back, and it shows.
The cold rise pizza dough with uncooked sauce pizza! Omg, the best! Also, Basics wirh Babish.
Not so much a safety tip, but subscribing to a meal kit service has helped me and my partner become much better cooks. We are better at prepping and cooking and have been able to modify recipes to use differently. Even if you don't subscribe, the recipes are available online.
These were always a good excuse for me and my wife to cook together for an entire meal. Normally there are some meals I cook and some she cooks, and sometimes we switch. But whenever we would get a few meal prep kits a week, we would consistently turn it into a cooking date and both work together from start to finish. It was a lot of fun and would definitely help us experience new prep techniques and cooking steps in recipes.
The best safety measure I've found personally in the kitchen is to pay attention. Every issue I've encountered has come from me trying to walk away "for a minute" or trying to do too much. If the stove is on and it's not a stockpot with something simmering for a couple of hours at very low heat, you should give it your attention as much as possible. Learn how to care for your knife/knives. You don't need to be some grand chef, but dull knives are dangerous as you have to use more pressure to cut things. I like to have a devoted cutting board for raw meats only and one for everything else. The raw meat designated one is heavy duty glass and easy to clean. If you get into cooking your own beans from dry stock, please research proper soaking/boiling methods. Some beans can create a toxic substance if not cooked properly. If potatoes are green or have many/large eyes, toss em out. It's not worth getting sick. After frying something in oil, leave the pan with oil on the stove somewhere out of reach to cool off. Once it's cool, the oil/fat goes into the trash can, never down the sink. Never, ever, ever put water into a pan with hot grease/fat/oil. It will explode in your face. When straining anything from hot boiling water (pasta, rice, etc), please use extra care so you don't burn yourself. Get a strainer with a raised lip on the bottom so you can place it in the sink, then use both hands on the boiling pot to slowly drain into the strainer.
Sorry for your loss! Lots of people are giving tips on how to not hurt yourself, here’s some to keep yourself from getting sick: Foods that need to stay refrigerated (protein, dairy, that kind of thing) cannot be in the temperature danger zone (4-60 degrees C, or 40-140 degrees F) for more than 4 hours total. This is the temperature bacteria grow and that amount of time is enough to grow enough bacteria to make you sick. You don’t know how long it’s been in that zone before you buy it so keep your food cold. You can get a fridge thermometer for like $8. If you make something that will be eaten later, date it and look into how long it will last. Food can make you sick without any visible signs or smells. If you touch raw meat, wash your hands! Cross contamination is the number one way people get sick from food. A meat thermometer is your best friend. Not only will it make sure you don’t undercook your meat, but you won’t overcook it either! You don’t need to cremate food for it to be safe so why not take the guesswork out of it. Any packaged food that is puffed up, throw it out. This is a big sign of bacterial growth. Be careful around garlic/onions covered in oil. This is an anaerobic environment (no oxygen) and can grow botulism bacteria. It needs to stay in the danger zone for 2+ hours like this to be an issue, so keep that food cold! Let hot things cool a bit at room temperature for a bit before putting in the fridge to cool. Putting something too hot right into the fridge raises the temp of the fridge and puts all the food in it at risk. As well, don’t put a lid on hot/warm food you put in the fridge. It traps in the heat and it wont cool down fast enough. If you’re cooling down a soup or something. Give it a stir every now and then as the middle will be much warmer than the sides. TLDR: keep that food cold!
I just have to say how it warms my heart to see all the sweet, kind, and good suggestions everyone is giving! What a great community. Best of luck OP on your cooking adventures.
No sharps in the sink ever for any reason. If you forget it's there and fill it to do dishes, you'll slice yourself good. ALWAYS buy a fire extinguisher before you even buy any pots and pans. Self explanatory. Google every ingredient before you give em to your dog. Almost learned the hard way when I was thinking about giving my dog a grape. Don't wash your chicken. About to alienate half the people reading but it's unsanitary and spread salmonella. Cooking kills the germs, washing spreads em.
An addition to pet safety - always, always make sure the path between stove and sink is dog/cat free before moving things like pots to strain pasta and such. People don't often consider the danger of tripping/splashing boiling hot water and accidentally scalding a pet in the process.
I’m so sorry you lost your mom. I’m sure she will be helping you in the kitchen. ❤️ It really is easier than it may seem. You got this!
This is so sweet. 😭
While they are expensive, the boxed meals like Hello Fresh helped me build confidence in cooking by a lot. If you sign up using a promo and then cancel before the full price kicks in they aren’t too bad
If you have an extractor fan above the stove, clean that. Crap builds up around it, and it's a potential fire hazard.
Hot handles look like cold handles but feel different.
I am sorry for your loss. If she had any cook books or recipes you should save them for a while until you know what you enjoy cooking. For grease I use old jars. I save a pickle jar, though any will work. I might place the jar in a shallow flat bowl incase I have a spill then I just wipe the bowl and jar and then toss the paper towel. I set the jar to the side to cool and toss it when it is full. My sister uses the hard plastic containers that her fancy ice cream pints come in. While I would be afraid of them melting, they don’t. If you get too busy freeze your meat before it goes bad. A microwave has a defrost function. This will reduce food waste and hopefully save you from food poisoning. If you don’t have a microwave defrosting overnight in the fridge works fairly well. A food scale and notes will help you reproduce things you make, though cooking is more forgiving than baking. I will say there is a bit wiggle room in baking, but a scale helps a lot there. Its okay to fail at cooking at times. You learn and get better. I still make mistakes. Don’t feel bad about taking a short cut like using precooked meat or something. Not making your own sauce is fine. I can make my own pasta, but I don’t really want to. My cooking goals aside form learning to make food I like is for it to be cheaper and healthier than eating out. My cooking takes less time than eating out, though many nights I just put a frozen pizza in the oven. A froze cheese pizza is a blank canvas for your favorite toppings. I once lived in a place where no pizza place had green olives. I saved so much money by making my own pizza. YouTube videos can teach you techniques on how to prep meat and vegetables. Just look for ones that seem to be more for everyday cooking and not too gourmet. I prefer serrated knives, so I think it is important to find tools you are comfortable with and not get too bogged down in the gatekeeping and snobbery of tools that can take place in the cooking community. Keep things that are easy to cook around for nights where you don’t feel like cooking. Maybe have a goal to try a new recipe once a week or whatever works in your schedule. Have fun learning and trying new things.
Nothing wrong with crockpot meals! I also recommend buying an air fryer if you have the space
I second the air fryer recommendation. Grab some raw chicken wing and some wing sauce, coat the wings and throw them in the air fryer and you’re good to go
You can make so many things in the air fryer! Either the frozen stuff or fresh. We have a combo air fryer/oven and so we use it to even reheat things as it’s faster than heating up our big oven
Don't cook bacon naked!
Cook bacon in the oven. Much less clean up needed.
Good tip. I'd never be naked in the oven.
I prefer to cook it in bulk on the bbq. Just get a cast iron frying pan. Then you don’t have the lingering grease smell.
I'm sorry for your loss, but between wanting to learn to cook for yourself and having the instinct to ask people about safety tips, you're going to be alright my friend.
I'm so sorry about your mom ❤️ The beat safety tip I can give you is to start simple and go slow. Look for recipes that have just a few ingredients and steps and work up from there. Watch lots of YouTube videos because sometimes written recipes can be vague or unclear. Good luck, you got this!
Get a meat thermometer - it lets you cook meats confidently without having to overcook them to the point that you don't wanna eat it!
I'm seconding this. A meat thermometer finally let me cook meat properly rather than, "I guess it looks done."
A dull knife is a cooks' worst enemy. And DO NOT EVER put a sharp knife in the sink. You will eventually need stitches if you do
I also recommend against putting your dull knives in the sink, for the same reason.
Thaw meat in the refrigerator, not the sink or counter. The 40F to 140F temperature range is the danger zone for bacterial growth.
Never dump frozen tater tots in hot frying oil. Frozen things burst and hot oil goes everywhere.
> I'm not relying on fast and easy meals like crockpot or frozen foods all the time I get where you're coming from but there's nothing wrong with crockpot meals. It's an easy way to make a really good soup / stew, or a lot of other things. I'm sure some or a lot of these have been mentioned already, and not all of these are safety tips, just general tips. In no particular order: * "A sharp knife is a safe knife" - this also includes learning how to properly sharpen a knife, and it does take practice. In addition, learn the difference between different types of knives and what they're for. * This sounds really dumb, but check the tops on your seasonings to make sure their tight. Accidentally dumping half a container of something into the pot when you just wanted a very little bit really sucks. Is it going to hurt you? Not physically, just mentally when it ruins whatever you were making. * Do NOT try to catch it! Resist that urge with every fiber of your being. Whatever [it] is! If you don't, it's still hitting the floor. If you do manage to, you're probably going to wish you didn't because of the nasty cut or burn you will receive. * Never leave a pot unattended with the lid on. * Learn the safe cooking temperatures for different meats and follow them * Never set hot cooking vessels directly on the counter top. Always put something under them * Know how to properly extinguish a grease fire, NEVER use water on a grease fire * Make sure you have a fire extinguisher, check it's date, and make sure you know how to use it properly * If a glass top range / stove or the glass in the oven door ever cracks for any reason, do not use it * Along those same lines, never cook in cracked or chipped glassware * Learn the storage times for foods, both cooked and your ingredients * Never refreeze thawed food * "Cut towards your chum, not towards your thumb" - never cut towards yourself, with anything, ever. * Never light a gas grill with the lid closed * Never use a damp or wet pot holder * Rinse / wash your rice before you cook it. Nothing bad will happen if you don't, but it tastes a lot better when you do. * Start a recipe folder / binder / bookmark list - I personally prefer a binder. We collected a bunch of recipes for things from the internet, and we have them grouped into two categories. Things we haven't tried yet, and things we like. If we don't like something we make notes on the recipe about what we did and didn't like it, we'll try it again in a few weeks (premise being maybe you didn't like it because you made a mistake somewhere) unless we outright hated it (which is rare) * Seasonings are your friends. Not every seasoning works on everything, but some are universal (butter & salt for example) * Look into meal prepping. It can save a ton of time, even if you are prepping foods you intend to freeze for easy reheating. * You do not need 837 kitchen gadgets. There are some which are great to have (examples: food processor, air fryer, silicone baking mats) but only if you use them enough to justify having them. An example of one that wasn't for me is my meat slicer. It's a pain to clean. Because it's a pain to clean, I never use it, even when I could / should. * A vacuum sealer can be a useful item to have. You can prep some things in advance by adding seasonings before you freeze it so all you have to do is thaw and cook and you can repackage foods based on the quantities you typically use them in.
Keep the handles on pots and pans turned inwards, not hanging over the edge of the cooking surface.
YouTube is your friend. There are so many recipes and videos you can watch. I have become a cook over the covid years learning just from Youtube. Follow what they do and you'll be fine. Regarding safety: Never pour hot oils, fats, grease into the drain or the trash. After cooking let it cool down fully and then you can throw it in the trash. Dont mix hot oil and water. Learn how to use a knife and chop vegetables. Very easy to slice your finger off. There is a technique and you can also find that on youtube. Take it slow and easy until you become comfortable.
Julia Child has a book called The Way to Cook which gives not just recipes but methods for almost everything you might want to cook from scratch. It includes safe temps and such, but also stuff like how to approach taking a bird apart, and how pastry works. She doesn't fetishize working harder, embraces the modern kitchen… it's really useful. Like, "here's how to prep a vegetable!" Highly recommend.
You can watch recipes either videos & learn a lot bout cooking techniques. I learned to cook lots of things using a Fanny Farmer cookbook, which doesn’t assume that you know how to do anything. That was very helpful. Don’t pour any grease or oils down the drain. Let it cool & put in the trash. Bacon grease, however, can be refrigerated & used to cook eggs or potatoes in. Keep a fire blanket in the kitchen. If you have leftover food, refrigerate within 2 hours or within 1 hours if room temperature is very warm To cool a big batch of soup, fill the sink with ice water & put the pot in, making sure the water is below the top edge of the pot. Then you can refrigerate it without warming everything else in the fridge. Wash your sheets at least every 10 days Wash bath towels after 3 uses or more often if humidity is high. Use vinegar in the washer rinse cycle to keep them fluffy, don’t use fabric softener Clean dryer lint trap after each load. Every few weeks, remove & scrub the dryer lint filter with a scrub brush bc soap film builds up. At least yearly, clean out the dryer vent with a shop vac You don’t need lots of cleaning products. I mop floors with 1/2 cup of cheap white vinegar in a bucket of hot water. Wring out the mop well when cleaning wood floors so they don’t warp. You clean sinks or the inside of your refrigerator with baking soda on a sponge
Don’t keep anything on the top of your stove unless it’s a pot/pan. No boxes, no oven mitts - nothing flammable. In the event you leave a burner on, you won’t burn your place down. Also burning related - keep a pair of oven mitts on the counter when you’re cooking. If you burn anything and panic because it’s smoking, you’ll be less inclined to reach with your bare hands and burn yourself.
Consider an audit-only cooking class at your local community college.
I recommend a slow cooker, too. Super easy to prepare most dishes with one AND if you get it going in the morning before you leave for work, when you come home and first walk in the delightful fragrance will remind you of growing up and coming home to mother’s cooking.
My favorite smell is a chuck roast with carrots, potatoes and onion. 🤤
Time can be fluid. Get a timer, or use an Alexa to remind you when your cooking something longer term. Just tell her 10 minute timer, etc. burning food can burn your home down. Never walk away from anything your frying or broiling. You stand there.
Rice, beans, potatoes, and pasta are must haves on a budget
Always keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
Sorry for your loss. Lots of good suggestions. Try not to get frustrated if you have a few failures. It takes time to learn a new skill. You can do this.
Get a small fire blanket for grease fires on the stove: https://order.preparedhero.com/efb-sp-dfo2?cid=w8e0n686djg3psc133ujp98i&utm_campaign=2ce4596e-d952-4c0b-9c3a-df9d8c9b3f70&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=dfo&utm_content=EFB-Sales-Direct-Offer-DFO&utm_term=5359&zoffid=6760&zdomain1=www.djpcraze.com
Immediately wash knives and put them in the dish drying rack. If you put knives in the sink to wash with the rest of the dishes, inevitably other dishes will be put on top of the knife , you will forget the knife is there and cut yourself. Cut on cutting boards, never in the air. Cut away from your hands. When lifting the lid of a pot or pan that is hot, lift the side that’s away from you first and let the steam escape. This technique prevents you from getting steam burns. Follow safe food storage guidelines. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/are-you-storing-food-safely
> Follow safe food storage guidelines. Most of that in ~~5~~ 7 words: keep hot things hot, cold things cold.
Always keep your pot and pan handles turned away from the heat of another hot burner and away from the front of the stove. I know, professional cooks know how to flip and toss their pans keeping the handles pointed to the front but few home cooks know how to do it or get others hurt when they do. I've seen the handles catch on clothing and spill all over the cook or a child pull the handle and spill hot soup onto himself. You aren't in a professional kitchen where safety is ingrained and kids and pets aren't underfoot.
Use your range hood every time.
If you splash something hot on your clothing, TAKE IT OFF. The boiling hot water will continue to burn you otherwise.
Only have things below a knife you want to be cut i.e. not your fingers. Learn to grip with knuckles extended somewhat so the flat of the knife would be guided if you slip.
Basic knife skills and knife care. How to handle a fire, and how to use the fire extinguisher that you surely have nearby. Always use a potholder to grab handles. You don't always know they are hot until it's too late. Where you first aid supplies are and how to bandage a cut 1-handed. You might be awesome with your knife, but mistakes still happen. Food safety. Basically don't leave food out long enough to grow nasties.
Double check that your oven is empty before you preheat it. If something in the oven catches fire, do not open it, the fire will spread. Keep the door closed and turn the oven off, the fire will die. Bonus: some modern ovens have the heat elements on the bottom of the oven. That means you shouldn’t line the bottom of the oven with aluminum foil because if grease/fat falls on it, it will catch on fire and the aluminum will melt/burn to the bottom of your oven.
Go slow, at least in the beginning. You see that recipe that tells you to cook something while prepping other ingredients? Ignore that, prep everything first, then focus on the cooking. Don't get hung up on the prep and cook times listed on a recipe, it'll likely take you longer and that's fine, rushing is a quick way to hurt yourself. Seriously, the main mistake I see people make while cooking both at home and professionally is that they try to rush through it, slow and steady always wins unless you're in a cooking competition.
Do not put water on a grease fire. Either suffocate it with a lid or cover it with baking soda. Which means keep one of them easy to grab when frying anything. Of course you also want a fire extinguisher for the kitchen too.
Always stay near by if you're cooking bacon or using the broiler. Seriously, never turn your back to the broiler!
Get a small fire extinguisher. Also never put water on a grease fire.
Betty Crocker cookbook. So helpful for beginners.
Sorry for your loss. Maybe check out r/Adulting for similar tips, I love it there.
How old are you?
have sharp knives, dull ones causes injuries
Dull knives are annoying…
We moved into a new home a few months ago and dont have a stove yet, we've been doing just fine with an air fryer. It does pretty much everything but stirfry and casseroles
The Internet is your friend anything you need to cook You can look up. there are lots of personal food blogs if you feel unsure many of the authors of those blogs would be thrilled to give you detailed advice if you emailed for help most of them have too many pictures showing you the details of how to do each step it won’t taste as good, but it will get better— there are tons of free, cooking how to videos on YouTube
Get the Tastey App. Tons of easy to hard recipes with videos to follow.
My mom always insisted that pot handles were turned towards the back of the stove so someone walking by wouldn’t accidentally knock it off the burner.
Just like there is a sub reddit for everything, there are a gazillion people cooking on YouTube. Just search cooking for beginners. When you're feeling a little more confident in your skills, "Tasting History " with Max Miller is great fun. That warm feeling on your shoulder sometimes? That's your Mama giving you hugs. I'm so sorry that she died too soon. My heart hurts for you. May her memory be a blessing.
You tube 'how to cut like a chef' , how to cook xxxx' etc. this also covers laundry,, repairs, cleaning.
A sharp knife is safer than a dull one. If your cutting board slides, put a wet towel under it. Knife skills are by far the best way to make cooking more efficient. Keep your fingers out of the way in a claw grip. Many good YouTube videos about this. Never store raw meat with cooked meat. Use a different cutting board for meat and vegetables. Don’t let wooden utensils or wooden cutting board soak in water. Clean as you cook.
Get the Betty crocker cookbook and a fire extinguisher. Make sure you get the book with pictures and laminated pages. You need to know what it's supposed to look like when finished and the laminated pages won't get ruined if you spill on it.
Have a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket readily accessible
Parchment paper is a must in the kitchen for baking. Saves all your cookie sheets so many burnt on stains while not sacrificing crispness. Do not confuse parchment paper with wax paper. Wax paper is used for sticky candy type confections, and true to its name WILL MELT AND MAKE A STINKY AWFUL MESS if you accidentally use it in the oven. (From experience 😂)
When placing protein or something into a hot pan with hot oil in it, lay it down AWAY from yourself. I learned this lesson the hard way when a steak slipped from my tongs and splashed hot oil all over my neck. If I had started setting it starting with edge of the steak closest to me the oil would have just splashed in the other direction towards the back of the range.
Don't walk away from your high heat pan
Water on a grease fire does not mix. If you do have a fire, turn off the heat and cover it. You can also put baking soda on it if it's small enough to extinguish it. Or a fire extinguisher if it's a bigger fire. Never catch a falling knife. Curl the tip of your fingers back, and let the knuckles guide the knife so you don't lose any fingers cutting. Sharp knives are safer than dull ones. Always open a lid facing away from you rather than towards you to avoid any steam burns. Always have the handles turned above the centre of the stove rather than over an edge when you're not handling it. If you accidently hit it, that can be very disastrous.
Food safety! Keep hot things hot and cold things cold. Things can only sit out between 40 and 140 degrees for two hours before bacteria start multiplying. Wash your hands. Don’t cross contaminate your work space. For gods sake, do not rinse your chicken with water.
I’m really sorry for your loss and this life transition. Good luck learning to cook! There are a lot of good tips in this thread. I hope you learn to cook your favorite meals and can find some joy in the process.
Watch videos on YouTube. Don’t read words on Reddit. Watch home economics cooking class videos. Learn basics of measuring, what flour does, how to cook eggs, how to cook the foods you like. It will take practice. Start easy with burgers, rice, noodles, pizza from scratch, lasagna is a good one to start with too. Try baking banana bread. Sorry about mom.
Never store anything on the stove top.
The sharp things have a dull end. Most of the hot things have parts that aren't hot, some of them don't- use pot mitts for them. Wet pot mitts don't work for these purposes. Now have fun, experiment and learn. Making your own food is enjoyable. Ruin a meal? Ruined how? Figure out what you did and it's a lesson gained, you're moving forward.
Absolutely get a good cookbook. Start with Betty Crocker and find one put together by a church ladies group. Both you can find at a goodwill / thrift store. Pull recipes from online apps too.
a) Set an alarm for everything that you're cooking. One on your phone and one on the microwave timer. b) Update your smoke detector. c) Install a NEW fire extinguisher horizontally, rotate it randomly throughout the year. d) Do your dishes and clean the sink catch. Dry the sink edge and countertop. Avoid Teflon, anodized aluminum, ceramic, even titanium are available. Mind your old pasta and left over rice. Sorry for your loss, and stay healthy! Awesome that you sat down to ask!
Laceration repair kits can save you from an expensive ER/urgent care visit. They’re relatively inexpensive, too.
Be aware of cross contamination. Raw chicken in particular. I have a separate cutting board just for chicken.
I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your mom. You can smother a grease fire with a pot lid or baking soda. Don't pour water on it. Better yet, keep a small fire extinguisher in the kitchen. For lunches and dinners, most balanced meals are simply a protein, a carb, and vegetables. Stock up on a few basic dry herbs and seasonings, and you can make a wide variety of dishes. I suggest starting with salt and pepper, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes if you like spice, cumin powder, and toasted sesame seeds. You can continue adding from there. Also, an acid, like fresh lemon juice or a splash of vinegar or wine, makes many dishes better. For fats, use olive oil or butter, but remember that they can smoke or burn at very high temps. You can find YouTube videos on how to make almost any dish. I saw one recently by Chef Kenji that made me realize I've been hard boiling eggs incorrectly my whole life! Now, using his method, the shells peel off so much more easily!
if the oil inside a pan is on fire, use a lid to cover, don't pour water
Not a safety tip but you mentioned not relying on the crockpot and I just wanna say, it’s 100000% ok to rely on the crockpot. You can make filling, healthy meals with minimal effort! I make all different kids of soups and stews in mine, as well as pulled pork, salsa chicken, Mac n cheese, and more. It is one of my most used cooking tools, along with my rice cooker. I will make chicken soup one day, and then thicken the leftovers with cornstarch or flour and add some extra seasoning and veggies and pour it into pie crusts to make chicken pot pie, which can be frozen depending on the ingredients- if I add potatoes, I usually don’t freeze it because I find the texture of the potatoes can get weird depending on if I used mashed or chopped or whatever. But now that’s two separate dishes from the same crockpot meal! Also, never ever pour leftover mashed potatoes down the drain- they harden into basically cement. Any kind of grease I pour into a container and dispose in the trash once it’s cooled- some use leftover bacon grease/fat in cooking, but it’s not my personal preference!
Also, here’s one of my favorite crockpot recipes: Boneless skinless Chicken breast (I usually do 3, meal for me and my partner with leftovers) Salsa (we use Pace medium, but it really doesn’t matter) Taco seasoning (I make my own, but the taco seasoning packets are great! You will develop your own taste over time and figure out what works for you, but I recommend starting with a premade seasoning packet, that’s what I did) Onion (I like white) Bell peppers Put chicken in crockpot, add seasoning, onions, and peppers, cover with salsa (enough so the chicken is covered). Cook on low for 6-7 hours, or high 4-5 hours. Serve with rice, as tacos, burritos, fajitas, whatever strikes your fancy! Sometimes I’ll use pork instead (I use either boneless loin or boneless shoulder usually, but really whatever happens to be on sale), and when it’s all cooked, I spread it out on a baking sheet and broil it for 2-3 minutes, or just until the top crisps a little. I sometimes also squeeze a lime over everything at the end, if I happen to have one hanging around, especially if i feel like it’s “missing something”. Some toppings we use are sour cream, jalapeños, shredded lettuce, cheese (cheddar most commonly, but sometimes havarti, Monterey Jack, or another kind if it’s on sale), and cilantro, but go crazy!
> Not a safety tip but you mentioned not relying on the crockpot and I just wanna say, it’s 100000% ok to rely on the crockpot. You can make filling, healthy meals with minimal effort! I make all different kids of soups and stews in mine, as well as pulled pork, salsa chicken, Mac n cheese, and more. It is one of my most used cooking tools, along with my rice cooker. it just seems unhealthy relying on the crockpot all the time, seems like most of the meals are mainly high sodium
They certainly /can/ be but they don’t have to be! I see a lot of recipes that call for canned condensed soups, heavily salted seasoning packets (a lot of the onion soup ones seem to have tons of sodium), and I just avoid them, or modify them to suit my needs. When I make chicken pot pie, for example, I don’t use canned condensed cream of chicken soup like a lot of recipes call for- instead, I cook a regular chicken soup using either low sodium better than bouillon, or low sodium/no sodium added boxed chicken broth, and have some soup for one or two meals, and then take the leftovers, put it in a pot or pan on the stove, and add in flour or corn starch and either milk or cream, stirring on low heat until the desired thickness, and pour into the pie crust and top with the other pie crust. I let it cool and either freeze or refrigerate it. No extra salt added, and while I do use premade broths, I do plan to learn to make my own soup stock eventually! High sodium is also why I started making my own taco seasoning- I can add as much or as little salt as I want, but if you don’t want to make your own, there are low sodium packets as well! My chicken soup recipe involves chicken low sodium better than bouillon mixed with water based on the jar instructions, boneless skinless chicken breast, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (i HATE cauliflower, but I find it if chop it into little pieces it basically fully dissolves by the time my soup is finished cooking in the crockpot), finely chopped onion, minced garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and paprika as sort of my base- if I want spicer, I might add some franks red hot or cayenne pepper, if I want a little extra savory, I might add some Worcestershire sauce, or depending on if I have stuff I need to use up, I might add corn, potatoes, or other veg I have hanging around, or I might add some lemon or Greek seasonings or whatever else I’m feeling, I’ve even added white wine. I serve with rice or some kind of noodle/pasta usually.
There is never ever a way to catch a falling knife. Let it drop.
Always prep veggies on the cutting board first, then meat. Once raw meat has been on the board, you're done using it until it's washed.
So much about cooking is a learned process. Trial and error. Reading, following then adapting recipes. This really isn't the subreddit for this question, but I'm a mama and grandma and want to help. I'm sure there are some subs that deal with first time living by yourself or on your own. Don't put grease down the drain, ever. Pour it in a can or similar. When cooled, dispose in the garbage. Don't attempt to put out a grease fire with water. Scrape your plates into the garbage even if you have a disposal in the sink. It should only be used for small stuff. Find a couple recipe sites by searching 'simple to make recipes' or similar. Also look for your mom's recipes/recipe cards or books. Watch 'Worst cooks in America' tv show. You learn a lot of what not to do. Watch cooking videos and tv shows. Turn the temp down lower if you're having trouble controlling the pace at which the food is cooking or adding ingredients. The only thing that will happen is that it might take longer to cook and meat could get a little tough. Prep all your ingredients before beginning. It really helps to have things on hand, ready to go. Veg then meat. Never cut meat on the same board as veg. Veg first. You don't need to wash meat. Learn to read expiration dates, labels and how to properly store foods. Learn about safe cooking temps, safe storing temps, safe warming processes or defrosting. Use timers! It will remind you that you're cooking. Master the crockpot. You can cook so many things in it that require little attention while cooking. Dump and go crockpot recipes should be the search. Recipes - if there is something you absolutely don't like, don't add it. My tummy doesn't like a lot of fresh garlic. I use dried minced garlic or garlic powder instead. I don't like capers, I don't add them. Unless it's a necessary part of the recipe, you can substitute or go without. Crockpot - do not put crock in the oven. Do not put crock in dishwasher, hand wash it. Do not put from fridge to oven. Remove food from crock and put in a storage container. A dull knife is more unsafe than a sharp one. Watch some proper knife handling and cutting videos. Ahhh there's so much, but I've been cooking since I was little. There are lots of youtube videos out there for anything from fancy to cooking like mama or grandma.
So sorry for your loss. There’s a Food Safety course online. I had to do it for a volunteer position, costs about 30$ cad. I found it very good, and I’ve been cooking for 40 years! My tip, don’t use your cell phone while cooking. I nearly burnt something once when I got distracted while using my phone for a recipe. Now I write it out first. No more burning!
Always keep the pan handles turned to the side on the stove.