Deciding What Meal You’re Going To Cook

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

Deciding what meal you’re going to cook can at times be very tricky as their are some factors you need to consider such as

1. Are you cooking a meal for yourself you or for others?
2. How easy/difficult will it be to cook the meal?
3. How long will you need in order to cook the meal?
4. Do you have the cooking equipment needed to cook the meal?
5. How much do you have to spend in order to cook the meal?

Are You Cooking for yourself or others?

If you’re just cooking for yourself then the meal should be easy to cook as you do not need to be flexible on what you need to cook as the choice is yours.

However if you’re cooking for your partner, family or friends then you have to choose a meal that not only you enjoy but also what others enjoy.

This is because you will find it very difficult to create 5 to 10 different meals for each person when it’s much simpler and quicker to cook the same meal for everyone.

The best way to find out what everyone wants is to ask the entire family, friends together and to let them know that you are only cooking one meal for all of them so collectively they have to decide what meal they want do this is to ask them what they want

How easy/difficult will it be to cook the meal?

If you are cooking for yourself then you could look at cooking something that will challenge you and if you get it wrong then you can just get rid of it and cook another quick and easy meal.

However if you are cooking for others then you really do not want to challenge yourself as it’s not only you that will be eating the meal but others within your family, friends.

So the best thing to do when asking what your family, friends want for their meal is to give them options that you know you can cook for them.

If you do decide you want to challenge yourself and cook something more difficult then you should cook for small numbers first such as a partner then when you know that you can do it then increase the number of people you cook for.

How long will you need in order to cook the meal?

Some meals can be cooked quickly whereas some take a while and so it’s a good idea when starting out to cook something you know you can cook quickly.

Also if you’re cooking for others then the amount of time it will take to cook the meal is likely to increase so what would usually take you 15 minutes to cook for yourself may end up taking an hour when cooking for others

So it’s a good idea to start with something that’s quick

Do you have the right cooking equipment?

You need the right equipment in order to cook a meal, this is very important as without the equipment you cannot cook the meal.

So it’s a good idea when looking at the recipe to also look at what equipment you need and if you do not have that equipment then you will either have to buy the equipment or choose another recipe.

How much do you have to spend in order to cook the meal?

This is another major deal breaker when it comes to cooking a meal. If you are just cooking for yourself then the ingredients are likely to be cheap but if you are cooking for other then you need more ingredients and that will mean the price of the ingredients will increase.

So have a look at your budget and decide how much you’re willing to spend on ingredients.

This is also a reason why you should cook one meal for all rather than a different meal for everyone as you’ll need to buy a lot of different ingredients if you cooking 5 to 10 different meals but if you’re cooking the same meal for everyone then you only need to worry yourself on the quantity of ingredients and not the variety of ingredients you need

Conclusion

If you’re cooking for yourself then you have a variety of meals to choose from to cook. However if you’re cooking for others then unfortunately you are limited to your skillset.

This is why when starting out it’s better to cook for yourself then as time passes and you become more skilled you should look at cooking for others.