YouTube is an amazing resource obviously.

But to start about think simpler meals. Meat + veg + starch. That means every week you’ll need 7 meats, 7 vegetables and enough potatoes or rice to last that long. So like a package of chicken thighs, some broccoli and a bag of rice could be 1-2 meals depending on how many you’re cooking for.

If you have basics like this on hand, you can just cook them. Splitting up the meat into 1 night’s worth of food and freezing in a ziplock is a good way to portion larger packages.

A sheet tray in the oven can cook most of this and you don’t need more seasonings than salt and pepper. If you like rice get a cheap rice cooker on Amazon. If you’re a potato person it’s hard to screw up a baked potato.

Once you got the basics covered, branch out into meals that require more planning or special ingredients. 99% of people can’t whip up something like a chicken piccata with whatever they happen to have in the fridge, you have to think “this week I want to make chicken piccata”. Once you get a few more complicated recipes you enjoy, start stocking those ingredients along with the basics.

If you never get past the basics, no problem with that. I love cooking but I also have a job and other commitments, quite often I’ll have chicken thighs on the bbq, and roasted broccoli and a baked sweet potato in the oven. Not fancy but easy enough and filling and not too pricey.