Can you cook?

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I am not great at cooking and i think thats my Autisim. It makes me upset i can't really cook a propper meal and only stick something in the microwave.

Is anyone else like this

I have a huge mental block when it comes to cooking. I just can't understand it.

One of the things that makes me think I am aspie. Can't follow instructions, too many things going on in my head at once then it becomes all too much and I can't cope with it.

I can cook very simple, basic things I learned how to do, but I hate the process. It's my least favorite thing to do. I don't like handling food in a lot of prep; trying to follow a recipe does my head in for some reason, especially if there are a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients (aaagh, forget it!), and I have a very mild, almost-phobia about getting my hands greasy or messy in foodie ways, so, I try to keep prep to a minimum, and throw whatever I can into a microwave. I know it's bad, but I can't stand to get more elaborate with food.

Some ways around the cooking dilemma are: sandwiches, cereals, wraps and tacos and things, an electric crockpot/slow cooker, and using the microwave for steaming vegetables and cooking other things beyond TV dinner type meals (though I do a lot of those too!).

I love cooking ...
for myself or a small group of friends or family.

If I'm supposed to help cook at a huge event
like a big church weekend,
it's much better if I simply do the dishes.

But yes, I love cooking.

Here's the only two basic things you really need to keep in mind when it comes to heating things up:

1) Boiling food in water is good, keep an eye on the stove so nothing boils over. Use a colander in the sink to drain water (like for pasta), to keep boiling water from splashing on you. Things will eventually be boiled good enough to eat.

2) Heating food in the oven at 350 degrees is usually good ... you need a much higher temperature for pork or you risk illness (425 or 450 degrees or something, I'd have to google it to be sure). That said, things will generally bake eventually, and once again, keep an eye on the oven so nothing burns. And invest in mitt potholders that you wear for safety, and be extremely careful.

These two hints work for most people's level of intelligence, sensory issues, and awareness of the world around them / executive functioning ... your mileage may vary.

Over and above that, have fun, add the ingredients you want to add!

Bon appetit!

By the way ... a sister, who I think is NT (never really thought about whether she's NT or AS actually) ...
she's the one in the family who doesn't cook.
In fact, I once had to teach her how to boil an egg.
I was amazed she didn't know how to do that as an adult.

I don't cook too badly. I can survive on my own cooking.

Not gourmet, though.

Sometimes I really like cooking. I also make a lot of things myself to just have on hand (ie my own tahini or black rice flour). I am not good about following recipes though. I tend to just toss things together and hope for the best. I also go through phases where the idea of making food is almost dreadful in how overwhelming it all seems. I am consistently inconsistent... food and I have a weird relationship in general though.

I can cook meals from scratch without a recipe. I am pretty terrible at following recipes so I taught myself to cook and make my own recipes in the span of 3 years with no prior cooking experience, meals that my family likes about 70-75% of the time. However, due to my executive functioning deficits, I am terrible at multitasking and it takes me a lot longer to cook than most people, I also use a lot more dishes and make more of a mess cooking. Doesn't matter anymore though since my IBS is so severe that all I can have is ground fibres, milk, and ensures now, so I haven't cooked in a year. I occasionally cook for others, even if I can't eat any of it, just to hear that they enjoy my cooking.

Good grief no.
It's best if I don't even try making myself a sandwich.
Or even a bowl of cereal for that matter.

Simple meals that i can microwave or come prepakaged and pre-prepared.

i cant tell when things are cooked.....at all, one burnt omelette (but only on one side) coming up, looks great ontop and horrifying on the bottom....im sure tomato sauce will help.

Phoenix.....the aroma emanating from your house when you cook.....makes me want to ring your doorbell!

Thank you for the kind compliment, kraftiekortie!

And I will gladly accept it. Especially if we're talking about my shrimp and scallops dish ... it's much better than the way the restaurants do it.

My specialty, my way:

Shrimp and scallops marinated overnight and then cooked in white or rose wine and lime or lemon juice
pan sauteed together with butter, served with rice, green beans, and French bread.

Tonight's meal, however,
is going to be chocolate cake.

Anyways, you would be most welcome for dinner, my friend!

I'm fairly competent in the kitchen, and began cooking decades ago at school. At that time all girls aged 12 and 13 had to attend cooking classes once a week - the boys went to metalwork and woodwork classes, and these were compulsory in the NZ school system them.

We were expected to eat what we cooked, and one week we had to cook vegetable soup, which was very flavourless as we used water rather than stock, herbs, etc and it was really just watery vegetables. Later that day there was a desperate message from the principal asking that no more soup be poured down the drains as we had blocked the plumbing!

Nevertheless, I learned useful things and if formed a basis for add on learning later. By the time my own children went to school in the 70s and 80s, cooking was an optional course that teenagers of both sexes could take if they chose, and my son took that option for a year.

For people who want to learn to cook and have no idea how to start, there are some excellent starter books written for children with "how to" pictures for all stages of a recipe.

The two things that are most important perhaps for beginners is to get the measurements and cooking times exactly right, buying proper measuring cups and spoons is a worthwhile investment. Even for non-cooks, I think it's a great idea to have one dinner dish you can cook easily and off by heart, something like spaghetti bolognaise is relatively easy and liked by almost everyone.

I love cooking. I'm always learning new recipes, and I have been complimented many times before. I am the guy who comes to a pot luck, always promises the roommates I'll bring some back for them, but there is never any leftovers afterward.

I have been told by many I should have went to culinary school,

Difference between the Food Industry and my kitchen. I can take as long as I want in my kitchen and often take things in steps, that I otherwise could not in the food industry. The food industry is too fast paced and beyond that, culinary school often strips away individual identity with food and only teaches you the techniques that are considered "standard".

I don't cook standard. I experiment. I like to experiment. I like to do the things other people would not do.