Reddit mentions of Pillsbury Good for You Cookbook

I ran into that exact same problem not that long ago. Thankfully, I had a fiance (then boyfriend) who was patient with me and taught me how to cook, but I brought some ideas to the table that really helped the both of us.

First, go get some cookbooks. And I don't mean go around and just grab whatever the first one you see is. I mean go and actually flip through the cookbook. How complicated does the cooking look? How many ingredients will you need? Do they show pictures? Do they give nutritional value (important if you're trying to watch what you eat)? I found a few that I really like: Pillsbury has two that I like and I also like this Betty Crocker one. I've found that despite them being "brand name" cook books, they don't require brand name foods. They all take less than 30 minutes, most of them recipes have pictures included and they don't require many ingredients. They also have the nutritional info, which I really like.

One you have some cookbooks to work with, plan out your meals for that week. Designate one day as "shopping" day (for me, it's Sunday). Figure out how many meals you need that week then flip through the books until you find enough meals to cover that day. Write them down on the top corner of a notebook. On the main lines of the notebook, write down all the ingredients you'll need to buy. You might need to splurge a bit at first to get all the spices and whatnot but those last forever and are always good to have around. Don't forget to also think about your lunches and breakfasts. Make sure to replace the essentials if you need to (milk, eggs, bread, etc). This will keep your grocery list in check (and the bill to boot) and will prevent you from randomly buying things that you'll never actually eat (or shouldn't eat).

As for cooking, follow the recipes. As you cook more and more, you'll get more and more comfortable with making substitutions and eyeballing things. Don't try to rush anything. Read the instructions, follow them closely and don't sweat it if things don't turn out right. It's okay to mess up and create something that doesn't taste good. You can always try again later.

Oh, and check out this website. She also has two books that would be good additions to your cookbook library, but the blog has all the recipes.