Reddit mentions of Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook: 100 + Great Recipes with Foolproof Instructions

I used MyFitnessPal when I was counting. FitBit is also a good one.

Gaining weight is about eating enough calories, not cooking anything specific.

I started with this and this when I first moved out. Again though, you can get free recipes online. Start with learning 3-5 and then slowly increase what you can do. Eventually you will have 10-15 meals you can make from memory and can get a nice diversity of food.

With cookbooks there are a lot of crap out there. Either you get something with a billion recipes you are never going to use, one with glossy photos that your food will never resemble, or one with ingredients that you will never be able to find, if you would afford them.

Look at something simple like A Man, A Can, A Plan.

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Can-Plan-Great-Meals/dp/1579546072

Or.

Help! My Apartment has a kitchen

http://www.amazon.com/Help-Apartment-Has-Kitchen-Cookbook/dp/0618711759/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394027390&sr=1-1&keywords=my+apartment+has+a+kitchen

This seems more your speed.

1. Decide what you want to be good at. Unless you are a professional chef (and even they tend to specialize) you're probably not goign to be good at everything. But, you can be good at something. Me? I barbecue. Can't cook inside to save my life. Always burn, under cook, or otherwise get it wrong.
   
   
2. Go simple to start. A cookbook I got for myself "way back whgen" (because I stumbled across it at a thrift store I think) was "Help! My apartment has a kitchen!" Actual good recipes, well organized, with pretty much foolproof instructions and advice

When I was a kid one of my parents got me the book Help! My Apartment has a Kitchen!

I was way too young to have my own apartment but it's easy to read and the recipes are pretty simple and good starting places.

http://www.amazon.com/Help-Apartment-Has-Kitchen-Cookbook/dp/0618711759

Serious eats and good eats are great web and video resources respectively.

For a book, I learned to cook from help my apartment has a kitchen. It's a great book. Really explains everything in detail, has little notes and tips that helped me a lot when I was just starting, and the recipes are pretty good. I still make the sweet and sour pork chops and asian pork spaghetti out of this book with some regularity, 10 years later.

Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook: 100 + Great Recipes with Foolproof Instructions https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618711759/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gQ8rDbP9ER0QA

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home https://www.amazon.com/dp/0517577003/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XR8rDbBSNYVP2

Home Management: Plain and Simple https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998610100/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qT8rDb6FDZZQA

Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440308535/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4V8rDb7GT21TK

Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 2nd Edition-Revised and Updated: Tips and Tools to Help You Take Charge of Your Life and Get Organized https://www.amazon.com/dp/1592335128/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6W8rDb6ZKRW49


Don’t be afraid to shop! (Within reason) It will contribute so much to your comfort and relaxation/mental health to have a nice space set up for you both.

I recommend Ikea for most things, Target, and Ross has a good “home stuff” section.