How to Cook for Others | Helpful Food Preparation Hints for People Who Hate to Cook

Cooking for Others

We all have different living situations. Some of us prepare food for others on a daily basis, and for others of us, preparing food for family and friends is a special occasion. These tips will make it much more fun to cook for other people.

Stick With What You Know

If you are new to cooking, you're likely to have more fun as well as success if you approach it as a hobby and not a life skill in the beginning. In other words, when you need to feed yourself or others, stick to things you know. This may seem like it's missing the whole point of cooking, but it's an approach that will make your adventure much less pressure-filled, and more fun for everyone. You'll also avoid displaying your disasters for the entire world to see!

Plan Ahead

People who don't "cook" don't generally think about food preparation until it's time to eat. Unfortunately, this approach is generally what turns so many people off to cooking in the first place! It's no fun to cook when you're hungry or when you've got the pressure of other hungry people waiting for you. So if you're having dinner guests, try to do as much of the cooking as possible ahead of time.

Practice Makes Perfect

One way to look at it is like a musician. When you're cooking for others, you are doing the performance. The rest of the time is practice. You wouldn't expect a musician to walk on stage at a concert and perform a piece of music that they'd never played before. You need to expect that you will have a few disasters along the way, and even once you get your feet on the ground, it still may take a bit of experimentation to perfect a dish to the point where it is ready to serve.

Now, that doesn't mean that if you have a family to feed you should simply make a bunch of experiments and throw them away. It just means that you try it out when it's not mealtime. This works especially well with dishes that can be easily re-heated. If it turns out well, then you can re-heat it and serve it for a meal. If it doesn't, then you can lend it to the compost heap, or give the dog a treat!