This is a big, giant list of Youtube tutorials that will teach you all the basic life skills you need to know in order to be a functional adult. There are a lot of important skills that aren’t included in this list, but this should be enough of a basic guide to get you started and prevent you from making a total mess of yourself. Happy adulting!
A mutual of mine posted recently that many people say a beginner should ‘Just Practice!’ and indeed that’s the #1 way of getting better at something.
But often a beginner doesn’t practice – not because they’re lazy – but because they don’t know how.
So! Here are some ways to practice cooking, to get better at it!
HAVE A SHARP KNIFE! SHARP! SHARP! You should be able to gently drag the blade across a ripe tomato and it cleanly cuts with no ragged edges! A good chef’s knife is more valuable than basically any other cooking tool. Investing in a single good knife is WORTH IT.
Practice chopping something basic, like celery or a half a cucumber. Figure out how to hold both of your hands – Knife hand with its proper grip, grabbing hand with the knuckle leading, so you don’t have to worry about chopping your fingers off. – Your thumb scootches the food to the knife. Go slow and deliberate. Try to make each of your celery slices the same side. Try to keep the slices straight, then keep them consistently angled.
Practice how to prepare different plants- Find tips on how to peel a potato quickly, how to dismember a pepper quickly. How to take a rind off a melon.
Practice boiling an egg. Like, boil eggs 1 at a time, and keep track of the time so you can see how boiling strength and time effect the end result.
Try a new technique! Follow the instructions from a recipe directly.
Fry something in a pan
Saute some onions
Boil some specialty noodles, like angel hair. Compare it to spaghetti – they require different cook times for a reason.
Melt some chocolate – slooooowwwwly. Heating slow or fast can change the structure of a food. Heating chocolate too fast and too hot will make it crystalize and turn gritty.
Try a new recipe!
Find a recipe where you know how to do everything except 1 step. Read about that 1 step, and carefully follow directions.
Quiz yourself on spices and herbs! Try to identify what spices are being used in your food when you go out. Dill? Paprika? Red pepper? Train yourself in the spice cabinet – smell and taste the different spices and herbs. Find a dish with a specific spice in it, and cook it so you know how it tastes when cooked into chicken or broccoli.
Remember! No one instinctively knows how to cook – We all learn from observation and trying new things, and doing it over and over again until it’s muscle memory.
Just like Athletes are good because they put in the practice and the passion.
Just like Artists and Writers are good because they put in the practice and passion.
You can become a good cook. Even if you’ve burnt noodles or exploded a turkey before. There is no cut-off limit. Everyone can learn.
This is my current list of things that make me happy, and make me feel fulfilled and productive.
Mornings:
When your alarm goes off, stretch something! Stretch your shoulders. Sit up and stretch your back. Stick a leg straight up in the air and stretch your hamstrings. The sudden bloodflow wakes you up in a refreshing way and makes the morning brighter + easier to jump into.
WASH UR FACE. It’s refreshing AS FUCK. Use 3 different moisturizers and pretend you’re a Kpop star who needs perfect skin.
Brush yo teeth my homies. Dental work is expensive af and tooth-brushing shit is cheap.
Look in the mirror and tell yourself you’re cute as hell. Say it threateningly. “You are a cute motherfucker.”
Do a half-minute of exercise. 30 seconds. That’s hardly anything. Lift something over your head and wiggle it. Do a wallsit. Lunge your way across the hall and back. Lay down and do some lazy crunches or sit-ups. Ta daaaa! Elevated heart rate! Extra energy for the day! – You can do more if you want, but this is for perking up, not working out.
Days:
Write down 3 things you need to complete today. Just 3 small things. Maybe it’s ‘Wash Dishes’ ‘Put away Dishes’ and ‘Do Laundry’ – If you’re low on spoons, go smaller. “wash 3 dishes” or “Put laundry in washer, Feed pets, Feed self” – Try to get those 3 things done before going to sleep. – I like to write “Time this will take” next to it. Usually each thing is only 5-10 minutes, but it’s super fulfilling to check an entire list off.
Keep a running list of the projects you’ve started. This is just to reference in case you’re bored af and want to do something but don’t want to start something new necessarily. My list is long as hellll.
Look for nice things! Keep your eyes peeled for the silver lining of things, and the bright spots on other people. Compliment people who put effort into their appearance. Try to be genuinely appreciative of people helping you – Not just by thanking them, but feel it in your heart.
Idk about y’all, but I have trouble remembering to eat, so I use a meal tracker to remind me to stop for lunch. Calorie counter apps are useful for making sure you’ve reached a threshold, not just staying under a limit. Looking at the app and realizing I’ve had a week streak of having solid meals is lovely. I’ve been doing so well!
Missing a meal isn’t bad/wrong/failing – it’s just an accident. Like dropping a slice of cheese on the floor. Whoops! Well, that’s gone, better be a little more careful moving forward. Forgive yourself for mistakes and accidents. Think of how you can do better next time, don’t linger and ruminate over the mistake
Take a moment to appreciate the world around you. Take 30 seconds to pause by a window and watch the clouds. Listen to birdsong. Let your shoulders relax. Brush your fingertips over a bush as you pass it. Watch a squirrel do its thing. I’m just a small part of a big-ass world, and the problems in my life really aren’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. The world isn’t actually ending. I find it centering.
Other General:
Have something that someone else holds you to, outside of work. Every Tuesday I meet with friends for ‘Writer’s Group’ to go over things we’ve written for editing and suggestions. Often I bring fanfics, but other times it’s bits of novels or short stories. Every Sunday I volunteer at a drug/alcohol/homeless recovery center to serve lunch. Tbh these things are selfish. I’ve found I need structure in my life. I volunteer for a sense of fulfilled duty + a solid anchor in the liminal space of my time-fluxy mind.
For me, none of this happened all at once. None of this is perfect daily habits. They’re things that I realized I needed to be happy, so I try to do them regularly for that sweet, sweet dopamine. Maybe you need meditation every day, to be happy. Maybe you need to call your friends and talk, or have a certain amount of time with animals.
Find out what makes you happy, and try your best to make those moments a feature in your life. Even if it’s a little bit of happiness at a time, after a while it can build up until you realize you’ve got a LOT of little things making you feel at peace.
And sometimes it can all build up until you realize you’re a TRIUMPHANT MOTHERFUCKER WHO CAN KICK THE WHOLE WORLD IN ITS FACE! CROW YOUR BATTLECRY TO THE HEAVENS AND LUNGE INTO THE NEXT ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE! DESTROY THE VILLAINS WHO OPPOSE YOU! DRINK FROM THE CHALICE OF VICTORY!
WEAPONIZE YOUR POSITIVITY UNTIL YOU CAN CURSE EVERYONE AROUND YOU INTO FEELING JOYOUS AND HAPPY TO BE ALIVE!
why is broccoli seen as this universally hated vegetable. broccoli is delicious
bc suburban families all over the world literally just steam/microwave their vegetables and serve them plain to their kids. No wonder kids hate vegetables. They’re taught that veggies are supposed to taste bad. but imagine: veggies with spices. Veggies in curry. veggies that are broiled, soaked, sautéed. aghhhh veggies are so good
Veggies of color (VOC)
People post good veggie recipes!!! Go!
i’m a vegan/vegetarian chef and yeah people generally don’t… season or… actually think about their vegetables at all? like if you treat your meal like “MEAT + unfortunate side dish i don’t want to eat + dessert” no fucking wonder you’re going to be unhappy with your results?? literally everyone should know how to cook vegetables WELL, because they can be fucking DELICIOUS?
it’s not surprising to me that most people don’t actually… KNOW how to cook vegetables, which is really, really sad. so imma help y’all out.
– grill your fucking vegetables? if you have a grill, or even a little dinky george foreman–grill those bitches. brush them with olive oil–or a mix of olive oil and balsalmic vinegar if you’re fancy, grill, salt, pepper, fresh herbs if you want, BAM. delicious. if you don’t, roasting is your next best option. you can also (if you have a gas stove and are ambitious) “grill” on the stove top. many a time i’ve stuck a sweet pepper on the stove and lit that bitch up!
– braise those bitches??? good for leafy greens and vegetables like turnips and radishes. finely chop some garlic, onion, or scallion (or all three if you’re bold) and sautee them in a little oil. once they’re almost cooked, add your veg. keep it moving, don’t let anything burn, and add a capful of white wine, or cooking wine. DELICIOUS.
– FRESH. HERBS. ARE. YOUR. FRIENDS? if you cannot get fresh (admittedly, i live on a farm, so i’m never short on things like dill, parsley, thyme, scallion, or cilantro) but they’re amazing on fresh veggies. sauteed in them in a pan? add some herbs. roasted them in the oven? add some herbs (and brown sugar if you want a savory sweet vibe)
– roast them in the oven if you don’t have time (or spoons) to stand up next to a hot ass stove for 5-20 minutes! vegetables that are good for roasting are typically ones that take a long time to cook, eggplants, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, etc. of course, you can roast any veggie you like!
– MARINATE THOSE BITCHES??? literally you can make delicious marinades out of items most of you already have in your homes: honey/brown sugar, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, etc.
– FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK STOP ADDING EVERYTHING TO THE PAN AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. time out your veggies when sauteeing them for anything. if you’re doing a bunch of different ones, add the veggies to the pan first that take the longest. Making stir fry? put those motherfucking carrots in first, because they take FOREVER. onions, carrots, potatoes? put those in first. corn, broccoli, sweet pepper, zucchini? closer to the end, my dude, because they cook FAST.
– ginger and scallion go excellently in stir fry btw. if when you make your stir fry it tastes like it’s “missing something”, that’s what you’re missing. add that shit.
– you do NOT FUCKING NEED CHICKEN/BEEF STOCK FOR YOUR GODDAMN SOUP IF IT DOESN’T HAVE MEAT IN IT! sautee your veggies first, and you can use either powdered or canned coconut milk as the body. it makes for deliciously creamy soup. don’t worry about the coconut taste–it’s pretty much gone by the time your soup/stew is done cooking. coconut milk (especially powdered, and soy milk works for this too, no vanilla flavoring obviously) makes an excellent base for sauces for veggies, even if you eat meat!
lastly, give it the ol’ ratatouille. smell your herbs and spices together. if they seem like they go well, odds are, they’ll taste bangin’ once you combine them. experiment. everything you make will not be good, but you’ll get more comfortable cooking. i’ve been a chef for like two years and i burned some bread today, so it’s okay. you’ll make mistakes. that’s how you learn. don’t be afraid to cut or burn yourself–the more afraid you are, the more likely it is to happen.
you’re welcome, signed your local angry vegetarian chef who wants people to eat more vegetables
This is all very good advice for if you want/need to get more vegetables in your diet but haven’t cared for them in the past. A couple extra pointers form my expirience:
-If you’re subbing coconut milk for a meat-based stock you’ll probably want to add more salt than the original recipe calls for. And some garlic
-Actually, everything needs more garlic.
-The Ratatouille Method Works. It works best when you’re feeling indescisive about what to make for dinner, so you go snack on whatever herbs/veg/sauce you have around and think about the flavors.
-Don’t be afraid to do this with fruit too! Even if you’re a meat person like me, fruit goes great with lots of things and can benefit from many of the above cooking methods. The main difference is that fruit tends to cook REALLY SUPER FAST so add it in at the last minute, or even last second.
-Looking Up Traditional Recipies. Not eating enough plants is a very recent problem, and nearly every culture on earth has got some great veg recipies. Look up basic things like “French Carrots and Leeks Recipes” or find multicultural food blogs or heck, Actually Call Your Grandma* and ask what she did for vegetables.
*Caveat: If your grandma is like mine and all her recipies are from Her Grandmother from Industrial Liverpool and she lived through the Great Depression you might get a very detailed example of What Not To Do, which will at least be informative if also slightly terrifying.
Also even if you just microwave/boil your veggies they can still taste good? Like brocolli and a little parmesan cheese and garlic powder??? Hell, carrots and peas with some season salt???
like literally just fucking add some salt and oil to any veggie and it’s a million times better why are suburbanites so scared of seasoning???
Me: What temperature should Brussels sprouts roast at again? My brain: IDK, 500? Me: Really?! ADHD: You don’t need to double check that, it’ll be fine Me, a fucking idiot about to make charcoal: Okay!
350 for 10 minutes
ADHD blows when it comes to cook times and double checking your info.
HOWEVER! You can always put a note on your oven that says “350 for ten minutes”
It is a fairly rare day that anything you cook needs to be much higher than 350 degrees, and most loose things like veggies and chopped up meat will cook at that temp between 10-30 minutes.
So! If you have no fuckin’ clue how long you should cook your pile of veggies, bacon + potatoes, or whatever, grease it, spice it up, wrap it in tin foil so it doesn’t dry out, and stick it in the oven at 350 for… ten-ish minutes.
After your ten-minute timer beeps at you, Check how it’s cooking and then add another 5-10 minutes of cook time if it isn’t quite done yet. Rinse and Repeat until that shit’s cooked
Opening the oven will let some of the heat out, but if you’re not cooking something crazy delicate, it honestly doesn’t matter that much.
— It’s always good to check the internet “How long should I cook x in the oven?” Especially with more delicate things like baked goods.
However, I’ve managed to cook some pretty tasty coconut sugar cookies with zero measuring cups and “fuckit, 350 for 10 minutes” – As well as various pizzas, casseroles, different roasted veggie mixes, and more.
Toss stuff in oil and some spices, wrap in foil, and go to town.
Brussel sprouts in particular take around 30 minutes at 350 because they’re real dense in the middle.
Chopped Potatoes is 30 minutes at 350 – Likewise ‘cause root veggies are dense af
Acorn Squash halves (seeds removed) for 30-40 minutes
Whole Carrots is about 30 minutes at 350
Asparagus is 10 minutes at 350
Broccoli is 15 minutes at 350
Bacon is 10 minutes (or a lil more if you like em crispy)
Zucchini wedges are 15 minutes
Sugar cookies: 10 minutes
‘toss shit together’ Cassarole : 15 minutes uncovered to toast the cheese on top, 15 minutes covered with foil
Salmon: wrapped in tin foil!!! for 25 minutes.
Pizza: 10-15 minutes depending on how many toppings you loaded up and how thick the crust is. Poke the center of the pizza to test cooking – you don’t want it doughy.
Notice all the ‘Multiples of 5′ we’ve got going on. Nothing is THAT accurate – we’re estimating based on averages, but all ovens will distribute heat in different ways, so exact cook time always varies.
As you cook things in 10-minute intervals, you’ll start to get a sense for which things need more cook time – judging by the density of the flesh, how much you’re putting in the oven at once, and experience with cooking that stuff in the past.
[Blue drawing of a bird wearing a shirt and tie next to a caption that says “I take initiative (I send people confusing memes), I am a professional (I get many emails), I am a team player (I am willing to lie for money), Give me money (Give me money)”]
This is one of the oldest conundrums of personal finance: to spend a small amount of money on a bandaid solution NOW, or save up for a long-term solution later. We wrote about the dilemma here:
Personally, if you can get by using the computers at school, then I would save up another few hundred dollars to buy the higher quality computer that will last longer. It’ll be cheaper in the long term, and you’ll rest easy knowing that you won’t have to deal with another computer combustion any time soon. Good luck!
Yo, everyone should learn how to take care of their computers. Each of my laptops have lasted 5+ years and none have cost more than like $300. (Sidenote, buying a 1200 macbook is a fucking scam and there’s basically nothing you’ll need to do for most classes that will exceed the capabilities of a $200 computer.) That being said, you will generally get a faster processing speed, more storage, and if you need it, a more durable casing on a more expensive laptop. (If you need something durable I can’t recommend Lenovo enough btw).
If you can swing it, get an external hard drive for all your super important non-internet stored stuff; if you can’t, a USB will work okay for the necessities. Learn how to factory resent your computer every six months/year. You accumulate SO MUCH crap on your computer that drags the whole system down. If you don’t like the newer Windows OS then make a bootstick of your favorite OS (mine’s Windows 7, if anyone was curious) this helps if you ever truly and majorly fuck up your system. You can completely wipe the hard drive and reinstall your OS.
If you get physical disks with your new computer!!! Keep Them!!! Don’t let them get scratched up I can’t stress this enough one day you will need those disks and you will be VERY sad when you can’t find them/they can’t be read.
So many issues ppl just toss computers away for can be googled & fixed (assuming you have a phone/other way to access the internet + some time to let systems run which admittedly not everyone does). I myself just pulled out a laptop I thought was donezo and has been sitting for a full year. Plugged it in, charged her up, let the system figure its shit out, googled the problem & had it fixed and running fine in a day.
One the hardware side of things, use a lap board for your laptop. I know how easy and comfortable it is to use your laptop sitting on your chest lying in bed. Your laptop hates this and can’t cool itself down, and is sucking up all kinds of bad crap. Try not to eat or drink shit too close or right over it. (I once watched a friend’s cat dump a full glass of soda all over her 1200 macbook keyboard, RIP) and besides, you get crumbs and shit under your keys. Try to make sure your charger cord is straight in its port, as well as usb/hdmi/ethernet cables, this will save both your cables and your ports. Be gentle with them, try not to pick them up by the screens, throw them around, or let them get too beat up in your backpack. Please Don’t wrap cords tightly around things you will break the wires inside and need to buy a new cord. Sometimes it’s worth looking into buying a new part and installing yourself, sometimes parts are hellishly expensive and you’re honestly better off getting a new pc/sending it in for repair. Ask if you don’t know, so many people are excited to talk shop about pcs & will help you online.
This isn’t a callout at you specifically OP, more like a general list of Things you can do to get the most bang for your buck with electronics. It sounds like you kept your pc alive for a nice respectable amount of time! Just like anything, they can last a long time if cared for properly. Pcs get junked for all kinds of things that are totally fixable! If you want or need a better/faster computer than just the basics absolutely go for it, but it’s totally possible to keep a $200 pc alive through and after college if you truly can’t afford anything more. (also, it’s worth mentioning, if you have people in your life who can afford to meet you halfway on a more expensive purchase like a $500 pc, its worth bringing up as a a one big gift replacement for lots of little gifts at birthdays or major holidays)
Sorry this is sort of all over the place and super rushed, but it’s relatively low cost/low effort to perform maintenance on a pc and it really does make a difference!! BGR are giving solid and fabulous advice as always but this is something I feel strongly that everyone who owns a pc should know!
Here’s a small list of foods from Carbohydrate/Protein/Fat groups, some of them cross over, but it’s a start! PCOS is all about keeping a balanced and varied diet for optimum results.
ImagineCreateDevour 
