People are spending more money on restaurants than groceries as of 2015, and there are a lot of reasons why. Those in the workforce are spending more time at work than at any time since the industrial revolution and subsequent labor movement, so many people just don’t have the time to cook like they used to.
The economy is also doing better, which means that people are splurging on having someone else do the cooking and cleaning for them. But one factor that stands out is the fact that 25% of Americans simply don’t know how to cook.
How do you get to adulthood and not know how to cook? If your parents didn’t teach you and you never had a restaurant job, you might not know the basics of food safety and preparation. That said, in today’s advanced technological age, there’s just no excuse to not know how to cook anymore.
As far as kitchen safety goes, typically this is something you would learn at your first job flipping burgers — and you’d be tested on it to be sure you knew what you were doing. If you never have this experience you might never learn that steaks, roasts, and chops have to be cooked to an internal temperature of 145F, while ground meats and eggs have to be cooked to 160F and poultry, casseroles, and leftovers have to be cooked to 165F.
You might never learn that in order to calibrate a thermometer you should place the stem in an ice water bath and adjust the dial to read 32F.
Fortunately there are plenty of apps and gadgets that can take the guesswork out of learning how to cook. The Range Dial Grill Pro can show you the exact temperature you need to cook your food to by connecting to your phone. The days ago tracker can help you keep track of how long that bottle of mayo has been in the back of your fridge so you know when it’s time to throw it out.
Project Foodie is an app that is full of recipes and video tutorials from celebrity chef Daniel Holzman. You can use it to build shopping lists, adjust portion sizes, learn which kitchen tools you will need to prepare a certain dish, and watch step by step videos of how to actually prepare real meals.
The cooking times app takes the guesswork out of cooking times, which can vary based on how large of a batch you made or whether you substituted ingredients. Cooking to a safe temperature is important, but so is not burning the meal.
There are plenty of tools, apps, and gadgets out there to help you learn to cook even if you have never walked into a kitchen in your life. There are no more excuses for eating out at every meal. Learn all about the apps and gadgets that can have you cooking in no time from the infographic below. Are you ready to tackle your first meal?
