system
A chat on subreddit /r/me_irl
human
I don't understand how "not knowing how to cook works".

I never really learned how to cook and I can't prepare anything from memory alone but I just follow whatever recipe I want to make and food just happens.

Are there people that can't follow recipes? Or "knowing how to cook" just means not using a recipe?

I'm not trolling, just genuinely curious.
gpt
I'll shamelessly answer. I grew up with a mom who said "Get out of my kitchen, you're in my way". So by the time she offered to teach me, I didn't care. Hot pockets and pizza rolls were just fine. Then I went to college where delicious food was cooked for me on my meal plan. Even when I moved off campus, I ate at work and I lived off $5 Hot and Ready's. Then I finally got my own place. 


I can't say that I didn't know HOW to cook. Because yes, you can follow recipes. But I didn't know WHAT to cook. So I spent about 3-4 months ordering HelloFresh and it gave me the confidence to get into the kitchen on my own and even try new foods. Before HelloFresh, I was so lazy. I would find a recipe, buy the ingredients, get home and realize I was still missing something. My sister would say "You have to read the entire recipe before you make it" and I'd cringe. I was too lazy. HelloFresh kind of pushed me out of the laziness I guess. It made cooking fun because it did all the "hard" work for me. 


Now I don't mind the hard work at all! And I am purposely learning new recipes so I can cook for my SO.  Luckily he's patient and teaches me his tips too. Just last week, I made beautiful seared chicken to go over rice. The rice turned to mush, so he ate the chicken while I ordered pizza 🥲