Absolutely essential cooking tools

Don't forget one grab one of these.

good list but there's some redundancy/conflict, get either a copper/steel pan and a metal spatula or a silicone one and a nonstick pan, choose the latter if you don't have much confidence and want to make shit easy

I would also skip the food processor and spend more on your knife instead unless you have something specific in mind mechanization will help a lot with

easy to make...
bean soups
stew with potato
really filling super healthy
meat is optional
and you can keep it for days so free meals for the week
or make big batches and freeze some

I would never use a silicone spatula to do most cooking with, I just use it for baking so often that I consider it necessary. I think having one nonstick and one steel pan is worthwhile, purely because I work as a saucier and would never saute in nonstick, need that fond for a pan sauce, but things like eggs really need that nonstick. For the food processor, it's just so amazing for dips and spreads, I use it every few days for hummus or pesto. Gives a lot more variety to the salads/sandwiches for my kids.

I would honestly go for italian food, then. Chinese and Korean food is quite fast too, but the ingredients are probably a bit inconvenient for you to get. You could make a risotto in about half an hour, just using onions, risotto rice, stock, white wine and left overs you have around. Asparagus, spring onion, whatever. And, of course, pasta dishes. Spaghetti takes less than 10 minutes to become al dente, which means it has some resistance when you bite but isn't hard or chewy. And you can do the sauce as the pasta cooks. I love a pesto pasta, maybe throw in some sauteed veg for nutrition, but there are countless varities. Tomato and basil is a simple one. If you're feeling extremely lazy, go for pasta aglio e olio, which is just sauteed sliced garlic cooked in a shit load of high quality olive oil served with spaghetti. Sometimes with parsley and parmigiano reggiano, but that's not traditional.

would I be correct in presuming you aren't super interested in really learning how to cook?

it might change once you have some basic competence, I only got interested in learning much more about cooking generally after I'd gotten good at making some basic tasty dishes well

This applies for me too. I just needed to know basic shit when I moved out on my own, now I love cooking and am always learning new recipes

yes. I really just want to be able to make simple basic stuff to keep myself fed

You can always do what I grew up on, roasted veg/meat/potatoes put on a plate with some gravy.

that sounds good, do you have a recipe?

I think you need to realise that recipes really aren't important, especially for the home cook. Just take the time to research different cooking techniques, and throw ingredients together that you think work well. I've never made the same soup recipe twice, for example. Sure, it always starts with butter, mirepoix, chicken or beef stock, and usually finishes with creme fraiche, but I will just use whatever veg I have around to make it. If I have a left over chicken breast, I'll just saute it and use the same pan to make a butter sauce and serve it with, again, whatever veg I have around.

Big knife
Lil knife
Cutting board
Small cast iron
Stew/soup pot
Wok
Tongs
Spoon

Start with then above and add depending on what yr cooking

As for culinary inspiration; start with the french, and grab yrself a copy of larousse

aight ty

Going to have to second italian food assuming you like pasta and stuff, there are lots of fairly simple dishes you can make that will taste excellent and are hard to completely screw up. Fettuchine alfredo is a good starting point. You can try making pork and beef meatballs and shallow frying them in olive oil too, that's just whatever ratio of meat you want mixed with egg, breadcrumbs, and whatever flavoring you like, I usually have oregano, red pepper flakes and shreds of parmesean. Just use jarred sauce at this point unless you're feeling like you want to try your hand at making that, and you can eat them with pasta or on a hero roll with mozzeralla or a few other things. There are lots of other simple and impressive pasta dishes you can make like carbonara or puttanessca once you have a feel for how shit progresses when you apply heat to raw ingredients and are a little more confident

It would be remiss though to recommend easy and good tasting meals without mentioning the burger and fries though. It is unlikely you will completely ruin a beef patty and toppings and homemade french fries no matter how shit you are. It is certainly possible, but basically don't let your meat soak in nasty fat as it cooks and don't just drop the cut potato strips into the oil without doing anything else to them first and you'll beat most fast food places for taste easily. I personally like to boil the fries in salted water and drain them and give them a little while to dry before frying them in oil, and I've had fine results with soaking them for a while in salted ice water in the fridge. Frying them twice is another method that comes recommended and I've heard is used in commercial kitchens but I've never tried it. Bringing up oil selection will probably shit up this thread but just don't use canola oil, I recommend peanut oil or lard/tallow if you can get it.

hands and brain

youtube.com/watch?v=-av6cz9upO0

bump

let me tell you what I use 99% of the time to make 99% of everything

>WOODEN SPOON silicon spatula for eggs, pancake, and similar
>sieve for washing rice, catching solids, washing shrimp, etc.
>slotted ladle for picking out noodles or meatbits+veggies b4 reducing
>regular ladle for serving soups and sauces
>210mm gyuto or chef's knife
>steak knife
>3.5Qt enameled cast iron stock pot (eggs, roasts, stews, soups)
>cast iron pan (meats, veggies)
>mittens

you don't need a lot of shit OP.

tfw house came with electric burner.

>3.5Qt enameled cast iron stock pot (eggs, roasts, stews, soups)

didn't have one of these for so long, quality of life improved greatly with one

i know this feel

>any tips on really easy shit to make?

go to the store and buy a bag of carrots, gold potatoes, yellow onion, garlic, bay, coriander, and 2.5lb chuck beef. should be ~$25 USD. go home.

pat dry beef, cut excess fat, and season with salt. put pic related blue pot on the stove top. set heat to max, pour in olive oil and coat bottom. wait until surface is very hot. add roast (DO NOT MOVE ROAST). let it sizzle a couple minutes, then flip over and repeat.

when beef is browned, remove and put in a bowl. set 50% heat. pour a splash of vermouth or whatever to unstick meat bits. slice onion and stir in, get it coated in oil. add water or broth and start warming.

while waiting press and peel garlic. just smoosh with hands on countertop, it peels itself. poke holes in sides of roast, press cloves into holes. wash carrots & make matchsticks. wash potatoes, rub skin off if desired, and cube.

put meat back in pot w/ blood and ooze, add veggies, pour in water until meat is nearly covered. add bay leaf, remaining garlic, and coriander if you have it. cover, set heat to 20%.

wait 1hr, turn over beef. wait 1hr. remove beef & all from broth. set heat to max. stir in 1/2 a stick of butter. boil broth down to 1/2" deep. heat off, slice and serve. feeds for 3 days.

same. it's been everywhere with me. i love it.

(this works better in an oven at ~190F for 3hrs, but i don't know if OP has an oven)

what about flat bottomed woks?

Nice recipe. The only thing that would improve it is thyme and beef stock or wine.