What is Reddit's opinion of The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook: 650 Recipes for Everything You'll Ever Want to Make (The Complete ATK Cookbook Series)?

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If you don't mind cookbooks, check this out

America's Test Kitchen: The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook

It basically breaks down recipes into serving size for two people, or you plus lunch the next day.

I have the America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two book, which does loaf-pan lasagna and such among many other, tailored to two, recipes. It is my MOST useful cook book and the best wedding gift my husband and I received (imo)

Sorry this is a bit obtrusive, I just love it and this lasagna recipe is one of my husband's favorites :)

Amazon Link

I shop and cook for two adults. My waste is pretty minimal, and it's something I've been working towards for a while now.

I do this process once a week, usually on Sundays.

First, you have to start with an audit of what you already have on hand. Check your fridge, freezer, and pantry. What is leftover from last week? What is about to expire? What am I running low on or have a lot of?

Now, you need to decide how many meals you're going to plan for the week, and be realistic about it. Personally, I stick to 4-5 per week, sometimes giving myself Fridays off, and rarely planning meals for the weekends.

Next, you have to find and stick to one or two reputable sources for your recipes/meals, unless you're just doing basic stuff that doesn't require recipes. But for me, I am using America's Test Kitchen 99% of the time, and I use the info I found from my audit to look for recipes. For example, if I have a big jar of olives in the fridge, some chicken in the freezer, and quinoa in the pantry, I'm going to look for recipes that use all three of those ingredients. If I have some leftover carrots from last week, I'm going to find a recipe or two to use those up as well. And so on.

Lastly, you build your grocery list. Depending on how well-stocked your kitchen is, it should be pretty minimal. Just this week, the only thing in my shopping cart was fresh fruits and vegetables and some dairy. I spent $40 on groceries. It felt pretty good!

At this point, the only time I waste food is when I outright skip a meal entirely, which is pretty rare, and I can just usually shift the rest of my meals down a day to make up for that.

You also might want to check out this cookbook from America's Test Kitchen, https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837

Some of the portion sizes are a bit on the small side though. I tend to find recipes that serve three (or 4-6, and cut them in half), and it's perfect, with no leftovers.

If you're into learning, I can recommend the America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two cook book. It has great recipes, but the best part is how they teach you why recipes call for certain things. Before long, you start to intuit how to cook other dishes aside from a recipe. I've cooked about 50 recipes from this book and I think it really improved my cooking back when I was starting out. Back when it was just me and the fiancé, I also appreciated that the portions were sized for two people instead of families.

https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837

Americas Test Kitchen! Their cooking for two cookbook is still one of my all time favorites & one I gift to couples pretty often. Cooking for Two

Since it's just you and your partner, I'll suggest America's Test Kitchen's Cooking For Two. It's probably the one I refer to most. It's a general purpose type of cookbook with a little bit of everything.

My favorite recipe from it is pasta with chicken, broccoli, and sun-dried tomatoes- I think that one alone was worth the cost of the cookbook.

I highly recommend the 'Cooking for Two' books from ATK:

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/1936493837/

I've made a huge number of these recipes and they are consistently good. The instructions are clear and help you LEARN to cook. It is cooking for two but the portions are generally large enough that I always get dinner for two and a lunch out of it. It's nice because you'll get some as leftovers but not so much that you get tired of it.

I highly recommend this cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Cooking-For-Cookbook/dp/1936493837

Not always the healthiest stuff, but very few bad recipes, nothing too hard, and the small portions are a nice way to experiment without having tons of leftovers of something you hate.

I can't believe no one else has mentioned this. I live alone and use this cookbook all the time, all the recipes are for two servings, so you have enough for dinner and then lunch the next day. http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Cooking-For-Cookbook/dp/1936493837

I got this cookbook and cook something new from it every 1-3 days. It's technically servings for 2 but I portion it out for 3-4 and I constantly have good meals in my fridge. It's nice because it's scaled down so I don't have tons of food leftover but instead have small portions of lots of different kinds of things. The recipes are really good, too. I buy fresh food in smaller portions, eliminated a lot of food waste, and the recipes tend to use easy-to-find ingredients and pantry staples as the backbones and herbs/spices for surprisingly wide variation in flavor.

I consider it a small hobby. I'm going through the book systematically attempting to cook everything whether I think I'll like it or not, and there's tons of stuff I've cooked and loved that I never would have chosen otherwise. It's helping to flesh out my tastes, keeps me from reverting to eating the same old stuff, and I look forward to cooking rather than viewing it as a time sink. It also has totally eliminated the "what do I want to eat?" indecision that usually results in me eating junk food.

Stock your kitchen with the right hardware

Stock your pantry and fridge (you will have to create a free account to access this one, it's worth your time)

Buy a cookbook

Use only trusted sources for recipes

These 2 could be really helpful! The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook and the 5-Ingredient Cooking for Two: 100+ Recipes Portioned for Pairs https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837 https://www.amazon.com/5-Ingredient-Cooking-Two-Recipes-Portioned/dp/1646110986/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=1646110986&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837/ref=nodl_

Look up Cooks Illustrated The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. I highly recommend it. :)

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837

r/EatCheapAndHealthy

r/mealprep

r/gifrecipeshealthy

As someone who didnt learn to cook until their late 20s, you can do it!

Good book resources for beginners (with good info for how to cook throughout):

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cooking-Two-Cookbook-Everything/dp/1936493837

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-What-Eat-Why/dp/1632864584

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650

My friend and I have also been taking free online cooking courses to learn more together (its been great so far, and the quarantine is a great time to take online courses) :

https://www.instructables.com/class/Cooking-Class/

https://www.10best.com/interests/food-culture/10-online-free-cooking-classes-improve-skills/

https://food52.com/blog/25139-online-cooking-classes-coronavirus

https://18reasons.org/

Website resources I have used to learn the basics (its hard to even know where to start when you are learning how to cook, so I used these to get comfortable):

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/foods-everyone-should-learn-to-cook

https://www.thespruceeats.com/cooking-basics-for-everyone-4684010

Some things that I have learned:

-online recipes are great, because the comments give you a good idea of how people like the recipe

-eggs should be made on low heat

-mealprepping is great, and suuuuper cheap. Cook a big batch of food on sunday, eat it throughout the week at lunchtime.

-rice, beans, eggs are cheap. If you are worried about cost, I would advice those to start with.

-the library is an AMAZING resource for cookbooks. I check them out all the time, take a photo of the recipes I like, and then put them in a binder.

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edit: another thing I used to do, was to invite friends over who knew how to cook well and cooked with them. I used to do "baking nights" when I didnt have the courage to risk messing up macaroons and other hard to make baked goods. It helps, and its fun to do. You can frame it more as a dinner and just watch your friends cook if you dont want to tell them you are nervous to start. I have also done couples cooking night, where my husband and I cook for a couple friend of ours, then the next time we switch and they cook for us. Its a great way to learn how to cook! Probably will need to do that after the pandemic, though.

And I used to make a list of the foods I liked, then looked up how to make them. I think that helps so you know you will like the food, and you will get less intimidated.