#xiaobabyguide | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

xiaonyc · 1 month

Text

Xiaobabys complete guide to be a baddie in the kitchen ₊⋅ 🔪 ‧₊˚✮★

Background ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ This is a guide for girlies who cook or want to cook for themselves and their loved ones regularly. This is what works for me. And its constantly adapting. Cooking is not just WHAT you eat, its the whole process from thinking of what to make to washing the dishes ...AND feelin cute and powerful at the same time.

I wont go into depth about exact foods or nutritional value, this is more for the PROCESS u can apply to whatever you eat.

Step 1: Lookin cute and feeling like a domestic queen

★ Wear a cute apron, not only protects your clothes but really gets you in the mood for cooking, and house slippers since the tile floor is cold

★ Make cute recipe cards, i find cards easier than a notebook because i can put them up with magnet

★ Make a cute menu for the week on a whiteboard on the fridge like its your own little restaurant. At the top you can put something like, Xiaobaby's patisserie or Xiaobaby's kitchen, name it something fun and encouraging (i dont do this bc my fridge is not very visible, but i think this is such a fun idea ^_^) edit: i did this today and can verify its very cute 👍

★ print or write down recipes when you can. Or buy a cookbook. Its reaaly tough to use phone and cook, esp with wet hands

Step 2: Think and plan

Over time it will get easier, but to start ive found it helpful to write a plan down. This includes:

★ make a weekly meal plan

I plan to cook 6 days usually and 1 day is take out/lazy day

simple meal days: of the 6 days, I include at least 1 very simple meal (usually pasta for me, but this could be frozen meal, etc), but you can do more to your needs

for each day, I cook 1 main meal with leftovers for another meal. (Usually lunch, with leftovers for dinner. you can do dinner with leftovers for next day lunch) The rest is filled with simple meals (oatmeal, smoothies, snacks) i dont follow the 3 meals/day, personally. Sometimes its more sometimes less.

Of course you dont have to follow it exactly, but it helps to make sure you have enough food for the week

★ make a grocery list

Separate into:

pantry staples (things you can stock up on, need to get less frequently) such as oatmeal, pasta, rice, flour, cereal

basic seasonings (for me: salt, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar) you dont need much to start, as you cook more, you can add more seasonings

everything else once you have the previous two, you just need to focus on fresh ingredients and snacks

──────── ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ ────────

Tips:

╰✩ use 1 ingredient in multiple ways (ie broccoli flowers for one meal, stem for a stir fry)

╰✩ pick simple recipes to start, searching up recipes can be daunting. I honestly think simple tastes better. For anything you want to cook, search "simple" or "easy" in front of it. If cooking for family, ask what they want to eat.

╰✩ adapt recipes, make them your own! Don't be afraid to substitute ingredients or omit them completely

╰✩ pick a theme each week to make use of all your ingredients and not waste food

╰✩ don't buy an ingredient for one recipe that you will never use again (such as a spice), it will go to waste. instead substitute it with something you will use or omit it completely. If you decide to get it, look up other recipes that use that ingredient

Step 3: cooking

★ Prep before cooking

prep all veggies and meats first (give yourself at least 30min)

★ Minimize dishes

Remember, everything you use you have to clean

minimise hard to wash utensils like whisks and use fork or chopsticks instead (ie to whisk eggs)

use less pots/pans, which i find the most annoying to clean by cooking consecutively in 1 pan instead of having multiple pots going at once (Ex. Cook pasta, drain it, then cook sauce in the same pot) or cooking one pot meals

Step 4: Cleaning dishes

★ Wash as you are waiting for things to cook, only if its something that you dont need to keep an eye on!

★ Wash cutting boards and anything wood immediately after eating to prevent mold. If i am tired, I just wash anything wood, and leave everything else for later

★ Soak dishes you are not going to wash immediately

★ If you leave some dirty dishes, its ok, but it is best to wash dishes before you have to cook again, it makes it so much easier to cook when you arent digging through dirty dishes for utensils you need, or a spatula. It really breaks the flow and makes cooking more difficult and time consuming

★ If you find you are leaving a lot of dishes, think of ways to streamline your process! Its all a learning and growing experience so don't be too hard on yourself

Step 5: Celebrate your wins, continue learning

★ be proud of yourself! This is something difficult especially if you are feeding many mouths. Don't be too hard on yourself,

★ build confidence, at first i was very sensitive because i cook for my family and didnt want them to think i am a bad cook, so i couldnt take criticism well, but now i cooked so many meals and the tasty meals far outweigh the not so tasty ones that i honestly forget about it. Also i am way more confident in my skills after having done research and writing down recipes, it all gets easier with practice

★ love yourself, want to nourish your body, so that you can nourish others ♡

all photos are not my own, from a very fun anime ^^ <3 love this show sm. hope you enjoyed this guide and happy cooking ♡ let me know how it goes!

11 notes · View notes