1. How to make eggs three ways.
Take your pick — fried, scrambled, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, poached — then learn exactly how to nail each version here. Once you've mastered that, experiment with turning eggs into full meals — they're versatile, cheap, and packed with protein.
Recipes: Perfect Scrambled Eggs | Poached Eggs & Avocado Toast | Skillet Sweet Potato Frittata
2. How to cook pasta perfectly.
BuzzFeed
Three important things to remember:
1) Salt your water! Don't be shy here — this is key, as it will flavor the noodles aka the entire base of your dish.
2) Stir the noodles occasionally so they cook evenly and don't stick together.
3) Drain the pasta at the right time so that it's al dente — not too hard, not too soft.
3. And how to make a killer sauce that isn't straight out of a jar.
BuzzFeed
Start with a super easy tomato sauce — like this classic version by Marcella Hazan that proves you don't need a laundry list of ingredients to make something rich and delicious. (In this case: only tomatoes, butter, onion, and salt.)
Then move on to more detailed sauces, like an ultimate red sauce spiked with wine, or this fancier carbonara made with creamy squash, bacon or pancetta, and lots of cheese.
4. How to bake incredible cookies from scratch.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed
Listen, I'm the first to admit that I'll never refuse a fresh batch (or four) of Nestle Toll House cookies. But there's ~also~ something to be said about making your own glorious bites from scratch every now and then. Totally worth it.
Recipe: The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
5. How to make a damn good co*cktail.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed / Tasty
These easy ideas for two-ingredient and three-ingredient co*cktails are great starting points. (Then move onto these impressive Harry Potter co*cktails, these Batman co*cktails, or both. Preferably both.)
Recipes: 3-Ingredient co*cktails | The Phoenix Feather | Raspberry Mojito Punch
6. How to store your fruits and vegetables correctly.
BuzzFeed
Because you can't get really get a jump start on anything else unless your kitchen basics — like food storage and organization —are in check.
More info: This Is Exactly How To Store Your Groceries
7. How to slow cook like a pro.
BuzzFeed
Confession: I discovered slow cookers during my senior year of college, and haven't stopped using them since. There's something that'll never get old about the ease of tossing ingredients into a pot, doing your own thing for a few hours (whether that's studying for finals or binge-watching Netflix), and coming back to a meal that has basically cooked itself.
Recipes: Spicy Slow Cooker Carnitas | 27 Tasty Crock Pot Recipes You’ll Make Again And Again
8. And alternatively, how to cook fast.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed
(Because life's too short to be hangry.)
Recipes: 15 Meals You Can Make In 15 Minutes | 17 Tasty Dinners You Can Make In 20 Minutes Or Less
9. How to make healthier swaps when you want to.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed
Whether's it's quick ingredient substitutions (like trading maple syrup for fruit), or experimenting with better-for-you alternatives when you're craving something sweet (like making soft serve out of frozen bananas) — the more swaps you have in your arsenal, the better.
Info & recipes: 27 Very Easy Ways To Eat Healthier | How To Make Creamy Banana Soft Serve
10. How to cook an entire dinner on one sheet pan.
Any time you can cook protein and vegetables at the same time (and on the same surface, for less cleanup), it’s a good thing. Sheet pan dinners are the oven-ready equivalent of Crock-Pot dump dinners, or one-pot meals — and are perfect for busy weeknights.
Recipes: Sheet Pan Salmon with Crispy Kale | One-Pan Chicken, Potatoes & Carrots | Sheet Pan Hasselback Cheesy Fajitas
11. How to make a meatless meal that even carnivores will love.
Meatless Monday is a great thing to adopt — even if only for a month or so — because a) it challenges you to think creatively beyond meat, and b) it's almost always cheaper to cook without meat. (Which, TBH, is the reason I started doing it.) Easy MM staples that I never get tired of: veggie lo mein, spicy black bean tacos, creamy mushroom pasta, and vegetable stir-fry.
More recipes: 15 Delicious Pastas With No Meat | 30 Quick Vegetarian Dinners To Try
12. How to toss together a great marinade.
BuzzFeed
Marinades are one of the simplest ways to dress up meat and infuse it with more flavor. The building blocks of a solid one are fat + acid + salt — but you can (and should!) experiment.
Recipes & more info: 31 Brilliant Ways To Dress Up A Pound Of Chicken | 24 Delicious DIY Sauces You’ll Want To Put On Everything
13. How to make homemade chicken broth.
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed
Easier to make than you think, and tastes way better than the boxed stuff.
Recipes: How To Make Chicken Broth + 5 Delicious Ways To Use It In Soup
14. How to make a salad that doesn't suck.
Often, the key is an awesome homemade dressing. The two pictured above — a DIY balsamic vinaigrette and a tangy miso one — are great, easy starters. Three other things to try to work into your salads: something that's crunchy, something that's creamy, and something with protein — which will help keep you fuller, longer.
15. How to meal prep to save time and money.
Meal prep can take as little or as much time as you want it to —whether it's quickly making a big batch of frozen breakfast smoothies that you can then grab in the mornings; or taking a few hours on Sunday and making lunch for the entire week. Along the way, you learn to get super efficient with your time (and often your money, because you can buy in bulk). Also, when it comes to prepping? Future You will thank Past You every single time.
More ideas: Here's How To Master Your Weekly Meal Prep | Here’s Exactly How To Meal Prep For Lunch This Week