"cooking gets the ladies"
well, so does ordering out from a 4 star restraunt (picking it up of course, cause they will not deliver), replating it, and saying you cooked it yourself. Just avoid ordering time sensitive dishes like risotto, as they don't impress when reheated.
Seriously, if you need to learn to cook to survive, as is what I'm getting from the jist of your post, there are a lot of good books on the matter. but seriously, its not all that hard. If you keep a stable of basic ingredients, you can survive. buy:
Raman noodles. If you fail, and fail hard, each scrumptious packet just takes two cups of water and a 1-2quart pan, plus a stirring spoon. If you are adventurious, hot dog, other pre-cooked meats, or raw shrimp added 2 minutes before serve time adds to the flavor and protein of the dish.
For a serious stock up...long grain Rice, all purpose flour, large or x-tra large eggs(are often only a few cents more than large for a much bigger egg). whole or 2% milk, basic spices from the bottle(salt, pepper, cumin, chili poweder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, italian blend(or thyme, parsley, oregano), allspice, hot peppers if you like(cayanne is a popular powdered hot, as are red pepper flakes). Also consider getting pre-made sauces, like chili sauce (cold sauce, not hot, made from tomatoes and peppers and typically put on eggs by americans), soy sauce, woosh(however the fudge you spell it)shire sauce, salad dressings to your taste, mayonayse, spicey mustard, hot dog mustard(yellow) ketchup, relish(add to mayo for tartar sauce on the cheap).
For vege...keep french trinity on hand (onion, carrot, celery), as well as garlic, green peppers, and tomatos.
For canned goods, canned tomatos work as a good replacement for tomatos in sauces, but fresh tomatos are still best for BLTs, and salads.
Lettuce is always needed for healthy living.
you might consider frozen vege for meals, like mixed vegetables, corn, french beans, etc...
Now this has been more of a stock-up reply. how do you LEARN how to cook?
from everywhere. ask anyone and you'll get a recipe. books are tailored to new chefs these days. when hungry, your tummy will let you know what it wants when your fridge is stocked, and that leads to experimentation, which leads to a potential future chef.
So many supermarkets these days have meat deals, its foolish to buy fresh and not freeze it. Redners does their 5 for 19.95 which can be an amazing value getting a good cut of steak marked for sale at 9.97 for only $4. more likely than not, you'll get chuck or round, but still when prepared properly both can be great.
its amazing what a marinade can do to turn an average cut of beef into something special.
Its also funny what a talkative fishmonger can do. Just this morning I went to my market where I'm good mates with my fishseller. He pulls out a pound and a half of flash frozen sockeye salmon on sale next week for 6.99(!!) a pound, normally 11.99, and hands it to me. Nice to get a taste of a sale early.
My point is, you'll get inspiration to cook from anything if you WANT to cook. if you need to cook to survive, and you have no passion for it, best buy a book on the matter and study it.
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