I've developed a really weird phobia and bad relationship with food because I haven't cooked for myself in the past three years outside of using the microwave and making some burgers on a grill at a tailgate. (Because of my roommates.) Literally, not a single thing. Everything else has been ordered in, eaten at a restaurant, or made for me by someone else.
Thing is, I'm trying to adjust back to being a normal person with this, and I'm monitoring my calories and trying to eat right and get into shape. I don't know how to track calories when blending a bunch of ingredients, and worry that I'm going to think I'm "eating healthy" when really I'm not, or making too much food for myself that I'm just going to throw away.
How do I simply introduce myself back to the world of cooking for one?
Get a crock pot. A smaller one for single meals. A larger one if you want to make food for the week and such.
Start by making simple stuff. Get yourself a slow cooker, makes cooking easy.
>>18174941
Buy a cookbook you dumb sack of shit
>>18174941
Get a food scale and download the my fitness pal app. If you can't find the item your cooking on the app you just Google it for nutritional content
Start by eating simple shit.
Chicken and veggies.
Lentils.
Rice.
Pasta.
Steak.
Burgers.
Things that are simple.
Do this for a while, and you can slowly graduate towards making more complex dishes and meals.
Your body doesn't really give a shit about a stray calorie here or there, so exact precision isn't necessary. I usually just round to the nearest hundred. Close enough. Spices? Butter? Any of that is mostly covered in the excess from rounding everything up. Don't really need to count much more unless it's in large quantity.
So I cook some pasta say.
I'd just focus on the calories of the noodles, the sauce, and the protein. Anything else doesn't matter too much. Few mushrooms and an onion, and that... Barely adds up to 100 calories, which I've probably already overcompensated for.
Just know what's in your food, try to aim for a specific TDI and macro balance, and good enough.