I eat well because the only thing in the entire world I care about is food. I would eat Madison if she was delicious. I wake up and all I can talk about until noon is what’s for lunch. I can’t remember the last thing I ate that wasn’t good because I refuse to eat bad food. Hooray for privileged middle class white people in New York! A lot of people will tell you that eating well doesn’t always mean spending a shit load of money. That is bullshit except when it comes to Mexican or Asian food. The delicious holes in the wall are only good for ethnic food. Whitey doesn’t make cheap food, but grandma Nguyen down in chinatown will serve you an amazingly cheap heaping bowl of pho. This is where cooking comes in.

As far as being a good cook…it’s just something you have to dive right into. Watch a lot of food shows on TV, read epicurious.com, read cook books (I really like this one), and cook A LOT. Once you have a few of the basics of braising, sautéing and all of that, you can follow any recipe. Recipes aren’t hard, just follow the damn directions. Often times the cooking times they give you are full of shit like “sautee the garlic for 8 minutes” so use your best judgement and if you see things burning, take it off the stove.

The number one thing is good ingredients. You don’t have to cook an insanely ripe tomato that much to make it taste great. Get stuff at farmers markets, butchers, and fish mongers. Never eat or buy anything that has a TV commercial (I’m looking at you Perdue).

As far as kitchen equipment, all you REALLY need is:

• A good chefs knife
• Cutting board
• Pot to boil water
• Nonstick skillet
• Cast iron dutch oven, which is so essential in my opinion (This Mario Batali one is great and as cheap as it gets)
• A meat thermometer to check doneness
• Tongs and a wooden spoon to stir
• Strainer to drain pasta etc.

That’s it, really. Once you cook a lot you’ll look at recipes and notice you have 99% of the ingredients in your pantry. I have almost every spice imaginable on hand, eggs, flour, sugar, garlic, shallots, everything. When I cook I only really have to buy meat and fresh veggies. It’s a steep curve, but eventually worth it.

ALSOOOOO: Check out Working Class Foodies. They are awesome people and make really helpful videos and show you how to cook on the cheap.