A registered dietitian nutritionist says the secret to cooking more at home has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with where you decide to start.
Most people who want to cook more at home are not stopped by a lack of recipes. They are stopped by a lack of confidence. The kitchen feels like a place where you either know what you are doing or you do not, and for a lot of people, that gap feels wider than it is.
Monique Richard, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition-In-Sight, works with clients at exactly that gap. Her approach is less about teaching people to cook and more about helping them figure out what they can already do, then building from there.
Start where your cooking skills actually are
Richard’s first question to new clients is not about nutrition goals or meal preferences. It is simpler than that. She wants to know what they can already do in a kitchen, and she takes whatever the answer is as a starting point.
For someone who can boil water, that is enough to begin. For someone who can scramble an egg, there is already a foundation. The goal is not to close the distance between where someone is and where a competent home cook operates. The goal is to take one step, repeat it until it feels easy, then take another.
That philosophy extends to ingredients and methods. Swapping one vegetable for another in a dish you already know, trying a different cooking method on a protein you are comfortable with, or adjusting seasoning are all ways to expand a repertoire without starting from scratch. Repetition is what builds familiarity, and familiarity is what makes cooking feel manageable rather than stressful.
The case for working with a registered dietitian
For people managing chronic conditions, navigating significant dietary restrictions, or simply feeling overwhelmed by nutritional information, Richard recommends consulting a registered dietitian nutritionist before building a meal plan independently. An RDN can account for individual health needs in ways that generalized advice cannot, and that personalization tends to make the guidance more sustainable.
This applies to people with decreased appetite, those recovering from illness, and anyone whose relationship with food has become complicated by health circumstances. A tailored plan removes a layer of guesswork that can otherwise make home cooking feel harder than it needs to be.
Cooking shortcuts that registered dietitians actually use
One of the more useful things Richard tells clients is that cooking from scratch is not a requirement for eating well at home. Pre-chopped vegetables, frozen produce, rotisserie chicken, and canned beans are tools, not compromises. They reduce the time and effort involved in getting a nutritious meal on the table, which matters when the alternative is not cooking at all.
Sheet pan meals built around a protein like salmon, cod, or tilapia alongside whatever vegetables are available require minimal preparation and produce consistent results. A quick stir-fry with vegetables and a protein of choice follows a similar logic. An egg scramble loaded with herbs and vegetables, served alongside oatmeal or whole grain toast, can go from pan to plate in under 15 minutes.
Not every meal needs heat. A yogurt parfait with frozen berries and nuts, a bowl of cereal with fresh fruit, or a smoothie built from frozen fruit and protein powder are all legitimate options that require no cooking at all.
It is never too late to learn how to cook
Richard is consistent on one point: there is no age or starting point that makes home cooking out of reach. Online cooking videos, community extension programs, and local culinary classes are all accessible entry points for adults who want to build skills without enrolling in anything formal.
Cooking engages the brain and the body at the same time, and doing it regularly tends to produce benefits that extend beyond the meal itself. It is also, as Richard puts it, one of the more direct ways a person can improve their health and reduce their food spending simultaneously. Those two things do not always move together, but in the kitchen, they often do.
