For my free inquiry project I decided to explore the challenges of cooking for myself and how I could make this process easier. One of the biggest challenges of living away from home is meal planning and cooking for myself. As a student athlete I don’t have a lot of time to cook and I need to make sure I am fueling myself properly to perform at a high level. I have never been one to follow recipes but rather I make basic meals that become repetitive and not enjoyable to eat. After talking to some of my university friends I realized they also share this problem. This is where my initial idea began. My big question is: How can I make cooking less time consuming, more interesting, and something I look forward to doing? 

Cookbook Selection – Why this Cookbook?

I went to the Coles Book Store and found the Cooking section. First I looked at a crockpot cookbook but decided the recipes inside didn’t appeal to me and I didn’t want all my meals to be out of a crockpot. I grew up watching my mom cook. She had a wide variety of cookbooks and made delicious meals for our family. Living on a farm required careful meal planning, we couldn’t just run to the corner store or restaurant. Meal planning has become part of my weekly routine even though I am only two minutes from the store. I do all my grocery shopping on Sundays just like my mom. She would always have the Food network playing in the background on Sunday mornings after getting groceries. Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Women were her two favorite shows. I found a cookbook from each of these celebrity chefs and leafed through the pages one by one trying to decide which one would fit my lifestyle the best.

I decided on “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner’s Ready!” This book jumped out at me because of the catchy subtitle: “112 Fast and Fabulous Recipes for Slightly Impatient Home Cooks”. I am looking for some new recipes and “impatient” describes me perfectly in the kitchen. 

This is a great free inquiry project for me because it will help solve my current problem of cooking boredom. It will also help me in the future when I am a teacher. My schedule will be busy and these recipes could help me save time, and money with the overall goal of tasting good! Teaching is a very demanding profession that requires “fast and fabulous recipes”.

Weekly Tasks for the Next Seven Weeks: 

• Select a recipe
• Create a shopping list
• Calculate recipe cost
• Make the recipe 
• Taste test & review (leftover options) 
• Create inquiry post

I am really excited for this journey together and to cook my first meal!