--- title: Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron Teach You to Cook description: Companies like Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron measure, box and ship out every ingredient canonical: https://time.com/4253740/how-i-taught-myself-to-cook-with-a-kit/ author: Bryan Walsh article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T11:27:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:39.321Z og:title: Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron Teach You to Cook og:description: Companies like Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron measure, box and ship out every ingredient og:url: https://time.com/4253740/how-i-taught-myself-to-cook-with-a-kit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf41377311953010/69888a502dce0112d39e81e7/plated-food-delivery-kits-dinner-meals-cooking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: plated-food-delivery-kits-dinner-meals-cooking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron Teach You to Cook twitter:description: Companies like Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron measure, box and ship out every ingredient twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcf41377311953010/69888a502dce0112d39e81e7/plated-food-delivery-kits-dinner-meals-cooking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How I Taught Myself to Cook--With a Kit > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Bryan Walsh](https://time.com/author/bryan-walsh/)  ## Bryan Walsh Mar 10, 2016 11:27 AM UTC  Suzanne Darcy for TIME  by [Bryan Walsh](https://time.com/author/bryan-walsh/)  ## Bryan Walsh Mar 10, 2016 11:27 AM UTC There were many reasons why I, like a third of Americans, was a noncooker for so long. I didn’t see the point in spending time in the kitchen when I could be exercising, or going out, or staying in and watching shows about cooking on TV. There were also those two years when I didn’t realize my landlord hadn’t hooked up the gas to my stove. But the real reason I didn’t cook was that I was scared. The process of turning raw ingredients into finished food–all that measuring and chopping and sautéing, whatever that meant–seemed bewilderingly complex. So many steps, so many opportunities to burn down the apartment. It was much easier to order up pad thai–or better yet, find someone else to do the cooking. I hit the jackpot there. My wife is a wonderful cook. She truly loves food, cares about where it comes from and relishes the art of preparing it. But I’ve read enough magazines to know that a successful modern marriage is built on the romantic foundation of shared work. And just doing the laundry won’t cut it–especially after you’ve shrunk a fourth silk dress in the dryer. So it is to be cooking. Fortunately, the market is now saturated with options for people who are busy, lack skills and fear marital dissolution. They’re called dinner kits, and they provide everything you need to cook, other than a sous-chef to berate. The industry is exploding. According to the consultancy Technomic, the global meal-kit market topped $1 billion in 2015 and is projected to hit $10 billion by 2020\. Companies like Plated, Hello Fresh and Blue Apron measure, box and ship out every ingredient, down to the banana leaf for the Caribbean Banana-Leaf-Steamed Fish With Pineapple-Ginger Salsa. The ingredients tend to be sustainable, hormone- and antibiotic-free and all those other things I care about almost as much as I’m supposed to. All you need to do is place an order online, have access to a kitchen and, early on at least, have a patient and understanding person to try your food. That’s because while the meal kit dumbs down the process, with its step-by-step instructions and giant pictures demonstrating those steps, you still need to actually make the dinner. Vegetables must be chopped, tomato sauce must be simmered, and chicken must be cooked to at least 165°F to avoid salmonella. (That last bit is particularly important.) I didn’t nail every recipe from the start. When I was done with the beef in the Beef Gyritos on Mini Pitas With Tzatziki–the third meal kit I tried–it had a texture best described as shoe-leathery. And this isn’t the cheapest way to make dinner. Expect to pay $8 to $12 per person per meal. But here’s the thing about cooking: if you do it long enough and you retain all your fingers, you will get better. Over the past year, I’ve cooked 144 different meals using 787 unique ingredients. I’ve learned how to poach, roast, stir-fry and sear. I’ve made Mexican food and Greek food and however you’d classify Spicy Beet and Spinach Stir-Fry Over Sesame Rice. My wife tells me my Thai Pork Larb Lettuce Wraps are to die for, and I’m 90% sure she’s not just saying that. This may be Fisher-Price cooking, but at a time when Americans are spending ever less time in the kitchen and paying for it with their health, easy is good. Making all those meals gave me the confidence to try cooking without training wheels. That’s how I found myself the other week whipping up from scratch some cacio e pepe–a pasta dish we’d fallen in love with on a recent trip to Rome. Did it turn out perfect? Not exactly. 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