50 Images Of Awful Meals That Might Make You Want To Revoke These People’s Cooking Privileges (New Pics)

The idea of cooking for a partner is incredibly romantic. Making food for someone else can certainly be an act of love, and it can be amazing to be taken care of by being served a warm, wholesome meal while you’re encouraged to simply sit back and relax. But we should all know our limits, and if you’re preparing food that looks like the photos on this list, you might want to just order your boo takeout.

The Cooking for Bae Instagram account has been around since 2013 and has shared over 1,400 culinary disasters since then. It’s clearly a popular place, as it has amassed an impressive 159K followers. And it’s a wonderful place to visit for a laugh or to be shocked, but it’s probably not where you want to go to get inspiration for what to make for dinner this week. Unless you want your partner to leave you...

It’s amazing just how terrible some people can be at cooking. Whether they’re finding a way to burn spaghetti, serve eggs with the shells included or bake cakes that are 100% raw in the middle, there are truly no limits when it comes to culinary fails.

But can we really blame these people? Cooking is a skill, and although anyone can learn, it really does have to be taught a lot of the time. If your parents only ever prepared frozen food and never showed you how to use the stove, you might not feel comfortable preparing anything but microwaved oatmeal and buttered toast.  

If you happen to be a tragic cook that could easily be featured on Cooking for Bae, don’t feel bad. You’re certainly not alone! A 2022 survey from StudyFinds reported that over half of Americans have trouble even making simple dishes. And 59% are embarrassed by the fact that they struggle in the kitchen. 

Apparently, pancakes are the most deceptively difficult “easy” dish to make, but plenty of people admit that they can’t get eggs, pasta, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes right either.   

However, the good news is that most people don’t give up immediately after having an epic fail in the kitchen. StudyFinds reports that most people will attempt a dish four times before finally nailing it or giving up completely. Three quarters of Americans also admit that they are always looking for time-saving shortcuts to help them prepare meals faster, and the same amount would happily buy ready-made ingredients if it would make the whole process easier.  

If you’ve finally reached an age where you’ve decided to learn how to cook, that’s wonderful! No matter how hopeless you think you are, you can always improve. And lucky for you, Eater has some tips for absolute beginners that will make the kitchen seem much less intimidating.

First, it’s important to know how to read and pick a recipe. Before choosing what to make for dinner, find a recipe that’s actually possible for someone at your skill level. Don’t pick anything that requires special equipment, hours of your time or complicated techniques. Choose something easy and fail-proof, and read the entire recipe at least once before you begin.

Another important factor to consider before embarking on a new recipe is when the right time to make it is. I don’t care if the recipe says it will only take 25 minutes. Allot yourself an hour and a half. Especially if you’re a beginner, it may take much longer to chop vegetables, gather and measure ingredients and to get the necessary techniques down. Don’t bake a cake at 10pm unless you can leave it somewhere safe to cool overnight. And if you’re already exhausted after a long day, it’s probably not a great time to try something new.  

If you want to start learning how to cook, it’s best to start with some basics. Eater recommends starting out with staples like roasted veggies, a simple stir-fry, greens, rice, beans, stock and soup, pasta and baked goods. Once you start to find the joy in cooking these simple dishes, you might feel inspired to branch out to even more complex recipes!

Is this list inspiring you to prepare something extravagant for dinner tonight, pandas? Keep upvoting the pics from cooks that you think deserve jail time, and let us know in the comments below what the worst struggle meal you’ve ever seen was. Then, if you’re interested in checking out even more unappetizing messes, you can find another Bored Panda list featuring the same Instagram account right here!