at some point during lockdown "the secret of saving money by cooking at home is to buy food I really want to eat" and "75% of eating out is to leave my apartment and now I really can't do that" became "cooking is a relatively cheap, easy to clean up hobby and also it makes food."
@porsupah weird thing is that I still haven’t branched out into baking, it’s all been just cooking the past year and a half.
cooking, bread, cakes
@Leucrotta Ah? Maybe something you'd like to try, perhaps - the basic bread recipe I use is very easy, and has always given reliably wonderful rolls and batons.
https://www.thepinewoodnews.com/post/artisan-bread-in-5-minutes-a-day
Of course, there's also the world of cakes and pastries - again, about the only time I'll actually use a recipe, as the ratios make all the difference between, say, the various basic kinds of cake, eg Victoria sponge and Madeira cake.
And profiteroles.. oooh. Haven't made those in forever, but that recipe (long forgotten, but it'd be fun to see if the book's wound up being archived somewhere) was always reliable, despite choux pastry's reputation as fiddly. Out they'd come, all nicely puffed up, ready for me to pump them full of whipped cream and cover in a thick chocolate sauce. =:9
@Leucrotta And with baking, people particularly discovered making bread at home is (a) actually quite easy, (b) way better than the supermarkets!