In this day and age, it’s important to know how to do at least the basic chores around the house. How to vacuum, how to wash the dishes, how to do the laundry, and—probably most importantly—how to cook! Look, the fact of the matter is that every adult should know how to pull their own weight. You don’t have to put out MasterChef-level dishes every day, but you should know at least how to put some basic meals together.

Unfortunately, some people refuse to learn, no matter how much effort their loved ones put into teaching them in the Way of the Kitchen. One redditor shared how her boyfriend grew up in a house full of outdated gender norms, so he left all the cooking to her. Meanwhile, all he did was use the microwave to heat up some frozen meals. Meals that are, actually, quite expensive.

While planning to leave on a week-long work trip, the woman decided that they needed to save a bit of money. Instead of buying more of the expensive microwavable food, she got him enough ingredients to cook on his own. She then did her darn best to teach him the basics. Fast forward a week and she comes back to a massively angry boyfriend who started accusing her of nearly leaving him to starve. Scroll down for the full story, Pandas. Let us know what you think of the entire gastronomic drama in the comments.

Bored Panda got in touch with pie artist and culinary expert Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin for her advice on how to get someone interested in food preparation and what basics to focus on for the best results. You’ll find her advice below! Spoiler warning: there are far more nutritious things than fast food that you can cook easily at home.

Everyone should know how to cook enough to take care of themselves

Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)

A woman told the AITA community how things went when she wasn’t around to cook for her boyfriend for an entire week

Image credits: William Rasmussen (not the actual photo)

Image credits: BurderThrowaway

Pie artist Jessica, the author of ‘Pies Are Awesome,’ told Bored Panda that it’s “particularly important to understand nutrition, and how to work with the basic elements of food—veggies, fruits, meat—whether you cook them or not.” You’ve got to have at least some interest in food, in other words.

“Understanding what types of foods you need to stay fit and healthy, and how to source that food economically, trumps the specific recipes you use. You certainly can just eat a handful of nuts, berries, a few scoops of plain yogurt, a bell pepper, and cheese on a cracker and call it a day!” she said.

“But experimenting with different recipes can make things a little more interesting for you, and a lot of people soon find they really enjoy the creative side of discovering new recipes, tinkering with them, and making them their own.”

According to culinary expert Jessica, you can go very far by learning a few healthy basics. For example, the various ways how you can prepare eggs, how to make some simple stir frys, and how to cook starches like rice, quinoa, and pasta.

“Search for ‘one pot meals’ or ‘one skillet meals’ and you’ll find a plethora of options that are not only really difficult to mess up, but will likely be a heck of a lot healthier for you than any fast food offering,” she told Bored Panda.

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“And unlike baking, which relies on precise measurements to bring about critical chemical reactions, single pan/pot cooking can handle a lot of fun customization from novices. All you really have to worry about is keeping things moving to avoid setting off the smoke detectors!”

The author of the viral Reddit post tried to save them both some money by cutting out the microwavable meals. However, things didn’t turn out quite as she had hoped. Instead of coming home to find her boyfriend proud of having learned to become more independent, she was met with accusations.

As it turns out, he only ate sandwiches, canned goods, and fast food for a week. He also had a whole bunch of excuses lined up as to why he wasn’t able to cook for himself, even after all of those lessons.

The OP wrote that she got a whole range of excuses, from the fact that it was “too complicated” to use the oven and stove to how he couldn’t chop anything, and more. We’re not going to lie, this makes us a bit worried about the future of humanity. Just a little bit.

Previously, relationship coach Alex Scot explained to Bored Panda that part of what makes things work well around the house is being able to divide up the chores in a way that’s fair.

“Divvying up house chores is a necessity. If one partner consistently does the majority of the work, typically it leads to that partner feeling like a nanny,” she said, adding that both partners should be honest with each other about which chores they absolutely hate and which ones they don’t mind doing.

“For example, I don’t mind cleaning toilets but I hate vacuuming, so my partner is the one who vacuums and I’m the one that cleans the bathroom. For any chores that both partners don’t want to do, take turns alternating. This will vary from couple to couple but the goal here is to keep communication open, fair, and realistic for each other’s schedules,” the relationship coach suggested.

The cost of food has been ballooning over the past year in the United States. CNN Business reports that grocery prices rose 13.1% over the last 12 months. And that’s the collective average. When you start looking at each item individually, you begin to realize that, hey, maybe it really is a good idea to work on a grocery budget and cut back on spending.

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“The cost of eggs has soared 38%, and prices for other goods have also jumped: Flour is up 22.7%, chicken 17.6%, milk 15.6%, ground beef 9.7% and bacon 9.2%. Fruits and vegetables got 9.3% more expensive,” CNN writes.

Here’s how people reacted to this gastronomic relationship drama

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