> Recipes that claim “5 minutes of prep” are more like 20 minutes for me. It can be very discouraging. Always when discussing recipes with friends (I realize n

> Recipes that claim “5 minutes of prep” are more like 20 minutes for me. It can be very discouraging. Always when discussing recipes with friends (I realize now how curiously frequent that is) the stated time is almost always too low for most people. So you're far from alone there, even among people who "can cook". I consider myself and my wife equals in cooking, but she is definitely much faster than me, and is of the rare kind who can complete most (new) recipes within the specified time, while I prepare slower and always go back many times to double check things. But she's the outlier, not me, at least from my anecdotes. I could probably work on chopping faster and less "perfectionistic", but the recipe part after getting used to dishes is where I make up most time after a few times. Once you get a hang of a region's cuisine, you get a feel for how measurements fit and what seasoning works, and that's how I like to cook. Which is also why I don't like baking, since there's a lot less wiggle room for improv.