21 Cooking Fails and Bad Food for Optimistic Home Chefs Learning to Trust the Process (October 29, 2026)

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Oct 29, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

Let's go back to basics: have you ever tried a cookbook and still ended up with a mess and no food?

By now, we know that cooking isn't something easy to master. Yes, we can cook to survive; that's not what I mean. I mean finding a hard, complicated recipe and having the skills to actually do it. If you think about it, complicated recipes are like chemistry. There are a lot of ingredients on the table; you need time, patience, and the ability to observe what's going on. It could go well… but if it goes wrong, you might blow up your whole kitchen.

So, maybe starting slow is a good idea. Since I'm no cook and I do struggle with having no cooking skills at all, I decided to go back to basics and grab a cookbook. You might think cooking without videos and no real person showing you what things should look like is far more complicated, but you're mistaken. Yes, the cookbook has no videos, but the explanations are detailed and precise, so they're very helpful for amateur chefs. You can take as much time as you need and reread as many times as you want. With videos, you have to pause, go back, and it becomes a whole other story…

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    My Cooking Skills
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    A baking attempt of pig-shaped bread rolls with sausages ("pigs in a blanket") before and after baking.
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    I made eggs: 3 for me and 2 for the pan MEME Memezar ZAR @meme_zar The pan collected rent
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    I don't know if I should Eat the cookie or ask what happened first
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    Me trying to make a recipe I saw on youtube:
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    dequeencepedaminja
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  • It's fall, right? So we are all in our baking era that tends to come every single year right when October starts. Like many of you, I want to bake my own pie. Not for Thanksgiving; I wouldn't want to do that to my own family, but for myself, to relax and unwind. I found a cookbook at my grandma's house that seems easy and is from a long time ago. Recipes used to be easier and less time-consuming, so I felt motivated and ready to make a pumpkin pie. I went grocery shopping, and it took me a while to find all the ingredients since I barely knew where to go in the baking aisle, but I got everything I needed. As soon as I got home, I started. I was feeling pumped, ready, and excited. First things first: pie crust. Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda… easy peasy. Made myself some dough! 

  • I spread it all over the pie pan and put it in the oven for a bit. Then… the filling part started. I was nervous; I don't know why! It's just a pie! But I had a feeling… Anyway, I mixed everything as the cookbook said, but for some reason the mixture was very watery. And since I had no video reference, I didn't know what I was doing! I kept going and finished the recipe. I poured the mixture on the pie crust and baked it. It took more time than expected, but in the end, I had some pie! It wasn't the most delicious pumpkin pie ever, but it was edible! And that's some progress! I guess this time it wasn't a cooking fail, and I felt happy that, for once, I didn't feel like I fit into bad-food and cooking-fail memes. So, if you really want to try baking something, grab a cookbook and do it!

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    You just did a 16 hr shift and come home to this... WYD? SIMPLY PUREE.CO.UK onts in
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  • 11
    Opened the fridge to eat leftover spaghetti and saw this monstrosity. What kind of person would do this
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  • 12
    Made browies with walnuts yesterday. Recipe called for a cast iron pan to bake them in. This is the only one I had. My wife won't eat them.
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  • 13
    Does the red mean the fish is still raw??? should I cook it again??
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    Ain't nobody ready for the Doghot
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    when your kid wants a spongebob cake but the budget is low
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    When your cooking is so bad even the ingredients are horrified by what you've done to them
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    Therapist: Polish Easter food isn't real, it can't hurt you Poland:
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    Vocaly Today Celebrity News Entertainment @hotvocalstoday Bruh, my chicken nugget feelin some type way! Kick-fil-
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  • 19
    I put purple food coloring in my Mac and cheese. I thought it would look cool. It does not look cool
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    TWILL
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  • 21
    My friend was prepping the food, and suddenly he got an emergency trip and had to travel, so he left the cooking and came back to it after a few days: غيث | Ghaith @Gi44h4 The stew endured a harsher experience than all of us combined.
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