If you have the budget for frequent fast food (wow that gets spendy fast), you definitely have the budget to try cooking.

Judging by your pictures, I don't think you'll have any problem taste testing frequently, which should help a lot in figuring out what works, faster.

Tools/Appliances:
I hope you have a blender. A mixer would be useful too. Your local Goodwill location will probably have used ones for cheap. May also be a good place for additional pots and pans. May have to wash them first, but same problem with getting new ones so that's not a downside. You'll need measuring cups too, and well as spatulas and ladel spoons for stirring. Plastic resealable containers may be useful for things like partially used tomatoes, onions, and other fruits and vegetables. I would tell you to get a timer, but pretty much any smart phone these days will have a timer feature.

Getting recipes:
Sure, you could order them online and guess by the reviews, but I recommend visiting the book store and flipping through pages. Only you can really know what seems tasty and you might want to make. When you find some good ones, then you'll know what books to get.

Basic cooking and just following a recipe is actually pretty easy. Some recipes are potentially time consuming, unfortunately. When I used to make pumpkin pies I remember something like 45 minutes. As you get better and start learning how long it takes you to do things, you'll get better at multitasking so you could prepare many things at once, saving time.

There are a few caveats though. As some recipes are poorly written, you should read through them to the end before you do anything the recipe says. One example that I've seen is where in the middle of the recipe, it said something like... now place the batter into a flat pan and into a preheated oven set to 400 degrees. Well, what if you don't have any clean flat pans or you didn't turn on the oven?

Start making a list of ingredients to get whenever you go shopping. Be mindful of expiration, but spices tend to have a long shelf life. If you don't have a "system" in your kitchen, make one and be consistent (e.g. the salt is here and the basil is there).

Warnings:
If the recipe calls for eggs or raw meat, cook near the top end of the time the recipe calls for. If it says 19-23 minutes, cook it for 22.5 minutes. Set the oven for 5 degrees above what the recipe calls for. This is to make sure it doesn't make you sick. By extension, if you want to eat raw cookie dough, skip the eggs. Doesn't change the taste except it also won't make you sick.

Raw meat should of course be handled away from everything else, and wash your hands when done preparing for it to be cooked.

When you get more experience doing this, here where it gets more fun with substitutions. This is kind of trial and error, and you have to experiment. Recipe calls for white sugar? Try brown sugar. Adding some sugar to pasta sauce might make you scarf it down.

I have discovered that you can often substitute half and half, or even heavy cream whenever the recipe calls for milk, and it won't change the taste very much. Half and half and heavy cream even lasts longer than milk which tends to spoil, but I don't like how regular milk tastes so it sits there.

You can also sometimes add extra butter to a recipe but it can backfire too. Doubling the butter for mashed potatoes doesn't taste very good, but you can use heavy cream in place of the milk and it doesn't taste that different.

There's many possible little ways to make food taste more delicious and or make it more fattening. Of course, if you don't live alone, you might start noticing that everyone else's waistlines and figures are expanding but that just means what you're doing is working. If you get really good at cooking, your future husband will almost certainly get fat too, or at least chubby.

You can also try cooking different cuisines. Indian food and those cream-based sauces sounds yummy right now. Baklava is supposedly fattening as hell.

Might even go so far as to say that unless you want to make shakes you can drink, you can probably get away with only using heavy cream and use it whenever a recipe calls for milk or half and half.

Anyway, I hope this helps. This is all I can think of so far.

Does the dining hall have a buffet? Just go ahead and overeat. Get into the habit of snacking while studying, playing video games, working on the computer, whatever. Not sure how susceptible you are to stress eating but that's another way.

If you party, late night food is great too.

The "Freshman 15/50" or "Sophomore 10/20" has been largely debunked (a typical weight gain is 0-5 lbs or so) but most folks probably don't know that.

If anyone comments, maybe you can say it's stress eating. Not sure if you like the gym but if you do, switching to weight lifting will encourage weight gain.

Maybe after you regain those 40 pounds you'll be able to eat the whole thing, and then some.

Not that I know of, but one joke that some large folks and FAs sometimes like to say is this:

"Who needs a 6 pack when you've got a keg?"

Awhile back there was a thread title "Warning, fat may be permanent!" or something like that. It alludes to the great difficulty in losing weight that's gained, even when you really want to and are dedicated to it.

Of course, I think many secretly don't want to, even those not into feederism. That only diminishes willpower.

It can be very hard to reverse course. It sounds like you have some thinking to do, because you might have conflicting feelings.

Okay so, of course I know what this web site is about; goodness know I've lurked and been on here for over a decade. It's also very easy to say you should just go for it.

However, it's not always that easy. Sometimes there's judgmental friends, family, or other individuals who you see frequently or even semi-frequently. It's also not reasonable to expect folks to just always remove these others from their lives. They could be coworkers, a boss, parents, and so on. Family members are the real big one, since they may say things. Even if you could, you might not really want to.

Either way, often there might be possible explanations, excuses, and reasons. Sure, the real reason might be because you love to chow down on triple stacked burgers, a large pizza is your personal pizza, and/or you love to graze on candy all day and suck down cartons of heavy cream at night, but they don't need to know that.

This isn't about me, or you the reader specifically. I just want to make a list of possible excuses that may or may not apply to your situation. I've been wanting to make this list for awhile, but finally got around to it.

I'll start this off and hope I can convey a general idea of what I'm looking for.

- The Freshman 15, 20, 30, or 50.

- Pregnancy/recently pregnant/never shed the baby weight

- Side effects of medications

- Starting a new job and the stress involved


Any others? It's my hope this may eventually help those who would like gain but feel like they can't even try because of certain social pressures, though family members are the big one more than anything. Lot harder to be dismissive. I also wasn't sure if this should go into the "weight gain" or "general" board, since it's more for folks who would like to gain but feel they can't.

I'm in my 30s, and it doesn't seem to have gone away. If anything it may be more intense than before.

I'd like to marry and have a kid or two. Of course, I look forward to the pregnancy weight gain, baby weight, and middle age spread.

I don't suppose she has to be into it. In fact, she'll probably end up gaining anyway. Though then I'll have to just get her to ignore those weight loss ads and try to convince her that I like her as she is.

Even wondering if there's anything to the theory of whether a lady who just gave birth may have an incredible ability to really gain.

Imagine if the obesity rate was 100%.

Careful... once you get started it might be hard to stop until you probably end up gaining more than you wanted to.

At some point you'll still have willpower but it will be harder no to give in.

Far as what others would think, probably better not to worry about it too much. Guessing you don't plan on anything insane like 20 pounds in a month. Something like 70% of the US is overweight, and the obesity rate is only increasing.

Maybe gain slowly, too. Less shock to others. Also, I don't know what kind of activity level you have, but a slower gain would also give your leg muscles more time to acclimate to carrying around a heavier you.

The carton typically says "Heavy Whipping Cream" but no, you don't whip it.

You drink it straight or maybe mixed with some flavoring agents of some sort (chocolate milk, syrup, etc.) if you want.

It can be hard to drink large amounts of it though. Some are able to build up to having more.