If you're learning how to cook or you're a terrible cook; keeping a few cooking tips under your hat is a necessity. Just knowing how to use utensils, how to boil water and how to run a crock pot can make you the master of your kitchen.

The first thing you need to learn about cooking is that you can't survive on take-out, macaroni and cheese and frozen dinners forever. Well, you probably could, but it would eventually rot your taste buds and your general health. If you want to escape the cycle of forever package and processed foods, there are a few things you need to learn how to do to keep yourself and your stomach on the right track.

Boiling Water. Many people think they have the art of boiling water down to a science, but watch out for the so-called geniuses who want to teach you how to boil water-boiling water doesn't mean boiling over the pot. You need a pot that's big enough to hold the water you need to boil and still have about an inch to an inch and a half left between the surface of the water and the top of the pot. Contrary to popular belief, you don't actually have to have a lid that fits-you can skip the lid if you have a little extra time or you can use a lid that's a little too big. The water will start to produce steam and rolling bubbles as it boils and once it hits that point you can put in your ingredients. But remember to watch them so you don't become a "boil over" genius.

Using utensils. It actually is not safe to cook your rice with the same fork you used to pick up the raw chicken and put it on the stove. That's lesson number one. Lesson number two is that you should probably keep a spatula or two, a pair of tongs, a spaghetti spoon, a serving spoon and a wide range of measuring cups in your home if you intend to cook. Although not everything you make will require a high level of attention to measurements, they make handy serving tools and keep you from making a mess.

Learn to use a crock pot. If you're learning how to cook for the first time, go out and buy a crock pot. If you're a terrible cook, owning a crock pot is even more important. The fact is that crock pot cooking is virtually fool proof. As long as you remember to come back to the crock pot after 7 or 8 hours to dish up the food, you'll have a meal ready and waiting that didn't catch on fire, is properly cooked and actually tastes good. A crock pot is the easiest method to learn for cooking and will not only save your taste buds, but will also save you time-even more time than making that frozen microwave dinner in 5 minutes. With a crock pot, all you have is prep time-just throw in the ingredients, turn it on and walk away.

Remember, if you don't know what you're doing cooking can be messy and dangerous. So take a hint and keep your meals foolproof.