Know how to follow a cook book, and perfect one recipe of your own…. That isn’t cereal

I know some friends from the usa that don't know how to cook anything that isn't meant to be reheated. I don't even know how people can't make pasta.

Cooking isn't some complicated magic.
90% of meals are just put the chopped up ingredients into a container and apply heat.

It's a basic survival skill

Don’t tell me what to do

With my wife we cook every week 2 dishes for the week, and we cook one for the weekend, generally fatter to enjoy the weekend. And we don't eat prepared meals or industrially processed foods. It takes more time to do this but it's cheaper in the end.