Meters

I had this great idea to put meters on my recipes to let you know how easy or difficult each part of the recipe is.  I split it into categories - Skills, Prep, and Cooking.  Prep and Cooking are more dedicated to letting you know how long it'll take.  Here, I'll outline each part so you can decide what best fits your time.

Skills

Skills is the most complicated division.  I can say, "It's easy!" all I want, but I don't know what you have in your kitchen.  That said, I am saying that there is a "basic cooking skills and equipment" level that, if you don't have, you need to work on.

Level 1:

Level 1 means you need the very basic cooking skills and equipment to put this dish together.  Basic equipment here means a sharp knife, cutting board, skillet, baking pan, sauce pan, oven, and stove.  Basic skills means the ability to cut things into slices and cubes.

Level 2:

Level 2 means you need everything in the first level as well as one special tool that most people have.  For example, if a recipe calls for the use of a blender or a crock pot, I'll put it as a Level 2.  If it requires more than one special tool, it'll be ranked higher.  For this, and all levels that require something special, I'll caption the level with that piece of equipment.

Level 3:

Level 3 means you'll need more than one special tool that most people have.  For example, a dish that needs both a blender and a crock pot will be ranked Level 3. 

Level 4:

Level 4 is where we get into specialty items.  Level 4 requires one special tool that many people don't have.  A perfect example of this would be a double boiler.  However, Level 4 will usually include a tool that you can work around and I'll detail it in the recipe.

Level 5:

Level 5 is a point that we either have more than one specialty item or have something that you can't work around.  An example for this would be a créme brulée torch.  Unless you have a welding torch in the house, you just can't make this dish.

Prep

Level 1:

Level 1 is your least amount of prep required.  It means that your prep is going to take less than 15 minutes from the time you get it out of the fridge to the time you put it in the oven.

Level 2:

Level 2 means that you're going to spend between 15 and 30 minutes on your prep time.  

 

Level 3:

Level 3 means you're going to spend over 30 minutes in your prep time.  These are pretty rare, but they're common any time you're using a lot of fresh vegetables that need to be diced.  You can overcome this if you have someone helping you.  Or you just deal with it.

Cooking

Level 1:

Level 1 is when you take your prepped meal and stick it on the stove or oven for less than 30 minutes.  They take little planning and usually very little prep.  The exception to that rule would be stir fry when you spend about 45 minutes in prep and 5 to 15 minutes in the pan.  Either way, these are great to prep ahead of time and stick them on the stove right before dinner.

Level 2:

Level 2 means you'll be cooking your meal between 30 minutes and an hour.  This is common in casseroles and comes in handy when you want to stick something in the oven and go take a shower.

Level 3:

Level 3 means you're going to spend over an hour cooking your food.  The benefit of these is that, if it's over an hour in the oven, it's usually over 2.  I use these meals for if I have chores to do around the house or an errand to run.  Very common for crock pot meals.