Cooking & meal-prep lessons · Boerne, Texas
Make simple, healthy Mediterranean dishes.
Cook with Yalda teaches cooking and meal prep that fits real family life — one-on-one or together with friends, in person or live from your own kitchen.
- One-on-one & small groups
- In person or virtual
- Everything cooked hands-on
Meet Yalda
Cooking that fits real family life
Hi, I’m Yalda. I grew up in Shiraz, where the table was the heart of the home and a good meal was how you showed love. Today, as a mom in Boerne, I know how hard it is to keep that going when the week gets busy. That’s why I teach cooking and meal prep that fits real family life: simple plans, smart techniques, and food everyone actually wants to eat.
My cooking draws on Persian, Middle Eastern, Italian, and Asian kitchens, and my background in chemistry means I can’t help explaining why things work. Once you understand the why, cooking stops feeling like following orders and starts feeling easy.
You can learn with me in a way that fits you: group classes, private sessions, in person or virtually, plus classes for homeschool groups. Or start from home with my beginner meal-prep lesson.
Lessons
Lessons with Yalda
Learn online from your own kitchen or cook side by side in person. Each lesson lists its price up front.
Learn Online
Live lessons from your own kitchen, wherever you are.
VirtualOne-on-oneOne-on-One Virtual Cooking Lessons
Live cooking instruction from your own kitchen
Cook alongside Yalda through a live virtual lesson using the ingredients, tools, and equipment in your own kitchen. Work through the recipe together in real time, with personal guidance available throughout the lesson.
Best for: Home cooks who want focused instruction without traveling or who feel most comfortable learning in their own kitchen.
- Live, interactive one-on-one instruction
- Real-time guidance with preparation, technique, seasoning, and timing
- Time to ask questions and work at your own pace
Price
- $85/hour
VirtualBeginner friendlyBeginner Virtual Meal-Prep Lessons
Build a simpler routine for the week ahead
Learn a practical approach to planning and preparing meals without spending an entire day in the kitchen. This one-hour beginner lesson focuses on organizing the work, using your time efficiently, and creating a meal-prep routine that fits real family life.
Best for: Beginners who want to save time, reduce weekday stress, and feel more organized around meals.
- Simple weekly meal-planning and preparation strategies
- Guidance on cooking order, portions, storage, and reheating
- A repeatable system you can continue using at home
Price
- Solo: $60/session
- Bring a friend: $96/session
Session length: 1 hour
Bring a friend covers two people in total: you and one friend.
Learn In Person
Hands-on lessons, cooked side by side with Yalda.
In personOne-on-oneOne-on-One In-Person Cooking or Meal-Prep Lessons
Personal instruction at your pace
Choose focused cooking instruction, practical meal-prep coaching, or a combination of both. The lesson is shaped around your experience, interests, and goals, with Yalda available to guide you through each step in person.
Best for: Anyone who wants individual coaching, greater confidence in the kitchen, or help with specific dishes, techniques, or meal-prep routines.
- A lesson shaped around your goals and experience
- Hands-on coaching with preparation, technique, seasoning, and timing
- Time to ask questions and work at your own pace
Price
- $100/hour
In personSmall groupsIn-Person Group Cooking Lessons
Cook and learn together
Bring a friend or a small group together for a hands-on cooking lesson. Everyone works through the menu with Yalda’s guidance, learning useful techniques while preparing and enjoying the food together.
Best for: Friends and family members who want a shared cooking experience.
- Step-by-step instruction from preparation through plating
- Hands-on guidance with technique, seasoning, and timing
- A shared menu and experience designed for the group
Price
- 2 participants: $150/hour total
- 4 participants: $200/hour total
Rates are for the whole group. For a different group size, choose “Other or Custom Request” in the form.
In personHigh-school studentsIn-Person High School Cooking Lessons
Practical cooking skills for young cooks
A hands-on lesson that helps high-school students build confidence with essential kitchen skills. Students learn by preparing food together while practicing safe, useful techniques they can continue using at home.
Best for: High-school students who are beginning to cook or want stronger practical kitchen skills.
- Kitchen organization and age-appropriate food-safety habits
- Foundational preparation and cooking techniques
- Guided practice preparing a complete dish or meal
Price
- $60 per student, per hour
Interested in a lesson? Use the form below to tell Yalda what you’re looking for, and she’ll follow up to arrange the details.
How it works
How it works
No accounts, no deposits, no pressure. It starts with a message.
Step 1: Tell Yalda what you want to cook
Send a request with the kind of lesson you have in mind, roughly how many people, and anything you would like to learn. A sentence or two is plenty to start.
Step 2: Shape the lesson together
Yalda comes back with a menu and a plan that fits your group, your kitchen and any dietary needs — and confirms a time that works for everyone.
Step 3: Get your prep list
Before the lesson you receive the ingredient list and anything to set out. For virtual lessons that includes what to have chopped and which pans to have ready.
Step 4: Cook together
Aprons on. You do the cooking with guidance the whole way through, and you leave with the dishes, the notes and a method you can repeat.
What to expect
What to expect
A lesson should feel like being invited over, not like an exam. Here is the shape of it before you commit.
No experience needed
If you can hold a knife, you can take a lesson. Beginners are told what to do next; confident cooks get pushed a little further.
You do the cooking
Every lesson is hands-on. Expect to be standing, chopping, tasting and adjusting for most of the time.
Dietary needs, said up front
Tell Yalda about allergies, intolerances and anything you avoid when you first get in touch, so the menu is built around it rather than adjusted at the stove.
For virtual lessons
You need your own ingredients, a working stove, and a device you can prop up where you can see it. A tablet leaning on a bag of flour has worked fine.
Come as you are
Wear something you do not mind splashing and closed shoes for in-person lessons.
Learn the why
Yalda explains why each technique works, so you can repeat it at home without following a recipe word for word.
FAQ
Questions, answered
And if yours is not here, ask — Yalda reads every request.
Do I need to be a good cook?
No. Lessons are pitched to whoever is in the kitchen. Say where you are starting from when you get in touch and the menu will be chosen to suit it.What is the difference between a one-on-one lesson and a group lesson?
A one-on-one lesson is shaped entirely around your goals, with Yalda’s attention on you the whole time. A group lesson brings friends or family together around one shared menu, prepared and enjoyed together.How do virtual lessons work?
You cook live in your own kitchen, with your own ingredients and equipment, while Yalda guides you in real time. You can ask questions as you go.Can you work around allergies and dietary requirements?
Tell Yalda what to avoid when you first write in and the menu is planned around it. Questions about the kitchen itself — shared equipment, cross-contact — are answered honestly before your lesson.What does a lesson cost?
Prices are listed with each lesson above. For anything that does not fit those options, choose “Other or Custom Request” in the form and Yalda will follow up.What if my group is a different size?
In-person group lessons are priced for 2 or 4 participants. For any other group size, choose “Other or Custom Request” in the form and Yalda will follow up to arrange the details.Do you take payment through this site?
No. This site has no checkout and does not take payments. The request form only sends your details to Yalda so she can follow up and arrange the lesson.
Get in touch
Request a lesson
Tell Yalda what you would like to learn and she will follow up to arrange the details. There is no account to make and nothing to pay to ask.
No account needed
Your request goes to Yalda and is used only to reply to you.