Cooking achievements
I was talking with a friend, and she told me she was working on the 200 perfect meals achievement, and was having a hard time keeping track, so here's what I told her.
First of all, all perfect "Lobster Thermidor", "Grilled Cheese", "Hamburger", "Stuffed Turkey", "Goopy Carbonara", "Tri-Tip Steak", "Stew Surprise", and "Key Lime Pies" count for the "Bon appétit!", "The Perfect Chef", and "Pastry Perfect" achievement and they all count for the "Profoundly Perfect Dishes", so working them all together will speed up the process ("Bon appétit!" and "Pastry Perfect" have another requirement regarding specific levels of the culinary career though). So working them together speeds up the process.
This said, the best way to keep track is to open the skill journal, under the cooking tab, and note the number of perfect meals served for each cooking sims in all the household you play on this computer. It will give you a more or less accurate progression ratio.
Without skipping work nor using cheats, it took my sim three days to cook the required lobsters, and more two days for the other meals, so I'd guess a non-working sim can cook 15 meals a deal, while a working one can cook 6 or 7. If you want to "slave drive" your non-working sim, some "Potent invigorating" elixirs (one roughly each 36 hours), some "World Adventure" dried food or plenty of other fruits (two to fill the hunger need, twice a day) (or "University Life" "Candy Bar" if and only if you also have "Island Paradise" "Steel Stomach" reward), a neighboring bathroom, and another sim in the household with a "Good Sense of Humour" to "Tell a Joke" here and there, I'd say 20 meals a deal is possible. But also, it's important to not that not all meals take the same time to cook. "Ambrosia" is the longest, and it takes about 3 hours to cook. On the other hand, PB&J seems to be the shortest, and take about half a hour, though a perfect PB&J should be an achievement by itself. "Fruit Parfait", "Sushi", "Cheese Plate" (recipe bought in France with World Adventure *OR* I've heard it can be given as a gift from a friend or higher French tourist, though I've doubtful it's true) and some other similar take about a hour to cook.
