If someone is "good at cooking", I'd say they have the confidence to operate in their own kitchen space, and the capacity to make a good handful of meals from memory without any mistakes. They should be able to determine if their ingredients are fresh or not. They should know enough to know the terminology, be able to piece apart what parts really matter in a recipe, and be able to bake a few things. They should also have some baking competency.

That said, "good at cooking" might just be something someone tells you when you use a lot of butter, sugar, or salt in the meal.

And, by god, they should be using a scale for measuring whenever possible.

imo if you're deciding for yourself, all that matters is what your heart says

that might be cheesy, cause it is, but it's what i believe to be true

being good at cooking means you don't need to use a scale

yeah as far as using a scale to measure goes that's probably a good call if you wanna be really speciifc. one cup of flour can have different amounts depending on how much if fluffs, for example. but i feel like.......................................... IME cooking is pretty forgiving. you odn't need to be down to the miligram

i'd say able to make a multi-course meal on short notice

The scale is good because you don't need to dirty measuring cups or anything else. Everything in one or two bowls! Amazing feeling

oh that's actually a really good call. when i measure flour i have a whole process where i take a measuring cup and a butter knife to level the measurement off but that means i have to dirty two things up each time i measure.

I'll have to look in to getting a scale. i don't like buying special kitchen tools though, so who knows. if i get one i'll let you know.

i don't think i could do that; i can usually make enough soup for several days if i spend like an hour on it. i don't think i could make a multi course meal, and on short notice the problem would be i don't keep enough fresh vegetables around to do that.

My problem is the multi-tasking, I get too stressed out if i have to do multiple things at once

A lot of the time in baking when you measure out flour with cups you're meant to scoop the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon and then level it off with a knife, and I find that incredibly tedious. The easier option of just scooping the flour out with the measuring cup almost doubles the amount of flour, so that's not great either... I've found myself preferring a scale for measuring flour most of the time.

Once your recipes are in grams a scale can take your baking up an entire level. It also (as twovests points out) just makes it easier.

I usually cook meals without ever touch my scale. I can do things like bake bread by feel, but not by choice.