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Original poster

To feel that sad that basic cooking skills are dying out

431 replies

SingleDoubleWhippedClotted · 14/04/2024 19:15

Me and my brother were taught to cook by my gran and mum. Dad used to cook too but worked away a lot so wasn't around as much.

So many people now seem to be incapable of basic food prep and spend a fortune on food. Cooking seems to be an undervalued life skill, I think its so important to have the skills to be able to prepare simple cheap healthy meals.

I have taught my teen to cook and she could fend for herself if she left home tomorrow. She can cook healthy cheap meals.

I see so many threads on here where people can't boil rice, boil an egg etc

OP posts:
BouleDeSuif · 14/04/2024 21:01

I taught myself to cook as my mother was at work most nights and I had to feed my siblings.
I taught them too.
I've worked as a cook.
I'm teaching my daughter to cook.

theresnolimits · 14/04/2024 21:01

My sons are great cooks ( in their 20s). They use YouTube, bbc good food recipes and other online recipes. Maybe they learned because I was such a rubbish cook! But they often just don’t have time to cook.

The point is that young people are often time poor which is why they resort to ready meals, kits, deliveries etc. When both of you are working, you’ve got young kids, house, hobbies, cooking is something that gets outsourced.

Or if you’re living in a shared house you’ve got no storage, so store cupboard basics and perhaps limited kitchen utensils, pans etc.

Anyone can follow a recipe or even instructions a pack of rice. But life gets in the way sometimes.

SquirrelMeze · 14/04/2024 21:00

With all the things going on in the world, this isn't something I feel sad about.
I find cooking a chore like vacuuming or washing dishes.
It's fine if you like it, but equally you don't have to

GingerChe · 14/04/2024 20:57

I see so many threads on here where people can't boil rice, boil an egg etc

Except you don't.

I've been MN for 16 years, and I'm always on food threads. I don't recognise your statement at all.

I've long said there should be a Just Bragging section on MN, where people can just spout on about how brilliant they/their offspring are, without having shoehorn it all into a thread.

plumcake2924 · 14/04/2024 20:57

I agree with this. I can only cook really basic meals. I wish I had been educated when younger on seasonings and different foods.

cardibach · 14/04/2024 20:56

fieldsofbutterflies · 14/04/2024 20:18

Disabilities.
Conditions like ADHD or autism.
Learning difficulties.
Severe arthritis.
Mobility problems.

But you know that.

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And you know that’s not what this thread, or that comment, is about. It’s about general cooking standards.

pelotonaddiction · 14/04/2024 20:55

I think some of it is confidence
A colleague at my old work was always asking what I was eating, how did I cook that etc

It came out she hadn't tried a lot of stuff as she was worried about not liking it and also spending money - so like blueberries or hummus, she was "if I don't like them then I would have to bin them and it's a waste"

After that I always offered whatever I was eating and would usually pack some extra stuff. Told her if she didn't like it, she was an adult and she could spit it out, nobody was forcing her!

If you cook a meal and you're on a budget and nobody likes it...

ChooksnChicks · 14/04/2024 20:55

I can't imagine Hello Fresh and whatnot would be viable business models if cooking was a fading skill in the population at large. This is a non-issue for you to feel sad about.

cardibach · 14/04/2024 20:54

FloatyBoaty · 14/04/2024 20:03

I think this is pretty much bollocks tbh.

Pretty much everyone in my circle is a good cook, and will happily and regularly make everything from homemade bread, to British classics, to Mexican/Vietnamese/Indian food, from scratch.

My mum (in her late 50s) though? Can bake and do meat and two veg. Anything else she makes tends to be … interesting. And UPF laden. Know quite a lot of my mums friends cook similarly poorly.

There is very possibly an issue - or will be an issue- for the many children and young people now growing up, through no fault of their own or their parents- in abject poverty and/or temporary accommodation, who don’t have the facilities to cook full meals, or money for ingredients. This IS something to be genuinely (not faux) sad about, will likely be another push factor for many families towards another intergenerational cycle of socioeconomic deprivation, and is another example of the dereliction of duty that has come to epitomize this government.

if this does really sadden you, OP, and this wasn’t intended to be a smug/ goady post, then I suggest you vote accordingly in your local and upcoming general elections, and make donations to (eg) the Trussel Trust or similar.

I’m 59. I’ve rarely cooked a roast (once a year maybe) and can cook curries, Italian, Chinese, many other types of cooking. As can all my friends. Bog off with your ageism.

HelloMiss · 14/04/2024 20:54

SingleDoubleWhippedClotted · 14/04/2024 20:37

It makes me sad because so many people are spending money they can't afford on unhealthy food.
I am part of a project for passing on cooking skills to help those struggling.

What a load of rubbish!

AhBiscuits · 14/04/2024 20:53

Anyone with half a brain can follow a recipe. It's not that people can't cook, it's that they can't be bothered to cook.

cardibach · 14/04/2024 20:52

Simonjt · 14/04/2024 20:01

People with disabilities exist.

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They aren’t the subject of this thread though. It’s about general cooking skills.

cardibach · 14/04/2024 20:50

Kpo58 · 14/04/2024 19:41

You might as well be saying if you can read, you can do brain surgery. It really isn't as simple as that for many people.

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It really is. Chop an onion is not an instruction on a par with cutting into someone’s brain. Don’t be silly.

TrishTrix · 14/04/2024 20:50

All my friends can cook (male and female).

Increasingly their teens are assuming a night a week to cook family food.

I now swop recipes with a 17yo boy. My current favourite is spinach and ricotta pasta bake.

SisyphusDad · 14/04/2024 20:48

I've been teaching my DSs to cook for many years. My eldest and two or three of his Uni mates have a regular Saturday evening culinary club where they take it in turns to do their favourite recipes.

cardibach · 14/04/2024 20:47

ByUmberViewer · 14/04/2024 19:24

Speak for yourself! Everyone in my family can cook fine.

Anyway, there is on such thing as someone not being able to cook. If you can read, you can cook.

Exactly this. ‘I can’t cook’ is nonsense. There are loads of books and online recipes that tell you exactly what to do.

Churchview · 14/04/2024 20:46

There have never been so many cookery shows on TV so a lot of people must be very interested in cooking.

Taytocrisps · 14/04/2024 20:46

My Mam was a terrible cook and the few dishes she could make were typical of the '70s and '80s - Irish stew, pork chops, tripe, fried liver etc.

When processed foods arrived on the scene, she totally embraced them.

You'll be happy to know that I'm a pretty decent cook and can make quite a few dishes, although I'm less of a meat and two veg. person and more into chilli, curries and pasta dishes.

RheaRend · 14/04/2024 20:44

Kpo58 · 14/04/2024 19:35

Yes proper cooking should be taught in schools. Other countries can manage it, we should be able to too. Unfortunately cooking in schools is no longer cooking and all about can you make sausage rolls from premade pastry and can you design a pretty packet for a sandwich. Nothing actually useful in real life. I want people to come out of school knowing how to make cheap basic meals which will help prepare them for life.

Not everyone has the resources to be able to cook from a YouTube video or the confidence to do so. If you have no cooking knowledge how do you know if the meat is cooked enough and not going to poison the whole family? Is it the food the right golden yellow colour to show that it cooked? Is something the right texture when you have mixed it and how do you know it's right? Many people need a physical teacher to help them not just a video.

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It really isn't. It is making food from scratch. It is also funded mainly by the teachers. So that is why there isn't more of it. Food costs a bomb - food for 30 kids costs a fortune.

FabulousWealthyTart · 14/04/2024 20:42

I'm a 70s child. Mum was a professional cook, brother a chef and neither passed on any cooking skills whatsoever to me.
I actually think cooking is easier now than ever, thanks to YouTube, online recipes and a whole host of ingredients etc in supermarkets.

Taytocrisps · 14/04/2024 20:42

Geebray · 14/04/2024 19:26

You're going to be very shocked when you discover the previous existence of Findus Pancakes, Fray Bentos pies, and Turkey Twizzlers.

Are you my sibling? <narrows eyes>

Chatonette · 14/04/2024 20:40

It’s not all sad news! I was pretty much raised on UPFs in the 1980s and 1990s—not a meal from scratch for miles. I taught myself how to cook. One of my DC has dietary restrictions, so I cook everything from scratch. When my parents come to visit they’re amazed at what my husband and I cook. 😂 It’s not hard though.

Don’t give up hope OP! Have you been watching the Jamie Oliver school dinner backlog, by chance? 😂 Why the sudden despair?

mitogoshi · 14/04/2024 20:38

I cook, my kids cook (young adults) in fact the only people i personally know who can't cook properly are middle aged or older men who never learned due to being waited on (and I'm guilty of enabling!)

Original poster
SingleDoubleWhippedClotted · 14/04/2024 20:37

It makes me sad because so many people are spending money they can't afford on unhealthy food.
I am part of a project for passing on cooking skills to help those struggling.

OP posts:
MuggedByReality · 14/04/2024 20:36

My mum was, and is, a hopeless cook so Delia taught me to cook. Bring back Delia!