To feel that sad that basic cooking skills are dying out

Food price inflation has made the consequences being unable to cook more severe.

It’s possible to live entirely on ready made food and still maintain good health if you have a decent budget to buy in meals made with good quality ingredients. I can cook but I bought in some meals when I had a high paid job with long hours that made me time poor. So I do understand that.

But a lot of families now don’t have enough budget to buy in good quality ready to eat food, so end up cutting other expenses, such as not using the heating, or buying the kinds of foods that will cause future health problems.

@fieldsofbutterflies My DH's parents didn't even teach him how to boil a potato. When he moved away from them he bought a cook book. When I met him three months later he was very good at cooking.

I learned to cook from the Bero book. My mum was a very good cook but went on strike in her 50s so it was ready meals (just starting then), find us crispy pancakes or cook.

I’m a good cook now, quite enjoy it, watch food programmes or you tube, lived in houseshares with good cooks and picked up tips. Taught my husband to cook.

I recommend Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Cookery. It isn't a recipe book as such it teaches you about cooking techniques and things like what the terms mean. Where different cuts of meat come from, the difference between types of rice etc.

I had mine from the 1980s I think, then a fiend 'borrowed' it and I bought it again.

I do think cook books / recipe books have changed. I have a very dogeared old M and S book, again from the 1980s and the main difference between it and more modern books is that it uses the occasional packet or tin.

I remember in the 1970s there being books issued by manufacturers, often small paperback books all using whatever they were selling, so Stork or Bero.

Still wait for the op to link to the numerous threads on incompetent egg boilers that are making them sad

I can cook certain meals where most ingredients are from "scratch" i.e roast dinners, curries, casseroles, lasagne, spag bol etc, etc

However, no idea how to make scrambled or poached egg, or make bread. And don't intend to learn how to make these things.

I don't think op is judging. It is sad that more people are less connected to the actual food and often opt for something semi/ ready made, with all the added non food in it (additives, etc). Somebody mentioned stir fry's, great... But what percentage of people buy the bundle ingredients - chopped veg, pre cooked noodles and ready made sauce- rather than make it all from scratch? If upf's are as unhealthy as recent research shows we are all in huge trouble.

As a contrast, my mum called today and asked me at ten amwhat have I cooked for today (!). Bless her. She starts her day with a menu in her head and she spends a lot of her day cooking/ prepping. I realised it's because her fridge is not full with lots. She literally has a small pantry and only in-season veg, meat in the freezer, some diary and lots of eggs (lives on a farm). She does need to be creative every day and it is a huge part of her life. Not what I'd want for myself but I get her.

My mum taught me a lot. I’m not an adventurous cook but can make a lot of the basics. My boys have learnt to cook from me and will happily batch cook for the freezer so Have learnt about portion sizes etc and like to try out new things.

Not the point of this sanctimonious thread but this has really made me want to go out and buy findus crispy pancakes tomorrow.

Similar, @PianPianPiano. My grandmother had to cook for twelve during the Depression and Mum remembered her as a lousy cook. Mum only learned when she got married.

Hmm, this thread is a bit "all the 'poor' people who don't know how to cook"

But it's naive to think everyone could cook in the past. My mum was a fantastic cook, and she taught me. I was shocked to discover that my gran was a very average cook and it turned out it was my Dad that had taught my Mum how to cook (who could burn a fray bentos pie when they married), he'd learned out of necessity when he left home!

Precisely!

The whole thing is a huge stress to me. No satisfaction at all. Waste of time and resources for one lousy meal. I’d much rather spend the time knitting, where I get results that give me use and satisfaction for years. (I notice knitters and crocheters of my acquaintance don’t say “if you can read/watch a video you can knit/crochet” or sneer at those who can’t do it.)

I can cook though I’m self taught largely - I can’t make a tasty cheese sauce though so am now going to try the nigella recipe mentioned above … good ole mumsnet 👍

I know people who spend a fortune on ready meals etc. It is not a lack of cooking skills... it is a lack of time, or issues with executive function.

My kids can cook....

No my DM never ever used condensed milk for anything. I once boiled the tin as a teenager for caramel.
No her recipe (remember WC) tin evaporated milk, then fill tin with water. Rice then a couple of spoons of sugar (not much) then grated nutmeg. Served with a spoonful of jam. We use to fight over the skin. Still make with same recipe but fill tin with milk.

I'm good at deconstructed omelettes.

Are you sure you're not confusing evaporated milk with condensed milk? Evaporates milk isn't especially sweet. Condensed milk is.

I was wondering that…but nigellla has a recipe for it….

evaporated milk? Won’t it be sweet? My DM used evaporated milk to make rice pudding/ over tinned fruit (showing my WC life).
I sometimes use single cream but normally use cornflour and milk( a Delia recipe) and plenty of cheese.

Macaroni cheese is really quick if you use evaporated milk. Literally cook pasta, drain and throw milk and grated cheese in along with any seasoning etc you like.

I'm not saddened by anecdotal evidence that some people can't cook and it's somehow different from the way things were in the good old days.

Maybe not, but if you've never learned then it's not something that's necessarily very easy to start - it costs money (especially if it goes wrong), it takes time and it's generally easier to stick something in the oven than it is to admit that you can't cook pasta or rice.

I also think it's easy to sit and say "it's really not hard" when you're lucky enough to be one of those who were taught by your parents.