To wonder how someone can reach their early 20's without being able to even boil an egg?

[IceCreamAngel]

Just that really. I could boil an egg at about eight years old! By the time I was 10/11 I could fry bacon and heat up some soup, spaghetti or baked beans on the hob. I could also operate a microwave to prepare myself a ready meal. It wasn't of my parents making me do it either. I wanted to do it all myself, and once I could their response would always be, "ok well you know where everything is".

So quite frankly I'm disturbed that there are young adults out there who can't even manage the most basic of life skills. How the fuck is that even possible? It's appalling and quite sad really.

Facebook is crap. I wouldn't worry about it.

TheChandler don't be so melodramatic, no one on here has called your parents abusive.

I would drop the inverted snobbery about not being a very good cook, chandler. It doesn't make sense and is starting to look like a chipped shoulder.

DoraGora I come from a long line of proud non-cooking women, who all make a point of not being able to cook! As my mother said, that's what restaurants are for, (if the man can't manage).

(tongue-in-cheek for anyone who takes this too seriously).

There is actually a poster somewhere on the thread who says she labels parents who do not teach their children to cook as abusive IceCreamAngel.

I see. Well, if being proud of not being able to cook is a family tradition, then keep it up. But, it could help to preface discussions with strangers that you're an intergenerational non-cook!

I agree with pretty much everything TheChandler has written. There's an awful lot of rampant self-satisfaction about cooking now - it's become an aspirational thing and on mumsnet, yet another marker of 'good' parenting - witness IceCream's post earlier about feeding one's children "shit". I might be able to rustle up a casserole, but I've never wired a plug or changed a tyre, and I could argue those are equally as important skills.

Well if you bake a fish and prepare potatoes and veg then thats cooking in my book. But then i am a 'simple cook'.
I think you are taking the whole discussion very personally.

Changed a wheel? I'm not sure if you can change a tyre without high pressure machinery.

When my DC went to university there were several people in halls of residence who didn't even know that pizza had to be stored in the fridge (which they discovered when the food cupboard started to smell!). Knowing how to store food needs to be taught before cooking skills

laquit I think chandler's women folk are proud of the fact that they can't cook very well, and they do other things, presumably jobs or disciplines of one sort or another, instead. Had we known all of that in advance, the argument upthread probably wouldn't have taken place.

Before flat screens, pizza was traditionally stored on top of the computer and finished cold in the morning.

You are right Dora!

"Changed a wheel? I'm not sure if you can change a tyre without high pressure machinery."

Haha! Yeah, that. Behold the depths of my incompetence.

I had a flatmate who would cook Bachelor's savoury rice, eat half, and leave the other half on top of the cooker, in the pan, to eat the next day.

TheChandler you can cook, so do stop being silly. For all I know, the outcome of your cooking may be dire, but you are clearly able to take fresh ingredients and turn them into something that you are able to eat without giving yourself food poisoning. That is cooking.

I couldn't cook until I left home at 21. Could only make toast. My mum never let me in the kitchen. I'm making sure my kids (12 and 9) can cook! I taught myself to cook from books.

My DH was a latch key kid and is an amazing cook.

I couldn't cook until I went to Uni and then it was limited due to lack of funds. I grew up in a house where the kitchen was my mums domain (she wanted peace from us) and we were given household chores to do while she cooked.

I could bake though as my nana was a lovely soul that liked having us in the kitchen.

social would be interested to know how a latchkey kid learns to cook, though. Presumably just having access to a kitchen isn't enough. There must be some kind of instruction taking place, surely?

What is a latch key kid?

Latchkey/latch key kids are those with working parents who wear a door key around their necks and provide for themselves until an adult gets home.

I don't cook ever. Might bung a pizza in or a chicken kiev and chips. Dh cooks everything from scratch and I have never bothered learning.

I learned to cook when I began living on my own, as I'm sure many people do. My mum and dad were both working full time. When mum cooked it was a chore to be got over with as quickly as possible with everyone else out of the kitchen. When dad cooked on the weekends, he clearly enjoyed it more but again, it was a solitary pastime for him and not one he had any interest in teaching. My parents didn't fail me; they did their best, and I turned out fine

I'm completely with you Findo. I think it's rude to say parents have failed us if we leave home unable to cook! Surely that's what your first years away from home are about? My parents are wonderful, both cooked for the family and still often do when they come round to help with child care and we had a really healthy upbringing. They both worked full time and I left home at 16, not sure why but for some reason we never got around to much cooking together. I've been a late starter as I've always had men too cook for me - flat mates, boyfriends, now Dh and as a rule within a family it often falls to the person who likes cooking more/feels they are better to make dinner more often. I can cook a few dishes but my local shop being m&s food isn't exactly helping me. What I DO make however is healthy and nutritious. I'm 40. If I had to boil an egg tomorrow I would need to google a step by step guide (water hot first or cold? How many minutes? Hard or soft?) but of course I would be capable.

Oh for gods sake. Would everybody who doesn't like boiled eggs please give it a rest? Isn't it obvious what in this case, 'boiling an egg' is a way of saying 'basic cookery'?

Bloody minded over literalists. Annoying.

Self taught Dora. He got bored of beans on toast every night.