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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To worry about the lack of cooking skills of the next generation

166 replies

jdoe8 · 05/12/2016 11:59

People seem to barely cook these days and peoples supermarket trolleys are bursting foods that are quick and easy to make. Such as mashed potato, pre chopped onion and soup. Soup is very easy to make and home made is fresher and better for you.

Crushing up some ginger nuts, mixing with butter and dipping in melted chocolate seems to count as cooking. Lots of mess when you can just eat the chocolate and ginger nuts. The same for making a brownie mix and then icing with pre made icing. That is cooking?

OP posts:
Sirzy · 05/12/2016 12:02

I don't think that's a new thing.

I was a kid in the 80s and many of my peers were raised on findus pancakes and chips and it was delicious then came ready meals.

People want convienice and something quick and easy when they have busy lives.

baconandeggies · 05/12/2016 12:02

People seem to barely cook these days

People don't have to cook if they don't want to.

DailyMailCrap · 05/12/2016 12:06

I used to live on beans on toast as a child because it was nice and quick and healthy especially when you're a latchkey kid who needed to prepare something for the siblings. I could still whip up a 3 course Indian meal by 10 years old though, so I strongly disagree with you.

Camomila · 05/12/2016 12:06

I don't think it's that people don't know how to cook, I think it's that people are busier than before especially if both parents are working.
I'm a decent cook but I'm certainly grateful for things like pre chopped onions on weekdays!

I worry more about people's lack of nutritional knowledge, DH is always asking me if things are healthy or not.

Catsick36 · 05/12/2016 12:09

Actually food education is better these days. Our 2 yr old 'helps' with dinner and chores. I do get what yr saying tho. We went to a toddler cooking group where the average age was nearly 4! Ours was the youngest by far. The teacher asked where milk came from, the older kids all said 'co-op'! DS said mooooo, the kids laughed at him.

Original poster
jdoe8 · 05/12/2016 12:09

I'm a decent cook but I'm certainly grateful for things like pre chopped onions on weekdays!

How much time does that really save? They look slimy to me and im sure the wastage is through the roof. I have a friend that buys carrot batons, and they are always these dry nasty things.

Carrots and onions last months if stored properly.

OP posts:
ShanghaiDiva · 05/12/2016 12:09

My dcs help me in the kitchen and can cook a few dishes themselves, but as a sahm I do have time to show them/help them. I do think cooking is an essential skill as convenience food is very expensive and IMO contains too much sugar and salt.
Is cooking still taught at school ? No idea - as have not lived in UK for 20 years. I learnt a lot at school - how to make bread, roux, different methods of cake making, pastry - lots of good core skills.

Original poster
jdoe8 · 05/12/2016 12:11

We went to a toddler cooking group where the average age was nearly 4! What kind of things do you make there?

I once went to one, they were making pizzas. It consisted of toasting an English muffin, ketchup and cheese. Was a bit too junky for me!

OP posts:
AngryGinger · 05/12/2016 12:12

abu, yeah. I am a good cook and I love to cook, and so does my dp, however it isn't always possible to stand and make a huge meal every night, so convenience food is just that - convenient. I feel its my duty to stick up for homepride pasta bake here, as well as that has saved my bacon a number of times!

Camomila · 05/12/2016 12:12

A fair bit! I'm a rubbish chopper, I'm very clumsy and have puny weak arms Grin I have mild hyper mobility which might have something to do with it.

Original poster
jdoe8 · 05/12/2016 12:12

Speaking of lazy recipes

On MN viedo / advert of the day. Its sponsored by lidl so I guess they like people just combing pre made food.

OP posts:
Original poster
jdoe8 · 05/12/2016 12:13

A fair bit! I'm a rubbish chopper, I'm very clumsy and have puny weak arms grin I have mild hyper mobility which might have something to do with it.

Fair enough if you have a disability, sorry if I was rude!

OP posts:
Sirzy · 05/12/2016 12:14

Pre chopped onions and similar also stops waste. If I am just cooking for me, or me and ds, I don't need a full onion or pepper or whatever so grabbing a bit from the freezer is much better!

AngryGinger · 05/12/2016 12:14

People seem to barely cook these days

Also, what are you basing this on? I don't know anyone in my family/friends who "barely" cook. I am sure some people live on takeaways etc, but surely they are not the majority.

PossumInAPearTree · 05/12/2016 12:14

If they're buying pre chopped onion that suggests they're cooking. I now buy pre chopped frozen onion and I can cook, just hate chopping onions.

But i worry about my 16yo dd. She can't cook at all, has no interest in learning. I try and get her to come in the kitchen and watch but she won't.

I guess when she leaves home I will buy her a student cookbook and some saucepans and wave her off. She will sink or swim. I taught myself to cook a lot. There's enough programmes on tv, YouTube stuff, etc.

Camomila · 05/12/2016 12:15

No worries jdoe8 :)

LBOCS2 · 05/12/2016 12:16

Given that tinned soup has been around since the 19th century I don't think that people having it in their supermarket shop is an indictment of the world today.

The whole point of these things is that they're convenience foods. It makes it convenient. If I'm making (for example) a shepherd's pie, the most time consuming preparation aspect is the chopping. So if I can buy a suffrito mix and just bung that in, I will. Because I work full time and have two preschoolers to feed when I get home. And I have excellent knife skills - it's still easier.

You sound extremely judgey OP. So for that, YABU. You don't know what pressures people are under, and if they're cash rich and time poor why not use the cash to save some time?

PossumInAPearTree · 05/12/2016 12:16

The frozen chopped onions aren't slimy and there's no waste. In fact less waste than having fresh whole onions which may go off. I weep like anything chopping onions, my eyes can't cope.

vvviola · 05/12/2016 12:17

I'm not one for pre-chopped onions these days (not available where I shop), but I did use them for a while, and found they actually led to less wastage - always the right amount, never left with half an onion, stayed happily in the freezer until I needed them. Same with frozen garlic.

I'm a pretty good cook, my DC (5 and 9) are pretty helpful in the kitchen, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at short cuts that get dinner on the table on a busy weeknight.

Flingmoo · 05/12/2016 12:20

YABU, Personally I think that we have a much more "foodie" culture today than we did a few decades ago.

Every year the bestselling books at Christmas are all celebrity chef recipe books. Bake Off, Masterchef etc all really popular. Much wider range of foods eaten now and people are educating themselves about nutrition a lot more. Lots of teenagers and young adults are gym/health obsessed and follow Paleo, vegan, low-carb etc diets and "clean eating" is trendy. People love sharing pictures of their wholesome food on Instagram and so on.

Cooking is being seen as not just for girls and women, e.g. being able to whip up a mean Thai curry is seen as very manly and cool. Quite a few teenage boys I know are great at cooking!

Just because today's parents are busy and make cupcakes from a packet with their toddlers it doesn't mean that in 10 years time those same kids won't be cooking up a storm in the kitchen!

Whyamihere · 05/12/2016 12:23

Well I can't cook very well and my Mum was a useless cook but my 12 year old dd can certainly cook up to a point, she was making scones from scratch on her own at about 10 (she made them for me one mothers day for breakfast), she can cook things such as spaghetti Bolognese from scratch and is quite good at inventing various things, she's quite an enthusiastic cook, last year for Christmas I bought a load of baking stuff which is all well used. And she's not alone, a lot of her friends also cook and bake.

So I think you are unreasonable from my own personal experience

maddiemookins16mum · 05/12/2016 12:24

I sort of agree with you OP. My adult nieces (both mid 20's) have no idea, one thinks cheese sauce is made by adding grated cheese to milk, that's it.
My own DD is being taught to cook everything by me, she enjoys it.
I once however purchased a 1kg pack of pre-prepared chunky veg and made soup (but only because it was reduced to 29p from £1.69).
I also buy the little frozen squares of ginger and garlic which makes curry cooking so much easier.
I appreciate times have changed, more women/mums working FT than the 70's when I was taught at school but I think a lot of basic cooking skills are lost now. That said, I suppose I also cheat by using frozen puff pastry too.

engineersthumb · 05/12/2016 12:25

I think its better today than the 1980s. Far more people are interested in cooking today than then as demonstrated by the am out of cookery shows etc. I think its also a question of social demographic too, though this may be explained by ability to access media/information on health and cookery. I remember it being the fashionable norm in the 80s to eat out of the freezer but I think that there is less oof that now. The prevalence of takeaway food is a bigger issue though. Whilst I take the point above that people don't have to cooking they don't want to I really think that when you have kids you should make the effort even when you're all working ful time. It's a good example and education, fun time together(mostly), nutritionally better/understood and better to encourage a wide variety of taste experiences. Knowing what ingredients taste like also instills an intetest in food beyond the quick hit of satisfying fat and sugar prevelant in fast/convenience foods. But as I said earlier I think we are getting better rather than worse.
Whilsr controversial, sugar and fat taxes on processed or part processed foods and partucularly ready mesls are a good idea as I think it will ease people, particularly those with kids, back towards fresh produce. The legislation is difficult to write but it doesnt have to be perfect! My paeticular gripe is microwavable burgers... why on earth would you ever feed this to your kids! But each to their own.

luckylucky24 · 05/12/2016 12:33

I can cook. Cooking with two kids under your feet, whinging, crying and demanding attention is alot harder. The pre-chopped frozen stuff makes prep quicker and less stressful. Also less waste as it won't go off if we decide not to use it. It actually reduces the amount of ready meals I feel the need to buy.
Today I bought tinned soup - my son will not eat homemade and I have no intention of wasting so much time and effort on something he wont eat.

TheGrandTourOfMyArse · 05/12/2016 12:34

I cook more than my mum ever did and my children love watching and helping and then tasting what has been made.

I do buy ready prepped veg though because I'm a lazy cook - pre-chopped onions and peppers, frozen field veg, frozen Mediterranean veg, frozen oriental veg. I do find that it saves time because washing and chopping seems to take ages; I don't think it has a slimy texture either and it does save waste because they keep for ages and we don't end up with half an onion left over in the fridge contaminating everything with with its flavour onion buns, I'm looking at you!