To think that cooking isn’t hard...

[CrabappleBiscuit]

....as long as you are physically fit and not unwell and don’t have a disability that makes it hard, and have access to a kitchen and equipment (disclaimer)

Friends who say they or their partners ‘can’t cook’. But hold down jobs, drive cars and can put together flat pack furniture.

It’s not rocket science, read a recipe and do it. I like cooking and I’m good at it, dh isn’t a great cook but he still cooks a fairly limited repertoire but he does.

Is it just laziness?

I agree about school cookery lessons being crap.

Some people just don't care very much, and that's not the same as not being able.
My mother produces awful food. Bland and tasteless. I have seen her follow recipes and produce good stuff, but she really doesn't care.
She will make lumpy mash, shop bought sliced ham and canned veg typically for a meal.
She likes this food no less than more elaborate dishes.
To her it's " just food".
She says she sees food as simply fuel.
A bit infuriating as OH and I are passionate about food, but she is as happy with Instant mash as fondant potatoes.

If you love food and love eating I think a passion for cooking will follow.

But not everyone has a love of food, it's there simply to fill a hole in the belly.

I can cook ... I just don't enjoy it !
I don't want to spend my whole evening cooking when I've had a long day at work!
I don't live on ready meals either... an omlette it some grilled fish and vegetables are 5 minute meals !!!

Children cook in lessons at school so grown adults who claim not to be able to cook are lazy

Children have lessons in many subjects at school, does that mean any adult who can't speak a modern foreign language, solve quadratic equations and explain the difference between stalactites and stalagmites are also lazy?

I'm capable of baking a chicken in the oven and preparing some salad, hell I can even steam some veg. But that's not really cooking is it?

YES IT IS THAT'S COOKING YOU'VE BEEN DOING COOKING!

We are talking about everyday skills of putting a meal together, not Heston Blumenthal stuff.

Children cook in lessons at school so grown adults who claim not to be able to cook are lazy.

And that is open to interpretation. DS1's secondary school food tech lessons used to consist of taking in a pizza base, ready grated cheese and tomato past. Voila. Absolutely shocking.

Schools are largely restricted to the time table, eg you cannot cook a roast dinner from scratch in a 60 minutes less 10 minutes for moving to-and-fro between class rooms, register, packing and tidying up.

I can't play the piano, but I can cook.

My mother can play the piano but can't cook.

We have different priorities in life. If either of us put in enough practise at the other, we would both be able to do both.

You have to learn how to cook, I turned out some utter shite when I first left home but I kept at it. I don't really like ready meals or takeaways and I quite enjoy making a nice meal so I don't mind it.

I say I can't cook but yeah, it's laziness. Truth is that I don't like to cook. So I rarely do!

NewYearNewMe18 I agree.

My teens are both fantastic cooks- can cook Korean, Thai, Rendang etc.

Their cookery lessons at school were pitiful- they both dropped the subject as soon as the school would allow.
And I remember just that lesson- in fact it was a pitta bread, tomato puree and grated cheese served as a pizza.

Shameful.

Totally agree.

Nothing less attractive than a grown man who can't cook. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Who could possibly bring themselves to sleep with a manchild who lacks the basic skills of independent living.

I like cooking and I’m good at it, dh isn’t a great cook but he still cooks a fairly limited repertoire but he does.
Is your DH lazy by not being a good cook and only cooking limited things?
If it’s not hard, why isn’t your DH very good and why doesn’t he cook more varied things?

I agree though, most people can learn. You say friends who’s partners ‘can’t cook’ are lazy. I feel the same about people like your DH who ‘aren’t very good’ and only cook a limited number of meals. He probably wants you to be the ‘great cook’ so he doesn’t have to bother to learn and you can do most of the cooking!

BeyondThePage except that eating is essential to life- playing the piano isn't.

Agree, bunging a chicken in the oven and steaming some veg, IS cooking! I wasn't capable of that when I left home but.... I love good food, I love to eat and I am one of those people who live to eat, not eat to live.

I'm just wondering if some people who say they can't cook, are actually cooking, like PPs Mums on here, somehow or other they're surviving and eating and unless they are literally living on ping ping meals or takeaways, they are cooking.

I call making a salad, cooking new potatoes and bunging a salmon fillet in foil in the oven... cooking.

I just can't understand why anyone would form a relationship with a man who couldn't look after his family.

For those who can cook then it is hard to understand those who can’t.
But if you can follow simple instructions then you should be able to manage. However there will always be some who burn water!

Cooking is time consuming and the fact is most people don’t want to put that time aside and simply don’t have the time also ( commuters etc ).
It took me over 2 hours yesterday to cook ( made the sauce from scratch) so it pretty much took up my whole evening.
I mostly make the quick things like chicken potatoes.

I can cook, I have 2 kids and a DH so I don't see I have much choice. But I never do any gardening apart from cutting the grass. I am lazy in that respect. I have no interest in it. It's hard to get into something when you have no interest

My DH isn't a good cook. He can survive but he's not. That's fine, I enjoy it much more now my DCs have left home. They are fantastic cooks. I bought 2 of them an advanced cooking day at a top notch cooking school as a Christmas pressie, they loved it. One DC in particular is particularly into Asian food and went on a cooking challenge and got through, she's a far better cook than me and knows all about depths of flavours etc.

IF you know what the words/terms mean.

This is true. But if you're reading a recipe which says to saute, or parboil, or julienne the carrots and you don't know what that means, there's usually a picture to help you, or you google it. Some of the technical cooking stuff is tricky. That's why we watch shows like Bake Off to see the infamous soggy bottom or see melting middle puddings which don't melt on Masterchef.

But everyone can do the basic family cooking of spag bol, roast chicken, stews, casseroles, shepherd's pie etc.

There are some kids leaving home having never been shown how to use a washing machine...is it really any wonder a lot leave home having never been taught how to cook? School cooking lessons are, from memory, pretty crap. I went to Uni with people who couldn't cook - literally, didn't have a clue. One tried making gravy with cold water & couldn't work out what she had done wrong. It was mind boggling

" can cook, I have 2 kids and a DH so I don't see I have much choice. "

Does your DH have a choice?

Yes Speakout

Some eat to live, some live to eat.

I'm definitely in the live to eat category

Food tech - which has replaced proper cookery lessons (home ec, domestic science) DEFINITELY doesn't teach cookery, they're given tasks like 'invent a new ready meal' 'design a poster for a meal deal' 🙄 dd packed it in ASAP because it was pointless.

I do think that all the cooking shows teach a lot. But you have to be interested in the first place

I used to love cooking but as a single mum with everything falling on me it has become a chore! There are days when I get in from work and the house is a mess and the kids need help with their homework and the last thing I want to do is start cooking, so we have a few emergency bits in the freezer that I can throw in the oven.
my kids both like cooking so sometimes I leave it down to them.

Shops do make it super easy now, you can buy pretty much any veg pre chopped and frozen for convenience.

ShatnersBassoon Thu 24-May-18 07:26:15
"Children cook in lessons at school so grown adults who claim not to be able to cook are lazy.

And what a delicious feast they bring home..."

This surely must have something to do with the way the subject is taught, the resources allocated, and the time spent. When I was taught cookery in a continental school we brought home perfectly decent meals, the kind anybody might prepare at home (in a time and place where most people did cook). But that's because we were given the time and equipment to do it properly.