To ask how you learned to cook and

[ResponsibleMushroomForager]

Do you enjoy it or not?
If you have a DP do they cook?
If you have DC are you teaching them to cook?

I can't remember not being able to cook. I've always been able to, probably because of being the eldest of 6 and parents working/in the pub I had little choice.

I like to feed people and see them enjoying their food but I don't particularly enjoy the cooking part. I love to bake though. DH does most of the cooking now unless we are cooking for a crowd. My teenage boys can cook well, one cooks to eat but the youngest enjoys it and it quite creative.

These days we tend to do quick, tasty and simple. We rarely have a meal that takes longer than 20 minutes to put on the table.

My boys are at uni now and, if I'm honest, if DH wasn't here I would gladly never cook again! M&S all the way.

OP start by following the recipe and gradually you will learn how to adapt and freestyle.

I was taught little and my mother barely cooked. I did sometimes see my grandmother bake, but don't really remember much of it as she died when I was young.

I had thorough HE classes at schools. I learned to preserve and make Xmas cake and roux sauce and pastry. As an adult I have added to Iran's bought cookery books and read online, over years adding bits. I'm still learning, in my 50s.

I think cooking is a basic life skill. My kids are confident in the kitchen with basic recipes and a couple of them are good cooks. I started cooking with them very young.

Typo!

"Added to that and bought. "

I had to be the one in charge at a very young age at home and eventually got sick of eating biscuits and cereals with my siblings so I tried and improvised.
I think cooking is a lot like art, there's technics but also try and fails and succeeding.
You need to know how to cook the basics (pasta, rice, eggs) and work around it. Smell the food, taste it don't be afraid of going off the grid.
I do a pretty mean tomato sauce and it's the results of years of trials but when I have guests they always praise it. Quiches are also pretty easy to do
Good luck

I guess my mum taught me to cook, and then I suplemented that with cookbooks and recipes online. I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t able to cook basic things. I love to cook, and bake. It’s science for hungry people :D so I do most of the cooking in our house.
My DP doesn’t get any enjoyment out of cooking but has a few signature meals he will do once a week or more if I’m just not in the mood to cook for whatever reason. He makes amazing home made burgers! If/when we have kids I plan to teach them to cook I guess. It’s a pretty important and basic life skill.

My parents, in school (home economics) and just trial and error. I don’t mind cooking but I wouldn’t say I love it 🤣 my hubby cooks mostly when he is home (he works 3weeks away and then home for 3 weeks) he is a way better cook. My 5 year old can already make a cake, crack an egg,chop veg and measure ingredients

Independently that is. I forgot she can also make pancake mix without help 👍

Can't really remember. My mum is a great cook, but I don't recall her teaching me, as such.
Sure I made scones, pizza and bread at school.
I think I learnt to cook when I went to uni. Just through trial and error.

By watching/showing an interest/osmosis. More watching my grandmother who did "proper cooking" than my mum who hated it.
I took over doing most of the family meals at about 14 and liked experimenting with new recipes. Dsis was never interested until her mid 40's when she began experimenting more.
I don't particularly enjoy it anymore. It's a chore And I tend to stick to tried and trusted meals. It's interested how we've turned about.

Dd has learned by being interested and watching/helping me. She's not a bad cook. Ds on the other hand has shown no interest and has been forced to do the occasional basic stuff but couldn't be relied upon to create interesting meals. It's not sexist or a deliberate decision. They've both had equal opportunity. Neither of them have been interested in any DIY stuff either, despite dh being very handy about the house.

I guess it's just whether you are interested or not.

Uni was also a great place to try stuff out and cook with mates.

I get by quite well. Copy my mum, read a recipe, get inspiration from a tv show.

However, i would really recommend delia's how to cook books. From about 20 years ago, I remember they were white covered hardbacks. A section on eggs. Bread. How to boil water - yes really. Not patronising at all but not everyone knows the difference between simmering and a rolling boil. simple stuff that will make or break your food!

I still refer to them occasionally. She's a brilliant starting point. although i really do like mary berry for cakes...😅

I never really cooked because I didn’t really enjoy eating (pasta and tomato’s most nights). However, when I was about 25 I became friends with a very food-y group and it’s slowly rubbed off on me.

I still mostly follow recipes (but double garlic quantities) but I can ad/lib to success mostly.

Can’t bake / won’t bake.

My 2 year old can crack an egg which I couldn’t do til much much later.

I enjoy it now.

Ok inspired by you lot, I went to the charity shop and bought these!

Aunt Delia to talk me through the basics. DH swears I used to cook decades ago but it might as well have been another life for all I can remember!

We're vegetarian (hence the quorn book) and the Fay Ripley one had nice pictures (if I imagine her meat dishes with quorn instead!)

Feeling quite positive about this thanks to you lovely lot

Oh - good haul!! Delia is definitely your best bet for starting out. She doesn’t assume anything, it’s all explained very clearly. What’s your favourite food/meal?

When I was a young mum, I used to watch Can’t Cook Won’t Cook and Ready Steady Cook. They were brilliant for teaching techniques, as well as combining ingredients.

Another thing that is working for us, given that the DDs are responsible for a lot of meals, is Gousto.

AIBU to ask how you learned to cook?

I didn't - I can't cook. Or rather, anything I cook is barely edible, let alone appetising or enjoyable. I can remove the flavour from anything which is quite a skill in itself!

Do you enjoy it or not?

Hate it - have little to no interest in food hence limited interest in learning to cook. Periodically I decide I ought to try cooking proper meals and then promptly lose interest after spending time and money on meals I have to force myself to make and force myself to eat, and enjoying neither.

If you have a DP do they cook?

Yes, if we have a proper home cooked meal he will be the one to make it

If you have DC are you teaching them to cook?

Can't have DC - if we'd been able to have children then absolutely I'd have made learning to cook a priority, and would have wanted to teach them to cook. I know it's an important life skill but really can't summon up the interest when there's only 2 of us!

Brilliant start! Enjoy yourself and don’t worry if you have a few disasters, everyone does.

I learned to cook some stuff at school, after that I loved cookbooks so they taught me some stuff and the rest is trial and error [and success], yes I do enjoy it. DP can cook but I prefer my food so I prefer to cook, my DC can all cook, I got them to look at cookbooks, choose recipes to try and cook them with me.

TheWarOnPeace - I'd like to do some tasty stews. And some kind of vegetable tart. And a tomato sauce that doesn't come out of a jar.

My mother taught me to cook
Yes I enjoy it
DH isn't the best cook
Yes I'm teaching my kids to cook

I learnt in school! Maybe it was the area I grew up in, but we had a surprising amount of cookery lessons in primary school and in high school. I remember carrying the meals I'd created back on the bus each week, and we ate them as a family.

Since then, I found simple books useful. There was one that was a three or four ingredient cookbook that I liked. This is the link:

www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Ever-Three-Ingredient-Cookbook/dp/1844777790/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&keywords=three+ingredient+cook+book&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1543779463&sr=1-3

I liked it because I hated recipes where it listed off 20 things you haven't got in, you end up not being able to do the recipe. This book (above) meant you only had to buy a few things, and the recipes were simple but nutritious. However I'm not sure how many of those are vegetarian, so it may not be an appropriate choice. I found it useful for me though.

Do you like stir fries OP? They can be a good place to start. You can just chop up some veg, then put it in a pan, with noodles, maybe some quorn (not in that order)... soy sauce. They are quite simple yet tasty. There's so much information online now, but I'd say get a basic book, and focus on easy things first. Maybe your Delia book is the best place to start?

For tomato sauce I'd look up recipes online.
I've never had a formal lesson outside of school, so I'd say I'm self taught and the things I cook are healthy.

Parents taught me & I had to cook once a week for my family from about age 12. Chose what we were having and added ingredients to the weekly shop.

Dp is a fab cook when following a recipe but rarely has time. I'm a decent cook.

@ResponsibleMushroomForager I think it's great that you want to learn- I learnt mainly from being let loose in the kitchen from an early age. I've regretfully not had partners that cook, which I rue greatly now I have a child. Some help would be nice!

Some things that helped me learn and improve:
Get yourself a good knife, a great non stick frying pan, and a good cast iron casserole dish with a lid. It sounds basic but having a small amount of good stuff makes it so much more pleasurable. Nesbits online is great- it supplies trade and is cheap and reliable.

Start looking at cook books and try a few recipes out, especially things you love to eat. Don't lose confidence if you balls things up. I still do and I've been cooking for a good 20 years solid. Once you learn a few recipes you can start to experiment a bit. A basic white sauce (butter, flour, milk) becomes a different ball game when you fry off some bacon and leek at the beginning and chuck in some grated cheese at the end. Learning to make sauces and casseroles is a nice easy way to start. Casseroles are great because you can perfect your chopping skills and don't have to worry too much about timings- a low oven for a few hours will work magic on most meats chucked in with some chopped veg and stock/wine/water.
I really rate the much maligned (but I love him) Jamie Oliver for tasty, uncomplicated recipes that aren't daunting. Diane Henry has also written some lovely recipes. Nigel Slater too- and the Hairy Bikers! The last two do great comfort food. I'll try to remember the names of the cook books I found most useful.
Good luck, I hope you're soon whipping up your favourites and enjoying the results.

Sorry just saw you are vege!! I made a squash and black bean chilli (using mostly tins today), super easy and delicious! Look at Madeleine Shaw's website for it.