To think knowing about food and being able to cook are key life skills?

[Notcontent]

This is something I strongly believe in, but I think that notwithstanding various small-scale initiatives to teach young people and families about healthy cooking etc the lack of skills is getting worse not better.

I was listening to a Radio 4 programme the other day about child food poverty and they were talking to some young people - one of the teenage girls talked about the fact that until recently she couldn’t cook anything)no and I also had little idea of what a normal meal should be.

This seems such wide-spread problem. So many people think of food as being readymade, processed things that you unwrap and eat.

I think that there should be education about this at schools as obviously many people are not getting these skills at home. It’s so important - eating is what keeps are alive.

The thing is though that they have not always lived in one room without a cooker, did they...

Temporarily bad situation isn't an excuse not to have skills which were supposed to be worked on before. It's really like saying "I don't know how to write because I lost my pen last week".

Graphista
Enough is enough if you don't agree with me then that's fine everyone has a different view!
My view is my view and it's not going to change because of your post!
I suggest you seek help because you sound like you are so hard done by
Obviously me with my perfect life wouldnt be able to grasp what you have been through because I live in a bubble!
And no I'm not a bully far from it and I'm not a bigot either you seem to be tho as you can't fathem someone not having the same thought process as yourself
I'm not going to give you my life story because it won't interest u but we have all had it tough yet can still teach their kids who they brought into the world how to live healthy and right from wrong
Amd of you don't like my opinion get mumsnet to delete me i'm not fussed either way

Prejudice against a protected group is not an opinion its bigotry

If cooking is a life skill then surely driving is a life skill. Apart from those that have a physical condition that prevents them from driving there are many people who can’t drive.

Should we say those that haven’t passed a driving test can’t give birth because it will cause their children suffering having to be stuck in one place or reliant on public transport, being stood at a bus stop in the freezing cold if they need to go anywhere.

Then having to sit/stand crammed next to people who are infected with colds, flu and all manor of viruses
That surely is far worse than being reliant on another parent to cook or eating out or just having a sandwich and salad/tin of soup or ready meal.

Exactly @Oliversmumsarmy

I was a child in the late 1940s/50s - we had rationing until 1954 and ready meals were not existent, as were snacks between meals.

I learnt to cook from my DM and that has continued to be what I have always eaten (ie no foreign food, pasta, rice etc). Anything I didn't know how to cook, I learned, mostly from Delia Smith.

I agree that cooking is one of the necessary life skills, along with swimming and driving.

@Oliversmumsarmy

If cooking is a life skill then surely driving is a life skill. Apart from those that have a physical condition that prevents them from driving there are many people who can’t drive.

Should we say those that haven’t passed a driving test can’t give birth because it will cause their children suffering having to be stuck in one place or reliant on public transport, being stood at a bus stop in the freezing cold if they need to go anywhere.

Then having to sit/stand crammed next to people who are infected with colds, flu and all manor of viruses
That surely is far worse than being reliant on another parent to cook or eating out or just having a sandwich and salad/tin of soup or ready meal.

Nobody's going to suffer malnutrition from catching a bus or walking to the shop to buy some ingredients.

Nobody can learn to drive by reading a couple of books or watching a television programme or two and spending out under twenty quid.

Standing at a bus stop is obviously not the same as being incapable of and unwilling to learn how to prepare and feed children nutritious food.

One is a basic biological need - to be fed. One is something people like to do.

Or are you saying that if you were unable to drive, you wouldn't have left the house for the last 40 years?

@Oliversmumsarmy

If cooking is a life skill then surely driving is a life skill. Apart from those that have a physical condition that prevents them from driving there are many people who can’t drive.

Should we say those that haven’t passed a driving test can’t give birth because it will cause their children suffering having to be stuck in one place or reliant on public transport, being stood at a bus stop in the freezing cold if they need to go anywhere.

Then having to sit/stand crammed next to people who are infected with colds, flu and all manor of viruses
That surely is far worse than being reliant on another parent to cook or eating out or just having a sandwich and salad/tin of soup or ready meal.

You don't need driving to live. You do however need to eat🤦 This But is 1* out of 5...

If only people put same amount of energy into learning to cook so they can feed themselves and their offsprings as they put into coming up with excuses for why they can't...

There are loads of life skills, some more important than others, and I doubt there will ever be consensus on which matter most.

As always reading threads like these, I am astounded at the inability of some people to think outside the narrow lines of their own experiences and lives and to recognise that others experience barriers they may not. I think the ability to do that is a pretty important life skill in itself.

I think my DPs had the right idea; they had me cooking weekly for the family from age 10/11. My DM bought me a simple cookbook and I would put the ingredients I needed on the shopping list for her before shopping day. Really helped me learn basic cooking as well as planning. I had other weekly chores as well and could clean, do laundry, cook etc. by the time I left home. Made being on my own a lot easier later on.

I agree it would be good to have lessons in school also btw.

You don't need driving to live. You do however need to eat

But why do you need to know how to cook. It doesn’t mean you don’t eat.

Where as when the food delivery didnt arrive for a couple of non driving friends. Being able to drive did become a life skill that was needed.

Without friends picking up the shopping and dropping it at the end of their drive they would have gone hungry.

We have had to step in and help out over the last few months those that can’t drive otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get out and would have run out of food. Not everyone lives within walking distance to shops.

The GCSE I did in 1997 was called DT: Food, iirc. Definitely included learning about nutrition, major food groups, basic kitchen skills, meal planning etc, but that may have been more down to the teacher we had (so old school, close to the end of her career, she had a reputation as a dragon but I remember her so fondly as if you had a genuine interest she would always help you, even if you were a cack handed idiot like me and needed a lot of help) than the curriculum.

You know what. No one needs to cook. You are right. Britain can just live of shitty ready meals and chicken nuggets.

Enjoy your Buts.

I have never eaten a chicken nugget inmy life.

But why do you need to know how to cook. It doesn’t mean you don’t eat.

That is one of the daftest questions I have seen on mumsnet.

Yes you can eat without knowing how to cook, but unless you have lots of money you are hardly going to eat well. Knowing how to throw a delicious, inexpensive and nutritious dish with some, pasta, cheese and some vegetables is, IMO, a life skill worth having.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

If only people put same amount of energy into learning to cook so they can feed themselves and their offsprings as they put into coming up with excuses for why they can't...

OMG this ^^ 100%

Comparing it to not being able to drive a car?

Seriously? 🤦

If I gained 1lb for every excuse I've read on this thread, you'd have to roll me out the door.

But why do you need to know how to cook. It doesn’t mean you don’t eat.

You need to know how to cook in order to control the quality of food you put in your body.

Relying on others is crazy and can lead to weight and health problems.

What kind of cooking are we talking about here?

To me a Sunday roast isn't really cooking, I'm sure others will disagree. I would find it hard to believe that there are 'loads' of people out there who cant roast a few basic ingredients.

That surely is far worse than being reliant on another parent to cook or eating out or just having a sandwich and salad/tin of soup or ready meal.

This honestly reads like satire.

Being unable to differentiate between getting your kids around via public transport or taxis and being unable to feed them a basic nutritional healthy diet

The ultimate But 👏🏻

@Oliversmumsarmy

You don't need driving to live. You do however need to eat

But why do you need to know how to cook. It doesn’t mean you don’t eat.

Where as when the food delivery didnt arrive for a couple of non driving friends. Being able to drive did become a life skill that was needed.

Without friends picking up the shopping and dropping it at the end of their drive they would have gone hungry.

We have had to step in and help out over the last few months those that can’t drive otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to get out and would have run out of food. Not everyone lives within walking distance to shops.

How did you know about learning to drive? How did you learn to drive? Was there a special book you were given about how people have to take lessons and book tests?

Because you seem to be capable of learning something you want to do when it suits you.

@Dutchesss

What kind of cooking are we talking about here?

To me a Sunday roast isn't really cooking, I'm sure others will disagree. I would find it hard to believe that there are 'loads' of people out there who cant roast a few basic ingredients.

Funnily enough, I find cooking a roast more taxing than cooking an array of oriental dishes. I think it is because I have to co-ordinate the timing so that everything is ready at the same time.

And I would class myself as a competent cook and baker.

Isn't it worrying how so many people can't do anything

Inspired by this teaching my girls a recipe each day this week. They more than capable (11 and 14). So far they have made veggie chilli, homemade tomato sauce and pasta and easy fish pie. They are more than capable just need to be shown how to do it.