I'm going to say about 97% of people can't cook.

[ShrikeAttack]

I read threads on here about food all the time & even people who claim 'to 'cook', as in 'make stuff hot and eat it', have no idea about food. How to make delicious things, how to treat ingredients, what goes together.

It honestly makes me a bit sad.

The majority of people probably eat really rubbish food.

I really want people to understand food and eat better, not because I'm a dick, but because it would make their lives more pleasurable.

There is a difference between can’t and won’t. It’s a choice. People are entitled to make lawful choices - but sad they choose a grim ready meal over well cooked fodder.

I'm not about to tell you all what to eat. It's really subjective.

😂

Does a slowcooker count as cooking, bung everything in it ready for tea later.

@ShrikeAttack

Ok my food for the next week (including lunches as we're all at home).

Sunday- Brunch: Bacon, sausage and duck eggs. Rosti using the leftover potatoes from last night. Roast tomatoes and mushrooms. Black pudding.

Dinner; Roast pheasant. Roast potatoes. Braised red cabbage. Roast parsnips. Port gravy.

Monday: Jerusalem artichoke soup for lunch with hm bread.

Dinner; Roast beetroot with smoked mackerel, potatoes with soured cream and dill, cucumber salad.

Tuesday; Lunch: Ribollita, ciabatta, cheese, green salad.

Dinner; slow-cooked brisket. Rice. Soured cream. Hm guacamole. Pico de gallo. Hm tacos.

That's the blandest menu on planet earth. And YOU have the gall to dish out rules and opinions? Wow.

Dont be a dick. Most foodies are. Taste is subjective and most people can cook something they enjoy and healthy.

@vodkaredbullgirl

Does a slowcooker count as cooking, bung everything in it ready for tea later.

It certainly should because if you just bung everything in, it will probably come out crap😁 Joking. It needs thinking about the ingredients and flavours so yes, it's cooking. And delicious cooking often!

@ShrikeAttack

Duck eggs are the same price as hen's eggs.

And pheasant is the same price as chicken.

It isn't the same price. A pheasant costs £6 and a chicken costs £3. But chicken is about twice the size of a pheasant, so it's a x4 cost. When you have 5 mouths to feed, that's a real difference.

I do agree about cooking methods, though. DH is getting better at cooking, but still has the tendency to cook everything on the same heat, which means it doesn't taste as nice.

Having said that, some people live to eat and others eat to live. It's thoroughly boring when someone regales you with minute detail about their cooking of a fairly mundane meal.

Modern TV chefs are all about show, entertainment, performance, gimmicks

I think it would be better if they actually taught people how to cook. Delia Smith was good for that

If it's not bothering us OP, why is it bothering you?

All things are relative, aren't they.

I generally consider that I cook from scratch, but there are various degrees of 'scratch' and like most people I take short cuts.

I wouldn't dream of buying ready-made mashed potato, but I buy dried pasta rather than making my own.

I don't buy pasta sauces in jars, but when I make pasta sauce I use tinned tomatoes or passata, not fresh tomatoes.

I don't buy ready-made custard, but I make custard using custard powder not cream and eggs.

I make my own mayonnaise, but buy pesto in jars.

At Christmas, I make my own cranberry sauce, bread sauce and brandy butter, but I buy Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and mince pies.

Me and my supernoodle sandwich would disagree.

This made me chuckle. I think you're probably right, however people make their decisions about these things and if they want to prioritise it then they will. Same as anything else really. Some people might be sad that others have little appreciation for music or art, for example.

I am very lucky to have a foodie partner who cooks for me regularly! :) It has definitely increased my standards... which actually can be kind of a pain because I have to put more effort into food than I used to!

Can I cook? Yes
Do I cook? Yes
Do I ALWAYS cook from scratch? No

I don't need to justify myself to you or anyone else, but I'll give you two examples.

Yesterday I cooked a risotto for dinner. From scratch (including using home made stock). Lots of chopping and stirring.

The night before we had shop-bought pasta with sauce from a jar.

The difference being that yesterday I had the time to do it. On contrast, on Friday I worked from 8am - 7pm (I'm a keyworker) and was absolutely knackered.

Have a (home made, organic)

Yeah but Turkey unicorns chips and beans are nice when hungover

@BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze

D) From your arse

🤣🤣🤣

Lockdown is so shit that I haven't laughed properly for days. Until I read this.

Thank you @WorraLiberty.

I think that percentage is entirely too high.

Also, you are comparing what others cook to what you do and so completely disregarding their efforts if it doesn't meet your own level of cooking.

There are many reasons why people don't cook, it doesn't necessarily mean they can't.

They weren't brought up with home cooking, didn't learn to cook well or just weren't and aren't interested in cooking.

Working long, unsociable hours.

Money, whichever way you cut it, this plays a huge factor.

Literacy levels, 1 in 5 adults struggle to read or write, navigating the supermarket is daunting enough, yet alone trying to follow a recipe and figure out what you need and quantities, and whether you have enough money to pay for it when you get to the till.

One thing I noticed at the beginning of lockdown was how empty the sections of the supermarket were that had all the convenience food and all the frozen kids staples.

In America, it is often cheaper to eat out than to go and source the ingredients and cook it yourself.

In the UK, we have all the takeaways like the Golden Arches, etc. They are cheap, there is product placement across the board on the TV.

I could go on and on but it's simply not an open and shut case.

I also think during this current pandemic, that takeaways are probably deemed more of a treat now than ever so there's that too.

I personally cook from scratch most nights, but I was lucky enough to be brought up in a household that had the money and means to cook, and I have a very comfortable food budget (at the moment) each month. I also really enjoy cooking (for the most part) and I'm certainly a lot better than a lot of people I know, but I wouldn't judge them for it, or think this means that 97% of people can't cook.

I also tend to find, that if someone eats at my house for the first time, they don't always reciprocate and I think this is because their standard of cooking isn't up to mine, even though anything tastes better cooked by someone else and I'd be delighted with a bit of cheese on toast!

*should have said, they feel that their standard of cooking isn't up to mine, not that it isn't!

I must admit .. I used to think I could cook and then we started getting Gousto meals and I’ve since learnt a lot of “stuff” that I didn’t previously know. Gotta love Gousto. Ha.

Righto...here's my favourite dish today. Your arse handed on a plate.

Why? Because some people don't have the luxury of time. Time to learn to cook, time to make Pico de Gallo instead of picking up a pot of salsa. Let alone the money to be buying lots of different ingredients and having to add meal planning to their long lists of jobs we have to do in modern life.

I say this as a daughter of a Chef.

Everyones definition of a good cook will be completely different.

I make everything from scratch, the only ready made items I use are things like tinned tomatoes, tinned coconut milk etc. I wouldn’t personally use a ready made sauce or a flavour paste etc. I make my own roti, naan, veg stock etc. I usually buy dried pulses, but the choice isn’t great at my nearest supermarket so I sometimes buy tinned instead.

But if you put meat, fish or dairy in front of me I wouldn’t be at all confident about cooking it without some instructions, unless it was something like bacon, sausages, a whole chicken.

To me the menu the OP has posted is fairly boring, nothing looks difficult or particularly skilled to cook, especially the fry up. I don’t know anyone who can’t cook a fry up, even me as a life long vegetarian can cook sausages and bacon well.

"If it's not bothering us OP, why is it bothering you?"

This. I don't understand the point of this thread, except to allow OP to feel all smug and superior. Bore off.

You are hilarious OP. I can cook. Maybe not as well as your Michelin chefs but I have the technical capability. I am of an age where we were taught this shit (boys went to hammer nails in wood and weld, you know manly stuff). What it boils down to (no pun intended) is the simple 'cannot be arsed'. I work long days and do a degree. Hand me the jar of pasta sauce please!

Cooking a healthy meal doesn’t have to be scary or as hard as you imply on the first page. Chucking veg in a sauce over pasta is fine. It may not make us award winning chefs but my dc eat it and are healthy.

Do a degree? I'm studying for a degree.

You have a point but I don't think it is 97%, but much lower.

I know 3 types of people:

1. The person who invites you over and you leave thinking, "I must come here again. The food was fab.I wish I could cook like that."

2. People who think they can cook, but they clearly can't and when you see these people you should recommend eating out at a restaurant.

3. Those who don't profess to be able to cook and don't cook. Eat before you go over and have some crisps whilst there.