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.

@ElsaSchraeder

some people are happy with mediocre food and putting the extra effort in would yield them little more utility regardless of result. This is part of it. But I disagree it's only about being satisfied with mediocrity. I think the gap between bad and fine is far greater than the gap between fine and amazing. You're saying that anyone happy with fine is a sort of mediocre taste person who can't appreciate the astonishing food that stays with you forever. Maybe we can all appreciate such food! But ultimately it is only food. The utility of it is never actually worth the trouble.

I'm saying I would not be happy with mediocre, so I put the effort in - if I was fine with mediocre I wouldn't. Food does not have to be fancy or expensive to taste fabulous - but my fabulous will not be your fabulous. I wouldn't choose to eat in a mediocre restaurant but yet there are many to be had on the high street, so someone must be enjoying them. I will spend the extra time researching small family run restaurants that do not rely on Brakes to supply their kitchens and I do feel the effort involved in finding amazing food is worth it otherwise I wouldn't do it. On the days where I am too tired to cook I do turn to mediocre but I don't enjoy it and I don't eat very much of it.

I am intrigued by the level of debate that this OP has generated. I didn't realise this was such a hot button issue.

@ElsaSchraeder

some people are happy with mediocre food and putting the extra effort in would yield them little more utility regardless of result. This is part of it. But I disagree it's only about being satisfied with mediocrity. I think the gap between bad and fine is far greater than the gap between fine and amazing. You're saying that anyone happy with fine is a sort of mediocre taste person who can't appreciate the astonishing food that stays with you forever. Maybe we can all appreciate such food! But ultimately it is only food. The utility of it is never actually worth the trouble.

I think that's fair. But what constitutes 'fine' varies enormously from person to person, I think, just as what constitutes 'cooking from scratch' does, judging by responses to threads about it on here. My 'fine' wouldn't include jars of Dolmio, for instance, while for other people it would, but other people are far more organised in terms of targeted shopping and meal-planning, whereas DH and I never mealplan, other than in the vaguest way we're vegetarians who rely on a vegetable box delivery whose contents vary and probably rely more than some on nice ingredients, which can make a 'fine' meal with very little effort.

I saw someone going round at Christmas about not giving yourself stress and that there is nothing wrong with frozen roasties and bisto gravy etc. I agree if you are happy with that.

Persoanlly I think the effort to make my own gravy and roasties is worth it. I'm not going to tell other folk they shouldn't be happy with Aunt Bessie and Bisto though.

Surely it's personal choice and some people are more interested in food/have more sensitive palates/are willing to invest the time etc.

There isn't a right or wrong but we should all be making the effort to include some fresh stuff in our diet if we can as, in general, this is better for you. Fresh could be a banana/apple/some berries etc though so not exactly a big cooking requirement :)

I am not bothering with own roasties 90% of the time. And never made yorkshires from scratch. I did though make an amazing goose gravy (caraway, onion, apple)😁 Balance is important😂

@SchrodingersImmigrant

I am not bothering with own roasties 90% of the time. And never made yorkshires from scratch. I did though make an amazing goose gravy (caraway, onion, apple)😁 Balance is important😂

Yep, I don't make my own roasties and yorkshires on a weekly basis, So they become a treat when I do and everyone looks forward to them. Roasties require a very hot oven. I only have one so it doesn't always work with whatever we are eating. Sometimes I'll chuck frozen chips on a tray, sometimes I'll make my own wedges. Who cares, people are fed. I tend to make my own yorkshires to be honest as I don't have a lot of freezer space and a couple of eggs, some milk and flour take up very little room.

I want people ie children to learn how to read then they'd have no problem cooking coz they coukd read a cookery book

"Persoanlly I think the effort to make my own gravy and roasties is worth it. I'm not going to tell other folk they shouldn't be happy with Aunt Bessie and Bisto though."

I have a friend who insists she must have home made everything and of course then complains about the time it takes. She did Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve this year so she could actually enjoy Christmas Day. If she used Bisto she could enjoy Christmas Day every year.

My family have survived mine and my husbands mediocre efforts for the last 20 years.

We like what we cook. I'm personally offered because I know the original post is aimed at people like me who have an extended repertoire of shepherd's pie and bolognaise with showstopper of rock cakes for a treat....

We might not be masterchefs but we brought up healthy kids in a modest budget.

#mykidssurvivedmediocrecooking

OP tell us what you cook please? Couple things you cook that you consider delish.

I hope I’m not the only person who feels “sad” that you have so much time on your hands fretting about what other people eat. Why don’t you do some amazing cooking for the homeless with your time.

I think most people can manage a Sunday dinner. But exotic may be a bridge too far

I can cook. I do cook from scratch most days, including making my own spice mixes. But I also have an instant pot, blender, food processor. I'm all for making life easy.
I don't do chips though. That's what the chippie at the end of the road is for.
Baking: not so great. Never met a sponge that I can't pancake. Cheesecake in the IP. Mince pies using ready rolled. I have hot hands so my pastry is always shite.

But like others have pointed out , where are the veggies OP? Lush cauliflower cheese, celeriac gratin, roasted broccoli with garlic, baby peas with onions or god forbid; a salad?

(It's getting close to dinner time)

How did you get to that percentage? Think you are being a bit unfair, if you look at people’s shopping trolleys maybe you would rethink’ that number. Basically it’s a time issue with some people but a simple stir fry doesn’t take that long to prepare and cook. Personally I cook from scratch using fresh ingredients and without cook books like to experiment and hopefully I know what goes together, at least I get no complaints, I’m sure lots are like me.

You have a delusional opinion

The fact the OP says "not because I'm a dick" says it all really 🤦🏼‍♀️

I hate cooking .. but sleep easy , you don't have to worry about me ... perhaps you should order a take out one night and do some classes on being less patronising.. I eat perfectly healthily without spending hours faffing about in the kitchen ... treat yourself to a from me ... ( from Sainsbury's)

Ha ha - you do know you are of course being a dick.

If you mean people knowing how to cook like a chef then I agree most of us don’t know that. My “cooking” classes in school consisted of bringing in a pizza base to put toppings on or bringing in a flan base to put toppings on. I can bake but I can’t cook and don’t claim to. I can throw stuff in a pot which is edible but I don’t even know how to properly chop a vegetable let alone the correct ways to cook things. I’ve never been taught and I certainly don’t have the time to learn now. I’m a single parent who works part time and is in full time university so that I can hopefully get a better job to do better for my children. I can throw things in a slow cooker and have time to do a million and one other things I need to do or I can spend all day trying to figure out ingredients and preparation and cooking instructions and the mass of cleaning up after that will follow for one meal.

I’m having chilli tonight, what is the correct way to cook that?

Wow, think that you hit a nerve with some OP ☺️, what happened to be kind people?

I can swear like a chef😂 Does that count for anything?

I can't chop fast if my life depended on it though. But I can cook nice improv food. I am still trying to remember what was in my venison on berries 4 years later because it was so good my dh asks about it sometimes 😂

Lol! Honey, trust and believe that I know how to cook for my little one and I make sure I cook every single day without fail. My baby eats good, thank you very much. Maybe you should refrain from judging others and take a look at yourself and why you felt the need to type up this entire post. Projecting your insecurities on other people, me-thinks? 🙄 SNM

@ShrikeAttack

No. I read what people are cooking, and it sounds terrible.

I read about cooking methods or recipes where people chuck in random veg. And then wonder why their children won't eat it.

Or people making a ragú which sounds like a watery tomato sauce.

Just throwing as many veg as possible into something and calling it a pasta sauce or curry or chillie.

And slow cookers, sweating stuff to death.

And jarred sauces.

How dare people be creative or try to live to a budget and still feed their family a healthy meal?? So you're crticising homemade pasta sauces then criticising sauce from a jar, make your sodding mind up and get a life.

@ShrikeAttack do you have any good recipes for a high horse?