Most people make terrible food and can't actually cook.

[ImNotEntirelySureAboutThat]

They can't.

I read such horrors on food threads.

Either courgettes and mushrooms mixed in a worthy mushy horror.

OR jars, and packets.

Horrible. So. Much. Horrible. Foood.

I don't know anyone who raves about COOK or any other meals out of a 'box'. I would be embarrassed to serve food like that that to my guests.

That may be so but I wouldn’t say you know still how others cook

But it isn’t though. Scratch is making the sauces yourself, both meat sauce and bechamel.
I disagree with the OP and a lot of the comments on this thread, but this sort of proves the OPs point really 🙊

Northern European food in general isn’t the best - certainly not when comparing to highly spiced cuisines. That said, Europeans (including the British isles) excel at food preservation(jams, pickling, chutneys, brewing) to add flavour.

jumping on the band wagon of ‘urgh British food’ is lazy and just plain xenophobic.

In the same way as posters can say that they can prepare a better meal than COOK - which I doubt as everyone I know raves about their meals. Am missing them now we’ve left the UK.

Interesting I bought some for DSis as a treat as she was struggling a few months ago. She said they were just about ok, but nothing to write home about. She said the Shepards pie was like an airline meal.

Such a goady thread and it seems the OP has disappeared l, which is a shame as I was looking forward to seeing what their signature dish was and what they make on a daily basis.

For what it’s worth, I would say about that amongst my friends and family there is a good mixture of those who really can cook, convenience cooks and those who cannot cook at all!

I am lucky because both me and my husband really enjoy cooking! It’s online of our hobbies. Therefore, we cook all our meals from scratch everyday. The only thing in our freezer is bread, peas and ice cubes! This is what we enjoy and out DS enjoys the food we make too and helps us to prep it. However, it really makes sense to prepare what your family enjoys so if that convenience food then that’s fine, it really doesn’t matter!

The special meals are lovely, but very expensive. THere more ordinary range is fine but nothing special. It is made with real ingredients though so far healthier than other ready made meals.

I agree. There is so much hidden salt and sugar in those sauces and they are already prepared so you cannot class food that has been with them as “from scratch”. There’s nothing wrong with them if that’s what you like, they are very time saving BUT they are not the definition of “from scratch”.

Many grown adults, parents even, are proud of the fact they can’t cook. They wear it like a badge of honour. ‘I’m too important to do such as thing I need someone to do it for me.’ That’s why The West is in such a bad state - life skills are demeaning.

however, I do think that the tv has made cooking into such a performance that rather than get people into cooking decent meals, it has actually put them off. I think Jamie Oliver is great. He always tries to do simple thing to help normal people learn.

I would say Dsis and I are both reasonable cooks,with me maybe slightly better (I won some cookery competitions at school). But we can both make a passable Lasagne, risssoto, chilli shepard's and fish pie. I can also do an edible vegetarian curry, dhal and Thai curry.

I cannot cook at all I don't try and don't ask what's for dinner

Most people can’t cook well. This is just a fact. I can, obviously.

It’s actually a burden to be a good cook because you can never enjoy a ready meal or takeaway as much as your own food.

Well DH will have to get used to them if he has to have surgery next year as that's what I'll be cooking. I won't be looking after him, working full time and wasting time preparing food when I someone else can do it for me.

the erstwhile colony

You know there’s more than one, right?

How many Swedish, Nordic or Ukranian restaurants have you been to outside these countries.

Quite a few, actually.

Countries like USA and UK may not have worldwise restaurants maybe because they prioritise other skills over cooking

Indeed. As opposed to countries like Japan, China and Italy, that produce nothing apart from food?

Well done for travelling the world (thanks to the technology and skills developed by people from countries lacking cooking skill and with colonial history)

You might want to do some research into that.

you still sound ignorant and insular

The lack of self awareness required to end that ignorant shambles of a post with this line is HYSTERICAL.

Xenophobic.😂😂
Identity politics spills over onto the yorky pud.
Get a grip.

This.

There was a thread sometime ago where a poster turned her nose up at simple cooked food like pasta with a plain garlic and tomato home made sauce considering convenience jar sauce more flavourful.

I think a lot of people share this view which is a shame.

@RedAppleGirl Let me add rude, condescending, boastful and PA to my list of adjectives for your posts.

I’m sceptical of anyone who says they avoid eating out because it’s all so bad. The excellent home cooks I know - British or otherwise - all love eating out. They may be picky about where they go, but they know where to go to eat well. If you really can’t find anywhere that’s up to scratch, it suggests you’ve made your mind up in advance that nowhere is good enough or you just don’t know where to go, both of which suggest a lack of real interest.

It is hard for DH and eating out can be difficult so spontaneity is an issue. But he has a shortlist of a few restaurants where the cookery is good and we can rely on.

Nothing worse than paying £££ for an unsatisfying meal.

You are claiming to have eaten "most" people's food? 😂

Totally agree.
A lot of the time when we go out for food I think I could have done better myself.

The lasagna is gorgeous - a good restaurant quality. It was my go to when friends or family were coming. When we were in the uk we ordered our Christmas dinner from there - the vegetables were so good. Need to find an equivalent to COOK in Canada.

If you come to my house for dinner on a bog standard day... it's going to be jars packed and pre prepared quick fix food. Its because I can't be asked and hate everyday cooking.

If I like you on the other hand and invite you for a meal, you'll have lovely home cooked food that will taste fantastic- to me anyway.

My ex used to regularly remark that there was little point in eating out because I could make it better. His mum pointed out to him that the point was that I didn’t have to. 🤣

It’s interesting to me that some people who grew up in other countries and have moved to the U.K. and have experience of just a few families’ cooking have decided that that’s what U.K. food culture is like. I am half European and lived for part of my childhood in a southern European country, and there was as much variety in cooking experience and enthusiasm with homes as there is in the U.K. I certainly wouldn’t assume every French family is like mine in terms of how they eat and cook. Saying a country’s food culture is poor just tells me that you haven’t bothered to explore new horizons there - exactly what you’re accusing British people of tbh

You see I don’t think it does.I make my own cheese sauce yes.but for the tomato part even for flavour I like the jar of pasata,or the dolmio.the ingredients are exactly as if add. It’s quicker and easier but half the time no less “scratch”.I still make my mince base and cheese sauce and do the layering etc. if I wants the same Tom sauce I’d have to cook it down for hours and I just can’t do that.