To feel that sad that basic cooking skills are dying out

[SingleDoubleWhippedClotted]

Me and my brother were taught to cook by my gran and mum. Dad used to cook too but worked away a lot so wasn't around as much.

So many people now seem to be incapable of basic food prep and spend a fortune on food. Cooking seems to be an undervalued life skill, I think its so important to have the skills to be able to prepare simple cheap healthy meals.

I have taught my teen to cook and she could fend for herself if she left home tomorrow. She can cook healthy cheap meals.

I see so many threads on here where people can't boil rice, boil an egg etc

Yep, when I batch cooked Dahl with brown lentils and it looked like shit, literally. I soldiered on for a few days with my usual solution of added cheese and pepper before I threw it away.

I am one of the people who isn’t very good at cooking; although I am capable of googling and trying my best.

out of interest did both your parents work full time ? My mother was too busy holding down several jobs, and similarly, I am also busy working full time so don’t get as much time and inclination to cook from scratch as much as I’d like to.

I applaud those who work full time and still manage it - I guess this is where those inherited skills may have made it easier for me to whip something up quickly.

if you’re a sahm or part time, then good for you that you have time to cook but don’t dress your smugness up as concern.

My parents are teachers and have never made home made soup. Neither did my grandmothers and both of them cooked quite a lot.

Yeh, soup was never a meal in our house, so certainly wasnt home made!

My parents lives were as hectic as mine is now,

What helped me was being told to have the pan really hot at the beginning and turn it down later. If the pan isn't hot enough it still tends to stick, but I find the results tasty even when the omelette doesn't look good. It's the only thing I can make that I prefer to the restaurant version.

We had tinned soup quite a lot. Some of that can be healthy, depending on what is added. I didn't even realise normal people made their own soup until well into adulthood. Even I make soup now occasionally.

I'm a very good cook, I'm also very lazy so taught my DP how to cook, he loves it and does the bulk of the cooking now. My DS can cook the basics but doesn't very often, DD can fling things together but eats on the hoof. I learned the rudiments from my parents. How to season, use herbs, cook meat, roast veg, make soups, make a roux, use a slow cooker for curry & stews. When Jamie Oliver popped on the scene I watched all his tv and the lack of formal measuring etc made it so easy to follow so I learned new pasta, fish, risotto recipes. In saying that, we get take out a couple of times a week too! Perhaps if the UK hadn't welcomed the tidal wave of junk food franchises there would be more interest in cooking.

I grew up in a house with a non-cooker.

My mum has many wonderful virtues, but cooking wasn't/isn't one of them.

As very young children, our diets consisted mainly of boiled potatoes, processed peas or beans, and some sort of unseasoned protein.
We were well into our teens before mum discovered pasta or pizza, and a few times we even had fish pie, which was a revelation! Seasoning? What's that?

I remember going off to university, and into a catered hall of residence. Everyone else there complained about the food - but to me, it was gourmet!

I taught myself to cook. Mostly because I'm a greedy-guts, who loves food. I wanted to make stuff that tasted great! I learnt through finding recipes online mostly. And by honing things we'd had as kids. For instance, we used to have corned beef pie quite often. Mums version was corned beef mixed with some grated cheese, and covered with mashed potato.
MY version is corned beef mixed with cheese, some finely chopped veg and some onion and garlic sautéed with aromat or all-purpose seasoning. Then covered with more cheese, then the mash, and then more cheese. Maybe a bit of paprika on top for some colour.

@Kpo58 cooking already is taught in schools, it's part of the Scottish curriculum in Primary & Secondary school.

Some people can’t read. Not everyone can afford the knifes/utensil and pans etc.
Also some people can’t afford to waste food!
Because someone is buying the ready meals/ pasta sauces/ curry sauce etc that I see even in Waitrose and M&S .
In fact people make fun of Iceland but I see just as many ready meals in M&S.

My parents both worked but prioritised homecooked food and quality ingredients, it's true it was time-consuming and corners were cut elsewhere due to this (house always a mess). I could always cook, and learned household management (cooking frugally, improvising, not wasting) by having no money when I moved out on my own 😆

I think it's because my maternal grandmother was a home economics teacher, and my parents grew up in rural areas so knew what proper ingredients were like even when they moved to a city.

You’re joking, right? Most people can and do cook in the UK. And a lot is learned from the hundreds of tv programmes available each week.
I can only imagine that you are living in a very small bubble!

I buy microwave rice. The rest of the stir fry, chilli or curry is home made but it’s quick and easy and means one less pan. I’m not convinced me microwaving rice is a sign I can’t cook.

I didn't actually learn to cook until my late forties. It was all spag bol, fish fingers and jacket spuds in the microwave. Kids and shift work can do that to a person. Now, the beauty of my beef stroganoff would make you cry.

Was the spag bol from a jar? Because I consider it quite a complex meal.

I'm not going to say my specific project as it is outing. Lots of them all over the place, Churches, Community Groups, WI have projects running teaching people to cook. There was one a few years back by the Welsh Gov called Get Cooking, they had a mobile cooking school in a truck!

My 2yo has just started "cooking school". It's a Friday cooking class for toddlers. Very basic stuff but I hope it's the start of her being interested in being able to cook for herself :)

@Gwenhwyfar we don't have room unfortunately - our kitchen is absolutely tiny! 😭

100% true.

Her weekly shopping cost a fortune. Her husband is a nurse.
She has just bought a freezer, she wants to batch-cook meals at weekends.

She could look on YouTube but there is nothing better than learning alongside someone, you can feel the consistency, hear the sizzle and be shown how to bring things back if it starts to go wrong.

@Hecatoncheires
I still cook with my mum now, she lives on the same street. My brother often joins in too.
We made a big batch of faggots together last week.
She is a WI jam maker and excellent baker, ten years ago she helped lead a course teaching partially sighted people to cook.

Presumably they could have made soup without lessons if they’d wanted to, if they were able to cook other things. Teachers particularly learn things all the time.

I don’t agree that in person cooking is necessarily superior to a recipe book or something you can rewind and play again and again. I think it sounds fun but not the only way.

I don't know anyone with Internet access who can read who would be unable to cook a meal. If they're telling you otherwise they are probably trying to manipulate you into doing it for them through their fake helplessness. Many people choose not to cook and that's entirely up to them. Just as many women are busy prioritising other things over teaching their children something that with a quick google they could accomplish easily enough themselves when needed. Its not something I'm sad about because it's nothing to do with my life.

The reason these boxes like Gusto and Simply Fresh are so popular is because people don't lack the ability to cook, or to learn to cook, what they lack is time. It takes time to choose recipes, buy and prepare the ingredients etc. These boxes make that a bit easier when they give you everything you need and instructions. If people are cooking less it's because they (especially women) are working more. Few people can afford their mortgage on one salary these days. Once you've got the kids from afterschool club and just need to get everyone fed, I can see why people would reach for something they can just throw in the oven.

meh I taught both my DS to cook and bake.
one has gone off and happily makes up his own healthy recipes.

The other one is so overwhelmed by work and Uni he struggles to even think what he wants to eat, let alone take time out to plan, buy, prepare and cook anything more than a chuck it all in one pan for 3 minutes. I'm sorry you feel 'sad' for him. You've no need to really, he's quite happy.