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

Seems pretty judgey. How do you know basic cooking skills are dying out? Do you know everyone? My family cook just fine.

Everyone I know can cook, though some can’t cook well and some can’t be arsed. I think you can learn from watching telly or the internet or books, so if people don’t know there must be a barrier that is stopping them, eg neglect, extreme poverty, or learning difficulties. I don’t think any of those things are more prevalent today than in the 70s, so I don’t agree it’s something that’s happening now more often.

Three years as a penniless undergrad taught me how to eat at very little cost. In the 80s, student loans didn't exist so students needed either generous parents or, like me, a part time (very low paid) job.

I used to buy a 10kg sack of rice each term from the indian supermarket, and then everything else came from Brixton market on a Saturday afternoon when they were packing up.

Ackee or callaloo, pigs trotters or mixed fish, being sold off cheap but it mostly tasted good. My ds would be horrified. 😁

Ways of learning to cook change as well as how people cook. My young adult children and their friends learn how to cook on youtube or other social media and follow whatever chef/cook they like. they dont necessarily want to cook what I cook etc and want to do their own thing when they need to. When I grew up we had cookbooks, your mum/family and the cookingshows, it is so different now.

Never heard of this! It is bizarre that you have decided that the OP is not saying what they really mean, based on this!

I’ll put my hand up. I can’t cook rice. I even bugger up the boil in the bag stuff. And I can’t fry an egg without bursting the yolk. But I can look up a recipe and follow it.

@SingleDoubleWhippedClotted, this isn't my experience at all. I cook from scratch a lot more often than my parents did. As a child I ate a lot of ready meals and I was never taught to cook - I picked it up myself after leaving home. My kids (teens) are pretty good at cooking.

@NearJohnLewis this is so true!

@pelotonaddiction what a fab website. Thanks.

I'm one person the OP is correct about. I cook very badly and can only do a few things.
I became responsible for my own food at a young age and stayed at the heating up and making omelettes stage of cooking.
I can boil an egg though I never do because I prefer microwaved egg and I never make rice because if I do go to the trouble of cooking I want something I can make extra portions of to reheat.

Not burning is already good start. I burn a lot of my food because I just don't have the patience to check it every two minutes. Then the food might still be ok but the kitchen smells for days afterwards.

Or just don't bother with hard boiled eggs. I prefer mine soft with soldiers though I never make them, as I explained above.

I think for very poor people there is also the need to eat whatever you can get free or very cheaply so they can't choose healthy food. People use things like 'too good to go' and whatever supermarkets are getting rid of. There's also a temptation to fill up on a lot of starches so bread with everything and therefore less veg.

You have to find recipes at your level though. Plenty of cookery books are for foodies. They include ingredients you can't find and that you may not reuse or term that aren't easy to understand. People say Delia for beginners, but I don't find her stuff that easy.
I sometimes look at the Guardian's recipes because that's what I read, but half the ingredients aren't even sold in my local shops.

I wasn’t taught to cook either, other than school cookery lessons of cornflake crispies and fruit cobbler. I was however brought up by a cook from scratch mum who was also brought up by a cook from scratch step mum. Both my DC are good cooks, I never taught either other than encouraging them. Both learnt through necessity at uni, IME once you’ve eaten good food I find you don’t have the same attachment to convenience food.

My friends that can’t cook were brought up by mums who were shit cooks. All of them. It’s a vicious circle that can be broken, but I imagine it’s hard if you don’t have a good grounding in the basics.

I've seen precisely ..... none!

It’s like learning to drive, when you are taught as a young person, it’s definitely easier. if you have kids, please try to teach them the basics, even if you learn together.

Most people are capable of following a recipe on YouTube, but finding the time, motivation and sometimes money for the ingredients can be barriers to learning once you have adult responsibilities.

I grew up with a mix of jarred sauces, freezer meals, and home-cooking. My mom taught me to cook, but I practically never make things similar to what she did.

I don't know how to make a white sauce (never have need for one), pastry (typically don't eat meals with it), fry an egg (they always wind up overdone or broken), or a casserole (didn't like them then, don't like them now). But I make my own pasta sauce, curry, chilli, pizza...

My children help to cook. Same with their friends' families. It's just traditional British cooking that has fallen out of style, really.

Yes - it would cost me a hell of a lot more to do my own cooking than my current arrangements do, where the main meal of the day is included in the rent. I couldn't buy anything in bulk to reduce the cost, because I have nowhere to store it - my fridge is a mini-fridge, my one kitchen cupboard is full, and the freezer in the fridge can just about manage a couple of frozen meals. Plus there would be the cost of electricity. And as you said, time and motivation are important too. One of the things I dislike about cooking is the time it takes for what, if you're not that interested in food, isn't much return. I'd rather be doing almost anything else. Hell, cleaning the litter tray has more appeal! 😸

I think there's a difference between can't and can't be bothered. I could cook when I went to Uni (compulsory at home from age 12) but many couldn't and that was in the 70s. Tried to teach my daughter, she's just not interested at all. She does however have a male friend who is a superb cook.
My friends of 70+ use ready made pastry now and a good bought lasagne is nearly as good as home made with minimal fuss. I think many people use a mix of pre-prepared and home cooked, Also, households are smaller and big casseroles etc are not always useful (yes I do batch cook sometimes). We never boil rice these days. Microwave rice isn't very expensive and takes 2 minutes.

Although I do often cook from scratch, I don't agree that some shortcuts are more expensive. I buy the Mexican/coconut etc rice and as I'm often cooking for one, ingredients would get wasted. Aldi jarred sauces can be cheaper than making them. I'm cooking in a tiny sized kitchen with limited storage space. Tbh, if you have a small appetite then the tesco 3 for £7 aren't bad value, there isn't enough veg or pulses used though.

I agree that a lot of shortcuts are cheaper. Pesto and Thai curry paste for example....if I bought all the ingredients it would come to a lot more than just buying a small jar.

Yep