AIBU a generation that can’t be bothered.

i'm sure some of you have heard of that lovable superhero, gangster gran;
well how about a squadron of dumpster grans, who could go diving into bins behind supermarkets to forage for a week's
groceries and then start chopping mashing and grating, i say grating!, on a primus stove on the forecourt.
any passers by who doubt the virtue of this would be instantly clapped in the stocks and pelted with veg peelings.

Why were there cooking classes in the 50s?
Couldn't parents be bothered to teach their kids to cook, why did it have to be done in school?

I assume said children can read. All they need to do is get a cheap cookery book from a charity shop.

labazsisslowlygoingmad

basic fact kids are not taught basics they are encouraged to use pre-prepared items and not unknown to not know how to wash up by hand

Does your source for producing this sweeping generalisation reflects your family? It doesn’t fit any of the children I know.

You must know some monumentally stupid kids.

basic fact kids are not taught basics they are encouraged to use pre-prepared items and not unknown to not know how to wash up by hand

If you buy Sainsbury's magazine for Feb. Phil Vickery the TV chef advises what he would buy if walking through a Supermarket.
Porridge pots for one, tins of mushy peas, frozen mashed potatoes, sachets of microwave rice, chopped frozen spinach, packets of fresh pasta, fish fingers, oxo cubes, beans in a jar and a tin of spam. The only fresh is a bag of bananas he calls them his essential ingredients.
So all you grans out there who are feeling guilty stop now. We all cook to serve our own needs, money and time or lack of it. or agility.
Also to all the self-righteous posts on here if you've got the time or want to save money for once in a lifetime meals get on with it. Boil your bones and peel your spuds and chopped your carrots we can all do what we want and think what we want and my thought is that this post has caused some of the nastiest self-righteous comments I have ever read.
I'm planning a visit to my nearest garage to buy a really expensive car that will last just like the one German Shepherds mum has. I've only had the last one for 17 years and am glad I never had a Union jack painted roof. If I can find one as good it will last my driving life out and DD can have mine. The garage is down L'Clumes way I might just sneak around the back and see what is in the bins maybe a bag of micro wave rice that can be made to serve 12 instead of 4.

Excellent post oodles.

There are so many variables in people's lives, it's just plain wrong to pass judgment on them based on what's in their supermarket trolley.

Apart from money - the one thing that so many people run short of - is time.

I wondered where 'from scratch' originated. It is a term from 1700s A scratched line was drawn into the earth as the starting point for a race so from scratch means from the beginning with no previous help.

There is far too much virtue signalling on GN all round. To such an extent, that some people label there threads 'light-hearted' to try to stop someone cominging on it and dropping some self-serving virtue-signalling remark that kills it dead.

I will do my own bit of dead catting. If you know Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, you will remember that Viola's head of running her household is a puritan, Malvolio, and when he starts virtue -signalling the response from Sir Toby Belch, (his name says all), is:
Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?
This is my response as well to all these virtue signallers.

As for cooking, I didn't learn at school or at home, but my mother and grandmother were excellent cooks and could make the meanest of rations into a delectable meal and I learnt a lot by just being in the same jouse.

Cooking is not rocket science and the world is awash with cook books: supermarkets, charity shops, magazines and newspapers seem all to publish recipes, as for the recipes on the internet!

Oh, I forgot, not every one has a computer and many people are illiterate or have dyslexia so I am obviously virtue signalling, and then there are the blind, those who cannot afford to turn lights on.

Anyway, the half dozen of us who can read, can easily learn from recipe books, online or off.

You are not being unreasonable - ready meals are nice occasionally if you live alone but cooking veg, grating cheese are so easy and the ready prepared things are far too expensive. It is like people who buy prepared iceberg lettuce and wonder why it tastes different and goes brown around the edges within 2 days. There are even sliced carrots !! If people lived on a basic state pension, they would not have £60 a week for food/groceries/ cleaning stuff.

less blood on the grater once the block was getting smaller

oodles ?
That small bit usually gets popped into my mouth so ready grated is probably better!
A moment on the lips etc .....

oodles,
big high five to someone who knows how most people actually live.
you have expressed it all much better than i could.

Marmite32

Good point Doodle about 'scratch'.
And wonder where it comes from . "

it's something i've only heard recently.
was never used where when i grew up.
i dislike it. it sounds unpleasant, risky, hazardous.
which i actually think many operations, eg grating cheese etc is.

Secondwind

Sometimes grated cheese is cheaper than block cheese.

and certainly safer

Reported

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I switched to pregreated cheese for cokingbonce I realised that often it was cheaper per kg than a black of cheese, less washing up, less blood on the grater once the block was getting smaller and a lot easier to use a small. Amount, to add a bit of taste and protein to a lot of things. Improved my cooking no end. Can't believe people. Are being judged for using ready grated cheese. Are the judges buying ready made bread? It's a lot easier to buy flour and yeast and make your own you know. I have often made pizza making a dough from scratch too, using pregreated cheese, and very nice too but the Criticism I'd get for using that cheese....
You have to take into. Account fuel. And the equipment that people have and also whether or not you have a car, yes a sack of spuds from the farm shop is cheapest but if you can't ge to a farm shop as you have no car, and have to take little. Ones along with you that is very different, you need a spare hand to hold a child's hand or push a buggy. Have you ever tied getting to the top floors of a high rise block of flats when the lift is not working with small children and heavy bags.
Frozen carrots have a bit of a funny texture, much better to go for ready prepared perhaps but having some. Frozen peas, beans or sweetcorn is tastier than tinned ones.
Wipes I struggle with, what are you replacing? Kitchen roll? That is a waste to me, I'd prefer to use a cloth but then that adds to the washing. Wipes are an always ready way to clean, I did buy some in first lockdown when we thought you could get covid from someone touching things. Nowadays many cleaning products are in plastic, and maybe the amount of plastic in a pack of wipes is less, and obviously less paper towel if you use that. Even I use it if I have something particularly filthy to clean up. I did buy wipes for my parents in their lsdt year or so when they had carers and it saved time for them to be able to use a wipe to do a quick clean, mum was very doubtful about those but carers had a lit to do in their visit and anything to help them do as much as they could.
Floor cleaning wipes mean that it is rarely needed to mop the floor which leaves it wet for so long
One discovery when mum was on her own and I was there cooking for her was frozen mash, I could take out a couple of the pellets and there would be just enough for her, a blast in the microwave and a spot of butter. Much quicker than peeling a potato and cooking and mashing it, a carer could do that in the time available
If it's OK to do it with an old person why is it wrong to do it with a young family, women's time has value too, if you count their time it's not always cheaper to do it from scratch

Dinahmo

Marmite32

Good point Doodle about 'scratch'.
And wonder where it comes from . "

It's generally believed to come from bare knuckle boxing. A line drawn on the dirt and the contestants stood with one foot against the line at the start of a round.

I was trying to attack a swede today, so quite an appropriate term.

Actually, autocorrect changed that to Swede ?

When I was a single dad, I taught the children to peel and chop veg and dice meat for stews etc.
I don’t think many parents teach their children to cook. Nothing to do with working hours, just pure laziness. MacDonalds, Kentucky Fried , takeaway meals and no cooking is the norm in two stepchildren’s homes. They had a mother who cooks every meal from scratch … which I eat. (Having just survived sepsis, I can’t cook at the moment!)
She’s currently preparing our dinners. From scratch!!
Nos da pawb.

Thanks - but I can't see we oldies putting on the boxing gloves before chopping up the veg. etc in prep for these fancy recettes.#
On second thoughts, not a bas idea, if you're working with a a new sharp knife.

Marmite32

Good point Doodle about 'scratch'.
And wonder where it comes from . "

It's generally believed to come from bare knuckle boxing. A line drawn on the dirt and the contestants stood with one foot against the line at the start of a round.

There are times when one just doesn't feel like cooking. So for those days, usually lunch time there is a packet of filled pasta in the fridge and a packet of galettes. On other occasions we make large quantities of sauce for spag bol and freeze most of it for the next week or so. I freeze the bones from roast chicken and when I've enough to fill a large pot I make stock which is then strained and frozen for risottos and soup.

Good point Doodle about 'scratch'.
And wonder where it comes from . "

Sometimes grated cheese is cheaper than block cheese.