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Food

Do you enjoy cooking?

(162 Posts)
Judy54 Tue 26-Sept-23 13:25:08

I am no MasterChef but do enjoy cooking. I find making evening meals quite therapeutic and love the process of preparing, cooking and serving. It does not need to be elaborate as long as it is made and served with love is what is important to me. How about you do you like to cook/bake does it make you feel happy and contented or are you a reluctant Cook?

LauraNorderr Wed 27-Sept-23 17:32:00

Orlin does the cooking in our house, I clean up after him.
He once told my colleagues at a works do that he had whisked me off to somewhere I’d never been before, while everyone was looking on with admiration and waiting to hear the romantic destination he announced that it was the kitchen.

JaneJudge Wed 27-Sept-23 17:04:43

I seem to go through phases of really enjoying it or finding it a chore. At the moment I love it. I am very good at cooking but not very good at baking

kittylester Wed 27-Sept-23 17:02:57

My favourite time of day is about now when I start the evening meal.
We put the tv on, pour a drink and catch up on our days.

I do some batch cooking and we are not averse to the odd Charlie Bigham, takeaway or a bought prize winning pie but my favourite thing is playing around with recipes.

Katie59 Wed 27-Sept-23 16:41:23

I do but I have to be in the right mood usually once a week. OH does quite a bit but doesn’t do baking

krazykat Wed 27-Sept-23 14:05:42

I love cooking, just not for only me.
If I have people to cook for I'm in my element although I musr admit I normally cook way too much.

MayBee70 Wed 27-Sept-23 13:52:32

I hate cooking. I think it goes back to my youth: I have a very unhealthy relationship with food and was probably close to being anorexic. Also cooking and meals weren’t a big part of my childhood. I occasionally went to town meals wise when we used to have French students staying. I actually started cooking more when the pandemic hit because I liked the idea of no food wastage: learned how to cook lentils and had replenished my store cupboard with pasta, lentils, spices etc in the run up to lockdowns because I could see the way things were heading. Now my poor hands are full of arthritis and Dupuytrens cooking is quite painful. I did see some recipes in the Times the other day aimed at young people going to uni that appealed to me! As my FIL used to say, some people live to eat and some eat to live and I was one of the latter. When I’m at my partners he’s someone that likes us to sit down at 5 and have a meal together and sort of expects me to cook it, but I find that difficult because sometimes I just fancy a cheese sandwich and a packet of crisps at 4pm. Pre pandemic, when we used to have friends round we always used to get a load of M&S curries and a trifle! I would love to be rich enough to go to restaurants and try lots of different foods even though imo nothing beats fried egg on toast if I can get the yolk just right ( which I rarely can: it usually gets just a bit too hard).

Eirlys Wed 27-Sept-23 12:40:45

I cooked for the family and for constant visitors for many years. My husband didn't know where the kitchen was in those days!! However after a serious op I had, he took over the cooking and discovered he loved it! My new task was printing off recipes from websites and he would follow the instructions religiously. Friends really LOVED his cooking. Now he's passed I cook for myself only and have discovered I really like using my Mini Airfryer. Baking is another matter!

sodapop Wed 27-Sept-23 12:33:46

Like BlueBelle I hate anything kitchen related. I just go in there to clean or wash up. Fortunately my husband does all the cooking and shopping.
He does tend to refer to the oven as "the magic box food comes out of" its worth putting up with his sarcasm to get my meals cookedgrin

Marmin Wed 27-Sept-23 10:09:24

I have taken to cooking in a big way since retirement. Probably my greatest joy is in devising and cooking meals and desserts for our one year old grand daughter.
As a vegetarian, I tend to draw on middle eastern and southern european ideas and ingredients.

Patsy70 Wed 27-Sept-23 10:03:29

I enjoy cooking, finding it very therapeutic. I cook from scratch, but don’t like spending hours preparing dinner, or strictly following a recipe. However, I do look at recipes and then adapt them. Also, I make bread and cakes. It is always a bonus when our home grown vegetables and fruit are ready to pick.

Urmstongran Wed 27-Sept-23 09:15:01

I used to cook. And follow recipes. After retirement - nope. Now I just ‘assemble’ stuff. I put chicken legs in the oven with butter and herbs, slide in spuds to make delicious jacket potatoes, bake salmon fillets and slide in a tray of Mediterranean veg alongside. Good quality foods, no fiddling about, little washing up.
#lazygran

I don’t need to batch cook to stock up a freezer as we live above Sainsbury’s. I go down in the lift - I call it my larder - I often choose on the day what I fancy to eat. Charlie Bigham’s are delicious!

twiglet77 Wed 27-Sept-23 09:00:43

I do, but nobody else enjoys what I cook so I cook in the knowledge it’s only my palate I have to please!

Glamdram Wed 27-Sept-23 08:44:11

Love love love baking. Winter is the time I bake for the freezer. If I make a cake for home it's gone in 2 days so I make , slice, and freeze.
Family here this chrtmas fir first time in several years so the proverbial chrymas cake , chrtmas pud, mince pies and gingerbread biccies will be made in abundance.

Witzend Wed 27-Sept-23 08:38:55

This thread has given me the urge to make an apple pie! We hardly ever have puddings unless we’ve got guests, but now and then…
Yesterday I bought apples for the purpose.🙂

Gingster Wed 27-Sept-23 08:34:29

My dear mother

Gingster Wed 27-Sept-23 08:34:13

My Dh was a dreadful cook and we were all very skinny as a result.🤣.
I’m ok and do enjoy the process but can get very frustrated when things don’t turn out as they should 😤. I blame my oven, wrong sized tins and not very good pots and pans. My Dh always eats what I serve up but has been known to say ‘ what was that?’ after finishing it off. 🤦‍♀️

rosie1959 Wed 27-Sept-23 08:33:51

Definitely hate cooking lucky my DH really enjoys it.
He is still working full time although his office is part of our house so he usually does most of it. I have never cooked a Christmas dinner and have not cooked a Sunday roast for probably 30 years or more.

silverlining48 Wed 27-Sept-23 08:21:07

My Dh liked to cook, he likes to shop too. Suits me. grin

Callistemon21 Tue 26-Sept-23 22:44:39

And I really dislike preparing salad although we eat it for lunch quite often!

Callistemon21 Tue 26-Sept-23 22:43:29

I used to love cooking, baking, preserve making trying new recipes, but I've got rather fed up with it lately.

Still make an effort as I enjoy eating but often it's something simple.

Tonight was a stir fry with leftover meat, fresh vegetables and noodles. The chopping took time but the cooking was easy.

Casdon Tue 26-Sept-23 22:41:18

No, I find it really boring. I can cook though, so I’ve imparted my knowledge to my husband, and my children, who have fortunately all enjoyed it much more and are good at it. I batch cook, and my freezer is my best friend because although I hate cooking I love eating.

growstuff Tue 26-Sept-23 22:40:44

LadyGracie

I enjoy eating but not cooking.

Same here!

I eat almost no ready prepared or processed food. I don't cook very much at all in summer because I eat big bowls of salad, although I cook chicken, fish, omelettes and frittata to accompany the salad. Desserts are usually yoghurt, nuts and fruit.

In winter, I batch cook/freeze and accompany with steamed veg.

I did spend some time baking this summer because I made my daughter's wedding cake. My only other baking consists of using up fruit and veg, such as carrot cake and banana loaf.

I love the taste of real food!

LadyGracie Tue 26-Sept-23 22:18:32

I enjoy eating but not cooking.

Gin Tue 26-Sept-23 22:17:21

Used to love it but now after the ages I have been doing it, I really cannot be bothered. Had to cook decent meals this weekend as the family were here and I am still recovering!

Jaffacake2 Tue 26-Sept-23 22:11:39

Hate cooking,hate eating since I became seriously allergic to lots of different foods. Have had many trips to hospital from anaphylaxis and now see food as a threat. Can't eat out,too risky. Enjoy a small range of foods and hope I don't develop allergies to them.