Do you enjoy cooking?

I class it with maccas and pies, not the best, homemade or not! Too much flour , carbs and fat. The tomato puree is often loaded with sugar,too. One or two slices, fine of course.

I am a teacher by profession. But apart from teaching I am working separately with cooking. Cooking different recipes is my passion. I used to spend most of my time with it in my kitchen. kitchensty.com/

Spam, reported

I used to take a good deal of pride in putting home cooked food on the table when there were two of us. Now, apart from the odd family roast dinner, it hardly seems worth the effort, but a couple of times a month I will batch cook something for the freezer - a casserole, bolognese sauce, shepherds or fish pies. The rest of the time I fall back on fish, stir fry or some one pan meal that’s quick and easy.

The rest of the time I fall back on fish, stir fry or some one pan meal that’s quick and easy.

That is just as much home cooking as a joint, casserole or shpherds pie.

But ... but ... but I wouldn't dream of eating fried potatoes - ever - and I never fry bacon or sausages either. Pizza is almost pure carb - I don't think I've eaten one for the last 20 years.

M0nica

^The rest of the time I fall back on fish, stir fry or some one pan meal that’s quick and easy.^

That is just as much home cooking as a joint, casserole or shpherds pie.

Not really! And there's much less washing up to do.

Gundy

I agree M0nica, the indifference to what people eat shows an absence of joy, whether eating alone or with family or dining out.

I’ve known people like that (usually very thin) and they’re not really happy people. *Bread is the staff of LIFE.*

That's a gross generalisation. Cooking bores me to tears - I'm much happier doing things I enjoy. I enjoy people's company without having to eat.

Fish, stirfry or a one pan meals are all meals prepared from fresh ingredients in the domestic kitchen, usually by the person who is going to consume them. That is home cooking.

Non-home cooked meals at home are takeaways, any foodstuff in packaging that is just heated through before consuming.

As so much depends on what we eat, health, well being, life itself, I am prepared to give food the time necessary to prepare nutritious meals that are enjoyable, because food nurtures the mind as well as the body.

Anything less is self neglect and shows a disregard for the wellbeing of those who may be dependent on us for the food they eat.

growstuff

But ... but ... but I wouldn't dream of eating fried potatoes - ever - and I never fry bacon or sausages either. Pizza is almost pure carb - I don't think I've eaten one for the last 20 years.

I love fried potatoes with an egg. Sometimes with mushrooms too.

Not often, but that's my fry-up.

I see the spam is still here.
Never eat it myself.

growstuff, Just out of curiousity, What is the problem with fried food. Is it just a personal dislike, and we all have those, or a principled one, if so, this is a conscience-based food choice I have not come across before.

I grew up in a home where everything was grilled not fried because my mother did not like food cooked in fat or oil. She was a slightly fussy eater. It is a habit, which as a whole has stayed with me. A traditional cooked breakfast, or rather brunch, in our household, involves the grill, griddle and hob, but not a frying pan, but one of the joys of the air fryer is pommes de terre parmentier, potatoes cubed, lightly sprayed with oil and cooked in the air fryer.

What I was trying to convey, in a thread that was titled “Do you enjoy cooking?” was that the simple cooking I do now employs neither the time nor the skill and engenders less enjoyment in its preparation that previous culinary efforts used to - pies, casseroles, moussaka, a home made quiche, a curry made from scratch….. yes, what I cook now is ‘home cooking’ but it takes minutes, generally requires no particular skill and is eaten in minutes and rarely savoured. I cook because I have to on a daily basis, not because I want to. I don’t like ready meals.

I got your point GD.

Thankyou, Kitty!

Greyduster I struggle with your definition of complicated(?) cooking compared with simple.

In my working days, I had a big lime green cast iron casserole and in 10 minutes before work, I would hurl the makings of a casserole, curry or other made dish into it, put in the oven with delayed start and I would come home to a meal already cooked.

In fact I could make a casserole or curry faster than i could prepare a stir fry, which is why, as a working mother, my lime green casserole and its contents played such a large part in my childrens lives and its memory forms such a large part in their childhood memories.

I wish we had a ‘big sigh’ emoticon. I can’t see anywhere where I used the word “complicated”. Tomorrow I will cook a roast dinner for the family, with a vegetarian option for DD, and will enjoy the process because at the end of it, I will be sharing good food at my table. The rest of the time, I don’t really care what, or whether, I eat, and the less time it takes the better. And if you can make a curry faster than you can cook a stir fry, you’re welcome to come and give me a lesson.

I'm really good at making cooked breakfasts and roast dinners, I think it is just a skill you acquire from practice really

growstuff

Gundy

I agree M0nica, the indifference to what people eat shows an absence of joy, whether eating alone or with family or dining out.

I’ve known people like that (usually very thin) and they’re not really happy people. *Bread is the staff of LIFE.*

That's a gross generalisation. Cooking bores me to tears - I'm much happier doing things I enjoy. I enjoy people's company without having to eat.

I don’t understand these home makeover programmes where people need a kitchen island so they can chat to their guests whilst cooking. Mind you, I don’t cook and I don’t have guests.

I don;t have an island but I could imagine what would actually happen, it would develop a pile of crap of which everyone dumped stuff on

MayBee70 I don’t understand these home makeover programmes where people need a kitchen island so they can chat to their guests whilst cooking. Mind you, I don’t cook and I don’t have guests.

We love the islands in our kitchen, part to additions and changes to our pre-1900s home. We do cook and have guests round often.

I keep them free of all clutter, quite useful worktop space.

I have lots of herbs and spices and cook from scratch.. not much sweet stuff but do like tasty savoury food and just have one meal a day..

I have learned to love the kind of cooking I do nowadays. I eat when I want, whatever I fancy and have never felt so well. I also eat out regularly which gives me inspiration for new culinary experiments.

Greyduster I am talking preparation time. I will be somewhere else, doing something else while t cooks.

Essentially put 1lb diced meat in a casserole, add chopped frozen vegetables, a tin of tomatoes and a quantity of curry powder or paste to taste, add stock. Put in slow cooker or slow oven and go and do something else for 4 hours. Serve with naan bread.

I did this for casseroles and other made dishes 3 days a week for about 15 years when working, and withchildren at home. I always doubled the ingredients so that a second meal went into the freezer.

Life was too short to dicker with ready meals or fiddle with stir fries

Norah

MayBee70 I don’t understand these home makeover programmes where people need a kitchen island so they can chat to their guests whilst cooking. Mind you, I don’t cook and I don’t have guests.

We love the islands in our kitchen, part to additions and changes to our pre-1900s home. We do cook and have guests round often.

I keep them free of all clutter, quite useful worktop space.

My island is the centrepiece of my kitchen, and while I cook a meal my DGC colour in or practise their spellings with me, DH pours wine for guests while chatting, even the dog pops his paws up occasionally to check out the cooking! All very sociable, and a godsend at Christmas.

a tin of tomatoes and a quantity of curry powder or paste to taste, add stock. I’m speechless!!😁