When did you learn to cook on a regular basis?

[rosiebear]

As in, prepare a full meal in your kitchen and present it as a meal, on a regular basis.

I was talking with a friend of mine in her early 30s and she still eats a sandwich or cereal most nights. She has a couple of go-to recipes but doesn’t feel like she really knows how to cook. My son (23) could maybe make some meals but prefers protein bars and takeout. He will cook eggs or grilled cheese but that’s about it.

I realized that I didn’t really learn the art of cooking full multi-component meals, and getting all components done at roughly the same time, until my kids were old enough to eat at the same time as us, and it became important to me to have family dinner together. So - mid 30s?

But I feel like I still cooked regularly before then, but it was mostly extremely simple stuff and heavy reliance on frozen foods and things like quesadillas which are no more complicated than a sandwich.

How about y’all?

[eddy]

Rachel Ray 30 minute meals taught me how to cook in my 20s. I am not joking lol.

[mags]

I learned as a kid. I always liked to cook. In my 20's I married a chef and learned a lot more.
I cook full meals at least 5 times a week.

[karinothing]

As soon as I moved out. So 19? Someone had to feed me

[mala]

My parents made my brother and I start cooking one meal every other week around the time I was 12ish. We had to find the recipe, add the ingredients to the shopping list, etc. We frequently helped with dinner even when we weren't making the entire meal. I started cooking for myself by the time I was 20 and moved into my first apartment. Simple first, but I quickly progressed to more complicated things when I had friends over. I always lived with roommates or my now-spouse, so I shared meals a lot.

I'll probably start Big Kid on the same path about the same age, but she's 11 now and very nervous about using the stove when I try to teach her to cook simple things, so I'll probably wait a little longer for her. I won't throw her in the deep end like my parents did when it was our nights to cook, though.

H doesn't cook much, never learned. He has to cook shift dinner every few weeks, so he has a few things he's learned to cook but it's been a very painful process. His parent's basically gave up on teaching him to cook when he burned rice and boiled eggs dry. He learned a lot more when we had kids and I was just too burned out to do dinner every night. Now he regularly cooks about once a week to give me a break, and it's u sally the same few dishes. To be fair, he does them very well now, but it's all he cooks.

EDIT: We also watched a lot of cooking shows growing up, which helped a lot. I knew the theory behind a lot of cooking, even if I didn't have the practical experience.

[mysteriouswife]

My brother and I are outliers in this topic. We have family and friends like you. I was 10 or 11. My mom worked two shifts a lot and my step-dad worked nights. It was up to me and my brother to cook. He would clean if I cooked and vise versa. These weren’t complex meals. It was mostly boxed meals and canned foods. On occasion we had a microwaved meal.

I was making full holiday meals by 18. I lived with my now H. We had multiple friends from strained homes who had no where to land on the holidays. We watched a lot of food network cooking shows and you tube.

Complex gourmet meals I was mid-20’s. I make most of our side dishes from scratch now.

Now my kids… god help them. They will starve or go broke trying to figure out how to eat without me or H. DD (15) can do eggs, pancakes, boxed pasta and jarred sauces, and a few other simple task.

[eb777888]

My life before pregnancy (at age 30) was charcuterie type stuff, a bowl of cereal, or yogurt/granola/berries. Easy, throw together stuff. I'd occasionally throw a turkey breast in the crockpot to make salads and my MIL taught me how to make lasagna because it was H's favorite meal as a kid. I also mastered some other easy, low effort recipes that I'd make every now and then but generally, I rarely cooked. I guess motherhood was when I really began to cook and I enjoyed it. I also became a SAHM then so had more time to try things out. I generally like cooking so it grew from there.

I'm really trying to make it a priority to teach David how to cook a wide variety of things. Honestly now it's just eggs, tacos, grilled cheese, chicken wings/chicken thighs in the air fryer. The problem is, he eats really simple foods like peanut butter toast, greek yogurt, eggs, fruit, etc. His diet is pretty simple. I already decided last Thanksgiving/Christmas that the whole family is going to cook the large meals together because I need to stop being so controlling in the kitchen and David needs to learn how to cook.

[mysteriouswife]

Jul 2, 2023 18:49:22 GMT -5 eddy said:

Rachel Ray 30 minute meals taught me how to cook in my 20s. I am not joking lol.

SAME! I still use her methods a lot when cooking

[rubytue]

20s? Sometime in college I was cooking meals, but not 7 days a week. My H does most of the cooking, but I can. I am not good at timing multiple dishes. I much prefer a one-pot solution that has proteins and veggies together.

[joy]

Um. I haven’t yet?

Cooking does not interest me. I have a few go-to things but I am a simple girl who will happily eat pasta with whatever vegetables are frozen in the freezer or a grilled cheese with canned soup.

If I *had* to cook for Thanksgiving, we’d be fucked.

EDIT - oh, yes! jackie011, come sit with me.

[jackie011]

I’m your friend, however I’m in my mid-40s. I can follow a recipe and I can make components of meals, but preparing a full proper dinner? Nope. Thankfully my H can cook, enjoys cooking, and takes care of anything in the kitchen. I am very happy with sandwiches and cereal when he’s not around.

[nsl]

I was probably 30 before I started cooking from scratch and/or attempting more than basic recipes on my own. I wasn't interested in learning as a teen, and in my 20's I mostly ate easy stuff/boxed meals/frozen food. America's Test Kitchen taught me almost everything I know.

[joy]

If it matters in any capacity, I like baking and do cakes, breads, muffins, and pies all from scratch.

[jackie011]

Jul 2, 2023 18:59:32 GMT -5 joy said:

Um. I haven’t yet?

Cooking does not interest me. I have a few go-to things but I am a simple girl who will happily eat pasta with whatever vegetables are frozen in the freezer or a grilled cheese with canned soup.

If I *had* to cook for Thanksgiving, we’d be fucked.

EDIT - oh, yes! jackie011, come sit with me.

Should I bring Special K or Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

[wildrice]

Ummm.... IDK? I feel like it was as soon as I moved out of dorms and lived in apartments, but I don't really remember specifically what I was cooking. Probably not really complicated recipes, more stuff like stir fry, spaghetti with a jar of sauce, tacos with premade seasoning, etc. I mean I still have those in heavy rotation now, but they are more mixed in with actual recipes and fresh ingredients.

I probably got more into recipes sometime in my mid-20s. I definitely remember by the time I started a "real" job at 26 I was cooking most nights, but it's possible it was even before then.

I cannot imagine living on cereal and sandwiches. I really don't understand when how people can "not know how to cook" unless they have a family member who does the cooking. I like food way too much to just eat simple meals all the time, and I can't imagine having the budget or metabolism to eat out every meal!

ETA: I'm not talking about hosting dinner parties, I'm talking about stuff like the enchiladas I just made with sauce from a recipe. I rarely host anything so I'm not making multi course meals hardly ever.

[rosiebear]

Jul 2, 2023 18:54:18 GMT -5 karinothing said:

As soon as I moved out. So 19? Someone had to feed me

I fed myself at that age, but I wouldn’t exactly call it cooking, lol. I ate a lot of scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, canned soups, and frozen pizza.

I don’t think I made a side dish that wasn’t either frozen French fries or frozen garlic bread until my late 20s.

[tacokick]

As an adult in my early 20s. Watched a lot of Rachael Ray in college which helped. Trial and error. My husband really likes to cook so making meals was a big part of our dating and early married life.

I did grow up in an ingredients household and we virtually never had take out or went to restaurants but my dad and brother were super picky eaters so our meals were pretty bland and limited despite being homemade/from scratch. Good baked goods though! But it was not a situation where creativity was really worth it and we had a tight budget. My grandpop made good food though.

ETA oh and my BFF and I would make huge meals and having movie marathons when I was in college. We’d be randomly roasting a chicken and making all the sides and dessert. She really knew how to cook from like childhood so would drive that.

[mysteriouswife]

I think it is acceptable to not know how to cook. Cooking is a chore and large undertaking for some. As long as they are eating and happy who cares? There are lots of things as an adult I should know how to do. Yet, I outsource it to a service. Everyone has priorities and limits.

[eb777888]

I still remember when I moved to Dallas from Seattle at 22, I was BROKE. I had saltines with tuna salad every single night for dinner, and I was happy with that! I spent $20 on groceries a week and most of that went to Diet Coke. You could often get tuna for 25 cents a can and I think saltines were like $1.29 a box. I also had a Little Debbie tiger cake for dessert. The rest of my paycheck went to bills and new clothes. /priorities

[blondemoment123]

Honestly? Not until I had been married a few years. If I didn't have a kid to feed I'd be totally fine with a sandwich or cereal for dinner. I hate cooking.

[rosiebear]

mysteriouswife, I should have said “if you feel like you did learn to cook.” I don’t judge not liking to cook or not being able to or not wanting to expend the time and energy for it. That’s why Trader Joe’s was invented, right?

It does feel like most of the posters here do cook regularly, so framed the question in that context. I apologize for the judgy tone.

[momin2013]

I’d say when I moved in with my ex-BF, so around 26. When I lived alone before that it was just quick stuff.

[karinothing]

Jul 2, 2023 19:04:02 GMT -5 rosiebear said:

Jul 2, 2023 18:54:18 GMT -5 karinothing said:

As soon as I moved out. So 19? Someone had to feed me

I fed myself at that age, but I wouldn’t exactly call it cooking, lol. I ate a lot of scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, canned soups, and frozen pizza.

I don’t think I made a side dish that wasn’t either frozen French fries or frozen garlic bread until my late 20s.

Ha. I liked cooking for my roommates and friends. We made a lot of big dinners

[heygrey]

I have a distinct memory of making a meal for my roommates in university and they were really impressed I could cook. It was chicken parmesan, a salad, and fresh garlic bread. Just because I *could* cook a meal didn't mean it took priority in my life. H and I ate a lot of really simple meals when we were first married, and cereal for dinner was definitely in the rotation. In our late 20's, H took more of an interest in cooking and it became a hobby we did together. Covid was when we honed a lot more cooking skills because we had to eat and had tons of free time to try new techniques.

Even now I don't love making meals with multiple hot dish components that need to be timed perfectly. I like creating menus where all, but 1 or 2 items are things that I can prepare ahead and just pull out of the fridge.

[plutosmoon]

I have been cooking full meals since I was a kid. I remember making meals with my parents and being put in charge of a meal for the first time around 3rd grade. My dad is a really good cook and he taught us a lot of stuff early on, mom is less good a cook, but she has some decent dishes she has taught me.

I took cooking home ec in 7th grade and made some of the same full meals at home, I also remember cooking meals in some of my high school classes. I've been in charge of Thanksgiving since my late 20s. I still eat plenty of sandwiches, cereal or bowls of popcorn for dinner and I still suck at timing everything right.

[konapoppy]

I loved to cook as a kid. I remember making full meals for my family from a kids cookbook at 10.

Now I long for the days of cereal.

[Roc A Bee]

When I was in my 20s and my first marriage, I did a lot of the cooking. I figured it out because I had to. I would get recipes off Pinterest.

When my now DH and I met, I was burnt out of cooking and he would say I ate eggs for dinner 70% of the time. He wasn’t wrong. Since it was just me, I didn’t mind it. If I were single today, I’d prob go back to takeout, eggs, cereal.

I CAN cook. I just don’t like to. I’ll make Hello Fresh now but DH does 90% of the cooking.

[mommin]

When I got married at 22 years old. I had definitely cooked for myself as a kid (my mom didn’t cook) and when I moved away to college but didn’t make full meals. Once we were married I started making side dishes and whatnot to round out the main dishes I knew how to make.

[emilyinchile]

I would occasionally make a fancy meal (I specifically remember beef bourgignon) in high school. Both of my parents were good cooks, my mom in particular loved making reasonably involved recipes and trying new ones, so even though cooking wasn't a set responsibility of mine it was just part of my childhood.

I cooked basic stuff like pasta with semi-homemade sauce (canned tomatoes but added protein, vegetables and seasoning) or chicken with a side of salad and carbs regularly my senior year of college which was the first year I had a kitchen. I still don't tend to make elaborate recipes with specific sides, but I do cook full meals most of the time.

[Patsy Baloney]

Young teen. I feel like when we finally got cable when I was 13-14, I loved to watch cooking shows and just went from there. I already knew how to make convenience foods, and learning about flavors and different skills helped me branch out.

I started living with my H when I was 21, and we cooked together every night anything we wanted. He wasn’t as sure as I was, but now that we’re both nearing 40, we rock in the kitchen. It makes life a lot easier for us - we both feel like we’re just slinging hash trying to keep our kids from eating us, but we take turns and churn out the food.