how old when you learned to cook

twentypenceoff

i dont remember where or how i learned to cook, think i must have just picked it up along the way but i like reading recipes so maybe i learned from that

what is nice is that boyfriend can make basic meals and doesnt always expect me to do the cooking.some men dont even know how to grill toast.

BitterAndTwisted

I think it's hard for young folk to learn when so many mothers are out at full-time work, so not all of them have the energy or interest to cook proper meals from scratch, so their kids just don't ever see it done. Of course, some kids are spoiled rotten and are never asked to help, so a kitchen is an alien environment to them.

My mother was a stay-at-home one until I was 14 so I learned to cook from her and my grandmother: anybody hanging around in the kitchen was given a job to do, even when we were tiny. For reasons of economy my mother always kept a kitchen-garden and baked every week, so I just soaked up the knowledge like a sponge.

Once Mum started full-time work we were expected to get the evening meal started by preparing potatoes and veg before she came home.

We were lucky, my mother and her mother were very accomplished cooks and could make a decent family meal for next-to-nothing.

Gingernutmeg

I grew up with chefs for parents and spent most of my early years living over a restaurant, so I can't remember a time when I wasn't 'cooking'. Even from a very young age I was 'helping' (or probably hindering lol) with various bits and pieces, and it taught me a lot of respect for kitchens, food and the people who work in them.

In terms of cooking full meals and doing stuff for myself, I was probably doing that from 8ish onwards - making things like buns, following recipes and generally having a go at whatever I fancied.

maman

fifi63 wrote: »

I can'not remember a time when i could not cook. When I was in the Brownies I did my cookery badge and I too was making cakes etc from about 10. I think my mum always encouraged my sisters and me to bake, etc. I also have always had a great love of cookery books and my godmother gave me my first one when I was about 9.

Mu mam was the sort who liked her own kitchen to herself but I, too, learned in the Guides & Brownies plus a few cheese pies and things at school.

When I married I could cook a dinner for dozens of people but only on a campfire!!:rotfl:

Since then I've learned by trial/error, decent cookery book etc

Penny-Pincher!!

My mum taught me to cook meals from when I could peel veg etc about age 6-7. I could prepare and look after a meal for the 4 of us by the age of about 10.

Mum would leave a note out for us when we got in from school...peel spuds, prepare veg, put chicken in oven etc etc.

DD (14) can prepare and cook a Roast Chicken Dinner (roasties, parsnips, gravy, veg and put frozen yorkies in), Spagbol from scratch, Shepherds Pie from scratch, chilli from scratch, baked spuds, curry made with jar and pieces of chicken, anything with spuds and veg, omelettes, bacon sarnies etc etc. I am quite proud of her actually:D Most Sundays we get up and she has already peeled the spuds and carrots;)

PP
xx

misspenny

i knew the o's ers would restore my faith and im glad that they are teaching thire kids to cook

my son at 2 nearly 3 gets roaped into helping chopping things like mushrooms that can be done with a blunt knife his fave job is crumbling stoke cubes - tho this is not very mse as i have to use twice as many as he gets it everywhere,

twinkle_star_2

I'm in my twenties as well and my siblings and I learned to cook from our parents. We always helped out and were allowed to try out recipes on our own. My OH, however, was never shown because he was a boy and his mum never really thought about showing him (plus he was a bit of ba lad) so now he really doesn't know how to cook anything.

He is trying to learn but what I've really noticed is that for those who didn't learn from their parents it tends to be harder as books don't necessarily explain all the silly little questions you miht have as an absolute beginner. For example, we were making pasta sauce the other day and the recipe said to chop one clove of garlic. OH went to cupboard and got out the whole bulb and asked if that was the clove! I can't imagine not knowing what a clove is but I guess my mum told me at some point. But for him, nobody ever had and recipe book didn't say it anywhere.

JayJay14

I can remember rolling out pastry and makning jam tarts and pasties when I was 4 - we moved house when I was that age and I can remember it was in the erlier house.

I cooked my first Sunday lunch at 9 - under supervision - I had to draw the innards out of the chicken by hand!!! (some things just stay imprinted on the memory)

cady

i remember being 12 and trying to make fried egg sarnies when mu mum was out i used about 6 eggs but got a perfect one in the end lol!!! i never looked back - it maight take me a while to get the hang of new things abut at 23 now i can cook well balanced meals including batch cooking and streatch and bulk out most things too!!!

frugalswan

I wasn't really allowed in the kitchen as Mum thought it was dangerous. Plus, she wanted to do everything for us (bless her), and so I didn't learn to cook until I left home at 22. I moved in with DH2B and wanted to make an impression on his friends, so I learnt to cook. I particularly enjoyed baking, and I am known for my cakes nowadays . Now, I look for new things to make, and try to teach as many of my friends how to cook as I can. Knowledge should be shared

x Frugalswan x