Old Style Skills

mardatha

I wish I'd learned to cook--my mother wasnt a good cook either. I can knit and sew (and hate it LOL)- but I would like to cook, anything I try always comes out wrong, even sticking to recipes, and if I try to improvise its awful !

Uniscots97

My Mum's not the best cook (sorry Mum), but she did teach me the basics and how to bake as she had a talent for that. I was taught to cook more exotic things with 2 chef flatmates I had in previous years who got fed of me trying to cook things a bit more exotic and failing miserably. My great grandmother (a tailoress by trade) taught me to sew, though my hand sewing far surpasses my machine sewing (much more comfortable hand sewing). My grandmother on my Mum's side taught me to knit and my grandmother on my Dad's side taught me crafts and making jewellery.

I learned a lot when I lived on my own (had to), as didn't have the money for decorators, electricians etc.

My OH isn't the best cook (sorry honey), but he's learning (he can make things but they're very fatty or drowned in garlic and salt!) but he can iron very well! (thank you MIL). I'm now getting used to coming home to washing (had to teach him about the advantages of a 30C wash) done, dried and ironed, house cleaned, hoovered and dinner prepped (he's better at chopping vegetables than I am, due to joint problems I have). It takes some getting used to after so many years doing it myself! Teaching him how to repair things though (sewing).

Uniscots97

mardatha wrote: »

I wish I'd learned to cook--my mother wasnt a good cook either. I can knit and sew (and hate it LOL)- but I would like to cook, anything I try always comes out wrong, even sticking to recipes, and if I try to improvise its awful !

The cooking bit sounds like me before my 2 flatmates taught me how to cook properly. I could manage the basics but thanks to them I can manage just about anything now. There's lots of cookery courses on in Scotland (my Mum had one picked out for me before she found out my flatmates taught me how to cook), they aren't expensive. Have you thought about one of these? I'm thinking about going on a day's course about cake icing.

mary43

My Mum wasn't the best of cooks but she did somehow manage to feed four of us on what was a very low income and could make a joint of meat last nearly all week. Nothing was ever wasted, right down to the last bit of cotton. During the war when things were rationed it really was a case of 'making do' and it sort of stuck with Mum I think and must have rubbed off on me a bit..............I hate throwing anything away (just in case) and as a result have turned into a great hoarder and am having to learn to thin out and de-clutter the stuff that I know I'm just keeping for the sake of keeping it.
Mums cooking 'skills' rubbed off on me but thank goodness OH is a good cook..........me ? I panic over cooking a frozen pie !!!!
Used to knit and sew a lot then my sewing machine broke so now I have to do it by hand. Knitting is out of the question -since a wrist operation my hands just aren't up to it. I think I stopped when wool became more expensive and it ended up cheaper to buy the kids jumpers.
A friend of mine still darns her husbands socks. Now thats something I've not done in years.
I love doing up bits of furniture I've either managed to get cheap or better still, free............amazing what a difference a coat of paint can make.
There are loads of things we can learn from our Mums and Grans I'm sure

mardatha

In Nella Last's War (book) she talks of making new sheets for cots and single beds by cutting out the worn middle and rejoining the good parts, also she makes children's clothes from worn adults ones. Tha's the kind of skill that we need now, and might be lost. If I can buy cheap clothes in a charity shop then I think thats a lot more sensible than sitting knitting them myself. But things like sheets and blankets out of old ones make a lot of sense to me.

mary43

My Mum used to do what she called 'sides to middle' to make sheets last longer and so did I when I first got married. I also made my kids first romper dresses (this was in the 60's) out of Dads old shirts or old sheets. Mum had the pattern she used for us so I used that. Bit of embroidery or smocking (does anyone still do that?) and they looked ok. Baby's cot sheets were old sheets cut down to size, so were the ones I used for the pram.

LameWolf

I learned a lot of OS stuff from my grandmother - jam making, knitting, cooking, that sort of thing. I'm afraid my mother simply didn't have the patience for teaching a child. Grandad taught me how to garden, and chop wood, and also basic household electrical stuff (I could wire a plug at a very early age).

Mr LW's parents made him and both his sisters learn cooking, household chores, gardening, DIY, and all the things they'd need to survive.

Nowadays, we share the chores as evenly as possible given my health; I do what I'm physically able, and he picks up the slack. He lived alone for many years before we met, so he had to know how to do for himself; but I'm pleased to say that he's still happy to do housework - the only thing he asks is that we're working in the same room as far as possible (Awwwww)

We usually have a good laugh while we work, and I honestly don't think there's any task that we'd regard as "his" or "mine" to do.

beemuzed

Hmmm, yes, I learnt knitting and crotchet at my Gran's knee. My Mum always cooked from scratch when the four of us were kids, and my greataunt made virtually all my clothes. Didn't like housework, but Mum taught us all enough to get by.
At primary school we all learnt to knit and sew a bit.
Fast forward 45 years or so....several of the children in my school don't even know what knitting is! Which means they don't see their grandparents/parents doing it. I've recently gone back to knitting and find it very therapeutic. Of course it isn't cheaper to knit than buy, or sew your own clothes. Hope the old skills don't die out completely tho' - it's satisfying to produce something you've made yourself.

meanmarie

I learnt to cook as a child...my mother was a good cook but didn't like cooking, my father didn't cook, I'm sure he could but made sandwiches if my mother or I were not around to cook!

All my children did their own washing from the time they went to secondary school, did chores and learnt to knit cook and I am proud to say that they also all learnt to milk a cow! Middle son can cook but usually is happy with sandwiches. All 7 can do DIY stuff, some better than others but can all survive if things get really bad.

OH can cook and is good at housekeeping, although would probably mainly have steak, chops and all the more expensive cuts of meat, has never ironed in is life, although he claims that 'any eejit can iron, its not rocket science'! a

I am horrified at the number of young people who cannot cook, but there is an old Irish saying 'muineann dha seift'....roughly translated it means that necessity is the mother of invention...I think that if it becomes necessary to cut back most people will manage to do so, especially since there are so many environmental issues in the media these days.

Marie

newlywed

I agree with meanmarie - when you don't have to do it, you aren't really that interested. But when you HAVE to, then suddenly you are glad your parents taught you some things.

My Nan and Gran taught me to knit. My gran used to make soft toys for us every year - jointed teddies and everything. They used to knit us jumpers. Mum used to sew our clothes and dolls clothes too.

Mum always cooked from scratch - made us all do home ec at school. Taught us to iron at about age 12 (teatowels and pillowcases to start with). Sent us to have macrame lessons in school holidays. Dad used to cook soup (throw it in style) and it was always really good (apart from the processed peas episode). He used to cook flapjack and fudge too.

So I knitted my first jumper to fit me at about age 10. Knitted dolls clothes, toys. Carried on till I was about 25. I make a lot of my own jewellery, bags, teddies and toys for the nephews, even though I had the money to buy it, I just enjoyed making it.

And now that I'm married and money is tight, I cook from scratch, make stock from chicken carcass (and mum finds that quite funny). I never cooked till I got married - I only baked cakes when I felt like it or made scrambled eggs on toast!

My mum and grandmothers taught me well. Taught me to follow a recipe, a knitting pattern, a crochet pattern, furniture instruction booklets etc! And my dad taught me that when cooking sometimes chuck it in and taste is the best recipe