This is one reason why Old Stylers cook meals from scratch and avoid ready meals!

jennyjelly

ti1980 wrote:

That was a great post letsgobilliejoe.:)

I'm not saying that people don't have time to cook, but some people just don't enjoy cooking. I know as I am one of them. When I was little I used to love it, messing around in the kitchen. I remember one time when my mum (what was she thinking of?) let me invite 4/5 of my friends round and we made about 3 dishes in one afternoon. We must have been 12 or 13 then, one of the girls was 8. I think we made 2 sweets and one pastry type thing. I made everyone eat some even though it didn't taste the best, then they found out that I didn't have any(they saw my portion in the bin! They weren't very happy with me!:rotfl: I remember that as it was yesterday and it was at least 15 years ago.

I think that one of the reasons I liked it then was that I chose to do it, I didn't have to whereas now, it feels like I should be doing it.

I find it such a chore, not at all enjoyable. I would rather clean or iron and I dislike doing those as well.

My friends can't understand why I don't like cooking, most of them love cooking and they are great cooks. There is almost nothing better than when we get together at someones house and one of them cooks. I bring either the wine, fruit juice or a ready made dessert (none of those that is on your list though competitionscafe!)

My mum is a fantastic cook and when I go and visit her (every few weeks), I love eating whatever she has made. She buys practically nothing ready made, its pretty much all made from scratch.

Homemade food is often so tasty. (depends who is doing the cooking!) I think that part of the thing with me is that a lot of the things my mum makes takes ages in the kitchen and I'm not going to cook something that takes hours to make but literally seconds to demolish. I keep thinking that maybe I will change my mind if/when I have my own family to look after but the older I get, the less sure I am about that.

What you need is a slow cooker. Chuck it in, switch it on, eat it a few hours later. It's hardly cooking at all!

ti1980

We have very little worktop space in our kitchen, I have a smoothie maker that is in the lounge!:o There is no space to keep it out all the time and no cupboard space to store it. I love smoothies but it seems so much effort just to make one smoothie that I have only used it once.
My mum uses a blender for a lot of her dishes but again, there is no space for any more appliances in our kitchen.

jennyjelly

Fair point. Big casserole dish in the oven on the lowest heat does the same job.

shoperholicnot

nothing but rubbish in most ready meals

ti1980

Not got a casserole dish but maybe I should invest in one. I really don't o a lot of cooking though, only cook a couple of times a week.

jennyjelly

Don't buy a new one if you're not sure you'll get much use of of it.

I bought all mine in charity shops and car boot sales - I don't think I've ever paid more than about a quid for anything.

If you hate cooking you hate cooking, thre'snothing you can do about it, so just do the bare minimum you need to do to eat well. Your body will thank you!

furndire

ti1980 wrote:

We have very little worktop space in our kitchen, I have a smoothie maker that is in the lounge!:o There is no space to keep it out all the time and no cupboard space to store it. I love smoothies but it seems so much effort just to make one smoothie that I have only used it once.
My mum uses a blender for a lot of her dishes but again, there is no space for any more appliances in our kitchen.

Have you seen the Magic Bullett (there are cheaper versions as well) machine ~ very small and compact, ideal for making single smoothies, and you can drink them out of the beakers ~ really good. My daughter has just made me one now.

Works as a mixer for lots of things.

The difference between slow cooker and casserole in the oven is that the slow cooker is much cheaper to use, as you are only heating up what you are cooking.

ScoobieGirl

TKP wrote:

I once made a banoffee pie for our dance group

I've always fancied making this, but every recipie I've seen says to boil the condensed milk in the tin :eek: This seems like an explosion waiting to happen. Do you make it this way?

Snow_Angel

ScoobieGirl wrote:

I've always fancied making this, but every recipie I've seen says to boil the condensed milk in the tin :eek: This seems like an explosion waiting to happen. Do you make it this way?

You do-check some of the posts with banoffee pie recipes earlier in the thread. Just make sure you always keep the water topped up to at least half-way up the tins. I used to make this every week in the ski chalet I used to run and the guests absolutely loved it.

In Europe though, you get condensed milk in big squeezy tubes, boil them as usual and then just squirt the caramel over the pie. SOOOOOOOOO much easier than tins ..... I've never seen those squeezy tubes of condensed milk in the UK anywhere though. If anyone spots them tell me immediately!!! :rotfl:

ScoobieGirl

Snow_Angel wrote:

You do-check some of the posts with banoffee pie recipes earlier in the thread. Just make sure you always keep the water topped up to at least half-way up the tins. I used to make this every week in the ski chalet I used to run and the guests absolutely loved it.

In Europe though, you get condensed milk in big squeezy tubes, boil them as usual and then just squirt the caramel over the pie. SOOOOOOOOO much easier than tins ..... I've never seen those squeezy tubes of condensed milk in the UK anywhere though. If anyone spots them tell me immediately!!! :rotfl:

Thanks - you've given me the confidence to try it now. It will also help the banana mountain in my kitchen - although it probably won't do any good for my diet

If I see squeezy condensed milk I'll let you know - I don't fancy the chances of that lasting long in my house. I could quite happily eat that out of the tube, and save some for later, where as I can only get through 1/4 can before I feel sick