What has happened to people cooking!

tiff

I'm all for home cooking, but we do enjoy now and again one of Sainsburys indian meals for 2, in a bag. I dont see the harm in having a ready meal now and again, but when you see trollies laden with salt and sugar and very little fruit/veg/fibre it is a bit worrying.

black-saturn

jembie wrote: »

I would love someone to take me shopping and show me how I can cook from scratch on my budget.
I hate the fact that my freezer is full of ready made stuff but I just can't afford real meat cuts.

And, I buy jars and packets of sauces etc...as when I have made my own it is rally bland and like eating sand, at least i know it will taste good if I use packets/jars.

Have you seen my thread on my menu planner? I feed 3 people on £45 per month and we eat very well. You don't need to eat ready made stuff all the time.

Three_Dancing_Dragons

Perhaps having survived the 'ration' generation, they know how foul food can taste [national loaf anyone?] and ready meals taste good in comparison.

Edinburghlass_2

seraphina wrote: »

TBH why is it any of our business what other people choose to spend their money on?

If people do want to cook these days there are a hundred and one resources/teach yourself how to cook books/ good sites like the OS board. You'd also have to be living under a rock to not notice the current vibe about organic/healthy eating in general, so if people want to buy ready meals, that's up to them.

The next comment is NOT aimed at the OP but is something I have found about OS board in general these days - it does occasionally become a bit holier-than-thou, with people preaching with the zeal of the converted about how they would never touch a ready meal/packet mix/prechopped veg. There's an air almost of pity on the poor people who don't know any better! I can think of many worse "crimes" to commit than ready made mash:rotfl:

Anyway, I did not mean to offend with the above comment.

I couldn't agree more, who knows why people have what they have in their trollies. Usually the people I speak to in the queue are the ones who have a box of wine and some crisps and I always ask where the party is :whistle:

Hapless_2

I can get by, when needs must on a food budget of £60 a week for the 6 of us. All foods that need cooking from scratch. Any leftovers get frozen where possible and that includes mash (makes great potato cakes).

VickyA_2

I was merrily tutting away at the people in Tesco today who weren't looking at labels or buying too many ready meals. However, I realise that I'm doing the tutting at what I was doing 5 years ago!!!!

Since joining MSE, I have become alot more aware of what I put into my mouth. Before I left home, my mum did the vast majority of the cooking and all I had to worry about was filling the dishwasher! It's only with the education of what we put in our mouths that people may become more thoughtful about what we put in our trollies.

I do like cooking, but sometimes that interesting looking ready-made pasta/curry sauce on special offer is far better than having to worry about cooking from scratch. DH and I both work long hours, I try to cook as much as possible BUT every now and again I give in. Luckily, that's where the yellow sticker pizzas or the chippy come into their own domain. If we didn't know about them, then we'd all be cooking from scratch every day. As we do know about them and we have more disposable income than those people during the "ration" years it becomes a more attractive option.

What ever happens, I'll never stop tutting! (I am my mother's daughter after all )

seashore321

My parents lived through the rationing and my mum was always a good cook. Then as she admits after stomach cancer and a heart bypass she got lazy ( I would say tired but there you go!) and started buying ready meals went for a salt and cholesterol test and both readings had gone through the roof, not good. She now says go back to your roots eat fresh whenever you can and if it takes a little time get your daughter to help peeling things. (Thats me by the way)..

The one thing I would add both my parents are now nearly ninety..and both very active as in driving, looking after themselves, playing golf and the latest fad is perhaps trying sky diving (for gods sake) my DAd was a pilot so he thinks he's invincible.. They both put it down to the fact that they always eat fresh food bought daily ( I know we don't always have the time but...)

The only time they got poorly was ready meals ...worth a thought!!!

Long life and whatever!!!!

Justamum

I can understand older people buying ready meals - as you get older for various reasons it can get harder to cook for yourself - my gran used to make everything from scratch, but got to the stage where she couldn't stand for long enough to cook a meal and ended up with ready meals. My mum is also a good cook, but after years of doing the cooking in the hotel we used to have, I think it put her off for life, so she tends to buy ready meals. I don't think it bothers my dad at all - he has always liked bought pasties, pies and cakes when we all know home-made taste much better, but that is what he was brought up on! Cooking is no longer taught in schools so I can see why young people, unless they are interested enough to learn in their own time, don't bother.

newster

My mum was, still is, a good cook. She tends to do a mix now of ready made and from scratch meals. last year she had a mild heart attack, and dad is useless in the kitch lol, so I'm pleased she feels she can take a couple of days off and stick a couple of meals in a micro.

Personally myself, I'm not in favour of them, and don't buy them, but appreciate that some people find cooking difficult and find them a blessing.

I do use some convienience things like gravey granuals, some frozen veg and some tinned stuff. Baked beans etc. tinned tomatoes and so on. I do make my own sauces, but recommended to my son the other day to use a packet chesse sauce or have one handy in case his sauce didn't turn out right, because he'd never made one before.

Being a large family, ready made meals would have been too expensive so there was no choice, but to do all my own meals. I think when a family is smaller, it is harder to cook your own, especially when shops promote ready made meals so heavily. Also, if the mum is a working mum, or a working wife, the temptation to stick a meal in the oven must be overwhelming :-) If schools promoted home cooking a bit more like they did in my days, then more younger people would be willing to cook. Perhaps??!!!!!

Although having said that, I homeschool mine, and try to encourage them in the kitchen, but their only interest is eating lol. Maybe I should adopt the stance that you eat what you cook lol. Too much going on in their lives to want to slave away at a stove lol.

Does anyone think though that these tv chefs are a lot to blame for the downward trend in wanting to cook. They seem to cook meals that just don't seem practical. Ok if you're running a restruant, but to cook as an everyday thing??? They always seem so fiddly. Bring back Delia Smith and Mary Berry :-)

Spendless

My nan 15 when WW2 broke out, married in the middle of war years and her 1st child (my mum) born at end of war, yes she knows how to cook from scratch, there was nothing else. Today she often does buy ready meals, she is on her own and why shouldn't she. She spent from age 50 to 75 nursing my grandad from a stroke. She's been widowed for the last 7 years and if she wants to have a meal ready in minutes and spend more time on doing something else then I don't blame her.