5 ms·

It's a bit bewildering how many people (mostly men) there are around that cannot cook properly. They have lived their entire life depending on others to eat som

It's a bit bewildering how many people (mostly men) there are around that cannot cook properly. They have lived their entire life depending on others to eat something decent. Learning to cook is often cited as a way to impress and woo others, but the primary beneficiary is oneself. Being able to cook well is freeing. It's easy to practice because you have to eat anyway. When you end up with leftover ingredients, come up with a way to use that in a different meal. Repeat every day, and soon you will be a master. I can almost always improvise a good meal for a group with no recipes, using only ingredients at hand.

diehunde 6y ago
I disagree. Some people cut their own hair or build their own furniture and would say everyone needs to know how to do that stuff instead of depending on and paying someone else. There's a reason cooking is also a profession, and there's nothing wrong with depending on them. People who like to cook don't seem to understand that others (like me) just hate cooking and have zero interest in learning since it wouldn't bring me any benefits. I can order healthy food, I'm not overspending, and I can eat stuff that would be a pain in the ass to cook at home. On the other hand, I also hate exercising, but it brings health and mental benefits that are undeniable. In summary, just like I don't want to cut my own hair or building my own furniture, I have no problem paying a professional to prepare my food.
- cweagans 6y ago
  People don't _require_ furniture or a haircut (i.e. you can survive without them). Everyone _needs_ to eat. Opting out of knowing how to take care of your own basic needs just because you can currently pay someone else to do it seems very shortsighted.
  - diehunde 6y ago
    Fair enough. So assuming you need a house to survive, do you need to know how to build one? If your toilet breaks, do you know how to fix it? Again, some people would argue that calling "the guy" is always shortsighted and wasteful because you can do it by yourself. Cooking is no different. Maybe a couple of decades ago, but not today.
    - randomchars 6y ago
      The difference here, that parent was pointing at, is that you eat every single day. You might need to fix your toilet one day, or get a house a few times in your life, but eating is something that you can't get around. Just like you shouldn't depend on someone to dress your, bathe you and wipe your ass for you (even though that's a whole profession too), depending on someone else to cook for you because you can't, puts you in a vulnerable spot.
- guidoism 6y ago
  I don’t think that those are good analogies. Cooking for yourself is more akin to bathing yourself or wiping your own butt. It’s super easy if you grow up assuming that you should be doing those things yourself and unbelievably expensive if you pay others to do it for you.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    Do you have advice for someone that did not grow up assuming they should be cooking for them self? I've been making an effort to improve myself and it has been rewarding but honestly cooking for myself has been one of the steepest learning curves in my life. It is starting to pay off after months of effort motivated by a once-a-century global disaster. This is not an approachable skill, at all.
    - ohyes 6y ago
      Unfortunately a lot of online recipes and cookbooks are for people looking to make something different and special, not looking for an everyday meal. Being a home cook (as opposed to being a chef) is actually a lot like programming. Learn a few simple patterns and you can recombine them in different ways. Look for patterns in any recipes that you follow and then you can reuse them in other situations. I can give some examples. Basic cream sauce from fat (butter or pan grease), liquid (normally milk or stock), flour and seasoning. The many ways of cooking eggs. Basic grilled cheese Seasoning with salt and pepper tasting and adjusting as you go Pancake variations Biscuit variations Quick-breads Temperatures of doneness for meats (there are charts, get a good meat thermometer). Chopping (you really need at least one good knife). For example, I can make a very nice sandwich by combining white sauce, a fried egg, and a grilled cheese. (Put a fried egg and cheese and inside the sandwich, lightly coat with white sauce, fry as with grilled cheese. Season with salt and pepper. I make biscuits, boil pasta or veggies and cover them with a very similar white sauce. Boil macaroni and some broccoli, add cheese to the white sauce heating until it melts, combine both in a baking pan with some breadcrumbs on top, bake until it looks set (25-35 minutes at 350(f) is a good bet). Basically the idea is to learn a few basic recipes (each a different ‘sub process’ or function) and use or them combine them with other ingredients that you have. Taste every so often to ensure that you don’t make something inedible. Give it your full attention. Sometimes you’ll make something truly weird and other times you’ll make something amazing and different that no one’s ever had before. Just don’t burn your house down and don’t deep fry anything until you’ve got plenty of experience and know the dangers. Obviously the recipes I’m giving are very vague, thats kind of the point as it is all up to your taste, which is different from mine. The key is paying attention to what you think is good.
jasonv 6y ago
Even if you don’t “cook”, you can learn to be a food assembler. Meal prep IIFYM style can be super easy. I cook a lot of things in my pressure cooker for 4 servings at a time (oats, chickpeas). I often just get veggie soup and add chickpeas for lunch. It’s way more satisfying than most of the quick things you can get near an office. A lot of the staples that are disappointing when bought are amazing when you cook from scratch (aforementioned steel cut oats and chickpeas). Don’t get instant anything... it’s just too sad.

diehunde 6y ago

I disagree. Some people cut their own hair or build their own furniture and would say everyone needs to know how to do that stuff instead of depending on and paying someone else. There's a reason cooking is also a profession, and there's nothing wrong with depending on them. People who like to cook don't seem to understand that others (like me) just hate cooking and have zero interest in learning since it wouldn't bring me any benefits. I can order healthy food, I'm not overspending, and I can eat stuff that would be a pain in the ass to cook at home. On the other hand, I also hate exercising, but it brings health and mental benefits that are undeniable. In summary, just like I don't want to cut my own hair or building my own furniture, I have no problem paying a professional to prepare my food.

cweagans 6y ago
People don't _require_ furniture or a haircut (i.e. you can survive without them). Everyone _needs_ to eat. Opting out of knowing how to take care of your own basic needs just because you can currently pay someone else to do it seems very shortsighted.
- diehunde 6y ago
  Fair enough. So assuming you need a house to survive, do you need to know how to build one? If your toilet breaks, do you know how to fix it? Again, some people would argue that calling "the guy" is always shortsighted and wasteful because you can do it by yourself. Cooking is no different. Maybe a couple of decades ago, but not today.
  - randomchars 6y ago
    The difference here, that parent was pointing at, is that you eat every single day. You might need to fix your toilet one day, or get a house a few times in your life, but eating is something that you can't get around. Just like you shouldn't depend on someone to dress your, bathe you and wipe your ass for you (even though that's a whole profession too), depending on someone else to cook for you because you can't, puts you in a vulnerable spot.
guidoism 6y ago
I don’t think that those are good analogies. Cooking for yourself is more akin to bathing yourself or wiping your own butt. It’s super easy if you grow up assuming that you should be doing those things yourself and unbelievably expensive if you pay others to do it for you.
- mulmen 6y ago
  Do you have advice for someone that did not grow up assuming they should be cooking for them self? I've been making an effort to improve myself and it has been rewarding but honestly cooking for myself has been one of the steepest learning curves in my life. It is starting to pay off after months of effort motivated by a once-a-century global disaster. This is not an approachable skill, at all.
  - ohyes 6y ago
    Unfortunately a lot of online recipes and cookbooks are for people looking to make something different and special, not looking for an everyday meal. Being a home cook (as opposed to being a chef) is actually a lot like programming. Learn a few simple patterns and you can recombine them in different ways. Look for patterns in any recipes that you follow and then you can reuse them in other situations. I can give some examples. Basic cream sauce from fat (butter or pan grease), liquid (normally milk or stock), flour and seasoning. The many ways of cooking eggs. Basic grilled cheese Seasoning with salt and pepper tasting and adjusting as you go Pancake variations Biscuit variations Quick-breads Temperatures of doneness for meats (there are charts, get a good meat thermometer). Chopping (you really need at least one good knife). For example, I can make a very nice sandwich by combining white sauce, a fried egg, and a grilled cheese. (Put a fried egg and cheese and inside the sandwich, lightly coat with white sauce, fry as with grilled cheese. Season with salt and pepper. I make biscuits, boil pasta or veggies and cover them with a very similar white sauce. Boil macaroni and some broccoli, add cheese to the white sauce heating until it melts, combine both in a baking pan with some breadcrumbs on top, bake until it looks set (25-35 minutes at 350(f) is a good bet). Basically the idea is to learn a few basic recipes (each a different ‘sub process’ or function) and use or them combine them with other ingredients that you have. Taste every so often to ensure that you don’t make something inedible. Give it your full attention. Sometimes you’ll make something truly weird and other times you’ll make something amazing and different that no one’s ever had before. Just don’t burn your house down and don’t deep fry anything until you’ve got plenty of experience and know the dangers. Obviously the recipes I’m giving are very vague, thats kind of the point as it is all up to your taste, which is different from mine. The key is paying attention to what you think is good.

jasonv 6y ago

Even if you don’t “cook”, you can learn to be a food assembler. Meal prep IIFYM style can be super easy. I cook a lot of things in my pressure cooker for 4 servings at a time (oats, chickpeas). I often just get veggie soup and add chickpeas for lunch. It’s way more satisfying than most of the quick things you can get near an office. A lot of the staples that are disappointing when bought are amazing when you cook from scratch (aforementioned steel cut oats and chickpeas). Don’t get instant anything... it’s just too sad.