[Prince]

At age 28, I'm appalled by the number of people in my age bracket that can't boil water to save their ass, much less cook a full multi-course meal. I love cooking (hate the cleanup though), and I'm pretty good at it, considering I have no formal training. While some of my dishes I wouldn't feed to my dog, most are always good to excellent. I've impressed many women with my cooking.

Out of about 20-25 people in my social circle, only 2 of us cook regularly--me and another girl I know. Looking at some of the costs of restaurants (and the fact that most of the food in restaurants tastes terrible), I don't see why more 20-somethings don't try to save a few hundred dollars a month by cooking for themself. Every time I go to a party or social gathering they are always amazed that I prepared the dish on my own.

As families and singles are continued to be pinched by the high gas price bug, I don't see how they'll be able to continue flipping $20+/day for prepared food.

So, with that, how many of you cook (or have a spouse or SO that cooks for you) on a regular basis?

[Lighthouse]

I love to cook.

and my wife is the best cook you can find.

(unfortunately - looking at my waist line ...)

[azreal60]

I can cook if need be. And my stuff, while plain, is actually pretty good. The reason I got lazy and stopped was I worked at a resturant for some years. With employee discount, it's hard to not have some guy make you a sandwhich for 2 bucks.

Which of course was a horrible unsustainable thing to do. Quite simply, once I got done working there, I was used to eating out. Now it's getting very hard to get back in the habit of making my own food. I still know how. Better at breakfast and lunch than dinner items. I have a friend who can do the fullcourse kinda dinner,guess what she does for a living? Caters to parties.

[duke3522]

Would something like this qualify?


Or how about this?


I had to teach myself to cook because my mother was clueless when it came to cooking. Also, none of my younger SIL's can cook worth a damn. Hell a couple of weeks ago one of them almost burnt down an apartment complex trying to make Shake 'n' Bake on the stove top.

Duke of Indiana

[TT]

Actually I don't know anybody who can't cook. Maybe it's an Aussie thing or maybe it's the circle I hang out in. Dunno

I cook all the meals at home. We eat out about once every 6 months or so. Even when we go out for the day I usually pack a lunch for us. Just the way I was brought up.

[Prince]

duke, yea that qualifies... seems like you're a master at the BBQ. My father is as well.

TT, this seems to be more of an American habit. Perhaps the high availability of food nearly 24 hours a day is why people have gotten so lazy (and unhealthy) that they simple do not cook anymore in the states. It seems to be more widespread amongst the Gen X/Y crowd in our country than the older generations, but even families with children do not have sit-down, home-cooked meals like they used to. I think this is pretty much standard across our entire country as well. I've seen it pretty much everywhere I've lived, visited, or known the people from that area. Like I said, it's rare that I meet someone my age that cooks full meals on a semi-regular basis.

[Grimnir]

I can follow a recipe if need be, though I usually prefer simple foods that take little preparation. I hate spending 90+ minutes cooking and cleaning up something that's eaten in 10 or 15.

[ashurbanipal]

Yeah, I love to cook, and I'm not too shabby, as they say. I've expanded my garden this year to include a number of things I haven't grown before (like Cardoons) and I just got a few olive trees. I'm really looking forward to experimenting...

[strider3700]

I can cook so long as the meal is simple. They usually come out kinda bland but you can eat it. My wife on the otherhand really knows how to cook. I'd take her meals over eating out any day of the week.

[Itch]

What I typically do for any meal is this: I pick a bunch of plants outside, most of which are wild, brake them up, and put them on a plate. Then I'll get some actual meat -- not commodity meat -- and place it on top of the plants.

I then toss it in the oven for a while, and what happens is the juice from the meat will drip down and soak the vegetables, making them palatable, at least for me. Most wild plants are bitter and sour as fuck, so it's difficult for me to consistently eat them raw. If there is any left over fat, usually pork fat, I'll save it in a jar and save it for later, which I'll probably use for stir fry or a stew base.

For those of you who are cooking and end up with bland food, then high quality fat and spices are the answer to your problem.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Itch', '
')For those of you who are cooking and end up with bland food, then high quality fat and spices are the answer to your problem.

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Itch', 'F')or those of you who are cooking and end up with bland food, then high quality fat and spices are the answer to your problem.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

The only people I know who can't cook are guys. but there are exceptions to the rule. my ex can barbecuewell. His indoor cooking though tends to go too nuts with spices as he has no taste buds. His cooking while highly palatable to him makes others sick.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') don't see why more 20-somethings don't try to save a few hundred dollars a month by cooking for themself.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'T')he only people I know who can't cook are guys.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'T')he only people I know who can't cook are guys.

[smiley]

I know what you mean. Eating out is quite expensive here, but I have quite a lot of friends who live on microwave meals It is like the song by ZZ-Top.

Tv dinners there's nothin' else to eat
Tv dinners they really can't be beat
I like 'em frozen but you understand
I throw 'em in and wave 'em and I'm a brand new man oh yeah!

I have to admit that at one time during my studies I was heading in that direction. It's just laziness I guess.

However my wife has a quite severe allergy for some synthetic food additives, so most take-away's are now off-limits, as are most of the supermarket's pre-processed products. Fresh products are basically the only option.

So we now every day cook from scratch. I do a bit more cooking than my wife. And I like it. Not only does a freshly prepared meal taste infinitely better than something which is freeze-dried and plastic wrapped. But I also feel more healthy from not eating that junk.

[duke3522]

Hey All,

I have to disagree that fast food is cheaper than homemade. When you are feeding 3 a trip to Wendy’s is $20. For that same money I can buy 12 pounds of frozen ground turkey, or 10 pounds of bone in chicken breast. $20 can also buy about 50 pounds of Idaho potatoes, or 60 pounds of onions, or 10 pounds of carrots. It can also buy 20 cans of Albacore tune for that hurricane-tornado-peak oil emergency kit. Or it could buy a whole bunch of heirloom seeds so I can grow my own lettuce and tomatoes when TSHTF.

Fast food is nothing but expensive empty calories. The problem is that many Americans feel that cooking a decent meal from scratch is beneath them. They feel that they shouldn’t have to spend an hour cooking a good dinner at home, and that their time is better spent watching videos or some other mindless entertainment.

Take for example the meat I have in my smoker in the pic above. I got the pork tenderloin on sale for $1.79. And this one cost just under $16. The beef brisket I got on sale for $0.69 a pound. That one was about $8.50. The two chicken were $0.74 a pound, or around $4 each. I also spent about another $4 on charcoal. And let’s say another $6 for the two cans of beer, and the spices for the rubs, and other supplies. Oh, and the apple wood I used for smoke was free because it came from some dead branches I had to cut off of some of my apple trees.

So, for a grand total of $42.50 I cooked enough prime smoked meat to feed my family for almost a week. Oh, and let’s not forget the charcoal baked potatoes, or the smoked sweet onion. Plus I got the enjoyment of being with my son, and my brother, drinking Yellowbirds and listening to the Indy 500 on the radio all day.

BTW, my Char-Griller combo grill/smoker can use charcoal or wood. The perfect gift for that special peak oil doomer.

But seriously, these Char-grillers are great. Made from 16 gauge steal and very tough. How tough you might ask? On Tuesday we had either a micro-burst, or a funnel cloud pass right over head, because for about 7 or 8 minutes it was raining South to North instead of up to down. Well whatever kind of storm it was flipped my very heavy smoker over at least twice and moved it around 20’. And the only damage was a bent shelf that went right back into place.

The storm also knock a very large branch off one of my Maple trees. So after a couple of hours worth of work with the chainsaw tomorrow, and a couple of years in the barn, I’ll have myself several hundred pounds of excellent smoking wood for nothing but a little gas and an afternoon of work for DS and myself.

Duke of Indiana

[J-Rod]

I am a cooking fool. After moving into this apartment, I had to get adjusted to cooking on an electric stove. I can't wait to get the house finished up so I can get back to good old gas range. I was a cook at many restaurants over the years before I decided to get out and get into IT. I've always been good with tech, but refused to go that route because of father issues, he's a programmer.

Anyways, one of my best crowd pleasers is fettucini alfredo from scratch, well except for the noodles. I'm not that hardcore. I also love the BBQ, the meats shown earlier in this post made my stomach grumble. The wife used to not cook at all, but over the years I have taught her little by little, and she's gotten a lot better. She still has to go by recipes though, she's not able to tell what really needs to be measured and what doesn't.

When I was about 20 living with roommates, everyone would be hungry complaining about nothing to eat, yet somehow I always managed to make something, ususally by strange combinations that no one would have thought of. My mother passed away when I was 12, and dad was usually not around, so I had to get some skills early on.

I can't wait to get the garden started in the new yard, the back doesn't get enough sun for my liking, but I should be able to at least do some fresh herbs and tomatoes, make some fresh salsa or something. I am guilty of getting the fast food when lazy though, neither the wife or I is much for kitchen cleanup.

[Schweinshaxe]

Yes I can cook but I also hate the dirty dishes and shit so I don't cook much.

Here's something for you though. Spaghetti Bolognese a la Schwein:

1. Finely chop some smoked pork and fry it slowly until the fat starts to melt.

2. Add chopped onion, chopped garlic, minced meat and chopped chicken liver and fry slowly it until it's dry. (It's very important that you chop the garlic. Don't press it!). Add some (olive) oil if you want but the fat from the pork should be enough.

3. Add peeled whole tomatoes and massacre them in the pot with a kitchen utensil.

4. Add salt, white and black pepper and herbs as you see fit.

5. Open that 5 liter plastic canister of cheap red wine which you just picked up from your local gas station. (Do they sell wine in gas stations in the USA?)

6. Eat.

7. Go back to your computer and continue to download porn from the Internet.