Generally we/I cook a meal every night and by cook I mean starting from base ingredients. Some exceptions might be a jar of curry paste (although not Thai green curry paste) or a jar of black bean sauce, to which other ingredients are added. Also normally make double/triple portions and freeze them.

Seems that amongst friends and colleagues we might be in the minority. Making a shopping list before you got to the shop is seen as odd too!

Then there’s the TV advert that makes a big deal out of cooking Chicken Teriyaki, can’t remember the company now though. You don’t need a recipe kit or a box of ingredients to do that. It’s very straight forward 🙂

So do people cook?

My boyfriend used to be a chef so he does all the cooking and has got into baking bread and stuff recently, which is nice 😀 I can barely make a cup of tea 😆

is this a real question? ‘do people cook?’

Yeah I ‘cook’ most evenings, sometimes I cheat with jars of sauce and such, it’s a time thing.

Jekkyl- Some people don’t ‘cook’, they ‘warm stuff up’, ready meals and that.

Different people prioritise different things, OH likes to cook so he makes time for it. I like to sit on my backside and watch him cook, so I make time for that!

is this a real question? ‘do people cook?’

Do you mean grammatically or literally?

41% of households “prefer to cook from scratch” apparently. It was on the news this morning so it must be true.

Generally we/I cook a meal every night and by cook I mean starting from base ingredients

Guessing you don’t have kids?

We cook as often as time allows but it’s difficult when you’re trying to get home from work , pick up kids, feed everyone, wash dishes, take at least one child out to whichever activity , wash remaining kids and read stories and put to bed, fetch activity child back home again, wash and put activity child to bed, wash yourself and finally slump down on couch at half nine or ten o’clock.

Yep, I try to – however often cheat with Jars of Curry/Pasta sauce.

The only ready meals I buy are frozen ‘Amy’s Kitchen’ Gluten free Macaroni Cheese/vegetable Lasagne for my Daughter who is Wheat/Gluten free.

I try and do something special at weekends though.

We cook, again only “cheating” with some sauces, we don’t actually have anything in the freezer you can just heat up to eat. Doesn’t mean to say we don’t resort to beans on toast some nights, we ain’t ‘food snobs’, just after you’ve realised cooking isn’t that difficult, you realize pre-packaged crap, is just that…

Nope, no kids here..

Apart from the odd meal out and a takeaway on Friday, we cook everything from scratch. Helps that it’s something I really enjoy. During the week though, I try to have a rule that nothing can take longer than 45 minutes to prep and cook, and 30 minutes is the target time so lots of fajitas, noodles, bean stews, simple meat and veg, etc. Fancy stuff only happens at the weekend.

I knew nothing about cooking until I left home and it just became an experiment of flavours and exploration/travel.

I have a week off from work; so I get to cook!

Working on Italian and Indian meals.

Invite a few friends over etc. Watch them enjoy a fantastic tasting 3 course and I’m happy.

Then back to work flat out with no time for cooking 🙁

If you cook a meal every night what are you doing with all the frozen triple portions?

Yes, most nights (as a couple with no children). Well aware of how much of the evening this takes, even for relatively simple meals. But I wouldn’t change this. If some element of my lifestyle (job that meant I worked 10 hour days for example) meant that I had to exist on ready meals all the time, then I wouldn’t consider it much of a life and would be pretty quickly changing that, even if it meant some compromise (e.g. big pay cut).

I didn’t so much when I was single but since I met my wife we cook most nights. We used to spend a lot of time seeking out new ideas and recipes but since Jr came along we tend to recycle a dozen or so favorites.

I say we but it has really become me as I’m happier in the kitchen with the radio than I am watching the god awful programs our lass watches in the early evening. 😐

Guessing you don’t have kids?

No, but plan to eventually. This may disrupt the status quo 🙂

Most days I cook. Most of the time ‘from scratch’. But I’m not going to make pasta, let alone anything fiddly like ravioli on a week night, there comes a point where the line between ‘processed food’ and ‘ingredients’ get’s a bit bury. Tinned tomatoes? Easy cook rice? Dried (or even fresh store bought) pasta? I quite happily use the fresh curry sauces from the farm shop, but then usually use the cooking time to make nann breads, that probably makes me a heathen.

Although after stumbling into the “does stuff taste better the day after” thread and reading that to some people using curry paste is no better than a ready meal I’m amazed some people have time in the day for anything else!

Not when I’m working.
Leave at 6am, home at 8pm.
Beans on toast or a baked spud if I can face it.

But yes, a lot when I’m off.
Always enjoyed it.
Nothing that takes endless prep, but yeah, I find it relaxing and anyone can follow a recipe.
I’ve stolen loads from here, family and friends, old cookbooks etc.

Mrs S does the washing up.
She can cook, but doesn’t like it that much.
I hate washing up, so it’s usually a good arrangement.
We’d been in the house two years before she asked me how to turn the oven on.
😀

‘do people cook?

I dont make crystal meths

You?

Almost all my meals are made from scratch and I do enjoy cooking

Although after stumbling into the “does stuff taste better the day after” thread and reading that to some people using curry paste is no better than a ready meal

Sort of what triggered me to start this thread. I don’t consider using Patak’s curry paste a ready meal! To make a decent curry you do need to add a fair few other items.

In response to guess you don’t have kids…we have two young children but always cook from scratch…we see whole food as a base for healthy living ..therefore prioritise it. I see it as false economy..eat fast food and you’re more likely to get poorly…as a household we rarely suffer for long with colds and stuff…I’m sure that’s down to making an effort to eat , sleep and move properly…

Yes, but it’s now been nearly 2 weeks since I mare more than a cup of tea in a kitchen, been away with work and racing so most meals have been served to me.

Monday was chicken tikka masala.

Yesterday was korma with more garlic and pepper so it keeps the flavour but adds a little spark.

Tonight will be Mexican fajitas, cheese, lettuce and some extra green peppers. Old gf’s salsa recipe which my wife
finds annoying as she’s insecure.

Tomorrow will be cheese and broccoli soup.

Hoping to experiment with soups, freeze and use for quick microwave meals and more weight loss.

I heat things.

I had a ready meal lasagne once. Never again.

Yes, properly cook roughly a couple of times a week, often a slow cooker batch job, lots of frozen leftovers other nights and the occasional frozen pizza or quick pasta and sauce etc. Often roast a joint and make a big pot of soup with the bones etc. Currently the freezer has portions of curry, chilli, lamb hotpot with dumplings, coq au vin, several varieties of soups, some meat waiting to be cooked, among other things. I enjoy cooking but wouldn’t want to spend an hour a day on it.

All meals are cooked from scratch in our household. I’m better at baking than cooking, so most meals are basic.
The only meals shop bought’ are pizzas. I intend making those myself soon.
Extra portions are frozen and used for lunches.

make a pot of soup from scratch on a sunday night for the weeks work.

Started doing bread(not in a bread maker) as well for the same purpose – getting good at that now – first few wholemeal loafs were like bricks.

Discovered home made pizza recently and im in love with that

Made home brew chilli , guacamole and salsa last night – and put together burritos – after being very unimpresed with the bland offerings at the much publicised mexican street food take away in town.

monday night i made home made white rolls and burgers + tattie wedges on the bbq.

Tonight will be baked tatties with salad and the left over chilli from last night.

The three things i discovered is – it doesnt take long to knock up a decent meal from scratch , its much cheaper to make from scratch for the most part and most of all , 9 times out of 10 i find it tastes better than the bought equivalent*….

(*with the exception of M&S dining for 2 – im partial to that for an easy night occasionally)

I had a ready meal lasagne once. Never again

Most are not great. However I think that the M&S ones are ok (not the one with ‘steak’ bits in though, just the standard ones). These are about the only ready meal we buy and have in the freezer for ’emergencies’ or real CBA days!

No: I’m at Uni three evenings a week, and doing Uni work the other evenings, and I usually go around my Parent’s for Sunday dinner, so never get time. My home meals tend to consist of muesli, porridge, bought soup, cold chicken, raw veg etc.

It also partially results from having acid reflux, which means I’ve been trying to eat small and often, rather than three big meals a day

We pretty much cook every night, not always mega exciting but not really anything from jars or packets and usually fresh veg, fish and meat. Not from being pious – it’s just what we are used to and I can’t stand ready made stuff – too salty.

He’s definitely like Marmite, but if anyone asks me to recommend a starter cooking book I suggest this – Jamie’s Ministry of Food

I’m sure 41% people might prefer to cook but I doubt very much that anything close to 41% of meals consumed in the Uk are freshly prepared and cooked. Having a guess I’d reckon it’s closer to 10-15%

I cook 3 or 4 times a week. The rest of the time I either go for the beans/cheese/tuna on toast option have takeaway or eat out. Learning a few more dishes and generally getting better at cooking is one of the things I need to work on over the next few months. It’s something that I value but not something that I particularly enjoy.

yes when i can but midweek is usually another portion of something already made plus some greens or something that only takes half an hour. the only ‘ready meal’ i have often is filled pasta with some pesto and more greens or pasta with some tinned tuna if i get back late. i like to make my own tomato/vegetable sauce and freeze it so it’s ready to make something quick.
i do have a ready made curry and naan or fish fingers and baked beans once in a while but dont think of that as bad but wouldn’t want to eat that kind of food every day.
there are whole sections of the supermarket i never use though, some of that tinned stuff looks grim. curry paste isn’t cheating IMHO
and as above ready meals are often too salty. i dont have any salt in the house so i really notice it.

Sort of what triggered me to start this thread. I don’t consider using Patak’s curry paste a ready meal! To make a decent curry you do need to add a fair few other items.

Ahh, that’s where you’re going wrong, making curry paste is pretty easy. Make a batch of it, can it in jars and keep it until you fancy a curry, then just add meat, stock, tomatoes, coconut, almond, cream or whatever the sauce is to be made from.

Me?

Well I used too 🙄

No I really did, I love cooking but over the last year and a half I’ve become very lazy and resorting to Charlie Binghams Pies/Pasta/Meals pre made, then chucking steamed Veg or Salad on a plate.

But for years cooking was my main pleaseure in the evenings, having spent 2 weeks at Rick Steins cookery school a few years ago really made me consider the art of cooking good meals. Pre that I always cooked, post that I cooked a lot.

But now, nope.

If Charlie Bingham went bust, I’d starve. 😆

Everything from scratch in our house.. I do most of the cooking

My other half cooks a couple of times per week..
I have a knackered bowel and she’s in remission from cancer so we don’t **** about with processed food and preservatives

Ahh, that’s where you’re going wrong, making curry paste is pretty easy.

I know, I make Thai curry paste. I should give Indian curry paste a go

“and as above ready meals are often too salty. i dont have any salt in the house so i really notice it.”

I learned to cook when i realised my mum(a heavy smoker) added alot of salt to everything when cooking.

would you like veg with your salt……

We don’t cook every night as we tend to cook big batches to freeze. So a couple of times a week it will be something “I prepared earlier”. I like the odd takeaway and now and then we have lunch at the pub. But generally yes, we cook.