Their household doesn't cook

[Mobuck]

We went to visit Daughter Friday afternoon and Sat morning so we could attend Grandson's concert. After the Friday evening concert we were introduced to G-son's girlfriend. Saturday morning over coffee Daughter gave us a rundown on the girl's back ground and one of the revelations was that her household doesn't seem to do any home cooking. Hard to wrap my head around this suburbia oddity but obviously it's prevalent. Regardless, we were impressed by the young lady-no purple hair, nose rings, or tattoos. Polite, attractive, and could actually speak understandably using proper English.
I'm still hung up on how a family can live on carry out.

 

[jkmo]

Great news on everything except the cooking thing. Post how they do it when you figure it out

 

[RSIno1]

A friend lived next to a retired couple in Lake Forest, CA. The wife said when the husband retired she retired and would no longer cook clean etc. This was their retirement home they bought new. They always ate out and a maid came daily. When her grandkid turned 5 grandma decided to bake a cake. She went and bought all the stuff. lit the oven to preheat it and after a few minutes the owners manual, warranty info and the plastic bag they were in were up in flames. Took her hubby a couple hours to clean it up so the cake could get finished.

 

[Mobuck]

I'm absolutely certain that lots of 'home cooking' is NOT on the "healthy foods list" but I'm even more sure that most of the take out stuff is worse. Daughter does pretty well at home prepared meals even though she has a full time job. Maybe she learned from her paternal Grandmother.
Heck, I can remember my Dad refusing to eat TV dinners.

 

[powder smoke]

I'm absolutely certain that lots of 'home cooking' is NOT on the "healthy foods list" but I'm even more sure that most of the take out stuff is worse. Daughter does pretty well at home prepared meals even though she has a full time job. Maybe she learned from her paternal Grandmother.
Heck, I can remember my Dad refusing to eat TV dinners.

TV dinners are not dinners! We have home cook meals every single day! I believe the vast majority do also!
Before I retired! I had home made lunches always wit a home made desert or cake. My wife is a pretty good
cook we do home made dinners! TV Dinners omg I'd give the to Buster my chocolate lab!

 

[contender]

Miss Penny & I often discuss the apparently common fact that many people don't cook, can't cook or refuse to cook. We both cook MEALS around here. Heck, just last night,, pork loin, scalloped potatoes, home canned green beans, & sauteed onions.

But it does seem that all too many younger people rely upon TV dinners, take out, meal kits, or other stuff that is pre-fixed, so they do not have to do anything.
I was raised in a restaurant, and all of us cooked. My Dad,, was probably the weakest cook of the bunch,, BUT,,, he stressed that we kids all learned how to do it. And,, both of our boys AND their wives cook. In fact,, they pride themselves in fixing family meals for a crowd.

It does sound as if the young lady is nice enough,, and with a little gentle guidance,, maybe she'll want to learn how to cook.

I wonder how many people nowadays would survive if they had to suffer a catastrophe where restaurants or food delivery wasn't available. If they HAD to try & cook to survive.

 

[blume357]

The main reason I'm alive today is my wife usually cooks supper and even though y'all will have a hard time wrapping your heads around it, she's been a vegetarian (bad hunter) for over 40 years.... she will fix me the occasional fish or such* but most of what she fixes is vegetable along with brown rice or good pasta.... all good healthy food. About every two weeks she will go on strike and I will have to either take her out or order something to pick up.
Don't get me wrong, I can cook and I know how to cook pretty good and do all the time... but I tend to lean toward either a burger or a real thick piece of beef. *

I won't touch fowl... chickens are nasty and turkeys aren't much better and the whole food industry pushes this not because they are healthier but because it is cheap and they make more money off of it. On top of that I've already got old man breast, they don't need to get bigger from all the hormones in chicken and turkey.

 

[Fox Mike]

One of my daughters has a sign in her kitchen. "The only reason there is a kitchen here is that it came with the house!" She does cook though.

 

[Dave P.]

I can remember my Dad refusing to eat TV dinners.

I remember looking at TV dinners as a treat. Can't remember the brand but they had two little right triangle pieces of "fish" in the lower center, a helping of green peas in the upper left corner and tater tots on the upper right. Went I'd go to the store with my mother I'd always try and talk her into getting me one, was seldom successful at it.
We ate well, but with hindsight maybe not real healthy. My mom worked part time at a meat packing company and would basically get to bring home as much dead cow as we could eat. Usually get a big tenderloin to use during the week and a end of one for maybe roasts on weekends. Between that, hunting and fishing we sure didn't have a protein shortage. Had a big garden also, as a kid I always had to do weeding and picking....I have HATED gardening ever since! I'd have to get real hungry to ever grow one again, think I 'd eat the neighbor's dog first.

 

[toysoldier]

It must be nice to have enough money to pay for prepared food.

 

[Captain America]

It must be nice to have enough money to pay for prepared food.

When you add up gas, energy needed to cook the food, and the ingredients, a meal from Texas Roadhouse costs less than I would invest in preparing it myself let alone the time expended. My wife and I work six days a week so cooking is actually a luxury.

 

[Kevin]

My parents cooked, but I also remember liking tv dinners as a kid too. I don't eat them now, but I imagine they aren't the same. The Salisbury steak was my favorite. It usually came with either cherry or apple cobbler.

These days, both my wife and I like to cook. and eating out in restaurants is more for just entertainment. Something to do on the weekend.

 

[NewRuger41]

Wow! No cooking ... I wouldn't know how to process a household like that.

We grew up in a household where both mom and dad cooked from scratch. An occasional treat.was a TV dinner! LOL My Gramps grew loads in his gardens amd we canned, made our own pasta and pizza sauces, etc. We started seeds indoors and transplated seedlings to grow beds outside before moving into the gardens. Working the dirt was a highlight and so many cherished memories - even pesky deer flies irritating me! LOL

When you look at our human body as a sponge, absorbing through the skin, the nose, and everything we eat and drink ... you're either feeding your nutrition or a disease. The importance of understanding nutrition from a young age is critical as is training a child's taste buds. The lack of importance placed upon good nutrition in primary education is beyond irresponsible. Learn a foreign language you may never speak or need to speak, but don't learn how our bodies obtain nutrition nor how our bodies contract disease. Hmm ...

I started a garden club at my son's school. The school went from no garden to growing strawberries, garlic, pumpkins, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, celery, etc. K-2 plant seeds inside in February, then transplant outdoors in April. All grades weed and prune and water. Of course folks come out of the woodwork at harvest time. The look on the kids' faces who held a seed in their palm and planted it, to come back over the Summer 2 months later and see okra taller than them is awesome Not to mention how so many students cannot believe bow much better home grown fruits and veggies taste over chain stores. Which leads to our education about growing seasons, picking, storing, transporting, etc.

We literally are what we eat. I won't leave that responsibility to any cook / chef outside our home. Sure we dine out occasionally, but the overwhelming majority of our meals are made right here at home. When pressed for time I cook quick, simple meals. Sometimes I cook ahead so there are a few meals ready to eat or eat after warming. And my son and youngest step daughter are beside me. Planting seeds, caring, harvesting, canning, and cooking. Tonight after school they will be making pizza. Both of 'em love to pound and work the dough (and of course add toppings!). Ages 9 and 14. We find cooking is a great opportunity to communicate what's happening in our lives, joke around, etc.

 

[Pat-inCO]

When you add up gas, energy needed to cook the food, and the ingredients,
a meal from Texas Roadhouse costs less than I would invest in preparing it
myself let alone the time expended.

I want to know where you live. So I can move in next door and have the
benefits you have. - - - My meal last night was less than $4. :roll:

 

[Wyandot Jim]

When you add up gas, energy needed to cook the food, and the ingredients,
a meal from Texas Roadhouse costs less than I would invest in preparing it
myself let alone the time expended.

I want to know where you live. So I can move in next door and have the
benefits you have. - - - My meal last night was less than $4. :roll:

Yea I would also like to know also.
Last night wifie and I had our second night of Chicken Lazone with the cream sauce over thin spaghetti. So 4 great meals for a total of about $7.00 or $1.75 per meal. Simple to make and very good.


"IT IS SO GOOD AND TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER? THE SAUCE IS SOMETHING OUT OF A FAIRYTALE! THIS DELICIOUS CHICKEN IS PAN-FRIED IN BUTTER AND PERFECT SEASONINGS TO CREATE A CREAMY PAN SAUCE THAT WILL HAVE YOU COMING BACK FOR SECONDS.. OR THIRDS!"

 

[vito]

Several of my grown kids have take-out more than cooked meals, and I attribute that to the long hours they work. My wife was a stay-at-home-Mom for much of our marriage and cooked every night, other than the nights I took over. When my kids were teenagers and had friends over, which was more nights than not, they often remarked about how amazing it was to sit down to a real dinner, something that NEVER happened in their house. One of my daughter's friends at the time was the daughter of a 2-star General (I was a Lieutenant Colonel at the time) who told us that she could not remember the last time her family sat down together for a dinner, but that normally everyone just grabbed what they could and ate alone, or ate the pizza or take out that the parents brought in.

Even now that it is just the two of us most of the time, we have real meals cooked in our own kitchen or out on the grill on the patio. A fresh salad almost every dinner, plus the main course and at least one vegetable. My wife does not particularly like to go out to restaurants, rarely finding the food up to her expectations. She does want Chinese take-out about once every other week which is fine with me.

One of the nice things about having real, home cooked dinners, is that the family gets to sit together and actually talk. When my kids were younger cell phones weren't yet a thing but hand held video games were around. But none of those things was allowed at the dinner table. Even now, my wife and I probably do more conversation between us at dinner time than the rest of the day put together when each of us is busy with our own things.

 

[Captain America]

Several of my grown kids have take-out more than cooked meals, and I attribute that to the long hours they work...

This^^^

 

[bobski]

food delivered via smart phone has taken over a generation.

 

[Pat-inCO]

food delivered via smart phone has taken over a generation.

And does a GREAT job of emptying their wallets. :shock:

 

[NewRuger41]

It isn't just their wallets now. Wallets now, wallets later as medical bills for disease roll in from poor nutrition. That is what kicks me - paying to put unhealthy food in one's body which likely later will cost much more in med bills!!! Do the right thing now. An ounce of prevention ...