[happygolucky]

Just been reading about Mary Berry saying children should be taught to cook meals at school, not too sure what they actually teach now at school  but so many people have no idea about the basics and have either instant of take away stuff.  I still remember my cookery days at school, even though I was not that keen at the time, you do remember simple stuff like white sauce and peeling veg.
I think this topic was covered before but when I worked and went into peoples houses I often was shocked how much money they could save making more simple dishes to feed a family......On the other hand I got quite angry with good old Jamie Oliver, I do like him but, he was using recopies that although advertised to be cheap, actually were very costly, what do others think?

[Scotsdumpy]

I agree, Ive stopped watching cookery programmes because of the exotic ingredients the have "at the back of the store cupboard" Whilst I dont enjoy cooking I can put together a cheap, nutritious meal and knock up the occasional cake. Im not inspired by the likes of Mr Oliver, two hairy bikers etc.  What I did enjoy was Delias how to cook programme which dealtwith the basics. I was taught in an era when one afternoon a week was spent learning the basics of homemaking. I think theres a need for the new generation to learn the basic skills of cooking and baking and managing a budget. A programme last night on channel 5 showed the type of people who were working the system which showed how to milk a system to the hilt. Im not sure how these people would fare in the event of a war or other life changing event...

[Louise Gaunt]

I agree with Mary Berry, children should be taught how to make simple meals and more importantly, how to shop for the basic ingredients to make inexpensive meals. The whole tv chef thing has made people think cooking is difficult, it isn't if you know a few basic recipes and have been given ideas on how to make other things from the basic starting point eg bologna use sauce one day, chilli the next, or shepherds pie from left overs etc. My daughters learnt to cook helping me in the kitchen, and I learnt from my mum, but so many families don't cook that that isn't going to work in many cases. We need more common sense from Mary Bery and Delia not fancy chefs smearing coulis on plates and then covering a minute portion in foamy spit!

[plumseverywhere]

My eldest (nearly 12) starts 'food tech' this academic year (sounds too scientific for me!)  she already cooks loads though - she cooks all the biscuits, cakes, puddings and could manage spaghetti bolognaise etc by herself. The 10 year old can gut and pluck game birds     (proud mummy!)

[happygolucky]

I watched the benefit programme as well,  , I too get fed up with posh cookery programmes and if I want a cookery or meal idea I look on you  tube or on here......on video jug, you can stop and start and follow the recipe easily, when i did cook more, i used my old school cook book.....shopping is also a skill, although again, you need to know what to cook as there are so many tempting per prepped foods around.


My children used to do a bit if cooking, it can be a fun way of interacting with your children.....I just need to get my husband interested...

[doganjo]

Cookery and baking programmes are entertainment - they inspire people, they encourage the general public to have a go.  Not every one of the recipes are expensive.  I saw one recently for soup and it was using packed pre-prepared vegetables and a stock cube - I tried it, it was delicious, nutritional, and I wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't seen it.  Don't ask me what programme it was, i can't remember. 

Mary Berry is right, more home economics should, be taught in schools - I learned a lot in school, but I learned as much from my Grandma - it starts with us Mums and Grannies, not just school.

[Brijjy]

All of my kids are obsessed by Great British Bake Off. There will be arguments tonight when hubby wants to watch the football. I think the kids will win, there's four of 'em! All of mine are being taught how to cook, by me, school and my sister when she visits. My oldest daughter, age 12, is a fantastic baker and loves to make cakes. Hence me going back on my diet. My oldest boy wants to eat what he shoots, eg squirrrels, pigeons etc. My youngest son, age 9, is enthusiastic and made Spag Bol the other evening. My youngest daughter, age 11, is actually not keen on cooking but then she's not a big food lover either. The oldest two, who are at secondary school, do cookery there but they've already learnt at home what they cook at school.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I lost interest in cookery all through senior school as it was the era of Home Economics and food technology and from our junior school baking lessons and home made school canteen food I was transported to colouring pie charts and writing essays on nutrition. It turned me off totally.


I hope Food Tech isn't like that to the exclusion of actually cooking! I began to hate the whole area. It was only when I went to college and after wards that my love of food and cookery was rekindled and have never looked back.


I'm sure some people like food to be a science but I think in a lot of cases it Is a case of schools wanting to not invest in the sort of equipment and supervision that practical cookery requires.


For me, cookery should be an art and a passion first, and then the science kicks in at a higher level when you want to know why x and y happen or why method A works better than method B? I'm with Mary on this!

[happygolucky]

Brijjy , do they cook meals at school these days? I worked in Schools for years about 20 odd years ago and it was more a science ,but they did do a  bit of cooking, no where near as much as I did at School, so I do  wonder what's on the curriculum now?  Cake making sounds good but I do try to avoid that

[Brijjy]

Well they've made a few meals, like meatballs, pizza, soup. Nothing too amazing but it gives them a bit of confidence to use ovens etc. Spike, oldest boy, actually learnt to make pastry at school. I hate making and eating pastry so it never gets made in my house. Now he knows how to make it, he's on mince pie duty this year!

[Fleecewife]

My Mum was never taught to cook at home, so when she was first married, just before WWII, she didn't have the first clue how to feed her husband or manage her home.  She had to learn quickly, and when I came along she was determined to teach me all she knew - and my brothers to a lesser extent.  Helping in the kitchen was always a privilege not a chore. I started at 5 with making mince pies from scrap pastry and making some white bread while Mum was making the big wholemeal batch loaves.  We were allowed to make toffee, fudge and butterscotch  (which teaches you some science), and cakes.  Mum let me do the grocery order sometimes too, and I would go shopping in the village with her (no supermarkets then)
 
By the time I was 12 my Mum was seriously ill so I took over all the household management including cooking.  She died when I turned 15 and from then on I either coped or I didn't, as there was no-one to ask, and my Dad expected perfection every time (including the odd dinner party which I stumbled through somehow  )  I could prepare a variety of nutritious meals, preserves, Christmas cake, game, and plan ahead, managing the housekeeping money my Dad provided so I never ran out.
We didn't have a single cookery class at school, or home ec, and had to fight to get dressmaking for a year (hidden away in a back room - my school considered academia was the only way forward for women)
 
Once I got to Uni I was somewhat shocked at the standard student fare of pie and beans or fish and chips, and as soon as I could get into a flat with a kitchen I loved being able to cook.
 
My own children did get cookery at school for a year and the younger boy especially loved it, but by then they had both learnt the basics from me.  They both married women who couldn't cook at the time, although they have learnt too.  All of us are basic cooks of wholesome family food, with no fiddly bits of jus and toffee baskets, not one of us owns a kitchen blowtorch, and we arrange our food to lie on the plate not perched in ridiculous towers.
 
I hate cookery programmes.   We rarely ate out before, but now we never do.  Seeing chefs with sweaty hair and dirty tea towels at their waists or over their shoulders, for smearing their hands on, working with their bare fingers, just kills any appetite I might have.   Also their idea of cooking meat which leaves it slightly brown on the outside but still barely dead inside genuinely makes me feel sick.
 
When my eldest grandson moved into his first flat, I bought him Delia's basic cookery book, which is perfect for someone starting out (he didn't get taught anything by his mother)
 
My thoughts on home ec and cookery at school are that it can only be beneficial to young folk.  Their parents' generation seem not to have picked up much and live from carry-outs and restaurants, and struggle to make ends meet.   Knowing how to cook from scratch and also how to grow your own food has to be the way for the future 

[sokel]

I lost both of my parents within 6 months of each other to Cancer when I was only 13 , I was the main Carer for both of them for 12 months before they died.
I was able to cook a full roast dinner and bake cakes etc  and I actually enjoyed doing it.
If more children where taught to cook there wouldn't be so many adults saying they cant cook

[RUSTYME]

I learnt the basics of cooking from mum . But i used to go and live in my camp in the woods most weekends so did all my own cooking there , rabbit , pigeon etc plus the veg i took from my veg plot .
I am not a foodie at all , i eat to live . What i want though , is clean food ie not grown with poison .
Not a fan of big slabs of meat , i tend to use mince mainly .
I can do full roasts , stews , caseroles , soups , puds tend to be crumbles , tarts , pies with custard or cream , all simple , basic stuff .
Drippin gets used not binned , i grew up on bread and drippin , (i still use it instead of grease
on the wheel barrow etc) .

[happygolucky]

sokel  and Fleecewife, thank you for sharing, that has truly touched me   I observed my mum  but cannot remember her actually teaching me,  but that's how we learn I suppose, I pick up things better on the internet as I never watch the entire TV programme without being interrupted....I have gone off cooking and particularly gone off meat.....although I still over eat!!  We had a relative stay that eats out for every meal...yes every meal!!! , he has no children and on his own now and extremely £, all I could say was " I bet you have a very clean kitchen"   2 of my 3 daughters love cooking and are very good, one detests cooking but she is a very busy girl, one daughter also has a husband that fills the freezer with game, he also cooks very well...I cook better when I have very little choice, then I become more imaginative, I have often had to cook ad  hock in work placements, once I went into a children's home and before the manager could show me around, the phone went for him and he just gave me a bunch of keys and said " cook the young people some dinner please" I looked and found the usual sausage and pies etc and then peeled and cut up chips with a normal knife as all Sharpe stuff was hidden away...I was cuffed that they all were so pleased with their eggs, chips and sausage and beans...and then the manager came back to thank me and gave me the Sharpe knife.......another time it was a Sunday roast, that day I put a table cloth on and the young people in the residential home all got showered and changed, it actually brought a tear to my eyes, that was one special moment. I think I learn buy remembering what I have had to eat and trying to work out how its made, and I have never ever been a posh cook or cake maker....  arhhhh off to find some food......Bread and dripping was a special treat with salt on......the tin would stay in the oven for ages in our house, possibly  until the next roast went in!!!! I love simple food too much!

[Marches Farmer]

My two started cooking when they were three years old.  They could choose whatever kind of cake they wanted for their birthdays but they had to help make it and, later, make it by themselves.  So many chocolate cakes!  I must've begun about the same age, taught by my grandmother, but it was shelling peas, grating breadcrumbs and suet to start - all done for you or by machine now.