I volunteer with a Devon charity and we aim to help people to learn (or maybe rediscover) cooking skills. For example, we had one elderly chap whose wife had had a stroke. She had always done everything - and we showed him how to manage. And then we had a couple of young lads, off to university, who needed to learn some simple cookery skills so that they could at least have a semblance of healthy cooking on tight student budgets.
We show how to waste little, buy thriftily and cook from scratch. In a couple of hours we cook (or rather, they cook) a three-course meal with skills they simply didn't have. We have tried to expand this (there are groups in Exeter, Cullompton, Crediton and here in Tiverton) but it is hard to reach the people who need this sort of help.
I didn't learn to cook at school very much - I did Latin, so wasn't allowed to do Domestic Science! But my mother taught me the basics, and since I love to cook, I have acquired lots of skills over time.
Instead of "Food Technology" at school these days, basic cookery skills would be a great help both nutritionally and financially.
My grandson’s at Exeter Maths School and they have to cook on a rota for the 16 pupils in their block.  They have to do their washing ironing and cleaning,  All comes in their tuition.Â
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.Â
My grandson’s at Exeter Maths School and they have to cook on a rota for the 16 pupils in their block.  They have to do their washing ironing and cleaning,  All comes in their tuition.Â
That's good to hear Lyn . 15 years ago when my children were in school food technology involved designing ready made meals and packaging. I'm pleased things have moved on.
Does anyone else find that holiday advert involving a child lying on a beach, disturbing? It may be because it reminds me of the refugee child washed up on a beach. I don't know.
Does anyone else find that holiday advert involving a child lying on a beach, disturbing? It may be because it reminds me of the refugee child washed up on a beach. I don't know.
All those ads are really weird, hardly "aspirational" not that I'd ever use OTB ever again after our disaster in Egypt with them 4 years ago.
I haven’t seen that advert - probably because I tend to mute, ignore or pause them.
Re cooking lessons - I can honestly say that being armed with the ability to make a few dishes was one of the best things I learned in school. I did also learn from my Mum and Grandmothers but on leaving home at 18, I could rustle up my own meals plus you gain massive bonus points when you cooked or baked for friends and housemates.Â
The first time I saw that ad I thought it was mildly amusing then they repeated it at the end of the same ad break. NOT funny anymore. I think if your mother & or grandmother cooks from scratch as mine both did ,you seem to absorb some skills. I don't recall ever being taught but I can read instructions and I can turn out a perfectly edible meal if not a very adventurous one. Even when I lived on my own I almost always cooked from scratch, but then when you grow most of your veg, salad & fruit it's the obvious thing to do.
Only had two terms of cookery class at school but then it was a girls' grammar. However, what they taught me was nothing I've ever reproduced - soused herrings, fruit mousse made with orange jelly whisked up with evaporated milk and topped with tinned mandarines. Can't remember anything else and those were memorable for the wrong reasons.  Moved to a new home and mixed grammar school aged 13 and there, if you did Latin or German you didn't do domestic science or the boys' equivalents of wood and metalwork which would have been useful and interesting.
As I can read, I am now a self taught cook, seamstress, gardener and DIYer. All essential life skills along with money management. I have no idea how people afford so many take-away and ready meals in the UK and find the price of clothing made from fabrics I want to wear is prohibitive and I'm not living on the breadline.
There was a lot of snobbery in my school about cookery (even though there was a well-equipped cookery classroom ) and typing. We weren't going to be cooks or typists. I never did learn to type. It would have been a useful skill even now.
I never learned to type either and now do it with just 3 fingers and whichever thumb is nearest the shift key.  OH's mum was a secretary and taught all her kids to type in the 60s. OH still bashes a keyboard as tho it's a mechanical typewriter. Very noisy and wears out his laptop keys a lot faster than I do and isn't much faster.Â
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We show how to waste little, buy thriftily and cook from scratch. In a couple of hours we cook (or rather, they cook) a three-course meal with skills they simply didn't have.
We have tried to expand this (there are groups in Exeter, Cullompton, Crediton and here in Tiverton)Â but it is hard to reach the people who need this sort of help.
I didn't learn to cook at school very much - I did Latin, so wasn't allowed to do Domestic Science! But my mother taught me the basics, and since I love to cook, I have acquired lots of skills over time.
Instead of "Food Technology" at school these days, basic cookery skills would be a great help both nutritionally and financially.
It's so important to learn the basics.
It may be because it reminds me of the refugee child washed up on a beach. I don't know.
Re cooking lessons - I can honestly say that being armed with the ability to make a few dishes was one of the best things I learned in school. I did also learn from my Mum and Grandmothers but on leaving home at 18, I could rustle up my own meals plus you gain massive bonus points when you cooked or baked for friends and housemates.Â
I think if your mother & or grandmother cooks from scratch as mine both did ,you seem to absorb some skills. I don't recall ever being taught but I can read instructions and I can turn out a perfectly edible meal if not a very adventurous one. Even when I lived on my own I almost always cooked from scratch, but then when you grow most of your veg, salad & fruit it's the obvious thing to do.
As I can read, I am now a self taught cook, seamstress, gardener and DIYer. All essential life skills along with money management. I have no idea how people afford so many take-away and ready meals in the UK and find the price of clothing made from fabrics I want to wear is prohibitive and I'm not living on the breadline.