how many americans still know how to cook?

when I go to the grocery store these days there are so many of these “ready-made” or frozen meals where all you have to do is put it in the microwave, or just add water, or something very simple.

i understand that in this day and age many americans are very busy, with both parents working and no time to cook “traditional” meals.

but there seems to me something sad about all these pre-made food. does this mean that fewer and fewer americans are learning how to cook.

i think knowing how to cook your own food, from whole, real, basic ingredients, (in other words, from scratch) is a very important skill.

i am a very busy person, a graduate student…i don’t exactly have lots of free time. yet i still enjoy cooking homemade meals nearly every day…from scratch.

all these pre-made meals just can’t be very healthy – even if they are marketed as “diet” or “health” foods, they are still highly processed. real, natural, whole ingredients are always better.

so what % of americans can cook?
wow, so far I like all the responses I’m getting.

but i guess that was to be expected from posting this question in the “cooking & recipes” section, lol
some people have made some great points and I just want to emphasize them again:
•cooking from scratch is actually more economical than buying TV dinners
•you dont have to cook every single day…you can cook a few dishes per week, but just prepare enough that you can put the leftovers in the fridge or freezer and enjoy them later when you don’t have time to cook

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24 comments a "how many americans still know how to cook?"

I cook homemade meals for my husband. He does not like the instant meals or TV Dinners.

i can cook…lol

Dude, i’m only 14 and i can cook anything you tell me!!! I LOVE cooking. What u said about premade products not being good for u is VERY TRUE!!! Think about how long it takes for the product to be packaged, sent out, put on the shelf, bought, and finally taken home and cooked. There are so many preservatives in what we Americans now eat, we won’t have to be embalmed when we die!!!
LOL

i work 40+ hours per week so I don’t have a lot of cooking time,but I do cook,actually I cook in a nursing home for a living so the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook!,but I am a great cook and do enjoy it !

I can cook. Love to cook, too.

I don’t know the exact percentage but I believe you’re right when you think fewer and fewer people are learning how to cook.
I, for one, cook all of our meals from “scratch”. You couldn’t pay me enough to eat that processed crap!

i know it is disgusting!! and people wonder why there is an obesity problem. Well of course if everything is given to you, it is not going to be the best thing for you. I am a single mom who works full time and I am able to prepare a healthy meal every night for my kids for dinner. I make it from scratch with no processed ingredients. I am not a weird vegan/ vegetarian either. just plain Healthy Well balances meals.
People really need to stop being so lazy.

I can’t answer the question about the percentage of Americans who do cook. I suspect it’s not too low, there are a lot of cookbooks still selling, Bon Appetit magazine is flourishing, and even Emeril is out there still.

I do think it’s sad that we don’t sit down at a table and eat a homecooked meal any longer. When my kids were small, that was almost mandatory. It was “family” time to have meals together. And my kids learned to cook along with me and their dad. I love to cook!! James Beard was one of my heros, so yes, I do love to cook and pick up cookbooks from places I’ve visited or traveled to.

Cooking is an important skill. Not only because it can be economical, but it teaches you so many things. You can be creative with meals if you have a few basic ingredient and come up with something different and tasty. You can learn why something at a restaurant isn’t good–you’ve cooked the dish before and know what’s missing or what was done wrong. And you learn to have an adventerous palate. You don’t get “stuck” thinking McDonald’s is a good meal several times a week. Yuck!!

very few….

I agree that it is easier to fall back on the tv dinner but it is actually more cost effective to cook your own meals. I have recently gotten into cooking and I find that I save much more money. I can also make enough to go around for lunch the next day. I have also found that it gives me an edge in the dating game.

I LOVE to cook…when I have time, I make large quantities and freeze the leftovers for “encore performances” when I don’t have time to cook. I use small 2 serving size containers or use the Glad Stack and Store plates for “tv dinners”. When I have time, I always cook and from scratch. Most of those “pre made” dinners you are talking about are so full of preservatives and additives–not real food, just chemicals–not healthy. Some people I know make use of these new businesses where you spend a couple hours creating home made meals and taking them home to freeze. There are many ways to cook/provide healthy meals without buying all those preservatives and additives…too bad a lot of people rationalize they don’t have the time when they do if they would learn to “cook once, eat twice or more”…children would be healthier…

I can cook. If people decide they want to buy crappy pre-prepared meals from the grocery store that’s their choice.

I do think that unless you yourself have kids you still don’t have any idea of what busy is. Try being as busy as you are now while also ferrying little Jack and Jill to their various activities(soccer, band, cheerleading, etc…), help them with their homework, spend quality fun time each day with them and still spend time preparing a complete, healthy cook from scratch meal. Oh and in your free time find a little quality time for you and your significant other who also is crazy busy.

Wow, if you ever brought a premade/frozen meal to my family they would just look at it in disgust! My husband only ate out or had frozen meals before we got married and now of course I have spoiled him with my greek cuisine. So whenever I want to eat out he starts to complain and when we get to the Fast Food joint or even some restaurants he picks at everything and complains, then we go home and I have to cook for him!

I don’t know the % of americans that can cook, but I am one of the few that can cook, lol

I know what you mean.I cook a home made meal almost every night for my family.My children are interested in cooking as well!

What’s weird is that most of my guys friends cook, and a lot of the girls I’ve been seeing lately have trouble boiling water. I agree with you about learning how to cook, with all the sodium and nitrates in prepared foods you aren’t doing yourself a favor by “quickly” heating up that prepared meal. If you have a family then show them you love them and fix them something real, a lot of it doesn’t take that much time.

I always cook my own meals, no frozen entrees.
My grandma taught me how to cook and she was born and raised in Italy.
I love it!

you are right.i’m not american.but i really know what you are talking about.there are such problems in my country and many other countries.not just in america.so!what can we do?

I’m 13 and I cooked thanksgiving dinner, not including the turkey but you know.. all the other parts including dessert. I think having healthy food is pretty imporatant, I’ve eaten my vegetables when no one has told me to. I love to watch the food channel, I don;t know why I suddenly loved cooking so much.. though I can improve. I have to admit I do have a leancuisine pizza every once in a while. Our family is strange and doesn’t really eat together.. so it was really nice on the holidays when we were all brought together on thanksgiving and I cooked.
lol I actually did find this question under cooking and recipes.

I can cook. I have to my son has 5 food alleges eggs, soy, milk, wheat and nuts. Almost every thing that is pre-made as at least one of these. We don’t eat out much either unless we pake a meal for our son to eat or mommy and daddy go on a date.

I LOVE cooking as much as I love eating. My father always used to say “If you want to eat you have to cook.” Pretty simple I would say. Cooking homemade can sometimes be a little pricey if you fall into the rut of using very modern ingredients and spices. I try to balance. I make a lot of dishes my mother made when I was a child. All of them are extremely simple to make and include very basic ingredients. Once or sometimes twice a week I log onto a couple of my favorite food sites and write a list with, what I call, modern ingredients. These meals are “special” meals and are usually done on the weekends. I really do not find cooking very time consuming. I mean…I could be sitting around on my butt waiting 45 minutes for the prepackaged meal to get done in the oven OR I could actively be making something fresh and decent for 45 minutes. I opt for the later. And microwave food? Yuk! Once and a while in a pinch I do it…but very rarely AND I often feel unsatisfied after eating it.

I would 80% know how to cook, but probably 60% cook from scratch regularly. That 20% doesn’t cook a lot, since they don’t have the time. Also, it was not implied but of the 80% probably 30% of those actually cook well.

I cook from scratch about 5 nights a week. Since I’m single I have leftovers for lunch the next day and usually have made enough to cover the other two nights of the week as well.

i make pizza crust , donuts , yeast rolls pie crust etc…from scratch and i,m sure it,s a low percentage p.s my girls hate to cook

I agree with you a trip to the supermarket is sad and even dishearting. I thought I was the only left distrubed by the intensely irrational lost art of cooking.
I used to start cooking by noontime for a family of seven and also baked my own bread 4 loaves twice a week (no white flour) and full cookie jars, quick breads, my own jam from berries I picked myself. Enough. Just that there were never pakaged mixes in my house.
Now that there is just me; I finally have regained the art of cooking again but still have not learned how lower the amounts.

Thank you, for a great question.

how many americans still know how to cook?

24 comments a "how many americans still know how to cook?"

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