Cooking - Is it a dying art?

hchappyh

Silver Member
Well, I'm fat and cook most of my food from scratch. If I'm making fish pie, I make the pie: buy the fish (obviously) and then make my own mash, make a cheese sauce, add in the veg etc etc. If I want to have a cake, I make my own cake, not from a box or a mix, but from scratch. You know what I mean, actually weighing out the ingredients and mixing together.

People say that cooking is a dying art and that is one of the reasons we as a nation are so obese. Well, my mum cooked everything from scratch and taught me and my bro and sis how to cook. Grandma also taught us how to cook. I have the best memories of going round to my grandma's house when I was little and her showing me how to make fresh bread and biscuits and pies, pastry and all. No preservatives and additives. I love cooking. Maybe that is my problem I love it too much. If I make a cake, I have to eat it. But surely a homemade cake is better for you than one from the supermarket!?

My kids are still very young, but even my 3 year old little boy, loves nothing more than helping me in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Very rarely do I give them Fish fingers. My kids eat a piece of white fish poached in milk with real mash and real veg, and my 6yr old daughter knows how to make it. Yet I am obese...and this is the food I was taught to make as a youngster...Is cooking from scratch dying out - I hope not, obese or not, I love it.
xx
 
I too love cooking. I think when I have a family I will be preparing their meals from scratch too, at least that way you do know what ingredients go into them and that there are no additives. Maybe if children are brought up on the right foods instead off all this additive rubbish it will give them a good stand to avoid getting obese.

I dont know about you but when I look for recipes I am always looking for low fat and low cholesterol things to make.
 
Its funny, but my parents always cooked from scratch - The thought of having a takeaway when we were kids was just a no -no. Yet, here I am all these years later, having been brought up on a healthy diet, lots of fruit and veg, no additives and preservatives etc and yet, still I am not only overweight, but classed as obese. Does this make sense? My brother and sister, brought up the same as me, yet both are taller, yes, but oh soooo much slimmer. They both cook, as I do and hopefully all of our kids will get a good start in life. But I had the same start, so why am I the 'fat one' and they're not? Still cooking is a good skill to have. I always had loads of friends as a student as I was the only one who could cook a half decent meal, so thanks, mum, dad and granny. I love cooking and hope my kids will follow suit.

xx
 
I'm with you on cooking from scratch! No convenience food here, but we do eat out a lot, and I am rather partial to the odd bottle, or two, of wine.....this is where my obesity has come from...oh and all the lovely homemade breads and cakes I bake! LoL
 
I was always the fat one in my family; mind you my mother didnt really bring us up on jsut home made food. My brother could eat and eat and eat and stay mega slim (28" waist). When he was at college he starved himself and barely ate, now hes back and less active its the complete opposite. I wouldnt call myself slim, but I am majoritaly a size 8.
 
I love cooking! But I don't cook from scratch every day as it would be impossible on the days I work and we'd be having tea at midnight! My son does have fish fingers (and chicken nuggets) and I rarely feel guilty about it. He gets a good diet at nursery and when I cook he gets a decent meal, too.

I make treats at the weekend. Not every weekend, but still. In fact, I've just bought a whole load of new cake pans, which perhaps does not make a good bedfellow for dieting :eek:.
 
I love cooking. Not so keen on weighing ingredients, mind you. But I don't do any baking, so it's less important (more art, less chemistry :D).

I don't really think it's a dying art. We're all just fat because we eat far too much ;)
 
I totally agree with the 'cooking from scratch' approach. I live on my own but I still make something properly every night, even if it's just roasted veg and marinated chicken or something. I can't bear eating ready meals. Though I do tend to opt for lower-fat recipes, or just make my own adjustments to make them healthier e.g. skimmed milk in mash for shepherds pie.

Like other people have commented, I also love baking! But because I know I can't eat the things I bake I take them to work or give them to friends/neighbours as gifts. It sounds silly but I'm quite satisfied baking a cake or some biscuits, just having a tiny piece and then giving the rest away, because essentially it's the baking part I enjoy and not the weight gain.

The only trouble I have had with cooking everything from scratch is.....portion sizes! It's so easy to have more than a 'portion' and not notice. I'm on WW and it's making me realise that even my healthy meals were making me fat, because I was eating too much of them.

I'm all for a 'proper cooking' campaign ;)
 
Like other people have commented, I also love baking! But because I know I can't eat the things I bake I take them to work or give them to friends/neighbours as gifts. It sounds silly but I'm quite satisfied baking a cake or some biscuits, just having a tiny piece and then giving the rest away, because essentially it's the baking part I enjoy and not the weight gain.

Totally with you on this! I'm more than happy just having a normal sized slice as opposed to wolfing the whole thing! It's definitely more the baking and appreciative noises from my family for me.

The only trouble I have had with cooking everything from scratch is.....portion sizes! It's so easy to have more than a 'portion' and not notice. I'm on WW and it's making me realise that even my healthy meals were making me fat, because I was eating too much of them.

I have also come to realise that I had huge portions and that was probably what was going wrong. Although I did eat more than my fair share of junk, too :eek:.
 
*heehee*

I'm with everyone on the portion control. I'm horrified nowadays when I think back on how much I used to be able to eat, and how much I thought was a "reasonable" portion. Now that I'm eating 500 calorie portions, it's actually a very comfortably-sized meal. But if you'd dished it up to me a year ago I'd ask what I'd done to offend you :p
 
It's true isn't it. It's not that cooking is dying out, its portion size that some how have got out of control. I remember years ago my hubby and me used to love a McD's brekkie. But it wouldn't stop there - we'd have 2 egg McMuffins each, and hash browns. Now the thought of it make me sick. Thankfully, am getting better at portion control. Maybe that's where we need to train our kids, the same old story nothing is bad for you, its just all in moderation - still trying to remember that myself. Went out to dinner the other week at a really really posh place (felt abit out of my depth!) anyway, tiny portions, but by the time we had finished stuffed to the top, and that was only after 2 courses - had to leave over half of my desert - something unheard of!
As to the baking, I love it, but like others, love giving my cakes etc to friends. Am always being asked to make some cake or other for someones party - at the moment the favourite seems to be chocolate eclairs and White Chocolate cheesecake - none good for you! As long as I don't eat, I really love making them.

xx
 
Haha, tell me about it! My fella and I, while at university, would stop of at McD's for an "afternoon snack" of 20 McNuggets, some hash browns, and possibly a hot pie each.

Ugh!
 
Thank goodness some common sense has prevailed as definatley do not do 'snacks' anymore. It all takes seconds to demolish yet years to get rid of....How i regret those brekkies now - although at the time loved it!

At least when you do cook from scratch, you can see the love that went into making the food and can appreciate it more. Also, once I've cooked, often don't feel like eating it all, which is obviously a good thing.

Weigh in later today - fingers crossed.
xx
 
I think eating home cooked food is way, way better than any packed or processed crap. I love cooking, it is brilliant.

However, when we cook we tend to cook more than we need to. Portion control is certainly something I struggle with. And no matter how full I am I will eat everything on my plate. It's annoying. But I am getting better.

I think processed food had become a lot more prevalent in this generation. So I am 21 and we didn't have as much processed food when I was a kid. They are saying that this is what makes kids fat. So in theory these kids are going to be fatter than we we ever were.

We/the goverment/everyone needs to change this. I didn't have a good childhood growing up as a fat kid. And I've seen kids that are way bigger than I ever was in highschool and I was bullied loads. Poor things.

Feed them some lettuce.
 
Happy-please please please make me some white chocolate cheesecake, that sounds like the best thing ever (fat kid speaking here).

Well I love cooking and I never buy anything readymade-the thought of it makes me sick. I'm always make things from scratch, tons of fresh veggies from the market, fruit all the time, etc. But my mum hated cooking and never really made anything that was too bad but we'd often eat out cos she couldn't be bothered cooking.

I have a younger brother (9 years younger) and he's a real cookie monster, he eats anything he wants and never puts on an ounce. So there was always stuff for him in the house: cakes, ice cream, crisps, pies, just anything. And while I always struggled with a weight problem since I was 5-6, my mum still bought that stuff cos she didn't want to deprive my brother.

One of my flatmates only has frozen meals day in day out, crisps and so much chocolate, but she's this tall, thin thing. Doesn't exercise or anything. It really does puzzle me. So you know, I'm not sure how cooking correlates with being fat.

I know for me portion control is, well was, a big problem. I was always fed man portions too, but I always kept it up, cos I thought it was normal. I could always eat more, never really felt full cos I just love food so much. I think it's really easy for anyone who loves food to eat "healthily", but still eat way too much of it, which will make you fat anyway. I don't know about you, but I feel so much happier now with this regiment I'm following, I feel like I control my life for the first time, and I feel healthier mentally and physically. Isn't it wonderful? :)
 
Peachy would love to make you the white chocolate cheesecake, but its possibly the worst type of food for anyone, its full of ful fat cheese, mascarpone and double cream as well as of course the white choco. It is delicious tho!

I think portion control is definately the problem for most people. I also ate well, just too much of it. Love food, food doesn't love me! What more can I say. Not enough excercise, too much food, healthy or otherwise. Have to say, that is what I like about Go Lower. Because they provide you with your meals, you can actually see the portion size you are meant to have. By the time, you get to the end of the diet, you have learnt about portion control and how to eat healthly. I guess it's all about Change for Life, not change for now!

Had a weigh in today and yeah....lost over 1stone in 1 month. Really pleased and happy!

xx
 
Your cheesecake sounds like heaven, regardless of how terrible it might be for all our diets haha.

Yeah, I've definitely learnt to eat like 'a normal person' over the past two months and it's a relief. I can't believe I hadn't realised that in all those years.

14 pounds in a month is amazing! You must be so pleased. That's more than I've lost since the beginning which was three weeks before yours haha. Keep it up :)
 
I love cooking too! As a child we did eat probably too many processed things but I found the more I cooked "healthily" for myself, the more weight I put on, and like a lot of you it was because portion sizes went out the window!
I was shocked to realise that even the size of 1 of the chicken breasts I was eating is actually enough to serve 2 easily! Saves loads of money now though haha.

ps that cheesecake really does sound amazing!
 
I've just made the cheescake as we're having friends over tomorrow for lunch - and of course cheescake is a great dessert! I won't eat any tomorrow, but did lick out the bowl and whisk and spatula before - should've just waited to eat some properly tomorrow - prob would enjoy it more!!!

We're saving loads of money on food as my meals I get from Go Lower, but because I am now more aware of portion size, my hubby is eating less, so our food is lasting longer - its great!

xx
 
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