A few days ago I was listening to a group of women talking about cooking. They were all pretending to be embarrassed while actually boasting about what poor cooks they are and how they’ve never cooked anything from scratch. “I don’t cook, I shop!” said one. I’ve heard conversations like this one before, but my perspective is very different now. We are trying to squeeze the most out of every penny so that Howard can stay a cartoonist. This means I can’t use shopping to solve the problem of eating as I used to do. I would half-guiltily buy frozen corn dogs or chicken nuggets or even fast food rationalizing that I was simply too stressed and too busy to cook. That is a luxury I can no longer afford. To my surprise while buying raw ingredients and cooking food has used up more of my time it has reduced my level of stress. I am remembering that cooking can be a relaxing and rewarding experience. I am realizing that a working knowleged of How To Cook affords many opportunities for creativity and yumminess. And Yumminess does not have to be expensive.
This is something that I need to pass on to my children. I need to teach them to cook from scratch. That way they have a choice whether to join consumerist society or stay back-to-basics. My kids may choose to shop rather than cook, but it needs to not be because another option was never made available.
Not just that, but the ability to cook, even just a few minor things, will seriously come in handy should they wind up in a state of financial belt tightening. For instance, College. 😉 The ability to turn groceries into food is an excellent one, and something that more people should know.
My parents taught me to cook at a rather early age. For a while, it was just Mac and Cheese, and certain baking things, but eventually I learned more… It’s come in very handy, because I’m not just going out and buying food every night. (Just… half of them.)
Incidentally, “The Joy of Cooking” is an awesome book.
The real power of knowing how to cook is in looking at a recipe and knowing what to tweak so you can cook with what you already have in the house and still have the dish come out yummy.
There’s one more advantage to teaching them to cook from scratch – they can tweak the store-bought stuff, should they need to, in order to wow people if they don’t have enough time to work everything from the beginning and forgot to prepare for it ahead of time.
Being able to make Mac & Cheese with Kraft is one thing; being able to turn it into baked macaroni and cheese with a white sauce in a cassarole plate’s something else entirely. Being able to make a cheese sauce with white sauce from scratch, however, is priceless. Ditto making spaghetti with fresh or even canned tomatoes.
One hint – if they’re college-bound, teach them what you can do with rice; that’s fairly cheap carbs there, and they can do more with it than they can do with bread.
My roomates and I once lived for three weeks on a case of canned green beans, a dozen eggs, some ramen flavor packets, a twenty-five pound sack of rice and $2.87. Rice rocks.
Scouts
For your boys might I suggest the Scouts. Along with my mother at home and the scouts I learned how to create many a meal outside that could also be brought home. Spagetti, Dutch Oven Pizza, and even Phily Cheese steak, Plus the morals taught and leadership arent to bad either.
My mom taught me to make grilled cheese and scrambled eggs when I was six. I’ve been off and running as a cook ever since. You are so right about cooking being a relaxing experience. It is truly one of the things I enjoy most. I love it when friends come to cook them a really wonderful meal like homemade lasagne with homemade meat sauce. It just tastes so much better and they appreciate the “effort” I went to. They never believe me when I tell them that cooking is not an effort (okay, I get a little stressy-crazy when I am on a schedule and get behind, but who doesn’t?). Do your kids ever help you in the kitchen? That’s a great way to get them interested in cooking. My siblings and I were always responsible for things like tearing up head lettuce for salads, peeling potatoes & carrots, chopping onion (once she could trust us with a knife!), and such food prep sort of things. Once we were teenagers, we frequently cooked dinner so that Mom could accomplish other things. I’ll stop rambling now & wish you good luck in the kitchen with your kids! =)
Being able to make a cheese sauce with white sauce from scratch, however, is priceless.
But that’s easy… Just add some grated cheese to your white sauce and stir til it melts and is creamy.
Might I suggest some of the food communites here? is a good one. It’s a mix of questions, ah ha! moments, photos, recipes, and where to buy stuff. sounds like a good one but it isn’t one I’m a member of. is another frequently mentioned on.
The Good Cook
The best thing that happened to our kitchen table was my wife signing up for The Good Cook (www.thegoodcook.com), a Columbia-House-style cookbook club. She now has several cookbooks and of the many many recipes she’s tried, they have all (99%) been excellent.
Now the problem is, how do I stop eating when it tastes SOOO good?
My husband’s more the chef, and I’m the baker in the household. We figure between the two of us, the kids will be well-rounded in the kitchen. We’re both geeks, so we absolutely love Good Eats – Alton Brown. He actually goes into the whys and wherefores of cooking – the chemistry and physics of it! If you’ve got a kid that is very WHY oriented, or likes to know how things work, I highly recommend his book.
It’s amazing how many people don’t realize that, or even know how to make a white sauce. And it’s stuff I learned in GRADE SCHOOL. Much less how to put together a pasta sauce from scratch, or at least canned tomatoes.
“Flat Eggs” are fairly inexpensive, compared to many meals at home. One serving is an egg (about 15¢), a 5¢ slice of bread, and about 5¢ worth of Parkay.
Your youngsters might even like them! ];-)
I certainly agree with teaching them to cook. It enables them to not only be more independent, but also to pitch into the family doings more effectively.
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