Ask Lemmy

I went through the pandemic and came out with a passion for making tasty things. It is probably a result of the combination of my being cheap, hungry for tasty things, and hungry to understand how things are made. But yeah I can cook.

Learning to cook takes time, energy, and willingness to endure repeated failure (or just a sub-par result). In contrast, packaged food requires only money and has the bonus to some of being approximately the same every time. One also needs a kitchen to muck about in, and a lot of my peers haven't had access to that after moving out and may not have been too involved with cooking before that.

I mean, I'm Gen Z and I've pretty confidently cooked my entire adult life. I realized pretty young that dad wasn't gonna cook for me forever and started helping with dinner sometimes to learn how. One of the best decisions I ever made.

Idk if it's Gen z. I'm millennial and I didn't really know how to cook when I was younger. I eventually learned from YouTube and recipe websites.

Yes, it's universal. There isn't a single millennial or gen Z person that knows how to cook in the entire world. This will finally put an end to our species.

On our tombstone it'll say "here lies humanity, fallen victim to shitty parents who didn't think to teach their children how to cook."

So like I know how to cook. But I don’t have the energy for it anymore. The world around me has pushed soo many task off to me in order to maximize profit I just have a ton more to do than I did 20 years ago. And the frustration of doing even simple stuff due to corporate cuts saps more energy per hour than anything used to.

Anecdotally, one is the best cooks I know is gen Z. In general though, I think this is part of the predictable result of not teaching anything like home ec anymore for decades.

I don’t meal prep because the meals are rarely as good after 5 days lol. I try to cook simple foods for breakfast (oatmeal, or bagel and cream cheese), and make sandwiches to take to work for lunch. Dinner is something like pasta with sausages and a side of veggies (99% of the time for me, that’s garlic and kale fried together in a skillet).

From my own experience, I had to learn it all by myself, mostly online videos and recipes. I very vividly remember living on my own for a couple of weeks and deciding to cook some fresh food instead of frozen dinners and pizza. I actually called my mom to ask how to cook broccoli cause I had no clue.

You just boil that shit how did I not know? I was never told

I like to think I'm a pretty good cook now. YouTube really is a invaluable source of cooking info

I don't think it's a generational issue, just young people. Once you get kids you'll learn to cook.

Maybe there are more singles and child free people or they take longer to settle down or whatever.

Some microwaveable/airfriable stuff is really nice. A lot of us gen z is living alone for the first time these skills take time to develop. I love cooking myself but please I could NOT do to every day not with depression

No, we personally love cooking tbh and a lot of our other friends can cook really well. Our partner can cook somewhat too but they put their skill points into other things than food :3

I'm a millennial and I didn't learn how to do more than scrambled eggs, pasta (ramen included) and meatloaf until I was 25. Maybe boxed recipes too. I didn't have the money to really cook myself anything fancy. And I grew up with two parents who could cook so I really only had the poverty excuse and even then not a great excuse.

I think gen z will figure it out eventually. Tutorials are everywhere

No excuse I'm a Genz but I cook sumptuous meals What's their excuse for not doing so The men in the house what do you think about this cuz it's freaking me out so yh

Dude, almost no one in America knows how to cook. I'm pretty sure less than 1% of people know how to use a knife and keep it sharp. Most would rather just assemble, i.e. throw ingredients into a pile and then turn on the oven/airfryer/stove.

I'm a single, Gen-x male and I despise cooking. Twenty minutes to prepare something, five minutes to eat it, and then another 20 minutes to clean up afterwards is, IMO, the most insanely inefficient use it my time.

Frankly I have better things to do. when a pill comes out that I can just pop in my mouth a couple of times a day I will be the first person in line.

For now, sadly, the best I can do it keep things as simple and as easy as possible prep wise (or order in... which gets to financially prohibitive sometimes)

I eat dirt and drink rainwater.

Lol. Seeing what people in this thread consider cooking makes me wonder if I should be a chef.

When looking at younger people who don't know how to cook, it's not about them being stupid - someone failed them. Yes, to your point, cooking is easy. A rice cooker, a single pan, you can make a great meal...

But no one ever mentioned what temp to cook chicken at. What the hell's a 4 (out of 10) and how much oil (or how little) should I use? Rice cooker comes with instructions and lines but that just makes plan rice - at least Zatarans has some flavor.

I learned how to cook a grilled cheese as a kid... And I hate cheese.

Then I was working in kitchens for seven years. So, yeah, I've got a leg up on people who've literally never cooked a meal for one, let alone 1,500 over a lunch period. It's hard to 'learn' to cook entirely by yourself because fucking up your meal means not having anything to eat.

It's not just Gen Z because no one taught their parents and Gen Z will probably fuck up their kids the same.

Exactly my point

Its been noted in studies that all generations starting from Boomers have had less people who "know how to cook". With instant meals came less cooking, and less cooking brought less learning how to cook.

I usually don't do much in the way of actual cooking. I use a Ninja Grill Airfryer XL - I just throw corndogs, breakfast sandwiches, polish dogs, ect, in there and have an affordable meal. I mostly buy my air fryer grub from Costco. I typically cook Tyson sausage patties alongside the sandwiches, to make it more complete for me.

I also like bowl ramen, Kraft Macaroni, and Bibigo rice bowls. For the ramen, Better than Boullian jars from Costco adds extra chicken or beef flavoring.

I'd probably be the perfect example of that stereotype since the only thing I actually know how to cook from the top of my head is scrambled eggs and ramen (if you can even count that). I always just prepare frozen meals (e.g. breakfast bowls) since I rarely give myself time to actually cook something. Tbf though, I feel like if I was forced to cook something, assuming I had access to the internet to get instructions, I could cook anything basic just fine. Though maybe that's just cope, lol

I mean I do know gen Z kids who can't cook at all, but I knew a lot of young men back when I started college who couldn't cook either and that was way before gen Z was around.

I can cook just fine! Now baking, that takes skill and effort and I'd often rather not.

Hey, I'm Gen Z. Not everyone here is older. I do cook. Quite well. I can be a bit lazy tho and I'm poor. So it's simple cheap stuff usually. I like to get chicken or pork, put some chinese chilli sauce on it, and bake it until its crispy. Then maybe some sweet and sour on top. Another good simple sauce is soy sauce mixed with peanut butter and heated and stirred a bit. Rice with some yellow curry powder, msg, and dried onion/carrots while its cooking, then adding the juices from whatever meat you cooked at the end is pretty good. Red Thai Curry powder is also great and can go on almost anything. A lot of my diet is just whatever meat cuts are dirt cheap (usually chicken quarters or pork half loin), rice, potatoes, beans, and other dirt cheap stuff.

Edit: Also, for the time aspect. It's good to find meals that you can just let cook and don't need to be watched. Like I can throw chicken thighs in the oven with a potato, leave it at 375F for 1.5 hours then come back and they're both done and ready to eat. Not need to check on it. I can do other things in the mean time. Like chores. Altho, that specific one only works if you enjoy your chicken cooked to shit which I personally do. I like it cooked so much it falls off the bone.

Am gen z, can cook. When I don't, yup, freezer section.