new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[gtaus]

Another is that many of the things that cost less time, money, and effort to make at home need a recipe that is not easy to find.

I would encourage anyone with a computer to simply do a Google search for recipes, they are everywhere. YouTube has a ton of videos. Just use the search feature. After that, it's just a matter of finding something you can do and/or finding the recipe that you like the best.

It helps to know it can be done and see how other people did things.

Yes, I use YouTube to see how other people did things.

Thankfully, another facet is that it isn't all or nothing. A person can start and gain benefit from even small changes.

Agreed. At 62 years old, I attended a Senior Citizens monthly cooking class that was offered locally for free. The instructors would show us how to cook a new main dish, a side dish, and a dessert at every meeting. I have a binder full of recipes from that class.

The instructor asked me if I was ever using any of the recipes from class at home. I was honest with her and told her that I only used a few of the recipes that were easier to make, but that my main purpose for attending class was to learn how to cook in general and that is why I attended every month. I was applying what I learned at the monthly cooking class to cook the food we normally eat at home.

Unfortunately, the funding for that Senior Citizen's Cooking Class dried up and the classes were canceled. But it was a great experience for me while it lasted.

As the token male in the class, I asked lots of beginner questions when I first started attending the classes. But, in small steps, I learned more and more and over two years really made a lot of improvements.

Our local food bank has some dedicated people that hand out food to those in need. In theory, that's a great service. In practice, I know some people who get food aid, and they have no idea how to cook that food. So, it just gets tossed into the garbage. Maybe a box of macaroni and cheese makes it to the table, or ready to eat soup out of a can is heated up in the microwave, but actually cooking raw veggies or dried goods is beyond them. They don't have the skills to cook that food and nobody is teaching them how to cook.

As bad as it was to force boys into shop class and girls into Home Economics when I grew up in 1960's and 70's, at least our girls knew how to cook and us guys knew how to swing a hammer and change the oil in the car.

 

[gtaus]

Maybe they should have a class in which the kids have to prepare their lunches for a week, and NO microwaves allowed.

I grew up rarely seeing a male cook a meal. My father only knew how to make chili. When my mother was in the hospital giving birth to my sisters, us boys and dad had chili for breakfast and supper every day. At least in school we had a different lunch! That was a long week...

I like the idea of having kids learn how to prepare their lunches. But I think you would have to have both male and female instructors leading the way. Young boys need to see an older male in the role of a cook. I think that is important. At least, it would have been for the guys I grew up with. We only considered cooking a woman's task.

Concerning microwave ovens: I don't normally cook anything with a microwave oven. There are a few exceptions. Microwave ovens are great for reheating some foods in a hurry. But I also use a small toaster oven and an air fryer to both cook and reheat food. Especially breads.

I grew up without a microwave oven and could get by without one even today. However, I do find the microwave oven a valuable tool in the kitchen. Maybe it's our age, but Dear Wife and I don't cook any meals in the microwave oven. But it's great for heating up stuff, like an occasional TV dinner, for example.

Is there a particular reason that you would not allow microwave ovens in cooking?

 

[gtaus]

The hard sell is, cooking decent food requires decent ingredients and as I've founf much to my horror; tools! It's quite expensive starting out. I had to buy lots of spices and herbs for example. I found I needed more baking trays, loaf and cake tins, etc.

When I started attending the local Senior Citizen's Cooking Class, I had very little experience in cooking and very few tools. As I learned how to cook different things, I realized that I too need more kitchen tools. I just keep going to our local church charity Thrift Shop and over time I was able to get everything I needed, used, for pennies on the dollar.

Even better, I learned what baking trays, loaf and cake tins, etc... brands were better than others. Our cooking class instructors taught us why some brands cost so much more and why they might be worth all that extra money. In the thrift shop, used goods are priced pretty much by size of the item. I was really excited to pick up a $40 or $50 dollar (new) brand name item for $1.00 when right next to it was a $10.00 (new) item for the exact same price.

Knowledge is power, and I saved a ton of money by buying high quality items at the Thrift Shop. It just took many months to collect my goods.

I asked my brother why her education was lacking. He said they were afraid she would cut herself.

Yeah, no doubt they might cut themselves or burn themselves in cooking. Safety is important. Good education will reduce accidents, and the kids will have a lifetime of skills to use. As little as I know about cooking, I have never had a serious accident in the kitchen. But I learned how to use a knife in food prep and wear oven mitts when handling hot dishes. If I can do it, anybody can.

 

[Perris]

I just keep going to our local church charity Thrift Shop and over time I was able to get everything I needed, used, for pennies on the dollar.

I've acquired a lot on the cheap from charity shops too - sometimes even new and gifted to the charity shop by someone who didn't want it or already had one.

Knowledge is power, and I saved a ton of money by buying high quality items at the Thrift Shop. It just took many months to collect my goods.

Exactly. It also helps to know which tools are going to be used a lot and which hardly ever, so get a quality version for the former.

 

[Sally PB]

I grew up without a microwave oven and could get by without one even today. However, I do find the microwave oven a valuable tool in the kitchen. Maybe it's our age, but Dear Wife and I don't cook any meals in the microwave oven. But it's great for heating up stuff, like an occasional TV dinner, for example.

Is there a particular reason that you would not allow microwave ovens in cooking?

For that week, just for the "learn how to do it on the stove" aspect. Someone on BYC is a teacher and mentioned to her class that her microwave had died. One of the students asked, "Then how do you cook?" She said, "In a pan, on the stove." The student had no concept of doing it that way.

Our microwave at our old house died. We didn't get another. We have never had one in this house, and I don't miss it at all. Not in 30 years.

I would LOVE to take a senior citizen's cooking class. One of my neighbors is an excellent cook. She used to teach cooking, but now says she doesn't have the time. She's also in Florida for the winter.

 

[RoyalChick]

I didn’t learn to cook at school. My mother was a fantastic cook but hates help in the kitchen so she shooed me out and I rarely observed. She would send me out foraging so I am not bad at that.
The only cooking class I ever took was at a work event where we all learned to cut an onion (I still don’t do it the right way).
Maybe all this ignorance is why I live to cook so much. It was something I had to discover for myself. I have my mother’s recipes (very hard to decipher) and Google.
Mostly I make stuff up and look things up for inspiration.
I believe I am now a good cook. Also a good baker though I have never tried bread and am a bit intimidated by the whole yeast thing!
I do a ‘big cook’ about once a week and then do versions of leftovers in between.
And steel cut oats can cook themselves overnight. Bring them to the boil (2 mins maybe?) and the. Switch off the ring and go to bed. Perfect steel cut oats ready when you wake up.

 

[Shadrach]

My father taught me to cook and sew. Just the basics. I've cooked all my adult life on my own or in a relationship. I cooked for the kids
Most of what I've cooked over the years has been what one might call, plain food. I'm not an eating for pleasure person generally; it's all about necessary nutrition which I know a bit about.
I know what to eat and what to avoid, but avoidance can be difficult.

I brought most of my cooking stuff back from Spain but, it's good quality basic stuff for basic cooking.
I live on my own which is yet a further disincentive to do much creative with food.

I think we may be a bit like chickens where social eating is imprtant to their consumption and social order. The problems I've had trying to get isolated chickens to eat properly. Dump them down with the others at meal time and one would have thought I hadn't bothered to feed them for days.
I decided I needed a way to cultivate an interest in cooking and my plan was to invite people to dinner at least once a week. Even I wouldn't bang a plate with a smoked mackerel and four plain steamed veg in front of a dinner guest. After all, one is expected to make an effort.

I'm a few months into the project now. I just about past the stage where every recipe needs some herb spice or spirt bought. I've solved the food processor problem with an electric drill and some modified attatchments. Yes, I really do use them. Whisking eggs with a fork isn't on my fun list.
I had one none stick baking sheet which I've been meaning to trash. Had to buy new stailess steel sheets and trays.

 

[saysfaa]

So. What would all of you suggest as essential kitchen equipment?

I seem to be coming at it from the opposite direction. I've been getting serious about ditching excess stuff. I continue to be surprised at how much isn't needed.

My list: a cast iron frying pan (unless the stove is glass topped). You can cook nearly everything in that, stovetop or oven. But the seasoning suffers if much boiling of liquids is done and boiling over can be an issue with larger amounts so a soup pan is second on my list.

If you have a glass top stove, substitute a standard frying pan or a wok for the cast iron one and add two glass pie plates if the frying pan has handles that can't go in the oven.

Add lids for the pans, two pot holders, a trivet, a spatula, a stirring/serving spoon, a whisk, a colander.

A two-cup (or 500 ml) pyrex (or other brand of heavy tempered glass) measuring cup, a set of measuring spoons.

A moderately long knife, a knife sharpener, a wooden cutting board.

Probably a meat thermometer.

Maybe an immersion blender.
Maybe a rolling pin.
Maybe a gram and/or ounce scale.

The next tier, these aren't essential but are worth getting if one has the resources (including storage space):
A medium-size or smallish sauce pan and its lid.
A smaller knife.
A mixing bowl.
A slotted spoon.
A flat pan for the oven - with or without low sides. Aka cookie sheet, pizza pan, or jellyroll pan.

The third tier:
Enameled roasting pan. Sigh, well, I have three and will keep all of them. The shallow one for roasting food, the lasagne pan that is like a cake pan but bigger and deeper, and the oval roasting pan that we haven't put food into for a couple of decades.

 

[gtaus]

I believe I am now a good cook. Also a good baker though I have never tried bread and am a bit intimidated by the whole yeast thing!

I used to bake bread in our bread maker machine. It made wonderful bread and I thought it was healthier for us because it did not contain any preservatives. Maybe so, but than I heard that bread itself is not good for you and we need to reduce our bread intake.

I guess if you look hard enough just about anything we eat would be bad for us.

I have also baked bread in an oven. Some recipes were better than others and a lot of it depended on the size of my Dutch oven I used. It took me a few tries before I found a bread recipe that worked good for me. Don't be afraid to try something and end up short of your mark. It's the journey that is sometimes more interesting.

I can tell you that our homemade breads were always better tasting than our store bought breads. Sometimes, I would just eat a slice of hot fresh bread with some butter on it like it was a dessert!

Grandma made the best bread. Sure do miss her wheat and molasses bread. She baked fresh bread almost every day for us. I am still fond of hard crust bread today.

 

[Perris]

my plan was to invite people to dinner at least once a week

do they invite you back? if so, have you picked up any useful tips (as well as enjoyed the company of course)?