How good are/were your parents at cooking?

[GadgetGuy]

What is xyz? Lots of stuff?

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

What is xyz? Lots of stuff?

you're choice. A baked good, jams, pickled veggie that I 'put up'.
Mom just doesn't get it.
Just about anything I'm making, if it's not for the table right now, is just not worth it to her *shrug*

 

[TastyReuben]

That's when Mom handed over the reins to my Father to do all of the shopping and cooking; she told me not so long ago, she detests doing any of that, ever Mom always thought it was such a waste of time to either food shop or cook and to this day does not get me "why are you making xyz, isn't that alot of work?"

My wife is like that. Don’t get me wrong, she likes good food, but if she had to cook it herself…well, that’s what a restaurant is for. When I used to travel for work, her diet was ice cream, cereal, and Chinese takeaway.

She’d rather be anywhere than in a grocery store shopping for food, which is why when she does go, she just comes back when a bag full of junk food - Lucky Charms, Oreos, Doritos and the like.

Earlier in our marriage, she’d try and cook something every once in a blue moon, and she was literally that person who’d say, “Well, it said 350F for 30 minutes, so I figured 500F for 20 minutes would be faster.” While she enjoys eating, cooking is a chore worse than cleaning a filthy toilet.

 

[rascal]

My wife is like that. Don’t get me wrong, she likes good food, but if she had to cook it herself…well, that’s what a restaurant is for. When I used to travel for work, her diet was ice cream, cereal, and Chinese takeaway.

She’d rather be anywhere than in a grocery store shopping for food, which is why when she does go, she just comes back when a bag full of junk food - Lucky Charms, Oreos, Doritos and the like.

Earlier in our marriage, she’d try and cook something every once in a blue moon, and she was literally that person who’d say, “Well, it said 350F for 30 minutes, so I figured 500F for 20 minutes would be faster.” While she enjoys eating, cooking is a chore worse than cleaning a filthy toilet.

I think my wife beats her at not cooking for 40 plus years?

Russ

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

Agreed TastyReuben !
Now that Mom is in her own digs, I found out that a good portion of her dinners, which are on her own lately and not in the dining room at the Senior Community, is snack-y stuff as she calls it.
Peanut Butter filled Pretzels, Ice Cream, Crackers, Chips ... she loves Trader Joe's snackies thanks to DH! He introduced Mom to a plethora of goodies. Mom didn't have TJ's back in her hometown in California. And she just told me the other day that The Bus (the Community's shuttle service) is now going to Trader Joe's two towns over once a month! That she'll shop for

 

[rascal]

Agreed TastyReuben !
Now that Mom is in her own digs, I found out that a good portion of her dinners, which are on her own lately and not in the dining room at the Senior Community, is snack-y stuff as she calls it.
Peanut Butter filled Pretzels, Ice Cream, Crackers, Chips ... she loves Trader Joe's snackies thanks to DH! He introduced Mom to a plethora of goodies. Mom didn't have TJ's back in her hometown in California. And she just told me the other day that The Bus (the Community's shuttle service) is now going to Trader Joe's two towns over once a month! That she'll shop for for my

My mate butcher is in a own unit part of a bigger rest home. He has to get his own meals. Or buy from Them. I make extra meals for him.

Russ

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

My mate butcher is in a own unit part of a bigger rest home. He has to get his own meals. Or buy from Them. I make extra meals for him.

Russ

Right, that's what Mom's in too.
They do provider her breakfast as part of her rent, but then she's on her own. She does like to take lunch and some times dinner at one of the dining rooms, mainly `cuz I don't think she wants to be bothered with getting her own meals. It's very reasonably priced as well. I take care of all of her finances, so the monthly rent bill that includes and incidentals comes to me and I pay.
I take over loads of frozen prepared meals for her.
Like this coming Tuesday I'm going over there and taking a large reusable grocery bag full of stuff.

 

[rascal]

Right, that's what Mom's in too.
They do provider her breakfast as part of her rent, but then she's on her own. She does like to take lunch and some times dinner at one of the dining rooms, mainly `cuz I don't think she wants to be bothered with getting her own meals. It's very reasonably priced as well. I take care of all of her finances, so the monthly rent bill that includes and incidentals comes to me and I pay.
I take over loads of frozen prepared meals for her.
Like this coming Tuesday I'm going over there and taking a large reusable grocery bag full of stuff.

They supply power and services . Brekky he does and lunch. Meals at night are $7 for a small meal.
I know my daughter will look after me when I get to that stage!

Russ

 

[LissaC]

It was really interesting to read through all of your stories, and reassuring to know I'm not the only one who has a mom who is a terrible cook

Her mom was also a terrible cook and both of them hated cooking. We were 3 kids and my mom used to make huge pots of bolognese or stewed meat that were supposed to last an entire week.

My dad learned to cook after the divorce - he knew just enough cooking to survive and not starve. Before the divorce he only knew how to cook spaghetti and fried pork chops. Whenever we were home alone and he had to cook we would ask me "What do you want for lunch? You can have spaghetti with fried pork or fried pork with spaghetti"

My paternal grandmother is a good cook, but with a limited repertoire. She has been cooking the same meals all her life and she cooks them well. Whenever she tries a new recipe she usually fails.

 

[FoodFighter]

My mum was a great cook, every Saturday morning from 9am till 6pm she was baking and cooking up a storm.

The kitchen was like a mini bakery.

Sundays were great too, usually a full value roast.

Good times.

 

[TastyReuben]

Right, that's what Mom's in too.
They do provider her breakfast as part of her rent, but then she's on her own.

Where my mom lives, she owns her own house, but all the outside work is taken care of (mowing, snow removal), and there’s a Senior Center on the property that provides meals, and all they ask is a donation. She tried one once and didn’t like it. For a woman who likes just about everything, she can be fussy about the way it’s fixed.

Here’s a funny tidbit into my mom’s psyche. Keep in mind, she’d lived in a house on several acres, rural, for 50 years before moving into her place in town last year.

When she found out that the community includes yard maintenance, she reasoned that that means no one really owns their yard, even though they own their house. They do own their yards, it’s just that the HOA does all the mowing, since it’s a senior community.

What that means is that she feels entitled to treat all the yards of all the residents as one contiguous common area, and when someone goes to check on her, they might find her sitting on her back porch…or they might find her sitting on the patio five houses down! She walks her dog through everyone’s yards, looks at their flowers, sits down for a rest, like she’s living in a park!

 

[caseydog]

Right, that's what Mom's in too.
They do provider her breakfast as part of her rent, but then she's on her own. She does like to take lunch and some times dinner at one of the dining rooms, mainly `cuz I don't think she wants to be bothered with getting her own meals. It's very reasonably priced as well. I take care of all of her finances, so the monthly rent bill that includes and incidentals comes to me and I pay.
I take over loads of frozen prepared meals for her.
Like this coming Tuesday I'm going over there and taking a large reusable grocery bag full of stuff.

My parents have a food allowance at the dining room, and the food there is very good. They mostly went there for midday meals, but with dad's situation, they have midday meals delivered from the dining room. They have light breakfasts and evening meals in their apartment. My sister shops for them once a week, usually when she does her own shopping.

My sister rarely cooks, and has obesity problems to go with that. Her laundry room freezer is full of prepared foods, all Healthy Choice and Weight Watchers frozen meals that are anything but healthy. Lot's of snack foods, too, all with "Fat Free" or "No added Sugar" labels that mean nothing.

She also eats out about three nights a week after work.

She CAN cook, but just doesn't.

CD

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

My sister rarely cooks, and has obesity problems to go with that. Her laundry room freezer is full of prepared foods, all Healthy Choice and Weight Watchers frozen meals that are anything but healthy. Lot's of snack foods, too, all with "Fat Free" or "No added Sugar" labels that mean nothing.

She also eats out about three nights a week after work.

She CAN cook, but just doesn't.

CD

Dawg, you must know my Sister!
That sounds just like her! She started getting those home delivered meal kits and now thinks she some 3 star Michelin Chef!

Oh and has an entire cabinet of snack foods, same sort your Sis has, she has them delivered by Instacart ... she doesn't drive and her husband is a long haul trucker, so he's hardly ever home.
Whatever.
I had made a real nice spread for all of us comprising of all local-style dishes (reads as from Hawaii foods).
One of the dishes was Spam® Musubi, which we all just love.
She took one bite, ran over to the trash bin and spat it out, with gusto too mind you.
She takes me by the shoulders, looks me dead in the eyes and says to me, "from one chef to another, don't ever make this again!"


Sorry, I strayed off topic there ... carry on ...

 

[Mountain Cat]

Both my parents were awesome cooks. Dad was the adventurer in the kitchen, mother mostly stayed with the recipes she'd been handed down - but was not afraid to make some of those her own.

They grew up in Kentucky, where veggies were always overcooked to soggy blandness. Dad rebelled, and Mom found she preferred some texture to her veggies, too.

I can only recall a very few bad (as in BAAADDD) things Dad ever made. This is different than ingredients I just didn't like.

When I was 2, we'd moved to New York CIty. Dad (and Mom, but mostly at Dad's instigation) explored Chinatown, Little Italy, and just about anywhere there. What was called "ethnic" food back then was very much inexpensive. So were offal like tongue and heart - which Mom cooked up wonderfully).

Dad was also a hunter. He came back with pheasant, killed with buckshot. And proceeded to cook it in a sauce with peppercorns - the peppercorns were all of the same size as the buckshot he'd used. Yes, this was one of his fails - You had to eat so carefully so as not to break your tooth or swallow some lead!

My brother and I also hated "reruns". That's what we termed leftover pancakes. He'd cook them all - he did breakfasts on weekends when not working - and save the uneaten ones for the next day, to re-heat. Sorry, dried out leftover pancakes don't cut the mustard! (Maybe they might work in a microwave, but we didn't have one then, and I don't really need to experiment today. I just save the batter.) Oh, the refried rice pancakes were pretty bad the first time around, but he agreed, and didn't try that again.

But, overall, he was a great cook - and he's inspired me to step out of roadblocks and boundaries. Some things WILL be a fail. And Mom has made it possible to enjoy traditions as well.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

I really hope that more of the professional chefs out there will chime in.
I'd love to hear about their experiences too.