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Are Gen Z having a universal "idk how to cook" problem or is that just a minority? And for people who arent good with meal prep (or dont have time), what do y'all even eat? Those Microwavable meals? (piefed.ca)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Okay maybe this isnt the best demographics here but like I mean as in if you know someone who's Gen Z, do they have a "idk how to cook" issue?

(Please don't be like "omg its easy, how could you not know" in the comments, be nice in the comments okay ๐Ÿ™ˆ)

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[โ€“] 6 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm a millennial who's just learning to cook, definitely not gen Z lol. I dated people that cooked but mostly it was out food, microwave food, and extreme basics like spaghetti that's noodles and jar sauce.

My parents both grew up extremely poor with both parents working. They didn't really get taught how to cook. And being poor meant, no extra money for anything with flavor. My parents spice cabinet had salt, a 5 year old container of pepper, and a probably older container of Italian seasoning. That's it.

For most of my life I thought I just didn't really like food until I moved out. We didn't have a lot of money either so we didn't really go out. Having my own job and living with other people meant I had money to go out and holy shit, out food was delicious! Never occurred to me until years later that, this could be made at home much cheaper if I just take the time to learn how.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 1 point 1 day ago (3 children)

    "Didn't like food" ๐Ÿ˜ญ

    I remember thinking that instant raman noodles were delicious cuz mom was terrible at cooking and dad who knows how to make a few decent dishes was busy at work often times, and so the "good food" included

    1. The Mcdonalds around the corner (kid-me loved it, its basically my impression of "American food" at the time lmfao)
    2. Roast Duck/Chicken or Cha Siu from a nearby Chinese American restaurant + rice from the rice cooker at home
    3. Of course the aformentioned instant ramen
    4. Some weird canned fish thing from Asian Supermarkets, i dont think its very nutritious and its not very good to taste but its just that you eat it with rice and the rice is what fills your stomach
    5. "Fermented Bean Curd" + Rice

    Average childhood in a poor immigrant Chinese family with parents that worked all the time

    But um yeah I sureยน can cook. Um... lets see:

    • I can pan-fry eggs and then just cook rice and eat the fried eggs with rice and call it a meal...

    (ยนNo I cant really cook unless you call these pathetic meals "cooking" ๐Ÿ˜…)

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 1 day ago

    I preach the gospel of the Instant Pot (stand alone pressure cooker) whenever I can. Can be had for <$50 on Marketplace. Stews, soups, ribs, and more. Make a big batch, eat for 3-5 days, then make something different. Kimchi Stew is my favorite thing ever. So many recipes for it are: dump a bunch of stuff in, set the time and press start. Crockpots are good too, but the Instant Pot cuts down on cook time substantially.

    Burrito bowls: Airfry (a feature some Instant Pots have) boneless skinless chicken thighs, chop it up and put that over rice. Add corn and beans (from cans), some shredded cheese, taco sauce, prepped pico and guac, and sour cream. One of my fave things. Eventually you can make your own pico and guac.

    Experiment with different seasonings on the chicken thighs to make it work in other dishes.

    You can do this!

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 1 day ago

    Rice and eggs are the start of a million meals. You can toss veggies (whatever you like) in whatever sauce (soy, hoisin, teriyaki, oyster, etc) and throw it with the rice. You can add broth. You can add crunchy garlic or green onions.

    Learn to hard boil eggs and you can marinade de-shelled ones for a few days in soy/onion/chilis and it pairs with it as well.

    Our Asian supermarket has very large bags of Bok Choy for cheap, and that can be made in a ton of ways.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 day ago

    Relatable! I'm learning, slowly lol. I picked up a Betty Crocker cook book, this one specifically (not sure why the cover art is missing it's the red cover with a spoon shape) and that's been pretty good so far. Lots of things in there about HOW to do things. And The Food Lab which if you like science and really understanding what you're doing, you'll love that book.

    I've also subscribed to !cooking@lemmy.world, !homecooking@lemmy.world, and !baking@lemmy.world as well as a few alts of similarly named communities.

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