Teach your children how to cook

Curtis Stone, Jamie Oliver and many others out there are stating that too many children today are growing up unable to cook. They get to their teens then adulthood without ever having learned the most basic dishes. These same people usually turn to junk food and take away or frozen dinners which only compels our obesity crisis. They're also more likely to raise children who can't cook and the cycle continues.

I've seen this for myself.  With the introduction of ready made foods many friends I grew up with had parents who were heating up meals but not actually preparing or cooking meals. Those friends grew up unable to cook and now have children who are also not embracing cooking.  That is generations of people losing one of our most basic survival skills: cooking!!!!

Recently there was a meme floating around on social media, meant to be a funny joke that said: "Men cooking... Because the last generation of mothers didn't teach their daughters jack."

That joke puts all the onus on mothers failing and suggests that men cooking is a bad thing. The truth is a great many males and females haven't learned to cook even the most basic foods.
Bake beans on toast, boiled or scrambled eggs, boiled or bake potatoes, how to tell if meat is cooked or how to make basic spaghetti bolognese.

If you're one of those people who can't cook and therefore have nothing to teach your children I suggest buying a basic cook book and learning some dishes with your children.

It's great that we have social media and cooking shows so people can look this information up and follow step by step tutorials. In fact I think this is helping with regards to more and more people getting back into cooking.

Get your children involved in food preparation from an early age. Get them in the kitchen baking a banana cake or having a go at chocolate crackles.  Something they'll enjoy making and eating.

The beauty with this is if you start from an early age you'll be in a position to say to your children "Mummy is unwell today, you'll need to make your own breakfast/lunch/dinner" and they'll be able to do it.

Got a question? Leave a comment and I'll help you out.