Perceptions Vs. Reality--I thought more people were cooking/being self-sufficient/etc...

I have known for many years several things that I now hold as truths about humans:
1. humans tend to lean to the lazy side of life, drive thrus are at every store worth going to.
2. humans always do the most stupid things when they are in a vehicle since no one can see them, or at least that seems to be what they think.
3. humans will repeat a mistake as many times as possible then wonder why the results are always the same.

Through my observations, I have concluded that when a human sits in a vehicle and shuts the door, their brain has to either shut down or fall out on the floor of the vehicle, this has to be what happens since they will then put their attention on anything other than the safe operation of that vehicle.
Never be amazed at someone who lets their Idiot show, it has become like showing your underwear, by wearing pants two sizes to large and no belt.
Nothing is funnier than watching someone hold their pants up so they can run, especially if their phone rings and they let go of their pants to answer the phone.
If a person has a phone in their hand, they are oblivious to everything around them and are not watching where they are going.
People are lost if they don't have their phone in their hand.

I have to say, I'm in the majority of people - I hate to cook.  Heap judgement upon me, especially since I'm overweight, too, and have been known to actually enjoy food from a drive-thru.

Or...maybe stop and wonder why I hate cooking?  

I found it difficult-to-impossible to work a 12 hour shift, brainstorm a meal, drive to the store to get the ingredients, drive home, and stay awake long enough to put an actual meal together (and do all those dishes) before walking the dog, doing laundry, tidying the house, and such.  Much easier to swing through a drive-through, and it let me get an hour's more sleep, too.  

I am certain I am not the only one motivated (or demotivated) by a lot more than just the cooking itself.  People say cooking doesn't take that much time, but actually, it does.  Yes, you can find time, but it comes out of something else, and often that something else is something people really enjoy - in my case, sleep, and sometimes, being able to read.

I am actually quite a good cook, and eventually figured out to cook big vats of stuff on my days off, to have 'fast food' waiting for me when I got home.  I still don't especially enjoy cooking, and do utterly hate it when I have to come home from work, exhausted, and figure out what to make.  

If someone had tried to convince me of the 'joys of cooking,' they would have failed.  Telling me I 'could always find time' would have failed.  Judging me lazy or stupid or ignorant would have gotten about as much interest as you'd expect.  

Had someone commiserated with me about how rough it is to come home exhausted and try to put a meal together, and shared their 'tricks', be it crockpot meals, or my leftovers trick, or whatever, I would have listened much more closely.  

You want someone to listen to you and change?  Demonstrate the benefits, from THEIR perspective, not from YOUR perspective.  Start from an understanding that your audience is doing the best they can with what they know, rather than judging them incompetent or stupid just because they don't do things the way you think they should.

Jess, I totally feel where you're coming from! I have to cook everything from scratch due to my husband having Crohn's. Some days it's nice, but other days when we spend our whole evening (two hours) cooking and then cleaning up and have no time to play with our young kids (1 and 4 years old), it's hard. I was reading a blog of other parents, and they were talking about watching a movie every night with their kids, and then putting their kids to sleep and watching another one. I'm thinking, "Where do they find those two hours?!?" They don't have to cook! They order food out, or pop in a microwave/oven dinner. I wish that I had the option to do that on those crazy days when there isn't any time!.

Jess Dee wrote:
Or...maybe stop and wonder why I hate cooking?  

I found it difficult-to-impossible to work a 12 hour shift....

...And therein lies a second major problem.   Jess, I'm not saying this is in any way your fault.  But it's a societal problem that making a living should entail one working 12 hour work-days.  In the "Original Affluent Society", I think the estimate for many hunter-gatherer tribes was around an average of 4 hr per day ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society ).

So I sympathize,....and hope that perhaps some change occurs in your life that reduces that work schedule to something more healthy.

John Weiland wrote:

Jess Dee wrote:
Or...maybe stop and wonder why I hate cooking?  

I found it difficult-to-impossible to work a 12 hour shift....

...And therein lies a second major problem.   Jess, I'm not saying this is in any way your fault.  But it's a societal problem that making a living should entail one working 12 hour work-days.  In the "Original Affluent Society", I think the estimate for many hunter-gatherer tribes was around an average of 4 hr per day ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society ).

So I sympathize,....and hope that perhaps some change occurs in your life that reduces that work schedule to something more healthy.

I'm not working 12's any more, but it doesn't actually make me like cooking any more.  In the end, we solved it by having me be the full time breadwinner, and my husband (who doesn't mind the cooking so much, nor the other house chores) be the full time parent, gardener, and cook.  I'm just pointing out that there is a lot of judgement of people who don't cook/eat healthy/garden/want chickens/whatever, and that there are often reasons beyond them being lazy/stupid/ignorant.  In my own situation, we are lucky to be able to afford to have one parent be home, but many people don't have that option, and if something has to give for them, the cooking might be it.  

In my house, we have found that if I cook at least once per week, it helps ease the burden off my wife, and since I like to cook 5 course meals, once per week gives us a nice fulfilling meal, yet only once so we do not break our food budget!

Yesterday though we took a friend who is in really poor financial shape grocery shopping because her and her 3 kids are literally hungry for food. We paid for whatever she put in her cart, but likewise we are not ones to say, "oh wait, you cannot eat that, but this." We noticed she shops opposite than us in that we like fresh dairy, meat and fruits and veggies, and she stuck to the frozen food section.

We are not going to berate her, but rather hope that we can  teach her how to cook fast, delicious. nutritious meals by having her over to our house more. I think ultimately that is what is lacking today, a governmental and social system where people want to "tell" people what to do, but no real relationship which is where the magic happens; not just "tell", but show.

I totally agree about empowering people Travis . But for me we need to change the education system brake the cycle . Why not teach cooking at school ? For everyone ? ( along with basic economics , how to understand your electric bill etc ) or even gardening ?
Here in France , where I have a part time job in the local 16/19 school and in the UK I see that young people are expected to spend longer and longer in education yet it's all theory and lots of make  work and hoop jumping . Is this equipping folks for life in the robotic century ?

David

Close your eyes and think of what cooking means....
Now read this quote from M Pollan and try not to lose all hope in society.
Michael Pollan: Oh yeah, you hear lots about cooking and it has a lot of cultural prestige as an activity but nobody's really doing it. Only 58 percent of meals in America are cooked at home, but if you look at the definition of cooking it's pretty mild. Anything involving assembly of ingredients qualifies as cooking. In other words, making a sandwich is cooking.