What age did you start cooking?

**Sara Noel** · 01-11-2006, 02:14 PM

I don't mean when you learned to make pancakes with your mom or bake cookies as a young child. I mean when did you start cooking meals full time for yourself or family? (even if you cooked meals for your parents and siblings)

My mom showed me little tidbits when I was a kid, but I wasn't very interested. I didn't really cook full time until I was married and had a decent foundation of what to do, but have never been a kitchen diva. I do experiment when I feel up to it, so we aren't always eating the same old things though.

So basically, I didn't really cook much full time until I was about 29.

lol

**homesteadmamma** · 01-11-2006, 02:17 PM

I didn't start cooking until 19 (the year I got married). My mom never let me doing any cooking or baking.

**tervsforme** · 01-11-2006, 02:20 PM

I started cooking very young, I always HAD to help out in the kitchen. When I was about 12 or so, I had to cook a meal all by myself once a week, even if it was mac and cheese. Eventually, they had to get a little harder. I remember making French Onion soup from scratch and it was pretty good!!

I also remember making biscuits and they were hard as a rock! LOL

**forestdale** · 01-11-2006, 02:39 PM

I didn't cook at home either. I learnt quickly when I left home at 18 and with little money had to feed myself on a nurses wage. I didn't start cooking for others until I married when I was 31.

**sunshine** · 01-11-2006, 02:44 PM

At age 7-- my mom had surgery and my grandmother had a stroke. The men were in the fields, and someone had to put the food on the table.

My mom and grandmother would tell me what to do from their respective beds, and I did it-- by the end of the first week, I was doing it without them having to tell me what to do.

**Tia** · 01-11-2006, 02:56 PM

I guess I was about 9 or 10. I grew up in the kitchen. I learned to make jelly and apple butter before I was 7. I could make lunch by myself about that time also. Granted it was mac and cheese or soup and sandwich, but it was lunch.

I could make a full meal by the time I was 9 or 10. Roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc.

**Deborah_Kate** · 01-11-2006, 03:04 PM

I was about 2 or 3. My grandmother had me make french toast one morning. She supervised of course and there is a picture of me standing on a chair flipping the toast and another of me cracking the eggs. Grandma felt it was very important to learn to cook very young, she thought it was a very practical and necessary skill.

I totally credit her with my love of and ability to cook. I lost the talent for about a year when I was so sick Brian thought I'd die, but it's back now.

Deb

**pita1213** · 01-11-2006, 03:19 PM

i was in high school. my sister and i would help out in the kitchen as needed when we were younger, but i didn't start making meals by myself until high school.

**duckduckgoose007** · 01-11-2006, 03:40 PM

Here is a funny story.

One day when I was around 9-10, my older brother [he was 12 yrs. older] was home on leave from the service.

He told me to cook him some eggs. At the time we had a coal stove to cook on. I put a pan on the stove with butter in it & when I tried to drop the eggs in...the butter spattered on my hand & I dropped the eggs right on the stove top....man what a mess.

My brother never asked me to cook again, but I sure took alot of ribbing....LOL

Seriously, I really only started cooking when I married...my Grandmother did not like anyone in her kitchen.

**Darlene** · 01-11-2006, 03:44 PM

I probably didn't really start til I married Jack and wanted to learn. Before that it was alot of processed foods and quick meals. Can't believe I made soup with dehydrated veggies & seasonings, it was called soup starter and came in a canister. I was so proud of myself, lmao.
My guess is I was about 24.

**Jillybean** · 01-11-2006, 04:19 PM

I started when I was 9. My Mom bought a couple of kids cookbooks and had us pick out stuff we wanted to make. The we took turns on Saturdays making dinner with her help. At around 12 or 13 I was cooking on my own.

Jill

**momof42003** · 01-11-2006, 04:22 PM

We always helped my mom in the kitchen with dinner, weather it was peeling potatoes, making the salad, or something like that.. She did the bulk of the cooking, and that was that...

I had made meals for Home Ec and 4-H when I was in middle school/high school... My senior year I decided that I could cook just fine, and asked if I could make a big spaghetti dinner (sauce from scratch and all), of course my mom was like GO FOR IT!!..... Well Grandma was there, and I had not really ever cooked pasta, well I had over cooked it... Grandma took a bite and her dentures pretty much fell out.......

She told me it tasted great and finished the plate, but it was almost like paste... Oh well.....

I really didn't start cooking a lot until I was married at 22... DH was cooking at first, but he would cook the meal in parts... First the meat, then go make the potatoes or pasta, eat that, then go make the veggies and eat that... This was not only time comsuming, and a lengthy meal, it was annoying.... I finally started cooking the meal all together and haven't stopped...

**Michele Annette** · 01-11-2006, 04:32 PM

I didn't start cooking until I was 24. DH did most of the cooking when we dated and early in our marriage. I didn't know how to cook anything, but I learned and now DH has been doing most of the cooking again. I do like doing it now, however.

**PrairieRose** · 01-11-2006, 04:37 PM

I was about 12. My mom was ill and we had no restaraunts in our small town. I take spells of loving/hating to cook.

**mom2matty** · 01-11-2006, 04:48 PM

I didn't cook at home either......Mom and Dad both loved to cook so for me it wasn't until I got married at 23 that I was cooking full meals every day!