My problem is that I can cook but never have the willpower to after work, so I usually don’t eat or eat some junk

As far as I know cooking (and no, shoving something in a microwave is not cooking ) isn’t an ability you’re born with, you need to learn it from someone.

Yes, I do know Gen Z who cook. I even know Gen Z who meet up with friends to cook together. Not because “cooking is so easy”, most of them learned it from their parents, but that’s to be expected because where I’m from most people cook on a daily basis.

I guess it depends on where you’re from and whether cooking is a regular thing there, then you just learn it like you learn how to use the washing machine or the hoover.

Just for context, a hell of a lot of Boomer men (and those men before them) could barely warm up a can of soup because cooking was women’s’work, despite most “great” chef’s being men at that time. Gen X men were a little better, but not by a lot. I’m Gen X for context.

It really only became widely desirable / fashionable for men to cook with the Millennials came along. Before then, the ladies were expected to learn how to cook from other ladies, but of course only some of them had role models to teach them.

tl;dr everyone cooking is a relatively recent phenomenon, and as all the commenters here say, it’s a skill one needs to learn. Thanks for coming to my mini-TED talk.

im a gen z with insane executive dysfunction thanks to adhd. for a while when I was living on my own, yes I was living on microwave meals. they’re really cheap to get a bunch where I live and they have some variety, and I grew up on them due to my parents not really cooking often and being a latch key kid so they were a little nostalgic. but once I realized I never felt full after eating one and making some more money I started meal prepping for the whole week. i know how to cook and I can make some banger meals but my main problem is cleaning up everything afterwards. I’m learning to enjoy cooking and i always try to make a meal for any guest I have over.

I’m gen z. Cooking is difficult. I do it sometimes. My trick is throwing things I like into a pan and hoping they get better. It’s easier with some things.

One tip I have is: Do not do thing concurrently. You will fail. Everything I do takes very long, and if I do two things at once it will be a Desaster.

A trick to make it more fun is listening to music or a podcast while you do it.

Also, many things you can get at the supermarket have instructions or suggestions about how to prepare them.

You don’t have to do a whole range of things. It’s okay if you can do one recipe and that’s it for a start.

I’m seeing a lot more apartments without kitchens than I did 20 years ago.

My kid is gen-Z and he loves to cook. When he was still living at home he used to have to cook once a week, and now he’s living on his own he gets inspo from Sorted.

Time is also an issue, people are working 2 or 3 jobs now that include weekends who don’t have anyone to help.

I’m gen z and everyone I know cooks elaborate meals. We love it

Fun fact - Throughout much of recorded human history, there is evidence that much of the human population has relied on centralized food services and kitchens.

Not knowing how to cook is not as uncommon as people seem to think.

Both my kids are Gen Z and at least from my experiences talking to them and their friends, one of the big factors is no one taught them when they were young. I’m not talking anything formal, just helping out in the kitchen, chopping veg, grating cheese, whatever. Either their parents don’t cook or they didn’t let them be active participants in meal prep.

My kids however do know how to cook, as they’ve helped out since they were little. Learned from my own experience as a picky eater - get your kids involved in making stuff and you won’t have to worry about them only eating chicken nuggets or whatever. Once they were teenagers, they got assigned meal prep once a week - they’d pick a recipe, help with the shopping, and make dinner (with help if they asked for it). And now they’re both adults who can make their own food. It’s shocking to me though how many in their generation just were never given the chance to learn the basics when they were young.

I know a couple people at work who consistently bring trader Joe’s microwave food, the rest bring stuff from home.

I’m on the older side of Gen Z and absolutely love to cook (and consider myself pretty good at it). I don’t really like meal prep though. Something fresh each day for dinner, and if there’s time, lunch. I also try to source as much as possible (herbs, vegetables) from my terrace/“garden”.

I’d say it’s about 10% of the time trying a new recipe, 70% of the time just cooking from memory based on past recipes we liked (adapted for what’s available, of course), and 20% just trying something new from scratch.

Food is also one of my biggest expenditures each month. We don’t really eat out at all, but still. Good ingredients and not going by price in the supermarket is the main luxury I splurge on.

My younger brother is essentially the same, though a bit more budget-aware. He also cooks at least once a day. I quite often get pictures of his food, and it always looks delicious.

Funnily enough, we cook pretty differently, and both completely differently than our mom.

Friends in the same generation also all either like to cook, or, well, just cook.

So, can’t exactly confirm your hypothesis. We’re not US-American though.

I’m 27 and perfectly fine at cooking! But yeah, just like someone else here mentioning it’s because I have a sibling who’s 10 years younger than me so I basically raised them. I was cooking for the family by like age 12.

I don’t know many people my age who blatantly don’t know how to cook. My husband isn’t the greatest at cooking with no recipe, but he can absolutely keep himself fed with the dishes he does know. He can even fry an egg, despite the fact I only let stainless steel pans in our kitchen.