Do People in Independent Living Still Cook? You Might Be Surprised
- Sue Leonard
- Jul 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 27
During a recent class, the facilitator remarked that nobody in our retirement community cooks anymore.
I looked around the room and wondered if we'd all been living in different communities.
Certainly, most of us don't prepare three meals a day anymore. One meal is included in our monthly fee, and many of us are perfectly happy to let someone else handle dinner most of the time.
But that's a long way from saying we've stopped cooking.
Cooking isn’t just about putting food on the table. For many of us, it's about tradition, identity, love and friendships, and memory.
In my own non-scientific survey of friends (see References below), everyone still cooked - even though two people cooked only twice a year - keeping the tradition of their holiday meals.
We've cooked Sunday dinners for as long as we've lived here. Our community serves a Sunday brunch buffet until two o'clock, but buffets aren't really our thing, and eating our main meal at one would leave us hungry again by evening.
For several years we also hosted monthly opera nights. Friends gathered to watch the performance, and afterward we'd share a potluck inspired by the opera—Italian dishes after La Traviata, Egyptian-inspired food after Aida. When we moved to a smaller apartment, we lost the space for those evenings. We're still trying to figure out how to bring them back.
More recently, a neighbor lost his wife. Since we're already cooking on Sundays, we've begun inviting him—and sometimes another couple—to join us. Cooking for two isn't much easier than cooking for four, and meals are better when they're shared.
Another reason I cook is that I not only love hosting friends for a meal, but I also enjoy creating decorative table settings. Here are some Table Settings I’ve created over the past several years.
Why do we still cook?
For much of our lives, cooking was simply another task on a long to-do list. Whether we spent the day raising children, working outside the home, or both, there was still dinner to make. So, many people are relieved to have that daily burden removed.
Today, many of us cook only when we want to. Oddly enough, that may make cooking even more enjoyable.
Some of us cook because we enjoy sharing a meal with our friends in our home. It seems more intimate than eating in the dining room.
Maybe we cook because we still want to enjoy the recipes we've loved for decades—not just for their flavor, but for the memories they bring back.
Every Thanksgiving, we make a cranberry-gelatin salad my little sister named Surprise when she was about eight years old. One year, the nuts and marshmallows settled to the bottom instead of staying mixed throughout. Delighted by the unexpected discovery, she declared it "Surprise." More than fifty years later, that's what we still call it. We make it because we enjoy it—but also because every bowl brings back a wonderful memory of a happy Thanksgiving with the family.
Maybe we bake Christmas cookies because grandchildren love them, neighbors appreciate them, or because traditions help a new place feel like home. And yes, because homemade cookies will almost always beat the ones from the bakery.
No, we probably don't cook as much as we once did. But I don't think we've stopped cooking. I think we've become more selective about what—and why—we cook.
What counts as cooking?
I decided to survey many of my friends about cooking, but I realized I had to ask what they defined as cooking. Is it cooking if:
I use the multicooker to make hard-boiled eggs for egg salad?
I air fry chicken drummies?
I make a cold salad and have to chop veggies and onion?
I make a grilled cheese sandwich?
I think it all counts. But everyone has their own ideas about what 'cooking' means.
Some days cooking means pancakes and sausage. Other days it's simply scrambling an egg or making a pot of homemade soup instead of opening another box. Other times we create an entire meal from scratch.
Maybe when people say, "I don't cook anymore," they mean they no longer prepare dinner every day. But most of us still spend time in our kitchens making food we enjoy.
Do you still cook? Look at the survey below and tell me which category you fit into - do you cook frequently or only on special occasions?
PS - Hubby decided to make waffles this morning. A good morning for it. It was raining (we sure do need it). Anyway, he used a new recipe using Horwath's malt and some cornstarch to make the outside crispier. They were delicious! And yes, we still have a waffle iron. Hubby loves waffles.
References
Loved your musings on cooking. I smell David’s waffles. Do you use maple syrup from Vermont?
Love to see you still enjoy cooking and entertaining! Great article. xxoo
I love this and I'm so happy to know that others here still prepare meals, too. I do not order in but instead plan my own at home meals - and enjoy trying out recipes. Now I know that others are like-minded. This is a great blog