It was once a skill passed down from our grandmothers, but cooking our own food is becoming a dying art across the city. According to Hull City Council, thousands of families have never sat down to a home-cooked meal as people turn to junk and convenience foods instead of nutritious meals rustled up in our own kitchens.
Our inability to cook is taking its toll on our health, with 70 per cent of us now overweight or obese as we turn to fast food and takeaways to satisfy our growing appetite for sugary and unhealthy snacks.
But it is easy for us to take control of our own wellbeing and get back in the kitchen to prepare simple, nutritious meals for our families in a matter of minutes, which will benefit our health and our pockets.
Food scientist Zoe Kemp, who works with students at Hull College, says: "I've met students who have never peeled a carrot before.
"No one is cooking at home as everything is a rush. But we do need to change."
The Mail's A New You 2015 will help people make small changes to achieve big improvements in our health. Far from attempting to create a city of Heston Blumenthals, we're going back to basics, passing on the skills your grandmother might never have taught you.
We will feature easy, budget-friendly recipes with step-by-step guides to help you find the courage to shun the ready meals and get back into the kitchen.
Ian Snedden worked as a chef in hotels and restaurants for about 19 years but now teaches hospitality and catering at Hull College.
He said: "When I ask how many sit down to a meal as a family, just one or two in a class of 24 to 25 say they do.
"We see people with a very limited knowledge of home-cooked meals. We might get one or two, but the vast majority do no cooking at home whatsoever.
"It's all about convenience foods. People think convenience foods are quicker, cheaper and easier than to make meals from fresh foods, but they're not.
"By the time you put something in a microwave to defrost and then heat up, you can have a healthy meal cooked from scratch on your plate."
With a vast array of fruit and vegetables available, it has never been easier for people to cook a healthy meal that will benefit their waistlines and their pockets.
Using staples such as pasta and rice, a range of tasty meals can be thrown together and put on your plate in just 20 minutes.
Mr Snedden said: "Pasta is fast and you can put in some tinned ingredients, such as tomatoes, which taste just as good as fresh ingredients and sometimes have more vitamins in them.
"Lentils are another good source, but people don't seem to realise the nice meals you can make with them."
By relying on takeaways and supermarket Bogof deals on high-fat foods such as ready meals and pizzas, it is our children who are suffering.
The signs of an obesity epidemic are already there. More than 36 per cent of Hull's children aged ten and 11 are now overweight and obese. Unless we get back in the kitchen and put down the takeaway menus, we risk damaging our children's health and putting intolerable pressure on our health service.
Unlike other health problems such as smoking and drinking, it is not just the poorest people from the most deprived areas who are getting fatter.
A survey across Hull shows adults living in the most deprived parts of the city are most likely to be obese, but those in the affluent areas like the Avenues are most likely to be overweight.
All that is required is a shift in the way all of us look at our diet. With a new dawn for Hull fast approaching with the UK City of Culture in 2017 and the promise of greater prosperity through the £360m Green Port deal, there has never been a better time for us to grasp the potato peeler.
Zoe believes the key is keeping it simple. Experiment with different vegetables and try new things. From "chips" made from butternut squash, cut up and roasted in the oven with a light oil spray for 30 minutes, to jacket potatoes, picked up in supermarkets for four for less than £1, and experimenting with different toppings, the possibilities are endless.
She said: "Experiment with different vegetables as you'll very likely find something you like.
"Try to keep it natural and stay away from processed foods. And it doesn't have to be expensive."
Times have changed, undoubtedly. Over the years, we've been bombarded by mixed messages over what to eat to promote good health. But keeping it natural, cutting down on our sugar, salt and saturated fat and eating more fruit and vegetables will start us on the right path.
As your confidence in the kitchen grows, you can experiment with spices, turning up the heat to suit your taste buds, or using herbs to increase flavour.
Mr Snedden said: "A lot of the cookery skills were passed on to us by our grandmothers, but grandmothers are getting younger in Hull these days and, quite often, some of them have never cooked themselves.
"I talk to my kids and the students here and when we were little, we were lucky if we had a Wimpy. Now, there are so many fast food outlets and a lot of it comes down to laziness as people will just pick up something there instead of cooking something far nicer at home.
"I see it even with my students. We'll make fresh food here, they'll taste it and then say they're off to McDonald's. It's about changing their mindset."
"People are also frightened of making mistakes when they cook, but we all make them and it's about learning from them.
"I would say to anyone, just have a go."
15 tips to get cooking without the fuss• FROZEN and tinned veg are just as good as fresh and they are often cheaper, too.
• Buy lean white meat, such as chicken and turkey, or try reduced-fat mince.
• Try different vegetables such as butternut squash, sweet potato or broad beans. They are all great in stews or soups.
• Tinned tomatoes are a cupboard essential. If your kids are not keen on the lumps, go for passata, the sieved, smooth version. Value brands cost less than 40p.
• Do not be too ambitious to start. Keep it simple. You're more likely to keep to it if you get great results from the start.
• Use an oil spray rather than frying food in a puddle of oil.
• Red split lentils are your friend. Cheap, wholesome and filling, you can use them in casseroles, stews and curries and a 500g bag costs about £1.20.
• Spices such as smoked paprika, cumin and coriander can bring the blandest of dishes to life. Give them a go.
• Look out for special supermarket deals on fresh, lean meat. Cook a double amount and save half for an instant, home-cooked ready meal to stick one in your freezer for another night.
• Invest in a slow cooker, which are available for about £12. Brown some lean meat and throw it in with chopped veg, a tin of tomatoes and some spices before you go to work and you'll come home to a delicious and hassle-free meal.
• Make your own pizzas using wholemeal pitta bread as the base. See opposite for the recipe.
• Buy a four-pack of jacket potatoes for about £1 from the supermarket, put in oven at 190 degrees for a couple of hours and serve with low-sugar baked beans and reduced fat cheese for a pocket-friendly healthy family meal.
• Bulk out stews with frozen mixed veg. Costing about £1, it will make your meals go further and give you an added health boost.
• Use the internet to find new recipes for your favourite takeaway meals. Friendly on your pocket, they'll be healthier and tastier too.
• Cut all visible fat off meat or buy the leanest meat you can afford.
Ham and sweetcorn pitta pizzaServes four You will need: Four wholemeal pitta breads Two cartons of passata Reduced fat mature cheese Wafer-thin ham Tin of sweetcornLet's get cooking 1. Toast the pitta breads under the grill for two minutes. 2. Spread pitta breads with passata. 3. Slice wafer-thin ham and sprinkle on top of passata. 4. Drain sweetcorn and divide between pitta breads. 5. Grate cheese and scatter over pitta breads. 6. Grill for six to eight minutes under a moderate heat. 7. You can use any topping you like, such as cooked chicken and mushroom, ham and pineapple, or keep it simple with just cheese for a margherita-style treat. 8. Serve and enjoy!Get involved• If you'd like to take part in A New You 2015 get in touch and keep an eye on our website for more tips and features.
Tweet pictures of your health challenges to @HDMalCoggan using the hashtag #ANewYou2015, or email your ideas to a.coggan@hulldailymail. co.uk. Also keep an eye on our Facebook page for more advice.A New You 2015 is supported by NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group. Visit their website at www.hullccg.nhs.uk/ for handy advice, contact details and local health information.Make a pledge and you could win a prize If you are having difficulty reading this on mobile go to this form
