Parents Think Microwave Dinners Count as ‘Cooking’

Mel and I argued about this a couple of months ago. It was the argument that spawned Mel's now infamous line "I put meat in it!"

So what is cooking? Is it making a meal from scatch, is it something out of a box, or is it heating up a frozen dinner in the microwave? In a new survey, only 19% of parents say they cook dinner every night. That's really low and doesn't even tell the whole story. Because "cooking" clearly means different things to different people.

27% of people say that putting a frozen pizza or chicken nuggets in the oven counts as cooking.

25% say heating up a can of beans would count as cooking.

20% say microwaving a frozen dinner counts as cooking and 9% have tried to pass one off as something they cooked from scratch. (Good luck doing that with your in-laws!)