Watch the moment Alex Jones turns kitchen chaos into cooking with confidence in this funny video. The self-confessed ‘terrible cook’ is the first to laugh at her kitchen mishaps from soggy rice and burnt pans to the occasional pasta meltdown. But now, she’s proving that even the most accident-prone home cooks can master mealtime with these ‘before and after’ style recipes.
The presenter teamed up with Ben’s Original, who is launching its new family packs, for a cooking challenge. She said: “Let’s face it, we’ve all had a kitchen disaster, and the more people at the table, the trickier it gets.”
She added: “Even simple meals can go sideways, that’s why having quick, reliable staples are a total lifesaver. They take the stress out of cooking and give families more time to actually enjoy being together around the table.”
It comes after a poll of 2,000 adults who cook found more than half (55%) fear a cooking disaster such as spilling ingredients, burning food, or forgetting to turn the oven on.
The study found undercooking meat or poultry, making rice too soggy and leaving a pan to overboil were also high on the list of cooking disasters that give them nightmares.
Among the other kitchen blunders are charred onions, scorched sauces and the all-too-familiar struggle of burning rice or making enough to feed an army. While others confessed to trying to avoid burning garlic in seconds, overcooking pasta or getting the rice to water ratio wrong.
It emerged 43% believe preparing weekday dinners and evening meals is one of their biggest cooking stresses. What’s more, 60% admit they find catering for more than four people daunting.
Almost half feel embarrassed about their cooking skills, with 33% often feeling overwhelmed when cooking more than one dish at a time.
Timing everything correctly, getting all elements ready at the same time and having to clean up afterwards are among the biggest stresses.
It was also found baking (26%), desserts (19%) and rice dishes (14%) were among the things adults feel least confident cooking from scratch.
Four in ten admit to avoiding certain meals completely because they were worried they’d mess them up. But 35% think more practice, clearer recipes (29%) and step-by-step guides (25%) would help them feel more confident in the kitchen.
