We cook ourselves?

We have our meals at home
We do our own cooking.
We do the cooking ourselves.

Can you say this (which I have heard):
We cook ourselves?

If not, why not?

You can; it might raise a smile, depending on the intonation.

If you put a noun after the simple "We cook ..." people will assume that that will be the name of the food that you cook.

We cook chicken.
We cook beef.
We cook spaghetti bolognaise.

We cook ourselves!!! Are you a cannibal?

emsr2d2 said:

If you put a noun after the simple "We cook ..." people will assume that that will be the name of the food that you cook.

We cook chicken.
We cook beef.
We cook spaghetti bolognaise.

We cook ourselves!!! Are you a cannibal?

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What the speaker(a non-native) meant was:
We do the cooking ourselves.

which was shortened to

We cook ourselves.

tedtmc said:

What the speaker(a non-native) meant was: .....We do the cooking ourselves.

which was shortened to: .....We cook ourselves.

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Quite, but as Tdol and emsr2dt have pointed out, this can have another meaning in English, so most native speakers would say something different:

We do the cooking ourselves.
We cook for ourselves.

5jj said:

Quite, but as Tol and emsr2dt have pointed out, this can have another meaning in English, so most native speakers would say something different:

We do the cooking ourselves.
We cook for ourselves.

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How about - We cook by ourselves. Is it correct to say this? I mean 'without anyone's help'. Similar to - I can do this all by myself.

Gillnetter said:

Yes, but the meaning changes from, "We do our own cooking", to, "No one helps us cook." Think of it this way - most of the cooks are in the main kitchen working on the evening meal while we are preparing a soup in a small room at the end of the building. No one from the main kitchen will come to help us - we have to cook the soup by ourselves.

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@Gilnetter, thank you for the explanation. :up:

Can it also have another meaning like this - Suppose I am living (alone) by myself. In this situation can I say -
1. I cook by myself?
2. Or should I say - I do my own cooking.
3. Or, I cook for myself?

I think I can say 2 and 3. Would 1 be also OK?

Thank you

Olympian said:

Can it also have another meaning like this - Suppose I am living (alone) by myself. In this situation can I say -
1. I cook by myself?
2. Or should I say - I do my own cooking.
3. Or, I cook for myself?

I think I can say 2 and 3. Would 1 be also OK?

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I feel slightly differently than Gil.

1. Emphasizes that you have no one else in the kitchen with you.
2. The normal way to say you don't depend on anyone else for your meals.
3. Could be #2, or as Gil says, that you don't share with anyone else.

Let's say you have a friend over, and he's helping you get your dinner together by peeling vegetables. You can still say you do your own cooking (compared to eating out or having your mom bring you meals) if he helps you, but you cannot say that you cook by yourself if your friend is doing any of the work. And if he shares the meal you just prepared, #3 won't apply.

@Gilnetter and @Barb_D, thank you :up: