Only 1 in 4 meals cooked from scratch....

Lizbetty

I have a friend who is on benefits and he lives on convenience food. I have tried and tried, but he insists that it's cheaper than making it himself. And yes, he is constantly skint.

I have stopped trying actually. He won't even buy an onion and try making his own pasta sauce. He laughs at the mere mention of passata. And do you know, he's right in that it's cheap enough at the supermarket to buy the rubbish ready made stuff. But I have kids and so I'm conscious of what I feed them. And my mum cooked for us, so it's more of a normal thing to do for me. Oh, and I'm a stay at home mum so I have more time to prepare things which is a huge bonus for me.

You can see how people end up living on junk when the supermarkets do tend to do more offers on convenience food, though. And a lot of folk will always find the money for that type of thing as it's 'essential' to them, they don't know anything else and don't have the energy or time to be bothered thinking of the alterative to ready meals.

I think each to their own, but it's their kids that I feel sad for.

I am turning into a real nightmare - I always make something a bit special for the kid's friends when they come for tea and flap a bit about it, I always ask what they like, etc - one said she only liked butter sandwiches and wouldn't eat anything I made her even though she said she would eat pizza - it turns out she doesn't eat cheese or tomato... But tough - a butter sandwich is not happening under my roof! :rotfl:

When I found out one mum fed my daughter chicken nuggets (she's never had one before!!) and curly chips, I was really upset.

This mainstream business is getting to be a really stressful thing to be part of. I never had to get involved until we had kids!

Islandmaid

Even my kids commented on this story this morning - the quote was 'Junk food - I wish, never get any in this house, why can,t we eat like normal people'.:cool:

You work your fingers to the bone, and what do you get - boney fingers:rotfl:

I,m sure they love the food really.....:D

VJsmum

Lies, damned lies and statistics eh? (Disraeli, or Mark Twain - either have a 50% chance of being right! Or do they? )

Most of my main meals are cooked from scratch (if you don't count the odd tin of tomatoes), left overs are then frozen for another day. Most of the ready meals in my freezer are whoopsies for emergency purposes (like tomorrow, when DD (15) comes in from school at 3.15 has to eat and be back at school for 4.45 and i probably won't be home till 4.00ish so i can leave her a ready meal to pop in oven or microwave). But i wouldn't say it is always cheaper to cook from scratch - my HM chicken nuggets are far more expensive than anything you could get from Iceland - i could buy several bags for what 2 portions would cost me to make, but i know where the chicken has come from and i know what else has gone in them (i.e. not much! )

CH27

VJsmum wrote: »

Lies, damned lies and statistics eh? (Disraeli, or Mark Twain - either have a 50% chance of being right! Or do they? )

Most of my main meals are cooked from scratch (if you don't count the odd tin of tomatoes), left overs are then frozen for another day. Most of the ready meals in my freezer are whoopsies for emergency purposes (like tomorrow, when DD (15) comes in from school at 3.15 has to eat and be back at school for 4.45 and i probably won't be home till 4.00ish so i can leave her a ready meal to pop in oven or microwave). But i wouldn't say it is always cheaper to cook from scratch - my HM chicken nuggets are far more expensive than anything you could get from Iceland - i could buy several bags for what 2 portions would cost me to make, but i know where the chicken has come from and i know what else has gone in them (i.e. not much! )

Or more importantly what's not in them:)

I cook the majority of meals from scratch but like most people I used tinned tomatoes, dried herbs etc.

VJsmum

cooking-mama wrote: »

Someone else posted on the "£40 for a month thread" that adding mustard makes cheese sauce more cheesy,i had heard this before but never tried it because i didnt know what type of mustard to use,i agree with the price of cheese.HM.cheese sauce can work out very expensive(and lumpy in my case!)

I add about half a teaspoon of mustard powder to the flour when making cheese sauce - you definitely use less cheese that way. I have used made up mustard too - any flavour will do.

Lucyeff wrote: »

When I found out one mum fed my daughter chicken nuggets (she's never had one before!!) and curly chips, I was really upset.

I am never too bothered what they get fed elsewhere - the odd chicken nugget (etc) once in a blue moon won't kill them. I have a particular aversion to tinned hot dog sausages tho so will cringe a bit if they ever got those.

When one boy came here he assured me he liked sausages, pasta and sweetcorn (DS favourite meal) - but when i served it all mixed up in one bowl, he refused to eat it, saying he didn't like it all together. But his mum proudly never cooks anything from scratch and he therefore doesn't like any food which is!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

becs wrote: »

Nobody asked you to. I don't see why the kids couldn't do it as part of school mealls for their own lunch. Once a week or even once a month woudn't hurt. It's about time children learnt to cook properly as many won't have parents that can teach them and it's a valuable skill.

Do the supermarkets sell meat in 4oz pieces now? Without costing a fortune?

When DD1 actually cooked one meat dish at school (chicken tarragon), the recipe - for one person, as it couldn't be kept cool and picked up in the afternoon, apparently - the shopping list included 2 chicken breasts, a bunch of tarragon out of season, tarragon vinegar, shallots, butter and flour. I don't know if you've noticed, but 2 chicken breasts, never mind the other ingredients, is quite a lot of money for something they *might* cook through, *might* leave partially raw, *might* hate the sauce, *might* think is OK and eat it all or *might* think 'yuk!' and chuck it in the bin or keep it festering around in their schoolbag next to the radiator for the rest of the schoolday.

rachbc

totally agree JoJo - my son was asked for 400g chicken breast for a meal cooked first period then sealed in a box and left to fester in his bag til home time. I think not. I sent him with 100g of whoopsied turkey thigh and told him to eat it for lunch thus saving the cost of a sarnie!

C_Mababejive

Not in this house. I only do proper cooking and will not eat ready meal carp.

The closest i get to a ready meal is M&S two for ten for a Saturday treat..and well..its hardly a ready meal is it?

becs

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Do the supermarkets sell meat in 4oz pieces now? Without costing a fortune?

When DD1 actually cooked one meat dish at school (chicken tarragon), the recipe - for one person, as it couldn't be kept cool and picked up in the afternoon, apparently - the shopping list included 2 chicken breasts, a bunch of tarragon out of season, tarragon vinegar, shallots, butter and flour. I don't know if you've noticed, but 2 chicken breasts, never mind the other ingredients, is quite a lot of money for something they *might* cook through, *might* leave partially raw, *might* hate the sauce, *might* think is OK and eat it all or *might* think 'yuk!' and chuck it in the bin or keep it festering around in their schoolbag next to the radiator for the rest of the schoolday.

Why can't they do it as a class and have a normal size piece of meat? The can all be shown how to prepare it for the oven, what temp it's cooked at then whilst it's cooking prepare the other bits then sit down as a class for lunch? A healthy size portion of meat for a child with all the vegetables etc wouldn't cost much at all.

eamon

I suspect though that despite the best efforts of Jamie, Hugh, Delia etc that the supermarkets & the manufacturers have won the war. You only have to look at the volumes of ready meals that are available and the plethora of fast food shops on almost every street . If there wasn't money in it they wouldn't be doing it. But I try my best to resist and usually win apart from a fish supper on Fridays and supermarket pizza roughly once a month.