Make your own or buy pre done

lindsaygalaxy

I usually make it all myself, and I think it takes very little extra time. just chop an onion (30p?), fry a little, add the mince (800g £4) , brown, add a 'box' of T.value passata sauce (29p), add tin of chopped tomatoes (34p), add some mixed herbs and a little garlic (im lazy and use lazy garlic from a jar), cook. This will make enough for spag bol for dinner, and a lasagne for the freezer. I make my own again but it would be cheaper to get it from a packet due to the cost of cheese. Freezes no problem.

meritaten

I always have jars or packets of sauce on 'standby'. I am careful to check the ingredient list and go for the ones with none or least additives. (not always the most expensive). I do like to make my own though, because I am in complete control over how much salt, sugar etc is added. but sometimes, you just don't have time!

krlyr

I use value pasatta or chopped tomatoes, whichever are cheaper at the time - I don't tend to spend more than 25p a tin/carton. Some herbs (if you don't want to buy a mix then I'd say buy the "italian seasoning" one), tomato puree (you can freeze what you don't use, if you buy a whole tube or tin) and a bit of sugar (very important, as it will seem very bland compared to tins if you don't sweeten it). It certainly works out cheaper than branded sauces.

I did a thread a while ago for an MSE version of Dolmio jars and the replies really helped - you can read it here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3711013
I've tweaked it to suit our preferences but it was definately a great basis, using various parts from various suggestions.

shoei

I make everything from scratch apart from lasagnia as I have attempted to make it about 5 times and it is always, always awful. I don't think I am a bad cook, I just can't 'do' lasagnia!

tootoo

I always make from scratch. If i am pushed for time and use a sauce dh always comments on the poor taste so my cooking cant be that bad!

martinthebandit

tootoo wrote: »

I always make from scratch. If i am pushed for time and use a sauce dh always comments on the poor taste so my cooking cant be that bad!

Your dh sounds like a wise man

Ballymackeonan

I make most things from scratch - including bread (just used up the last of my home-made wholemeal at breakfast), curries, casseroles and pasta sauces. But I always keep some good-quality pasta sauce jars in stock, as a "cook's cheat" for adding into other things, or to augment with other ingredients like bacon, olives, chicken livers etc.

Currently my local B & M has "Dress Italian" jars and I'm stocking up on those!

building_with_lego

DigForVictory wrote: »

I do not make lasagne often. I don't use jars for it. It's slow, expensive (relatively), laborious, the chaps eat every bit and are complimentary without nudging.
I do make curries & sweet-&-sour dishes with jars as hungry chaps are difficult to live with.
It hadn't *occurred* to me to freeze them - does white sauce freeze well?

This is the recipe which taught me to make white sauce and it's all about making two and freezing one. I do sometimes make white sauce for the freezer if I've got milk about to turn and it defrosts fine although needs a little whisk and perhaps some extra milk.
HTH

Funky_Bold_Ribena

I make everything from scratch; I have one jar of curry sauce in the cupboard for absolute emergencies; aka when I am late and the OH needs a hot meal he can cook that himself. Then I usually get back, make myself a proper meal and he whines that he didn't get any...well, he should have hung on a bit then, shouldn't he?

Honey_Bear

Following the advice on the Grocery Challenge thread about breadmakers, I bought a secondhand one to find out if it was worthwhile for just OH and me. I now find even £1.50 loaves unpalatable, and when I thought the breadmaker was playing up recently and didn't have time to sort out why, I realised I actively dislike shop bought bread. In terms of cost, the ingredients are half the price of shop bought, and the electricity costs a few pence, so financially it is a huge saving - we eat wholemeal bread at breakfast and lunch. Whether you like the taste is probably a matter of whether you chose to buy better ingredients - I'm fine with Lid1 or Morribunds own brands of white and wholemeal flour, but I can tell the difference when I buy M&$ flour.

Lasagne takes me forever to make from scratch, following Delia's recipe - even she admits it's time consuming. I only do it for very special occasions and the serving dish practically gets licked clean. I once bought a chilled lasagne from Lid1, which OH and I now realise was around about the time the horsemeat scare was at it's undiscovered zenith, and it tasted absolutely fine. What do I know?!

So grateful for the sugar tip in bolognaise sauce krlyr. OH loved one huge batch I made from scratch a couple of years ago (and froze) from whoopsied mince and hasn't enjoyed it since. That's probably why - he even commented on how sweet it was, so I was obviously not really listening to him.