Be honest...how many meals cooked from scratch?

badgermonkey

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,9950,1546442,00.html

This is where I got the statistic - it doesn't say very much at all honestly. I think it's interesting how we define "from scratch" - I don't make my own bread and I'm unlikely to, to be honest, but I would call a sandwich made with shop-bought bread made from scratch, because the alternative is a ready-made sandwich. But a lasagne with bought white sauce and bolognese is more an assembly job (and remind me not to go to their house for dinner, yuk.)

Some things are obvious - frozen garlic bread, not from scratch but part-baked baguette with homemade garlic butter? What if you use garlic puree instead of crushing some garlic yourself?

Loadsabob

Interesting. I'd say about 95% I cook from scratch. I don't buy ANY ready-meals where you add water and stir, or stick in the oven, and I don't buy any read-made soups.

I occasionally have baked beans, from a tin, sometimes buy soup when I'm in a hurry. And I buy breakfast cereal when I'm not having toast or my muffins.

I make all my bread and baked goods - if I haven't baked it, I don't want it. I don't keep cakes and biscuits or crisps in the house.

One place I fall down is Quorn. I don't buy the Quorn ready-meals, but I buy the sausages and fillets. These are like an ingredient, I guess, in a way, but it does distress me a little that they're processed. If I was a meat-eater I'd be going to the butcher to get an unadulterated raw product...but I'm not! I buy TVP mince, the savoury one. I use it to cook from scratch.

I do buy yogurt, too, as I don't have it often. But just organic bio. I buy things like mushroom pate and humous sometimes, for lunches, but make the packed lunches with these things as ingredients.

Reading about Rick Stein's French food programme in the Radio Times, he points out that a lot of French people buy ready-made food, because it's better than they can make themselves. But the difference there is that they buy ready-made fresh food, probably prepared locally, amazing looking dishes and cakes. Not a 39p frozen lasagne from a factory at the other side of the country. In this country people seem to buy ready meals not because they're better, only because they're quicker...and I think a lot of people have forgotten, in the process (no pun intended!) how real, good food tastes.

Lucie_2

An average week of evening meals for us is 6 home cooked meals & 1 takeaway or meal out. We never eat processed ready meals & the only tins / jars of sauce I buy are tinned toms, coconut milk, baked beans & campbells mushroom soup.
On the other hand I never make bread & we always have ready made shop bought "snacks" on standby in the freezer (spring rolls, samosas etc) which are handy for nights when we get home late from the rugby. I will have the occasional Asda fresh pizza when OH is working late & we do buy ready cooked chickens from Costco. The freezer has frozen peas & sweetcorn & a bag of oven chips for emergencies. They're probably out of date.....................

Ticklemouse

I agree with wondering about the definition of "cooking from scratch". I have a friend who thinks buying a pck of stewing steak and bunging a cook-in sauce on it is cooking a casserole from scratch - that's not my definition and TBH even before my MSE days, still wasn't.

I think that buying tins of beans and tomatoes or sausages and bacon from the butcher still counts as cooking from scratch. I do have a little frozen veg in the freezer - always a stand-by and often better for you than the manky bits left in the bottom of the fridge

However, I don't do "ready meals" (Mr TM has occasionally bought one of those 'meals for 2' if he's been let loose in Tesco) We hardly ever get a takeaway/go out for a meal. It's easier to say what I do buy - oven chips, biscuits and the occasional frozen pizza from Aldi. My only 'sin' is the Chicken Tonight creamy mushroom sauce which the kids love and I can't replicate, but that's only once in a while (and bought when on BOGOF). I still buy yoghurts but 'borrowed' my mum's wide neck flask the other day so will be making that when I return from my hols. If I'm in town and take longer than I envisaged, I will occasionally buy a sandwich, but begrudge the cost TBH.

I like cooking from scratch. Once you get into the mindset - it's as quick and easy as buying ready made and you know what you are eating

Overall - I reckon at least 95%, more some weeks.

aliasojo

I'll take the Fifth Amendment on this one! :rotfl:

r.mac_2

what a good topic - and an interesting statistic

Again, I would reiterate - what do they consider 'cooking from scratch'. I make all my own pasta sauces, but don't make the pasta itself. I'd still consider that meal cooked from scratch though.

At a rough guestimate I would say that about 80% of my meals are cooked from scratch - I no longer use ready made sauce for anything, make my own bread (or at least I am atempting to!) etc

I do still have some old reliables on the go however, such as cereal, tomato ketchup and I do enjoy a very occassional take away as a treat, or the odd bought sandwich on a friday at work.

Mr_Proctalgia

I consider cooking from scratch is the using of raw ingredients to make a finished meal, I would consider a raw ingredient to be a processed meat (ham salami bacon gammon pastrami etc) A diary product (cream butter etc) also I would consider some basic storecupboard stuff to be ingredients (passata, pasta, soya, ketchups in various guises, mayonnaise) I do use potato flakes to thicken stuff, I do use condensed soup to make vol a vent filling and also as pie gravy. I consider I cook from scratch because I MAKE my meals from bits and bobs that have, I do not buy MEALS that are made in a factory. But in the spirit of looking after my pennies I will buy, for example a pastie or small pie if it on the reduced shelf. But the chips peas and gravy to go with it will be home made. I believe that you need to keep your eye on the ball cost wise and nowadays use what is available, it is a time short cash rich world nowadays and you would soon get sick and tired of cooking like our grandparents did, besides you would not have the time to do it either.

Who would go back to churning butter, or having a ham in the chimney, keeping a pig, keeping a permanent stockpot on the simmer, only eating what you grew? It seems that half the UK live in flats nowadays, so the hunter gather bit has to consist of hitting the supermarkets for your food, that isn't to say that you shouldn't use fresh ingredients, but if you both work it has to be a weekend job I'm afraid.

blue-kat

I don't think it's psosible to cheat at OS-ing?

sometimes convenience wins out surely?

I don't want to be a kitchen slave to the family
A family of 5 ( inc 2 teens) get through a lot of food ! and have no problem scoffing Value bourbons in minutes.:eek:
for my style of OS it's got to be a compromise. some ready mades as long as they are mostly eating healthily.

e.g.combination of bread machine made or shop bought loaves.

I cook porridge with seeds, fruit most days for me because it's whole lot better as well as cheaper than readybrek.

OTOH younger son has requested red leicester macaroni cheese, and really don't feel like making cheese sauce at the moment ( because I am in bad phase of ME, carer is on hols etc), so have ordered tesco ready made cheese sauce.

After price checking, it transpires that grated red leicester is actually cheaper than a block, so another energy saving. Ok admittedly it's still just assmebling ingredients rather than cooking, but £1.49 for cheese sauce seems like a better use of my very limited energy....and hey it's still going to be whole lot better than tinned macaroni cheese?

YMMV.

Milky_Mocha

Hmm, I struggle to think of any meal I have that is pre-prepared in the shops / supermarket. I guess its 100% for me apart from the odd restaurant outing and oh I remember now, apple strudel. That's pre-prepared. (I'm down to 99.5%!)

My average meal is as follows:

Once a fortnight or so I buy fresh ginger, chillies, garlic cloves. Then I blend them individually and place in separate labelled tupperware and store them in the freezer. 2 hours or so before I cook I take them out to thaw

Additional Ingredients:
tomatoes (now I'm lazier and don't buy them loose but in a tin so 99%)
Scrambled free range eggs
Ground mixed spice (down to 98.5%)
Chicken (I always take the skin off)
Basmati rice
Salt
Onions
Sometimes light soy sauce
Jerk seasoning (my partner introduced me to this and believe me its amazing if you like your food spicy!) It comes in a jar so I guess that's down to 98%
Corn oil

Method:
1. I chop up the chicken and coat it in jerk seasoning and stick it in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hours
2. Stir onions in corn oil
3. Chop and add tomatoes, then some of the blended chilli, garlic and ginger and leave to simmer
4. Add some mixed ground spice and leave to simmer further
That's the sauce done.

5. Cook the rice in a rice cooker
6. Bring out the wok (a great invention by the way) and fry some onions in it.
7. For variety if I have time Id chop some veg (sweet pepper, carrots, green peas - sometimes Im lazy and buy pre-chopped but thats still 'from scratch' anyway isn't it?). Add the veg to the onions, a bit of salt and stir
8. Add the rice to the veg mix and stir. Add a bit of soy sauce to taste
9. Add the scrambled eggs and mix it in.

When the chicken's done serve the lot on a plate - rice, veg, sauce & chicken

Voila! A nice healthy meal. Apart from waiting for the chicken this all takes only about 20 - 25 mins to make.

Sarahsaver

I make everything, and about half of the bread we consume, which isn't much. I have planned in a treat for friday - we are having fish and chips, it was several months ago we last went to the chippy.