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

catznine

Although I do cook most of our meals from scratch, if I find a really good bargain like yesterdays 2 breaded haddock portions reduced from £1.48 to 62p at Asda then I pop that into my shopping basket and freeze it for an emergency dinner. Sometimes cooking from scratch is not the cheapest option but it is probably the healthiest.

I often use condensed soups as a sauce for casseroles and buy the white lasagne sauce as it is a bit of a chore to make it when I'm in a hurry.

I prefer to do my own baking as I then know what is in it, but never say no to a choccy digestive if its offered!

Turning_into_scrooge

Definitely 90% of meals are made rom scratch in this house. I only buy fresh produce i never buy anything that could be classed as a ready meal that you would bung in the microwave Saved loads of money by doing it too :T

Gingham_Ribbon

We don't have a microwave and never buy things like veggie burgers, chips or ready meals. I do buy bread, pizza bases, crackers, Netto cornflakes, tinned beans and tomatoes.

I no longer buy things like tortilla wraps because I make my own and I'm building up to making bread and pizza dough in my food processor.

We cook everything else from scratch but have takeaway or a meal out about twice a month. We take packed lunches out every day and drink tap water so no 'processed' (?) squash, although I like a glass of wine and I don't make that any more as I've nowhere to do it and it wasn't very good!

I'm veggie so it's pretty easy really but I've been learning a bit at a time to do with less of the convenience. Eg, I've gone from buying pots of flavoured yogurt to chopping fruit or nuts into natural yogurt and I'm looking for a wide neck/food flask to make my own. Which I did years ago but had forgotten along the way.

Now when I taste manufactured stuff it seems salty, bland and sludgy. The tips on this site help loads.

Edit: I forgot stuff like jam, dairy, chutneys and curry paste. And tofu. And chocolate and pringles...

pandas66

As a regular reader of O/S I am trying to make more of an effort than I have in long time. I am now working more or less fulltime so I meal plan at weekends and batch cook 2 meals for during the week. If I do a roast on a Sunday then I use the leftovers on Monday and then it leaves me 1 evening meal to find. I cheat too (well I call it) I have to go to our local somerfields once a week to pick up fruit for work, trying to get them to eat a piece or 2 a week. Its a mass of reduced cabinet goodies so I pick up a half price meal then. Got a chicken yesterday for 1.50 so do 2 meals, eat 1, freeze 1. So thats leaves 1 meal for takeaway or if really good a meal out! I don't bake bread or cakes, I have a really clever Mum who does the best ever cakes but only once a fortnight when she bakes for My Grandad too.
I did pick something up the other day that made me think of the boards and OS in particular, bicarb harpic tabs, the cleaning has come full circle!
I try and I cheat and manage more than 60%.

competitionscafe

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

I no longer buy things like tortilla wraps because I make my own

Sounds good - how do you make them? I have made pizza bases before but never even thought of making wraps, would love to try though.

squeaky

competitionscafe wrote:

Sounds good - how do you make them? I have made pizza bases before but never even thought of making wraps, would love to try though.

There are some great recipes on downsizer.

To see them ---> Click Here

badgermonkey

I think once you start cooking from scratch you hold manufactured things to higher standards - the only curry sauce I like now is the Loyd Grossman stuff. All you have to do is look down the list of ingredients to see how much better it is; it reads like a homemade recipe, no e-numbers, emulsifiers or preservatives.

It has to be said that there are some things I still like *despite* them being processed - potato waffles!! But my local Tesco has started selling filled ready-cooked jacket spuds on the deli counter and I can't imagine they'd be anything other than gross.

Gingham_Ribbon

competitionscafe wrote:

Sounds good - how do you make them? I have made pizza bases before but never even thought of making wraps, would love to try though.

I'll look out the book tomorrow and post the recipe. It's basically just a pancake mix but it's so yummy with spicy beans and a bit of soured cream and jalapinos!

(And if you have a blender, it takes about a minute to mix.)

Gingham_Ribbon

4oz plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs (we usually only have large ones)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
7fl oz milk

Just whizz it up for a couple of mins if you have a blender, otherwise sift flour and salt into a bowl, then make a well and add eggs, oil and a third of the milk. Mix till smooth, gradually adding rest of milk. Beat well for a couple of mins.

She suggests leaving it for 30 mins then beating it again.

I find it needs another 4 oz or so of milk, but it depends on flour and eggs used I suppose. It should be quite runny.

Heat on low a small saucepan (mine is non stick) and brush some oil round it then spoon about 2 tbsp of batter in, enough to just cover the bottom of the pan and swirl it round. Fry until bottom cooked (a couple of mins) and turn and do the other side. (If they're too thick they're NOT good!

It makes about 11 pancakes and I find they don't stick. They freeze too.

I'm going to try adding chopped coriander next time. They're nice with a bean chilli and she suggests adding bayleaf and oregano to the chilli which I think works really well.

They are nice just wrapped and eaten but they're also good in the oven with some of the filling poured over and some soured cream added at the end. Yum!

Gingham_Ribbon

squeaky wrote:

There are some great recipes on downsizer.

To see them ---> Click Here

Gasp! That link is FANTASTIC! I love my pancake wraps but I'm totally going to try ALL those things out. :j