Do you usually cook from scratch?

[NMAmy]

Or do you use a lot of convenience foods and/or eat out a lot or do something else entirely?

I didn't want to hijack the SAHM thread but I kept seeing comments about cooking from scratch mentioned along with sewing your own clothes and growing your own food and it struck me as odd because I don't really put those activities in the same category.

I make most everything from scratch. Both of my parents were fantastic cooks and that's the way I was taught as a kid. I will use the occasional cake mix because I don't bake very often but that's about it, really. I don't grow my own food but my mom has a friend who has a farm and I get a lot of stuff from there and also from the local farmers' markets.

I was just curious if this isn't really the norm anymore.

 

[Angelhalo]

We are on a strict low carb diet so I make everything from scratch including flax bread, ketchup, BBQ sauce, ice cream, and peanut butter. All the prepackaged foods are chock full of sugar. I've been doing it for about 3 months now and its become like second nature.

 

[ajk912]

I don't really understand what cooking from scratch *is*. Is this one of things, that everyone has their own definition? Because I consider cooking from scratch things like baking your own pasta, baking your own bread, making your own ice cream, stuff like that.

I bake cookies from scratch, but it only takes about 10 minutes to throw together the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. I make spaghetti, ghoulash, and other pastas, but I buy Ragu sauce and Ronzoni pasta. I make my own pizza, but I buy the Walmart pizza crust. So I guess I do a little of both.

 

[TnTsParty]

I do some from scratch but I would have to say I do more semi-homemade then totally from scratch. I use pasta from the box but I make my sauce from scratch.

 

[disykat]

I agree. If I've opened a can, I don't really consider it from scratch, so I'd say no, not often. However, I think I meet other people's definition of cooking from scratch often.

I was complaining once about how people find time to cook things like homemade chicken soup so often and I discovered that people were making "homemade" chicken soup by adding stuff to canned chicken broth and realized that, according to those definitions, I do cook from scratch.

I do actually boil bones and make soup a few times a year.

 

[mjkacmom]

I agree. If I've opened a can, I don't really consider it from scratch, so I'd say no, not often. However, I think I meet other people's definition of cooking from scratch often.

I was complaining once about how people find time to cook things like homemade chicken soup so often and I discovered that people were making "homemade" chicken soup by adding stuff to canned chicken broth and realized that, according to those definitions, I do cook from scratch.

I do actually boil bones and make soup a few times a year.

Well, I make my chicken soup using broth, but I boil the chicken in it, fridge it overnight, and spoon off the fat the next morning. I only buy ragu for the kids - I usually have some frozen homemade in the freezer. Make pizza, but use bakery pizza dough. I love homemade salsa in the summer - use our own peppers, tomatoes, and cilantro!

 

[SandrA9810]

I'm from out of the box. Of course it's hard making food for one because kari only seems to eat processed foods.

I can't wait till I have my own yard to grow foods in. For now I have a few herbs in pots.

 

[Micca]

Almost nothing is from scratch at my house. I have the time, but not the inclination.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Hmm. I would probably fall into the "mixed" group. I like to bake, and my family is vegan, so mixes are usually not possible for us. I bake bread (though often in the bread machine - does that count?), cookies, cakes, pies, muffins, etc. when we have them. I make my own pizza dough too.

But - I buy dried pasta, and spaghetti sauce in a jar (although I add a lot of my own ingredients when I use it). I do sometimes make it with fresh or frozen tomatoes, but not often. I use canned beans and prepared tofu. I sometimes make seitan from vital wheat gluten and sometimes buy it.

Teresa

 

[Denine]

I make almost everything from scratch. I do buy dried pasta, but I do sometimes make my own. I always make my own sauce. I do not buy frozen food or boxed mixes.

I do have a garden.

I have no idea how to sew!

I like to have control over the amount of fat, sugar fiber and other ingredients. So much stuff is full of salt and artificial stuff. Yuck!

 

[onelilspark]

I make things not entirely from scratch, more semi-homemade. But if I'm baking, there's nothing better than scratch!

 

[Nancy]

I guess I am half and half..I did not buy everything ready made/frozen but I do use frozen foods and boxed goods.

I use the jar sauce and box pasta..but will not use stuff like hamburger helper. It's just as easy to use the sauce and pasta's I have.


I really don't bake at all but if I do it is a box mix and canned frosting.

I do mainly frozen veggies and things like frozen french fries, garlic breads and even the frozen mashed potatoes..my kids like those better than "real" mashed.

If I had more time I would probably cook less convenience foods and more "home made".

 

[kacaju]

I do a lot of cooking from scratch because my dh is lactose intolerant.

 

[freckles and boo]

I am all about convenience foods. I don't enjoy cooking and when I have thirty uninterrrupted seconds I would prefer to spend them doing something I do enjoy. I have a garden and grow a few vegetables and herbs, but mostly perennials. I know how to sew a straight seam but I don't have the time or space to make clothes. That is something I would probably enjoy much more than cooking.

 

[NMAmy]

I don't really understand what cooking from scratch *is*. Is this one of things, that everyone has their own definition? Because I consider cooking from scratch things like baking your own pasta, baking your own bread, making your own ice cream, stuff like that.

I bake cookies from scratch, but it only takes about 10 minutes to throw together the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. I make spaghetti, ghoulash, and other pastas, but I buy Ragu sauce and Ronzoni pasta. I make my own pizza, but I buy the Walmart pizza crust. So I guess I do a little of both.

I think you're correct that everyone has their own definition and things they won't skimp on, now that you mention it. Thanks for pointing that out--my definition of cooking from scratch is probably different.

I do bake my own bread but sometimes I buy it from the farmer's market (they have much more exotic flavors)and hamburger buns are straight from the grocery store, I make my own homemade noodles but buy dried spaghetti and I always make my own sauce and freeze extra. I'm not a big ice cream eater so I do make it once or twice in the summer and the rest of the year, we buy it for DH since he's the only one eating it.

My mother has always canned everything herself and we helped her when we were kids. She cans her own tomato juice, tomatoes for sauces, jellies and jams, pickles, and sauer kraut. Since I still assist, my pantry is pretty fully stocked for most of the year. She will also bring me a lot of fruits and veggies from her friend that owns a farm and I prepare them and freeze them for the winter months. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me because I've always done it--she made me for years!

You can also make soup broth when you have the bones and then freeze it to make soup whenever.

I guess I've just been making my own convenience foods. It's not like I'm doing this every night. But I do have homemade food in the freezer for those busy nights.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I make as much as possible from scratch..including salad dressing, applesauce, cakes, pizza dough etc.
The only thing I grow are tomatoes & herbs.

As far as making clothes!? I drop off everything to the tailors including having a button replaced.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I make almost everything from scratch. Mainly because that is how I ate growing up and also because we don't eat processed foods or anything with artificial stuff in it if we can help it.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

I don't think this has been mentioned but I cook from scratch to save money. Only, now with the price of ingredients it is just as cheap to buy as to make!!!

Take lasagne. The Cheese alone can cost $8.00 (I use a lot). I can buy a pan for $10.00 Course, it's not as good as homemade. But what a time-saver.

I never thought of making my own ice cream but at the cost of cream, I'm sure it's cheaper to buy the ready-made ice cream on sale.

My hat's off to those of you who make your own ice cream and bbq sauce and ketchup. That's really cooking from scratch.

Sometimes I buy the cooked, rotisseried chicken and make broth from the bones.

Lately, I've been making soup from scratch. Our church has "Tuesdays at Trinity" and we have to take turns making soup for 16.

 

[Missy1961]

I'm another one who does many things from scratch, but not all. I make my own sauce (a big pot every 3 months or so), but I buy dried pasta. I know how to make pasta, but I don't have the patience. I wish I did, because it's so much better. I do use frozen veggies, but only when I can't get good fresh ones. I've made my own pizza dough in the past, but I've been able to get really good pre-made dough from a local bakery, so I use that. We dress our salads with oil & vinegar, so I don't buy salad dressings. But most of our regular dinners are from scratch, and I almost always bake from scratch--it really doesn't take much more time, and somehow, a scratch cake tastes better. I do work, but I'm not a mom, I'm only feeding myself & my 84 yr old dad. But I cook most nights, there are a few dinners I make that I can cook in 30 minutes or so. Weekends, I make more time consuming meals, but I frequently use the leftovers for quick dinners during the week. Eating out is a treat now, it's just gotten too expensive to do it too often.

 

[minkydog]

I cook from scratch most of the time. We only eat meat about 3 times a week, if that, so we eat a lot of vegetables and fruit. Nearly all the veggies and fruit are fresh, in-season. I supplement with dry beans--pintos, red beans & rice, limas, speckled beans. We don't eat much cheese other than feta. And we don't eat a lot of bread other than the occasional harvest whole wheat loaf and some cornbread with our beans.

Our garden is planted with tomatoes, summer squash, onions, garlic, green beans, cilantro, and basil. The green beans and tomatoes come in the 3rd or 4th week of June and then I'm busy canning until they stop producing. We eat up all the squash while it's fresh, and a good many of the green beans too. In the fall we go up to north Georgia and pick fresh apples. I make applesauce, baked apples and apple pie filling with them.

Mmmm, I'm hungry.