Wednesday 1 March 2017

Cooking from scratch?

I think I cook from scratch almost all the time, but do I?  I assemble things which have been processed elsewhere.  Today I made a tomato sauce.  However, I used ready made passata and lazy garlic and the olive oil had been pressed from the olives.  The onions and mushrooms were chopped by me! I happened to have mushrooms which needed using up but usually I'd have used tinned mushrooms for cheapness.

So do I cook from scratch?  I suspect that we are all the same - it's a compromise between cost, convenience and common sense.  Where do you make that compromise?

For what it's worth. here's my recipe

225g onions chopped
15g olive oil
35g lazy garlic
1 carton of passata
300g mushrooms, sliced

Heat the oil and add the chopped onions and garlic.  Cook gently for about five minutes.  Bung it in the slow cooker.  Add the passata and mushrooms.  Cook on high for an hour then reduce heat and cook for a further three hours


I've costed this at £1.65

9 comments:

  1. I consider myself a from scratch cook. I make my own pastry when I make meat and veg pies, I bake my bread and cakes, I make my own white sauces for things like macaroni cheese but yes at the moment I use tinned toms for spaghetti and lasagne sauces, but not for long hopefully. Yes I buy things like chicken kiev for quick teas if we have to be out for something but I don't buy any ready made meals that need to be cooked. I do my best.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I cook at home for the most part, but know I rarely cook completely from scratch. Soups are my one area, but even then I'll use broths or flavor cubes to help boost the flavor. We all do what we can, don't we?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do much the same and find that it's the best thing for a single person. Much as I love tomatoes and tomato sauce, I have neither the inclination, time or energy to cook and preserve at least 2 or 3 dozen bottles each Fall - just wouldn't make sense.
    I buy bagged salad to get a variety of greens because I'd never get through 2 or 3 types of lettuce before they went bad. I cook most proteins from scratch but will occasionally buy something like a frozen lasagna, as it is cheaper than making my own - I just make sure to serve smaller portions than recommended and add a salad or steamed veg. I bake from scratch and since it takes time this helps me to cut down on sweets - I have to really want it!
    On the other hand I don't buy "takeout" and the only time I would frequent a "Fast Food" establishment is for an occasional coffee when I'm out running around. Life is a compromise and we just need to do what works best for each of us, health-wise, financially, and taking into account any physical limitations each of us might have.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi I found your blog recently, love it. I do a mixture for different reasons, i.e I usually make my yogurt but I bought it this week as it was cheaper than the milk I would have used to make it. Today, I had a ready made pasta dish from a sachet as I had spent the morning cleaning my kitchen cupboards and was too tired to make from scratch, plus I was starving! (forgot to have breakfast, lol.) Then like you I do half and half a mix of convenience and from scratch. I think about 2/3 of my meals are totally from scratch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sharon, like you I usually make my own yoghurt but sometimes buy. I've not found a favourite culture yet for home made Greek yoghurt - just using a spoonful of a purchased one as my culture doesn't seem to make the same flavour. I keep experimenting with different dried cultures

      Delete
  5. I make pretty much all my savoury dishes from scratch... but puddings are a different matter entirely. Basically I don't like sweet food - while my husband does - so he ends the meal with bought ice-cream etc. Jx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I cook from scratch a good deal but it still involves canned or jarred items often. I still consider it "scratch" because I didn't warm it up in the microwave.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's an interesting point that most people these days wouldn't even think once about. I can't imagine many people would consider using canned tomato products or easy garlic (I'm guessing it's already minced from a jar?) as not cooking from scratch, haha! So many meals now are right from a microwave or oven ready tray or from a box that you just add water or whatever else to.

    I do love cooking ENTIRELY from scratch but honestly if I do use canned tomato or like the tube of grated ginger I bought last week because the store was out of fresh ginger I do consider it "from scratch." I mean, I put a bunch of real ingredients together and made a meal from them. You really do bring up a fun point though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it's the point at which using something processed makes us regard it as no longer from scratch which interests me. I don't suppose anyone would regard using ready milled flour as not being from scratch! From the comments it looks as though tinned tomatoes or ready sieved passata is the border line!

      Delete