To think cooking from scratch is not always cheaper?

I agree, I'm self employed and not short of work so it's more economical to buy in food than spend my time cooking from scratch which I am very capable of doing and much prefer the results. I also hate the shopping and planning, it takes a massive chunk of brain power.

Just to put a spanner in the works, when we calculate the cost, should we include our own time? What hourly rate does our labour come to?

I had to throw out a whole lasagna once after being lazy and buying a jar of dolmio white sauce. It was so sweet. Never again, a bechemel isn't hard.

I resented losing the bol and pasta, but seriously, it was inedible.

Why would you put bolognaise in the oven at all let alone for 3.5 hours?

If it's any consolation I bet your family love the effort put in

Everyone focussing on how much your spag bol is, yes maybe you could have made a it bit cheaper, but the fact is yes, it is way more expensive to cook from scratch. More expensive, more time consuming. Home cooked is of course healthier and tastier, but time and money are in very short supply for many people.

I use a similar amount of meat - 500g minced beef/pork and additional pancetta or lardons, but also a load of veg, a couple of tins of tomatoes, tomato puree etc and it makes enough for 4 of us for dinner, lunch for dh and I on a wfh day, then with the addition of some kidney beans and Mexican spices it makes a further dinner for 4 with either rice or Tortilla wraps/tacos, salad, cheddar etc. So one batch of ragu gives 10 meals - and my ds is having a growth spurt and eats huge portions!

Good for you. Clearly you've never been hungry. Or skint. Millions aren't so proud as to turn it down so sneeringly.

You may also want to look at the ingredients in those jars - they are surprisingly clear of crap and excellent value.

Cooking from scratch and having varied menu means adding more and more ingredients every week or with every new shop and that way you can never stick to a pre-planned samish menu and observe are you above budget - something I kept telling and telling my husband but no, he shops what he wants the way he wants us.

It's priorities really, isn't it. We like nice food. But are less fussed about fancy hotels and expensive clothes. Other opinions may vary.

If you can stomach a cheap jar of ready made sauce. Go ahead. I couldn't, IMO they taste vile

I would have to make an effort to use extra luxury ingredients to make it cost £20! Normal shopping ingredients at Aldi is defintely less than £10 - probably closer to a fiver! You don't need expensive ingredients if you are slow cooking the sauce.

That wouldn’t be the recipe I would use. But, making a ragu is expensive. Shop bought ones are horrible in my opinion, but even if I cooked my recipe it would be 1/10 of the price if I make it for 10,000 people instead of 4.

I made a batch a few weeks ago. Got 5 portions. I think it cost me about £8

I just priced up at £7.40, and it's only that expensive as it's 750g 5% fat mince. It would cost more to buy ready meals at lower quality. It's cheaper to cook from scratch generally, unless you start using premium ingredients that aren't necessity, just preference. I suppose like anything.

If you compare the same quality both homemade jam and homemade biscuits are better value.

Malted milks are really cheap biscuits, presumably made of palm oil etc.
Supermarket jam is low in fruit.

Cheap food comes at a cost was a point made by a food writer whose name escapes me. I think our health service is creaking under the weight, pun intended, of our over reliance on cheap processed food. As a society we’ve lost the skills of preparing simple, tasty nutritious food.

No self-respecting Italian would use half those ingredients, OP. And why garlic bread with pasta?!

This thread is absolutely hilarious

That's perhaps more on your recipe than the SC.

Is it not the allergies that make things more expensive too? You (I assume) can’t just buy store cupboard that are on offer etc, and you’ll need allergy friendly versions of things which are so much more pricey.

We are an allergy household, we also always cook and bake from scratch and for 3 of us (shopping largely at Aldi other than free from stuff from elsewhere) we are spending easily £200-250 a week.

I always forget though, then it just sits there and turns to vinegar. So stockpot it is, but i see your point...

I simmer it on the hob for 3 hrs + and use a mixture of pork & beef mince. I don't use extra lean beef because I want some fat to simmer/render for the taste! In fact, Aldi sells a blend of pork/beef mince which is ideal for this. 2 cans of chopped tomatoes/passata. Celery, garlic, onion & carrot for the soffrito base, tomato puree, dried herbs, bay leaf, worcestershire sauce, red wine (optional) and beef/chicken stock. Add milk if there is too much fat at the frying off the mince stage. Not sure why you need to buy jars of pasta sauce when you are slow cooking the sauce from scratch. Basic dried spaghetti is fine. The bolognaise is always better the following day. Leftovers are sometimes turned into lasagne or chilli con carne.

@murasaki freeze the leftover wine. I freeze loads of small portions of stuff. Every little helps 😁

Pious healthy frozen soup is the best!

This made me laugh!

Why are my meals so expensive? Perhaps because you use more expensive ingredients than you need to.

It doesn't need to cost £18 for make that meal from scratch. You aren't comparing a basic spaghetti bolognese ready meal with a basic homemade spaghetti bolognese. When you start adding ingredients like pancetta and sundried tomatoes it's always going to be an expensive meal.