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Original poster

Your tips on homemade food

29 replies

labamba18 · 13/12/2025 00:05

Inspired by another thread where people said they loved to make meals and even bread and snacks from scratch - how do you find the time? My husband and I work full
time and have pretty on the go lives but I’d love to make more from scratch. I’m not the best cook but have committed in the past 2 years to learning more. I’d love to know if you make the majority from scratch how you do it! (Sorry for hijacking aibu)

OP posts:
174ghxt · 13/12/2025 00:27

I cook from scratch for me and OH almost every night. Takes me 35/40 mins to an hour for "ordinary" meals like pasta/fish/chicken etc, longer for more of a fancy "treat" type dinner. Have just developed range of dishes over the years. I think it's worth investing time in good food. It creates a lot of washing up though!

murasaki · 13/12/2025 00:27

Habit is definitely a thing re becoming comfortable doing things. Totally agree re a tomato sauce (add a bit of sugar) learn to make a bechamel (don't make a roux, bung everything in at once and whisk like mad) then you have white sauce and cheese sauce. Jarred stuff is horrid.

SoLongLuminosity · 13/12/2025 00:23

Habit and simplicity. I don't need to follow a recipe to make a tomato sauce for pasta or pizza. Just fry veg and garlic and chuck in some tinned tomatoes.

Have a good hand blender.

Pizza bases need barely any ingredients. Ideally know what youre having in advance to you can factor in rest time.

Simple sauces like peanut butter and maple syrup for pancakes or porridge.

Batches.

And eating simple. Yes, I eat a lot of homemade but it's almost always the same trusty salad, pizza, pasta, jacket potato, chilli, soup, overnight oats, flapjack, banana bread, pancake recipe etc. I'm rarely fishing out new recipes.

murasaki · 13/12/2025 00:20

Make.more portions than I need at the weekend, and freeze. So during the week they are sort of ready meals but not. We made soup and pies, lasagna of different types, cottage pies, stews etc. Freeze in portions for two. A butchers run once a month. Get stuff out the night before to defrost. Veg bought on a weekly basis. We do have oven chips in the freezer, and frozen fish for me, but mash can be done while the meat is cooking and we don't tend to have dinner until around 8.

Plan the week in advance around what you're doing

We never buy shop bought ready meals and only have a takeaway around once a month if that.

Figure out what food.you like, and learn how to do it easily. Stir frys are quick, risottos are easy, that sort of thing, and you can chuck anything in. Have a good store cupboard. Ask chat gpt for advice.