Cooking from scratch - do most families still do it?

[Snog]

My friend was very surprised to hear that I cook from scratch.

I used to rely 80% on convenience meals until about ten years ago when I decided (aged 40!!!) to learn to cook so I have been on both sides of the fence.

I'm curious as to whether working families mostly cook from scratch still or whether convenience food is the new norm.
It certainly seems to me that the average family is more time pressured than ever before. For me the main reason I didn't cook was firstly lack of skills and also I always had things I would prefer to do with my time than cook.

I do mostly, a few shortcuts and I will use jars of pastes etc from time to time, also I buy ready made pies sometimes but mostly from scratch.

Yes, about four or five days a week. We do use a few convenience foods like oven chips and burgers, and Covent Garden soups though.

Yes mostly.
Take aways once a week or once a fortnight and I’ll use things like ready made puff pastry, fish fingers, baked beans occasionally.

I gravitate between ends of the spectrum. DH has so many food allergies that ready meals or pre-prepared stuff (like sachets, jars, etc.) are nearly all no-go. There is one brand of fish fingers he can eat, and one sausage. There used to be a pizza, but they stopped making it, and the last three we tried made him too ill, so we gave up. So any cooked food at home is nearly always "from scratch" (including bread - we have a breadmaker - but I'd totally buy this if I could, especially things like buns - which is why we have burgers so rarely. Making burgers and buns are usually just too much for me... I'll do it every once and while and freeze buns then no more burgers once those run out, for like a year or more). But then I'll go through periods where my ill health just makes cooking impossible and we eat takeaway and its left-overs for a whole week.

My parents now eat almost exclusively ready-made and take-away food. But my mother has always hated cooking, and they can eat it and can afford it, so I suppose that makes sense?

Cooking from scratch often is quicker than a ready meal though, often taking 30 minutes in the oven. E.g. I came in from work last night at 11pm and made myself a fresh saag paneer in 10-15 minutes. Family of 5 here, we have freezer food like fish and chips, veggie burgers about once a week but otherwise cook from scratch.

I mostly cook from scratch during the week unless I am really busy and tired then it will be something easy and quick. I never cook on Saturday, we have a takeaway or eat out.

As Popcorn says it depends on what you class as 'from scratch'. I'm a good cook but there's loads of pre made stuff in my cupboards/fridge, especially since we had dc. I never make pasta anymore, rarely make pesto (just use jars), I buy all condiments, pickles and jams now. I do homemade pizzas and curry pastes but will buy frozen puff pastry. I wouldn't use a microwave curry but do use microwave rice. I think I'm pretty typical in doing a mixture of scratch and convenience tbh, I used to make the vast majority of things and I think it was unusual.

Mostly from scratch though it means different things to everyone I guess. If I make bolognese I make my own sauce but I don’t make my own pasta. I hate ready meals and reheated food. We have takeaway and usually lunch out once week and bake a cake most weekends as we tend to have family in and out on a Sunday.

Beef burnt ends? Either end of a roasted joint?

We cook from scratch most days. Usually once a week the kids will have a freezer dinner of chicken nuggets and chips or similar. I don't use jarred sauces (apart from pesto and curry pastes) but do use stock cubes, tinned tomatoes, lazy ginger, dried pasta etc but i just consider these sensible and convenient options! I don't buy ready meals, such as lasagne, fish pie, i will make those myself. We eat out and have take away usually once or twice a month.

We have takeaway once a week. DH cooks the rest of the week although I will occasionally do dinner (he's better at it and enjoys it much more than me). He mostly uses jars rather than completely from scratch, just because it's quicker that way.

I love a good MN ‘from scratch’ debate.

I mostly cook starting with basic ingredients but frankly I’m not fermenting my own soy sauce. I sometimes order take away, sometimes eat out and sometimes stick a frozen pizza in the oven.

Most people I know cook their own food each day. I consider ready made food to be take away or complete ready made meals like ready made lasagne.

FWIW I don’t think there is anything massively wrong with ready made food- it can be heathy and nutritious if you chose right.

Cook everything from scratch pretty much. Was brought up that way. Use the odd shortcut like stuffed fresh pasta sometimes, but equally I bake a lot and usually have some homemade stock in the fridge.

Even when I was working 70 hour weeks and living on my own in London I usually cooked from scratch every morning and night and all weekend. Did buy lunch then, but there was a good cafe at work that did home-made stuff and a health food shop that did one of those salad bars.

I cook from scratch. I thought everyone did? Takeaways are occasional treats.

I cook from scratch mostly. Otherwise we have the odd takeaway. Tonight we are having hotpot, last night was paprika chicken, the night before I went mad and did a roast (on a Monday evening).

I cook from scratch most days but that includes maybe a steak pie from the freezer along with greens, mash and carrots etc.
Meal planning and a shopping list make it easy.
Monthly shop includes filling the freezer with mince, stewing steak, faggots, peas so I know I can produce a meal each night. Weekly shop is veg and fruit.

I cook from scratch around once a week. I attach no importance to it whatsoever and have never understood the smugness of people who do it every night. My family eat a healthy balanced diet, mostly grilled meat / fish or veggie stuff with oven ready veg, potatoes, microwave rice, pasta with good quality ready made sauce etc. Lots of frozen base veg like mixed peppers etc. Plus something beige with chips and beans around once a week.

I (I was about to say "we" but DH last cooked about 10 years ago!) cook from mainly from scratch most days for 1-2 meals. We don't eat take aways, but DH and I probably eat out once a week. The only ready meal type thing we get is filled pasta.

Yes, most days. Will buy in pizzas or the odd flan and sometimes get some deli bits from M&S at the weekend.

But other than that, I cook everything from scratch, it’s how I was brought up. I wouldn’t even use a jar of pasta sauce or a curry mix.

Most days yes but Fridays is either shop bought pizza or fish fingers. Love a fish finger bap!

(Also buy veggie sausages for dd, I did try making them but she outright rejected my efforts - the cheek )

Define cooking from scratch.

I try to use fresh meat and vegetables, but use packet Schwartz/ Colman’s style seasoning and pouches. I consider that to be cheating.... but don’t know whether others do?

I sometimes buy pizza, sometimes make the base.

Almost never make bread.

I’m not very good with 'recipes' quiches/ pastries/ complicated dishes etc.

50/50 here. I cook a lot from scratch but if DH is cooking then it's usually oven cooked pre-prepared food or...

... if I make a chilli, I use tomatoes, stock, spices, herbs etc whereas DH will use a jar of pre-made sauce.

Always cook from scratch if home. Go out for dinner maybe 3 or 4 times a fortnight.

Every day, all the time i cook from scratch. Rarely use sauce jars (most common is pesto).I don't get pre-prepared veg or quiche etc. I bake alot: cakes, bread (not all), muffins and biscuits. Rarely have pizza or other frozen convenience food. But do have sausages.

Rarely have takeaway but do eat out fortnightly.