Cooking from scratch - do most families still do it?

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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.

yes, occasional fish in batter, fortnightly

Anyone who makes pizza dough can you share your recipe? I've tried several times without success and with a lot of faff.

Yep but only because of my diet plan
Prior to starting i didnt know how ignoring the diet & the homemade malarky Dominos tonight obvs

6/7 days yes. 7th day is something quick from the freezer

I cook all dinners from scratch. Never use any jar sauces or packet mixes. we do have a take away every other Friday though

Cook from scratch about 80% of the time. Very rarely use ready meals e.g frozen lasagna. The rest of the time I might use a jar sauce, curry paste mix, packet mix or ready made fishcakes etc. Or takeaway

My favourite quick 'from scratch' meal at the moment is flatbreads made with milk, flour and garlic butter with chickens marinated in yoghurt, garlic lemon and spices with salad - it's soo nice 👍🏻

I cook most meals completely from scratch and I have been known to bake cookies on occasion but more often than not, they're bought in, especially when the absolute best homemade ones have to rest for 24hrs in the fridge.
I try not to make bread too often either because when I make it, I eat it. All. Smothered with butter. Mmm...

I eat homemade food 90% of the time.

Half and half here, tonight we had Chicken goujons (posh dippers basically) from Iceland, chips and beans 😊😊. Yet tomorrow I’m off work and doing a homemade lasagne.

Oh I would cook simple meals from scratch all the time if I was on my own. Bht I have a fussy husband who is picky about veg (even potatoes FGS) and kids who take after him so while they love fancy spicy home made curries etc they would NOT eat a plain chop wirh Plain sweet potato and greens.

I miss plain food like poached salmon, new potatoes in skins with butter, greens. When they eat salmon they like it wirh bloody Jamie oliver’s Asian dressing or loads of soy sauce on.

Mostly. We have eaten one takeaway in nine years together (partly expense, partly dietary requirements make a suitable one hard to find). We occasionally have a ready meal (few times a year).

I batch cook and use the slow cooker, which means that on the days when both of us are at work we will tend to have something quick like portion of batch cooked pasta sauce or bolognese with pasta. I do a roast once week and use the leftovers to make cottage/shepherds pie a couple of times a month - this then gets used on a work night too (easy to stick in oven for half an hour whilst I make packed lunches and cook some veg to go with it).

We tend to have one easy meal a week that is bought freezer food, so chips, fish fingers/breaded fish fillet - but this is still done with freshly cooked veg and I tend to use the time it saves to get the slow cooker set up for next day or some batch cooking done.

@Ragwort Wait, you can buy an individual cheese fondue???

Ladominate14 I use the bbc good food homemade pizza recipe. The quantity is supposed to make two 12 inch pizzas but it makes three, I put the spare dough in a bag in the fridge and it keeps fine for a couple of days or it can be frozen.

95% of the time is from scratch, both work full time with a 4 year old but we find time to do it as We both love cooking and we chat about our day whilst one of us is doing it (we generally take it in turns)

Yes, I do. I usually have a pizza in the freezer as a back up, but I try to cook as much as I can. I make extra portions when I cook and freeze them.

We cook from scratch all the time. We share the cooking though. We hardly ever have takeaways either - just doesn't occur to us.

We work f/t with dc - cooking just kind of squashes in somehow. Sometimes we cook in a bizarre way where dh will start prepping then have a call and I notice so finish off, and start the fish/ meat then I have a call / go and walk the dogs and he takes over again.

I make burgers and pizzas - it's quick and easy and I make about 2-3 cakes or puddings a week. We meal plan and it's a lot cheaper than takeaways / ready meals. Any leftovers are lunch next day.

I would like to go out for dinner more though. The dc like to look through recipe books and make suggestions/ have a go themselves. The dc can make simple meals, meal plan with help and shop with a list.

Ladominate 250g strong white flour, 7g sachet of dried yeast, big pinch if salt. Make into a loose dough with warm water and knead for around 5 minutes. Put in an large, oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for at least 2 hours. Makes 3, 12-14 inch thin pizzas.

We cook from scratch nearly every day, we love cooking, both of us.
Every now and then maybe something store-bough such as fishcakes or something of the sort, but even when eating pizza, DP makes the dough for it (sometimes he even makes bread!). Takeaways probably not more that 4 or 5 times a year for us. Never complete ready meals to put straight in the oven or microwave.

We do use stock cubes, tinned tomatoes or curry paste though.

I do a combination.

So, say I'm giving my dc some sort of breaded chicken for dinner, I'll make sure the potatoes and veg are fresh and not processed so I will boil some potatoes, make my own oven chips and do some broccoli.

If I'm giving oven chips and frozen peas, I'll griddle some fresh chicken breasts.

I'm astonished to read on this thread that some posters don't even buy bread or biscuits...they bake everything! I like baking but it's a treat to do rather than a replacement for shop bought stuff.

I hardly ever cook from scratch

I used to cook everything from scratch even had my own pasta maker although would use stock cubes and oven chips.

Now I have some health problems which mean I don’t have the stamina to spend a long time standing in front of the oven etc so I use a combination.

Have no ready meals though but I do buy e.g. stir fry sauces puff pastry and soups/breaded fish and so on.

There was a time where I made all bread,cakes,biscuits etc but I no longer eat them so if we want them I just buy them.

But I do wonder how on earth anyone can afford to have two takeaways a week. That would be astronomical where i live with e.g.most chinese etc demanding a minimum order of £15 a time....

We don't have take aways or ready meals.
I do use convenience food though like fish cakes,sausages,hummus,guacamole,pesto,pasta,stick cubes,bread,biscuits,tinned tomatoes,beans,peanut butter,marmite,crisps,wine,falafel.
I cook from scratch vegetarian food when I am not working but use a lot of the above when I am.

I mostly cook for just myself now but usually my adult DD comes over for dinner twice a week. I've found that often I can't match the price of convenience foods. For example, if I make macaroni cheese for us, ok the pasta is cheap but cheese itself is quite expensive and when I actually added up how much I spent it's the same to buy ready made. Or the Tesco's £10 meal deal. The bottle of wine that's included would cost minimum £5 alone. Then there's the meat (the option I choose) would be at least £3. Plus you get a side and desert. It's very good value. I don't mind cooking from scratch sometimes (though I don't love cooking!) but it needs to make economical sense.

I count dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, peanut butter as cooking from scratch.