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.

Those £10 meal deals are incredibly good value. particularly if you'd have purchased wine anyway.

I cook from scratch most days but sometimes use stuffed pasta, gnocchi or frozen pizza due to time constraints or because I can't be bothered. Takeaways are rare though because we don't have good ones here really, plus it's expensive.

I'm in my 40s and have been doing it 15 years (started when I had my eldest). Most of my friends are the same. Although one family in my circle eat a lot of convenience food, they seem to be an exception.

I thought home cooking was becoming more popular lately.

We cook from scratch most days, unless we are too tired (due say to our train service being closed, and we get home late from work after a stressful journey) or ill; in which case we might have a meal out of the freezer or a takeaway! I often cook for 4, as per most recipes, and if there are only two or three of us eating, I freeze the left over portions!

I'm an "old" person - 60.
I cooked from scratch all my life, before children and even when DC were little and I was working. I used to make bread, cakes and batch cook all the time.
Now it's just the two of us again and I cannot be bothered, we have ready meals a couple of times a week, plus the odd takeaway.
DC are at uni so sometimes they are at home and I make more effort.

i think when you've been cooking for 40 odd years the novelty wears off.

@Sunshineonleaf
Yes I think it's the same with me. I'm nearly 50 and my DC are grown up. When they were little I cooked from scratch all the time but now I can't be bothered either. I thought about cooking and freezing leftovers in portions but the types of things that can be frozen, like lasagne for example, I don't fancy often anyway.

Cooking from scratch can be a thankless, expensive and time consuming task. For example, it's far more expensive to bake a batch of biscuits than buy them, plus it take a while and your kitchen ends up covered in flour. They do taste nicer but like I said, I see baking as a one off treat rather than an everyday thing.

Cooking from scratch is cheaper than ready made.

Cooking from scratch is cheaper than ready made.

Unlikely in many cases unless you already have the ingredients in. If you're in a situation where a pinch of nutmeg means you have to buy a whole jar of nutmeg it most certainly isn't.

And with the price of butter as it is home baking is often more expensive than simply buying a cake (although admittedly nicer)

I try to cook from or near scratch as often as possible.

DH and I work FT and long hours, and DH travels a lot. DD has a lot of sports and is constantly "starving"! I am doing a night course, and have some Committee meetings etc some evenings, and DD has Scouts another evening. So dinners need to be fast and nutricious, as well as tasty and also acceptable to DD (some food issues related to SNs).

DD is not a major fan of "meat, potatoes and vegetables" dinners, although she'll eat them on occasion. So we don't have those all that often - maybe once a fortnight.

I do a lot of sauces that I can freeze - so a spag bol, various curries, lasagna, cottage pie etc - having one that/following night and the other gets frozen for at least next week or later.

I will prep things the night before if I can - leaving veg peeled and chopped ready to stir fry when I get in the door. I will often prep a stew or other meal that can cook in the oven, and set that to turn on itself and be ready when we get in home. And I have a lot of meals that are fast to prepare - many of which may involve a jar of sauce rather than making a sauce, but putting that over freshly done meat and veg. Some nights we can take more time over things than others - and then we would definitely be cooking from scratch. But a lasagna that I've made the meat sauce, cheese sauce and assembled myself, and frozen for another night - still counts as cooking from scratch even when I just lift it from freezer to oven to table on a more frantic night.

We are having a takeaway tonight, but haven't had one in at least 4 weeks.

Although - my sneaky treat to myself on nights when DH was away and DD was already in bed is no longer MY sneaky treat - an M&S Welsh Rarebit with 2 part baked bread rolls cooked alongside it and a glass of wine - DD caught me one night, she then informed DH about the great dinner we have when he's not there some nights, and now everyone else gets to eat them when I buy them and there's never one there for me when I want one!

Cooking from scratch is cheaper than ready made

I generally disagree.

Biscuits and cakes...like a pp said, the price of butter is extortionate...shop bought is far cheaper.

Pesto...much cheaper to buy. £1 ish for a jar is much cheaper than buying pine nuts (hugely expensive) parmesan and basil.

Thai green curry paste...try buying galangal, lemon grass, coriander, chillis, lime leaves etc...very expensive when compared to a jar of ready made paste.

Generally actual ready meals work out to be more expensive cost per person compared to home made though.

I think I am in the middle.

Some meals are convenience foods, especially if we are all eating at a different time or getting in late. Occasional meals completely 'from scratch' (i.e. all fresh ingredients)

But mainly I use tins of tomato, ready made pasta, frozen veg, jars of sauce etc. Then combine with fresh meat, some fresh veg, some home made sauces etc.

I reckon we are about 95% cook from scratch - topped up with the odd plate of fish fingers and chips. Not a fan of takeaways.

Yeah, I agree with pastes and pesto. It's a lot more expensive to make your own. I might if we had friends for dinner and I had all day. Simpler curries probably work out the same once you've got basic spices from an Asian supermarket and use once a week. I freeze a batch of chillies I blitz in processor and break off what I need. And freeze coconut milk in ice cube trays. So, we do get more meals conveniently and for fewer £ once you've shelled out, say £5 in basics. We don't buy ready meals but will have occasional fish finger butty and DH's bloody kievs

I can cook most things and would say 70% of the week is cooking from scratch, we'll have a couple of quick freezer meals a couple of times a week like fish fingers or pizza but usually with salad or veg. I cook a roast most sundays. We might have a takeaway or ready meal maybe once a month or 'emergencies' like we are late back and haven't got any other food in. I've started using the slow cooker a lot recently.

I had a friend who never cooked anything from scratch, it was all convenience food or takeaways and I've known older people who survive 90% on microwave meals because they are not up to cooking anymore due to ill health.

Doas yes, you can get a nice little individual cheese fondue (heat in microwave ) from Waitrose around £3 and very delicious.