Do your "people" cook from scratch?

[JohnSmithDrive]

My mum did and I do mostly. If I have people round for a buffet, things like quiche and sausage rolls, cake are homemade. If it's for dinner it won't be particularly exciting, but I'd do a homemade chilli or lasagne, something easy to prep ahead and feed lots of people..

Among my friends no one cooks, to the extent that it feels pretentious to do so. They are all generous hosts, but everything will be from a packet or they'll suggest takeaway pizza or similar.

I worry that my cooking seems like showing off and also (sometimes) wonder why I bother!

I don't know why cooking from scratch is seen as some sort of virtue

It isn't by most people. Except there are a few self congratulating arseholes who get snobby about food. Cooking from scratch isn't up yourself or pretentious unless you make it so with some of the attitudes demonstrated on this thread like:

*Which ready meals?
There's no way on earth the proverbial
Ready meal 'Lasagne' tastes anything like a genuine Italian 'Lasagne.
No chance.

Even the lowly tomato taste bought from a French outdoor grower's marker tastes completely different from the supermarket pish.

People are either food enthusiasts or not.*

Shockingly you can be a food enthusiast and also not have the time to cook from scratch 7 days a week. Or you can be a food enthusiast and make your own lasagne but buy ready made sheets. You can be a food enthusiast with 0 time to cook and your enthusiasm can come from eating out. It's not all or nothing

I went to school in the 1970s, and we learned how to cook properly from scratch, not just to assemble a few ingredients.

I'm sorry but what exactly is cooking from scratch if not 'assembling a few ingredients'? Just more examples of snobbery on this thread and people using language to make themselves seem superior.

We have a £50 Marks and Sparks voucher might try a ready meal.
Mrs hr will kill me.

Ex MIl used to cook Xmas dinner all from pre-packaged food, boxed turkey, Aunt Bettys..
Noooooooo.

Your understanding of the word “astronomical” is very shaky.
There are 4.14g of salt in a 655g dish designed to feed two people. To put that in context, a teaspoon of salt is 6g. Every single recipe for fish pie will say that the potatoes should be cooked in salted water, the sauce seasoned with a good pinch of salt and then of course if it includes cheese (this one does) then there is salt in the cheese. The sugars in the ingredients list will come partly from the carb in the potatoes and flour. I think that you are just preconditioned to trot out the old “oh it’s full of salt and sugar” tropes without really thinking it through.

@goawaystormy

I don't know why cooking from scratch is seen as some sort of virtue

It isn't by most people. Except there are a few self congratulating arseholes who get snobby about food. Cooking from scratch isn't up yourself or pretentious unless you make it so with some of the attitudes demonstrated on this thread like:

*Which ready meals?
There's no way on earth the proverbial
Ready meal 'Lasagne' tastes anything like a genuine Italian 'Lasagne.
No chance.

Even the lowly tomato taste bought from a French outdoor grower's marker tastes completely different from the supermarket pish.

People are either food enthusiasts or not.*

Shockingly you can be a food enthusiast and also not have the time to cook from scratch 7 days a week. Or you can be a food enthusiast and make your own lasagne but buy ready made sheets. You can be a food enthusiast with 0 time to cook and your enthusiasm can come from eating out. It's not all or nothing

I went to school in the 1970s, and we learned how to cook properly from scratch, not just to assemble a few ingredients.

I'm sorry but what exactly is cooking from scratch if not 'assembling a few ingredients'? Just more examples of snobbery on this thread and people using language to make themselves seem superior.

Describing posters as arseholes of up themselves isn't very nice is it?

If you enjoy something, quite clearly the people involved will make time, be it exercise, cooking, etc.
It might even be a hobby.
I'm sure when I go back to Mrs hr home country, I'll ask, 'I don't know how you can be arsed to do all this'.

Making your own cheese? I’ve heard it all now

Same here. I know absolutely no one who does this

It's not snobby!
Some people just enjoy cooking.
And home cooked food us better for you.

If you want to buy it then crack on.
Why does it have to descend into criticising people who like cooking??

It's the same with breast feeding and bottle feeding. Some people do, some people can't & many don't want to.

One is better for your health than the other. It's just a fact. Not a judgement! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm sorry but what exactly is cooking from scratch if not 'assembling a few ingredients'? hmm Just more examples of snobbery on this thread and people using language to make themselves seem superior.

I'm sensing a little inverse snobbery here.
I'm comparing my 2 hour home economics lessons to the one hour food tech lessons that DD did at school, and they bear no comparison.

We do eat ready meals now and again, but I just wouldn't serve a ready meal at a dinner party. I don't understand why that is so difficult to comprehend. A dinner party is aboout the food and wine and friends equally.

@HoliHormonalTigerlilly why does it have to descend into criticising people who do not like cooking, by snidely saying “you crack in if you want to endanger your health”? Ready made food is not universally bad for your health as long as it is chosen carefully and supplemented with things like fresh vegetables (which can be as simple as frozen peas or microwaved broccoli).

@Hrpuffnstuff1

They had the 'Cook' frozen meals in the farm shop, the process for preparing isn't the same, even those premium meals taste nothing like a day prepped and made food.

My brother can cook too, we've thought of launching a street food business, but I just feel, large-scale cooking is a different skill set, and sacrifices have to be made.
Mrs. Hr makes some awesome food from her home country, it's so tasty.
If you enjoy cooking, you enjoy it.
Plus, in Mrs hr country, grandmother will prepare a big feast and you must eat it. It's really insulting not to. A lot of effort has gone into prepping.
I think we Brits have lost that familial-farm to fork connection.

For me, life has 4 main pleasurable delights.
Sex
Food
Drink
Excercise

If you're spending all of a weekend day cooking lasagne, there's far less time for an adventurous sex life. I'd much rather be at it like rabbits in our time off than making my own bechamel.

I don't drink, which knocks off a fair few calories to burn in non-sex related exercise. I have no idea why "foodie" people think its more sinful to have a Mars bar than a half bottle of wine with dinner.

A dinner party is about the food, wine and the company but a good time can be had without preparing a meal from scratch. Our friends and family have good food at our house (had 17 family for Christmas dinner) without me spending time cooking which although I can, I don’t enjoy and prefer to not to.

Have you read the ingredients. Potatoes, Milk, Cod (14%) (Fish), Cream (Milk), Salmon (9%) (Fish), Butter (Milk), Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Smoked Haddock (3%) (Fish), Water, Cheddar Cheese (Milk), Spinach, Free-Range Egg Yolk, Salt, Parsley, Fish Stock (Fish, Salt, Dried Potato, Sunflower Oil, Dried Cod (Fish), Lemon Juice Concentrate, Anchovy (Fish), Onion Powder), Lemon Juice, Yeast, White Pepper, Caramelised Sugar, Colours: Paprika Extract, Turmeric Extract

There's hardly any fish in it.

There's 14% cod, 9% salmon and 3% smoked haddock, so it's almost 30% fish which seems pretty normal to me? Especially when you think about the fact that fish pie also contains cheese, potatoes, sauce and other herbs and spices.

The salt and sugar content is astronomical.

It has 2g of salt per half pack, and a pack is designed to feed two people. 2g of salt per adult is a tiny amount - it's not even half a teaspoon!

I bet there would be more salt in a homemade pie than in that - think about it - smoked haddock is salty, potatoes are boiled in salted water, cheese is salty and most people add salt and pepper for flavour in their dishes too. I would bet a home cook baking a fish pie would use more than 2g of salt per person.

It also only has 3.6g of sugar per half a pack, so again, half a teaspoon or so - that's nothing. The sugar will mostly come from the carbs - so, the potatoes and the breadcrumbs.

Sugar occurs naturally in many fruits and veggies - it's not automatically the devil! Salt is also a flavouring and is perfectly fine in small amounts.

“Cooking from scratch” is a highly subjective term.

For me, cooking from scratch means not using anything that has been processed, and that includes even chicken broth cubes. For others, cooking from scratch means simply avoiding frozen ready meals.

A dinner party is aboout the food and wine and friends equally.

In YOUR opinion, yes. Clearly many people disagree with you.

[quote HaveringWavering]@HoliHormonalTigerlilly why does it have to descend into criticising people who do not like cooking, by snidely saying “you crack in if you want to endanger your health”? Ready made food is not universally bad for your health as long as it is chosen carefully and supplemented with things like fresh vegetables (which can be as simple as frozen peas or microwaved broccoli).[/quote]
I'm saying that eating a ready meal every day is not as healthy as cooking your own food. It's just a fact.

I'm not saying "don't eat frozen vegetables"

@JohnSmithDrive
Weekend, more like a weekday.
Bechamel doesn't take that long.
The meat sauce can be slow-cooked.
I can't remember the last time I ate a Mrs bar or had half a bottle of red wine.
People just like cooking, I don't understand the vehement protection of a Tescos lasagne.

[quote Hrpuffnstuff1]@JohnSmithDrive
Weekend, more like a weekday.
Bechamel doesn't take that long.
The meat sauce can be slow-cooked.
I can't remember the last time I ate a Mrs bar or had half a bottle of red wine.
People just like cooking, I don't understand the vehement protection of a Tescos lasagne.[/quote]
🤣

Do you genuinely not see that the statement

“Eating a ready meal every day is not as healthy as cooking your own food”

is judgmental as hell?

Let me break it down for you.

Telling someone that their food preferences are unhealthy is judging them because doing unhealthy things is generally considered to be bad. You are saying - you choose to do a bad thing, whereas I am superior because I do not do that bad thing. Dressing it up as “ooh, I’m just stating a fact” is no different to people who say offensive things and tag on “no offence”.

And I never accused you of telling people not to eat frozen vegetables. How did you get that from my post?

I cook a lot from scratch. I cant eat a lot of ready meals or convenience food or takeaways because of food intolerances. If I cook it I know whats in it.

Err…. If something is unhealthy, it is.
It would be like saying ‘smoking is unhealthy’ is judgemental rather than a fact.

Of course, people are totally free to chose what they are eating. But it doesn’t stop that some ways of eating are unhealthy and others are.

The Mediterranean diet has been shown again and again to have major health benefits and can be considered healthy.
The Standard American diet had been shown again and again to b detrimental to health and can be considered unhealthy.

That has nothing to do with whether you are judging the person who is choosing one diet over the other.

I'm saying that eating a ready meal every day is not as healthy as cooking your own food. It's just a fact.

No, that's just your opinion.

You can cook food filled with salt, fat and sugar from scratch, just as you can get ready meals that are relatively healthy for you.

My aunt cooks every meal from scratch - it's absolutely delicious but the vast majority of it is not healthy, lol. Double cream, salt, sugar, tons of cheese and other ingredients, the fattiest cuts of meat (for the flavour) etc etc.

I don't understand the vehement protection of a Tescos lasagne.

It was a fish pie @Hrpuffnstuff1 , anything more to say about your “astronomical amount of salt” comment now that both I and @icedcoffees have challenged it?

It would be like saying ‘smoking is unhealthy’ is judgemental rather than a fact.

What? If you say TO A SMOKER that smoking is unhealthy then of course you are judging their behaviour!

People just like cooking, I don't understand the vehement protection of a Tescos lasagne.

You're missing the point completely.

People aren't defending a Tesco lasagne, they're defending their choices because they feel picked at by people telling them they're lazy and unhealthy and not good enough hosts for liking those things.

You can like cooking without sneering and looking down your nose at people who are quite happy with a ready meal from Tesco.

I think that there are quite a lot of people on this thread who need to look up “judgmental” in the dictionary. It is perfectly possible to be judgmental by expressing an opinion that is based in solid, uncontrovertible fact. It is the fact that you feel the need to go around expressing that opinion and comparing the person’s behaviour unfavourably with your own instead of keeping your nose out that makes you judgmental.