Is it still good home cooked food if you use a jar?

[Hsundbfhdi]

We've had a pretty rubbish day here, I'm heavily pregnant and feeling rough and my husband is working crazy hours. Our childcare fell through so we've been trying to juggle a toddler too.

It's time to get dinner ready and I've popped open a jar of honey and mustard chicken tonight. Poured it over some chicken thighs. Will make pasta and peas to go with it.

Curious to know where people stand on how unhealthy it is to use jars? I've never really cared before, but now we've got a little one, I'm more conscious of the food I'm making. Growing up, my mum would use jars quite regularly e.g dolmio, curry, chicken tonight etc she'd also make amazing Mediterranean food from scratch too. It was a real mix.

Anyway, would you still consider this a healthy, home cooked meal? Do you think it's still better than a takeaway (I do)? I've started trying to make my own sauces when I've got time, but my husband and I both work full time, long hours, and trying to get something together after work and before baby bedtime is a real mission! So I'm still partial to a jar here and there.

Just curious for thoughts.

The answer to is it a good home cooked meal is no. Is it perfectly reasonable given your situation of course. My quick and easy meal is vegetable chilli - cut up some veg of your choosing (always including garlic and onions but we often add squash or sweet potato, baby corn etc) add in some tinned tomatoes and leave it to simmer, not long before serving whack in some black beans and serve with boiled or microwave rice and some sour cream. I do try to make extra so we can have it twice in the week or freeze. But like you I commonly end up doing jars of some description due to being time poor - and toddler refusing to eat carefully prepared meals. Pesto pea pasta is a favourite this end. Another good easy one I'd recommend is Fajitas- chop up some veg and protein, leave to simmer whilst you do other stuff, microwave tortillas and add sour cream, job done. Unless you have time to make Guacamole from scratch which is easy. I often just shove avocado in which is less delicious but quicker.

Jars are fine @Hsundbfhdi

Anything cooked at home is home cooked in my book ;)

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I find this quite interesting and reassuring (Gousto user here!)

The mum guilt is real isn't it! I really wouldn't be worrying about the amount of " no, it isn't...." for whatever reason.
Your a busy working family, what works for you wouldn't work for me! Just know you are doing your best and trying...which in the world we live in counts for everything.

Takes more time, did you not read that she is short of time and tired so took a shortcut as a one off

Jars of made up sauces are too high in salt, sugar, preservatives and artificial colours and flavourings for me.

It’s not home cooking or cooking from scratch, but sometimes, needs must.

I don’t usually use sauces (except Dolmio for bolognese) but I do have a lot of ‘short cut’ (frozen) ingredients, which makes life a lot easier. ie: diced frozen onions, sliced frozen peppers, sliced frozen carrots, frozen shredded cabbage etc. We do what we need to do when living busy lives.

I don’t consider a bolognese with some Dolmio added to it not home cooked. Your dish just had a bit of sauce on it, no different from shop bought mayo or shop bought Caesar salad dressing. You cooked everything else. I just wouldn’t use jarred sauces too often.

People tend to but I'm single so the only way I can eat lasagne, cottage pie etc etc is either
Batch cook
Buy a ready meal
Make one portion

I'm not fucking about with mashing one potato for cottage pie so I make the lot, portion into Pyrex dishes and freeze it. Homemade ready meal

Do you have a link for the organic lemon and lime bottles that you buy? I’ve tried 1 or 2 but they don’t taste the same as freshly squeezed which is a faff.

Have you tried prepping the night before or using frozen chopped veg? If I'm doing something that takes a while to cook then I will chop onions and veg the night before and pop in the fridge. Then it's easy to throw together after work.

My main issue with shop- bought sauces is I think they taste horrible.

if I had the chicken thighs, I’d sprinkle some soy sauce and honey and oil on them.

in a separate oven dish I’d mix up some chopped up peppers, tomatoes courgettes and onions. Maybe add sweet potatoes. Then add oil and put both chicken thighs and vegetables in the oven. (In separate dishes probably but you could just mix them all together. I don’t eat white carbs - waste of calories - I’d add loads more vegetables.

Tastes far better than a shop bought sauce and far healthier.

No I just tend to avoid ultra processed food with weird ingredients. I was trying to convey that I’m not an absolutist though. If I’m not feeling well and I’m getting my dinner from the corner shop I would bend my usual rules.

It’s not a home cooked meal though, it’s basically a ready meal in different packaging. Full of shit ingredients and preservatives, yuk. Either cook something real or have eggs on toast.🍷

It's Mr Organic lemon and lime juice - but Biona also do good ones. Suspect you've tried these and you're right they're not perfect, but I find deffo good enough for cooking with.

This piece of gear is life-changing though for making fresh lemon/lime less of a faff for posher salads or other things where it counts!

We really must all aspire to be more like you, and not eating Dolmio like idiots 🤦‍♀️

Presumably not using shop bought bread though right?

Huh weird the link disappeared when i edited this post so here it is again: Screw into the lemon, squeeze. That's it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GLOGLOW-Stainless-Drilling-Squeezers-Vegetable/dp/B07DYV1JBR/ref=asc_df_B07DYV1JBR/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10669586480035641190&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-2281435177098&psc=1&mcid=dd03ae6858333eb1bda42a046d1b3183&hvocijid=10669586480035641190-B07DYV1JBR-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1

How is it the same as a ready meal when the vast majority of it isn't upf?

The chicken, pasta and peas aren't upf. It's just the sauce. The sauce doesn't negate the nutritional value of the rest of it?

I like Dolmio so don’t want to waste the time making my own sauce

If you think about a ready meal, the same is true. There is chicken, vegetables etc - but the other ingredients, emulsifiers, thickeners, preservatives, antioxidants etc - make it a UPF.

The presence or absence of those ingredients is what makes the meal a UPF or not.

Once you add them to the meal, the meal is ultra processed.

Oh love, it's absolutely fine! You've cooked everything else from scratch, and "healthy" isn't just about the nutrients in the food you consume. If you're exhausted and struggling with the juggles and heavily pregnant, then is exhausting yourself more trying to cook everything from scratch all the time healthy? I'd say a jar from time to time when you need to use one is a healthy way to cheat. Especially over getting a takeout! Sometimes I choose sanity and mental health over "healthy food". It's still healthy to gain time and mental space by eating ready prepared food.
When you have childcare again, do a batch cook, try to have one or two done each week build up a freezer stock for quick meals when you cba cooking. Freeze some in ice cubes for baby portion sizes when you start weaning.
We try and do a mix of everything - cooking from scratch and batching, easy ones like a quick omelette or beans on toast, ready meals now and again for me when DH works away, and the odd takeaway.
For new baby I'd just leave out the salt and add it into adult portions later, but I honestly wouldn't worry too much. If you're eating well 80% of the time you're doing fine 😊

I do cook mostly from scratch. I have the time. Did I do it when I was getting in from work at 7pm or later? No I bloody well didn't. My fridge was stacked with M&S ready meals.
One thing I will say for convenience foods is that they aren't as nice as my own cooking. If I ate out of jars and microwaveable dishes for one, I'd be far less of a greedy fat bastard.

The only jars I use are pesto or curry paste really.

But I honestly wouldn't judge anyone who does use them more.

Although I'm not a fan of jarred tomato based sauces - they always taste metallic to me.

But its not is it. The sauce is. The rest of the food isn't.

Yes, you could say the same about ready meals, that part of them are upf if it's just one small part of it.

The sauce doesn't like, take the protein out of the chicken or make the peas less nutritious?

Well, if your way of looking at things was correct, ready meals wouldn't be considered UPF. But ofc they are.

In any UPF product there will be 'natural' ingredients. They are still UPF.