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.

"BTW a tin of tomatoes is not cooking from scratch!!!"

Since when was a tin of tomatoes such a crime?

This is true.

I do sometimes make my own chutneys and I have canned vegetables (I don't trust myself to can meat).

So if I use home canned tomatoes is that a meal 'made from scratch'?

yes. Canned tomatoes, are not a UPF, same as frozen veg, it’s to extend its life but it doesn’t mean it’s not a legitimate ingredient. Processing is very different to ultra processing

Edit, not even home canned.

Another one to say tinned veggies are ingredients that one would use when 'cooking from scratch'. There's no processing in there (you'd hope), it's just the one ingredient.

Jar of pasta sauce though - different thing.

We mostly cook from scratch to reduce UPF, although I buy ready made puff pastry to make an easy pie. It.was daunting at first but become a habit.

How is it not cooking from scratch to use an otherwise unaltered ingredient that has been stored in a tin or other container? Should we start trekking to our local salt mines during the weekly shop rather than getting some in the supermarket?

That sounds very tasty OP , I don’t usually buy those sorts of jars of sauce ( the chicken tonight brand ) but I do have jars of tomato based pasta sauce and curry pastes in the cupboard as well as soy sauce , mustard , ground and whole spices etc .
I would say that’s a home cooked dinner but not a “ from scratch “ dinner .
One of my very quick dinners is pasta , throw frozen peas in the pot towards the end of cooking time .
Drain pasta and add flaked smoked trout + plain Greek yogurt that’s got a little bit of horseradish , salt and pepper mixed in .

It’s not a home cooked meal but it’s not awful either.

I made myself fairly clear earlier. However, did you put the chicken in the pan? It was raw? Are you cooking the peas and potatoes from scratch - not tinned (mind, tinned veg/frozen veg are both as good as fresh veg and keep longer)? It's home-cooked. The odd jar harms no-one, nor do things like tinned tomatoes, beans etc. Amazing things come out of jars - pickled peppers, cornichons, capers...Doubt I am doing that work for myself (though I have and it's fun and the food is nice, but it's hard work to grow the stuff, source the stuff, spend hours pickling, jamming, jellying, freezing). Does my using pickled peppers from a jar remove the 'home-cooked' label from what I prepare?

If you throw in a jar of pre prepared sauce like Chicken Tonight or Dolmio even if all else is fresh then it's not a strictly 'home cooked' meal - there are nasties in all those pre prepared sauce that you wouldn't find in making the sauce by yourself.

'Home cooked' I take to mean from scratch and you can use ingredients from tins or jars that only have one or two ingredients on the label - i.e. tinned tomatoes, pickled gherkins. These items aren't processed or have artificial stuff in them.

But I definitely agree the odd jar does no harm overall and who has the will it energy to cook from scratch every night? And those things are tasty!

I do get your point. I was not suggesting sauces out of jars adlib, but sometimes things have to give a little or most of us would go insane.

I boil my Supernoodles at home. I wouldn’t call them home cooked. I occasionally put cannelloni in the microwave. That’s not home cooked either. Sometimes I take batch cooked chilli out the freezer - that’s not a ready meal.

cooking at home does not make something home cooked in the ‘cooked from scratch’ sense.

I've been cooking for 40 years. It's not got that fast.

BTW a tin of tomatoes is not cooking from scratch!!!

Of course it is. As is using frozen vegetables. Its just a method of preserving.

Even Delia agrees.

You cooked it at home, hence, it's home cooked. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Home cooked because it’s cooked in your home lol I like to make my own marinades/sauces because it’s something for me to be proud of that day.
I tend to cook from scratch 2-3 times a week as by mid week I’m usually starting to get overwhelmed with life. Pinterest. I love Pinterest!!

That’s what I just said lol