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.

No but it adds unnecessary processed foods to what is otherwise healthy. I don't mind a jar being used don't get me wrong but it's actually quite easy to make a honey and mustard sauce to make is healthier and home cooked but short cuts are allowed and its not an issue to use them from time to time

Definitely counts as home cooked in my book! Who has time to faff about making sauces?!

It os a procesaed food but for Christ sakes give yourself a break. You're feeding people. Its fine

Definitely not cooked from scratch, but maybe homecooked.
I'm a dietitian, and if someone told me that, I would write chichen casserole (jar sauce) rather than chicken casserole (homemade). It's better than a ready meal, definitely better than a takeaway/fast food.
Everyone needs an easy dinner sometimes 😋

Things I use jars for:

The kids to make themselves pasta at lunch although often they use passata as a base and add cheese to make a tomato and cheese sauce

One off homepride creamy pasta bake because they love it

Chilli

Things I cook from scratch:

Carbonara
Lasagna
Yorkshire puddings
Toad in the hole
Pasta bake

Things I use from frozen
Chips
Quorn

Sounds like a balanced ish meal - I like to serve at least 2 portions of veg with each meal. But it’s not a home cooked meal.

I have days when things are too difficult eg DH in hospital and everything is a but crazy, on those days it’s fine.

I use plenty of cheats too like frozen chopped onions.

These are the ingredients in case anyone is interested

As others have said - not home cooked but not as bad as a ready meal. I look at the ingredients and if it is just the stuff I would use myself it’s fine. As soon as there are unrecognisable chemicals it isn’t.

No, but it'll do.

I wouldn’t count this as a homemade meal by any means, the main component is pre prepared.
My mum used to ‘cook’ like this for us growing up, it was either frozen stuff to chuck in the oven or a jarred sauce or packet mix - all tasted normal to me at the time.

I don’t buy pasta sauces/curry jars etc, they taste awful to me now. Very processed and leaving an artificial taste in my mouth and if I’m going to have a cheat dinner I’d far rather a takeaway!

I actually do think it matters in the grand scheme of things too in terms of the ultra processed consumption and how your tastebuds adapt to it and in terms of the cravings and habits formed from eating things that aren’t ’natural’. But that’s really my own feelings around why I don’t buy them.

I’m also fortunate that I have dh who does the vast majority of the cooking and has time when he comes home to spend hours making food from pretty much raw ingredients. Things like pasta and stuff we buy in although he even makes that himself sometimes.

It very much depends on the ingredients list.

If there are emulsifiers, gums, thickeners, preservatives, diglycerides of fatty acids, antioxidants, seed oils (unless specified cold-pressed) I'm afraid definitely not healthy, regardless of how much salt, sugar, fat the jar contains. It's increasingly clear that these ultra processed additives are the things which are destroying our gut microbiomes and setting off inflammation in various parts of our bodies, and that it's inflammation which is behind the rise and rise of serious disease and some common mental health issues in the West.

If it's just an excess of sugar, fat or salt, I wouldn't be too worried as long as you were managing to shovel down a salad with it, and preferably varying the ingredients in the salad. The current thinking is that a spread of 30 different plants/legumes/seeds across the week is more important for microbiome health than the five a day we've been told - variety is what makes a healthy gut.

But generally, I don't think you should think that 'healthy' means 'not a takeaway' - that's crazy!

It’s not a home cooked meal. I use jars all the time, but that’s just the fact of the matter.

Definitely didn't say healthy means not a takeaway! Just that it's certainly not as unhealthy as a takeaway

I think you may look back on that statement in a few years time and find you’re wrong.

All of extra shite, gums, emulsifiers, extracts, sweeteners are not good for us. I’d put money on cancer causing over time.

You're at home and you cooked so yes it's home-cooked. I really wish people would stop beating themselves up for how they prepare food.

Home cooked - yes (unless you've cooked it somewhere other than home! 😆)
From scratch - no, but it's one element of an otherwise home cooked meal

Definitely better than takeaway and no one really scratch cooks 100% of the time when working, pregnant, caring etc. no matter what they claim here

That's actually a great point, and I hadn't thought of it before. Roast chicken, pasta and veg are perfectly acceptable. The jar doesn't take away from that. Really interesting perspective!

It depends on the contents. If it contains honey, mustard & black pepper then fine. If it contains a list of enumbers, emulsifiers and stuff I can't pronounce, then no, that's not decent home cooked food.

But if you're pregnant, tired and need something quick, you do you. What anyone else thinks is irrelevant. Just once won't hurt.
Congratulations 😊

The best tip I can give you is to invest in a Gousto subscription for a few months, it’s been life changing for us. There’s a “prepped in 5” category that I have used a lot of recipes from and we keep the cards and remake the ones we like, often bulking up on the veg. These are easy to make, usually one pot dishes that take 5 mins to prepare and are usually 30 mins in the oven.

Some examples are:

-Chicken fajita pasta (3 portions of veg, onions, tomatoes, peppers)

• cod and chorizo tray bake (Onions, tomatoes, spring greens, peppers)
• beef and potato pie (carrots, mushrooms, broccoli)
• Beef stroganoff pasta (mushrooms, onions)
• chicken souvlaki tray bake (red onion, tomato, lettuce)

There’s loads more as well that can be made in 30 mins and all “from scratch”. I now have a repertoire of about 70 home cooked meals and DH is also able to make them as we have the recipe cards in a folder.

I’d class it as home cooked but not cooked from scratch. It’s perfectly fine and definitely better than a takeaway.

I probably wouldn’t say “home cooked” unless you’d class everything as home cooked (even a ready meal has to be cooked). It’s fine though, sounds nice.

Also not all jars are the same- after all, passata comes in a jar and that’s just tomatoes.

I mean, it's cooked at home right, so I think that makes it home cooked! 😁

Though saying that I never use jars. They don't taste good to me. All the sauces you can get in jars (tomato sauce, creamy sauces, bechamel etc) are really easy to make - like if you had double cream, wholegrain mustard and some honey you could easily make the jar sauce you had and it would taste better imho.

Yeah you're right it does sound a bit...

What, up yourself? Pretentious? Snobby?

Not everyone has the skills, time, money, or physical ability to make food from scratch 3x a day.

It's sounds delicious and enjoy. You and your family are doing great. Good luck with the new baby xx

Download the free app yuka and scan the barcode of the jar, this will identify the harmful additives and levels of salt/sugar etc.