Who else cooks like this?

[Anythingyoulike]

I think we eat well as a family and I would say I cook “home made” rather than “from scratch”, as in we don’t do very much freezer food and no ready meals or anything like that, but I do like convenience.

For example, tonight we had meatballs from M&S in their “family hidden veg sauce” with spaghetti and salad. I just use a jar of sauce for things like that and obviously haven’t made my own meatballs. When I make bolognese I used tinned chopped tomatoes and tomato purée and build the flavour with garlic and herbs etc and never use a jar of sauce. If we have a roast chicken I will roast the veg and potatoes or peel and mash potatoes, but I don’t roast a chicken myself I buy one from the rotisserie section in the supermarket ready to go and just add our trimmings.

I’ll use the leftover chicken for making a chicken risotto with onion, garlic, and lemon. Or we’ll have it with a creamy tomato sauce I make myself with sun dried tomato paste, garlic, shallots, herbs, cream and lemon. I use the slow cooker to make curries and chillies where everything is just flung in and left to it.

We also eat a lot of simple tuna pasta dishes, baked potatoes, omelettes, baked salmon, and so on.

Are most people cooking like this? I think it’s a decent balance of kind of home made with convenience. I’m definitely not a natural cook but our family eat fairly healthily I think and we have a good rotation of curries, chilli, pasta dishes, tacos, risotto, fish, as well as the odd night of fish finger sandwiches or pizza!

My meatballs aren't just meat - I usually use a combo of beef and pork mince plus breadcrumbs, an egg, herbs, mustard, salt, pepper etc. I would also make the sauce from scratch (albeit using tinned tomatoes) but buy the spaghetti and garlic bread.

Seems like a good balance to me OP!
(I recommend the Panasonic bread maker FYI. It’s brilliant)

I don’t like rotisserie chicken because that was my mums go too and she was/is an awful cook. However, I’m partial to Aldi meatball sauce jar and bisto gravy as I just don’t have time some days.

Shock horror my DD is partial to M and S kids ready meal too for after swimming (or when DH is left to make her dinner…)

I make what I can from scratch, I make an effort to for most things but will fully admit that if both me and DH have work weeks/months that are far too busy? I will do what I can to save time and ensure we have a balanced but fed life 😅

What sort of meals do you enjoy cooking? Any particularly tasty but simple ideas? 🙏🏻

I don't know anyone who doesn't use tinned tomatoes

You do now! 😀 I never use tinned tomatoes. I hate the acid, watery flavour. I use fresh and cook them down.

I’ve never bought a rotisserie chicken either. I just prefer to choose it and cook it myself. I don’t like jars of sauce as they’re usually far too salty. I do buy pre-made tacos, wraps and breads as shortcuts though. Not always but usually if it’s a week day and I’m short of time.

Gosh, it’s funny how many jars the supermarkets stock when nobody uses them! Why do they even bother?

I don’t love jar sauces but have a tomato and a curry sauce in the cupboard all the time because they’re useful on busy evenings.

I dont know who the hell would see shop bought garlic bread as some sort of strange short cut. I dont know anyone that would make their own garlic bread

Apart from the next 50 posters of course who are all going to make it clear they wouldnt be caught dead eating nasty supermarket garlic bread and if they do buy it ready made its from that local bakers thats open once a fortnight and charge £8.40 for 4 slices but its all handmade donchano.

I cook exactly like you do OP. Though I do cook my own chicken because the rotisserie ones are more like quails. The day I start worrying about making a meatball or being arsed that I didn’t squash a tomato with my bare hand will be a sad day.

Same as you op, a mix of healthy shortcuts and from scratch. Usually healthy shortcuts during the week (tonight was M&S breaded haddock and salad) and more from scratch on the weekend. I’ve never bought a pre cooked chicken though, because I like to make the gravy (and make extra, which I freeze and then use on Pork Medallions/pan roasted chicken and veg during the week).
I also batch cook from scratch and freeze in relevant portions which cuts down on the short cuts I use.

Thats fine if you eat bread and eggs.

I never use jar sauces always home made with a tomato or roux base…
never a ready done chicken, will just buy the chicken or other meat and marinade/ season and cook as I wish
meatballs and burgers I do buy ready made, but have made them from scratch also
wedges are made from scratch but kids prefer oven chips which I bung in the air fryer for quick after school tea.
also buy shop bought pizza and nuggets also

Hmm I don’t like mash done any other way than peeled, boiled and mashed myself with butter. But a quick plate of pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes, salad, drizzle of lemon and feta cheese? Can’t say no to that.

Sounds good to me op and like most people I know

This made me laugh 😂

I make my own garlic bread when I have whole loaf bread that's past it's best to use up. Best way to save it, and I can make it doubly garlicky, which our family love. I also buy regular shop bought garlic bread too, though! It's more about preventing food waste.

That's far from cooking from scratch. Ready made food like sauces and meatballs will have loads of extra salt, probably other additives, lots of starch and low quality ingredients. Sometimes they are necessary but definitely not great for everyday eating.

Fresh pesto is dead easy to make, and if you like the jarred stuff, you'd love freshly made. To me, it's one of those things that's well worth the minimal effort to make for the massive uplift in flavour.

Most people I know cook like that. I’ll happily use jars of curry paste as a shortcut, the sauce is made by me but the spice base comes courtesy of Pataks. I use store bought meatballs and burgers, and I’ve never in my life made garlic bread from scratch, if I’m making bread it’ll be eaten as bread.

I think some shortcuts on the way don’t do any harm in a balanced diet.

That’s pretty much how I cook OP.
When the kids were younger I used to make meatballs but now they’re older with bigger appetites I’d be there for hours!
I’m the one that does all the cooking in our house so anything for quickness / convenience is a must especially after a busy day.

Pesto might be easy to make but you need to have a massive amount of fresh basil on hand which is expensive and unlikely when you’re making something quick and easy.

I love home made pesto and will make it in batches, but if I don’t have any and am short of time a jar will do nicely for a quick dinner.

That’s the point of my OP - I don’t cook much from scratch. And we definitely don’t eat spaghetti meatballs every day but, as I said before, the meatballs and the jar of M&S sauce seem great ingredients-wise

I think your approach is a decent pragmatic balance.
I'm a bit more all or nothing. Two of us.
I cook completely from scratch about five nights a week and full ready meals the others.
I'm very fond of Aldi's paella at the moment and we have that once a week. Also M&S Chinese range.
I wouldn't bother with a ready cooked chicken but I buy a large free range chicken every week and it does a couple of meals and lunches. Not keen on jar sauces in general but I will use a curry one occasionally.
Otherwise whatever I make I do double and freeze one.

Quelle horreur!

All those sauces in a jar are full of additives & chemicals.

Rotisserie chicken... one that's been out for hours gathering bacteria and all sorts.

Much healthier to cook from scratch, batch cook and freeze. You can even make your own sauces and freeze them to use later rather than buy something with sodium levels through the roof.

We eat pesto so infrequently that I just could not be bothered with that. Last month I recall having pesto pasta once. Very nice with feta cheese, lemon and fresh basil etc, but a couple of jars in the cupboards covers us for how often we eat it.

Ah yes, in fairness I have a huge amount of basil growing on the windowsill year round. So the basil to me is "free" (although there is a cost involved for the seeds and soil).