Am I "cooking from scratch".....

[Janeymoo50]

or not...

Curry - brown onion, garlic, chicken, add jar of paste/sauce?

Shep pie - brown mince, onions, carrots, add tomato paste, stock, flour, marmite, seasoning, herbs, etc

Fish pie - put frozen salmon and cod fillets (Iceland bargains) in bit of milk, butter and dried herbs, then make proper roux with the liquid, top with frozen mash (with added butter and good shake of black pepper)

My DP says I cheat, I might concur on the frozen mash (but it works better on fish pie).... But I've always thought this was ok....am I really cheating???

I have never heard anyone use the phrase "cooking from scratch" IRL. Never.

'Cook from scratch' - such a silly term, where does it start/end?

I do though, mostly. But I would happily use Pataks paste, and still call it my own cooking, just as I would call a goulash 'mine' when made with paste. I'm perfectly capable of making both pastes myself, but why would I bother when I can use them? It's no different to using bought filo, or wonton wrappers? No sane person makes filo pastry unless they're on GBBO.

Maryz

Step one: point and laugh at Pestle and Mortars

step two: buy a dirt cheap coffee grinder instead.

And that is how to grind spices.

honey you have just reminded me that I wanted to buy a pestle and mortar for something. Fook knows what it was though. Don't think it was for food purposes though

Frozen mash is fab! Tastes just only slightly not like the real thing but a million times better than instant mash, just add some butter, You need two bags to put on a Shepards pie.

You need two bags to put on a Shepards pie - depends on the size of the pie surely? :o

I agree it doesn't go as far as you think, but it is much denser than home made or instant mash I think so quite filling proportionate to the amount.

Yes I think maybe I make supersize pies!

Suggest your dp catches, kills and guts the fish for the pie, slaughters a lamb for shepherd's pie and grows onions in the spare room and potatoes on the balcony, only then will there be no more accusations of cheating.

I'd never make puff pastry again tbh. The ready to roll stuff is so good. Not Sainsbury's own though - it doesn't unroll.

Homemade bath salts and bath soak.

Pie dishes should be chosen to maximise crispy potato topping surface area.

I like podding peas and eating them raw (especially straight off the plant), but I think frozen petit pois taste better cooked. Peas get really starchy very quickly as they grow and they don't store very well so instantly frozen ones are both nicer tasting and better for you.

I love freshly picked peas. If not used in a salad than whatever don't go in my gob go in a sieve, I "cook" them by boiling the kettle and pouring the water over them.

Frozen peas are the way forward - I used to work in a factory where we froze them and we worked all night so they really were fresh as the moment... unless you literally picked them in your garden you couldn't buy them that fresh!

Frozen broccoli goes all mushy too blech

I have a bee-u-tee-ful designer pestle n mortar that I liberated from my mammy. Well she had never used it!

That was about 7 years ago and I've never used it either!!

Why do some posters say that the curry is from scratch? It's clearly not - how is using a mass produced jar of sauce with goodness knows what in it cooking from scratch?

I wouldn't be bothered about cheating! Let your OH bloody do it then.

If you yourself are concerned about healthiness it sounds like you are already doing a hood job. I'd cut the curry sauce jar out and go for spices and either a tin of tomatoes or coconut milk or if you could be bothered, pureed onion as a thickener. The jars are in general not great for salt and sugar.

Does it matter if you are cheating? If all of you have a normal BMI (with allowances for rubgy players ) and a normal blood pressure, no.

If not then packet sauces and jars are usually boosted with sugar and salt to make them more palatable. As sugar is driving the obesity crisis, this is a problem.

You are cheerfully thinking you are having a healthy meal with veg and chicken when actually the sauce is undermining your efforts in secret.

My DP says I cheat,

How much cooking does he do?