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???

It was through Mumsnet I discovered people used the term cooking from scratch to mean ingredients.

I'd always known the term to mean, what ever the fuck you have in the cupboards which will result in what you want for dinner.

I've come across both Honey. A "scratch meal" meaning digging around in your cupboards for whatever's in there, and "cooking from scratch" meaning starting with basic ingredients.

You're cheating but everyone cheats, doesn't matter as long as it taste good

I'd say nearly all from scratch,everyone cuts corners, it makes sense. Who is DH's mum, Delia bloody Smith? He should be bloody grateful!!!

I don't use frozen mash as it's very easy to make. I do use curry paste sometimes but add other fresh ingredients. It depends if it's a weekday meal or a dinner party really. It's not like you're dishing up frozen potato smiles and fish fingers! I'd say all power to you girlfriend!

Janey's DP should get off her butt, and cook all three meals 'from scratch'. Then she's possibly, possibly entitled to say something but I would still kill her, and only if the meals are edible, and better than OP's 'not quite up to scratch' meals.

FFS "cheating" implies you are doing something wrong or underhand, deliberately trying to con the poor deluded people who have to eat your food. You might be taking shortcuts or using timesavers, but "cheating' absolutely not.

I'm a bit confused by all the spices comments - it seems you can either buy a ready made paste or roast and grind the spices yourself. What happened to ready ground spices in jars?

I also use frozen veg when we are having a roast, and sometimes buy coleslaw or hummus. Obviously I might as well go to McDonalds.

And that's the point, isn't it. So many times on these threads there's an air of "if you didn't pull it out of the soil with your own bare hands you might as well have a Pot Noodle for all the nutrition you'll get" which overlooks the fact that fresh meat and vegetables plus jar sauce is indeed better than most ready meals or takeaways and therefore worth the extra effort.

It's the equivalent of saying "if you aren't running marathons you might as well sit on your arse all day picking your nose" when as any fule kno any exercise you take is worthwhile.

As an aside, whenever I read a thread on MN that has anything to do with cooking or packed lunches I make a little bet with myself about how long it will take before the words "homemade" or "from scratch" appear. Usually doesn't take long.

Got to love the Scratchers.

What I've never understood is how is it cheating exactly? Unless you're on Masterchef there's no competition or test happening so who are you cheating?

OP, using a jar sauce isn't cooking from scratch but do you really care?

Is frozen mash any good? Whenever I've frozen mine (haven't actually cooked anything in the 7 months since DD was born )it has a funny taste to it when re-heated, it's not horrible but you can tell it's not fresh if that makes sense?

I don't like frozen mash as mash but it's fine on fish pie, cottage pie, etc.

And Smash is fantastic for thickening casserole.

I'm attempting a curry in the slow cooker 'from scratch' (well apart from the garam masala... and the coconut milk is from a tin, rather than me taking an axe to the fresh article...) - I've only used my SC once in about 4 years of owning it so this could be a disaster and I'll run back to Pataks with open arms!

I don't think it's cheating to use jars of curry paste, I use them all the time. Frozen mashed potatoes sounds a bit off :P

I bloody hate doing mash but I owe a potato ricer and a microwave. Sorted!

*own

I use curry paste. So does my mum. We are Indian Crack on and don't worry about it.

Patak's Paste have done all the hard work so we don't have to!

Aah fish pie. I love it!. My kids hate it. They also hate mash potato. Frozen mash might just work for me to make my own teeny individual clearly-not-from-scratch-as-the-mash-is-frozen fish pie!

Most def not!

Curry from scratch isn't too tricky if you really want to try it . It's just onion , garlic, spices, tomatoes and water plus whatever meat or veg. You then adapt the flavour by adding yoghurt or cream if you want.

Not completely from scratch but a hell of alot better than ready meals!

It's not "cheating" unless you're in a cooking contest. It's home cooking using appropriate and healthy/reasonable short cuts.

I left a certain well known food board as I grew bored of some posters more obsessed with "cheating" and Mrs Doyle "Maybe I like the pain" attitude than the nutrients, authenticity or taste in the food.

Exactly Squiz

Duvet YY the other reason I left the board was a white English mansplainer repeatedly telling me what my own nan did or didn't do in her kitchen (I'm 1/2 Anglo-Indian ... only 1/4 ethnicity but 1/2 food wise). Then accused me of calling him racist when I pointed out he had a slightly romanticised view.

Kitchen king all the way.
And don't get me started on Maggi noodles ... a staple!