To wonder who these wonder women are who 'cook from scratch' every day

[MGFM]

Following on from all the threads about supermarket shopping and how to make it cheaper etc, I just can't get me head around all of the families 'cooking from scratch' everyday.

Is it just me that thinks that cooking from scratch everyday is an absolute nightmare? Are people confused about what cooking from scratch actually means? Are all these people who do this SAHM/SAHDs? Are they getting up at 5 am to put the meal together to heat up in the evening. I just dont get it.

I am currently on Mat Leave but when I was working full time and getting home around 1645/1700 every night, the last thing I wanted to start doing was cooking from scratch.

And what does cooking from scratch even mean? I enjoy sausage, mash, peas and gravy. The mash is from scratch...does that count?

I tend to cook from scratch at the weekend....a big pan of chilli which can cook for a few hours, or spag bol and then will freeze the left overs but I dont start cooking this on a thursday night for example.

Anyway, If I am being unreasonable and it is actually pretty easy to be super mum/dad and cook from scratch, can I please have your recipes?

Thanks! -

I do. Its not a big deal.
I just dont buy ready meals, jars or processed food.

Tonight we are having sauages chips and beans, which is a processed as food gets here. Tomorrow is fish pie, Wednesday lasagne (homemade but in the freezer). Thursday pasta carbonara. Friday is takeaway. Saturday is something in front of the telly - chicken fajitas, pulled pork in buns, pasta bolognaise. Sunday is roast dinner or lunch in a local pub.
I work 30 hours and finish at lunchtime twice a week so have time to do something that takes longer on these days

erm okay - does everyone have a steamer then? I have gas rings and an electric oven

I have a pan steamer which goes on the hob,it was a fiver from IKEA,nothing fancy. If I didn't have that I'd just use an inch of water in a pan with the lid on.

I've never made a chilli. Could anyone give me their recipe please and how many people that would serve? It would be a good one for us as I could prep it all when I come in from work and then it could cook whilst I do bath and bedtime for the DC.

You don't need an actual steamer. Put a saucepan of water to boil on the hob, suspend a colander + lid to fit - hey presto!

Okay well I genuinely have just realised that I live on a totally different planet to most of MN.

Why would you think that someone who never cooks would have a steamer lying around? I don't even think I have pans with lids

I cook everything from scratch other than the occasional lightly dusted lemon sole and baby biscuits/snacks.
I cook for me, DH and two under 1s who pretty much have what we have now.

I find it doesn't take too much effort to plan ahead and time manage.
A proper shopping list and menu plan helps!

2 onions
steak mince 900g roughly
brown mince, add beef stock cube and water, a tube of tomato puree, quarter teaspoon of pepper, cook together, add chilli to taste, leave to cook at least an hour. Add one bunch of celery cut up. Cook some more. Freeze into portions. When unfrozen, cook with a tin of drained kidney beans, and serve with rice.
How many it does depends on your proportions of kidney beans to mince. I get 14-16 portions out of this.

What do you have in your kitchen, Livia - I'm sure one of us can come up with a solution

We'll just shove the cauliflower in a pan without a lid then

I recommend Batch cook on a big scale,cook enough for few weeks

I have just cooked pan fried salmon fillets , cous cous , grilled tomatoes and spinach. From scratch. Took less than ten minutes.

(And the salmon fillets were cut from a bargain side of salmon, individually wrapped and frozen. Far cheaper than the fillets the supermarket cuts. )

**well

Two small pans - lidless
A slow cooker that is still in the box because I hate the kind of food you cook in them
Some plates
Some table cutlery
A grater

I had a Pyrex dish but the cat uses it as a water bowl

Has anyone rocked up about the mn chicken,serves 9 people for 27 days.costs two bob

Me. It's really not that difficult when you get into the swing of it.

I went from eating fully prepared oven meals every day to making even mayo and ketchup myself.

I'm in the States now and we use a lot more horrible things in our food than Britain. When I had ds we made the choice for me to stay at home and put a large amount of our time making things from scratch and growing our own food.

Don't see why it bothers anyone else.

Think it depends on your definition of a scratch and also bulk cooking and freezing stuff means a lot of meals are made from scratch initially but then the next time it's basically just defrosting and reheating.

So for e.g. tonight for the kids was salmon fillet, rice and homemade (from scratch but in the freezer) veg sauce. At the weekend I made a big batch of veg sauce (onions, garlic, peppers, courgette, passata etc) and portioned it up. This will be the base of a lot of meals- like tonight, as a sauce for pasta etc.

I would say 80% of meals here are from scratch/homemade however the kids will also have sausages, pizza etc sometimes. Quick meals that are not technically from scratch but are healthy they might have would be pasta with pesto with broccoli, sweetcorn and peas mixed in, or pasta with cream cheese, tinned Tuna, sweet corn and broccoli.

I work part time. But about to increase my hours. I've worked full time and still cooked like this. But I do do a lot of bulk cooking at the weekend.

I cool everything from scratch and it's so easy. I class it as everything is pure ingredients (so no jar sauces etc). This week Thai chicken curry with jasmine rice (have pre made a paste which keeps for few weeks), seabass with roasted Mediterranean veg, speedy beef stroganoff with bulgar rice, butternut squash, spinach and goats cheese risotto. None take more than 20 mins. Don't get me wrong I love sausage & mash but wouldn't class that as cooking from scratch

Having said that m&s dine for two thing once in a blue moon would be dreamy.

We just had bacon and tomato pasta with chunks of mozzarella dropped in so they go all soft and stretchy. Yum. Was very quick to make. Yesterday was dhal with naan (takes about 25 mins in total). Other quickish favourites are burritos, stir fry, oven-cooked frittata-type-omelette-thingy and chicken pilaf.

Picky eater and lazy cook isn't a good combo

Lots of meals 'from scratch' are as quick as a ready made something would take.

I wouldn't consider getting home at 5pm and starting to cook an 'actual' meal like spag bol/fish pie/casserole...there's no time.

My from scratch meals during the week are things like omlettes full of veg, pan fried pork loin with noodles and veg, a stirfry...all can be made super quick in far less than 30 minutes. All veg in the steamer, it's much easier than having boiling pots.

I always have back ups though...tonight was Lidl's frozen Paella (amazing and so easy). And I always keep a couple of ready made chicken kievs etc just in case.

I think the issue is that most things that have to be cooked are things I wouldn't eat - rice, pulses, certain shapes of pasta, root veg (not inciuding potatoes but they are lovely raw)

I would happily cook from scratch every day if I was well enough to. I miss it! I much prefer fresh food but struggle with standing up long enough to cook it

My recipe for Chilli:

1lb mince (sorry - you may have to do your own conversions = 500g?)
One large, chopped onion
3 x garlic cloves (four if you like it garlicky)
1 x green pepper
2 x sliced red chillies (or a rather large teaspoon dried chilli flakes - hotness depends upon personal/family taste)
2 x tins chopped tomatoes
1 x tin kidney beans
PLUS: (Very Important)!! I x teaspoon sugar and 1 x glug of vinegar. It really does make a difference.
Salt and pepper (preferably coarse-ground black pepper - but anything else will do)

Fry mince and onion
Add garlic, chili, green pepper, tomatoes, sugar and vinegar
Add seasoning. Simmer for half an hour
Add kidney beans, continue to simmer for another 10 mins or so.

Freezeable at this stage (once cooled), kidney beans and all.

Serve with rice, OR over chips and pop under the grill with grated cheese. Chilli, cheese and chips.

(Plus salad, naturally)