To think that cooking from scratch is becoming more and more unsustainable?

[AlternativePerspective]

I have always cooked from scratch, and I will be the first to admit that cooking from scratch has always been more expensive than buying e.g. jar sauces etc. However as things currently stand food prices are going up so much that cooking from scratch is becoming more and more unsustainable for many people who are struggling to make ends meet.

And in an era where we’re being told to live healthily, to cut out additives where possible, and to use the healthiest ingredients, while this has always been hard to sustain, right now for many it’s unsustainable from a financial perspective, and people are going to be forced to eat jar sauces, ready meals and various other foods with additives they didn’t want or need.

I’ve just cancelled my milkman because I can no longer justify spending the money, and it’s going to take a lot before I will ever eat ready meals or cook from a jar. But compromises are going to have to be made, and in many instances for some people, it’s not going to be possible to compromise.

That's exactly why I have a store cupboard. Because I had less than nothing and decided that would never happen again.

Yes you are right

Would you go back to professional cooking or is it still very inflexible with dc?

YABU My eldest at uni eats really well on very little per week with really cheap spices and clever shopping at Aldi/Lidl. She cooks from scratch and she’s commented the reason she can eat way more cheaply than her house mates is because she rarely buys convenience food or junk food.

1. She doesn’t have a well stocked kitchen but just a few herbs and spices.
2. She has just a drawer of freezer space.
3. She doesn’t have a lot of free time as is an athlete at uni juggling a job, uni, and training
4. She does have worries about energy and has had the heating off most of the winter
5. she doesn’t have spare cash but it’s cheaper to bulk buy where possible such as 12 pack of chicken instead of two pack.

I think I’m probably like most people in that I cook mostly from scratch but also have convenience food as it’s too impractical (for me) to cook every single thing from scratch. I don’t make my own bread or pizza or cakes, I used to do all that years ago but as the saying goes, “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom”.

@PerkyBlinder But your daughter only has herself to cook for, so she can cook what she likes (no other tastes to accommodate) at a time that suits her (no family mealtimes to accommodate)
Just a drawer of freezer space is the equivalent of a whole freezer for a family! And she clearly does have spare cash as she's bulk buying! Just knowing it's cheaper to bulk buy doesn't mean the extra money to do so miraculously appears!

PerkyBlinder

your dd isn’t putting money into a meter to keep the cooker going

Sunday my cousin cooked a roast, put the dishwasher on afterward £7 on the smart meter

added to the £30 for ingredients, yes there was 8 of them for dinner but it’s not cheap to actually cook

dishwashers are considered more economical than washing up by hand

I am also laughing at the amount of people who have sagely advised that it's cheaper to buy in bulk.
Is there anyone anywhere who doesn't know that?
The advice would be more useful if they could suggest how you can accommodate £10 of bulk buying into a grocery budget of £50 for the week.

Depends what you eat. I don't like sauces so my cooking from scratch would be something like put fish in olive oil in pan and add veg.

Katypp

thing is if you only have £25 for food you can buy 7 pot noddles but that’s not the bulk buying they mean which is beyond price, carrying home, able to cook and use quick enough without freezer

@ivykaty44 .I honestly don't think people have a clue what it's like to manage on a small weekly budget.
Eg, using Tilda rice as an example, it's £2.60/kg if you buy 10kg, yet £5.80/kg if you just buy 500g. The downside is the10kg bag (which I KNOW will last a lot longer, obviously) will take a £26 chunk out of your budget for that week.
By the way, before I get jumped on, I know much cheaper rice is available but Tilda Basmati was the only thing I could find quickly where direct comparisons could be made between small and big packs. I know you can buy rice for 45p.

rice is only cheap if you can get to the bargain stores without a car, otherwise you’ll be left shopping in the local stores where the prices are inflated

PerkyBlinder What's her food budget per week?

Yep.

When I was younger my entire weekly food budget was £12 and it remained that way for about three years. For about six months of that I didn’t have a freezer either, so I couldn’t take advantage of cheap frozen veg.

It's the universal assumption from many that us poor folks are either lazy, incompetent or fussy. Trust me, from the poorer side of the fence, some of us do know full well HOW to cook lovely tasty meals from scratch, but two years plus of covid restrictions to shopping and finances, followed close on the heels with this money grubbing exercise from the big profit making companies that we have absolutely no control over, has left a lot of storecupboards more than bare and no way to replenish. I often end up with the ingredients, through deals or gifts, but have no way of actually turning these into edible wholesome meals simply through lack of means to cook. Or the reverse, like this week, a bit of money went on the meter, out shopping with a strict list, which mostly didn't happen as prices shot up soo much from two weeks ago for the very same items. The news that there will likely be power blackouts this winter fills me with more dread than the bills going up even more, anything I have managed to bulk cook and freeze will be lost. If anyone has any no or low cook ways to serve up swedes, I am all ears , raw in sticks it was not a winner, made us all quite ill. In the space of 3 months, our rent went up 50 a mth, our meter eats 4 x what it did, despite us using far less, heating oil for hot water and heating soared from 270 last delivery last sept, to last quote in feb was 1,400 for the same amount as last time so that didnt happen. Getting to work and school costs 48 a week more, all the other bills went up by quite a chunk in some cases, yet income went down by a third. The only area we have any real control over costwise is food, and the only way to control that is by simply buying very little. It is draining and demeaning to be constantly working out if a meal can be afforded, if using up the little left on the meter to cook a meal will leave us with no power to wash clothes, or no lights to do homework by etc. So yes, to the PP who pointed out that a family sized ready meal that is microwaveable in minutes would be the only option, if I had a supermarket near me that sold those I would be all over that in a heartbeat so we all could eat together and feel full rather than hiding skipping meals and everyone feeling miserable.
When the pots empty, cooking decent meals from scratch or growing your own is a very expensive hobby that is so out of reach it feels like a lottery win scenario, self sufficiency and all that, if only I could afford a ticket!

And this is why community kitchens should be available for people to use, many churches have decent kitchens in their halls

@MibsXX I hear you, I honestly do. There was a time a few years back when our business failed when we literally had £70 in the bank with no obvious means of any more coming in, to cover mortgage, heating, food etc. Luckily tax credits arranged for me to get our end of year adjustment early, but I'll never forget those few days when I honestly didn't know how we were going to get by. The relief when I looked on online banking and discovered the money had come in was incredible - I'll never forget it. And that was well before the price hikes we are seeing now.
I always thought I was a careful cook and I would have probably thought home-cooking was cheaper back then - until I was staring poverty in the face and the reality hit me.
Until you've been in the situation, it's difficult to grasp what it's like - as many posts on this thread prove. It's all 'just pennies' and 'next to nothing' and 'it might cost £5 but you've got it in for next time'. They haven't a clue.

Apparently there are recipes for cakes baked in the microwave. Which would reduce fuel costs. Haven’t tried them though. 🤷‍♀️

They cook fine in the microwave, just have a lack of colour

@Katypp excellent post Katy-- I've been there many years ago in a similar situation and having no money means you don't always think logically , you think in the here and now and simply getting through that day

I'm never going to stop cooking from scratch as I like to know what's in my food and in any case I'm sure its cheaper. Hell will freeze over before I buy a jar of sauce.
I shall cook more in my slow cooker and already use my mini oven much more (instant heat).

Yabu.. I have definitely not read the thread but as I still make about 1 million meals (according to my eldest) from approximately 2 packs of mince.. think bolognaise, lasagna, chilli, taco fries etc etc.. then we freeze the leftovers to just keep the endless joy of homecooked dinners going 🤣so you are definitely being unreasonable 🙂

Cooking from scratch is cheaper. I buy oniions , mushrooms, peppers, courgette and garlic and that will cover four meals . One with eggs, one pasta one rice and one with sweet potato. Then mince will do two nights one chilli one bolognaise and then a chicken on Sunday with carrots and potatoes.

would you mind breaking this down a bit? It sounds so simple and organised... i want to get involved!

(and Tupperware etc for storage(

You aren’t comparing like with like.
A cheap shop bought Victoria sponge doesn’t contain any butter. Cheap jarred pesto doesn’t contain olive oil. If you make these products at home using similarly cheap ingredients, it would be cheaper than buying in the shop, especially if you bulk cook.

I also think you are buying from expensive sources - it’s great to use a milkman, but it’s expensive compared to supermarket milk.

If you buy food in a supermarket (either low or mid range or a mix), use a market, bulk order for store-cupboard, then it’s cheaper to cook from scratch, the ingredients are going to be healthier and you can decide where you want to sacrifice quality and where you aren’t.