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.

We cook every meal from scratch, Eastern European food is cheap and healthy, DP makes the meals in bulk, so the food lasts for weeks and the ingredients last for months.

I take from this that people eat a lot more cake than I do!

I do scratch cook but I also buy lots of pre-prepared stuff. I think things like a tin of baked beans is cheaper than buying beans and making a tomatoe sauce for them.

I cook at home rather than buying ready meals or jars of sauces, I find it much cheaper this way and cook things in bulk and freeze excess to keep cooking costs and time free.

Making a tomato sauce for pasta will cost 2 tins of tomatoes and a few herbs along with a tin of anchovies - £1.20 for 4 dishes

cooking shepherds pie or chicken in tarragon this week and it will be cheaper than purchasing a meal for 2 ready meals in the similar flavours styles - especially if I double up and freeze the other half of the meal, which gives me 3 meals for next week already in the freezer.

cracking two eggs and cooking of some mushrooms for an omelette is not difficult and far nicer and cheaper than a frozen omelette in the microwave

Time and know how

You don't need all those items at those cost for one cake tho! Eg the spices will be at most 2 or 3p per cake, not £1

That £10 would make many cakes!

I do cook from scratch and know I am lucky to have been taught by my DM, who learned as a post war farm girl when as PPs have said, things had to be cheap.

I'm also time poor so I do a mixture of longer meals at the weekend, when I have more time and enjoy it, making everything with a leftover portion that goes in the freezer, and quick meals for evenings when I come home from work.

Everything is planned though - I do a meal plan on a Saturday before we shop and if it's not on the plan, it's not bought. After 10+ years of meal planning it doesn't take me long and we don't eat the same things every week.

I've rarely eaten a bought cake that tastes as good as a home made cake. Not everything I cook is great but it beats most jars and ready meals.

My garden is however forlorn and unloved.

We use our local market for veg, we don't buy fruit alot but sometimes raspberries, strawberries in season. Usually about £25 a fortnight which fills 2 bags for life. It lasts well into week 3 sometimes and anything that is on the turn gets used in soup for lunches, nothing is ever thrown away.

I make tomato sauce from scratch with tinned toms, much tastier and cheaper than jar

The "old ways" also don't always factor in women working full time out of the home. And life's now geared up for two incomes so staying at home isn't an option for a lot of people.

I know some women did both and worked extremely hard but I doubt they'd be wishing their life on trudgery on us either.

It's easier to be resourceful and properly frugal if you have time. As well as skills.

the initial outlay does cost.

Sorry just see this. Yes, the initial outlay but you can't say that's the cost of making the cake.

This.

Just stop bloody baking. One of the reasons I'm slim is that I've never baked. And kids do not need cakes etc. Quite the opposite. A cake should be a birthday treat.

It's ridiculously easy to cook cheaply and healthily from scratch. Big bags of cumin and garum masala are less than £2 from my local Indian supermarket and will take me 6 months to finish, lentils are £1, lidl mixed wonky fruit and veg boxes are £1.5, tinned tomatoes are 19p from lidl. I can make a weeks worth of veggie curry for one (or several meals for a family) for a couple of pounds.

@EarringsandLipstick that's not the end of it, £450 for an oven, £80 for a whisk, £20 utensils. It's a very expensive cake.

I made a fruit cake on Sunday, it took a few minutes to weigh everything out and then pop in the oven, some recipes are ridiculously simple - then an hour later we have cake for tea this week and half in the freezer for next week

bake beans vary considerably in quality and taste, its not difficult to make a tomato sauce of pasta and then use for beans - use haricot beans and navy beans and then cook up with tomato sauce.

Its organisation

I went to visit fiends for the weekend and she made a roast ham on the first evening and then used the same joint for cold meat in sandwiches for the next day and with a cold meat plater the next

My mother worked her whole life in a 2 income family, as did my grandmother - both full time as well.

In working class families 2 incomes to get by is not new. My Dad wasn't sitting on his bum waiting for his dinner to be made either.

@PurpleButterflyWings we cook from scratch pretty much every day. Ok, I don't make my own pasta and bake bread only very occasionally so it's mostly shop bought. Cakes are always home made and recipes for dinner are often quick and easy.
Even breakfast is usually porridge or eggs.
We're also outdoor people and spend lots of time in the garden, walking and cycling in parks and woods. It is possible to do both.
I don't need to lie about it.

Personally I wouldn't count baking as cooking meals from scratch- cakes are a nice treat or whatever but no one needs them. Cooking meals from scratch is still cheaper in a lot of cases but more time intensive, as has always been the case. Veg are still cheap, in fact carrots and potatoes etc are falling in price at the moment, using shop bought sauces isn't the end of the world nutritionally depending what you put with it. There's plenty between cooking everything from scratch and microwave ready meals.

£80 for a whisk, more like £8 and its not as if you'd only use it once

Judging by the reviews on that whisk I think you'd be lucky to use it more than once 😄

But your home cooking won't have all the nasty additives in it. Taste much nicer and it means you won't go to the shop and buy things you really don't need but buy anyway becuase your in the shop for a cheap shop bought cake. Who ever comes out of a shop only buying what they went in for!

And while someone like me happily doesn’t need to eat cake, if you have small kids then you might want to.

Yes but if it's for small kids the justification for having the cake is surely that you've made it together and it's the experience of baking a treat? You don't bake for small kids just for the purpose of giving them something sugary.

I've had my hand mixer for 20+ years so it's earned its keep

@ivykaty44 I am more than capable of making beans in a tomato sauce. I just find a tin of tomatoes and a portion of beans plus other flavorings comes out more expensive than premium brand tins of beans.

Also, why the fuck would you spend so much time, energy, money, and gas/electric on making your own cake? You can buy one for pennies!

I remember a Food Programme looking at cheap supermarket food and what was in it. They had a packet of cherry Bakewell tarts and the only recognisable item on the ingredients list was radish!

You stick to your cheap, ultra-processed cakes, and good luck to you!

BTW, OP, cooking from scratch is still cheaper.

😂😂😂

Who spends £80:on a whisk?

I've been cooking and baking since I was 9

I love it

No way is it. So much cheaper to buy premade cake. Can't tell if you know nothing about baking, or nothing about poverty. Poss both.