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.

I agree, OP, that cooking from scratch often costs more- I've just stuck the ingredients for HM pesto in my online basket and they cost far more than a tub of pesto (will be much nicer though). Likewise making breaded chicken from actual chicken and breadcrumbs costs more than buying cheap nuggets etc. It's because of the ingredients and processes you use- ever read the ingredients on a supermarket cake?

I think the trick is to choose meals which you can do cheaply at home- beans and pulses, veg etc. Anything with high cost ingredients will seem expensive compared to a ready-made version because that's where the supermarkets can save by using something cheaper.

Reply above was to this. No way is it cheaper to make a cake than to buy one.

I also don't believe most people DO cook from scratch most of the time. Many claim they do, on these kind of threads, but I don't believe them. They probably do the easy stuff I mentioned, but rarely do most stuff from scratch. I mean, why on earth WOULD you? As has been said, it's more expensive, it's time-consuming, AND most 'shop-prepared stuff' tastes just as good - (and sometimes even better!)...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!

Why would we lie? We cook from scratch because its healthier, its cheaper, it tastes much better, and we want to.

A jar of cheap pasta sauce doesn't taste as good as home made. It tastes like shit. And its full of sugar and shite.

And that cake you're buying for "pennies" is made of trans fats and sawdust.

You don't like nice food and you can't be bothered to cook...don't. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to know. But you ranting about those that do and talking rubbish suggests you have deeper feelings on it....

Reply above was to this. No way is it cheaper to make a cake than to buy one

It is once you understand the criteria is a "cake that we'd actually want to eat"

I don’t eat processed foods where possible I do cook most evenings ‘from scratch’

Breadcrumbs can be made from old bread so not wasting it

I totally agree that generally speaking, the more economical your meal is, the more time you spend cooking it.

However, we do have more tools at our disposal nowadays than our grandmothers did. Food processors to chop, beat and blend. A freezer/microwave combination is a winner for cooking once, eating twice. A soup maker is great for using up old veg in fridge drawer and isn't expensive to run. I imagine it's cheaper to cook frozen chips in an air fryer than in the oven. The initial outlay is expensive though and fridges and freezers don't last like they used to!

It does depend on the recipe books you yse, too. My ‘go to’ recipe books for cheap family teatime treats is my mother’s old BeRo book, early 1960s at a guess, possibly earlier as it was her mother’s before her. I have a Good Housekeeping and a Mrs Beeton from the same era. All make good wholesome cakes / biscuits with a minimum of rich / expensive ingredients, and with cooking times and temperatures that fit in with other dishes baked at the sane time.

You can cook from scratch pretty cheaply if you have the infrastructure, but if you are already doing that and are squeezed, the next step is to go to store made cheap stuff, like the food in pound shops. Replace butter with margerine, etc.

The other thing that may be an issue is time. If you have to work more to make up your pay to what you need, cooking may not be something you have much time for.

All that being said, it's possible to do very cheap simple cooking from scratch with very basic ingredients. A lot of people aren't used to that any more but it's not necessarily bad cooking.

I'm not sure it's always conducive to keeping weight down. Sure it might have more veg and fewer additives, but it tastes better so I want to eat more because it's nice and I don't skimp on the oil, butter, or portion sizes.

You are talking about 'baking' not 'cooking' . I'm a greedy cow...I love cake, I especially love homemade cake. I only make it rarely as it is quite spendy. I don't buy shop bought cake to replace.

Tbf if already cooking meals from scratch and hard up, baking in terms of expense and time can seem like a luxury activity. This is only in my experience

you can buy a family lasagna for 5e, there is no way you can make a lasagna for that at home

Oh, and quite a few of he older recipes are for quick cooking on the hob - again, from a time when fuel was expensive. Welsh cakes , or drop scones, or singing hinny, were and are all staples that use a minimum of ingredients and fuel.

I've pit weight on solely because im finding if I make stuff like pasta which id usually have salad with to bulk out or say chicken, potatoes and veg im increasing the potato / pasta portion because I cant afford salad and veg every night. And im a very savvy shopper who cooks everything myself. I just can't afford to eat what I should be eating.
Same with fruit, we've had to cut back on that loads and are far more reliant on cheap yogurts or stuff like jam on toast if we want a snack.

I don't get all this incessant baking either, no wonder so many kids are fat now. We never ate puddings or cake except on special occasions, my grandma who had lots of kids would make one cake a week and it was expected to last the whole week between 5 people. I have never even done that.

What were you doing @Onionpatch , that hummus wasn’t cheap as chips?

Tin of chickpeas, dollop of tahini, slosh of lemon juice, oil, bit of garlic and salt/pepper.

A tub of tahini lasts a good year, chickpeas are around 50p, and you can adjust the seasoning/thickness to your taste. We must make it twice a week - it’s the teen’s current snack of choice.

However, baking is definitely a ‘treat’ activity. Always was - weekday post-school tea would be bread and jam, cake or biscuits were weekend treats. Eking the meat from the Sunday joint out, similarly. I can cook from scratch really cheaply, but that’s because I menu plan rigorously and meat /cheeses/ fish portions are small.

That's not true at all I'm afraid - an off-brand jar of sauce will be cheaper than you can make at home.

At home, we don't buy in bulk or have access to the discounts that large suppliers get.

I think cooking from scratch is normally cheaper .Baking more expensive sure , but the end product is much superior generally.Jars and tins are handy but usually inferior to the cooked product at home .

80 quid for a whisk? Use a FORK!!

We bake bread almost daily. It’s not expensive and not particularly time consuming, it just takes a while for the bread to rise. The actual mixing of the bread is easy and cheap

Thoughts on cooking costs: when it is cold and I am heating the house anyway then cooking food costs are not be that bad, because the heat from cooking dissipates through the house so less heat is required from radiators. Venting to reduce condensation from boiling/steaming food will lose energy though. And in summer all that expensive energy goes out the window. Beans and pulses soaked overnight require less time to cook, though might be a bit more mushy. Microwaving or pressure cooking are more efficient, but not suitable or as tasty for many foods. Raw salad and sandwich ingredients require no cooking.

It's not just money. I work 2 jobs am also an unpaid carer now. I use ready meals because I'm so fucking exhausted just trying to make ends meet

Nonsense. Kids aren't fat from home made baking, but from the ultra processed food that kids are fed and the junk. From the sugar in your jarred pasta sauces and your cakes for pennies.

And people bake far far less than they used to. My grandma (like many women of her generationand location) baked all her own bread, cakes, biscuits, pies. Hardly anyone was obese then.