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 also don't believe most people DO cook from scratch most of the time

It depends on what you eat though. Most of my meals are pretty basic, because that's what I like to eat. Meat or Fish with salad or veg. Simple, quick, healthy. I don't make a lot of complex meals. Lasagna I do myself, but again, I do the traditional way, which is not many ingredients and pretty cheap to make. Any pasta sauce is equally quick and easy, three or four ingredients to make the sauce. I very, very, rarely buy anything that's pre-made, either in a jar or as a ready meal.

Exactly that

I cook from scratch because I'm diabetic, and it's almost impossible to find any sauces/jars that aren't sugar and carb laden. It just makes me feel really unwell to eat processed food.

I go to cash and carry and buy catering size jars of herbs/spices and they last ages, and buy basic tins of tomatoes/beans/pulses etc. I think it helps if you keep a good basic larder stock and it doesn't have to be expensive.

It's usually cheaper to cook from scratch but some of the jars of sauces are ridiculously cheap. You can buy a really nice mushroom pasta sauce from Sainsbury's for 80p.

I think on the whole you can make most basic meals cheaper than buying ready meals.

Yes white sauce cheap to make

I very much agree with ‘Home economics’ point made earlier. That seems to have gone by wayside. I grew up with grandma and mum who cooked this way. Things that are natural to me in my 40s eg subbing an ingredient for one you have rather than following recipe to letter, using all cooker space eg putting in a rice pudding, making soup to use up veg, are not the norm now.
I post food/recipes on my Instagram as I’ve lost 5 stone and get lots of basic questions. I didn’t realise how poor cooking skills were generally. People are very fixated on use by dates and whether reheating stuff ok.
But I have a large freezer and transport so I can easily shop for yellow stickers and I enjoy cooking. If anything was a disaster I have alternatives. If you have a really limited budget then something readymade you know will be ok and family will eat is safer bet to spend your last few £ on.
I don’t think ready made and homemade compare. Eg you can buy a cheap lasagne but will be hungry later as little protein whereas a homemade one you need less.

Like for like YABU.

pasta sauce costs £1-2. A couple tins tomatoes an onion and a pinch of herbs costs less than that.

you can compare ready made meals, but the affordable ones are generally made with very little meat content and bulk out on cheap ingredients. So it’s not comparable quality/price unless you’re also bulking out with cheap ingredients like oils, flours, thickening agents etc.

I am in one of those food deserts, so tahini was really difficult to get hold of it was about £3.60 and not in my usual supermarket. It worked out at 35p a dollop. My supermarket sells chickpeas at 60p. So thats 95p before my slosh of lemon, oil, garlic, seasoning etc. The hummous i buy is £1. Its just something i thought seriously want worth making.

I make mostly plant based meals and it is quite inexpensive. I grow my own herbs now which make a difference.

To the poster saying I was being too fancy cooking with butter with DD:
12 Sainsbury's fairy cakes: 85p, Aldi price match: £1.70 for 24
In this recipe I'm assuming small pack sizes (if you have nothing in, and need not to spend much):
Glace icing fairy cake recipe, also Sainsbury's products (makes 24 but they'd be tiny)
125g self raising flour: 10p
125g soft butter (Sainsbury's soft baking spread) 25p
125g caster sugar (this is a 500g non fair trade bag) 30p
2 eggs medium or large 34p
1 tsp vanilla extract (this is £1.50 for a bottle, OK let's say 10p for a tsp as the bottle is 60ml)
24 x bun papers 12p
200g Icing sugar 40p

Total: £1.60 for ingredients assuming you'd use the vanilla (in particular) again (the others are more usable in different recipes). Then you have to bake them. This is about 20p - the electricity cap i.e. if you are on a prepayment/non direct debit meter.

So if you are DEFINITELY going to use up all of the rest of the ingredients (and use them exactly - the flour, marge and caster sugar use 1/4 of the packet, the icing sugar uses 2/5 of the packet and the vanilla and cake cases use about 1/10 of the packet, and if you don't use them you'd have to throw them away hence wasting money)... it is almost exactly the same to make 24 very small fairy cakes at home.
If there is any wastage (I assume most of us have tried cooking with DCs!) and if you don't use up the ingredients before they go off (you could bake more fairy cakes every week of course) then it's not bad as an activity but hopelessly time wasting as a way to get fairy cakes!

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!

I do cook from scratch most of the time. I do use a few jars but not on a daily basis. If I do roasts, curry, lasagne, Bolognese, it's always from scratch. I can't remember the last time I bought a ready meal. I buy shop bought cake but I do love to bake, we don't have cake very often but it's about 50/50 shop bought/homemade.

Cooking from scratch is usually cheaper - carrots are practically free, potatoes and cabbage cost very little, dried pasta is cheap etc. I’ve always found it strange that people who are considered in poverty buy lots of junk food and takeaways because they are very expensive.

Once you have basics in the house it’s definitely much cheaper but you obviously have to build up those staples first I.e flour, herbs, seasoning, oil etc. I don’t think it’s more expensive to cook from scratch for a whole family, I can’t even imagine buying everyone in our family a ready meal each because it would cost a fortune (7 of us). Maybe cheaper for a single person or couple to eat junk, I’m not sure.

Who do you know in poverty who buys lots of junk food and takeaways?
As a treat, Macdonalds is pretty reasonable for children's meals.
But cabbage, potatoes, carrots and dried pasta is not a balanced meal for a child.

I've noticed s couple of people have said they are ditching the milkman, I was just wondering why, as we've been thinking about starting to use a milkman, missing so we don't have that. It's breakfast time and we've got no milk! Ahhhh!!!!

Because its much much more expensive.

I also cook from scratch. I don't make my own mayonnaise but I'm going to try and make a vegan one. I don't buy store bought cake because noone likes it. Will sometimes buy biscuits and mini rolls type things for the kids packed lunch. I will buy ready made pizza but usually add extra toppings (olives, red pepper, onion, mushroom). I rarely make my own bread even though I have a bread maker. I have never tried to make my own pasta. Even hummus I rarely buy because i prefer the one i make and it is very quick. I do buy tinned chickpeas and beans as I don't want to remember to soak them overnight.

I also cook a lot of foreign meals that aren't easily available here.

I don’t think cooking from scratch is more expensive. If you have basics from the store cupboard and limit meat or buy cheaper cuts it can be very cheap. I shop at Aldi and spend £80 -£90 for 3-4 adults.

Doofus we have a milkman for milk and eggs but he’s a lot more expensive than buying a plastic carton of milk in supermarket. I like to support local business, glass bottles and he was great in pandemic but he’s not cheap option.

Not all ingredients have risen in price. Potatoes, veggies, salad and dairy have either fallen in price or remained steady. Beef, lamb, chicken and wheat products have gone up.

I choose whatever is lower price on the day, cook for one adult, one teen and usually spend £45 a week. Almost all cook from scratch. This week has been.....

Ham, cheese & tomato omelettes with 3 medium eggs each ( slo-cooker ham)
Sweet peppers stuffed with sausagemeat, served with garlic bread.
Seafood risotto, using frozen mussels, shrimp and hake. served with peas
Chicken thighs with leeks & fennel, served with new potatoes
Shop bought pizza (I have Friday night off cooking) & garlic bread
Pan fried pork steaks with onions, garlic, grilled plums and sauted potatoes
Baked trout stuffed with herbs, with potatoes, lemon and broccoli.

Only the risotto and the sauted potatoes took more than 10 minutes prep. Pudding is normally fruit and creme fraiche in our house.

I do t really eat cake but would bake one for birthdays as always far nicer than shop bought imo.

If people want to cook everything from scratch, then good for them! But I don't like people 'looking down their nose' at people who don't.

As PPs have said, I don't get that vibe from this thread. It's an interesting discussion on how to economise, some of the skills that have become less widespread and how our expectations of food have changed over the last couple of generations.

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.

Well you can believe what you like but I cook from scratch all the time, and completely. I'm looking at my shopping list for the week and my most 'non-scratch' item is tomato puree and some flatbreads. (And wine, I don't brew my own )

I mean, why on earth WOULD you?

If you need to economise and you want to eat well, why wouldn't you? As it happens I also enjoy cooking (and I'm a very outdoorsy person too; it's possible to do both) but whatever the reason there's no need to be so snippy.

E.G last night dinner for 3 adults:
wholewheat pasta twists(less than one 500g bag) with one small tin tuna, 400g tin of tomatoes, a red pepper, half tin sweetcorn, chilli flakes, onion, garlic, dried herbs.
Took less than half an hour, 10 mins prep, 20 simmering sauce.

I am/will be buying more frozen fruit and vegetables and more own brand items. I'm already buying less meat and using lentils etc to bulk it out. Making sauces I use passata in Indian and Italian dishes along with whatever tomatoes I have already . Chop them up and only remove the skin if it's thick or tough. Dried herbs are much more economical than fresh
Basic plain porridge is easy to make in the microwave and you can flavour it with jams, sugar dried or frozen fruit, honey , spices or cocoa powder

I'm afraid though that no matter how much we try to economise we will be in for a rough couple of years with heating becoming ever more of a luxury and cooking/eating to survive rather than for leisure