To get annoyed when people parrot that it's always cheaper to cook from scratch?

[Katypp]

Caveats: Home made food is usually:
A. Nicer
B. More nutritious
C: Made with proper ingredients that you can control
D: More filling
E: Not made with fillers, starch etc

But it's not always cheaper!

Time after time, when people post about food costs, the trope is always make it yourself, you'll save money. This post is in frustration after yet again, someone tripped it out on a budgeting forum. Someone commented that Tesco budget hummous is quite nice, to be told, as always, you can make it cheaper yourself.
You can't. Eastman's hummous 69p

Tesco chickpeas 60p + lemon 30p = 90p and that's before you add olive oil and tahini.

Yes I know you can soak your own chickpeas and buy in bulk at an Asian grocer etc, but that level of organisation for most people is beyond the effort of just picking up a tub on the weekly shop.

For the record, I am a very keen home cook and have also run a food business and written about food in the past. I enjoy cooking, but I am sick of people trotting out this line without thinking about it, especially on budgeting and money-saving forums.

Yes you are totally right @Baoing It's quite bizarre that in the UK cooking is seen as a very middle class thing to do. My friendship group from my school days are very middle class. Every one of them cooks. I live in a diverse area and when I had my DC, I made friends with a lot of other mums who were mainly from a working class background. I invited a group round for lunch. I made some chicken and one mum commented that it was the first time her son had eaten chicken that wasn't covered in breadcrumbs. One of the ladies I was friendly with was in her forties with a family and had never made a roast dinner. It really surprised me.

I read that the reason for this is the industrial revolution. As a nation we moved into the cities with everyone in the household going to work. We got tinned food earlier than many other countries and lost the connection to ‘peasant food’.

What a spectacularly sneery, classist, snobby post.

Interesting point about food and poverty which I am sure is true. However it is probably worth remembering that the food industry in this country was set up partly to avoid hunger due to a repeated cycle of famine, and it successfully did that in the latter part of the 20th century... until about 2010.

I also think it's simplistic to say that a few decades ago poor people grew crops. Assuming you mean Britain it was pretty industrial from the mid 19th century.

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps I was explaining my experiences. How is it sneery? In the UK, obesity and poverty are strongly linked. Why do you think that is? Cooking is seen as a middle class pursuit.

“Around the world, people bake bread every day - on hot stones, in community ovens, at home. Here, making bread is sneered at as being a middle class folly.”

because you can buy bread for 37p

I agree, my teenager is really into cooking and has lately been making her own pesto which to be fair, is delicious, but it makes my eyes water paying out £4 for a teeny bag of pine nuts in Tesco (before adding any of the other ingredients) when they sell jars of pesto for £1.10!

because you can buy bread for 37p

That's kind of what I'm saying?

What I mean though is, there isn’t some deeper reason that baking bread is seen as middle class here. It’s as straightforward as it costs more and takes time and effort.

If you’re literally on the breadline you can’t justify the extra money, if you’ve a lower income because you work for low wages or you’re an unpaid carer, you can’t justify the time either.

That pushes into being a middle class hobby.

You don’t need a blender to make hummus. I’ve always used a potato masher.

Well yes, but as you can clearly see I was replying to someone who said they wouldn't, not they couldn't, make it, so not sure what your point is?

As I said upthread, equipment is obviously a big contributing factor in what it is possible to make.

Not trictly an Asian diet, but find spices in abundance can turn the most bland basic things into something delicious, in stock up on tinned tomatoes,chickpeas,beans and chickpeas etc,frozen or whatever left old veg and cook up a storm for the freezer which is very welcoming particularly on Winter's nights. Very cheap and nutritious! Ratatouille is another favourite with lots of garlic!

Agree in a way! 'Confessed' to having made my own cereal bars once in the school yard, you would think i was sending my kids to school with caviar sandwiches! They were delicious and admittedly not cheaper but knew exactly what went in them and had enough goods to make lots more.

"What we need are community kitchens..."
These exist in some places, including where I live.
Self-referral, free cookery classes, ongoing access to cost-price/cheap ingredients for those who want to make dishes again at home...
Buying in bulk works well when it's being done by a food hub project of some kind - things like rice and chickpeas can then be weighed into smaller bags for distribution.
I also know of food bank style projects which have addressed some of the other issues mentioned in this thread - eg created recipe cards which are explicit about what kitchen equipment is needed to make each meal ( eg frying pan, colander, wooden spoon) and organised to provide these kind of basic cooking tools to those who need them (often donated by other people, who have more than they need).

The community kitchens mentioned above obviously don't suit everyone - they often operate during the daytime so would clash with work for some. There are also places where (unpaid) people cook together and then serve community meals on a 'pay what you can' basis. As they often have access to cheap/ free (sometimes bulk-bought or locally-grown or donated) ingredients, use community centres and volunteer labour, they can easily cover their costs.

There is of course a whole network of community kitchens in most big towns and cities - set up by the Sikh community, but open to absolutely everyone, of all faiths and none. There is a free kitchen in every single gurdwara, serving langar (free meal) every day, sometimes with several sittings.

If anyone reading this had the time and energy to set up a new project there are lots of places you could visit for inspiration!

ps: I make my own hummus. From soaked chickpeas, usually.
It takes less time to do so than to go to the nearest shop which sells it.
Nowadays I have a handheld stick blender, but in the past have used everything from a rolling pin to a bottle to crush the chickpeas.
I eat tahini every day, so always have it in the house. Same with garlic. And salt and pepper.
Dried chickpeas are cheap! And when you soak them, they triple in size ( at least doubling in weight), so work out cheaper than most tins.
There is even a raw version of hummus, made from sprouted chickpeas - no cooking required at all - just enough advance planning to soak them a couple of days ahead.

That’s very interesting! The Sikh community often seem to be at the fore in projects like this. I was a Covid clinic volunteer and they brought us down hot food in the winter.

A system where people were also taught to cook by the knowledgeable would be good too.

This was the Californian course I was trying to remember but it’s paid for by course attendants.

www.migrateful.org

@Thehonestbadger well said

YANBU OP but IMO the difference is quality and sometimes quantity.

Sadly there's no getting round that the cheapest ready made meals/products are cheap for a reason (less meat, full of sugar, fillers and other crap). Therefore, they're not a good comparison and almost not comparing apples with apples.

But there are some exceptions for things. Vegan mayo is one that I've experienced. It's quite expensive but I can make it with soya milk, rapeseed oil and a bit of lemon juice for less. It tastes amazing and dare I say better than regular shop bought mayo.

This is the crux really as it just highlights the problem that poorer people have. It's well known that poor people have worse health generally and it's because of access to quality food.

Although cooking is definitely not a middle class pursuit. I grew up poor as did my wife. We cooked from scratch routinely.

Things may have changed over the years, due to cheap processed meals, but cooking from scratch and poverty has been a thing for generations. All those cheaper cuts of meat and traditional dishes are all rooted in poverty. I still love liver, gravy, mash and greens but will add bacon nowadays.

Tbh I wouldn't call that bread....

And people never factor in the gas / electricity costs which is a bug bear of mine

@Comedycook maybe read your post back?? the snobbery on this thread is off the scale.

*That is why meal planning is so important, though. The kids and I sit down every week and decide what we will have that week

@Skethylita and in the process you are teaching your dc some great life skills about meal planning and budgeting and eating.*

How perfectly lovely, and what a great mum she is eh.

It's not snobbery. I'm talking from my own experience. It's common knowledge that poverty and obesity are linked. Food, cooking and social class are also sadly closely linked in the UK in a way that it's not in other countries. Why do you think people joke that hummus is a middle class food? How weird is that when it's accessible, and cheap. One woman I know joked I was posh for having it!

Tbh I wouldn't call that bread..

Sneering at a 37p loaf of bread now?? We don't all have time/money/energy to make our own bread from scratch nor can we all afford artisan sourdough !! Dear me