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.

Cooking from scratch can definitely be cheaper depending on what you're making and the quantity.

But you have got to have quite a few things to start with.

A decent basic knowledge of how to cook nutritious meals cheaply
A few good pots and pans and utensils
Enough fuel to cook with
Enough money for the initial outlay of ingredients (for example a cheap chilli con carne ready meal for one might be cheaper than the ingredients to make a batch of it)
A reasonably sized fridge and/or freezer to store leftovers in and containers or freezer bags
Some store cupboard ingredients

Cooking and meal planning is a life skill that not everyone has naturally. So for example the pp who mentioned pizza, well you can freeze pizza dough and you could easily use up leftover pizza toppings and cheese in other dishes throughout the week.

But you have got to have quite a few things to start with

A decent basic knowledge of how to cook nutritious meals cheaply
A few good pots and pans and utensils
Enough fuel to cook with
Enough money for the initial outlay of ingredients (for example a cheap chilli con carne ready meal for one might be cheaper than the ingredients to make a batch of it)
A reasonably sized fridge and/or freezer to store leftovers in and containers or freezer bags

People do NOT need all this to start cooking at all. You need a pan, a wooden spoon, a knife, a heat source, and a few ingredients. You build your cooking kit as you go.

We have GOT to stop pretending that cooking is impossible for people. People round the world cook every single day, with barely anything to their names.

Erm. People can cook nutritios food from scratch with 1 knife, something to chop on and pot above a fire. I am aure that majority of UK households have more that that....

Honestly, there doesn't have to be a but for everything

There's a load of worthiness tied into this isn't there? There are only two of us now and I have lots of time, but it really depends on quite a few factors. I'd say it would be cheaper to make hummous from soaked chickpeas and home made piazzas can be frozen successfully. I can't understand people buying 'budget' jars of pasta sauce when it's cheap and easy to make a big batch of tomato sauce and portion it. The freezer is your friend. But if my DCs still lived at home and I worked would I have time? I'm not sure.

I've checked and it's 1.9 miles
So yes. Also there's no pavements and I don't fancy being roadkill. Usually get my shopping delivered and if I need a cucumber or something from Lidl I'm not pissing about walking 4 miles. I work FT and have chronic health issues

The town centre is 3.9 miles, I just checked that too

*@CantFindMyMarbles
Your chickpea/hummous analogy doesn’t work though. You end up with 3 times the amount of the shop bought. So your comparison is with £1.50. Not 50p

Of course it works and this proves the point. When you are on a limited budget the minimum cost counts. If you can buy hummous for 50p why would you make 3 times as much for 3x the price when you don’t want or need that much hummous.

Great thread OP, highlight the thoughtless privilege of far too many.

Not only can some ingredients cost disproportionately more for some recipes than the quantity needed, but also the energy and equipment to cook it all is expensive- not to mention many in temporary accommodation have limited space. Try cooking a spag Bol in a bedsit!

Shit food still needs to be cooked using gas and electric

You’re purposely misrepresenting what I’ve said.

The OP is using this analogy and claiming it to be like for like with regards price. And…it’s not. The quantities are vastly different.

You could make hummous with only 1/3 of the tin if you wanted. Or buy a bag of dried chickpeas and use what you need.

Or freeze the excess.

either way…the analogy doesn’t work. Yes…it costs more. But produces significantly more produce.

*People do NOT need all this to start cooking at all. You need a pan, a wooden spoon, a knife, a heat source, and a few ingredients. You build your cooking kit as you go.

We have GOT to stop pretending that cooking is impossible for people. People round the world cook every single day, with barely anything to their names*

Exactly. It seems to be an almost uniquely British opinion that cooking is impossibly aspirational to the average person.

As well as building your cooking kit, you build your spices up the same way. You could probably buy everything you need for about 20 meals for under a tenner (frozen garlic and ginger, chilli powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, curry powder, paprika) so it would be cheaper than most ready meals in no time at all.

Obviously it's hard for people in bedsits with no money whatsoever but that doesn't apply to the majority of the population.

But, I have to ask, where can you buy hummus for 50 p? It's well over a pound just about everywhere now. Plus you can freeze it if you make it yourself, you don't need to eat it all in 2 days.

It's almost like some people don't want people to be able to constructively help themselves, the whataboutery we see on threads like this. I've seen posts on several occasions that even things like omelettes are too difficult or expensive to make as a reason why people 'have' to live on ready prepared food.

I personally cook a lot from scratch and for me it does work out cheaper but that's because I kinda know what I'm doing and have a stocked cupboard and herb rack. It's cheaper to replace 1 item then buy a lot of herbs/spices etc. I'm also a sahm so I have time to prep and organise. A lot of people dont. Also a lot of people dont have the initial money to buy what's needed to cook from scratch or the ability. I find when I buy convenience for my family it works out more expensive.

It's not about comparing like and like at all. It's about what is the cheapest way to make the amount of money you have in your hand give you and your kids something to eat all week.

Which probably means something like the cheapest ramen noodles for lunches, the cheapest bread with peanut butter for breakfast, (though you might do oatmeal if you have access to cooking facilities and a bit more time,) and some frozen pizzas you pick up each day on the way home from work or the employment center.

Like for like doesn't enter into it.

Maybe people need to stop being obsessed with spag bols😳

If you have no space eintopf type dish is the logical course of action. You can cook loads in one pot and chopping board.

Why is everything in UK so hard

Agree with you completely.

I spend half my life in supermarkets comparing prices of foods and it's not always cheaper. A whole chicken in my local supermarket is between £10 and £15. Chicken breasts are £5/6 (basically disproportionately expensive). If I buy the Birdseye breadcrumbed Chicken Fillets they're £4 for a packet. If I buy 2 packets I have exactly what I need for the week and in my mind I've saved money from not buying food that I don't need. I find batch cooking overrated.

But there's an awful lot of options between value instant noodles and £26 olive oil.

Of course, it's not always cheaper to cook from scratch, but it's also not the case that it's always impossible to do so. Plus being able to cook is probably the best way to be able to eat well on a budget. Because when you can, most processed food starts to look quite expensive in comparison.

We don’t have either a decent greengrocer or 99p or £ store on my nearest high street.

You cook to eat to maintain energy. Processed foods leave you hungry later so are they really cheaper?

During the 1970s recession we were really poor, struggling from week to week despite graduate jobs. Store bought pizzas a luxury, chicken a rare treat. I still make 12 portions of food from a chicken out of respect for the bird (4 roast; 4 curry or pie; hearty soup with stock and scraps from carcass). Everyone we knew heated one room, used pressure cookers for economy, made their own beer and wine (we all loved a party). I even made wine from used teabags. It tasted like oloroso sherry.

Some things will be cheaper from scratch (eg bolognaise/ curry). Any quality food will be better from scratch. But I agree that lots of things won’t be. Trick is to mix and match.

However if you are making from fresh you need to be sure they will eat it - if they are fussy and don’t it will be a big waste.

"I even made wine from used teabags. It tasted like oloroso sherry".

Tell us more please @Ishbel28 ?

Spag Bol is a student classic. I never cooked it till university but it’s still one of my favourites.

Depends but it would help people if they had basic cooking skills

I buy the the ready made family dinners in our local supermarket they have a butchers and kitchen there so all made fresh daily their chicken curry is fab and cottage pie I have 3 under 4 and they love then I cook the rice myself for the chicken curry .. they eat hot dinners most evenings sometimes they just wants sausages and beans or scrambled egg and brown bread. By yhe time I buy the chicken etc and get the time to Cook in the evening it's not worth the hassle

I think chicken12 has actually just nailed the main point. People should be able to cook basic stuff to eat.

Yes, ready meal stuff is cheap.
Yes, sometimes it's handy.
No, it shouldn't be anyone's entire diet.
People need to eat nutritious foods.
Everyone needs to have basic cooking skills.

These five things can co exist.

I used to cook everything from scratch,and was a keen baker...when my kids were all at home,I was young and had tons of energy . I'm now 73 ,still working,don't drive so have to shlep my own shopping back in a granny trolley. Just oldest daughter and myself at home,we get up early for work ( me 4 am) no way am I going to exhaust myself more cooking more than the simplest food. It really isn't always cheaper.We do eat hummus and my daughter does make it but it does make more than we can eat.Who wants a vat of hummus,you can't freeze it!
I don't enjoy cooking anymore and have a teeny appetite.I joke that I'd love 'meals on wheels' that the pensioners used to get!
Oh! No ,almost never ever have take aways, too expensive.
Have cooked roasted veg in my airfryer.Quite a nice little alternative to the oven when cooking small amounts.

Prople are not born with basic cooking skills. It's not like I came out of mum and 3 days later after release from hospital I lay there at 11am watching her cook and chime in with "mother, I believe you should add a bit more caraway and paprika".

It genuinely sometimes sounds on here like people think cooking is something you are either born with or spend years perfecting before you can attempt sausage and bean stew...