To make cooking from scratch a thing of the past?

[Mumhangingon]

So I'm sat here 1 hour in to cooking a steak pie from scratch. I've totted up how much its cost me in ingredients along with the cost of the oven running for 3 hours and I'm thinking why am I bothering? I know it will be much nicer but is it worth paying 2 or 3 times the cost of a premade pie from the supermarket? Or even a butchers? Same for lasagne, cottage pie etc? I want to do my best for my family but the cost of living is making it too costly.
Is there a secret I'm missing? Or is it just cheaper to buy premade.
I'm grateful to be able to put food on the table of course, I'm just sat here thinking about ways to cut costs where we can.

If you don’t want to cook from scratch then don’t - nobody’s making you.

I’ve cooked from scratch every day for 40+ years. My choice.

Everyone has a choice in life. Nobody really cares about what someone else chooses. Go for whatever suits you

Another poster here who is baffled as to why your steak pie takes 3 hours to cook ?? How big is it??

I make enough for 4 days and freeze them.

We cook everything from scratch but I wouldn't even look twice at a recipe that takes that long. We make lots of one pot slow cooker stuff or pasta or curry kind of things. If it's not ready in half an hour, including cooking time, I'm not really interested unless it's a special meal.

I don”t think OP is asking for permission

I cook everything 'from scratch' (isn't it just cooking?), mainly because most ready meals re horrible, and you don't get a huge choice of them here in Oz anyway. I enjoy cooking, but there is no way you'll get me slaving away for hours every night. I have a Thermomix, slow cooker and air fryer which helps a lot, and I batch things like spag bol, soups, stews curries etc. I get a lot of satisfaction out of having a freezer stocked with home cooked meals. We all cook in this house, which makes it easier, my student son is particularly good at pizzas and cakes (his black forest gateau is legendary). I think if you really enjoy food, its really worth it, but if you don't want to cook, don't!

I haven’t really cooked big meat dishes for years because I married a vegetarian; so not sure how much it would cost,or how long it would take to cook a steak pie, but I can certainly make a sourdough pizza or quiche from scratch much cheaper and tastier than a supermarket version.

Its just DH and I, so no fussy eaters to cater for, or children to run around after and I quite happily cook for up to an hour or so most evenings.

My body is not a complete temple; I eat out a couple of times a week and I do eat processed foods like pasta, noodles, bread products like wraps and bagels, tofu, halloumi and the odd veggie ‘meat’. But ready meals just don’t taste good enough to be worth the salt and additives (even the Cook ones). For only slightly more effort involved in buying and heating a ready meal, I can quickly throw something fresh tasting and more nutritious together.

Never make things like pie from scratch - I batch cook varying curries, especially vegan as cheaper, saves time and money. And health.

Pie is a rare bought treat.

The rest is from
Scratch as in rice stir fry's, occasionally pasta, or just fresh cooked meat / fish and veg and potatoes. Sea bass and salad in a wrap for example.

Jamie O's 30 mins book (did he do 15 too?) is helpful.

I'm sorry but you really cannot "bamg out" a lasagne or cottage pie in 40 minutes. At least not an edible one.

I have a half hour rule during the week too, and always cook second portions to heat up next day.

Anything that needs the oven gets batch cooked on the weekend so the giant, leaky old thing only needs to be run once. I use the slow cooker and air fryer instead of the oven wherever possible.

For those that declare us who cook from scratch snobs. I do not consider that it makes me a snob. The day OH found the remains of a cockroach in his shop bought curry (confirmed finally by environmental health) kind of ended shop bought for us.

We do both as they’re not mutually exclusive.

Cordeliathecat go for a bog standard slow cooker. When I researched it there seemed to be lots of issues with the larger

I cook everything from scratch. But I'm pretty lazy so everything has to be easy. Pie filling would be done in bulk and frozen in portions, things like pasta sauce ditto, so it's fast.

I chop onions, carrots, celery etc in the food processor and freeze in portion sizes - so straight into whatever dish I'm cooking. I keep frozen veg around for the same reason (spinach, capsicum etc).

I roast a big tray of veg on the weekend and use it for the next few days. I live alone so I will also freeze portion sizes of side dishes (eg. Leftover veg dishes) so if I'm really not in the mood, I can pull out a bunch of bits and pieces and re-heat.

Cooking from scratch doesn't need to be a mission.

Cordeliathecat go for a bog standard slow cooker I researched this when buying one as had 3 teenage boys at the ti.e. however there were a lot of reported issues at the time. So I would make a casserole in the smaller one and then baked spuds to bulk it out.

For those calling the cook from scratch snobs, I am not a snob. The day OH found the remains of a cockroach in a shop bought curry (finally confirmed by environmental health) kinda ended shop bought for us. Now remembered as cockroach curry, it tends to have a significant "crunch" to it. I now have an allotment so grow a lot of what we eat as well.

*cordelia, issues with the larger ones seemed to be that they couldn't cope with the heating power for the capacity of the larger. If you can get your hands on an old tower original slo cooker my best investment, couldn't believe my luck it was £5.

For most things, like shepherds pie you are better off cooking from scratch. If I am making a pie I usually make the filling in the slow cooker which also allows for cheaper meat, then stick puff pastry on top and in the oven.

The filling really didn’t need to be cooked in the oven. Like pp posters have said, it could have been simmered on the hob, a slow cooker or a pressure cooker. With more experience you will learn how to cook more cheaply. Keep going though, you now know how to do it better. I hope it’s delicious!

Do what suits you, in my 20’s I ate loads of processed foods. Now we cook everything from scratch to avoid UPFs. That being said I have no patience for cooking anything over an hour.

I do a mix with a pie, due to arthritis rolling out pastry is not an option so I bey that pre made.

For a beef pie I'd put the beef and veg in the slow cooker with water and a stock cube and dash of wine if there is some hanging around.

That can take all day and then I jut assemble the pie and put it in the oven for 30 mins to cook the pastry.

I do make suet pastry as there isn't much rolling, so rather than a pie you could do a pudding. Cook it in a slow cooker and it's actually a quick meal as well as slow if you get my meaning.

It takes minutes to prep and then you leave it for the day until you are ready to eat.

Do some batch cooking. It doesn't need to be complete meals. SO you could make a big pan of mince and onion, once it is cooked split it into 3.

One you freeze as a base for a shepherds pie, one you add passatta, garlic and mushrooms and freeze as the base for a spag bol and the last third add beans and tomatoes and spices to make a chilli.

You might need an industrial size pan to start the mince but you have three meals half made.

Scale it up and make double. Pressure cookers save money, as cooking the filling costs peanuts. Ready made stuff which is as good as home cooking (Cook. Charlie Bingham) costs a fortune!

If you are stewing all the meat first my mum tends to do that in the slow cooker - usually a double batch and we will have stew one night with the remaining meant going in the freezer which will then be pulled out to turn into a pie at a later date

you have to pre cook and leave in fridge until needed3/4 days later and or freeze the rest.

there are many slow cooking dump bag recipes you don’t have to pre cook

Suet pastry sounds scary but it’s so easy to make and completely fool proof, and cheap.
i think the portion sizes is what puts me off ready made pies. Just not enough filling.

I've never had a decent shop bought lasagne or cottage pie, far too sloppy.

Tbh I always make more than I need of everything so I can freeze some. Even if making a steak pie I'd make a big pot of beef stew for pie filling then freeze it (and buy ready rolled pastry if I hadn't got time to make it). Same with bolognese sauce or cottage pie filling.