To wonder how people find the time and money to cook from scratch

[Mummyof287]

We sometimes have a roast, cooked from scratch or Jacket potatoes with toppings and salad.Everything else tends to involve something from a box/packet/jar.
That's not to say every meal is total 'junk food' and the meals are always balanced (protein, carb, fibre) but usually include something processed.
Here are some examples of what we eat;

-Salmon/smoked basa, rice (microwave packet rice) veg
-Quiche (good quality boxed) new potatoes, veg
-Sausages (butchers or supermarket good quality butchers style)
-Old el Paso Fajita kit using quorn chicken

• Burgers (from butchers) in buns with salad

-Pizza with corn on cob/salad

• Breaded/battered fish portions, homemade chips/wedges and beans
• Lasagne (using jar sauces) & veg
• Tortellini (packet) and sauce (ready made in pot/packet)
• Stit fry using quorn chicken

I find cooking really stressful and am not very good at it 🙈 My DH likes cooking and used to do more recipies from scratch, but since having our two daughters time is stretched especially on the days we both work, and when he has done recipes they don't eat it as they are really picky eaters, so feels like a waste of effort, half of it goes in the bin.

I want to stop using so many processed foods as know its not ideal health wise, but time and especially money are fairly short, and most recipies seem to have so many ingredients, it all gets so expensive!

Any ideas of recipies that are very quick, cheap and easy please??

I've used mine twice this week. Once for pulled pork and once for rice. It would have been three times but I wasn't organised enough to get the slow cooker going.
Once I got my Instantpot I got rid of my slow cooker and use the slow cook function on the pot instead.
There is an Instantpot Facebook group which is very active for sharing ideas and answering questions.

I have built up my herbs and spices over time. It would be expensive to buy all at once. But you find you tend to use a lot regularly.
also planning meals so veg can be used over 2/3 meals means no waste. It is cheaper to cook from scratch and easier than you think once you start doing it.
I started doing Gusto boxes. I learned a lot about different things and I could cook beforehand but this definitely helped.

I cook pretty much everything from scratch…mainly because we like to snack (a bit too much 😩) so have to save calories where I can to avoid being overweight

Spag bol - mince / onion / tin of chopped toms / beef stock cube / tablespoon of Worcester sauce and some black pepper

Yaki Udon - chicken / udon noodles / grated carrot / Beansprouts / tablespoon each of oyster sauce, dark soy, rice vinegar and some chilli flakes

Lasagne - mince / onion / passata / mixed herbs / tomato purée / beef stock cube lasagne sheets / jar of white sauce (can never get my own right!)

Its actually pretty easy when you start, and once you’ve got all the essentials in your cupboard they last ages :)

They're great if you love wet food like stews, curries and 'saucy' dishes. My 'secret' technique is to use the 'saute' setting to boil the food for a further 10 mins post pressure cooking, really gets the flavour in. Much quicker than the slow cooker - although if you're doing something like pork shoulder that needs tenderising I've found stir frying faster than any other method. Never tried air-frying on that.

Currently I make one meal a week in the Instant pot but I'm planning to make it at least 3 because I'm tired of cooking for fussy DH. He can sort himself out half the week!

Could you batch cook on days off. I do fajitas but don't use kits. Is there any reason why you use quorn chicken over normal chicken? Quorn is heavily processed. Chicken is quite quick with vegetables. Tomato based sauces, curries work well. Chilli?

THIS.

I hate cooking. I do one pot meals. I find as above has said, prepackaged doesn't mean quick. Here's a couple of things I've eaten recently.

Also. Wholemeal noodles with tofu, pak Choi, mushrooms, sweetcorn(15 mins total) miso or bullion

Flatbread with a topping of whatever salad, hummus, falafel. Mayo. (15 mins total)

Apple, rhubarb, Blackberry crumble. (15 min prep)

Can you afford a subscription like

simply cook?
hello fresh?

you can easily recreate this stuff yourseld

or, just do meat, veg spuds or stir fry. It doesn’t have to be s complicated recipe

People can cook and eat what they like but it really annoys me when people claim that cooking from scratch is more expensive. Total boll*cks!

Sometimes it is ... Eg supermarket cake is usually cheaper than buying ingredients and making it yourself, but the difference is quality is huge

that all sounds perfectly fine.

I don't understand the mince thing either. Shepherd's pie is lamb, for a start. And it doesn't have tomatoes in it

Presumably you could just imagine a cottage pie? Lots of people fry the meat separately and then add it to the veg/sauce because they drain the fat. At that stage you can go tomato garlic bolognaise ish or gravy cottage ish, thus producing two mince based dishes in less time. I’d you don’t cook some of the mince you could add some of the cooked veg and have burgers too.

I would love to make my own fajita seasoning mix as I have a ton of herbs and spices at home, but I have never found a fajita seasoning mix recipe which is as tasty as the packet mix from Old El Paso (they probably put really bad but delicious stuff like sugar and flavour enhancers in there)! If anyone has found one that tastes as good please share the recipe!

Cooking from scratch is often cheaper in the long run than our made food, I get what you say about all the ingredients but there is alot of cook books out there specifically for like 5 ingredients or less. Could start with those then work your pantry inventory up gradually. Batch cooking will help too. For example I make a Bolognese at a weekend packed with grated veg to make it healthy and go further, we then can get like 4 days of meals out of it, 3 of us. We either have. Spag bol, lasagna or Ali chuck some chilli and beans in for chilli con carne, and this can also be frozen for a later date quick dinner too. Also batch cook curry and sweet and sour chicken and cottage pie

@Maternityleavelady the ingredients will be on the back of the packet.

@Ohthatsabitshit they are but not the exact proportions of each, so I have been unable to replicate it at home. It’s just not as tasty as those delicious addictive sugary packet chemicals 😂

It’s very easy to cook pasta sauces. I would never do lasagna from jars. Just buy some garlic, fresh mince, bacon lardons, a cup of wine, passata or polpa, tomato purée, some spices and you’re good to go. All you need for the white sauce is butter, flour and milk. If it’s time consuming prepare it at the weekend.

Exactly.
My shrug moment was someone saying they make leftover bolognese into gulash😶No.

I never understand this cooking from scratch business. Cooking is using ingredients to make a meal. How else would you cook?
If food is pre-prepared your are warming up not cooking.
cooking is definitely cheaper

"from scratch" is usually used as in no pre prepared things such as sauces, breaded meets like Kievs etc. You make your own

I don't use mine much for meals but use it for pressure cooking golden beetroot from the garden a lot. If you are thinking of getting one I would probably wait until Prime day on 10/11 October or Black Friday as these are usually reduced then

Menu planning helps. Tonight I’m doing a pork curry stir fry. I bought a part pork leg on special a fortnight ago and the OH cut it down into meal sized portions which went into the freezer individually. Will serve with steamed rice, broccoli, onion, a handful of sultanas And make a creamy sauce base. Mum used to slice up old apples into our home made curry.

tomorrow night is roast lamb. This will go into the week’s lunch sandwiches and probably another home made curry meal for dinner on Monday night as we have a minor procedure in hospital for a family member which is quite a drive away.

I have sausages and bacon thawing in the fridge for a celebration cook up breakfast for Sunday morning.

Sausages are pre-prepared. You still cook them. Last night my dc cooked themselves fish and chips. The fish was already battered. But they cooked it. At least I hope they did. They'll be very sick if not!

Sorry was interrupted… mum only did monthly main shops as that was how she was paid. Weekly small shops was for milk etc.

keeping a well stocked pantry and freezer is the key here. If you are shopping every night after work or every couple of days it’s lost time in your week…

Jar sauces, microwave rice etc are more expensive than making your own, basic bolognese is so versatile and can be cooked in huge amounts and frozen then repurposed for whatever you fancy, from lasagne, chilli con carne and take away like dishes, the same with big amounts of cooked rice or mashed potatoes…
l find Nagi’s recipes amazing and adventurous, she has plenty of quick ones - https://www.recipetineats.com/
Stews are a big thing with us as well as it will cover a meal for 2-3 days