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 started to batch cook a huge amount of unseasoned ragu that I can then portion out. Can be frozen and then defrosted, add seasonings for bolognese, chilli, keema curry etc.

I also make sure we have stuff like pesto in the house for a quick tea - I normally will make a bechamel to mix in to make it more filling.

Not sure why you've identified where each item has come from, I make sausage pasta (cheapest sausages going) sometimes but always cook rice myself. It doesn't make you more virtuous.

I don't get the rice cooker thing either because rice doesn't take long to cook.

I do have and find useful the instant pot because of things that take a lot longer like dried beans - it's nice not to have to be around when they are cooking

I don't worry about it. I sometimes use a packet or a jar then add my own chilli, tumeric, paprika / whatever. I often batch cook or cook 2 lasagnes and freeze one. I still get fed up of eating the same 30 or 40 meals, again and again. Yawn.

I do hello fresh - not perfect but the best I can manage.

You don’t need a rice cooker for easy rice.

200g rice
400ml boiling water
Put in a pot with a lid and microwave on medium for 11 minutes. Leave to stand for 10. I always use this method now.

I feel this pain. I need 3 nights worth of very quick dinners.

It's a bloody nightmare but this week we tried beef stew. Made it at 7am and served at 6pm. Bung it all in. Do dumplings 10 mins before food is ready.

Served with bread.

DS said it was the best dinner he had ever had! 😱 it was a massive gamble as he doesn't like sauces.

I'm at risk of offering the same food every day of the week. E.g Mondays = stew night etc

I utilise my slow cooker. Especially at this time of year. The BBC website has lots of slow cooker recipes. Bbq pulled pork with loads of veg is always a hit in this house.

Bung the pork shoulder (marinate with a bbq rub if you wish)and some apple juice in the slow cooker when you get up and leave it all day. About an hour before you want to serve drain the apple juice and shred the pork. Pop it back in the slow cooker with loads of bbq sauce. We serve it with part baked rolls. Corn on the cob. Carrots and cauliflower cheese or broccoli.

I also make lots of soups and stews in the slowcooker. Lasagne always goes down well too

Just out of curiosity, what is it about freezing and reheated that bothers you ? Just asking as it would be very practical for your efforts, which I’m sure you know already, especially as you’re cooking double portions, anyway I know someone who is a bit the same, but for her, it’s fear of bacteria when reheating, and she solved that by only reheating in the oven (or a frying pan/similar at high temperature), basically never the microwave. Your meals sound lovely though, I’d have them next day also no problem☺️

I was similar to OP a few years ago. Nowadays, we cool from scratch the majority of the time.

I spent a while hunting online for quick, healthy recipes. When I find one I like the look of, I try it. If it’s good, I write it down in my recipe folder. Then when I cook it again, I add any notes that might make it easier for the future (I.e. “chop x while y is cooking”).

This means I’ve now got a folder of recipes that are all manageable in an evening (from 10-45 mins), and that we will all eat. My 12 year old cooks one day a week too - the first few goes of a recipe he needs support, but then he’s usually ok to be left to it. My hope being that cooking simple, healthy recipes from scratch will become second-nature to him as he grows up.
We sit down on a Saturday and meal plan for the week, order groceries, and they all arrive on a Sunday.

Honestly, this approach has changed all our lives for the better. Dinners used to be such a stressful subject, but now I barely think about them.

Also - I’m another huge fan of rice cookers. Thought it would end up being another useless kitchen gadget, but it’s actually bloody brilliant

@DiaNaranja also if you don’t mind could you detail how you go from the roast to the pie so quickly ? What is usually in your roast ?

I think this is right - it’s the half way house that’s making it expensive.

I agree with the batch cooking suggestions. I always make extra of things like bolognaise, veg bolognaise (we have a mix of vegetarians and meat eaters), curries etc to freeze

I grew up with only fresh, cooked from scratch meals and I struggle with this. I don't know but I just can't eat jar sauces or packet rice and things like that. I don't judge anyone at all, in fact I wish I did because it would make my life easier. I batch cook and spend 2 hours every Sunday night prepping for the week ahead. I usually cook Mondays dinner while doing this.

Careful, your smugness is showing.

Honestly gousto has sorted this for us. There's a section of recipes to choose which only take 10 minutes. Everything we've eaten has been amazing. We've been using it over a year and now have absolutely tons of recipe cards we can use to recreate the recipes buying the ingredients ourselves from the shop. Literally every meal now is like we are eating at a restaurant, I have a 7 month old and 3 year old at home so the 10 minute ones are brilliant for us when short of time.

If you can't afford to have gousto all the time you can sign up with 65% off first weeks box of meals and then 20% off for first 2 months which makes it a cheap way to get loads of recipes and try them out. Can easily cancel in the app anytime and just reuse your recipe cards

gousto.co.uk/raf?promo_code=SARAH43321957&utm_source=androidapp

I don't think your sample meal plan is terrible but I think there are ways you can save money without it costing you more time.

Slightly undercook a large batch of rice, rinse in cold water to cool it quickly and freeze in meal size portions, you can then microwave it for a couple of minutes whenever you need it.

You could try making a crust less quiche so you don't have to bother with making pastry. A basic recipe is just eggs with some cream and cheese and other vegetable or meat ingredients of your choice. I'm not a fan of cream in savory recipes so often substitute with sour cream, creme fraiche, cream cheese or quark which also gives you some control over the fat content. There are plenty of recipes online.

You can batch cook to tomato sauce and freeze it for use in multiple recipes. I make cheese sauce rather than simple bechamel for lasagna and that can be frozen too. I find freezing completely assembled lasagna doesn't produce great results but freeze the two sauce components, defrosting and assembling as required makes mid week lasagna easier. Not all pasta needs a tomato based sauce and many without will be much quicker to cook. This one might not suit your children but it is quick and simple.

https://www.punchfork.com/recipe/Date-Night-Lemon-Pappardelle-with-Shrimp-Pinch-of-Yum

If you don't have time for batch cooking then cooking double and freezing may be more doable.

I agree with PP about making your own fajita seasoning and storing it in a jar. It would be more expensive initially but far cheaper in the long run, there are plenty of recipes online, most use about 6 herbs and spices.

Stir fry sauces are usually quite simple to make, teriyaki is really easy make, find 3 or 4 recipes you like and use them in rotation, quite often they will use the same core ingredients so you won't need your cupboards stocked like Nigella Lawson.

Frozen veg is your friend. Frozen garlic, ginger, onions and peppers are game changing because ot the reduced prep time.

And finally....
When you look at recipes and think the list of ingredients look daunting, read through the recipe, you will often find that after you have removed store cupboard ingredients like salt, pepper, oil, stock, tom puree etc that there are only a few ingredients you need to buy to make it if you also keep some basic herbs and spices on hand.

I do a bit of batch cooking for the freezer or later in the week.

I also have a repertoire of quick meals that can be on the table in 20-30 mins. Stir fry, quick pastas, couscous, fish, omelettes things like that.

I don't buy a lot of pre prepared stuff, I cook a lot at the weekend and will have things like tomato sauce, pesto, spice mixes made in advance.

But equally there's nothing wrong with buying in good quality stuff either.

Yes many of my friends with small DC use Gousto or Hello Fresh or Mindful Chef. Saves mental effort. It's not just about time. Cooking is a huge mental efffort ( or at least I find it so). I really need to meal plan. I keep starting and giving up.

It's cheaper to cook from scratch most of the time. At least that's my experience but I use what I've got in and don't shop for weird ' nigella' ingredients.

If it’s something that will freeze well eg curry, chilli, bolognaise I always make double quantities - one to eat that night, one to freeze and don’t use ready made sauces
I make a 3-4 times quantity of a basic tomato and vegetable sauce (tinned tomatoes, purée and passata with onions and mushrooms, add peppers, courgettes, aubergines, leeks etc depending on what I’ve got in or scavenged on the reduced counter
Freeze in plastic bags can then be used on its own with pasta or as a chicken tray bake or with meatballs etc
plain packet rice doesn’t take much longer to cook and is way cheaper

I’ve never been a brilliant cook, but wanted to get some relatively quick and healthy recipes up my sleeve. I signed up to free and discounted trials of hello fresh, gousto and muscle food. They send you very simple instructions on a card and all the pre proportioned ingredients. I now have a drawer full of recipe cards in and can recreate them. It probably cost me a tenner initially buying all the different spices, but now I have them in and they last for ages. I keep meaning to buy one of those veg chopper thingies, where you pop the veg in and slam the lid and it chops it all up. Anyway, that’s what worked for me. Also, just having spices in means I can add to Passata/chicken/wedges etc to make everything more tasty. I don’t buy pasta sauces anymore, just fry up some onion and garlic, add Passata and chilli powder or flakes - can use that on pizzas, pasta, bolognese, whatever really. I’ve learned how to make a good pizza dough and can do it by eye now ( no faffing with scales). I think it’s one of those things that takes a while initially, but once recipes are committed to memory, it’s easy. I enjoy spending a bit of time in the kitchen with my music on and kids banished anyway.
Theres also an app called lollipop, which is linked with Sainsbury’s. They have hundreds of recipes and you can filter on speed, healthy etc. it gives you the recipe and you can add all of the ingredients to your Sainsbury’s basket with a click.

Why not invest in a kitchen robot? We have had the Thermomix for many years and I love it. We use it a lot and it saves time

I work full time have a child who goes to preschool 8-4 and always cook from scratch for at least one meal a day (often two) because it’s cheaper, healthier, tastes better.

That boxed quiche you buy - if you made it yourself it would last longer with less and fill you up with fewer portions because fresh ingredients like egg / double cream (or greek yoghurt) / your own pastry are more filling.

Agreed also. I sort of used to do this, for me I felt guilty so would buy higher quality say sausages if for kids especially.
I couldn’t afford it and ended up short several times.

I do like a lot of PP batch cooking on a weekend afternoon/any quiet time really. I tend to make the staples everyone likes in large quantities (so I have for example a very large frying pan which is awesome for sauces), a multi tier steamer so you pop something in each tier, basically your cooking equipment ideally is in larger format) and rotate them, so it’s not really meal planning (we struggle with the concept for some reason and always ended up changing it around), it’s ensuring the freezer is always full of meals that will be liked.

It depends on my motivation if it’s going to be the staple lasagna from scratch or the staple carbonara sauce, but as pp have said it gets quicker to do once you’ve done it lots.

Also I’m a yellow sticker seeker for big roasts etc so I’ll do those as well depending on what was on sale during the week.

Overall I find it much, much cheaper. I do budget for a larger food shop less often now though (except for dairy etc)

I just try to do it during quiet times at the weekend, not all in one go necessarily, and I like having a decent batch of our own homemade comfort meals available in the freezer.

And honestly at £5 a frozen chicken pizza, at some point it’s insane.

Life becomes a lot easier if you eat fish. You can oven bake a peice of fish and serve it with steamed veg and potaoes or cous cous in 15 - 20 mins.

Like some on here I grew up with most things being cooked from scratch and it has never really occurred to me that there is another way to eat.

I do buy ready made pesto and fishcakes but that is about it. Although we live in London so if i am too lazy to cook we go out to eat.

Slow cooker. I use recipes which just chuck everything in, none of this pre- frying, makes a batch of at least 8 meals which I portion and freeze. So mince for spag bol, shepherd's pie etc, curry, chili, hunters chicken etc.