To think cooking from scratch is not always cheaper?

[RainbowSlidders]

I would like to start by saying due to allergies I do cook and bake from scratch. I see people on here saying it’s so much cheaper cooking everything from scratch but honestly I think a lot of time it isn’t although it is definitely nicer.

Last night I made spaghetti bolognaise the ingredients cost me over £18 for 6 portions (family of 5 plus 1 portion for dc to take back to uni). How is that cheaper? A jar of sauce is about 75p in Aldi so I can see why people use it and not to mention the extra cost of fuel and the time it takes, 30 minutes on the hob followed by 3.5 hours in the oven.

In the oven? Did you accidentally make Lasagne??

I agree it can op, because you're actively choosing meat so probably but nicer, you may need to buy new jars of stuff, and your portions are probably larger but I'd say it's possible to do it at shop brought cost if you compromise on what you put in / price per portion the spices etc

Basics meat, passata and no puree, mixed herbs only, onions, dried fusilli or similar, bit of cheddar on top.

Nearly a fiver of that is GF stuff which is more expensive.

Cooking from scratch is quite a subjective concept. But yeah, ready made stuff is affordable and if we don't only count the direct monetary value then often it pays off with convenience.

Agree and I make mine with 2lbs of mince to feed 6. We like a meaty sauce though. 2lb of round mince from butchers is €9. Pasatta and tomato puree is from Lidl I think €1:40 combined. Packet of gold pasta €2. I have all the seasonings and extras (onion and garlic) always on hand but can’t imagine they’d cost anymore than 50c. And bag of Parmesan is €1.50. I’m up to less than 15 euro and tbh a lot of time I wouldn’t need to buy Parmesan or pasta as I’d have it on hand.

Completely agree though in a lot of ways in that cooking from scratch can be expensive but to get any sort of comparable quality then yep it can be cheaper.

I don’t use tomato purée so blend a full jar of sundried tomatoes into a paste and use that, more expensive but delicious.

I always make my bolegnese in the oven. Slow cook for 5h. I just think it tastes nicer 🤷🏼‍♀️

Tesco spag bol ready meal is 400g and 18% is meat so 72g of meat in a portion.

If you really must cook it for so long OP, (totally unnecessary), buy a slow cooker. Asda currently have a perfectly good and smart 1.8L one for £9. Ignore their suggested serving nonsense, it's 1.8L. It uses 150w per hour, very little energy.

Batch cooking of good quality ingredients is the way to go. Never put your big oven on for just one dish.

But this, like a lot of the things on your list, tip it into the “luxury bolognaise” category. People watching the pennies probably aren’t buying the pricey brand tinned tomatoes, pancetta, or jarred sundried tomatoes - so they can cook from scratch but a lot cheaper.

How do you make it then I feed 6
750g mince 1 onion garlic paste tomato puree dried herbs already in cupboard 3 tins tomatoes dried pasta

Oh I hate slower cookers they make nothing but horrible mush, that is just my opinion though.

Of course it isn’t cheaper - who is saying it is?
Good quality ready meals are more expensive than home cooked.

But a jar of value range sauce tipped over pasta is obviously cheaper (and less nutritious and much lest tasty) than slow cooking a meat and vegetable sauce braised in a bottle of wine.

Op said 6 portions. Agree if some of them are small children you could get away with less but for 6 adults? Or even teenagers. I’d do 1kg of mince and possibly have some left overs for freezing. Still wouldn’t be £18 though!

Ahhh, looks like you made 'posh' spag Bol. And I don't think you can count garlic bread - that's optional! Also gf also costs a fortune (coeliac dd, I know the pain)
You can def do it for cheaper. Though I'm amazed at the tiny portions some of you have -500g is definitely for 4 people in our house!

@ComtesseDeSpair true but if you are going to put the effort it you might as well make a decent one. I wasn’t saying I can’t afford it that just to make something tasty and worth the effort it costs a lot more than a jar of sauce.

I use 1.25kg meat (usually 750g beef and 500g pork mince) which costs about £10, rest of ingredients are very little (no need for pancetta or sun dried tomatoes op, they won’t add that much to the flavour for the cost). I use only carrots, celery, tinned toms, tomatoe puree and stock cubes/wine/seasoning. That plus some red lentils usually makes 4 or 5 portions each serving 4 of us for the freezer, then once defrosted can either make bolognese, pasta bake or lasagne. Your 500g meat between 6 is way too meaty imo. I cook it in the slow cooker, bolognese is disgusting if you cook it fast.

you know you can’t compare this to a jar, right? A jar of bolognese sauce doesn’t even contain meat, it’s a replacement only for the tomatoes and tomato puree?

Then you clearly aren't doing it properly. Don't put so much liquid in for a start, it doesn't evaporate so much.

But this is clearly just intended to be a faux-stupid, goady, boastful thread, so I'm out.

The answer is you did choose to use expensive ingrediens .
It's hasn't been a trip to Lidl or Aldi.
Add GF will be more expensive than non GF.

It’s definitely not a cheap way to eat for us but it’s far superior (imo) to any ready meal or jar/convenience option.

YANBU there is not a single meal I make from scratch that is less expensive than pre-made.

It depends on the meal. I can make homemade pizza with numerous toppings of choice, which is far better than a fresh pizza for fraction of the price. It’s a lot more effort and sometimes I can’t be arsed but definitely cheaper

Will just add, I've just seen the poster after me making reference to GF. As a diagnosed Coeliac for over 40 years, I can categorically state very good quality GF food still doesn't have to cost anything like this.

The. Way you make it is comparably not to cheapest ready meal spaghetti Bolognese but to the "finest " style which are about 4 pounds each so 6 portions 24 without garlic bread so cheaper when comparing like with like.

The gluten free part isn’t a choice unfortunately, so yes the pasta etc is a few pence more.
I follow a recipe and it says to put it in the on low heat to add depth of flavour, so that is what I do.

@Mynewnameis I do half 5% beef mince and half veggie mince -not because I'm tight - I actually prefer the texture

I would struggle to spend more than about £8 and that's using mutti tomatoes and a bit of cheap red wine