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.

I just priced up at £7.40, and it's only that expensive as it's 750g 5% fat mince. It would cost more to buy ready meals at lower quality. It's cheaper to cook from scratch generally, unless you start using premium ingredients that aren't necessity, just preference. I suppose like anything.

I made a batch a few weeks ago. Got 5 portions. I think it cost me about £8

That wouldn’t be the recipe I would use. But, making a ragu is expensive. Shop bought ones are horrible in my opinion, but even if I cooked my recipe it would be 1/10 of the price if I make it for 10,000 people instead of 4.

I would have to make an effort to use extra luxury ingredients to make it cost £20! Normal shopping ingredients at Aldi is defintely less than £10 - probably closer to a fiver! You don't need expensive ingredients if you are slow cooking the sauce.

If you can stomach a cheap jar of ready made sauce. Go ahead. I couldn't, IMO they taste vile

It's priorities really, isn't it. We like nice food. But are less fussed about fancy hotels and expensive clothes. Other opinions may vary.

Cooking from scratch and having varied menu means adding more and more ingredients every week or with every new shop and that way you can never stick to a pre-planned samish menu and observe are you above budget - something I kept telling and telling my husband but no, he shops what he wants the way he wants us.

Good for you. Clearly you've never been hungry. Or skint. Millions aren't so proud as to turn it down so sneeringly.

You may also want to look at the ingredients in those jars - they are surprisingly clear of crap and excellent value.

I use a similar amount of meat - 500g minced beef/pork and additional pancetta or lardons, but also a load of veg, a couple of tins of tomatoes, tomato puree etc and it makes enough for 4 of us for dinner, lunch for dh and I on a wfh day, then with the addition of some kidney beans and Mexican spices it makes a further dinner for 4 with either rice or Tortilla wraps/tacos, salad, cheddar etc. So one batch of ragu gives 10 meals - and my ds is having a growth spurt and eats huge portions!

Everyone focussing on how much your spag bol is, yes maybe you could have made a it bit cheaper, but the fact is yes, it is way more expensive to cook from scratch. More expensive, more time consuming. Home cooked is of course healthier and tastier, but time and money are in very short supply for many people.

Why would you put bolognaise in the oven at all let alone for 3.5 hours?

If it's any consolation I bet your family love the effort put in

I had to throw out a whole lasagna once after being lazy and buying a jar of dolmio white sauce. It was so sweet. Never again, a bechemel isn't hard.

I resented losing the bol and pasta, but seriously, it was inedible.

Just to put a spanner in the works, when we calculate the cost, should we include our own time? What hourly rate does our labour come to?

I agree, I'm self employed and not short of work so it's more economical to buy in food than spend my time cooking from scratch which I am very capable of doing and much prefer the results. I also hate the shopping and planning, it takes a massive chunk of brain power.

Thats the difference. You COULD do it cheaper with a jarred sauce, cheaper 15% fat mince, cheaper stock cube etc but it would not be as delicious. A ready meal or jarred sauce will have much less ingredients, more chemicals and not so tasty. Its like the difference between tesco value loaf if bread and a bakers freshly baked crusty loaf.

The quality of my homemade jam is indeed brilliant.

Can people buy palm oil? Like if I wanted to recreate a malted milk. I love them.

I am also perplexed by the oven thing. Please come back and explain!

Agree with you OP I made chicken soup from scratch this week and the ingredients cost over £10.
It fed 4 but two large fresh supermarket soups would have been half of that.

Yes I had veggies left but may not make use.

Try not choosing wagu beef next time?

But did you have a roast chicken meal before it? Not a mumsnet massive chicken....

I only make it after we've had roast chicken, sandwiches for lunch on Monday and then soup, so lots of meals.

I don't like pasta much, and don't eat a lot of red meat, but given this afternoon's splurge of soup threads, I've just made a giant pot.
Ingredients c. £2.50, will probably be 8-10 portions
Fresh veg and lentil soup is £3 - £3.50 for 2 portions

when I did eat more red meat, a mince/tomato/onion base , sometimes with a slug of red wine it there was some open would make about 6 portions, served with pasta/mashed potato/jacket potato/rice (with chilli & beans added for the rice and other variations with each option)
Looking at prices now, that would be about £4 - £4.50 for the base, well under £1 per portion, but a ready meal would be about £4-£5 for a single pack.

Only time it gets expensive it when you forget that you've put umpteen portions in the freezer🙄

I guess the spices and herbs can be costly?

I agree that cooking from scratch is not always cheaper. That being said, I have never spend £20 pounds to make pasta. I make my own sauce. I make my own sun-dried tomato then blend. I recently did this made spagettii and meat ball, lasagna and moussaka and a tomato soup.

My husband used to be a chef. His food’s amazing. He’s never taken over 3 hours for a spaghetti bolognese.

I also have to cook from scratch due to allergies(DH Ds)
Beef mince low fat I buy from the butcher.
I use bacon not pancetta - much cheaper.
Swap for tins of supermarket own shopped tomatoes just add a couple of sliced up sun dried toms from the chill section to improve flavour. much cheaper.
Buy a pice of similar hard cheese and grate it.
Lightly Toast gluten free bread then spread with some home made garlic butter and pop under the grill….much much cheaper than buying gluten free garlic bread.

Look at the recipes and ask why it’s directing you to more expensive options and how you could cut costs down by using cheaper options. Look beyond the ‘gluten free’ front tags and read all the ingredients as all gluten containing items have to be listen in bold type print and state product contains such. It makes a shop longer to do but can be more cost effective to do.

Make up ready to go options that you can mix and match rather than purchase more GF products. for example if I make a bolognaise I also make a white sauce. I add lentils to the left over bolognaise mince more tinned toms and make a gluten free white sauce. I can then quickly assemble a gluten free lasagna for the next day.