Making a lasagne from scratch

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Does anyone actually see the return of investment of time and money here?

I spent 2.5 hours making one (before it even went into the oven). The bechemel sauce took an hour. I don’t know where the time went but melting butter was fast and adding flour but stirring in all that milk and keeping the thickness too forever and I still ran out for the top layer which was devastating (it’s a one layer lasagne). Grating 50g Parmesan to go in is a work out, that’s before the 75g of cheddar to go on the top of it all. I did have kids with me but I wouldn’t ever bother doing it again.

I grew up eating dolmio made lasagnes and that’s how I was taught but since knowing that’s not the right way and additives etc, I’ve just bought lasagne from the deli or restaurants if I go out. Shop bought Charlie Bingham is lovely.

2.5 hours is such a long time. Does anyone do this regularly? It’s like two meals. A bolognaise then a bechemel and that’s before the art of the quantities and building the darn thing.

AIBU to feel so frustrated by this and not want to ever bother again. (Not going back to dolmio either)

I never make my own sauces for lasagne. I use jars and add herbs. I made a lasagne the other week and it was absolutely gorgeous. Took me about 15 mins to make and assemble. The answer is less sauce and more cheese.

I make a big batch and then freeze portions, it makes it feel more worth the effort then!

Mine takes all day, the ragu simmers for 6 hours ideally, then about an hour to infuse and make the sauce, assemble and a good 45 mins in the oven. It's bloody good but I only do it about twice a year.

I make my lasagne from scratch.

The bechamel sauce takes 5-10 minutes with 1 pint warm milk and 50g butter 50 g flour with salt and nutmeg.
Meat sauce takes an hour then I leave it to cool.

i usually do 3 layers because I make it for DD

It took you longer because it was your first time making it from scratch and from some of your comments you seem to be overthinking the layering.

An hour to make bechamel sauce is a very long time. I make it with cornflour. I mix the required quantity of cornflour with a little bit of the milk and put it aside then I put the butter and the rest of the milk in the pan, heat it up until all the butter is melted and the milk is warm before adding the milk/cornflour mix and heating until it's thickened. You can make double and freeze some for your next lasagne.

An hour on the bechemel sounds wild but generally I think things take a long time (and feel like a lot of effort) when you don't do it often. My DP's mum makes them all the time and I suspect she doesn't even have to think about it and does it whilst she is doing other stuff.

DH now complaining he’s come home from a really stressful day and I’m stressed that the lasagne took so long and DC2 (2.5) is driving me mad and DC1 is being fussy (8 mos) says the kitchen was a mess but I was tidying as I went, there are toys but not mess. Lasagne was a bad idea but I thought was a nice thing to do. Doesn’t help I went to shops just before to buy ingredients (without DCs a neighbours daughter looked after them for an hour and played with them as I started but went home). Gosh I feel like crying, I just wanted to have a nice meal ready and instead it’s descended into chaos :(

How on earth does bechamel take an hour? It’s a 10 minute job.

Ragu is 10 mins hands on then 3 hours cooking, but you can go and do something else during that time.

The answer is always more cheese! I put cheese in my bechamel 😆

My dh makes it from scratch and it’s amazing. He makes a massive pan of bolognaise so there is usually some of that left for another meal and then the lasagna is usually 6 portions, do there are a couple left over.

I gave up on making Bechamel years ago. Instead, I mix together equal quantities of double cream and full fat crème fraiche with seasoning and a dollop of Dijon mustard. Much quicker.

Is the lasagne in the oven? Glass of wine, last bits of tidying, you’ll be tucking in before you know it.

Ignore DH.

A cheese sauce takes me about ten minutes? And I do it the same time I’m making the other filling. Admittedly we don’t eat meat so not sure if our lasagne is quicker because of that but I’d say prep is 30 minutes max then oven 40 minutes.

Sorry its gone so wrong...you had the best intentions. Sometimes things just go like that. Try not to let it upset you

Omg if you were making it with a toddler and a baby around, no wonder it took ages, they hardly let you focus and get on with things. Plus you’re probably knackered and everything takes longer. Lasagne will be lovely. You are a hero even if DH doesn’t see it. Friday night and everyone is exhausted. Be kind to each other and enjoy your dinner xxx

IMO you can’t make a decent ragu in anything less than an hour - not much actual prep time but needs a long simmer to sweeten and tenderise. So not sure about these 30 min lasagnes.

Frankly I don’t see the point when Mr Bigham makes a very good lasagne. I’d rather save my effort for meals I can’t buy a good version of.

I don’t eat meat either and mine takes ages. Tomato sauce (but plenty so there’s some in the fridge for pasta bake later in the week), then layers of mushrooms (need pre cooking otherwise they make it too wet) and spinach and cheesy bechamel. Takes an hour and a half! But 45 mins of that is in the oven while I drink the leftover wine.

It wasn’t the plan and that’s what threw me over the edge. I used Mary berry recipe and did one layer then she said to add bechemel and ragu together (not separated by pasta) and I realised I had used all the bechemel, so just added cheese on top and called it a day. All the while DC1 was doing that toddler thing of non stop demands - pulling out cupboards, wants milkshake, wants snack, wants tv, volume.

There is a lot of work involved and a very messy kitchen afterwards too! Some are more organised than me so can knock one up fairly quickly. That is not me as I faff around with this and that, pots, dishes, cheese graters and so on, the kitchen is like a bomb site. I can't be alone on that one surely?

Anyway, I only do one for special occasions now. I have it sorted more or less to lessen the kitchen bombsite disaster. I actually make the beef sauce the evening before. Get that cooling and out of the way in the fridge overnight. Then next day I'll make the bechamel and put that away also (cling film pressed down to stop the horrible skin forming). Then assemble it a couple of hourse before cooking and leave it to rest in the fridge. With cheese, cheese, and more cheese. Fresh lasagne sheets are the best.

Mine takes a while, but I will only make it in vast, freezable volumes.

It takes me a while (not quite 2.5 hours admittedly) but I make it worthwhile by doubling up and making at least one more for the freezer. Which then takes three days to defrost and heat through because they’re booody massive.

You could try making a larger quantity of your white sauce (I'm assuming it would freeze well, maybe pre-cheese?) and tomato sauce, then freezing it so you can make it from scratch quicker next time. I love spending a few hours over a really well reduced tomato sauce (no meat, just tomatoes, garlic, onion etc) but obviously it's not practical to do it very often, so I make industrial quantities when I do - it freezes very well! You can use it for all sorts then too - goes well on pizzas, with spaghetti and meatballs, as a base for curries etc etc

I usually make 2 or 3 times the recipe(takes the same amount of time or marginally more) and freeze most of it.to me it’s worth it

A quick recommendation here for Mary Berry’s chicken lasagne recipe - a lot less stressful than faffing about with bolognese and bechamel, and a hell of a lot quicker.

I think I’ve only ever made it twice from scratch…. I’m not a great cook so I have to slowly follow the recipe with great care to avoid screwing up. It took hours though it turned out great!

I use jars usually for quick & easy lasagne. I get nice steak mince and whatever sauce looks best.