Is your family is snobby when it comes to homemade dishes

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My in laws are very snobby when it comes to homemade food.

When I say snobby they wouldn’t judge a single mum relying on something pre made for example but when it comes to the stuff they eat they massively favour homemade stuff. I just find it amusing tbh! They all get VERY excited when someone brings over homemade bread and desserts. Wanting to know what recipe/method you chose. All birthday cakes are homemade. I swear a cake from Tesco would sit completely unopened in the fridge.

There is one vegetarian family member and my sister in law is going to make an entire veggie wellington just for him. I suggested just getting something from M&S and she completely baulked at the very idea. Tbf everyone is a good cook.

It definitely stems from MIL. Who grows her own food, makes chutneys etc. They would never dream of shoving in an Indian selection from Waitrose as starters like my family doesx

I just find it fascinating tbh.

Anyone else have family like this? Even croissants are homemade!

Yeah. I’ve tried dried. I’ve tried canned. It’s just a bit bleurgh when I make it.

I apologise for diverting the thread onto how to make good tasting hummus.

That is just weird - it comes from a place of insecurity? Maybe it comes from a place of wanting, and liking, to eat whole natural foods. I do.

Cooking is my relaxing hobby, in the same way that other people like knitting or playing squash or buying handbags. I come home after a stressful day flying to business meetings and I'll wind down by making a big pot of soup. I enjoy the planning, pouring over recipes, I even enjoy the shopping. It feels like an act of love and care to cater for everyone's individual needs. At Christmas we will have someone with a milk allegry, someone with a nut allergy, two people who are vegetarian, bordering on vegan. It's a delightful challenge to deliver celebratory food to them all.

But I've never made my own croissants feeling a bit inadequate

Sounds like they’re just passionate about food… not snobby.

But then I also grow food, make my own jam and freeze unbaked cookies so my husband always has homemade treats.

Its snot 'snobby' to prefer to eat home cooked food rather than mass produced crap full of salt and additives....

Personally I strongly prefer freshly cooked food made with wonderful ingredients . I love it when people make an effort.

I made a vegan wellington for my SIL last year and I was gleeful - it was such fun to make! I did a trial run so I could balance the flavour and texture.

Snobby isn't the right word for it.
In general home made food will be nicer, fresher and less full of additives. My son is vegan but eats a lot of convenience food which seems very UPF heavy, I'm doubtful that this is healthier than my non vegan diet.
It's also nice and usually appreciated to have a home cooked dinner or a homemade cake.

But it is perhaps a bit ... narrow minded to have a horror of every single item of convenience food on principle. Some of it is really nice and also hugely time saving. It wouldn't be realistic to expect working people to make every single thing from scratch and with a lot of things the superiority of home made over shop bought is marginal. I once spent ages making Mulligatawny Soup from scratch. I tasted it and was delighted as it was just like the Heinz one from the tin. Then thought "oh, wait a minute ..."

Edited as I also meant to say that there are plenty of people in the reverse position. There are folk at my work who won't touch homemade cake "because they don't like the idea of someone's bare hands on it" but will tuck into a Tesco cake which arrived in sealed packaging because they know it's "clean".

@venusandmarsI think we may have the same mind as this is me to a T. Cooking and baking makes my brain go Zen, even the planning and shopping and prepping.

Discerning not snobby. If I were a decent cook I’d probably be the same!

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's frozen pea hummus is fantastic!

The shop bought may be as nice but does it contain additives, salt, sugar? I try not to eat much sugar or salt and can never get over how many shop bought foods contain quite a lot of both.

Tinned soup contains both sugar and salt. Why sugar? I make lots of soap and never ever have put sugar in it. If I put salt in it is very little

My partner is Italian and always cooks from scratch. I've come to appreciate it too. We are what we eat and it's also better for the planet. So I don't think it's snobby I think it's sensible. Also cheaper most of the time.

If only every family could be more like this, maybe the country’s health problems wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately, not everyone has the available funds to buy everything fresh, enough time or the skills to make delicious & nutritious food.

I don’t think it’s snobby at all. I think it’s lovely. My husband is diabetic & has high blood pressure, so we always look to minimise the levels of salt & sugar in our food, while still keeping it tasty, and cooking from scratch helps us do just that.

I used to love tahini so much that I would buy the 3kg catering packs and eat that on toast.
But now I've gone off it 🤷🏼‍♀️

It's not snobby. I think it's the ideal way to eat.
I much prefer homemade food too. I like to know what's in my food and I try to avoid UPFs - which packaged food often is. At the very least packaged food is full of preservatives, artificial colours etc.
I do eat packaged food when necessary but I much prefer food made from actual ingredients.
And it's not hard or time consuming. Making a dip takes hardly any time. But if they like cooking then they probably don't care anyway. Maybe they enjoy it. Can't say that I do really but I do enjoy the food so I make the effort.
Its kind of weird to judge people because they eat homemade food to be honest. It's normal and healthier. Eating loads of packaged food might be normal these days but it's not better.

Just goes to show that British people really can't win - we're usually compared with our continental cousins and derided for our lack of skill and taste but if we prioritise good food we're snobby.

I agree with them on cakes and biscuits, I have sworn off shop bought for life. They are just not worth it, overly sweet, bland, full of preservatives and palm oil. I don't want all those calories fir very little reward.

Now compare that to homemade.. even if someone isn't a brilliant baker it's always 100% nicer.

I would call them just foodies, and yes, I'm envious. I wish I had the time to be able to do all from good ingredients and from scratch. I'll try my best. I'm just an euro millions jackpot off to be able to nail it.

For a minute, I thought we might share a set of of in-laws, but mine have such a narrow range of foods they eat that only one or two of them would eat a cheesecake of any description.

I once took a simple Victoria sponge that I'd made to a family tea party. Most of them pronounced it "very rich" because it was made with actual butter, fresh eggs etc. The late Mr L couldn't believe that they actually preferred the shop bought one from Iceland, which was mostly made from E numbers by the look of the ingredients on the box.

They also think I'm weird for deglazing a roasting dish to make gravy (using water from the veg, a splash of wine or dry sherry, and my own stock) and prefer gravy made with granules and water.

I don't think it's the least bit 'snobby' ffs! I increasingly don't think it's worth buying precooked food or eating out because the quality of it is so much lower than that of what I can cook at home. I'm not a cordon bleu chef by any means, but I've been cooking for myself for more than 40 years and most UPFs are just dire.

Home made is much nicer as there is thought and care gone into it. I don’t think it’s snobbish at all.

Maybe they are also trying to avoid factory manufactured ultra processed junk.

Your post doesn't sound like they're snobby, it sounds like they just enjoy home cooked foods. Snobby would be judging people who don't eat home cooked. Someone only drinking coffee but never tea isn't snobby about coffee, they just prefer coffee.

I mean... there's "we make everything from scratch because we like it" and "Ha, look at those fools with their Tesco curries!". Only you know which it is OP. Or somewhere in the middle.

Come on OP, you can come back and admit this is a reverse. It IS a reverse isn't it???? Please, please, please.
If it isn't we're doooooooomed 😮
Apologies to anyone who has experienced Spinach and Artichoke dip but for them to call people who cook from scratch snobby is beyond, beyond, nope, I can't think of anything other than Spinach and Artichoke Dip 🤣

Not sure why home made equals snobby. And they’re not wrong. We sometimes eat ready meals (M&S/ Charlie B etc) but only when really pushed and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything that beats home made.

My grandmother would have hated ready meals, she was a fantastic cook and wouldn’t even have considered buying in pastry. She had three children in a tiny terraced house and was most certainly working class.

Of course, she was a housewife in the days when that was normal and so cooking a good meal was part of what she did. But we cook at home. Even if rushed, it’s hardly difficult to throw a quick omelette or something together. Personally, if really pushed we often opt for beans on toast over something in a packet.

Sounds like you’re judging them a bit for their preferences rather than the other way round?