in thinking that cooking from scratch isn't that unusual and doesn't make you a pretentious?

[ScentedLovePuff]

I keep encountering more and more people who think its weird that I cook almost everything from scratch. I'm not some earth-mother or housewife with time on my hands, I'm a working single mum on a very tight budget. I get the impression that people think it makes me some kind of snob! Personally I find it cheaper!

I really enjoy cooking, I do it when my daughter is in bed and cook in batches so I can reheat it for her later (she is only 1 so I'm a bit careful about what she eats still) like a homemade ready meal. She does sometimes have fish fingers or fish cakes, I'm not a total food nazi!

Is it so strange? I've encountered people who are shocked and appauled that I do, and I dont just use frozen whatevers or tins.

Just putting this to the mumsnet panel, am I a freak?

So, how would you cook tomato sauce "from scratch" then? Just really curious. I don't cook much (dh does) but experimenting more lately. I don't like onions and always buy a tomato sauce like a passata without onions in it. Ok with herbs, though. If you use tinned tomatoes, isn't this the same thing as buying a glass jar of passata? There are only 3 ingredients on the label and I recognize all of them. Is it not the same?

What else do you make from scratch? I'd like some ideas for some cheap, healthy cooking?

Nooo - pesto should be made in a pestle and mortar - just takes a couple of minutes of pounding together. But I suppose processor is better than a jar .

At playgroup today one of the women was talking at length about how she cooked 'out of jars', 'nothing from scratch'. She obviously wanted a response and I was finding it very difficult to think of something that didn't sound pretentious, as I do cook everything from scratch. I think I just managed to do a nonsequitur whinge about dh who is very picky.

foureleven "There are loads of good wholesome basic meals that people just dont know how to cook."
Like what?

I've actually made pesto before. It's not difficult actually, but quite messy.

Does this not come down to education and choice? Judging someone as pretentious (because they make their own burgers for example) is surely just as unnecessary as judging them for using processed food?

It's their choice?

I wish I cooked more but frankly I'm knackered after a long day at work and often have to get in and get out (clubs etc) with a fast turn around. Whilst cooking can be fast........ chucking something in an oven straight from the freezer whilst I spend that time doing something else.... is time I value.

Yes, I agree, why is it OK to judge people for using processed food but not for them to judge YOU for cooking from scratch, people can cook whatever they like IMO.

Off to work now

But will be glad to read lots of quick recipes for eejits like me to cook when I get in!

I am so sick of being judged for everything I do for my kids, I just agree with the critics now and say yes, aren't I lucky, etc etc ... Sigh (BTW kids are 6&8)

home cooking (from scratch)
using butcher instead of supermarket for meat
having a weekly menu planned in advance
kids drink water (one likes squash occasionally)
no nintendo DS
no Wii
no playstation
bed at 7.30
no Disneyland holidays
kids have a bedtime story most nights
I don't wipe surfaces with Dettol
hate smell of Flash, air fresheners, toilet duck, etc

we are in fairly high income bracket, I just do this stuff from choice. Kids are fit, healthy, bright and HAPPY!!

YANBU

It's funny how pesto always comes up on these threads. I was going to make pesto after nicking a whole lot of basil from my mother but then realised that it would cost me $20 for the parmesan and nuts and then dh probably wouldn't like it anyway. So we do without pesto; I don't really consider it a staple.

theuninvitedguest...get out of my brain!!
I am of a very similar mind, and surprisingly, I get a lot of flack from DHs family about my wanting to cook things from scratch...particularly when I'm doing a family party. At my DS's 4th birthday, I baked cupcakes and made another cake, but SIL insisted on providing me with cheap flapjacks 'for backup'. They didn't get served, and I don't care if she was offended.

I think its the cost of pesto from scratch too... and the mess. I dont have a food processor so maybe if I did it would be more manageable... hmm. We dont actually eat pesto that much.

starexpat I mean like lasagne, spag bol, casserole, sauage pasta, paella, jambalaya..

My friend came round a few weeks ago and I was making bechamel sauce she watched me like I was using my saucepan to weave gold out of grass.

Oh tomato sauce - yes, agreed a jar of passata or chopped tomatoes isnt offensive, they just save time and they are still raw ingredients. So you'd add to them, chopped onions, muchrooms, some oregano, personally I like a chopped chilli in there, some pepper...

theuninvitedguest and eve - pleased to meet someone else who doesn't have Wii, DS etc for their children ! Agree with all your other comments too - esp. Dettol !! I'm so amused everytime I visit brother & family and they rush around with anti-bacterial wipes everywhere after every meal - and before probably. Then wonder why their children are always ill and mine isn't !!!

Yes, I also cook from scratch - hate the taste of ready meals - its just not 'real' food.

My friends and I often discuss food and what we have made. We exchange recipes and visit restaurants together. I did not realise that made me strange or pretentious.

Most of my meals are cooked from scratch, I browse websites for recipes that a lot of people have tried and tested (like Epicurious.com or of course MN). Or if I have a dish in mind I ask on MN who has a good recipe.

Occasionally we will have something from the freezer, but it is becoming rarer as the processed food is just too expensive and not as tasty as fresh food.

cheap flapjacks may well contain trans fats which are the work of the devil - at least, not found in nature and known to be a serious risk for heart disease (far worse than saturated fat). So you are right on that one.

Equally it's possible to get over-excited about the virtues of cooking from scratch. Tinned or frozen foods such as tomatoes or peas are perfectly healthy - the canning/ freezing process preserves more vitamins than using something that's been sitting on a supplier's and then shop's shelf for days. (Processed tomatoes are better than fresh as processing breaks down the tough cell walls, making nutrients more easily available to your body.)

Fish fingers are healthy, too. And I've looked at the ingredients on the frozen pizza I buy - dough, tomatoes, vegetables, a little salt (the proportion is OK). Sounds fine to me.

There's not much wrong with the Loyd Grossman tomato and basil pasta sauce. Sometimes I make it from scratch but have no qualms about using it once a week, with some good quality ham and perhaps grated cheese and some frozen peas.

Supper in about ten minutes: no additives.

Thats it, I think its the no additives thing thats important.

everything in moderation...

we eat home cooked most of the time but also enjoy fish fingers, baked beans, pizzas...a healthy balance.

did feel a little bit smug though when we got DD1 a MacDonalds at a service station the other day on the way back from our holiday in Devon and she said she didn't like it!

i don't agree though that it is always cheaper to cook from scratch it depends on what you are having.

tryingtoleave - very true about pesto. It can be much more expensive to make it from scratch than to just buy it.

Cooking from ingredients is not pretentious. It's called 'making dinner' most of the time.

Cooking 'from scratch' and making a big deal about it might be. Especially if you make an issue over the difference between tinned and fresh tomatoes in a sauce. No-one here seems to have done that, but it's almost as if you are all being defensive about the tinned tomatoes and passata, as if that's not properly from scratch.

By the way, passata is not tomato sauce. It's just tomatoes that have been through a blender.

I adore cooking (and am a bit obsessed with it, truth be told.) But I really don't see how it's cheaper! A jar of pasta sauce is, what, a quid? Can you really buy a bag of tomatoes, an onion, garlic, basil and whatever else you want to add for a pound?

(You've inspired me, by the way- home-made pizza tonight!) [yummy emoticon]

ds burst into tears when we passed a drive-in Macdonalds too late for him to tell us he wanted to go there the other weekend. Thing is, I have NEVER taken him there and neither has dh - I'm veggie and dh prefers other places to eat. I blame his old nanny. (Actually she had my permission to take ds to Macdonalds occasionally and is kind enough to ask him on days out even now, four years after she left us, so I'm not arguing. Was the first time he'd ever asked us to go there, though, as there isn't one in our small town.)

I've come across people who are almost proud that the can't cook - they think they'll come across as "frumpy" if they do.