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?

It'd take me longer than that to make a meat or vegetable based lasagne.

My chopping skills are pretty poor,as I have difficulties with my coordination and with tasks requiring fine motor skills,and I have trouble with planning and organisation so almost everything takes me longer than it would most people.

Moussaka with eggplant isn't it? I haven't made moussaka for ages, need to dig through freezer for some lamb.

I read so many books saying that stir fries take just 10 minutes to make.Not in my kitchen,it's more like 30.

My Step-Mum is amazing - she is a gardner, and late summer when all the tomatoes glut, she makes her own bottled tomatoes for pasta sauces etc, but she makes a variety:

Plain
Tom & onion
Tom & onion & courgette
Tom & onion & courgette & chilli
etc

Gets her through most of the year. Now that is old fashioned cooking from scratch. She also works demanding fulltime job (midwife so shifts etc), has raised 2 kids, and has lots of hobbies/interests.

She's an old fashioned modern woman - how does she do it? I've never seen her watch TV!

Riven would you put it in the recipe section with instructions
pleeeeeease

RIVEN - yes I do that but still it takes me at least an hour if not more once it's all assembled.

I do like to include griddled aubergine/courgette etc in it - an hour is OK though because I will get lots of meals out of it. But haven't made for a while - it tastes too good and is quite high in calories

I am the queen of the 10 min pasta - ie I make the sauce/topping in the time it takes the pasta to cook

LetThereBeRock - you've just reminded me what I really really need is a proper knife. A good sharp chopper. Been using long serrated thing for everything for way to long - it works but it is slow. Good knife = quick stirfry (and quicker cooking all round).

Wow! I'm loving how this thread has exploded, I've had computer trouble all day (and I've been busy milling my own organic flour ) so I've only just got back on, and (cardinal sin) have not had chance to read all the responses yet but will do and now have some lovely recipes to copy down and use!

Here is one of my current faves by way of a thanks:

Chicken and leek pie
Serves 4 adults (I made 10 baby portions out of it)

5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
300g creme fraiche
3 skinless chicken breasts
3 large leek, washed and cut into chunks
handfull of freshly chopped parsley, or taragon

1. Preheat the oven to 180degrees fan or gas mark 6. Boil the potatoes for 10mins until soft, drain and mash with 1tbsp of creme fraiche (I add a little butter and milk too, but thats just cos I am a mash fanatic!)

2. Heat a frying pan, add some oil and fry the chicken breasts for 5 minutes. Turn over and continue to fry for 6-8 minutes. Remove from pan. Add the leeks and cook in the juices for 5 minutes over a low heat.

3. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces (dont worry if its not quite cooked yet). Return to the pan and stir in the creme fraiche. Heat for 2-3 minutes until bubbling. Add herbs, season then spoon into a 3 pint ovenproof dish.

4. Spread the mash on top and bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until golden.

OMNOMNOMNOM!

BTW, I also feel like less of a freak now, thank you mumsnet!

The Jamie Oliver lasagna is very quick,he uses creme fraiche as the white sauce dolloped on-it's lovely.

Thanks for those recipes.

I make feta and spinach pasties as a treat,very quick.

Just unroll a roll of puff pastry. Wash and dry cook a bag of spinach,crumble in a slab of feta then put on squares of feta and fold.Cook in the oven at 200. I give the kids those with baked beans and sweetcorn-3X veg portions

I cook from scratch but pick my recipes.

have you all signed up to tastydiaries.com newsletter? French foodie Mum living in London. She sends a e-newsletter around every week or so. Great for seasonal quick meals & some more special stuff too. I've incorporated a few of her meals into my repertoire so shes up there with Nigella & Delia & Mrs Edmonds Cookbook in our house.

Erm - I'm somewhere in the middle on this one - but it's to do with ds's and dh's fussy fussy eating.

DS - just fussy - and dh insists on italian food and bfor this reason I'm fucked.

My natural diet is steamed veg but I'm making shop bought pizza, pasta with homemade sauce and organic chicken fingers - all with raw veg.

Depends on how far you go with non homemade stuff. eg - I BUY cakes if needed. I do oven chips if needed.

I never make lasagna as I feel that meat with pasta is a bad bad combi.

But if I have to (dinner party) - top tip southern italians never use white sauce - just make ragu and layer your pasta with sauce as normal and then add a layer of good quality mozzarella on top and then a bit of sauce on top of that- in the oven (yep - cheese goes UNDER the sauce just like pizza otherwise the cheese burns).

I do things like buy lovely spanish olives and then pickle then in oil, garlic, chilli etc. But the I will happily buy my kid sausages as it's the only meat he'll eat and also oven chips (as I cannot fry food) and I think baked beans are fab.

All my soups and pasta sauces are homemade but I'd never bake - ever.

Sorry not squares of feta squares of puff. Eating one as I type.

I also make rhubarb fool. You just stwe rhubarb with 4ozs sugar.

Whip 150ml double cream and nat yog.

Mix in the rhubarb.Can do the same with gooseberries,strawberries etc

That site looks good Downdog-thanks

i had never heard the term " from scratch "will i came on here
its just cooking inst it

and its APPALLED

Thanks Folorn (or should that be Forlorn?), please excuse my atrocious spelling, I will blame it on the early hour......

Riven, JO Lasagne uses creme fraiche instead of white sauce, I have adapted it to a veggie version & is yummy

Well I love it when people cook well but only if they invite me over to eat it Otherwise I don't give a stuff what they eat at home.

As for cooking, I've said before that I really don't like doing it. I am 45 years old and for many eyars I convinced myself I liked it. I was even pretty good at it and can even now whip up a good dinner party meal if I really have to.

BUT nowadays I have abdicated most of the responsibilty for food planning, shopping and cooking to dh and frankly I've never been freeer or happier. I just dislike cooking. I don't say it for effect it is true.

I dislike the time it take when I could use that time for other household tasks and for things like gardening, reading and just seeing friends and even playing with ds (which is a hell of a lot more fun than cooking).

Dh does most of the cooking in our house and hs is pretty good, though I do think I am more instinctive about it than he is.

Despite this I have definitely de-skilled in this area and can no longer easily cook a meal from ingredients in the cupboard. I have sort of forgotten how. I could learn it again if I had to I am just glad I don't need to at the moment.

I agree bumblingbovine. I don't like it. I'm trying to do a bit so I don't feel like a total failure of a mother in that regard and it's nice to make something yummy sometimes, but it's not something I'd enjoy doing daily. Even if I did batch cook and freeze and defrost.

We don't eat ready meals, but we do use tomato sauce (waitrose passata, so nothing offensive 3 simple ingredients) and jarred pesto. We buy bread but from what it sounds like on here, we (well, dh) "cook from scratch" most of the time. We all have a very healthy diet.

I can't imagine making my own pasta...
I do like to bake, though...

We cook from scratch, including bread, pizza etc etc. I do use jarred pesto the odd chicken fajita spice sachet though. It wouldn't occur to me to use jarred sauces or ready meals etc purely because we never ate them growing up so that is what cooking a meal is to me. It certainly isn't a smug or pretentious thing to me, just the norm. I appreciate that we are lucky at the mo in having the time to do so. DH is a far better cook than me however and I am learning, he was brought up very much the same way as me so we share that side of things. (Though I do the shopping.)