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Original poster

Posters that claim to make EVERYTHING from scratch..... really?

29 replies

nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 12:32

I thought I made the majority of stuff from scratch but having just made my shopping list I realise that's not quite true. Here is my readymade list and it's not that small. What of my list do you always make from scratch or have in fresh?

Chocolate/some biscuits/some cakes/chocolate spread/marshmallow fluff/peanut butter/honey
Jam and lemon curd (but I get my nan or aunty to make them for me Grin)
Syrup/treacle
Condiments/mayonnaise/salad cream/soy sauce/fish sauce/thai curry paste
Rice cakes
Crisps (I buy the organix ones for DS' lunchbox)
Cheese
Butter
Yogurt
Fromage frais
Bread
Pasta
Tinned tomatoes
Passata
I get cuts of meat like minced beef, corned beef, sliced meat for sandwiches from the butcher instead of doing it myself
Frozen peas and sweetcorn
Tinned pulses/beans (I can't be bothered with the faff of soaking dried ones)
Instant gravy if serving with something that isn't a roast dinner
Veg stock
Blocks of frozen pastry (a pastry chef told me most of the time it's better than people would be able to make themselves and no difference in taste really)
Own brand equivalents of jaffa cakes, mr kiplings and mini rolls for DS (I buy these because I don't like them and therefore won't eat them - I have NO will power!)

OP posts:
PattySimcox · 19/10/2011 12:35

I'm pretty much the same as you - I guess everyone has varying degrees of what they consider cooking from scratch.

My friend considers she cooks a lasagne from scratch by browning off meat chucking in a jar of red dolmio, layering up with lasagne and chucking white dolmio on top.

Others have a pasta making machine in their kitchen.

deadka · 19/10/2011 12:36

I make my own pastry (although I buy puff), I also make all my own cakes and biscuits. Make my own jam. I occasionally cook my own ham for sandwiches too. Apart from that, same as you!

Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 12:41

Yes I make shortcrust but not puff or filo and I also buy wonton/spring roll wrappers from the Asian market.

OP posts:
FlossieFromCrapstonVillas · 19/10/2011 12:43

A bit of both really. I was cooking while talking to a friend a few weeks ago and she said "you've just made that white sauce just like that!" - it's second nature and what I always make for a lasagne. It's just what you're used to doing. Thank the Lord for fish fingers at times, though!

Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 12:46

I forgot ice cream and ice lollies. I will sometimes make my own but always have some shop-bought in the freezer as well.

OP posts:
wannaBe · 19/10/2011 12:55

bit of both really tbh.

If god had intended me to make puff pastry he wouldn't have made it 99p in the supermarket. Wink I do make my own shortcrust pastry though.

When I make lasagne I literally make it from scratch - I have a pasta machine in my kitchen, Wink but...

pasta is a bloody faff to make no matter how easy the tv chefs make it look, so while I do make lasagne sheets I buy other pasta because I really just couldn't be arsed to do that on a regular basis.

I also have a waffle maker.

Haven't made bread since moving here but really should get back to it... made a cake at the weekend..

Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 12:58

Are lasagne sheets easy or still faffy? Does it taste better than the dried stuff?

OP posts:
Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 12:59

I buy the crusty loaves of bread out of the bakery section of the supermarket, so it's almost like I made it myself Grin I can't stand sliced bread like kingsmill and hovis.

OP posts:
Bramshott · 19/10/2011 13:00

From your list we make cakes (although you did say "some"!), jam, lemon curd, bread, pasta and pastry.

Soaking beans and pulse is super-easy if you've got a pressure cooker, and VERY cheap.

I wish I had realised ages ago how easy it was to make tortillas - the money I wasted buying crap, over-salted ones in packets from Discovery . . . Grin

But I defy anyone to say they make EVERYTHING from scratch! Something like cheese is fairly hardcore (although we have a great recipie book which used to belong to my father's great-aunt which contains gems like "take the vessel to the side of a cow and milk into it up to half a pint" halfway through a recipie!)

picnicbasketcase · 19/10/2011 13:01

Nah, it's all bollocks. Don't believe a word of it. The 'make everything from scratch, snooty turned up noses at sauce in jars' brigade can just about cock off really.

Ephiny · 19/10/2011 13:29

Maybe it depends what you mean by 'from scratch', e.g. does it include using tinned ingredients like tomatoes? Having said that I don't think I know anyone who never buys any ready-made foods at all, and would be a bit sceptical of anyone who claims they do.

Don't really see why buying pasta and bread etc is less 'virtuous' than buying flour and making your own anyway. It's just one more step of processing really. After all you didn't harvest and grind your own flour either way, it's a somewhat arbitrary line to draw.

Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 13:29

Bramshott Does it work out expensive to make your own jam? How much fruit do you have to use? I pay 78p for a jar in Tesco.

OP posts:
Bramshott · 19/10/2011 13:33

I don't often do it with bought fruit TBH - just blackberries and raspberries (which we have in the garden). I mostly make stuff because its easier as we're in the country and not near shops. If I bought bread for example, I'd have to go shopping for that specifically, whereas this way I just get shopping delivered once a fortnight (with a veg box once a week and milk delivered whenever the milkman is up here).

wahwahwah · 19/10/2011 13:36

I make my own stock, cakes, bread, ketchup, pickles, lemon curd, marmalade ice cream, pasta (not always though) and jam (usually from fruit that's on the turn, cheaper than binning fruit). I make pasta sauch with fresh tomatoes, not tinned. Pastry too but not fillo (too much faffing about and I rarely cook with it anyway). I make coleslaw too (although I do like the cheap 'n nasty stuff from supermarkets).

I like cooking...

wahwahwah · 19/10/2011 13:37

oh and yoghurt too

Original poster
nappyaddict · 19/10/2011 13:39

We eat fruit too fast for it to be on the turn in this house! Might ask my nan for some blackberries and raspberries. She lives in the country and they grow in her garden too.

OP posts:
PrettyCandles · 19/10/2011 13:58

My list would be pretty much the same as Nappyadict's.

We generally make our own bread, but that's because we have a breadmaker and dh likes the bread. Left to my own devices I would buy bread and only use the breadmaker to prepare dough for fancier stuff lke tear-and-share breads.

When I make jams, butter, yogurt, or any of what I would consider fridge/larder staples, it's because I like to cook and fancy doing it. Very occasionally it's because I can't easily find precisely what I want, so make it myself.

I half agree half disagree about pastry, BTW. My homemade pastry with butter is vastly nicer than any shop-bought pastry, IMO. But OTOH I have not been able to make a decent dairy-free pastry, so for that I use shop-bought instead.

For me, big deal about home-made is that I can control what goes into it. So I bear that in mind when buying ready-made ingredients.

I think that a person who cooks 'from scratch' ensures that the only ingredients in their food are what is necessary for the food to be nutritious, tasty and immediately appealing,rather than, say, long-life or handling-resistant.

lilolilmanchester · 19/10/2011 16:03

bramshott which tortilla recipe do you use? Have never tried to make them before but happy to give it a go!

lilolilmanchester · 19/10/2011 16:04

oops that should have been bramshott

MrsvWoolf · 19/10/2011 16:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BertieBotts · 19/10/2011 16:11

I would say cooking from scratch can include tinned, dried and frozen ingredients. I wouldn't say that using jars of sauce is cooking "from scratch".

I prefer stuff I make myself but do use jars of sauce as well if I can't be bothered with chopping everything, which is more often than not these days Blush It's pretty easy I think, just the chopping which seems to take forever.

RiffRaffeta · 19/10/2011 16:24

WTF is "marshmallow fluff"???

My list similar to yours. I make cakes when people come over to impress them

Flisspaps · 19/10/2011 16:33

My list is similar to the OP's. I don't like reading lists of ingredients and not knowing what half of them are, and there's something relaxing about cooking from scratch rather than opening a couple of jars and giving stuff a quick stir.

OriginalGhoster · 19/10/2011 16:44

I don't buy gravy granules, sauce sachets, sauce jars, stock, bread, yoghurt, jam, fromage frais, cakes.

I do buy pasta, chocolate, crisps, cheese, butter, frozen puff pastry, tinned tomatoes.

MackerelOfFact · 19/10/2011 17:10

I'm similar to OP, but we do have back-ups for busy days or when we're in a real hurry. Pasta sauces, curry paste etc will be made from scratch if there's time - if there isn't, there's always a couple of ready-made ones in the cupboard. I usually make stock and freeze it, but if there's none in the freezer there's not much I can do, so cubes it is.