How far from scratch do you make your food?

[QuootieSpookypie]

Just wondering as there seems to be different levels IYSWIM - firstly take lasagne, you can buy ready made (yuk), buy mince, lasagne sheets and the 2 sauces, or buy mince, lasagne sheets and make the two sauces OR buy mince, make the sheets and two sauces. How far do you go? I am at that stage where I am worried because I don't make everything for the bare ingredients and presume/assume everyone else does! Plus I am just being nosey.

am way ;ate on this, but the secret ingredient for making your own fajitas is smoked paprika

I make a lot of things from scratch - I hate lasagne but when I have made I made my own ragù and own bechamel. I wouldn't dream of using anything but ready made lasagne sheets though...

I love the Blue Elephant brand of Thai curry preparations (with fresh garlic, ginger, aubergines etc) and also Kitchen Guru for Indian (with all the spices already weighed in little packets). I shy away from buying big jars of spices because they go stale so quickly.

I also buy some pre-prepared vegetables - shelled fresh peas, topped and tailed green beans etc.

Would never dream of buying bread - have gorgeous Alsatian bakery 2 minutes walk from my front door that bakes fresh baguette rétro and croissants all day...

I do tend to make most things myself from scratch, give or take an occasional mood where I cannot be bothered. So for Lasagne, I would make it from scratch (although dried pasta and probably wouldn't mince my meat). I actually find Lasagne very time consuming though, so usually make spag bol.
I have a few fall back ons, breaded fish in the freezer, fish fingers for kids, maybe some oven chips. I use shop bought pesto more than I make my own, but would always do curry pastes, or harrisa or hummus.
Make a lot of our bread, but will buy shop bought without any major qualms.
Most cakes are home made, but then we have them rarely.
And as for Pastry (the big debate ) I make shortcrust, but would almost certainly buy filo or puff.

sorry twig, was out last night and only just seen your post.

Yes indeed 'tis a very sweet book by Daisy Ashford, a 9 year old girl, and is all written in her original spelling inc the title.

So quite deliberate and I do know how to spell visitor but I am wondering if I need to change again as I am getting a bit bored of people correcting me!

(and for extra super-pedant effect, a little-known fact is that the original title of The Young Visiters was in fact The Young Viseters but the publishers felt it would be a weirdness too far. May I have a bonus point please? )

PS So pleased to find other fans, Pagan and Mary-Ann.

Do you have two daughters called Brainiella and Intelligentsia Mary-Ann?

Hello - well we thoroughly enjoyed our home made bread and soup last night so thanks for that popsy! I did notice the recipe is the same as the one I already had but now I am going to try and make it again for good!

Must get a new tin for the machine though as mine sticks (belonged to someone else before me and they scratched it).

I make most things from scratch BUT use shop-bought curry paste, tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, etc.

I also sometimes use stuff like Cook's Ingredients grated ginger in a jar or garlic puree - mainly because it means I can have this stuff in my fridge all the time and so can make curries, etc whenever I like without having to go out to the shops especially for the ingredients.

I usually have home-made chicken stock in the freezer but use stock-cubes for lamb stock - mainly because I would rarely have the bones to make it from scratch myself.

My main "sin" would be sometimes using a tin of Campbells soup as a base for a pasta sauce or chicken pie!

Wisteria - glad the bread worked out

erm the birds are currently hanging from my summerhouse .. I'd say that's from scratch

have turned a bag full of pigeons into pate before now ..