How homemade are you?

True2marie

True2marie

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3 Dec 2013
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Do you cook from scratching building a dish up with base ingredients or cheat a little by incorporating processed foods? with the base ingredients or cheat a little?

I do a bit of both. Meals involving veggies - I like to start with raw ingredients. For pasta or cake - I make use of some processed goods.

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Everything is made from scratch here - I don't even buy ready mixed spices, preferring to make up my own mixes as I need them and even grind them as I need to.
OK - I eat ready made pasta shells, but will make my own bread/chapattis/naan etc. I guess I could make my own pasta, but have never really bothered. If I make an Indian meal, everything is done from scratch, including roasting my own spices, grinding the mix, grating a fresh coconut etc.
 
I cook almost everything from scratch too. It's cheaper, healthier and better tasting. What's not to like? I don't bake my own bread these days, as we don't eat a lot, and we can buy some great breads here in Spain very cheaply, but other than that, it's almost all home made.
 
I'm used to scratch cooking but have found myself lazy as of late. I prefer scratch biscuits using White Lily flour. It goes well with squirrel gravy. Or just sausage gravy. That's a Southern thing. My son makes a killer Minorcan Clam Chowder.
 
I try to make most stuff from scratch, but for things that I'm not good at, such as baking breads, I stick with getting them at the store instead. Also, some things can cost much more if made from scratch - chicken stock being one example. By the time you buy all the vegetables and the chicken to make it, it would have been much cheaper to just buy a good quality boxed stock instead. Stuff like pasta sauces I almost always try to make them from scratch with crushed tomatoes, I've found the jarred ones to be way too sweet and processed tasting. Similarly, I prefer to make my own salsa with crushed tomatoes and fresh ingredients - the jarred ones in the stores are way too acidic and salty.
 
Every weekend when all members of the family meet together at home I always cook from scratch to make sure that I will serve good and special foods for the whole family. I see to it that all the ingredients that I will use are fresh, new and with good quality to make the outcome of my cooking with a good taste they will enjoy eating.
 
I cheat a little. I only cook for myself so I try not to spend the whole day in the kitchen. I do love experimenting so I always try to do some cooking since I enjoy it, but I'm careful not to put too much time and effort into it.

If I'm cooking for a larger group of people then I don't mind spending a lot more time doing it.
 
crimsonghost747 said:
I cheat a little. I only cook for myself so I try not to spend the whole day in the kitchen. I do love experimenting so I always try to do some cooking since I enjoy it, but I'm careful not to put too much time and effort into it.

If I'm cooking for a larger group of people then I don't mind spending a lot more time doing it.
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Get a good vacuum sealer and prepare food that can be thawed and eaten easily. You may consider sous vide style cooking. You don't need all the high cost stuff to do it. Or just freeze meals in zipper type bags.
 
thomas pendrake said:
Get a good vacuum sealer and prepare food that can be thawed and eaten easily. You may consider sous vide style cooking. You don't need all the high cost stuff to do it. Or just freeze meals in zipper type bags.
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I've thought of this. However, it's not so much about using a lot of time to cook a small amount as it's about me not really caring how awesome my own food is. I can eat pretty much anything, it really doesn't matter to me if it's a homemade pasta sauce or if I use ones I get in jar from the store etc.
 
I love cooking from scratch but that doesn't mean I won't use some things that are store-bought for the ingredient list... nothing highly processed, and not a processed food used as a base, though. Can't see myself grinding my own flour or making my own pasta as two examples.
 
I really like the SEMI-homemade route alot of the time. It cuts cooking in half and you still get the freshness of fresh veggies and spices and herbs. For instance I can take a box of mac and cheese and cook it regularly ..add shredded cheese and some milk- bake- and the kids absolutely love it...its their creamy mac and cheese with a nice crust!
 
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