Do you all cook from scratch or incorporate boxed foods?

DIna00

DIna00

Veteran
Joined
10 Jan 2015
Local time
9:46 AM
Messages
244
Location
Northeastern USA
Do you all cook from scratch or incorporate boxed foods in your cooking?

I used to only cook from scratch and would never considered using any prepared convenience type foods. But a few years ago I came across some Kraft magazines filled with recipes incorporating all their products. I tried some out and have to say they were pretty darn good and easy!

Do you all have a certain way you cook?
 
I usually do everything from scratch because it gets me the best price. Boxed foods can be convenient, but since most of them are wheat products I am not interested anyway. It's also hard to find boxed foods that are not highly processed, unless they are pretty costly. I just have to put in the work if I want to eat healthy.
 
I'm sure it must be us Americans who mostly use the boxed foods. It's almost like it is a part of this culture. Other nationalities have many dishes that can only be cooked from scratch - but in the states a legitimate, national Thanksgiving recipe could be considered canned green beans, mixed with canned mushroom soup, topped with French's fried onions. It is so a part of the culture here I think it would almost be offensive if someone would knock it.

I only ask because I am most interested what kind of recipes people on this site enjoy :)
 
DIna00 said:
I only ask because I am most interested what kind of recipes people on this site enjoy :)
Click to expand...
There is a bit of both, but some things a simply not available this side of the pond and when you look at the ingredients for some of the boxes, I personally am left wondering what is the point of them.

I do know people in the UK who will add Campbell's condensed cream of mushroom soup to a stew or soup recipe, but they are few and far between and whilst you can get tinned slices mushrooms or tinned green beans, they are often more expensive than buying fresh, so most people I know will buy fresh and cook them for the 10 minutes required. Tinned beans such as chickpeas, kidney beans, etc on the other hand are widely used here, so it is not uncommon to see a recipe say 1 tin of red kidney beans or 440g of chickpeas which is the standard size for a tin of chickpeas.
 
I do both. I prefer to cook from scratch but there are times I need a quick meal and will use canned soup in a recipe from time to time. Mind you it never tastes as good but it fills the tummy .
 
I do sometimes use a packaged, canned or bottled ingredient, but usually I'm put off buying them by reading the label to see what's been added. Cooking from scratch does cost less and there is no need for any salt, sugar or additives to be included. I try to avoid processed foods and prefer to prepare and cook my own food. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen and I like eating food that I have prepared for myself.
 
I also do a little of both. I really like to cook food from scratch as much as I can, but sometimes time is a factor. When I get home from work things can be crazy and it is sometimes easier just to cook up a pot of noodles like macaroni and cheese and add some sausages. Tonight I will be baking porkchops and using a boxed noodle mix as a side dish.
 
Most if not all of my cooking is from scratch. I saw somewhere that someone was planning to make their own pasta. I am not about to go there. Well not anytime soon. I am fresh out of talking about food and was beating myself up for buying ready made seasonings. I guess if you count things like that I really do both kinds of cooking.

If I had the time and the resources I would definitely do everything from scratch, but right now that world does not exist for me.
 
I cook from scratch with a few exceptions. I don't make my own fresh pasta (yet) so in that sense I cook from a box on occasion. I will also by the box pilafs from time to time as it's quick and easy, but I enjoy cooking from fresh ingredients and it's usually quick, easy and it's definitely a lot more healthy than eating all that packaged food.
 
hi!
I cook from scratch but I use cookbooks to help me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I cook mainly from scratch, but do use the occasional sauce. On the whole though, I prefer fresh food and don't mind the effort involved in cooking it. I don't make my own pasta or bread, though, but I'd like to give it a try.
 
Sometimes I will go as far as to make my own bread. I love the smell of fresh baked bread right out of the oven. I tried making my own noodles once and they turned out horrible so I have never tried again.
 
I primarily cook from scratch as well, unless there is an ingredient or component of the dish that is too expensive to make on my own. For example, I would never bother with stuff like Pasta Roni or those Knorr noodle or rice pouches, since I can easily make all of those side dish recipes from ingredients I already have on hand, and not have all that MSG and salt in them. I really dislike those pasta salads in a box too, with their weird dehydrated vegetables in them.

But in the case of something like a Kung Pao Chicken, or many other Chinese dishes that require a lot of different ingredients, I will either buy them pre made or from a Chinese takeout joint. It's not cost effective for me to go out and buy all sorts of stuff like Char Siu pork, bean sprouts, several different kinds of sauces, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots other stuff just to make one dish.

Similarly, certain sauces and condiments are not cost effective for me to make at home. I'm not going to go out and buy a whole bag of plums, and all sorts of exotic spices to make my own plum sauce at home - I will just buy it in a bottle.
 
I've always cooked from scratch as i've found it to be more cost effective and far more healthier than incorporating boxed foods; furthermore i suffer from hypertension so i stay away from boxed foods as there just too much unhealthy additives and salts present in such products.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom