Fresh, home-cooked meals are a labor of love, but they’re also often seen as a luxury. We don’t all have time to spend an hour chopping vegetables and preparing an elaborate meal after work, so many of us have to pick and choose what we can have homemade. But even in this age of convenience, there are certain foods that, once you start making them yourself, you’ll never want to touch a store-bought version of again.
Redditors have recently been sharing all of the ingredients and dishes they’ve realized are much tastier and more affordable when made at home, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts down below. Enjoy scrolling through this list that might give you some culinary inspiration, and be sure to upvote the foods you’ll only eat fresh from home as well!
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Coffee…. I want that first thing. I don’t want to put clothes on, drive a few miles, wait in line just to spend $6 on a simple (or complex) coffee. There’s nothing better than waking up to the smell of coffee that turned itself on 15 minutes before I have to get up
We bought an espresso machine on sale for $50 five years ago. Four years ago we thought it had shorted out so called the company and got a new one. Then the old one came back to life. Long story long, we’ve had many, many cheap coffees. And we’re in Melbourne, so we’re coffee snobs. 😎✌️🤘🏻❤️ ☕️
I refuse to buy the brown water or sugar loaded candy water out, unless I am traveling. I make coffee you can't see through in my old melitta!
Starbucks has nothing that bears even a remote similarity to a simple, black coffee (no, the thing they call an "Americano" is more like a castrated espresso topped off with too much water, not a nice cuppa). Nothing beats filtered coffee. Except hand filtered coffee, but that is hard to get in public.
You don’t need a coffee machine! Just put ground coffee in a mug, add hot water, stir, and wait for the grounds to settle. I learned this from a Polish friend. The first time I tried it I instinctively stirred my cup again right before drinking, which was a mistake I’ve not made since!
Load More Replies...First of all, NO ONE pays 6 bucks for a simple coffee. If you're paying 6 bucks you're not getting coffee. Second: not everyone has acces to home brewed coffee all day.
I don't know where you live, but here everyone has a moka pot and makes coffee at home, it's simple and very cheap
Load More Replies...Yes and no. First thing in the morning: coffee! And I sure as hell will not leave the house prior to that. But no home coffee maker (and I got a good one) can ever match the taste of a big professional espresso machine used in gastronomy. I really miss ours (grew up in a restaurant).
Kind of related - "light" coconut milk is more expensive than normal coconut milk and it's generally just coconut milk with added water.
Just buy the normal stuff and add water if you want it light. You effectively get twice as much for less.
this one i agree. A dutch shop sells applejuice from concentrate for less than an euro. I like drinking applejuice with added sparkling water every now and then) BUT you can also buy something thats called "Apple juice with a refreshing splash of water!!" for double the price. Its the same juice with more water. People buy it.
Generally....juice from concentrate is ''juice'' only by name. Regulations says (art least in UE) If You want name something as juice it has to contains at least 80% of juice. And that is when regulation are stars being tricky....I don't remember exactly how it was ( I graduated studies a 12 yrs ago ;) ) , but concentrate is so ''concentrate'' that You need around 20 ml of it to make 1 liter of ''juice from concentrate'' .In first step You dilute ocncentrate (a small amount to a normal juice, than You dilute it to again to make it a ''juice from concentrate''. I don't remember exactly how high concentration it was but i Think around 20%. So You literally buying a water.... :p . I think it was: Juice: 80% of juice, nectar : 60 % of juice, drink/juice from concenctrate: 20% of juice Sry if i make this comment a little bit unclear, messy and unaccurate, but it's 3 am, I just came back to home and I'm a little bit drunk
Load More Replies...Where I live they are the same price. I could buy the cream and add water, but the recipes usually ask for the amount that's in the can, so I would have leftover I didn't need.
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People who don't eat the bread crusts, throw them out, and then buy breadcrumbs.....
I think this has something to do with the bread. Sourdough bread like in many European countries has a wonderful crust. But the crust on sandwich toast is just more dry than the rest of the bread (I still eat it).
The first part of your post is the exact reason I don't get it when done to toast. Small Kids have a hard time chewing and biting off the crust of "real bread" ;-) - but on toast?? And by adults???
Load More Replies...dude i will never get that. you can use bread crust for so many things ( meatloaf, croutons etc..)
If the crust isn't tasty, the quality of the bread is questionable. Buy good bread and eat all of it. The suggestion is good, however, one can only use so much breadcrumbs. Do not waste food - if you can afford to throw that much out, then you can afford better bread, too. Don't teach your children to waste food, but to accept that not everything will taste fantastic. Okay-ish is totally ok. Toast the bread, this usually not only improves the taste, the whole slice will get crunchy and that is a texture most children love.
EXACTLY THIS!!!!!!!!!! Bread crumbs, croutons and stuffing mix. Dry the bread on the lowest setting in the oven and save it. We do this with the scrap bread at the bakery and it amazes me that people will actually pay money for old dried bread. And once you dry it thoroughly it will last for a month or more w/o molding.
Battling with my daughter now to eat the crusts. She doesn't like how it looks, nothing to do with taste. She's 7.
Until this post, I never realized how silly it seems. I've bought breadcrumbs! For special holiday dishes. But no more! Lol, thanks BP!
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Eh I understand that many people don't have the desire, time, skills or confidence to cook from scratch all the time. So whilst I bake my own cakes, make my own pasta and ferment my own kimchi and it is all way better and cheaper, I can understand why it's not for everyone.
I will say though I don't understand pancake mix or bread dough mix. That is literally just flour/sugar/salt/yeast mixed together and you still have to add milk or eggs or water. It saves you a couple of mins of measuring stuff but costs like 10x more than the individual ingredients. You still have to bake it or cook it so doesn't save you time there. Really baffles me!
I cook pancakes once a month and make nothing else that involves mixing yeast, sugar, or flour. That one box of pancake mix lasts a year and takes up a 2"x6" space in my cabinet. Buying the raw ingredients is a waste of money, time and space for me.
Yeast is not necessary for pancakes. But you never use flour or sugar? One pack of flour will last two years and costs a fraction of the mix. The mix contains additives to prevent the yeast from reacting with the sugar, which you will eat, too
Load More Replies...Very curious what kind of pancakes people make because there is certainly no yeast going in mine. It's just flour, milk and eggs.
And once you u get a feel for it, after maybe 5 or 6 times, you don't even have to measure anymore.
Risking downvotes here, but being a Brit just the idea of pancake mix seems very odd. My idea of pancakes is flour, milk, eggs, butter, and salt. Yeast and sugar don't come into it.
Agreed, except also without the butter for me.
Load More Replies...To be fair, this is kind of a snobby post. When calculating the cost of something ('it's cheaper'), it always surprises me how many people don't calculate time. Of course, it's likely because that's difficult to do, but your time is worth something, too. And I'm not talking about just making the product, but the time to purchase the ingredients (the work done to make the money to purchase the ingredients, as well), cleaning, energy used, both personal and appliance. I've participated in making a big batch of home made kimchi. It took my friend's mother a full week to gather all the ingredients (not to mention laying the groundwork for collection weeks before) and putting everything together took all day. And I mean ALL day - we were bent over for hour, smearing leaf after leaf. And she's done it so many times, she doesn't measure anymore - but that doesn't mean it's any easier.
I almost agree. Except - as a person with unmedicated adhd, not having to measure (being able to skip steps) and get right to it, means EVERYTHING lol
I completely understand people buying just about anything rather than making it, especially products like stock, pasta, and bread that are simple to make but take more time than a lot of folks have.
Having said that - buying guacamole confounds me, unless you don't have access to avocadoes, need a ton of guac for a party, or have a good Mexican grocer nearby where you can get quality guac. Making guac at home takes maybe five minutes, and it tastes substantially better than store-bought. Like I can get really good bread and pasta from the store, but any guac I could buy near me isn't gonna hold a candle to homemade.
Or the avocado is soft, but half of it is black and woody
Load More Replies...It’s not the avocado, it’s having the rest of the ingredients on-hand: fresh tomato, red onion, celantro, lime… plus having multiple ripe avocados at the same time. I can go out and specially by all that, or get the store-made guacamole, which is great!
Interesting. The recipe I have (and like) asks for tomato, garlic, lemon and joghurt
Load More Replies...its not that everyone always has perfectly ripen avocados around all the time :-) I prefer to make my own, it will taste better. My supermarket sells decent and not expensive, too.
My late wife loved guacamole, and said that when I make it at home it was much better than any store bought one. Very simple to make and only took a few minutes. She also loved my home made tartar sauce which was also simple to make.
My recipe for guacamole : 1 buy 10 hard avocados because that is all they have 2. wait until ripen 3. throw two away because they are actually overripe now 4. throw four away because when cut open are weirdly gray and stringy 5. the four left are perfect but not enough for the dip. Go back to the store, buy more and repeat above steps
"i dont understand why people don't make stuff from other cultures" because even reading a recipe sometimes does fuckall. things like guac isn't just a simple recipe you need to follow, for good guac you need to know what you doing, and balance the elements properly.
reason i make guac over buying it is that bought stuff lasts like a week maybe more, when home made guac goes off way quicker, makes me think a load of extra chemicals added so it doesn't go off
Sandwiches. I mean standard bread meat cheese veggies condiments.
I refuse to buy subway. They cost too much for something I can make at home in 2min.
For a single person, it can be cost prohibitive to but ingrediants for one sandwich. Or you buy bunch and are stuck eating ham sandwich 5 times in one week. I did stop going to subway when they stopped letting me put all the veggies i wanted on a sub.
Add to that the fact I’m driving a truck with just a tiny dorm fridge. No place to store ingredients!
Load More Replies...dude, never have i been able to make my own sandwich and have it taste as good as a restaurant's
Two things: 1. It’s all the little bitsy condiments that won’t get used frequently enough to warrant buying ie. Sauerkraut, sun dried toms. 2. The very fact that someone else is making it for me is the best bit.
Very few quick made sandwhiches are worth the calories and fat in my opinion. They're soggy, terrible bread with low quality meat and waaay too much mayo. My work buys us lunch on fridays and when it's jimmy johns or something along those lines i skip lunch.
Subway also has a way of making you feel so unimpressed and underwhelmed after, that smell lures you in and then BAM! disappointing half assed sammidge. And ong don’t get me started on their cold on the inside “toasted sammidges”
There's a thing I remember for a while back where an American asked a French person why they didn't respect American food they replied "You buy croutons"
That always stuck with me.
Croutons are simple to make. Cut up any stale bread (slices, buns, loaves, pita, etc) into approximately 1 inch cubes. Toss with barely any olive oil (& I do mean barely any!), add any dry seasonings you like (or fresh), fresh Parmigiano cheese. Spread evenly on baking/cookie sheets in single layer. Bake at 250 F for about 30 to 35 minutes, stirring 2-3 times. If not cooked completely through, turn oven to 350 or 400 for about 5 to minutes, watching them VERY, VERY CLOSELY so they don't burn. Keep in airtight container in fridge or freezer up to 2 months (longer if no oil is used. Eat as snack or put on salads and soups.
They are simple to make, but they take time. And for a lot of people time is more valuable and spent elsewhere
Load More Replies...I live in France and there's a bigger selection of croutons in the store here than there is in my native country of Canada.
Yeah, the wording of the post reeks of food snobbery. It's like if you're in Paris and a taxi driver asks you what you think of the glass pyramid in front of the Lourve (I.M. Pei!). It's a trick question. If you said you find it cool, it's an eyesore and you have no taste in art. If you say it is a blemish on the building, then it's art! and you have no taste in art. I speak from experience.
Load More Replies...I don’t understand this, what’s wrong with buying croutons? They taste good!
Super easy to make on your own with leftover stale bread and they are way better.
Load More Replies...There are plenty of reasons to buy croutons. Discrediting someone for not making something from scratch that you do says more about you than the person you're trying to discredit. Having said that, when the bread I'd buy to make sandwiches at work for the week grow stale, I'd make croutons and then share them as snacks.
I make all my own and its healthier, i use up the ends no one wants and mmmm..
I don't buy croutons because the store bought ones are huge and hard as a rock. Also, they're way too salty for my blood pressure and palate.
Making popcorn in a wok with coconut oil at home is a game changer. Moist, fluffy popcorn with only 3-4 unpopped kernels. Haven't bought a single bag of microwave popcorn since.
Or even better a hot air popcorn maker, no oil and it cooks a batch in 3 minutes.
I have a whirly pop. Its metal , goes on stove, and has a crank to stir the kernels.
I used to have one too. It was great! The heavy pot I use now though…heat it with 3 kernels and a bit more oil than you think you outta. When those 3 pop, it’s hot and so dump in 1/2 cup of kernels. Put the lid back on and just let it go until the popping slows. No stirring or shaking and it’s hard to burn unless you walk away. I think it’s a Tramontina pot.
Load More Replies...I was always embarrassed that my family had a popcorn pan that was handed down for a few generations, never cleaned for what my dad called “flavor”. We grew up not wealthy at all, and that popcorn pan was how I made friends, they flocked to my home for some of that good ol’ popcorn. My dad is very sick now, and I cherish those memories he gave me and my family, with just his amazing stovetop popcorn cookin’ skills
Oh, and it was tradition for the animals to get first dibs because it was cute and hilarious. So my dad would always put in 3 tester kernels for the heat, and once they popped the dog got the first kernel and me and my sis got the other two kernels 😆
Load More Replies...the coconut oil is supposedly the ingrediant that makes theater popcorn taste so good...
I use a stock pot (my wok doesn’t have a lid) but yes, way, way better in the stove
Whirley Pop is a game changer for me. I've started using ghee instead of oil, which adds a buttery flavor. And PopZup sells the most awesome seasonings. TJ's cheesy seasoning is also amazing. My neighbors daughter is always inviting me to movie night as long as we make popcorn first.
But then you have to wash the wok. And you don't get all that good butter residue as you finish the bag.
I have a Whirly Pop which makes great popcorn without burning (as I was prone to do making my own on the stovetop. Not a fan of microwave or air-popped.
I make a big wok full for my kids to have in their school lunchboxes. I’ll be sad when they discover that bought popcorn with all it’s delicious salty butter flavouring does taste REALLY good.
Mashed potatoes, in australia instant mash isn’t super popular but I don’t get why anyone would choose it over homemade mash tbh
Recently tried the instant version - it's good. Yes, I still prefer mashed potatoes from scratch, but I don't always have the time to peel, boil and mash the potatoes. Sometimes I have 5 minutes to prepare something for dinner and I have home made meat, so i just make the salad and the instant mashed potatoes.
Add some sour cream to the mix - it'll up the creaminess and give it some body.
Load More Replies...Well the Incas invented freeze dried potatoes so I think they were on to something
What? Please enlighten me. How did they freeze dried potatoes?
Load More Replies...I agree, and I don't eat instant mash, but you also have to take into account that it takes only a minute to make instant (hence the name) compared to 15+ minutes for homemade.
It takes at least 20 minutes to cut/peel and boil potatoes. Then you have to mash and season them. IDK where you came up with 15 minutes. You must be like the guy in ""My Cousin Vinny" who was able to make grits in 5 minutes. Are you telling me that in you're kitchen, you're able to make mashed potatoes in 15 minutes, when the rest of the mashed potatoes eating world needs 45 minutes! I guess you're just a fast cook
Load More Replies...My brother always preferred the instant junk instead of real mashed potatoes because he liked them absolutely smooth. I could never understand that.
I can make a bowl of perfect mash in 4 minutes after choosing from 6 favorite flavors. No peeling potatoes, boiling them, etc. Above all, the packets last forever & I don't have to worry about potato plants growing in my fridge. Sure, it's more expensive than made from scratch, but I'd waste more $$$ & time going the from-scratch way.
The instant ones are good for coating food and then frying it. Think fried chicken or fish or veggies.
No one has a job in Australia. Instant mash is for Mom's that work full time but still want to provide nutritious meals for their kids. I don't see a problem with that.
ready made rice
I love my rice cooker. It is good for cooking rice of course. But it is also used for cooking small meals like rice with veggies and egg or meat and veggies for my dogs' dinner or to heat up frozen leftovers.
i cook my own rice but Tilda preboiled is my guilty pleasure every now and then :-)
Almost no one "needs" a rice cooker. But for those of us who eat it regularly it makes things easier. And it's way better than quick cook or ready made rice. If you can't fathom such a simple concept...
Yes! Can’t top hot, fluffy rice cooked on the stovetop - NOT instant rice/ microwaved rice/ or rice made in a rice cooker..
Rice on a cooker is perfect every time & you don't have to watch it. Not to mention it's also faster. In my country most people love the half-burned crust of rice that usually accumulates at the bottom of the pans when cooked on the stovetop. I despise it. I want my rice nice & fluffy so I'll take microwave any day, thanks. You add a few extra flavors I don't have to shop for & I'm golden.
All the comments look like they have extra room in their kitchen.
Ice tea. So simple and easy to make at home
Ugh teens! Mine's just entered the teen years! Pray for me
Load More Replies...Here’s mine in a 2.5L jug - 3 black tea bags and 3 flavoured fruity herbal tea bags (I like peach). 1/2 - 1 cup sugar (adjust sugar to your own taste) and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Fill the rest with water, stir, and leave for 4 hours (boil tea bags for 5 min in 1L water first if you don’t want to wait, but then your newly made iced tea will be warm - sometimes it’s delicious hot in a cup though). Adjust sugar and lemon to taste. :) we often add things to our glasses of iced tea like lemon or orange slices, cherries, 1/2 orange juice, 1/2 grapefruit juice (my favourite with peach iced tea), 1/2 pomegranate juice, mint leaves, cayenne and honey, maple syrup, cream and sugar, or cinnamon sticks 🥰 Our recipe turns out different every time because we keep experimenting with flavours but hope that gives you some inspiration!
Load More Replies...Is it weird that i do t drink my tea with ice? I feel like it waters it down and ruins the flavor. I also don’t like lemons or honey in tea, either
You can make ice tea cubes for your ice tea so it doesn't water down :)
Load More Replies...My southern grandma used to brew hers in the sun in the summer. It was delicious
Never in a bottle. But in a restaurant. Because if I don't want soda and want more than water.
Alfredo sauce. It's only like 3 ingredients (minus seasoning), and most people already have them on hand? The jarred stuff tastes like vomit
Not really only 3 ingredients but here there are for you : butter, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, garlic, italian herbs
Authentic Alfredo sauce does not use heavy cream, garlic or herbs. Just butter, Parmesan and pasta water. Super easy and delicious.
Load More Replies...Me too but I like the sauce as a chicken sauce or on hot chips or broccoli 😂
Load More Replies...OP is right! Canned Alfredo is the worst! Home made doesn’t take long and there is no comparison.
Hard boiled eggs.
I feel like most people who buy pre-made hard boiled eggs are doing so as an on-the-go snack. If they were at home, they'd likely make it themselves, but they're not at home, they're at 7-11 looking for something to munch on. Then again, I can't fathom eating a non-deviled hard boiled egg, so I could be wrong.
I used to take a few hard boiled eggs as a road snack. I would sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika... delicious! The store bought ones are inedible and gross.
Load More Replies...You can indeed. For people who want a snack but don't want carbs
Load More Replies...I only buy pre boiled eggs when im having breakfast at Pret a Manger, but you can buy them in every supermarket around here and every corner shop and truck stop. Usually insanely expensive.
Maybe less cooking and more drinking, but simple syrup.
The prices for a small bottle at the grocery store were almost as expensive per oz as the rum I was using in my mojitos. It’s literally just water and sugar boiled together in equal parts. Now I make a gallon of it at the beginning of summer and enjoy mojitos with mint from my garden all season.
At first i thought the beginning was a suggestion :D less cooking more drinking! Both is best though ;)
As a sober person, there are many other tasty uses for simple syrup as well :)
Load More Replies...I had a guy rant ON and ON to me, once about how easy it was to make and how ridiculous I was for buying it - the fact that I was standing in front of him holding newborn, a two year old and a four year old who were all simultaneously crying seemed to escape his notice. I can totally make it without thinking twice NOW. There’s a reason people buy all the things on this list: convenience!
Shot, I didn’t know people purchased this and I didn’t know it was even sold like that 😆 not to toot my horn but I’ve had awards for my cocktails and I kinda have a cheat - it’s extra sugary super thick sugar syrup, I use more sugar again (about 1/4 - 1/2 cup more) and less water than suggested.
Me too, and I freeze it in small portions so it doesn’t go off.
The simple syrup can be that expensive. I've seen some as high as about$20 for a 5oz bottle
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Those pouches of pre-cooked rice that taste all stale and waxy. or even the frozen cooked rice pouches.
rice is the easiest thing in the world to cook. It takes hardly any time at all, and it's dirt cheap.
Rice is not the easiest thing in the world to cook. Many people think it's easy, buy a good plate of tasty, perfectly cooked rice is tricky to prepare. Most people eat a kind of sticky, overcooked stuff.
If your rice is hit or miss, get a rice cooker. Good investment.
Load More Replies...Also sometimes you’re broke. Where I’m from if you have $8, you can have a tiny pack of pre-cooked rice and a can of cheap refried beans and a 3-pack of tiny corn tortillas. That can actually be a solid meal with lots of protein! You should honestly be able to get more for $8 though, single meals shouldn’t cost that much when they’re made out of rice and beans….
Load More Replies...I am not a good cook and even I can make rice. The rice finger trick works everytime
1 part rice, 1.5 part water wash the rice until the water is clear, (depends on brand, how long it takes) boil up the rice, then let it simmer with lid on for 15 mins (depending on brand red the description ;) ) let it sit for ten minutes (without opening the lid) perfect rice every single time
Maybe I'm short sighted, but I always thought the microwave meals (including stuff like rice) are for when you're busy(or tired) and don't have time to spend cooking a proper meal. It's been a hard day so you nuke something instead of cooking properly. Do people really eat them every single day?
There's only 1 rice I truly love and it's rice I only get when my grandma makes it. Nobody else makes rice properly.
Pasta sauce! Alfredo, bolognese, all. Waaay better and far less expensive. I usually make double batches and freeze half, then, when in a pinch, all you have to do it boil some pasta!
yes because i simply dont like pastasauce from a jar, and its easy made. And as they state I also make a very big batch and freeze it.
And with a bit of routine, it doesn't take longer than boiling the pasta, which you got to wait for anyway.
agree except for rao's...rao's is exquisite...very expensive but worth it...i buy a ton when it's on sale...BUT, i also often add butter or oil with salt, pepper, lemon zest, and parmesan make a great sauce too...and you won't feel bloated afterward
Yeah… my grandmas marinara recipient is amazing…. It takes 5 hours to make. It’s a once-a-year special occasion thing.
Home made spaghetti sauce with fresh ingredients takes a bare minimum of 3hours usually much longer. Where canned or bottled sauce is shelf stable and instant if not very good. I personally split the difference (with the exception of a fresh diced onion) by using canned and frozen ingredients . A can of diced stewed tomatoes with Italian seasoning, a can of low sugar meat sauce, and a pound or two of thawed hamburger meat cooked and seasoned with taco seasoning can all be thrown together and cooked inside of an hour to make a very tasty meaty meat sauce.
If I were that pressed for time or energy, just butter and salt on the pasta
I always make my own pasta sauce, it’s way better than store bought sauce.
Caramel corn. The tubs of Topsy's here in Kansas City are something like $15 for a gallon? I can make twice that for about $3...and do at least twice a year.
Although I do miss the old KaramelKorn shops in the malls, I also miss the malls....and being 12.
But my caramel corn is awesome.
A recipe would have been handy here. I’ll just wait… 👇 thank you…!
Oh man, this is why im fat. I can eat buckets and buckets and buckets of this c**p. 😭 and yes its expensive.
Oh yeah! I make it homemade every year and send it off to the kids. They love it. So easy to make.
According to many, many people in my life, I have no reason to miss being twelve.
Hummus.
Chick peas are super cheap, but hummus is super expensive? Wtf.
I have made hummus at home but it's a lot of work. Peeling each of those chick peas, making tahini from scratch, the amount of olive oil that goes. Also, hummus isn't a staple where I live so I don't mind buying it just for one meal.
Convenience. That's what most of these are about. We are told to work until we're too tired to do anything but buy a convenient solution for our worn out asses. That life put me in hospital. It could do the same to any of you too. Time to force a change upon our world. Do it by looking after yourself. The rest will follow
It you’re going to make it properly and remove the skins from the peas so it’s all silky smooth THAT takes some time
i really like the one i make at home and can try various flavors, but ill always have a small box in my fridge for the days when im in a hurry or didnt plan.
hmmm its hard ti find all the ingredients sometimes depending on where you live - hit or miss
Not everyone has a food processor and blenders suck at making hummus.
I have to make it at home because I'm no longer able to eat garlic, but garlic infused oil is okay.
Never understood why ANYONE eats this stuff. I like garbanzos. But not mashed.
quiche is typically pretty expensive out, but really easy to make at home.
And it gets a lot more easier when you use several layers of yufka instead of making the dough
Notes taken, I’ve done filo before but that would actually be way better (thickness wise)
Load More Replies...i just make frittatas now...all of the flavor and far fewer calories...plus, who really cares about the crust...even the best crust is meh...(and yes, I have had crusts that would make mary berry swoon...and still, it's just a crust)
True, and not just easy but really really easy. Ingredients, dish, egg slurry and cook a short time until it sets. Let cool then dig in.
It is absolutely not easy to make a proper quiche. It's labor intensive and takes quite a while. I generally make 4 at a time, as they freeze well if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. (Also, I highly recommend James Beard's variation on Julia Child's short crust recipe. He uses all butter instead of half butter and half shortening. Better flavor, fewer trans fats.)
You don't even need a crust. Sometimes I add bread for a "breakfast bake"
Here it's a quickly done meal. In France you can find already rolled out pastry dough. Four eggs, milk or liquid cream, bacon already cut into "lardons", 30mn in the oven, and there's à "quiche lorraine". I add grated cheese, though the purists will rant about it. With à nice green salad, it's one of my "go-to" meals.
I’ll take some eggs 😝 there’s a lot of hungry people out there you know
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Salad dressings. So easy and flexible to make with whatever you have on hand, and exponentially more delicious. I would just as soon not have a salad than have one with bottled Italian dressing.
When you do go back to bottled dressings it’s basically thickened sugar syrup with some dried herbs for looks mixed w some s**t oil
When I tried to lose weight and eat better, I looked into some salad dressing, and most of them are chock-full of sugar.
Load More Replies...Simple dressing. Vinegar, citrus, seasoning (herbs, pepper, ect...), oil. Oil is optional. If you want to get fancy, make homemade mayo and add seasoning and vinegar.
People tell me this all the time. But I have no idea how to throw stuff together to make it quick and easy on the spot. I need direction. When I look up recipe it’s complicated. I want to just throw some things together to make a great dressing like the post is saying but I don’t know how!
You need oil (or yoghurt, buttermilk...), acid (lemon, vinegar, pureed berries...) and seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs, soy sauce, hot sauce...) put it in a jar and shake. 1 part acid and 3 to 4 parts oil.
Load More Replies...Agreed, and if I'm really lazy I just dress my salad with only apple cider vinegar. Yum
yeah i cant remember the last time i bought salad dressing and i eat a lot of salad. I use olive oil, a pinch of "herbal salt" fresh garlic and lemon, or whateve herbs i feel like. Or some herbal mix.
Not everybody likes the oil-and-vinegar variety, except at Olive Garden. Like good blue cheese dressing and don't want to take the time for every salad.
Soup, stew, chilli or gumbo. No can or restaurant can beat the quality, taste or value of making fresh at home.
Don’t know how much cheaper it would be (and only useful during holidays), but cranberry sauce. It’s so much better made from scratch and it takes almost no time.
I'm the only person in my family that eats it, I buy a punnet of cranberries at Christmas and make a couple of different kinds of cranberry sauce
I love cranberry sauce. Even if it isn't the holidays, I still eat it. Also, mixing equal parts of cranberry sauce and whole grain mustard makes an amazing sandwich moistener.
Load More Replies...This forever. Homemade cranberry sauce is delicious, especially if you use orange juice rather than water. I find that it generally takes more time than I expect ("will you just f*****g POP already?") but it's basically zero effort. Throw stuff in a pot and make sure it doesn't burn.
My mom likes to make cranberry sauce, and afterwards I rinse out the saucepan to make cranberry lemonade..
Cranberry relish is easy but cranberry sauce takes hours and is hard if you don't know what you are doing.
I buy 2 packages of cranberries, two large naval oranges (wash them) and grind all (orange peels too!) sweeten it to taste and freeze it in small containers. This amount lasts my husband and I all year until cranberries are for sale again.
Whipped Cream.
Canned whipped cream is horrible and mostly air. Went to a cafe once and ordered scones with jam and cream in their own little bowls, tried to put the cream on the scone and it just disappeared while I spread it.
Aaaah yes i agree with this one the most!! I NEVERRR had any canned whipped cream that tasted even remotely like real whipped cream.
OMG THIS ^^^^^^ How can anyone use Cool Whip or the canned stuff?
Cookies!
I make really good cookies. I love my cookies. The thing is… they are WAY more expensive then store bought. Sure, I can‘t get White chocolate Macadamia nut cookies or coffee cookies where I live, but sometimes they do not have to be „fancy“
I will say they are fun to make, but it's cheaper to buy a bag of cookies.
Good cookies requires some special equipment. You can not just make the dough by hand. You need at least an electric hand mixer to cream the butter sugar and eggs.
Love baking and I’m not bad at it but cookies resist my skills. I don’t try anymore, they always turn wrong.
I'm having trouble with my sugar levels, so my wife bakes me no sugar low carb cookies. And they're delicious.
Pesto. Homemade is literally miles better than store bought, especially when you can customize it however you like, and you can make use of fresh herbs
Do you know how expensive pine nuts are? It's a lot cheaper to buy good quality pesto over home made thrice the price minimum. My husband did a cost comparison and we started to buy a lot of things instead of making them ourselves from scratch as we used to do. It was the other way around, but not anymore in the past 2 years.
Most store bought pestos use cashews or almonds instead of pine nuts. And you can too. Green leaves, nuts, some hard cheese, olive oil, maybe garlic...get creative.
Load More Replies...There doesn’t have to be nuts. A member of our family is allergic so I leave them out. Pesto doesn’t have to be just basil either- I’ve made it with all sorts of combinations. Try arugula for something a little more spicy.
Stock. The stuff from the store is either crazy expensive or flavored water.
Home made stock certainly is the best, but like so many cookery things shop bought is so much more convenient for people like me who take at least twice as long to do anything in the kitchen than the recipes say. Good quality shop-bought stock where I live isn't expensive or at all bad, and it means I can cook some things that I simply wouldn't attempt otherwise.
Load More Replies...While I understand that I have a lot more free time than most people, I still can't fathom throwing away bones when you could have truly delicious stock for free.
Save those bones in the freezer, then ROAST them first! Search for Bobby Flay's Rich Chicken Stock.
Chicken noodle soup…quick, simple, makes a lot, you can freeze it, so much better than canned soup.
every soup. I like soup. I used to buy soup in cans. Untill i started making soup myself. Never going back. And way cheaper too!
Soup is amazing. I throw a bunch of carrots, onions and potatoes on a sheet pan, roast them, then blend in blender with hot chicken stock and mix with herbs and spices like cayenne and pepper. It makes a thick spicy soup that I eat with “garlic bread” (cheap toast that I put butter and garlic on) and eat with rice and tinned tomatoes and beans for dinner. Sometimes I just use random veggies but onions always have to be there lol 😝
Load More Replies...I could live on soup and I make my own quite often! Home made soups, stews and chili are the best!
Homemade Mayo lasts a couple days. A jar of store Mayo lasts months. No way it’s something I’m going to do unless it’s for something special.
Pasta sauce is something I just make myself. Good canned tomatoes, onion, garlic and some occasional additions beyond that. Freeze in containers.
Mayo is mostly oil and the store bought rarely contains actual eggs so it keeps a long time. Perhaps yours actually has eggs in it.
Load More Replies...home made mayo is amazing, for anyone who hate mayonnaise and thinks it's gross you just have got to try home made.
The secret is that the store one contains a ton of chemicals which are not necessary as nutritional value. If your body can pricess that, then go for it. I feel better with reducing the chemicals to the bare necessity
Chemicals like what? Can you explain what these chemicals are and what they do? ….no?
Load More Replies...Most food processors have a small bowl shaped indent on the top with a small hole in it, that is to pour oil into so it adds it to homemade mayo at the perfect rate. The rest is just tossing in and turning on.
Foolproof homemade mayo in less than a minute: Two room temp egg yolks, one tsp mustard, half tsp vinegar, half tsp lemon juice, one cup of oil, pinch of salt. Place all ingredients in a tall(ish) cup, set stick blender in, power stick blender on, pull slowly upwards. Boom! Done.
Store bought mayo is much easier than making your own. Making your own mayo is an art form and a PITA. To do it properly, you have to let it sit for 24 hours before eating it to make sure it doesn't separate. I went to chef school and one of our big tests was making mayo that didn't separate after 24 hours.
Homemade Mayo lasts about a fortnight in the fridge and takes 2 minutes to make from start to finish.
Making mayonnaise takes me more like an hour. I can't even separate an egg yolk in under two minutes. And where I come from, shop bought mayonnaise lasts indefinitely in the fridge. Home made is better, but isn't worth my bother making it. If you want to, this is good: https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/french/homemade-mayonnaise
Load More Replies...Learned how to make ghee the other day. Way easier than I thought and about 25% of the price of the pre made stuff
My mom used to put mild additives to clarify like a teaspoon of plain yogurt or curry leaf stalk. Makes the ghee very fragrant!!
Pizza, there is no good pizza place near me, and making a decent pie at home is cheap and easy once you know how. I can make a good pie for like $3 and it's a great way to use leftover anything.
I think a decent pizza base is difficult to get right in a domestic oven - just not hot enough.
We have a very thick stone, it works great, but it takes an hour to preheat
Load More Replies...I love making them, if you use a focaccia dough too, you can split and make some pizzas and let some rise a second time on the side, and make a nice focaccia loaf
If broke - loaf of bread, can of tomato sauce, plus your choice of an onion/can of muchrooms/can pineapple/tomato/bit of cheese from deli. Toast it (425 for 5-10 mins in oven, 30 sec intervals in microwave) and always add hot sauce
I use a perforated pizza pan which makes a good crust; dusting it with a little cornmeal is a nice touch too.
I have a bread maker that I use for the dough. I've been making my own pizza every Friday night for decades, mostly to cut back on salt (HBP). Strangely enough, my kids' friends were nuts about it! Every Friday night, they'd wander by the house, wondering if I was pretty please going to make pizza. I was really surprised they liked it so much.
I never figured out a good enough dough. Neither for pizza nor for pie. Still searching
3 cups bread flour ( it's high gluten) 1 tsp yeast 3/4 cup luke warm water a pinch of sugar pinch of salt olive oil sprinkle the sugar & yeast into the water & let sit until the yeast starts to bubble add to the flour mixture. If you have a stand mixer use it add your pinch of salt & watch the dough as it mixes it should come together but not be sticky if it's sticky add more flour in TBS incruments it is too dry add a little olive oil or extra water again only small amounts. Once it forms a ball let it mix for a few more minutes. Transfer to a bowl & cover to rise. OR you can put it in the fridge covered overnight Good Luck :)
Load More Replies...Baby food, it’s so easy to roast a potato or steam peas.
Sure. Have its nanny take care of the baby while you're doing that.
Fruit trays. They're SO expensive and you could just cut it up yourself and have so much more fruit 😭
I do buy them though on road trips with peep if I see a really nice one 😂 (I make her daily fruit salads usually).
Can people just stop using that fricking crying emoji for every little inconvenience? It's like watching a toddler bawl.
one thing i really hate is pre packed fruit from the supermarket. It never lasts, its not fresh and it doesnt taste well. Every now and then i splurge and get some fruit salade from our local greengrocer. Its not even a lot more expensive but its freshly made and tastes way better!
Yes , two triangles of watermelon the size of your hand, for the same price as a whole watermelon, I think not
I pretty much only eat beans from dry. On occasion I’ll do canned but they’re just so much better when cooked on my own. I even do stovetop and not the instant pot because I like to add things over the course of several hours. But I totally understand people just sticking with canned. Beans take forever on the stovetop. Hummus is very easy to make at home, but I always buy the stuff already made mostly because I can’t be bothered to clean out my food processor.
Perhaps you already know, but... if you put half a cup of warm water in the empty food processor, with a drop of washing up liquid, and you turn it on for thirty seconds as if you were whipping the water, that's it. Then you rinse it and it's clean.
I didn't already know, but I do now, brillliant thanks, genius
Load More Replies...I plan weekly menus and stick it on my fridge door. This way I remember that I need to soak the dry beans overnight. Once that is out of way, the next day it does not take much time to cook.
We just moved from one of the larger food processors to one of the smaller Ninja units. Our cleanup from hummus is much better!
Instant Pot for the win with the beans. Like, honestly I won't cook them any other way.
Already roasted beets... beets themselves are relatively cheap and it is easy to roast them. The packaged roasted ones are always way more expensive.
I can only eat tinned ones because of my IBS, which is really annoying!
i never have them roasted, i usually just cook them. (as its the way its eaten over here) Since i had freshly cooked beets, i NEVER ever again bought the plackaged ones.
Frosting for cake, that stuff in a can is so subpar. Also, stir fry sauces. The ones at the store are generally loaded with sugar and not as tasty.
I feel like homemade frosting tastes even sweeter than store bought, its so sweet it makes me gag, though I guess it depends on what type of frosting it is
Look for a low sugar frosting recipe or one that is made with honey (yum, the best). You can also somewhat control the sugar, dont add all at once and stop adding when its sweet enough, or add more butter to take away some of the sweetness
Load More Replies...A "cake" that is covered in that stuff is immediatedly disqualified in my book.
Gravy
Taco seasoning. We make our own in a huge batch.
Every few years, I make up huge batches of taco seasoning, Cajun seasoning, pork, chicken and beef dry rubs, BBQ sauce and several no salt seasoning blends. I package them & give them to family and friends as gifts. Easy to make, I can customize for each and (including the packaging), I generally spend less than $20 per person (usually about $13-$14). Super easy to make and they really like it 😊
I made chili seasoning last week because I forgot the seasoning package. Just googled it and used the seasoning mix I liked best.
Tomato sauce. Much cheaper to buy better quality canned tomatoes and stew for a few hrs
Coleslaw. Just cut up cabbage and add dressing- why buy it already covered in dressing? Cabbage keeps better without dressing on it.
Those frozen packs of pulled pork. Sure, smoking it takes a lot of time and technique. But you can make some damn good pulled pork in your crockpot or countertop roasting pan for about the same price and have enough to fill like five of those store bought packs.
I cannot understand the appeal of pulled pork. Even the name gives me the ick
I like the name, but 'pulled pork' sounds so much better than 'shredded pork steeped in hugely sweet bbq sauce'.
Load More Replies...A while ago, a local grocer sold pork butt (which is basically pork shoulder) for $1/LB, but you had to buy 2. 20LB of meat for $20. Ate me some pulled pork and thought I was in heaven. It was bone in, but I just chunked it up, threw it in the crockpot, and let 'er rip. So good~
Potato salad, store bought is so sickly sweet, I like how much vinegar I can adjust etc. I can do it with or without homemade pickle/relish. I can make my own mayo for it. I can really get the right texture on the potato.
In Germany it's not that sweet I think. But to sour for my partner (I like it sour).
Potato salad in our stores is just blah...hardly no taste.
Load More Replies...Apple sauce, apple sauce, apple sauce!!!!!!!
There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t even know about until I saw it in a store, like crunchy chili sauce. Now I can make it at home, but I love trying new things I see in stores. A couple of things I think are awful in stores and fabulous made at home are antipasto in a jar and potato salad from grocery store delis. Those two things made at home are a couple of my favorites, but the grocery store version (that I’ve tried) are awful
One thing I recommend from the South African isle in Woolies - the f*****g peach chutney is so good, it complements the hell out of Filipino spring rolls too (which arnt anything like frozen or home made Chinese ones etc).
I don't know what this is, but I'm going to find a recipe. It sounds delicious!!
Kind of an obscure one but premixed hot mustard/wasabi. Throw a bag of wasabi powder in the freezer and it’ll last you pretty much your whole life, all you need to do to is mix it with a little water and it’ll be far more potent than anything you’ll find in a tube.
Bearnaise sauce. It is so much better from scratch than the grocery store bagged/powdered sauce. And Anthony Bourdain warned people about ordering Bearnaise sauce on eggs Benedict in restaurants once, I think it was something like "only order Bearnaise sauce/eggs Benedict on Sunday, because that's the only day you get it fresh" or something like that.
As far as coleslaw, there never really is much variety at the grocery stores. If you start making it yourself, and you get into it, the different ingredients you can put into a slaw, and the different flavors you can get out of it is mind blowing (truth in advertising: I'm in that stage now, been making 1 coleslaw a week for about 3 months, starting to get adventurous).
Never heard of bearnaise sauce on eggs Benedict. Assuming you mean hollandaise, I've always found it a b***h to make, and I'm an "everything from scratch" type of person. It's been awhile since I even tried, but I remember it being extremely time sensitive, like "blink at the wrong moment and it curdles" sensitive.
I learned a trick: Egg yolks in a blender, add warm melted butter (infused with whatever spices you use), and blitz. Takes only two or three minutes. Never curdled, and more airy than ever.
Load More Replies...Also never heard of bearnaise on eggs 😆 typically it’s an old school steak topping or surf and turf sauce. I love it with hot chips, hated when capers were a trend and they added them to that 😝
Maybe not stores, but I never buy steaks from restaurants anymore. Ever since I learned the reverse sear and sous vide techniques and got a good thermometer, it has ruined steakhouses for me. It just feels like a gamble whether that day the chef knows how to cook a steak correctly. I’d rather spend the restaurant markup money on a nicer cut and do it at home, and I can eat it in my PJs and watch whatever trashy TV show I want. Edited a word spelling is hard.
Same, very much the same. I don't do the reverse sear, I like mine almost blue, so I turn it very regularly and get it just the way i like it. Deglazing the pan with red wine and mushrooms onions while resting, no restaurant can make an expensive steak taste nearly as good as I can make an average steak. I get the rest of the red wine too,
Minced or pureed garlic. I can whip it on ya faster than you can spoon it from a jar.
I'm guilty of this but I do mostly use fresh. I keep a jar in the fridge though for when I'm in a hurry.
Pico de gallo. Tomatoes, I fire roast mine. Jalapeños Onions Cilantro Fresh squeezed lime juice A little Sicilian sea salt It beats the hell out store bought and is better than most Mexican food restaurants. I can’t make any Mexican dishes without making homemade Pico as well.
I have to make my own bread, because the race to the bottom in the bakery industry has produced nothing but overpriced c**p, and independent bakeries are a distant memory. Another thing is learning to make pro-quality pizza. In the restaurant industry, the food cost in a typical pizza is vanishingly small.
I can't think of a single item that can't be explained through lack of knowledge, time, physical ability, or availability of raw materials.
If I had to pick something, it would be fresh pasta out of the refrigerated section, though. (Says the person whose never made her own pasta, so I guess I better get on that so I can back up my own claims)
Pickles. Pickle prices can be crazy! If it’s something like dill that has a blend of herbs I don’t really want to make, sure. But I pretty much always keep onions, cucumbers, couple other things pickled and ready to go.
Pickling is so easy once I tried it - my first try was a ginger and carrot relish, so good!!
Do you do it in the microwave? I never would have thought of trying until I found out I could do it in the microwave, because the sterilising and bottling process seemed daunting.
Load More Replies...Pasta! Ok so maybe not cheeper but so worth it. I’m still hit or miss on getting the dough just right and getting it to dry right for storing, but when I nail it there’s nothing better. Bread is the same. I’ve got pretzels mastered, working on my bagels. Homemade gravy!!! So easy, sooo good! I’ve already roasted a chicken, why dump all the pan juices out when I can make a big pot of gravy and freeze some for another day?? Also anyone here have canning advice? Asking for a friend lol.
Now that I have an electric pasta maker (mixes the dough, then sends it through the press) it is even easier!
Mustard: I learned how and will never buy it again. Plus, you can customize a recipe to your exact preferences. Mine is a Dijon style, with white wine, fresh local horseradish and a touch of local maple syrup.
If you want fancy home made mustard, this recipe looks good and simple: https://www.thespruceeats.com/simple-mustard-recipe-1327475. I say "fancy" because I stick with plain English mustard: mix mustard flour with water and wait ten minutes.
Load More Replies...Breakfast foods
yeah. Bought ready made oatmeal from the supermarket once. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Pre-cut veggies in a package.
They are so convenient when frozen. Vitamins are preserved and you can use just a little bit and put the bag back in the freezer for next week or newt month. It cut my food waste by a third
These are helpful when you don't have the luxury of time. I remember the times when I was studying and working and struggling with my physical health. Outside food was strictly no no so I had to cook three meals a day for more than a year. Sometimes these pre cut veggies were great help.
If you have any sort of hand pain these are brilliant. I will never cut onions again. Also they last longer, and yes, they cost more, but look at it in terms of time saved. If you are paying £1.50 for 500g chopped onion, or £1 per kg for whole onion, that's £2 more per kg. Minimum wage is around £10, so £2 is approximately 1/5 of an hour or 12 minutes. If it would take you to more than 12 minutes to peel and chop 1kg of onions, and clean up after (or less time as your wage/salary is higher), then the time saving is worth more than the incremental cost. And you don't get onion fumes in your eyes.
nope!! the frozen ones are sometimes even better that fresh. And super convenient.
I make 99% of this list at home from scratch and often many times quicker than it would take me to go to the shops. Shop bought stuff has way too much salt, sugar and preservatives.
A lot of it does, but where I come from most frozen veg is just frozen veg without any additives at all (except for the chips/fries).The whole point about frozen food is that freezing does the preserving, so preservative chemicals are never added. I always admire people who can quickly prepare things like pasta from scratch, but I'm not one of them: it takes me ages. I mention pasta in particular because where I live, I can just grab a packet of Italian made 100% wholemeal durum wheat pasta next time I go shopping (no salt, sugar, preservatives: just wheat flour).
Load More Replies...There's a fair bit of snobbery in many of these responses. All the "I don't know why anyone would buy ready-made (whatever) - when it generally comes down to convenience, lack of experience/knowledge, and often lack of space (for a pasta machine, as an example).
Lack of time also. Five minutes for this, ten minutes for that. Spend an hour just making the ingredients before you start cooking.
Load More Replies...Depending on where you live I agree or disagree with these. Some things are super easy to make, but cost much more than ready bought. We used to be make from scratch, not so much at the moment. For example pesto. We can buy a proper good pesto for 2,99€ or we can make one for almost 10€ same quantity. Why? Pine nuts quadrupled in price, basil doubled in price (our neighbourhood cats killed everything in our garden), oil tripled in price. Guacamole the same. Two small avocados used to be around 1€, now 3€ minimum. A jar of guacamole is 3,95€.
I agree. I tried making pizza as a cost-saving measure. It was the last time I made pizza. As an interesting exercise, cost out what it takes.
Load More Replies...I'm a pastry chef and spend 60+ hours in a kitchen as it is, if I want / need something premade I'm going for it. The last thing I need is more time spent in a kitchen.
I read an article one time (maybe buzzfeed) that was essentially about chefs using convenience foods when they weren't at work. So this is real.
Load More Replies...Yikes, this felt pretty darn snobby. I adore cooking and baking, however, I don't always have the time to make my own pasta sauce, dressing, bread, or pasta from scratch. People can lead incredibly busy life and unfortunately don't always have the time in their schedules to cook or bake. Sometimes, I have to pay a bit more and spring for that convenience.
yeah please just let me buy nice cookies when i feel like it. If im going to make my own cookies, i'll end up eating all the ingredients before they're in the oven, even then I'll have such a big batch of cookies that is way to much for me but I'll eat them anyway before the week is done. So nope.
I do a fair amount of baking, but I'm not above occasionally purchasing a boxed mix. In fact, I used cake boxed mixes in order to get back into baking after recovering from cancer treatment. Up to that point, I always had store-bought German's chocolate cake. But when I made my first one (by the way: easy peasy) and tasted the homemade coconut-pecan frosting, I was hooked. No more store-bought for me!
Instant food was a game changer. It allowed families (Mom's with their kids because Dads are useless) to spend more time with each other. Homemade is overrated.
Yep. It allows kids to help make stuff before parents get home, teen babysitters to feed the kids,etc. Even families without kids, I work 40+ hours and if a bag of pre cooked chicken , frozen peas, and instant mashed potatoes is dinner then so be it. I'm tired! Also adults get sick and need to ear when they're sick. If they have kids then the kids need to eat. My mom&dad would make box scalloped potatoes or frozen stir fry (or whatever) & then we'd do puzzles or watch wheel of fortune & jeopardy. Sometimes they'd cook from scratch, but honestly I remember the stuff we did and time we spent together more than if my scalloped potatoes came from a box.
Load More Replies...There's a fair bit of snobbery in many of these responses. All the "I don't know why anyone would buy ready-made (whatever) - when it generally comes down to convenience, lack of experience/knowledge, and often lack of space (for a pasta machine, as an example).
Lack of time also. Five minutes for this, ten minutes for that. Spend an hour just making the ingredients before you start cooking.
Load More Replies...Depending on where you live I agree or disagree with these. Some things are super easy to make, but cost much more than ready bought. We used to be make from scratch, not so much at the moment. For example pesto. We can buy a proper good pesto for 2,99€ or we can make one for almost 10€ same quantity. Why? Pine nuts quadrupled in price, basil doubled in price (our neighbourhood cats killed everything in our garden), oil tripled in price. Guacamole the same. Two small avocados used to be around 1€, now 3€ minimum. A jar of guacamole is 3,95€.
I agree. I tried making pizza as a cost-saving measure. It was the last time I made pizza. As an interesting exercise, cost out what it takes.
Load More Replies...I'm a pastry chef and spend 60+ hours in a kitchen as it is, if I want / need something premade I'm going for it. The last thing I need is more time spent in a kitchen.
I read an article one time (maybe buzzfeed) that was essentially about chefs using convenience foods when they weren't at work. So this is real.
Load More Replies...Yikes, this felt pretty darn snobby. I adore cooking and baking, however, I don't always have the time to make my own pasta sauce, dressing, bread, or pasta from scratch. People can lead incredibly busy life and unfortunately don't always have the time in their schedules to cook or bake. Sometimes, I have to pay a bit more and spring for that convenience.
yeah please just let me buy nice cookies when i feel like it. If im going to make my own cookies, i'll end up eating all the ingredients before they're in the oven, even then I'll have such a big batch of cookies that is way to much for me but I'll eat them anyway before the week is done. So nope.
I do a fair amount of baking, but I'm not above occasionally purchasing a boxed mix. In fact, I used cake boxed mixes in order to get back into baking after recovering from cancer treatment. Up to that point, I always had store-bought German's chocolate cake. But when I made my first one (by the way: easy peasy) and tasted the homemade coconut-pecan frosting, I was hooked. No more store-bought for me!
Instant food was a game changer. It allowed families (Mom's with their kids because Dads are useless) to spend more time with each other. Homemade is overrated.
Yep. It allows kids to help make stuff before parents get home, teen babysitters to feed the kids,etc. Even families without kids, I work 40+ hours and if a bag of pre cooked chicken , frozen peas, and instant mashed potatoes is dinner then so be it. I'm tired! Also adults get sick and need to ear when they're sick. If they have kids then the kids need to eat. My mom&dad would make box scalloped potatoes or frozen stir fry (or whatever) & then we'd do puzzles or watch wheel of fortune & jeopardy. Sometimes they'd cook from scratch, but honestly I remember the stuff we did and time we spent together more than if my scalloped potatoes came from a box.
Load More Replies...
