Cooking from scratch??

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mamagooskie
mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was thinking today what does this really mean? What measures need to be taken to truly be made from scratch?

Think about stirfy......did you make the sauce or was it bottled?

How about chili, were the beans from a can?

Home made noodle soup, does it count if you buy premade noodles?



How do YOU PERSONALLY decide if a meal was made from scratch or not??
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  • smiffy645
    smiffy645 Posts: 167 Member
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    For me, I guess the difference is between an ingredient or not. To me a stir fry sauce is not an ingredient, where beans or noodles are.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    lol, i was just having this internal dialogue with myself about chocolate chips cookies. I was all smug about homemade vs boxed, til i realized; flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips were all purchased at a chain food store and were all processed by most likely the same large corporation, General Mills. Smug no longer. However, homemade chocolate chip cookies pwn all others.
  • shirleygirl910
    shirleygirl910 Posts: 503 Member
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    I personally don't like "canned" anything. My husband was raised on "canned, processed, etc" I was raised to grow your own or trade with others. I now feel I was spoiled as a child, but as a child I wanted to eat hot lunch at school and chef boyardee like the other kids.

    I still use premade noodles, but I like my own sauce. I do use frozen veggies, since I'm too lazy to grow my own. So there is give adn take.
  • abdavison1
    abdavison1 Posts: 17
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    We cook a lot from scratch. We make our own bread (not from a mix), I make my own pasta sauces. I make my own salsa with fresh veggies. We do make our own pasta from time to time. I hate the way a cake mix tastes, which I hardly bake anymore since I switched to a low carb diet. When making beans, I do prefer to soak them and cook themmyself instead of the canned beans. It takes a little longer but tastes so much better. I think if you made stir fry and the sauce was the only thing you didn't make, it would still count as homemade or from scratch.
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I consider it made from scratch if you make the components yourself. So if it is pasta, you make the noodles and use fresh tomatoes for the sauce etc. Most people consider it made from scratch if you don't dump it out of a box and add water. I use canned beans and premade pasta for convenience otherwise I mostly cook from scratch.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
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    lol, i was just having this internal dialogue with myself about chocolate chips cookies. I was all smug about homemade vs boxed, til i realized; flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips were all purchased at a chain food store and were all processed by most likely the same large corporation, General Mills. Smug no longer. However, homemade chocolate chip cookies pwn all others.

    This was exactly what I was thinking...............how far back does a person need to go? grow the wheat and make your own flour? milk the cow and churn the butter?

    Wow.....I don't think almost anything can be truly "FROM SCRATCH"
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I guess the question is, why do we care if something is made from scratch or not? Is it better somehow? I am asking in reference to the milling your own flour scenario. That is a ton of work for not much benefit.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Making something absolutely completely from scratch is very hard! As you say - pasta? Rice?> Canned tomatoes?

    It's a spectrum.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I was thinking today what does this really mean? What measures need to be taken to truly be made from scratch?

    Think about stirfy......did you make the sauce or was it bottled?

    How about chili, were the beans from a can?

    Home made noodle soup, does it count if you buy premade noodles?



    How do YOU PERSONALLY decide if a meal was made from scratch or not??

    If I didn't get it from a box with directions and a sample recipe, then it's from scratch. :smokin:
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    I don't consider it cooking from scratch to use any pre-made seasonings (chili, taco, etc.), no canned products, etc. All fresh ingredients chopped, ground, zested, and cooked by me.
  • samfday
    samfday Posts: 8 Member
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    For me it's made from scratch if it took effort to produce it! I usually spend between 30 mins and an hour cooking each evening and as long as I "made" the majority of the meal I count it as proper food so if I'm making lasagne I'm happy to use those pre-rolled sheets of pasta but I'd make my own white sauce & tomato sauce (although I'd use tinned tomatoes).

    My basic rule is if I'm starting from the simplest components possible then it's made from scratch and I'm just saving myself some time (hence tinned tomatoes being okay 'cos at the end of the day nothing's been added to them). Same would hold for pre-soaked beans, I always keep some cans in the cupboard because whilst I try to pre-plan and soak in advance sometimes I forget and I still want to be able to cook dinner!

    It may be worth mentioning that when I buy cans / pasta etc I do try to go for organic wherever I can, I know it doesn't make much difference to the nutritional value of my food but the more chemicals/additives I can cut out the better and I feel better about using the "cheats" if I know they're only using stuff I would choose to put in my food.
  • twinketta
    twinketta Posts: 2,130 Member
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    meat or fish with veg this is from scratch? If it is not out of a tin or a packet and you are not adding sauces?

    Omelette? eggs with peppers or other veggies?
  • hellohappylisa
    hellohappylisa Posts: 141 Member
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    For me...I couldn't care less. What matters is if it's healthy or not.
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
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    "From scratch" for me means using mostly fresh (or frozen) vegetables and fresh meat, or for baking using flour/sugar/butter instead of a mix. It means mixing up my own seasonings from the spices instead of buying pre-mixed taco seasoning, for example. I do often use canned beans or canned (no salt added) tomatoes, though, because it is so much cheaper and easier than fresh (at least for those of us without a green thumb!) and because I can't seem to get dried beans to have the same consistency as those from a can for recipes that call for canned beans. I do cook dried beans for soups though. And I have no idea how to make my own pasta.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
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    I guess the question is, why do we care if something is made from scratch or not? Is it better somehow? I am asking in reference to the milling your own flour scenario. That is a ton of work for not much benefit.

    I agree that to truly be from scratch would be way to much work and not much benefit. I was just wondering what other peoples opinions were.

    I try to make as much as I can from scratch just because I am vegan and I like to know every single ingredient in my meals but I use my fair share of canned and boxed things too when I have to or just if it's easier.
  • mem50
    mem50 Posts: 1,384 Member
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    For me it is 50/50. I don't make the pasta but I grew and canned the tomatoes for the sauce. Plus I did not go and catch the shrimp but I did by it fresh and shelled and devained it on my own.

    I have a ton spices that I use but they are all purchased, but I make the sauces with them.

    I just consider it to be cooking healthier rather then from scratch. Some say potado, some say potato. :wink:
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
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    For me it's made from scratch if it took effort to produce it! I usually spend between 30 mins and an hour cooking each evening and as long as I "made" the majority of the meal I count it as proper food so if I'm making lasagne I'm happy to use those pre-rolled sheets of pasta but I'd make my own white sauce & tomato sauce (although I'd use tinned tomatoes).

    My basic rule is if I'm starting from the simplest components possible then it's made from scratch and I'm just saving myself some time (hence tinned tomatoes being okay 'cos at the end of the day nothing's been added to them). Same would hold for pre-soaked beans, I always keep some cans in the cupboard because whilst I try to pre-plan and soak in advance sometimes I forget and I still want to be able to cook dinner!

    It may be worth mentioning that when I buy cans / pasta etc I do try to go for organic wherever I can, I know it doesn't make much difference to the nutritional value of my food but the more chemicals/additives I can cut out the better and I feel better about using the "cheats" if I know they're only using stuff I would choose to put in my food.

    This is basically how I do things as well.
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I guess the question is, why do we care if something is made from scratch or not? Is it better somehow? I am asking in reference to the milling your own flour scenario. That is a ton of work for not much benefit.

    I agree that to truly be from scratch would be way to much work and not much benefit. I was just wondering what other peoples opinions were.

    I try to make as much as I can from scratch just because I am vegan and I like to know every single ingredient in my meals but I use my fair share of canned and boxed things too when I have to or just if it's easier.

    Yes this is an excellent reason. I like to make things from scratch to control the components as well. Plus most things just taste better. I am baking my own pumpkin today to put in pumpkin soup and my house smells like heaven. You don't get that by plopping some out of a can.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
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    "From scratch" for me means using mostly fresh (or frozen) vegetables and fresh meat, or for baking using flour/sugar/butter instead of a mix. It means mixing up my own seasonings from the spices instead of buying pre-mixed taco seasoning, for example. I do often use canned beans or canned (no salt added) tomatoes, though, because it is so much cheaper and easier than fresh (at least for those of us without a green thumb!) and because I can't seem to get dried beans to have the same consistency as those from a can for recipes that call for canned beans. I do cook dried beans for soups though. And I have no idea how to make my own pasta.

    I agree with this!!
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
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    I was thinking today what does this really mean? What measures need to be taken to truly be made from scratch?

    Think about stirfy......did you make the sauce or was it bottled?

    How about chili, were the beans from a can?

    Home made noodle soup, does it count if you buy premade noodles?



    How do YOU PERSONALLY decide if a meal was made from scratch or not??

    I would say, if you buy the pasta, make your own sauce and season it on your own, dice and saute fresh vegetables (except olives) It's home made lasagna, it's not like you can go out and make your own cheese on a regular basis.

    Canned beans, your own seasoning and chopped tomatoes is home made chili.

    There is a difference between a boxed bread mix and mixing the individual ingredients on your own.

    Milling your own flour is a bit much, IMO.

    **Also, if you make your own marinara sauce, it's great to make it in batches as it always tastes better on day 2+

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