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Homemade food VS commercial prepared
smythepatricia90
Posts: 40 Member
Which do you prefer?
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Replies
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Both0
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Convenience or preference?
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I like my own cooking most of the time, but I won't pass up a really good restaurant and there are some things (like yogurt or cottage cheese or chocolate) that I don't yet do myself.0
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I go with homemade 95% of the time. I think the food I cook tastes better than a lot of restaurant food (especially chain restaurants).0
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I'm pretty kick *kitten* in the kitchen...I prefer my own, home cooked meals. I like to eat out a few times per month and in that case we generally prefer higher end local establishments that serve up not only interesting fare that I don't necessarily know how to do myself, but actually use fresh, scratch ingredients rather than institutionalized franchise stuff.
I'm pretty much a food snob and always have been.0 -
I prefer both. About 2 of my weekly meals are pre-made. The rest is homemade.
That's not because pre-made is bad, it tastes great to me, but my homemade food is just lower in calories. My homemade hamburger would be about 450 calories, while a pre-made one would be 600-700 example.
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I prefer both. About 2 of my weekly meals are pre-made. The rest is homemade.
That's not because pre-made is bad, it tastes great to me, but my homemade food is just lower in calories. My homemade hamburger would be about 450 calories, while a pre-made one would be 600-700 example.
Amen, sister! I eat at home most of the time nowadays.0 -
The biggest problem I've seen with pre-made food is too much salt.0
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homemade... my own and then my brothers are awesome cooks... and of course Mom's can never be beat.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm pretty kick *kitten* in the kitchen...I prefer my own, home cooked meals. I like to eat out a few times per month and in that case we generally prefer higher end local establishments that serve up not only interesting fare that I don't necessarily know how to do myself, but actually use fresh, scratch ingredients rather than institutionalized franchise stuff.
I'm pretty much a food snob and always have been.
Snap, except we don't eat out that often, but when we do our local Italian is pretty good, and the local Thai has amazing food. If I'm paying to eat out I'd prefer to eat something really good, and something that I probably wouldn't make at home.
I do buy ready meals occasionally, but for those busy days when my husband is on late shift and I'm trying to do everything on my own with 3 young kids to look after. It's very rare though, it's much easier to just put jacket potatoes in the oven and add some tuna.
Even my 10 month old has never had food from a jar...our freezer is full of little pots of homemade puréed chicken stew, spag Bol, lasagne, pasta and broccoli etc.
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YES!!!!!
I haven't figured out how to make Moose Tracks Ice Cream- or double chocolate extreme fudge ice cream- or cake. ... or all you can eat meat for the cost of all you can eat meat.
Which means- yeah. I like both.
And also- reeses. haven't figured that out yet either. I mean- I could- but why when a bag is like 4 bucks.
also oreos?
totally do able.
so BOTH!0 -
90% of my meals are home made...but I get some help from Cambell's slow cooker and skillet marinades.
So I guess both.0 -
I don't buy premade meals typically. Except sushi from Wegmans once in a while, Trader Joe's stuff once in a blue moon, and obviously restaurant food about twice a month.
But I do buy packaged stuff like bread, cookies, ice cream, Greek yogurt, chocolate, cheese, tortillas, deli meat, sausage, frozen veggies, and some frozen grilled fish fillets (because great sales lately). I'd love to make my own baked goods but knowing myself, it wouldn't end well.
My kids totally grew up on baby jars though after I tried making my own food and they would NOT eat it.0 -
I've been a scratch cook my whole life because my mom was a Depression-era farm girl who taught me to cook by the time I was 12. She had such a thing against processed and premade foods, and it bugged me in my youth, but I'm grateful for that now. So I look at premade foods, pick them up, realize the packaging makes them look way bigger than they really are, and walk away. Giving up processed foods for this diet wasn't an issue, because I've never really eaten much of them.
I made my own pita bread a few weeks ago. I make most of my own spice blends and use a fraction of the salt in commercial ones. I make my own sausage, grow tomatoes for sauces, and I have a thing about doing it all economically. It's a bit of an obsession. I don't cook for the dogs anymore, though. Twelve years was enough.0 -
Both.0
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I prefer food. So.. both.0
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Oh we do have a garden in the Summer. I'm thinking I might try and figure out how to make tomato sauce this Summer so I can stock up on some of that (if I figure out how to prevent it from going bad). Otherwise, it's just much cheaper to buy canned tomatoes than make your own frankly, considering the price of tomatoes!0
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Home made. Then well made restaurant food. I like to know what's in my food, or at least trust that I'm eating something that's well made by folks who care about food.
I don't eat a lot of fast food. I don't eat much in the way of frozen meals, or packaged meals. They don't taste good, and usually have too much added sugar, too much salt, and too many preservatives and other mystery ingredients. Frankly, they just aren't worth the calories.0 -
I agree with too salty. Even from brand to brand with butter and cheese it's noticeable, but prepared foods are even worse. A lot of things are noticeably too sweet, too. I'd rather make my own and have flavors like chipotle or thyme or basil stand out instead of things tasting like a salt lick.0
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Both for me. Home made I'd need to know who's cooking and cleaning up.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm pretty kick *kitten* in the kitchen...I prefer my own, home cooked meals. I like to eat out a few times per month and in that case we generally prefer higher end local establishments that serve up not only interesting fare that I don't necessarily know how to do myself, but actually use fresh, scratch ingredients rather than institutionalized franchise stuff.
I'm pretty much a food snob and always have been.
This. I love going out to eat, but I also don't see the point in wasting money on something that doesn't taste as good as what I can make myself. I don't have a lot of disposable income, so I'm pretty picky about the quality of food that it gets spent on.
I also don't have time/energy to cook every single night after work, so I batch cook on weekends and just grab something out of the freezer most nights. Best of both worlds.0 -
I love to cook and can't afford to eat out much but I do buy the stuff I can't make at home to use as ingredients in my cooking.0
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Depends on the food and who is doing the cooking. Like most people have said, I cook at home primarily but enjoy eating out at nice restaurants for meals I can't or don't make myself. Because I have small children we also eat at chain restaurants and fast food places but try to keep that to a minimum.0
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Both, depends.
Like JoRocka and Francl27 are saying, some things should be left to the experts. I don't want or need to make my own cheese or cookie dough ice cream
When I eat out, I want something that I can't or don't bother to prepare myself. My cooking is simple, but nutrition- and taste-wise, it's high end restaurant standard (my opinion lol). I've become a food snob after I joined MFP and learned about the merits of dietary fats
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Home made. Then well made restaurant food. I like to know what's in my food, or at least trust that I'm eating something that's well made by folks who care about food.
I don't eat a lot of fast food. I don't eat much in the way of frozen meals, or packaged meals. They don't taste good, and usually have too much added sugar, too much salt, and too many preservatives and other mystery ingredients. Frankly, they just aren't worth the calories.
I like to know what's in my food too0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »I don't eat a lot of fast food. I don't eat much in the way of frozen meals, or packaged meals. They don't taste good, and usually have too much added sugar, too much salt, and too many preservatives and other mystery ingredients. Frankly, they just aren't worth the calories.
This. I don't know about the sugar, but sodium levels in packaged foods make me feel bloated, laggy and gross. Fast food gives causes me gastrointestinal issues, and I've never enjoyed it, even as a kid. As far as chain restaurants go, we don't really have those here like they do in the States (I see commercials) but when I go out, I prefer local restaurants, with the occasional fine dining establishment, though I suppose those are also local. Sushi is probably the food I really like that I don't prepare myself, specifically sashimi, seaweed salad and miso soup. It's always better from a real sushi chef, but I still go to Chinese-run sushi restaurants most of the time because they're inexpensive. Can't do packaged grocery store sushi though. No es bueno.
I'd like to make my own bread, but for now I don't. I prefer bread directly from the bakery though. I also have a Chef friend who makes a lot of sour dough and sometimes sends some my way. I also don't make or age my own cheeses. I don't make my own non-dairy milks, so I buy those packaged. Same with pasta. There's probably more I can't think of now. Oh and tortillas. I don't have the patience to make tortillas so I buy them from my local Latin grocer, or a tortilleria if I'm near one. The grocery store ones here (Dempster's *shudders*) are either made from wheat and taste like bread, or are made from corn but are alarmingly yellow. Also they're huge and not appropriately sized for tacos. Even the "small ones." As a Mexican, I find them very upsetting and subsequently call them wraps. They're not tortillas, they're wraps. See, I'm already in a tizzy just thinking about it!0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »I don't eat a lot of fast food. I don't eat much in the way of frozen meals, or packaged meals. They don't taste good, and usually have too much added sugar, too much salt, and too many preservatives and other mystery ingredients. Frankly, they just aren't worth the calories.
This. I don't know about the sugar, but sodium levels in packaged foods make me feel bloated, laggy and gross. Fast food gives causes me gastrointestinal issues, and I've never enjoyed it, even as a kid. As far as chain restaurants go, we don't really have those here like they do in the States (I see commercials) but when I go out, I prefer local restaurants, with the occasional fine dining establishment, though I suppose those are also local. Sushi is probably the food I really like that I don't prepare myself, specifically sashimi, seaweed salad and miso soup. It's always better from a real sushi chef, but I still go to Chinese-run sushi restaurants most of the time because they're inexpensive. Can't do packaged grocery store sushi though. No es bueno.
I'd like to make my own bread, but for now I don't. I prefer bread directly from the bakery though. I also have a Chef friend who makes a lot of sour dough and sometimes sends some my way. I also don't make or age my own cheeses. I don't make my own non-dairy milks, so I buy those packaged. Same with pasta. There's probably more I can't think of now. Oh and tortillas. I don't have the patience to make tortillas so I buy them from my local Latin grocer, or a tortilleria if I'm near one. The grocery store ones here (Dempster's *shudders*) are either made from wheat and taste like bread, or are made from corn but are alarmingly yellow. Also they're huge and not appropriately sized for tacos. Even the "small ones." As a Mexican, I find them very upsetting and subsequently call them wraps. They're not tortillas, they're wraps. See, I'm already in a tizzy just thinking about it!
Luckily I don't mind the sodium in them.
In fact I need it. I add much too little to my own food, and as a result I always struggle with low blood pressure. 
Its funny, because salt seems overwhelming in my own food, but with pre-packaged stuff I don't notice it.0 -
I hate cooking but I try to do as much as possible at home (or force my BF to cook). Firstly, it's easier to track what I'm consuming and secondly - it's much gentler on the wallet.0
This discussion has been closed.
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