I have this argument with my wife often. I like to cook, and for me cooking is more than taking frozen meatballs and dumping them into a pan full of jar pasta sauce. I would rather make the sauce, maybe have some meatballs made in advance. My wife seems to think that pre-made stuff or mixes are the way to go. I would rather just make pancakes scratch, which isn’t hard, where she would rather I just open the mix, add water, and make the food. But I do agree that having a frozen lasagna is better than taking the full effort when I just want to get dinner going. So where are your eat the pre-made vs make it from scratch?
Whenever we order out, when I don’t have the energy to cook my son orders the gross pasta that cost 15€ and complain afterwards I do it better.
Today I did not want to cook, so he wanted to order the carbonara… if you would serve that to an Italian they would rather jump into the Vesuvius than eat it. I just skip the meal anyway because ordering out is not satisfying to me.
So damn it, made him a take away style tortellini with spinache and ricotta, shrimp (out of the freezer) and cream with fresh herbs, and on top mozzarella out of the oven, then salmon filet on skin out of a skillet, in compound butter on young salad leaves with a mildly sweet and sour garlic vinaigrette. This is cheaper than the 15€ take away. Took me half an hour, but I am a trained chef.
I do freeze prepared meals though, but I say fresh food over anything else. I certainly don’t buy any prefab from the supermarket, mostly. I did cheat on the tortelinni.
My stance is that if you make it from scratch then you know exactly what is in it. If you buy premixed then you don’t. Even worse if you buy pre cooked or even frozen after cooking then you’re basically eating like if you’d eat reheated leftovers, half of the flavour which makes it taste good is gone.
If time is a problem I can live with not having the most of the flavour, but otherwise I totally enjoy the fresh made.
There is a big price for eating shite out of the box… if you don’t accept it, just do what you do. but you can’ expect others to “see it” that way.
My wife is definitely team ‘make it from scratch’.
She is also a very slow cook. We also have an infant that is currently taking up 110% of our time.
It’s hard for me to justify spending two hours a night preparing a lunch for the next day. She likes to sleep in, so I never get to eat it fresh… it’s always leftovers.
I don’t mind cooking something fresh for lunch or dinner, but I’ll do something that takes 20 minutes of prep and then take care of itself on the stove or in the oven. Chilli, pot roast, or a casserole.
I think frozen dinners probably have a better balance of protein/carbs/veg than either of us makes, and at half the price.
Cooking from scratch is excellent… But there’s also an extreme for how far you consider “cooking from scratch” to actually be “from scratch”… For Example: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C76cACZB0oq/
Do you milk the cows yourself? Churn the butter? Etc.
Its all a very complex equation of quality vs additives vs effort vs cost vs time vs storability vs fridge life vs convenience.
Some stuff is just too much or too little of some of them.
This is easy. Whoever’s doing the cooking does it their own way. If you don’t like it, then you do the cooking so it can be done your way.
Personally, as with a lot of the comments, I’m in the food-prep and make it yourself crowd.
I found a book that dives into the details of when it is and isn’t worth making things from scratch.
It’s called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.
Honestly, I haven’t read it yet. I bought it and let my mom borrow it immediately, but when I get it back I think it will an interesting read.
As someone who’s only read the title, I don’t think I’d like this book.
I’ve made bread before, a lot actually. Many kinds with different flours.
But I’ve used yeast for years because I couldn’t have added phosphorus due to kidney failure (which baking powder has in it). I’ve also had other less commonly used raising agents like cream of tartar and yogurt. I also made it by hand because could not afford a bread machine or had the space for it. It’s extremely messy.
That said, if you’re using baking powder and a bread machine, you might as well just get bread from the store. You’re just doing the same as a factory does really. And I’m some cases maybe worse since some factory bread is made with yeast instead anyway.
If you want fresh bread, you can in most cases just go to a bakery section too these days, from what I remember when I lived in the USA. In EU basically every store has a bakery section with bread made daily tho.
I have two suggestions: homemade pre-made, and why not both.
You can pre-make things like pancake mix, taco seasoning, pasta sauce seasoning, etc. write any instructions on the ziplock bag or container.
Instant items from a box or bag can usually be dressed up with fresh foods. If she’s cooking then offer to prep fresh items.
Also, respect that some people simple have no patience for cooking and don’t want to learn any. Communicate with each other to understand how to make it work.
If the ingredients on the package are unreadable than I make it myself, but if its got like 2 preservatives but the rest is golden buy the premade
anyone who seriously cooks will pick their battles. why make a cake from scratch when boxed mix is just as good. seriously, ask any pro baker.
premix or premade doesn’t matter, as long as the end results are the same, good food that can be enjoyed.
if you like cooking because you make everything by scratch, go for it. just know the only reason why it tastes better is because you think it tastes better. when you get down to it, chemicals are chemicals, and cooking is a branch of chemistry.
Quite frequently I have no energy. But me and my husband need to eat. So premade it is. When I do have energy? I’ll cook, bake, from scratch! And if I have a lot off energy, maybe I’ll premake something and freeze it, like ravioli or a lasagna.
As others say, premades are generally less healthy and carry more preservatives like sodium. I personally keep them on hand anyway in case I need something in a pinch, but even then I have a few easy meals if foods are stocked (like carbonara, which i make tonight!)
If you do go frozen for the wife, be sure to check what you’re getting. My step father has been having heart issues lately and I don’t think he realized his diet of mostly frozen dishes were putting him at like 300%+ daily intake of salt.
If a lasagna is more effort than you want to put in, there are lots of recipes for “deconstructed” lasagna, so you can make it yourself much easier!
My partner hates cooking, and I love it, so the deal in our house is I cook and they do all the cleaning in the kitchen, unless I made something specifically for me, since they have some medical issues that prevents them from eating certain things, then I will do the cleaning of the mess made during the preparation of cooking that specific meal.
As far as cooking from scratch or pre-made, I’m about half and half. I rarely make my own red sauce or pasta, but all baking is from scratch, breakfast foods like pancakes, yes I would make those from scratch as well. Soups, stews, chili, Asian, Mexican, Indian recipes, mostly from scratch, but many sauce elements I would buy.
