"Cooking from Scratch" - What's it mean to you?

[Kayelle]

All the banter recently about "cooking from scratch" leads me to question just how people define the term.

Some may think it means not using any pre made shortcuts at all.

Some may think it means following a recipe or making up your own.

Others may think it's cooking without anything being prepared by someone else, like cake mixes, canned goods etc.

Still others, may call it turning on the stove.

I was thinking about a response I gave to PPO last year about his wonderful Shortcut Chicken Tortilla soup. I said:
"Nothing at all wrong with shortcuts imo. If I had to cook the chicken, make the tortillas, cook the dried beans, shuck the corn and make the salsa it would loose it's appeal for me."

What say you?

 

[Aunt Bea]

I have always been a big fan of cooking from scratch.

Now that I'm older and live alone I'm finding that scratch cooking is more expensive, in some cases, than using a few prepared items. I enjoy watching Jacques Pepin on PBS because he skillfully combines scratch cooking with prepared foods in an artful and effortless way that appeals to me.

I guess I'm an old dog that is learning a few new tricks!

 

[bakechef]

For me it means not using shortcuts like mixes and such. If I make soup with boxed broth, I'd call it homemade, if I made my own stock and soup, it would be from scratch.

 

[Cheryl J]

bakechef, I was just going to use the same analogy as you did, regarding soup. So I'll use a different one.

To me 'from scratch' means using no prepared ingredients at all. I would say 'homemade', though. If I were to make a lasagna, for example, and made the sauce with fresh tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, added the seasonings, browned the beef, shredded the cheese, layered everything together with store bought lasagna noodles, I would call it homemade.

If I were to call it 'from scratch', to me it would mean making my own fresh lasagna noodles, putting together a sauce from home grown tomatoes, etc....

When I make blueberry muffins or banana bread, I don't use a mix, but I don't mill my own flour or churn my own butter either so I don't feel like I could call them made from scratch.

Good topic, Kay....it's likely to get a good conversation going!

 

[Andy M.]

For me it means not using shortcuts like mixes and such. If I make soup with boxed broth, I'd call it homemade, if I made my own stock and soup, it would be from scratch.

Despite what my signature says, bakechef's statement is a good way to describe my feelings.

 

[Kayelle]

Just sayin' Andy. Your signature is my favorite of all time... That is truly "food for thought".

 

[CWS4322]

Cooking from scratch...means I make the stock, tomato paste, pesto, using the ingredients required but not using any pre-packaged mixes. Because we have a HUGE garden, both work from home, have a full pantry, etc., it is easier to make everything here. And, because I have so many sensitivities to chemicals and other additives, it just makes more sense. It does take more time, but that's the way we rock and roll. And, it lets us use more expensive ingredients than if we bought pre-packaged or prepared foods or if we went out to eat or got take out.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I think its stupid to lump everything into one pot. No pun intended.
I take what help the store provides within reason.
Who in the world (see above) makes their own tomato paste? I would never attempt it as the can tomato's are excellent and very easy to work with.

I use common sense and do what i can with what I have on hand. A well stocked pantry and some ingenuity can turn out some excellent table fare.
I will make what i can from scratch, but when its already prepared for you and its quality, appearance and taste are as good or better than can be achieved in the home kitchen, I can see no logical reason to not use the products.

I just had some chicken tenders for lunch. To me it would be silly to make from scratch chicken tenders, when the ones I just had are as good as the restaurant.
They only took 3 minutes in the deep fryer.

 

[CWS4322]

I think its stupid to lump everything into one pot. No pun intended.
I take what help the store provides within reason.
Who in the world (see above) makes their own tomato paste? I would never attempt it as the can tomato's are excellent and very easy to work with.

I use common sense and do what i can with what I have on hand. A well stocked pantry and some ingenuity can turn out some excellent table fare.
I will make what i can from scratch, but when its already prepared for you and its quality, appearance and taste are as good or better than can be achieved in the home kitchen, I can see no logical reason to not use the products.

I just had some chicken tenders for lunch. To me it would be silly to make from scratch chicken tenders, when the ones I just had are as good as the restaurant.
They only took 3 minutes in the deep fryer.

When you have over 300 tomato plants in the garden, you make tomato paste, and sundried tomatoes, and ... Some people prefer to use what they can grow in a garden and go from there. The logical reason not to use prepared products depends on a person's sensitivities to preservatives and chemicals or a person's financial situation. Not everyone can afford the luxury of buying prepared products. I can't tolerate a lot of prepared products because of the additives. Hence, I find a way to re-create the same at home from ingredients I trust with no additives.

 

[Andy M.]

When you have over 300 tomato plants in the garden, you make tomato paste, and sundried tomatoes, and ... Some people prefer to use what they can grow in a garden and go from there. The logical reason not to use prepared products depends on a person's sensitivities to preservatives and chemicals or a person's financial situation. Not everyone can afford the luxury of buying prepared products. I can't tolerate a lot of prepared products because of the additives. Hence, I find a way to re-create the same at home from ingredients I trust with no additives.

Lucky for you that you can have and tend a garden big enough to cultivate over 300 tomato plants among other things. For the rest of us, that's not a possibility. It's not a luxury to buy prepared products. It's a necessity.

 

[GotGarlic]

Lucky for you that you can have and tend a garden big enough to cultivate over 300 tomato plants among other things. For the rest of us, that's not a possibility. It's not a luxury to buy prepared products. It's a necessity.

+1. Not everyone is as healthy as you are, also, CWS. I am barely able to maintain the small garden we do have and I certainly don't have extra energy for canning a winter's worth of food.

 

[CWS4322]

I don't know that I'm that healthy. My point is that is a lifestyle choice. Caring for the gardens is a LOT of work. I don't see it as a luxury--it is exhausting at times. But, it is a lifestyle choice we have chosen because of my food sensitivities and our desire to be as self-sustaining as possible. We all make choices, and that was our choice. It works for us, but it also means that we don't eat out, we don't buy prepared foods, we plan ahead and figure out what we've got on hand and what we can do with what we have. I did go shopping yesterday to get the ingredients I was missing for the Christmas cookies I am baking. Because I don't eat sweets, I had to pick up ingredients--chocolate, extracts, brown sugar, etc. The only "food" item I had to get were onions--we are already out of onions that we dried from the garden. Note to self: PLANT MORE ONIONS.

 

[CWS4322]

Lucky for you that you can have and tend a garden big enough to cultivate over 300 tomato plants among other things. For the rest of us, that's not a possibility. It's not a luxury to buy prepared products. It's a necessity.

I disagree--it is a luxury to buy prepared products--I can do a rotisserie chicken in my oven for less that it costs to buy one already cooked at Costco.

 

[Addie]

I don't know that I'm that healthy. My point is that is a lifestyle choice. Caring for the gardens is a LOT of work. I don't see it as a luxury--it is exhausting at times. But, it is a lifestyle choice we have chosen because of my food sensitivities and our desire to be as self-sustaining as possible. We all make choices, and that was our choice. It works for us, but it also means that we don't eat out, we don't buy prepared foods, we plan ahead and figure out what we've got on hand and what we can do with what we have. I did go shopping yesterday to get the ingredients I was missing for the Christmas cookies I am baking. Because I don't eat sweets, I had to pick up ingredients--chocolate, extracts, brown sugar, etc. The only "food" item I had to get were onions--we are already out of onions that we dried from the garden. Note to self: PLANT MORE ONIONS.

I understand exactly what you are saying. You have chosen to be self sustaining farmers. It is a life style that is not available to most of the members here. And it is a lot of work! I remember my mother canning just the veggies from the two gardens. The big one and the small one just outside from the summer kitchen. The small one is what we ate from during the growing season. Like CWS, we also had chickens, and unlike CWS, we had pigs also that went to slaughter every fall. Farming is definitely a lifestyle.

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't know that I'm that healthy. My point is that is a lifestyle choice. Caring for the gardens is a LOT of work.

Yes, I know it's a lot of work and I know it's a choice you made. I've pointed out to you before that many lifestyle choices are not possible for people who have serious chronic illnesses. Your choice is also not possible for people who work regular jobs and can't set their own hours, which is most of the population.

 

[GotGarlic]

I disagree--it is a luxury to buy prepared products--I can do a rotisserie chicken in my oven for less that it costs to buy one already cooked at Costco.

Money is not the only cost involved. Time, effort and energy are also required, and not everyone has those in abundance. If you added up the time you spent growing tomatoes and turning them into sauce, paste, etc., plus everything else you preserve, and then multiplied that time by your hourly rate for your work, I bet you would find it costs you more to do it from scratch.

I don't get why you act like everyone could live the way you do if only they wanted to. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your choice and I understand why you made it, but you could try to understand why it won't work for most people.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I like the term handmade or homemade.
Back in the day folks did provide for themselves, there were no grocery stores at hand, unless you lived in the City Centers, but you would still do as much as you could... Rooftop gardens, rooftop coops ...
The term from scratch would have meant from nothing much or what little you had, into something.

 

[Addie]

Do I cook from scratch? I would like to think I do. I don't mill my own flour or lay my eggs. But I do try to cook from scratch as much as I can. Only because I have noticed that I feel much better when I am not ingesting the additives that come with prepared foods. I do use frozen veggies. I shop for the month once a month. So buying fresh veggies would be a waste. A lot of it would rot before the month was over. I do try to use as many fresh products as I possibly can. And I do try to make as many products such as stock as I can.

So yes. I do cook from scratch when I can.

 

[CWS4322]

Money is not the only cost involved. Time, effort and energy are also required, and not everyone has those in abundance. If you added up the time you spent growing tomatoes and turning them into sauce, paste, etc., plus everything else you preserve, and then multiplied that time by your hourly rate for your work, I bet you would find it costs you more to do it from scratch.

I don't get why you act like everyone could live the way you do if only they wanted to. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your choice and I understand why you made it, but you could try to understand why it won't work for most people.

GC--Excuse me? You have no idea the health problems I have overcome or suffered. Don't get me started on my health issues. People do make choices. It is a difference between "want" and "need." What others want, is not what I want.

We don't have a lot of money, but we eat well and the farm and the other two houses are mortgage free and there is money in the bank and invested. The tractors, two trucks, and the car are free and clear and were when we bought them. It is a choice. We made that choice. It wasn't easy. I bet you have a furnace. We don't--we heat with wood. This means that some mornings it is darned cold, but we don't rely on s/one else to bring us fuel and we don't pay ridiculous prices for heat nor do we waste that heat--if we wanted to fill the propane tank at my house, it would be $4k. No thank you. I'll wear long underwear in the house before I'll send that money up the chimney. You have no idea how I live or the choices I've made or the health problems I have. Walk a year in my shoes, and then we'll talk.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Funny, Ya know CWS, today DH and I were driving through some the farms and orchards here in the middle of the desert
(yes we do grow stuff here too the 5 C's, citrus, cattle cotton and the other two are climate and copper)
and I said that I would really like to spend a week or so on a working farm or ranch and WORK!
DH asked me WHY?
My response, without the ranchers and farmers you'd be walking around naked and starving. I support our local farmers and ranchers, for sure!