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Is cooking from scratch cost efficient?


Kimmy619

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I am not much of a chef, however I have never gone hungry as I can usually make something from things in the cupboard. Yesterday, we decided that we wanted pizza so I decided to make my own base which got me to thinking - is making food from scratch actually cheaper? By the time you buy all of the ingredients (which you don't usually stock), how much use will you actually get from them before they go out of date? I often buy things that I use once and then leave in my kitchen cupboards to fester.... I would like to bake my own bread, but would it actually be cheaper that the 80p I currently pay for a loaf? I have always made my own pasta sauces and soups etc as I usually buy the fresh ingredients during my weekly shop anyway, but most other things I would buy already made. Do you cook from scratch? If so, do you find it cheaper?

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Most of my cooking is from scratch, and I think that after a while it does work out to be cheaper. I freeze a lot of stuff as well, so there's always that aspect to it too.

 

If I am to use a 'new' ingredient I will ask friends and family first to see if I can try and get hold of it that way, or I will buy a small amount of it, even if it is pricier at the time, because unless it's often used my cupboards will also suffer from the fester factor.

 

For me the pay off is knowing exactly what is in a dish I'm eating.

 

I will also have a fairly regular sort out of cupboard held ingredients, and pass things on to F & F. Usually I will know if I'm likely to use something again.

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I am not much of a chef, however I have never gone hungry as I can usually make something from things in the cupboard. Yesterday, we decided that we wanted pizza so I decided to make my own base which got me to thinking - is making food from scratch actually cheaper? By the time you buy all of the ingredients (which you don't usually stock), how much use will you actually get from them before they go out of date? I often buy things that I use once and then leave in my kitchen cupboards to fester.... I would like to bake my own bread, but would it actually be cheaper that the 80p I currently pay for a loaf? I have always made my own pasta sauces and soups etc as I usually buy the fresh ingredients during my weekly shop anyway, but most other things I would buy already made. Do you cook from scratch? If so, do you find it cheaper?

 

Hi Kimmy, I like to cook proper meals from scratch but not things like bread and pizza. I don't think that would be any cheaper really because they produce in bulk.

I bet if you got the hang of it though there is no doubt home cooked would be better.

I hate processed food. Depending who is off work on a given day Laundry Fairy or I will cook a proper meal with vegetables for the kids.

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I nearly always find it cheaper to cook from scratch. Especially mead based dishes, I generally cook maybe three helpings worth, one goes in the freezer, one in the fridge for a couple of days time and one goes on the dinner table straight away.

 

I used to make my own bread too, buying good quality flour (which, much to my surprise did taste better than the cheap stuff) meant I didn't save a vast amount of money per loaf, last time I worked it out it would have been less than 70p, but all prices have risen since then.

 

As for pizza's - I gave up on them, not for the cost but for the time they take, if I want to spend that long cooking (and often I do) then there are many other things I would prefer, but that is just because I am not particularly keen on pizza.

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Totally cook from scratch. Firstly I know whats going into the food. I have a well stocked and well used larder. I make my own bread, as I can't stand the majority of bulk baked bread.

 

The cost factor is a personal decision. I would rather spend cash on ingredients, than say buy Lotto tickets. Then there is the enjoyment of making my own food, adding personal choices is part of the fun. I make time each day to cook, it is relaxing and creative.

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I'll make lots of things, from quick dishes such as lasagne, chilli or spaghetti bolognese, fish dishes, curries and soups through to slow cooking Flemish stew. I rarely make bread as I work in a bakery so I know how good the bread is that my boss makes! :friends0:

 

I just look at prepared stuff at the supermarket and think that I would make it with less cr*p than they have. I'll buy the occasional pizza, or (a childhood favourite) fish fingers, and have occasionally bought a freezer-oven-plate ready meal, but I have found that time wise there's little in it between preparing things myself and sorting a ready meal.

 

I enjoy cooking most of the time, and the frozen bits cover the times when I just want to throw something in a pot and leave it to sort itself out.

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Does your family like stir fry? There are tons of different styles of stir fry that you can make and freeze, then you just have to cook the rice and unthaw one of the containers of meat/veggies and sauce.

 

I try to do quite a bit of cooking from scratch but instead of making a lot and freezing it I'll buy a bag of say, 8 chicken breasts and then seperate all 8 into individual baggies (uncooked) that way I can just throw one or however many I'll need for dinner in the fridge and cook it up for myself without having a ton of leftovers to deal with.

 

Have you ever tried making your own salad dressings? You would be surprised by how simple they are to make up. Balsamic vinegarette is my favourite and very simple to do.

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Yes, about 90% of my cooking is from scratrch, there will always be an intial layout in cost but go to the market and get veg from their, freeze things, I always make a big batch of stuff and as i live on my own I freeze a lot. I find cooking very relaxing and love pottering.

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Because both of us are wheat free, and also vegetarian, I am forced most of the time to cook from scratch - most pasta sauces are okay so I tend to buy these ready made, although I sometimes make ratatouille, and with soups and other things, I pretty much know what I can and can't eat. I very rarely buy ready meals, as apart from the cost, there are only a handful (mostly Indian) that I can eat anyway, and I don't really do spicy food.

 

As to whether it's cheaper, it depends on what you eat. For vegetarians it is definately cheaper - a Quorn shepherds pie for example costs around

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We also cook mainly from scratch and on the whole it does cost less. I love making my own bread when I have time - but it rarely hangs around in this house!! Or any cakes. I love cooking from scratch and DH and I both find working in the kitchen very therapeutic. In addition my children much prefer "mum's food" so I think that I am teaching them the value of good wholesome food

 

As for adding salt I rarely add any instead relying on herbs and spices for flavouring. I suffer from high blood pressure so I try to keep salt to the rare occassions that I have proper fried chips when we eat out.

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I'm a from-scratch cook and it's definitely cheaper if you kep a well-stocked pantry full of general-use items. For example, I always make sure I have an ample stock of basics like pasta, rice, noodles, tomato passatta, kidney beans, stock cubes, herbs, spices and condiments, etc.

 

I also find that cooking in bulk helps keep the cost down. I can make a massive pot of chilli with a small amount of meat and loads of veg and beans in it and freeze portions to eat at a later date. Same goes with curries, stews and various other dishes.

 

Using veg that is in season cuts costs again and using that to bulk out your meals helps them go even further. Same with frozen veg - you can get the supermarket own brand stuff, especially the saver-price versions, and they're exactly the same as the name brand versions - they're just veg! I always have a stock of frozen broccoli, cauliflower and sweetcorn because I use them a lot.

 

Making sure you use things in an order that makes sense cuts waste. Use up your fresh produce first, cooking in bulk and bulking out with veg, then freeze portions - that way you waste very little as things aren't going out of date before use.

 

Portion things up as soon as you get home from the supermarket! Whenever I buy meat, I take advantage of any multi-buy bargains of whatever I need, or anything that's going cheap because it's coming to the end of its date, then I immediately split everything into portions and freeze all but what I'll be using in the next 2 days.

 

If you do all that, then cooking from scratch is a) a doddle and :lol: very cost effective.

 

When it comes to basic supplies, I always buy the basic own brand stuff - stuff like pasta, rice, flour, canned tomatoes, passatta, kidney beans, dried herbs, frozen veg - they're all the Asda Basics range and it makes no difference at all except to how much money is left in my purse at the end of the shopping trip. Hell, I even like they're basic chocolate and eat it myself as well as using it for baking cookies - LOL!

 

It's a running joke amongst folks who know me that I don't have food in my cupboards - I only have ingredients! :friends0:

 

I also plan to start growing some of my own food.

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I think that part of my issue is that I am a vegetarian, but my b/f is a fussy meat eater. 7 years later and I have only just managed to get him to eat some pasta. This means that I have to make two of everything. For example, this weekend, I had to make two lasagnes which adds to the washing up :friends0:

 

I am not confident in cooking meat either as I have no idea how it tastes.......

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I definitely plan on cooking things from scratch, but due to my financial situation, it will be a gradual thing. In lots of ways i'm grateful for my circumstance as it has meant that I can appreciate the individual costs of things as well as the appreciation of affording nicer and more things over time, a lot of young people don't find these lessons for a long portion of their lives I do feel. I discovered cooking when I started to look after myself more after years of terrible food and poor dieting and I think that is the best way to 'discover' food so to speak. I think it certainly is a lot more expensive to buy so many ingredients, but well worth it and rewarding, I think as you learn more things become cheaper as you can see exactly what you need and what is productive to have stocked up to pick and choose precisely what you can make if that makes any sense.

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I think that part of my issue is that I am a vegetarian, but my b/f is a fussy meat eater. 7 years later and I have only just managed to get him to eat some pasta. This means that I have to make two of everything. For example, this weekend, I had to make two lasagnes which adds to the washing up :irked:

 

I am not confident in cooking meat either as I have no idea how it tastes.......

 

Just give him soya mince - he probably won't know the difference anyway !

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Quorn's not bad with added herbs and seasoning, and I'm a meat eater.

 

I agree. Although I can't touch tofu...the texture is all wrong.

 

I thing certain things can be much cheaper when you make them yourself such as stirfry's and pasta things but somethings I just don't have the patience to make myself.

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Just give him soya mince - he probably won't know the difference anyway !

 

I have tried it.... he starts with over the top coughs etc when I am cooking it as he doesn't like the smell!! :tong:

Try mixing just a bit of it in with his regular mince and then up the ratio bit by bit. I did this with Dale and he didn't even notice. I can now substitute around 35% of a mince meal with soya mince before he notices anything different - it's cheaper than meat so it buls things out and makes the meals go futher. I only really do it in bolognese or lasagne though as the taste of the sauce masks the difference more than gravy would.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Has to be really because you avoid the middleman costs.

Sometimes thins appear to be more expensive to make, like for example fruit cake, but see how much more generous your recipe usually is than the miniscule amount of fruit in cheap bought cakes.

You get what you pay for and if food is cheap there are usually less ingredients or inferior.

 

Just my opinion and I am an avid cook. I do all my own pizza base, biscuits, cakes, though not bread. I have a very cheap supply there (daughter works in a bakery :D)

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