Is cooking from scratch cost efficient?

[Kreader]

I find cooking from scratch a lot cheaper. I've tried both but as I was brought up on food cooked from scratch and I like cooking its made all the difference.

 

You have to learn how to manage whats in your kitchen cupboards and fridge. Here's an example, you have a chicken roast on sunday, with potatoes, carrots and peas and you're cooking for 2. Monday could see you using some of the rest with vegetables to make a curry. You'll still have carrots left and some peas from the packet of frozen peas. You could add some boiled rice. Some chicken could have been used to make a sandwich with mayo, sliced tomatoes and lettuce. The boned carcass could serve for making a chicken and vegetable soup or a chicken and noodle soup, no need to use any bought stock. That takes care of tuesday. Fancy vegatble stir fry for Wednsday chop up some carrot, cabbage, onion, sweet pepper, mushrooms and greens. Add soy sauce and your done. Thursday could do with a rice dish, rissoto, with rice, herbs, mushrooms, onions and sweetpepper. Served with beef, stewed, fried or roasted and a side salad. Friday, mashed potatoes, left over beef and another side salad.

 

It helps having a good stock of herbs some dried, some fresh or even a growing herb pot on the kitchen window sill within easy reach that you could just take a little of what you need. You can freeze things if you've cooked too much if you don't feel like eating the same meal the next day. You needn't run out and get a huge freezer either just learn to work with the freezer space you already have unless you have a larder fridge which doesn's have any freezer at all.

 

I always keep my herbs stocked up as well as having some salt, oil, rice, pasta, soy sauce, vinegar, flour, baking powder, dried split peas, puy lentils, dried chick peas, polenta/cornmeal, oats, tinned sweetcorn, tinned tuna, tinned sardines, a can of baked beans, tinned pineapple in juice, cartons of passata and sugar. In the fridge I always keep milk, cheddar cheese, eggs, margerine or butter, onions and in the freezer there's frozen garden peas and or string beans along with any meat.

 

The dried and carton stuff gets topped up monthly and fresh stuff weekly or every couple of days. Things like fresh meat (mostly chicken for me), fresh fish, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, any seasonal stuff I fancy, fruit ect. I get freshly baked bread from the bakery where I work but I have made my own bread at times and I do bake all my cakes. All These foods can be used in a multitude of recipes so there's not much waste. I can have a roast, curry, stir fry, steamed salad, green salad, beans casserole, soup, rice dish like Jamaican rice and peas/paella, pilau, pelau, rissoto all in one week. Thats without counting breakfasts like porridge, muesli, fruit salad, scrambled eggs, toast or even left overs if I have the urge. Of course things can be packaged for lunch on the go too. It is very rare that I have to go out separately to search for a particular ingredient to make a dish even so If there's some left over I will find a way to utilise it in another recipe.

[Vladd]

One of the best gadgets I have is a bread maker, not only can I make bread from scratch but also dough for pizza bases, buns, flat breads etc. I also use it to make cakes in and it is so easy to make jam with it too. Best present I ever had for the kitchen.

[CornflowerBlue]

I think everyone's said what I originally thought, that it's cheaper if you're careful.

 

Once you've become a confident cook, it's easy to start adding in things that can make it expensive, but careful use of ingredients and some forward planning are really helpful. I was raised cooking at home and am always a bit horrified by the cost of pre-prepared meals. The nearest I'll have to that now is breaded fillets of fish or the very occasional readymade pizza.

 

Food that is cheap makes me question why - how can a pizza be profitable if it costs a pound to buy? Where does the meat on it come from? I choose to eat far less meat and dairy, and pay the extra to have organic and free-range instead. I do an online shop every couple of months and buy heaps of basics tinned tomatoes and chickpeas, and H&B do dried soya mince for a pound or so, which easily lasts me a couple of months.

 

Bread really isn't expensive to make at all. Doves Farm yeast is usually

[Kidsmum]

When you have a large family then cooking from scratch is very cost efficient, probably our shopping bill would be double what it is if i bought everything ready made. Luckily i enjoy cooking so don't mind the extra time it takes to prepare at home. I would also say that supermarkets aren't always the cheapest option, markets have fruit & veg at much better prices.

[Coffin Nail]

I would also say that supermarkets aren't always the cheapest option, markets have fruit & veg at much better prices.

 

 

And usually much better quality. And good for local growers, and better for the environment, and local economy.

 

Supermarket fruit and veg is awful. I can't believe how much we throw out. It's because its been deep chilled for so long that when it hits room temperature it ripens far too quickly. Bananas, peaches and plums are a nightmare.