How many of you make food from scratch?

[Lorah]

Okay, so I am getting teased (in good fun of course) for making everything from scratch. I am wondering how many of you make food from scratch...cooking and baking...cause I can't be alone in this.... and I mean really from scratch....like you use a recipe, or maybe you don't you just throw stuff together (that's mostly what I do)......opening a can and heating it on the stove doesn't count, and neither does heating a frozen pizza or lasagna in the oven....


I on average make at least 2 meals from scratch EVERYDAY! And most days I also make side dishes and a dessert from scratch too.

[Brookepanda]

yeah....um....:bag
We make about 3 meals a WEEK from scratch.....

you and your 2 meals per day..........
You better hush and never tell *my* dh!

[erin anne]

Wow, could you adopt me? Jk...
I am so impressed! I am the Costco heat-n-serve kinda gal. The only thing I make from scratch is banana bread. Everything else I bake comes out of a box.:bag

[Lorah]

yeah....um....:bag
We make about 3 meals a WEEK from scratch.....

you and your 2 meals per day..........
You better hush and never tell *my* dh!

I won't ....heheheh don't worry.....

[Luckylove]

Most of our food is from scratch. We try and eat as little processed food as possible. That being said, I had McDonalds for lunch today :tongue

[Lorah]

Most of our food is from scratch. We try and eat as little processed food as possible. That being said, I had McDonalds for lunch today :tongue

How can you eat that stuff after knowing how good it is from scratch??? :)

I can say I LOVE the way those fries smell!!!! Though I have nothad them in over 10 years so I couldn't tell ya if I like the way they taste. hahahaha

[HeatherK]

I'm with you Lorah. I love to cook from scratch. Not to mention that it is cheaper, healthier, and tastier.

I often make cassaroles and freeze half for later. Baking is my weakness-I love to eat whatever I bake! I am making pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting this weekend.

Last night I made my winter vegetable stew. Matthew loves it, he was requesting it as soon as the weather started to change.

Of course, if I wasn't a SAHM I wouldn't have the time or energy to do it every day.

[Lorah]

Really, I have always done this...I always make stuff from scratch....Even when I was working...

I think I'd still do it if I were working now too.....it is how I relax. :)

[khanson]

I *just* took homemade soft pretzels out of the oven. It smells so yummy in here! I also have Applesauce that I canned and I have apple crisp mix in the freezer for a yummy dessert. My dad has 8 apple trees so I still have 2 bags of apples that I will probably make more sauce with. I am also going to get a crate of pears and can those. For dinner tonight I am making herb cheese stuffed pasta shells w/ marinara sauce. Since we don't have home grown tomatoes yet, I do have to "doctor" up a store bought sauce, but I am going to have like 4 tomato bushes next year - I can't wait!

Oh, I also make lots of quick breads (zucchini, banana, etc), cookies, biscuits. I love it all!

This is part of the reason why I love being a WAHM. Some days are not always so available to do what *I* want to do, but today was!!!

[Lynette]

I dunno, I am just getting back into cooking again and when I think of From Scratch I think of making your own pasta, making cakes from scratch complete with scratch icing, baking your own bread, soup from dried beans, so do you mean that technical? We usually don't eat a lot of frozen stuff or stuff from a box and I don't serve desserts with dinner except for special occasions really. Like tonight I am making burritos but the tortillas are from a package, the refried beans are canned, the sour cream is in a container, and I didn't make the cheese so I dunno if dinner counts :D

[LMS]

I dunno, I am just getting back into cooking again and when I think of From Scratch I think of making your own pasta, making cakes from scratch complete with scratch icing, baking your own bread, soup from dried beans

:Yeah
That's what I figured you meant to, so I voted Never. I just don't have the time for that kind of stuff, to be honest.
But like Lynette said, we'll make fajitas. The cheese is bought shredded, the tortillas are in a pkg, and we buy the steaks, then fry them up, cook them and season or marinate, and make the fajitas. I don't really consider that "from scratch" but if you do, then i lied in my answer and we do that like 4 times a week. We eat out *a*lot*.
Yesterday we had arby's for lunch b/c we desperatly needed to hit the grocery store and hadn't yet, then went to Cotton Patch Cafe for dinner, then to albertsons on a quick grocery run. Today we had breakfast at home, lunch at Panera (just Brendan and I with some friends), and Jr is goin out for wings for dinner, dunno where mom and brendan and i are going. That's our "splurge"

[Luckylove]

That's what I mean too Lynette. I do bake from scratch but I try not to use box or frozen premade food.

Lorah: ya, I tend to regret it later. I usually feel like crap and all the hydrogenated oil screws with my stomach but it tastes oh so good every once in a while :tongue

[Lorah]

Well I originally did mean from scratch scratch...like you by dried beans, etc and soak, sort, and cook them etc....that kid of from scratch...yes....cake from scratch not just a box mix you stir together and put in the oven....

But that is also a good question....how many people do the semi-from scratch foods too????

If I am not making it from scratch, I will do the semi-from scratch methods as well.... :).....like over the weekend I made a cake from a box mix but made my own frosting....heck it was 89cents for the box....couldn't pass that up for a cheap snack ya know...

[Lorah]

Lorah: ya, I tend to regret it later. I usually feel like crap and all the hydrogenated oil screws with my stomach but it tastes oh so good every once in a while :tongue

PLUS you are pregnant....it's kind of a free ticket for that stuff anyway....:)

[khanson]

I dunno, I am just getting back into cooking again and when I think of From Scratch I think of making your own pasta, making cakes from scratch complete with scratch icing, baking your own bread, soup from dried beans, so do you mean that technical? We usually don't eat a lot of frozen stuff or stuff from a box and I don't serve desserts with dinner except for special occasions really. Like tonight I am making burritos but the tortillas are from a package, the refried beans are canned, the sour cream is in a container, and I didn't make the cheese so I dunno if dinner counts :D

Ok, this is just me, but I still think if you are "cooking" it's from scratch. Not just popping a frozen dinner or something. I don't know anyone that makes their own flour or anything ;). I would love to make my own pasta, but can't afford the machine. Just my opinion though.

[Brookepanda]

I dunno, I am just getting back into cooking again and when I think of From Scratch I think of making your own pasta, making cakes from scratch complete with scratch icing, baking your own bread, soup from dried beans, so do you mean that technical? We usually don't eat a lot of frozen stuff or stuff from a box and I don't serve desserts with dinner except for special occasions really. Like tonight I am making burritos but the tortillas are from a package, the refried beans are canned, the sour cream is in a container, and I didn't make the cheese so I dunno if dinner counts :D

EXACTLY Lynette...
we cook everynight....
but like you...the tortillas are in package....the beans in a can....etc.

we made a tasty meal the other day with penne noodles (from a box)....italian sausage from a package, broccoli from the produce section, butter from the butter cube (no I didn't churn it! :tongue )(I don't have that kind of time on my hands!) and olive oil...from France....

we considered it home made....but well.....shrug.....

that's how all our meals are....and in responding to this thread I was thinking along the same lines as you Lynette...so I answered 3 times a week....where I'll go all out and make things from scratch scratch..otherwise it's just how you described :)

[khanson]

I guess you could call most of us Semi-homemade :)!

[Lorah]

okay okay....semantics....

well for the sake of arguement then lets just say if you made something....its not prefab...then it is either semi or fully homemade and that pretty much is from scratch...

for goodness sakes I don't make my own flour.....I do make a lot of my own noodles.....and I have been known to make my tortillas, but I do buy those....

hehehehe

[LMS]

i never make breakfast from scratch. Unless you count eggos or fruitloops to be homemade :giggle

[khanson]

for goodness sakes I don't make my own flour.....I do make a lot of my own noodles.....and I have been known to make my tortillas, but I do buy those....

hehehehe

So jealous. I want to make my own pasta!!! It tastes so much better than the store bought stuff. Someday...

[Lorah]

I don't have a machine....I roll the dough out on the cutting board.....its not that great....but dh likes it.....I do it mostly for soups....

[Lorah]

i never make breakfast from scratch. Unless you count eggos or fruitloops to be homemade :giggle

You and my dh would get along....with the cereal aspect anyway....though he is not fond of fruitloops...hehehe he loves his cereal....I LOVE to make breakfast though...I always ask him, what can I make you for breakfast....and he ALWAYS says, cold cereal. :)

[Lynette]

okay okay....semantics....

for goodness sakes I don't make my own flour.....I do make a lot of my own noodles.....and I have been known to make my tortillas, but I do buy those....

hehehehe

:lol Ok, then I think I fall into the "homemade" catagory then rather than Martha Stewart kind of scratch :) Alaina is trying to shimmy up my leg even during that process :rolleyes

[Lorah]

hahahaha ya Mav is a little shimmier as well.....

I am more Emeril Lagasse than Martha Stewart.....I can't sew or make christmas angel ornaments out of standard issue jail attire....hehehehe

I stick to the food pretty much...

[My3sonsplus1]

I don't really know how to cook well so I am a semi from scratcher to a mostly from a can-er/boxer. Yes I can read a recipe but I have to keep rereading it 5 million times since I don't have an internal knack for if 4 tbs seems like too much and is it really cups, tsp for one and the other the kids seem to need me and it makes a huge chore of dishes blah blah blah. But we rarely eat processed frozen stuff (just frozen fruit or veggies nothing preserving them) and I "make" pancakes instead of buying frozen ones for the most part. And I "make" pbj all from premade but back to the basic versions of pb, bread and jam. One of our fave meals is chicken (canned or breast), noodles and frozen thawed veggies. or rice, canned beans (some times cooked by me but that requires forethought hours previously), prepackaged block of cheese shredded by me and premade salsa or guac

[colleen&Kail]

semi-homemade girl here. if you have to bake it in the oven its cooking.....IMO! LOL

[meeg124]

I try to do most things from scratch but I have become a super lazy cook and do as little as possible in the kitchen these days. However, I did make hummus (sp?) for the first time yesterday. Scott said it was much better than store bought, which I thought was pretty cool since I was just kind of winging it on the recipe. Then Martha Stewart possessed me and I piped the hummus and a dill cream cheese (that I also made... well, bought the cream cheese and added stuff to it) onto crudite slices, to take to a pot luck.

[LessasLashes]

I'm a semi-from scratch too.. I do not go out and kill my meat.. but it is from the butcher or packaged.. I typically do not by frozen/processed meals.. but will eat a frozen pizza every now and then..

Mostly during the week I do season, cook, prepare and make my own sauces and meats.. but I too use beans from a can, frozen fresh veggies from whole foods/trader Joes (ingredients are usually the veggie and water).. I pretty much cook 5 nights a week and make lunches daily for Alessa (I let Joe fend for himself.. usually he eats leftovers from dinner the night before)..

Alessa is a picky eater so most of her meals consist of scrambled eggs, pasta and homemade sauce (spoiled already), jasmine rice, fresh cooked veggies, and fruit.. She will eat TJs nitrite/nitrate free hotdogs about 1x per week.. and other than that whole grain breads and soy butter (tastes like peanut butter)..

So about 2x a year I'll bake totally from scratch.. but I really don't have that kind of time now

[LuckyMom07]

I'm pretty much a semi-scratcher too. I can follow a recipe but usually what comes out isn't exactly what should have happened and usually it's not that great!

I was actually going to do a post to see if any of you ladies ever made or make your own baby food? We got a baby food processor for a shower gift.(haven't opened it yet, but is it any different from just a regular food processor?? :headscratch )

Anyways, just curious...plus, when I get to that point I need to know who to consult!;)

[Brookepanda]

We made Madelynns for the first bit....then switched to jars...for pure laziness reasons....
it was simple...and we just used a cuisinart food processor...the small one I would cook up ohhhh....say...a chicken breast...mix it with the appropiate amount of breast milk to make it the correct consistency...and puree it in there....if I needed to add more milk I'd just puree a smidge more...

same for peas....avacados....carrots...and what not....I mixed all her food with expressed breastmilk as opposed to water....just my own personal preference though :)

[lizirroja]

I make breakfast, but that totally easy...eggs, french toast, pancakes (not from mix). My DH makes dinner using recipes almost every night. Lunch, well, that is usually opening a can or making sandwiches and I don't make bread. I am always the one in the family to make desserts from scratch so I do that all the time. Sometimes I buy a cake mix, but I always make my own frosting. I love Martha's Killer Chocolate Cake mix. My mom and stepmom are awesome cooks and so while I don't feel like we make as much from scratch as they do, we are pretty good.

[lizirroja]

Oh and my DH is great about soaking beans the night before and making soups, mushy peas, hummus, etc. And he makes great homemade pesto. Sometimes he really impresses me that way!

[Tracee]

I guess from all the clearing up of semantics, I'd say I'm a semi-scratch kind of gal but mostly because I'm a SAHM and I love to cook. I do not make butter, flour, etc. But I do soak beans (for the most part). Tomatoes are almost always canned for sauces and such because it's just so much easier (and cheaper).

Oh, and the baby food question....I've always made Kailyn's baby food using a blender. It's going in a food processor as of late just because she likes it a bit thicker. I usually went and looked at the jarred stuff for ideas and then made them at home. Sooooo much cheaper! I just freeze it in ice cube trays and then transfer them to freezer baggies. It's too much work to do fresh for every meal, so I make big batches and freeze. One of her favorites is summer squash, lentils and brown rice; or spinach, sweet potatoes and brown rice.

[Lorah]

hehehe Baby food....umm I laugh because I made my own for like a week...Mav jsut wasn't having it. He doens't like "baby food"..he would rather take bites off of something. :) I do buy him pirates booty, and other snacks that are a out of the bag thing.....but he eats what we eat....

[Brookepanda]

hehehe Baby food....umm I laugh because I made my own for like a week...Mav jsut wasn't having it. He doens't like "baby food"..he would rather take bites off of something. :) I do buy him pirates booty, and other snacks that are a out of the bag thing.....but he eats what we eat....

Yeah but a baby of 4-6 months can't exactly go from strictly breastmilk/formula to taking bites of big people food or a pirates booty....she's talking about food for a wee one...who is just starting out :)

We made Madelynns for the first months...then I bought a few jars for when we go out...and well I just got lazy and started buying them for all her feedings....but now she is way over the baby food thing...and will NOT let me feed her that anymore so she is now eating what we eat too....but that is recent.

[Kellie_MO5]

I made all the kids baby food.. no jars for us (yeah, I tasted the stuff and I just couldn't do that to my poor kids... LOL)

[Lorah]

Yeah but a baby of 4-6 months can't exactly go from strictly breastmilk/formula to taking bites of big people food or a pirates booty....she's talking about food for a wee one...who is just starting out :)

We made Madelynns for the first months...then I bought a few jars for when we go out...and well I just got lazy and started buying them for all her feedings....but now she is way over the baby food thing...and will NOT let me feed her that anymore so she is now eating what we eat too....but that is recent.

He ate chuncks of cheese at 5 months, chuncks of avocado too. And ummm those freeze dried apples too. Even with no or just two teeth even....I'm tell'n ya, my kid is a chomper! hahaha But ya, that is true, a little one normally doesn't eat chuncks of food....

[My3sonsplus1]

Yeah we skipped "baby food" all together. There are always bananas to moosh as well as avacado, unsweetened applesauce and oatmeal, true mashed potatoes at whatever thickness, soft fruits like nectarines diced, rice, refried beans, shredded chicken perhaps at the less beginner stage... those tended to tide us over for the month or two that it took the kids to be ready for chunkier stuff. E has 4 teeth and pretty much eats everything non allergenic.

[PixiesPlayhouse]

I don't use a box for anything!!! I may use a pasta sauce in a jar, but not very often. I make everything we eat from scratch (with the exceptions of our bread). I will even make homemade pasta (granted, not every time, but at least 1/3 of the time)

[becky]

we can't afford to eat out so much any more so I try to make dinner every night.

[FTM2Hannah]

Wow! I'm impressed with what I'm reading. I don't know about you, but I have a VERY energetic, wild toddler. It is incredibly hard to keep her busy to make anything let alone soaking beans, making noodles, etc...

[howardvm]

I used to bake all of the time. It was my hobby. I loved it so much that I thought about going to the Culinary Academy to become a pastry chef. Now I hardly have time to do any of that. I do still try to make at least one dinner from scratch a week.