Full-on Cooking Vs Some Prepared Foods For Dinner, What Are Your Percentages

[Porthos]

I have been thinking about this for a while and wondered where I fit on the spectrum which I am sure exists.

 

When I refer to full-on cooking it is taking raw ingredients and preparing them, producing a meal. Prepared foods would be canned beans that have been seasoned and are ready to eat once heated, frozen pizzas, etc. or ordering in.

 

We eat six dinners at home each week, scheduling and commitments make the other day drive-thru meals or such. Five of the six dinners are for four adults, one evening it is just my DW and me. When it is just my DW and me we have simpler meals, but generally from raw ingredients. Of the the other 5 meals I typically cook 4 meals from scratch and about once a week go "I'm tired" or whatever and convenience wins. On those days it is either "i'm picking up a pizza" or something simple at home like cutting up a kielbasa, browning it, and then putting in a couple of can of Ranch Style Beans and ladling it into bowls.

 

So that is my reality. I'm curious about my fellow egullters and the typical amount of "Full-on cooking? not tonight!" versus producing a meal from raw ingredients. Anyone wanna play?

[liuzhou]

Apart from eating out, 99:1 in favour of full-on cooking

 

I very seldom eat pre-prepared food. Not that there is a lot of it in China.

[Porthos]

It is just the 2 of us tonight. I will most likely make grilled cheeses sandwiches. Boudin sourdough bread, grated sharp cheddar cheese (I like the way it melts better), cooked in butter.

[gfweb]

We eat out once maybe twice a week or cook from scratch. 

 

Edited...after reflection ... when I make lasagna I use barilla pasta, whatever jarred sauce is around, costco meatballs and premio sausage and mozzarella that somebody else made.  I call this scratch, while recognizing one might actually make all the components really from scratch just as one might breed  and raise the cow that makes the milk for the cheese. 

 

But it isn't a tray of Stouffer's lasagna that I pop in the oven and heat up either.

Edited January 16, 2017 by gfweb (log)

[Anna N]

It depends.  In my ideal world I would cook every meal from scratch. In my real world it is consistently inconsistent. Someone said "much depends on dinner".  I say much depends on my energy level, what is in the fridge and freezer, how my bank account looks, whether I am counting my blessings or bemoaning my misfortune. The only thing I can absolutely guarantee is that this week will not like last week or like next week.

[ElainaA]

I'm not sure how to answer this. Tonight we had pasta with pesto. I made the pesto back in August and froze it. Does that count as pre-prepared"?  If I bake eggplant with tomato sauce that I also made and froze last summer, is that pre-prepared? I'm thinking of defrosting a quart of Sweet Mama squash soup for tomorrow - I made that last month. I have a lot of foods frozen or canned that I use - but I made them from scratch - just several months ago. 

If we are talking about foods that are purchased pre-prepared, then maybe once a week -or every two weeks - we either get take out or go out. Otherwise it is all from scratch or my own canned or frozen preparations. 

[Porthos]

@ElainaA  What you are descibing is still preparing from raw ingredients, some of the cooking just time-shifted.

[Martin Fisher]

I eat out rarely, order in rarely and very rarely eat commercial pre-prepared foods.

Most meals are made from 'scratch.'

I do a lot of intermittent fasting so I often only eat about one meal per day.

[quiet1]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

It depends.  In my ideal world I would cook every meal from scratch. In my real world it is consistently inconsistent. Someone said "much depends on dinner".  I say much depends on my energy level, what is in the fridge and freezer, how my bank account looks, whether I am counting my blessings or bemoaning my misfortune. The only thing I can absolutely guarantee is that this week will not like last week or like next week.

 

This, pretty much. I've been trying to cook more as my health is better, especially since it is extremely difficult to find tasty prepared or restaurant food that isn't loaded with sodium and my mom has to watch, but it does depend tremendously on all kinds of factors that are hard to control or predict.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I make most meals from scratch and shop primarily from the refrigerated cases around the perimeter of the supermarket. I'm not a super freak about it, though. I will use convenience foods if I like them. I don't like many now, but I use dried pasta and have never made my own cheese. I did make some butter in a jar in Girl Scouts once. 

 

Canned tomato sauce, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, beets, soups, tuna, salmon, corned beef, some fruits, french-fried onions, refried beans are among the staples of my pantry. There's coconut milk and a jar of nopalitos in brine in there now. I buy the vast majority of mayonnaise, always Duke's, and yeast breads. I use canned whipped cream from the refrigerated case occasionally. 

 

I also buy frozen vegetables regularly. They're not only convenient, but cheaper and/or better than what I can get fresh. I don't like the texture of frozen carrots or broccoli, but most frozen veggies are fine. I also buy commercially frozen fruit, shrimp, and puff pastry. I have Pepperidge Farm apple turnovers in the freezer now. I actually prefer good commercial ice cream to the denser homemade. Mrs. Smith's frozen fruit pies and cobblers are just fine to me, especially the blackberry.

 

My regular grocery doesn't offer much edible in the way of ready-to-heat frozen foods, but I have been known to buy cheese ravioli, stuffed flounder from a North Carolina company, Stouffer's mac and cheese is still good, breaded clam strips and frozen french fries and tater tots. I used to buy Stouffer's lasagna, but it went to the dogs a few years back. I like Deep brand frozen spinach and cheese samosas from my Indian grocer's freezer case.

 

I go crazy in the freezer cases when I rarely make it to Trader Joe's. They have not only edible, but delicious, frozen pizzas imported from Italy, cheese enchiladas, mushroom pastries with cream cheese flaky pastry, chocolate croissants, spanakopita, cheesecake and a whole lot more.

 

Now it sounds like I eat mostly convenience foods, which isn't true. I'm just sayin' not all convenience foods are anathema.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[liuzhou]

I've been thinking about this since I first replied.

 

When I cook Chinese, which is about 50% of the time, it is always from fresh ingredients. That's the Chinese way. I'd never cooked with seafood or chicken bought live before. The only exceptions I can think of are things like soy sauce, or oyster sauce, doubanjiang - the Sichuan chili sauce and Shaoxing wine etc. But then, I bet you don't dredge your own salt!

But I also do my best to cook western type dishes. At first, I found this difficult - so many things I couldn't get (although things have improved from when I first arrived, twenty years ago). Finally, I woke up and thought "make it yourself, dumbass!"

So now, for example, I make hummus from scratch, even making my own tahini. All my yogurt, I make. My bread. Mayo and tartar sauce, for sure. And others. I can't think at the moment.

And anything I can grow on my small balcony, I will.

Not only has it filled the gaps in availability, but it has been fun to do and a great learning experience for me.

 

[Norm Matthews]

I checked my blog and counted 7 meals made from scratch so far this month.  The other meals were delivery pizza, left overs, sandwiches made with store bought cold cuts and home made bread or cheese, dry salami, celery, and crackers.  Charlie was going to take me out to an Irish pub on the Plaza this weekend but we got weathered in with ice storms two days in a row.

[ElainaA]

@Thanks for the Crepes 's post has reminded my of how many prepared foods there are that I don't even think of a "pre-prepared". I do make (and can) my own ketchup, salsa and chutney. I have made mayonnaise but very rarely - I rely on Hellman's. Pasta is a staple in our house and I rarely make my own. I've never made ice cream at home. I make my own hummus but I use canned chickpeas and purchased tahini. ( @liuzhou - or anyone - i would love to hear how one makes tahini!)

So I guess the question is - what do we mean by "from scratch"?

[liuzhou]

10 minutes ago, ElainaA said:

@liuzhou - or anyone - i would love to hear how one makes tahini!

 

One of the easiest things ever! I will never understand people who buy it in jars.

 

Get some white sesame seeds and carefully toast them. I use a wok but I bet the Greeks don't. Use what you got. Skillet. Perhaps microwave? Be careful - they turn from nicely toasted to incinerated in seconds. Then let them cool and bung into a food processor and add enough olive oil to lubricate. Go easy - you aren't making sesame soup!

Let the machine run. If the sesame gets too lumpy add a little olive oil, but remember you really want the sesame oil. When it looks like tahini stop. You did it!

I can't really recommend quantities. It depends how much you want. I prefer to make relatively small quantities. Just enough for the next batch of what I want to use it for - nearly always hummus. It keeps well in the fridge. I keep the unused seeds frozen, though.

Here is one of my average productions. The container is about six to seven inches in diameter. Sorry can't measure.  I'm not at home. Enough to produce one batch of hummus just enough for me.

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

It is probably different for me every week and definitely seasonal. During warm weather, we eat lighter and often will just have a nice salad and maybe some grilled sausage and bread. No, I don't make the sausage myself--but it is from a small local butcher using local meat sources. And I don't bake the bread either.

 

In cooler weather, it just depends on workload. Sometimes I use part prepared foods (canned, refrigerated, frozen)--maybe refrigerated pasta with either something I've concocted myself or with "emergency" pasta sauce from the pantry.

 

We are currently without a CSA membership, but do have some nice places to buy good farm-fresh produce. We get a Butcher Box from Local Pig which has a great variety every time--and always a prepared item, too (Last week was stuffed peppers.), but prepared in a good way. I find that getting things like this and CSAs keep me cooking better and using fewer commercially-prepared foods. If I've paid for it, I'm going to use it!

[rustwood]

I certainly don't make my own cheese, nor do I make crackers, tortilla chips, or can my own tomatoes and vegetables.  Of course I realize one can make them from scratch and many do on a regular basis (especially bread), but I consider such things pantry staples and not "prepared foods".  To me, prepared foods are generally heat and eat or ready to eat foods.  In the past year, I have bought some frozen ravioli and perhaps a few potato or rice side dish packets/boxes for convenience, but I think that is about it.  I do buy breakfast cereal on a fairly regular basis (the un-fun types) so I guess I should count that too. 

 

With that said, I dine out at least once a week and get takeout 2 or 3 times a month.  I usually only cook actual meals on weekends and holidays.  My weekday schedule is fairly irregular and I typically get home too late to do much beyond raiding the fridge.  Usually that means leftovers from the weekend or maybe something I've pulled from the freezer in advance.  When they run out, I either improvise something quick and simple or grab takeout.

[Porthos]

I appreciate the many and various responses. One thing it did was to point out how my western hemisphere, urban-suburban life influences what I consider convenience food. So I will talk more about how my thinking works, not saying that anyone else needs to agree with me.

 

When I think of raw ingredients it doesn't mean that it all had to from the produce department or the butcher's counter. Fresh frozen veggies** are a major part of my diet. I regularly buy dinner sausages that have been made outside of my kitchen. I have no interest in making my own tomato sauce from scratch. Although I know how to make my own mayonnaise, that is reserved for special meals. I use canned mushrooms or fresh mushrooms as my whim dictates. I am not at all interested in learning to cure my own olives.

 

With that information I will tell you that full-on cooking, in my head, means that I cook a protein, I cook a starch from raw ingredients, I cook fresh or fresh frozen veggies, etc. They may be individual foods on a plate or a one-dish dinner, but the cooking and the seasoning was done in my kitchen. When I pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer and toss it into the oven I have added nothing but heat. Someone else has prepared and cooked the ingredients and I am just finishing the job.

 

A specific comment about veggies. When I am going to steam, season and serve veggies I typically fresh frozen. When I want roasted veggies they will be fresh from the produce department. There is to much residual moisture on frozen veggies and even though they are in the oven they mostly steam.

 

RE: time-shifted cooking: As an example, I normally bake my brown rice in sufficient quantity to have enough for 4-5 meals and freeze the meal portions. When I want brown rice, I nuke a package back to life and then "doll it up" commensurate with the meal it is part of. It is still full-on cooking, just in stages.

 

Hopefully that provides a little more insight into my thinking. Again, your thinking doesn't have to be my thinking. I was just curious how other egullters balance the two.

 

** I seem to remember Fat Guy talking about frozen veggies often being better than that in produce departments because it was picked, processed and frozen more quickly than the typical time-to-market produce in supermarkets.

[FrogPrincesse]

I have something homemade for dinner 3-4 times a week. I eat out (or more rarely get takeout) maybe 2-3 times, and one night is some type of prepared food, typically a frozen Italian pizza or flammenküche from Trader Joe's, with a large green salad.

 

I have a number of quick meals that I make regularly on busy week nights. Often it's something on the grill (sausages, steak, lamb chops, etc) because that also minimizes cleanup. Tacos with fish or with meat that is precooked (carnitas) are easy. I don't make the tortillas or salsas, but I finish cooking the meat and add fresh salad, etc. Linguine and clams, steamed mussels, fish with a simple homemade sauce, that sort of things.

On weekends I make stews that take longer to cook, and often double quantities so I can freeze the leftovers.

I make components for more time-consuming things in advance and freeze or refrigerate. For example, we love pasta and I never buy pre-made sauce. I make large batches and freeze in small portions (my 10-year old daughter chastised me for doing that one day, and initially refused to eat it, because it wasn't made "fresh"! I had to explain that I had made it from scratch and was simply reheating it). I buy dry pasta and occasionally make fresh in large batches that I freeze as well. I make chicken stock from leftover carcasses and freeze it to later use in risottos or stews. That allows me to make something more complex on a week night because I have already done some of the work in advance.

 

I use very few canned foods aside from canned tomatoes for sauce, and chickpeas for hummus. The rest is fresh or frozen.

I am not a big fan of convenience foods in general. But I agree with @Thanks for the Crepes that the selections at Trader Joe's are quite good. 

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by FrogPrincesse
Typo (log)

[Darienne]

DH and I are both retired and we both cook.  He does the short order stuff and I do the other stuff.  We do used canned beans (oh, I know, I know - I used to cook beans), tomatoes and canned sockeye salmon.  DH will eat canned sardines.  Oh and we buy crackers and corn chips.  We buy frozen pizzas to have on hand for unexpected folks who don't like our normal food, much of which is not typically North American or European.  And what we call 'guest' bread for guests, naturally.  And One Buns from Costco, a weakness of mine, and Kirkland Vegetable burgers, which I love.  And almost all condiments.  That's about it.  Some frozen vegetables because we live so far from the city.  I used to make yoghurt...now we buy it.   We don't eat a lot of meat. 

 

We either cook every lunch, our big meal, or we defrost something which I've already made and frozen.  Supper is either a big salad or soup, again frozen by me. 

 

We eat out every now and then.  Fish and chips, which I adore, and on the road we usually eat at Subway for lunch. 

 

Mostly we make huge batches of whatever it is that we are making and freeze what we don't eat on Day One: tourtiere at Christmas, spaghetti sauce, umpti-one kinds of soups, shredded meats, especially pork, casseroles like Moussaka, Spanakopita, Lasagna, Bobotie (thanks John T), Ed's Mom's Macaroni and Cheese which Ed makes, Ratatouille.  I could go on.  Oh and we make Chinese food together.  He does the 'mises' and I do the cooking part.  My hands are shot so Ed does almost all the chopping and cutting. 

 

Dinner once every few weeks is 'Dessert as Dinner'.  The year we lived in Moab, I made a difference Dessert as Dinner once every week for 6 months and we had guests over to share.  That was challenging and fun.  And you can't eat chocolate cake for dinner.  The meal has to have fruits, and dairy and grains or some combination which won't send you into a sugar fit.

 

I might add that Ed taught me how to cook when we got married 57 years ago and I hated it mostly until I found eGullet and discovered cooking was actually an incredible thing to do.  I still can't do North American very well.  I love cooking with chocolate and citrus. 

 

If vegetables live long enough to wilt, then they get roasted and go into combination dishes or enchiladas.

 

Life is different when you are old, retired, with the children long gone from home, no grandkids and two big dogs for company.  (Oh, they eat raw.)  I keep thinking about going back to cooking raw beans.  Have enjoyed being on this incredible forum for almost 10 years now.  Thanks to you all.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Well, tonight's dinner was supposed to have been Peruvian chicken with French fries and green sauce.  I marinated the chicken and made the green sauce only to realize I was not that hungry.  Dinner was a can of minestrone and last night's baguette.  No complaints.

 

[Porthos]

So Wednesday's and Thursday's dinners were full-on cooking. Tonight was a mish-mash. Browned hamburger then added a couple of cans of Ranch Style Beans, a can of whole kernel corn, then adjusted the seasoning a bit. I sliced up some green onions to go on top and put out grated cheddar and sour cream. Toppings are put on by each diner as they wish.   Using a mix I made corn bread to go with it.

[EatingBen]

More often then not I'll cook from scratch and make enough to last a few days. I hate fast food but I do love my Japanese from the local restaurant. 

 

I always feel guilt cooking with most pre-prepared foods, like pasta because I can make it and so easily and because it tastes substantially better then anything I can buy I"ll typically make it over buying it in a box (Ive frozen portions on occasion) I hate a lot of tinned beans they taste weird but fresh cooked have a better texture. 

 

I do buy tomato sauce for pasta but I'm always adding to it to make it better, I've done the whole making my own and while I love it and want to do more of it getting a supply of tomatoes and everything else I need in Sydney isn't as easy as you would think without a weekend trip somewhere. 

[kayb]

Interesting topic. Per @Porthos' definition of full-on cooking, "I cook a protein, I cook a starch from raw ingredients, I cook fresh or fresh frozen veggies, etc. They may be individual foods on a plate or a one-dish dinner, but the cooking and the seasoning was done in my kitchen," I probably cook two or three meals a week via this method (and that number varies week to week, depending on schedules). There are only two of us eating, and often it's just me, as my daughter is more picky about what she eats, and frequently eats a late lunch at work and so isn't hungry for dinner. The other nights are either leftovers, rewarmed or restyled in some other fashion, carryout, eating out or just snacking. Again, much of that is driven by schedule. Rarely do I use prepared foods (again, "prepared" as in a frozen entree, canned or frozen seasoned veggies or veggie combos), mostly because there are very few I care for. Likewise, rarely do I eat fast foods from the plethora of chain joints around town, with the exception of occasionally the hot wings joint or Taco Bell when I get in a taco mood.

 

I cook more in the summer, when there's an abundance of fresh vegetables. I can most of my own tomatoes, and freeze lots of peas and corn and some fruit.

 

I make all my own bread (of which we don't eat a lot), but I keep a loaf of soft white sandwich bread on hand to make grilled cheese sandwiches for the kid and the grands. I make my own granola and yogurt, which was an every day breakfast until I got out of that habit.

 

When I cook a big chunk of protein, as in a beef roast or roasting a whole chicken, as I plan to do tomorrow, I generally do so with a rough plan as to how I'll use it in different fashions in two or three separate meals. I use my vacuum sealer a LOT to portion cooked protein, and I often make "homemade TV dinners" and freeze them in aluminum trays.

Edited January 21, 2017 by kayb
fix punctuation. (log)

[Anna N]

@kayb

 

Love to hear more about your TV dinners. If I ever do make enough room in my freezer then TV dinners would be a godsend. 

[kayb]

@Anna N, I do them with all sorts of leftovers, and occasionally with casseroles that I split into different portions and only bake what I want that evening and freeze the rest. I get aluminum pans (about 4 x 6 inches) from the local dollar store; they come three in a pack, with a cardboard, foil-coated lid. Fill them with whatever (any sort of meat-in-sauce that got served over rice is good, as is, say, a pork chop and some mashed or scalloped potatoes). I jot down on the lid what's inside and the date, with a Sharpie, crimp the foil edges down around it, and they stack beautifully in the freezer. I have one shelf that, when I have enough of them and can empty the shelf but for them, I take the pans after they're frozen and turn them on edge, so I can see quickly what's in them by just sliding them out, like books off a shelf.A plastic tub holds the row in front, while the back row stacks directly on the shelf.

 

Right now, I've been trying to use them up, so that system's not in use, or I'd take a photo for you. I've found they last quite well for up to three months; meat-in-sauce will usually last longer than that. They can go straight in the CSO from frozen; about 45-50 minutes at 350 on convection does the trick. Less time if I remembered to thaw in the fridge first. A decent  meal for minimal time and effort.