Cooking from Scratch--Is It Worth It?
The rain here the last couple of days in Strasbourg has made me a little "blah" about food, so I've fallen back on some tried, true and blogged about comfort recipes. Last night I made potage crécy (or carrot soup, but I like the fancy, frenchified name better, don't you?!) and grilled cheese (made with Mimolette cheese, the closest I can find to a cheddar taste without breaking the bank here). I've made a few soups from scratch before, but none had ever made it into our normal rotation of meals. I'm not really sure why that is, but after my experience of cooking almost all of our food from scratch while living in France, I'm not sure how I'll adapt to all of those pre-packaged foods we can get in our mega-grocery stores in the U.S. I've already been thinking of ways to cook larger batches and freeze them so that my family will have made-from-scratch meals without the hassle of having to cook them all at the end of a long-day's work.
All of that to say that you should check out this article on Slate.com about whether or not it's worth it to cook from scratch. What do you think?
11 comments:
Interesting article - I like to make things from scratch as much as I can. Even though I do live in the US and pre-packaged foods are available.
I find that in addition to saving money, I can control the quality of ingredients I use... It can be difficult to identify all of the ingredients on a label when they look more like something from science class (I wasn't great at chemistry)!
Hahah I always say things with frenchified names - they sound so much better! I like to make things from scratch as much as possible! Everything tastes better with a little love!
I cook almost everything from scratch as well. It's more affordable and I know exactly what we're putting into our bodies.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Your daughter is going to love the cake!
I cook everything from scratch, and always have. Sometimes I do feel it cost more for the better ingredients, but worth it in the long run. The sodium and sugar content should send you running to the fresh isles :)
Really interesting article - thanks so much for sharing it! :)
I don't know that I would ever feel compelled to make my own bagels or yogurt, but there are certain things that I have started making from scratch that I always used to buy from the store before. Hummus is super easy to make and I love being able to customize it to my tastes. I've also started making more soups from scratch -- including a fabulous split pea that is so cheap I don't know that I could ever justify buying it pre-made again! My next project will be pizza from scratch. If I can find an affordable pizza stone!
It's strange that more people don't cook from scratch, I think. I know that there are just some things that take too much time/effort/money, but if they set aside an evening a week to make big batches of some basics, I think it could work, even for a busy household. I started making my own chicken stock this year, and although I'm sure I'll keep a box of the store-bought stuff on hand in case of emergencies, I've decided that I'm just going to have to set the time aside once every month or two to make a huge batch of my own.
I've never really paid attention to food labels because it's a little scary, but I'm definitely going to start paying more attention. And start thinking of ways to make things I'll use often and freeze them for later use.
Yes, it is worth it! Love the recipe's!
I love to cook from scratch and buy almost no pre-packaged food. I have exception. Like Chips, and Tuna Fish, Shumai,...there must be a few others. But not many. GREG
Biscotti is another item that is much cheaper and tastier when made from scratch. Super easy also!!
So true, Mindy, that we Americans do more and more "from scratch" cooking once we move to Europe and everything we have been used to buying prepared is no longer available. And that is when we fall in love with cooking and baking from scratch.
cool, please guidance so that I can create a blog like yours
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