Once upon a time there was no such thing as supermarkets. I remember visiting my first superstore in France in the early 1980s, and thinking how amazing it was. Unfortunately now that we have lost most of the independent butchers, green grocers, bakeries, and small independent shops because they have been priced out of business, I have changed my mind. Supermarkets have changed the way we eat by providing convenience foods that are full of additives. Many a time, as I fed my young children, I thought that they were having a healthy diet. Little did I know that most of the food had hidden sugars, chemicals, preservatives and colours. I now shop in them as little as possible, and cook as much as I can from scratch, just as our ancestors used to do.
On days when I can not be bothered to cook something like bread from scratch, it is good to remind myself of the benefits that I get from it. I am one of the lucky generation that were taught basic cooking skills at school, and had to do it from scratch. My friend’s daughter is making a festive, chocolate log next month, and has been told to take a bought Swiss roll, some chocolate to melt, and bought decorations for her cookery lesson. When I made one as a teenager, we made the sponge, made the butter cream, and made the decorations.
That was 50 years ago, though, and unfortunately people have lost these basic skills now. The cookery teachers themselves have probably never made a Swiss roll from scratch. Maybe they are generic teachers, not trained in baking, that are taking the cookery classes that are meant to teach our children and grand children the skills for the adulthood. I am glad that I have these skills. Here are the reasons that I cook from scratch, and encourage my children to do the same.
- It saves me a lot of money. I can make a big pan of soup that would feed me about 12 meals for the less than the price of a couple of tins of bought soup. In fact, if I used food grown from my garden or foraged, I could make it for pennies. It is cheaper to bake bread and wraps than it is to buy them, and an oven full of baked treats costs less than a couple of bought cakes. Basic ingredients are a lot cheaper than supermarket bought products. The real cost of making my own food from scratch is the time and energy involved. Supermarkets use convenance to market their products as we are all expected to live such busy lives now adays. However, I find ways to get around that by making once dish and then turning it into different dishes eg. make a bolognaise and use it in a lasagne, serve with pasta or rice, make it into a pie or a cottage pie, or add chilli and make it into a chilli con carne. Using devices like my slow cooker also save a lot on time.
- Home cooked food tastes better. Supermarket cakes taste of fresh air and lots of things taste synthetic or bland compared to food cooked from scratch with good ingredients. We can season to our own liking, and a home made lasagne can not be compared to one out of a plastic box.
- I am more aware and can control what is in my food. Did you know that some supermarket food has things in that are not digestible by the human body, for instance saw dust?
- I can cook things and hide or leave out ingredients that my children do not like. My youngest used to hate onions and if she saw one in a dish she would throw up and be sick as a child. I was able to use garlic instead to flavour the dish. I could also grate carrot into her spaghetti bolognaise as she was adverse to eating vegetables. Now i can also reduce the heat of curry, or adjust seasonings, and use which ever sauces I want.
- I can tailor dishes to my family’s tastes. We have favourite meals or desserts which would be expensive if we bought them from the supermarket, or which are hard to find. I just look up recipes and find frugal ways to make them.
- Food from scratch usually contains more nutrition and is healthier. They often contain less salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats. When I cook I tend to bulk out meals with home grown vegetables, and fresh ingredients, and there are no preservatives or additives. If I want to preserve anything I will put it in the freezer to use another day.
- It is better for the planet. There is no waste food or packaging, I have not used petrol visiting the supermarket. I have also used up what I already have in.
- It is an activity I can do with my family. There is nothing better than baking with a grand child, or making a meal together with a partner, friend, or child (no matter how old they are).
- It involves creativity and we love to make up our own recipes based on our favourite ingredients, or what ever we have in. It gives us chance to be artistic with presentation. We also like learning to sub in different ingredients if we do not have the ones that are called for. An example of this is using cheap, rinsed, salted peanuts in my pesto rather than pine nuts that I can not afford.
- I feel independent. I am not reliant on finding a dish in a supermarket, or even using them. I can make lots of lovely meals with things that I can grow, forage, or have preserved.
- It is preserving skills for future generations. I have taught skills to children, single parent groups, people using food banks, and now have this website. It is important that the skills needed for cooking from scratch do not die.
- I have freedom in the kinds of food that I want to eat rather than just what the supermarket provides. Food goes in and out of fashion and the supermarket sells things that they can make the most profit on. I like to make good, old fashioned recipes with few ingredients.
- Some people have allergies and so I can tailor my meals to suit them. This may be intolerance to dairy, gluten, nuts etc. I can also make a meal for vegan or vegetarians that we can enjoy and eat and so I don’t have to buy a special separate meal for them.
- It makes me feel good. The joy of knowing that you made something is addictive. I can still remember the buzz I got from the first time I made butter, iced a cake, or made a light, tasty brown loaf. These were just basic skills for my grandparents. I love the fact that I am making things that my great grandparents made 90 years ago.
- Portion control is improved. I decide the portion amount and not the supermarket. Do not forget that it is their objective to get people to spend more.
- I feel secure. I can still provide a decent meal even when I have no money, or very little in the house.
- Cooking from scratch shows love and brings family and friends together. People appreciate the effort that you have put in to a meal when they know that you have made it from scratch and it tastes good. They want to come round for a meal as they know it will be special, taste good, and be nutritious. They love getting home made gifts as well.
- I am not left hungry or wanting more as I usually am after eating convenience food. The ingredients that they add to convenience food leave us wanting more. Have you ever felt full after eating a McDonalds, despite it having thousands of calories in it?
- It helps with my stress levels. I find cooking and baking therapeutic and I have the peace of mind that I am feeding my family and myself well.
- I am reducing the amount of ultra processed food that I am eating which has been shown to have a negative impact on health. An example is my home made wraps that have 3 or 4 ingredients. The supermarket wraps have 14 ingredients, half of which I have no idea what they are, or can’t pronounce them.
- It gives me flexibility in my life. I don’t have to cram in a visit to the supermarket on the way home. I can cook when I have time, and then preserve it. As a single parent I used to cook when the children were asleep, and do it in my PJs. It saved me dragging children around the supermarket as often, constantly asking for sweets or comics. Now I tend to do most of my meal preparation on a Sunday afternoon which means that we can make quick meals during the week.
- I can stretch ingredients by using sauces, bread crumbs, left overs, vegetables, or carbs like pastry or crumble to feed more people from fewer ingredients,.
- I can make sure that my loved ones and myself are having a balanced diet. I learned about nutrition at school in my cookery lessons but many people do no understand about the importance of a balanced diet any more, or what it needs to contains. They are persuaded to buy supplements instead.
- I can learn new skills. There is always something to learn when cooking from scratch and always new skills to master. This year for us has been about learning to make sausages, and making sour dough.
Having a pantry full of a few staples makes it so much easier to cook from scratch. I built mine up slowly over time by getting one extra ingredient a week, and then replacing it when it is finished. What do you find are the advantages of cooking from scratch?
Cooking from scratch means we know just what we are eating. We often make extra to freeze or to do something else with. Left over vegetables can become bubble and squeak, added to soups or turned into fish cakes.We freeze any left over bread to use as bread crumbs for fish or to use in puddings or I put some in my homemade stuffing.
We freeze some of our fruit so we can make crumbles or pies or just compote using that.
One thing to remember is to make sure you eat enough salt. We are told constantly that we eat too much although as it is in everything we buy. If we don’t buy ready made foods then it is only in the food if you put it in. As a child my mother suffered with dizziness caused by an inner ear condition and she was told to eat no salt, so I didn’t eat it growing up and never used it once married unless I had fish and chips. It is now known we need some salt in our diets.
I agree about the salt. Gaelic salt is helping me be more hydrated. I put a few crystals on my tongue and then drink a glass of water. The salt helps my body absorb the water, rather than it passing right through. They give saline drips in hospital when you are dehydrated and so it is no different to that. With Mr S being a chef he tends to salt things using good quality salt, but I wouldn’t eat the cheap stuff as it has all sorts in it. Thanks for sharing
I love making things from scratch, I was also taught home economics at school. My mum was a great cook too, so it was only natural that I would follow. For me, it’s using fresh ingredients less additives and making plain simple meals amazing. I haven’t bought a ready meal for as long as I can remember.
I think I only bought a few of those slimming meals when they first came out, but they never filled me up and I probably ended up eating more! Thanks for sharing
Very wise words. I follow a similar regime although I don’t bake bread on a regular basis. Food prepared at home always tastes so much better. I always batch cook soups, casserole etc, it’s so good to have meals available in the freezer to take out the evening before needed to put in the fridge to defrost.
Thanks. Yes it helped me to batch cook when the children were teenagers as it meant that they could have a healthy cooked meal when I was working late. Thanks for commenting
You make such good points! I’ve always cooked from scratch a fair bit (far more than most) but in the last few years I have really upped my game. I have invested in some more appliances and have been learning even more skills. I work 25 hours per week but don’t usually go into the office on Mondays or Fridays so I get up early – put in my work hours online and then have the afternoon for housework, laundry and cooking. I also check the weekend forecast and if one day is looking especially dire then I plan to stay in and either batch cook or bake.
My goal for the NY is to only have treats if I have baked them, make my own bread (a friend is gifting me her breadmaker) and make my own butter. I’m also keeping my eyes open for some interesting cooking classes to attend over the Winter.
I find the time saved by batch cooking is a really good motivator. I work for a church so the next few weeks will be especially busy so it is great to have prepared food already in the freezer that just needs to be reheated with maybe a few veggies added. At the moment I have cottage pie, meatloaf, leftover turkey from Cdn. thanksgiving, chilli and today I’m adding a few servings of chicken soup that I made on Saturday. Being on my own I also find that most days 2 meals does me fine. It is just past 11am here and I’ve just had brunch – toasted sourdough bread with some creamy scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee! On the days that I work from home I do try to fast until about 10 or 11am so I have a 15 or 16 hour rest. I have some fish defrosting in the fridge which I will cook at around 5 and serve with a big salad and that will do for today.
I look on cooking as both creative outlet and as a personal challenge to see what I can use up.
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing. Yes, I don’t batch cook as much now due to not working, but it helped a lot when I did. Now I tend to just freeze left overs, or batch cook things like compote or yoghurt that are staples and will last us all week. Thanks for sharing, and your lovely feedback
“Proper” cooking should be taught in schools, it’s a life skill. I always cook from scratch and batch cook so that we have some quick “ready meals”, I’m not keen on foods that have a use by date of 2025, what is in them so tvat tbey are still edible?
The only problem sometimes is someone asks can you make that again and I don’t always remember what went in to it!!!!! 😂
lol. I know but luckily for me, writing this website is making me measure things a bit more. There are so many life skills that should be taught in school and would be more useful than young people are being taught at the moment, I agree. Thanks for commenting
Totally agree we are missing a trick schools not teaching cooking from scratch & budgeting .
I like to cook from basics as it gives me the chance to try new ingredients adapting recipes based on what I might have in at the time . X
I agree. I find the old fashioned, basic recipes are the best as, like you say, you can adapt them to what you have, or switch them up to be a bit more luxurious if entertaining. Thanks for commentng
What a lot of helpful advice Toni and I’m happy to say I do most of it 😀, but I don’t make my own bread as I don’t really eat much bread. I do use an app called “Yuka” (hope it’s ok to mention) which tells you exactly what is in foods, cosmetics etc. and gives it a score from 0 to 100. I use it especially for my wee granddaughter but also for myself as some staples I can’t make 😂. It was a real eye opener but it is a really useful app 😁
HI. Yes it is ok to mention it. Might daughter uses that app as well and it is helpful. She tells me what my grandson is allowed to eat and what he is not! Thanks for sharing
Thank you, this should be a headline article in the main newspapers, though I doubt if the powerful food and drug industry would permit it.
I have been buying nothing but ingredients from the supermarket this year. I consider anything which I am tempted to put in the small trolley and ask, “Is this food?” We are trying very hard to avoid Ultra Processed Food, checking the labels regularly. (Soya lecithin has been added recently to our usual shared bar of dark chocolate.) We buy plain meat without sauces and coatings, pork not pork sausages, fish not fish fingers, a litre of plain yoghurt instead of little pots with added gunk, porridge oats instead of extruded breakfast cereal, potatoes instead of crisps, and loose leaf tea instead of teabags.
DH has mastered the bread maker and I do the basic baking. We stopped buying biscuits.
We choose British meat and plenty of seasonal vegetables to support our farmers. We keep a few registered hens and grow and forage some fruit. We buy budget range and wonky fruit and vegetables which are good enough, and some frozen vegetables.
With home cooking it has not been difficult to keep the food budget for the two of us at £35 a week. We don’t buy coffees out, meal deals, or takeaways, or get meals delivered. A meal out is a special occasion, for a birthday or anniversary. Our freezer and pantry are well stocked. Our meat ration is £3 each per week, which is plenty. I check what is on offer and freeze portions. Last week whole leg of lamb was half price, which made 3 joints for Sunday pot roasts, and 1 portion of diced lamb, plus stock from the bones, for £16. We are eating well.
My weight and waistline have returned to normal with no dieting, and I am no longer craving sweet snacks all of the time.
That sounds very similar to what we do, though my waist line has some way to go yet as we bake bread and treats. I totally agree. We avoid the supermarket as much as possible as well. Thanks for sharing