Is it still cheaper to cook from scratch? I mean, really? I’ve worried about this a bit recently. A month or two ago I spent longer than usual in my local supermarket having a good look around. There are certain aisles that I never go down because a) I don’t buy ready meal type stuff and b) you can’t be tempted by what you aren’t looking at! However, I thought I’d have a look to see what was available and I was amazed at some of the prices on things like pies and pizzas. They were so cheap and would be so filling that, regardless of how junky they might be, you can totally see why someone really hard-up would fill their trolley with them. Looking at some of the things available, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make them myself for any cheaper – it would actually be more expensive. I found this pretty depressing.
However, I think that this is far from true in most cases. It does depend on how much time you are willing to put in overall to save what just seems like a few pence here and there. I was talking to someone the other day about soup. Both of us have soup for lunch most days. Mine is home-made while hers is tinned. I worked out that my substantial bowl of lentil and tomato soup had cost 14p whereas her tin of soup cost 89p – a 75p difference. My soup was very healthy and had no preservatives apart from anything you might find in a stock cube whereas I know from experience that tinned soup is very, very salty by comparison and has a long list of ingredients that I wouldn’t even be able to pronounce. If I reckon on having soup for lunch 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year then I save £195 annually by making my own soup. My friend could argue that she doesn’t have the bother of making and storing the soup which would be right. Her main point is that 89p is still a very cheap way to have lunch. This is true – particularly when you think that you could easily spend £2.50-£3 on one of those ‘meal deals’ that include sandwiches, crisps or a chocolate bar and a drink. It is also healthier, even though it is processed. And those meal deals are cheaper than going ‘out’ for lunch. And so on and so on. It is all a matter of choice and how far you are willing to cut back before you aren’t comfortable. My 14p soup is about as cheap as I can get! However, we are far from ‘perfect’. Making our own bread would be cheaper but that wouldn’t work for us. We don’t eat bread quickly enough for it not to go stale and I wouldn’t want to give up freezer space to bits and bobs of bread (on a large scale anyway). That’s why I wouldn’t dream of criticising my friend for buying tinned soup instead of making her own – she is probably more economical than me in something else she does. Making soup is easy for me because it fits in with the way I do things and the way I eat. Making my own bread doesn’t.
That said, perhaps I should put a bit more thought into what else I could save on by making from scratch!
This is something we all think about. I know a while ago you gave the example of packet cheese sauce versus ‘real’ (ie homemade). I still have not sccumbed to packet cheese sauce, but have bought packet casserole mixes, and are always disappointed. I really cannot quite reconcile myself as to whether cost or quality is more important. I continue to buy sauce mixes for some things (ie curry) as we like the flavour and have not been able to make a cheap, tasty alternative in the time I have spare. I think, like you, we tend to do what we know we can do, and cut corners on things that we are less confident or fussy about.
The thing too about making things homemade is you have to buy the raw ingredients and sometimes those can go bad before they are all used up. I’m guilty of buying celery, using 2 or 3 stalks, then I forget to use up or freeze the rest. The batch of homemade soup or rice does taste great and is cheaper than buying in cans, but I’ve wasted $2 or so. This is something I need to work on cuz I’m convinced homemade nutritious meals are cheaper than buying the processed equivalent. But there are a lot of cheaper unnutritious options out there, like bologna, Kraft Dinner and ramen noodles!
It’s a trade off…I’d rather buy the ingredients & cook mostly from scratch. Hubby likes some processed foods, but I eat nothing processed.. so we save some areas & not as much in others. It all evens out in the end…
We’re not perfect either – we cook from scratch a LOT but still use shop-bought bread most of the time and occasionally have a shop-bought soup (on days like today when I’m not feeling together enough to make a soup!).
I can cook a lot of meals cheaply these days but only because I’ve gradually invested in bulk buys and other things over time – big bags of spices, a sack of rice, plenty of storage containers… I imagine if I wanted to duplicate my current set-up now, I’d find the cost overwhelming and would stick to buying tinned soup and packet sauces instead.
Yes, it is! We cook from scratch all the time and it leads to a bit longer time in the kitchen but it’s insurance for your health and your budget.