# What is your definition of 'cooking from scratch'?



## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I must have been mislead and misinformed for the better part of my life about the term 'cooking from scratch'.

You see, in the world that I grew up in, 'cooking from scratch' meant that you started with the basic ingredients, and made a meal from those items. For instance, I've always been told that making a cake from scratch included flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk and butter. Biscuits made from scratch includes flour, shortening, baking powder, milk, and sugar.

But I have to tell you, I keep meeting people who say to me, usually boastfully and arrogantly, as if I was the dumbest person on earth, that they cook from scratch. "We cook all of our meals from scratch", they generally say first. "It is so easy to cook from scratch. Just cook 16 ounces of Creamette pasta in water, and heat a jar of Ragu. Add a side of Green Giant corn from the freezer as a side. You could cook all of it in a microwave" they say, making sure they add a bit of sneer to the tail end of their comment, just to make it sting a little.

At that point, I usually start tuning these people out, and simply bite my tongue. Sometimes, during these conversations, my mind will drift to more important things, like who might win the 2013 Indianapolis 500, or whether the extra money the stores charge for Michelin tires is really worth it. 

So, what is your definition of cooking from scratch?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

My definition is the same as yours.

I do count opening my own jars of home canned pasta sauce as 'from scratch' though.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I'm with you. Cooking from scratch means chopping tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions, and etc.

Since we've improved our diet and gone Paleo/Primal, the grocery store is 90% useless. Go in the door, hang a right, cruise the veggie/fruit aisle, turn left along the back of the store, pick up a dozen eggs and some bacon, look for meat on sale (we have quite a bit of grass fed beef etc in the freezer already), pick up some kleenexes, and I'm DONE in the store. Kind of amazing how much is in there that I don't even need to look at. 

It is truly amazing to watch other folks check out and see that there is no real food in their carts.


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## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I don't consider any recipe that says "take a box of x and add a can of y and a bottle of z" as cooking from scratch.

At my house, the joke is that cooking a chicken dinner from scratch means waiting for the eggs to incubate, 6-8 weeks for the chick to grow up after hatching, then butchering it, cutting it up, cooking it. . . .


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Well, if I want chicken I go out and shoot a rooster that I raised from a chick one of my hens hatched......

I didn't raise the grain I fed the chickens though.

I grind grains and make my breads. If the garden was productive, I process the produce, otherwise I'm likely to buy frozen veggies to use. My goats produce our dairy so to have milk I have to persuade them to relinquish it.

How am I doing? LOL

I think there are degrees of scratch cooking and if some people can only manage to cook boxed pasta and put canned sauce on it, at least they didn't bring home McDonald's again.


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

I was raised on the popular definition. My mother baked cakes from scratch out the box all the time. And her frosting, where she mixed can frosting with a synthetic flavouring? Man, it was real cooking. And on holidays, watch out - she could make a mean canned pumpkin store-bought freezer burnt frozen pastry pie. This was the days before that fancy 'scratch' stuff like pre-rolled pastry sheets. You had to buy your scratch ingredients frozen and assembled, darn it!

I somehow ended up on the other side. One day I figured out I could make a poor man's worchestershire sauce and tomato sauce/ketchup. I brew my own vinegar because why not... grow my own meat. Cure my own meat. Now THERE is scratch. Generic days where I use market things the worst is pasta - but I usually make that too. Just when I feel 'off' or not up to it. I even try to avoid it and use lentils or polenta or cous cous instead. I just prefer whole food. If I can grind my own grain - the better! 

If I'm at someone else's house eating dinner 'scratch' is whatever they made - because there ain't no way I am lookin' a gift meal in the mouth. My mama may have not taught me what food was, but she taught me to appreciate it.


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

Like yours, Clovis... anything that comes in a packet is not "scratch". It may take more time and effort than popping a ready-made, frozen entree in the microwave, and is certainly preferable to that option, but true "from scratch" cooking requires basic ingredients combined in different ways to make real food.

I had a friend once who very proudly told me of making a cake "from scratch". Turned out, Betty Crocker had a hand in it, and pretty much all she did was add eggs, oil and water, and bake the darned thing. Nice cake, but not "scratch". And yes, you *CAN* taste the difference!


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

yea. from scratch has come to mean that you didn't eat out, I guess. But I am with you on the definition. We cook "from scratch" too. But I wonder where the term came from. Do you think it used to mean from raising and feeding the chicken "scratch" to butchering it to cooking it? I wonder... anybody know? maybe we inherited an already watered down version of the term. But even so, many of use would still be able to say they cook "from scratch" much of the time.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

Folks have to start somewhere - and if boxed foods help them rediscover or discover that they do have the power to make food magic - then good for the boxes and good for the folks just discovering that they can make food.

We cook from scratch almost exclusively. I will buy some canned tomatoes, tuna, and mayo. That's about it.


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## marytx (Dec 4, 2002)

My definition of cooking from scratch is like yours. But in all honesty, if someone was just looking at what's in my grocery cart, they wouldn't think I could cook at all. The things I buy at the store are to supplement the meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and milk I've grown and put up myself.


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## Fair Light (Oct 13, 2010)

I agree that cooking from scratch means starting with the basic ingredients...and even better if you grew or raised it as well....I have never found anything pre-made that is even "close" to homemade or from scratch...there is a cooking show called "Semi-homemade" with (Sandra somebody)..I had to laugh because I saw her take a store bought pie, put it in a pretty pie plate, crush it to fit the pie plate and heat in the oven...LOL...not my idea at all...


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## lordoftheweeds (Dec 27, 2012)

My wife makes a gazillion cookies for Christmas every year as gifts, she had been talking with a neighbor and and the woman asked if they could get together and make homemade cookies . Well that morning I drag out the kitchen aid, all the bins of flour,sugar and all the other stuff that goes into cookies and my wife goes to work making the annual holiday mess . Well then the neighbor shows up with about 20 packets of cookie mix. After a couple hours of my wife showing her how to make cookies from scratch she had seen enough. I guess dumping a packet into a bowl and adding water was homemade enough for her.


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

Fair Light said:


> I agree that cooking from scratch means starting with the basic ingredients...and even better if you grew or raised it as well....I have never found anything pre-made that is even "close" to homemade or from scratch...there is a cooking show called "Semi-homemade" with (Sandra somebody)..I had to laugh because I saw her take a store bought pie, put it in a pretty pie plate, crush it to fit the pie plate and heat in the oven...LOL...not my idea at all...


Sandra Lee. She is well-mocked in the cooking community. Google "Kwanzaa Cake". Seriously. Do it.


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

I decided I couldn't risk you guys not googling it:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we2iWTJqo98[/YOUTUBE]


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## BobbyB (Apr 6, 2009)

Cooking from scratch here means the same as it does at your house.


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## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

I've found that I have to scratch for a very long time before I can come up with enough to make even a couple of decent-size biscuits.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

I was in my 20's before I even knew there was such a thing as boxed cake mix! lol Luckily for me all the women in my family cook (and sew and knit and grow their own vegetables) so all I have to do is continue the way I saw everyone else do things. My boys cook from scratch too (but we don't call it that, we call it cooking) - you walk through my kitchen when I am cooking and you will be asked to stir this or measure that and they picked it up just the same as I did. The only thing I can think of that I buy for convenience is tacos - I make corn and flour torts but I hate frying taco shells.


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

Scratch means zero pre-made components to me. 

No mixes, no seasoning packages, no pre-made pie crusts, no jars or cans of sauces.


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Jul 28, 2006)

Well, ya see, you go down to the feed store and you buy a bag of scratch....


LOL, cakes from scratch do not come out of a box, pasta sauce from scratch does not come out of a can or a jar, and no meal should ever come in a bag from the frozen section.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Grandma always said near dinner time "Guess I better go see what I can scratch up, my backbone is rubbing on my belly". Since when is using a microwave...cooking? I am 56 and never owned one....Yet. We scratch cook everything here, we make the bread, noodles, cottage cheese, icecream, yogurt, cheese and butter. Grind the meat, nuts and grain. Not much this old country boy can't do....James


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## irregardless (Aug 9, 2012)

-Anything over 4 ingredients.
-If it's just me and the (3) kids- anything that needs any prep at all (microwaved, cut up, unwrapped, etc)


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

MILs favorite clam chowder recipe (and she was dead serious) that she got from a readers digest ad consisted entirely of 1 can of Campbell's clam chowder, and 1 can of Campbell's potato soup. That was her idea of "from scratch". Seriously, she would even make Sandra Lee roll her eyes. After training her up well on the virtues of eating well to improve longevity, she now is quite competent with rare, esoteric ingredients like "flour" and "eggs". 

I'd define "from scratch" as using mostly ingredients that aren't made up of other ingredients. 

What brings pure joy is when those ingredients come from your own homestead.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

I am going to make an angelfood cake! I am doing this because I am a masochist!

On my kitchen counter you will find: A large mixing bowl, a small mixing bowl, a regular bowl, a hand mixer, a spatula, a sifter, an angelfood cake pan, and a food processor.

For ingredients I have: a dozen eggs (from my chickens), cake flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and a couple other things, depending upon my mood.

In an hour, the batter will be in the pan, ready to bake. In two hours, you can have some.
*************************************

I am going to make gravy from scratch! Luckily, I don't have to be a masochist to do this!

I have: a pan, broth I have saved from cooking meat, some cornstarch, and a whisk. In 15 minutes, you can enjoy some gravy on your potatoes!

*************************************************

I am going to make.....

Nah, I figure ya'll get the picture.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

"Gravy is magic." ~ my youngest son
(who is picky about which whisk to use)


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Kwanzaa Cake. Horrifying on so many levels. 

Agreeing that scratch is scratch. I don't care what other people do, though, so clovis- ee-yeesh, whoever that is, tell them to take a hike if they're going to act like such a snot.


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## Bob Huntress (Dec 17, 2012)

I understand that scratch means base ingredients, yet, sometimes if there are several different things to make, I'll use some of the less scratch products. I don't appologize if not every dish at any giving meal is not scratch. While I have a cornbread recipe that I like, sometimes when it's my time to make supper and I am in a hurry, it might be Jiffy brand corn bread getting served, or what not. I'ld like to say that I'ld never do anything of the sort, yet, it wouldn't be true. Sometimes we have visitors that I really don't think are worth my time to make a chocolate cheesecake from scratch, and they'll be eating a some instant mix with a dab of cream cheese added and chilled in one of those store bought crust. I make a well recieved chocolate cheesecake that involves scrapping the centers out of generic Oreos, double boiling chocolate squares and forming my springform. I make it, but I also make a quick mix and chill. I can make some great cressants. I make my laminated dough the night before I make the cresants. I fold and roll etc. I use a small amount of sugar in with the butter and flour between the layers. If you use a fine sugar, like powdered sugar, it helps push the layers apart. It's a lot of work, so frequently I twist a the cardboard tube and deal with it. Sorry, but one thing commercial cooks tell me is that it is just as important to have that meal served in a reasonable amount of time. I no it isn't officailly scratch, but it is necessary sometimes to do what has to be done.


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## BlueCollarBelle (Oct 26, 2011)

I cook "from scratch" which amazes most of my friends. Mom didn't teach me much about cooking, she preferred to do it herself so when I got married 2 years ago to a guy who loves to eat, I jumped in and figured it out. He also loves to cook and we consider scratch to be prepared from mostly basic ingredients. I'd love to buy fewer and make more myself but its just the two of us and without a few preservatives, we would never be able to keep anything on hand. We just don't use it fast enough. So, I don't consider buying pasta for spaghetti cheating but I draw the line at opening the can. I make a mean spaghetti sauce, even if I didn't can the tomato sauce myself (an issue which I hope to learn to fix this season!)


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## MushCreek (Jan 7, 2008)

jwal10 said:


> Grandma always said near dinner time "Guess I better go see what I can scratch up, my backbone is rubbing on my belly". Since when is using a microwave...cooking? I am 56 and never owned one....Yet. We scratch cook everything here, we make the bread, noodles, cottage cheese, icecream, yogurt, cheese and butter. Grind the meat, nuts and grain. Not much this old country boy can't do....James


Since when is using a microwave NOT cooking? It's just another appliance. Or do you only cook outside, over a wood fire that you started by rubbing sticks together? Just kidding, but a microwave is a useful kitchen appliance.

To me, cooking from scratch means using commonly available raw ingredients. I make bread from scratch, but I don't grow and grind my own wheat. A better term for much of today's cooking might be 'home made'. To me, that would go up to, but not include, completely premade 'meals' that you heat and eat. I do a lot of 'home made' cooking that involves canned/packaged ingredients. I rarely have the time and resources to do 'made from scratch'.


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

NOTHING from a box

NOTHING from a can or jar

NOTHING from a bag.

Pancakes from "scratch" means you get out the flour, baking soda, salt, eggs, oil, milk, vanilla. You put them in a bowl and mix.

Cake from 'scratch' means you get out the flour, sugar, eggs, etc, mix it in a bowl and pour it in the pans.

Opening a box of bisquick and adding eggs and water IS NOT from scratch.

That's just my opinion.


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## nebula5 (Feb 4, 2003)

How about canned broth? If I make a make a potato/leek soup- cut up and saute raw vegetables, then use canned chicken broth, I consider that from scratch. But then I don't raise birds, or buy whole chickens to make broth.


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## wes917 (Sep 26, 2011)

My SIL asked me why there was so many dishes after I made dinner one night when they came over to eat. We do use boxed spaghetti and things. I have to purchase corn meal, flour etc. we can the small amount of leftover garden, freeze the extra berries if there are any, but I live in the city and don't have room to grow everything we need. We do can our own sauces and salsas, peppers, leftover soups etc but we do purchase meat from the butcher. I consider it from scratch even though we end up purchasing our bulk items from the store. I don't think opening a box is from scratch, and our microwave is for leftovers. 

Our family looks at us like we're nuts because it just takes to long to cook like us everyday. We both work full time, have two kids and still manage so I don't understand why everyone can't do it. Plus it tastes better and isn't loaded with salt.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

We cook from scratch using flour, baking powder, all the individual ingredients. Started this L-O-N-G ago. Found it to be cheaper actually than buying all those mixes and processed foods. No other definition applies.....


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Flour comes in a bag. Sugar comes in a bag. Salt comes in a box or bag...
I like to use store bought pasta. Ingredient list says "organic whole wheat", and nothing else. Making pasta from scratch is a lot of work, especially for one person for one meal. I can, and have, made pasta, but usually I use the pasta from the store. OTOH, the sauce has multiple ingredients and is much better freshly made without preservatives and other unpronounceable ingredients. 

I wouldn't dream of using hamburger helper or boxed mac and cheese, but I'm not going to condemn someone else for using those things. I think they would be healthier not putting that into their bodies, but it is their bodies, not mine.


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## kittyjo (Feb 10, 2005)

I grind my own flour and cornmeal then I make my mixes from that I make a cornbread mix and a whole wheat bread mix I make pancake mix I also use store bought pasta because of the ease of it just can't make time for everything cooking from scratch does take longer but is so much better tasting and better for you


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## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

After cooking and baking for about 50 years now, I like anything that gets a meal on the table FAST and easy!


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## Nomad (Dec 19, 2002)

The boss makes some things from scratch but a lot is from jars as well. Years ago when I first met her I made some Spaghetti from scratch for her. I used things from my garden including tomatoes, peppers and onions to make the sauce. She was quite impressed with my sauce and I suspect she had never seen any made with fresh ingredients before. 

Nomad


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

While scratch is the best (if the cook knows what they are doing), I'd sure prefer semi-homemade over McDonald's.
Some stuff from the store is pretty good. Frankly at 7AM on a weekday morning when getting ready for work, I'm not going to spend the time to make 'from scratch' biscuits, when the refrigerator type is almost as good.


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

Say what you want about Sandra - she makes the best cocktails EVER!


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

notbutanapron said:


> Sandra Lee. She is well-mocked in the cooking community. Google "Kwanzaa Cake". Seriously. Do it.


Wow! I googled it and watched the video. Just Wow! That has to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen "made". She really has a show doing things like this? Opening a can of apple filling? Wow, don't know what else to say. Towards the end of the video when she is adding corn nuts it crossed my mind that maybe this was a saturday night live skit.


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## BrightBay (Aug 6, 2008)

notbutanapron said:


> One day I figured out I could make a poor man's worchestershire sauce


Would you teach me, please?  I'd love to know how.


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## strawberrygirl (Feb 11, 2009)

My definition is the same as your's. 

Honestly, I don't cook everything from scratch, but I do what I can. I can't make pasta to save my life so I buy it. I think my mistake was using an electric pasta machine. Just add ingredients and turn on. Um no. It was awful. It comes out like dry sheets of plaster mixed with pebbles. 

One day I will get brave and try it again. Not with an electric pasta machine though. I gave it away. ound:


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I grew up in a household where the basic cooking phrase was "Ya cant get a square meal out of a round can". I buy most of our spices, sugar, flour and other staples, but I like to put the meal together myself.


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## lordoftheweeds (Dec 27, 2012)

No ingredients I can't pronounce


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

BrightBay said:


> Would you teach me, please?  I'd love to know how.


It's not a technical Worcestershire because it doesn't have anchovies, but it tastes just as nice... also, sorry about the metric:

750g Green Apple [I'd say this is four large grannys]
225g Sugar [a cup?]
60g Garlic [60g is the same weight as an egg... so an egg of garlic? LOL]
1 tsp chilli powder
1 teaspoon cloves, whole or ground
25g salt
2.6L apple cider vinegar [little over half a gallon]
500g treacle [1 3/4-2c or so, this should be heavier than the sugar]
Alternatively, get a scale and press 'metric'. XD

Boil all ingredients except treacle for two hours and strain. Add treacle and boil for 10 minutes. Seal - mature at least 3 weeks.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Scratch same as you but go back to when I was a Kid nothing was measured  Try that now days and explain how you make it.I guarantee you will get the Deer in Headlights look from many. ound:

big rockpile


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## fransean (Dec 21, 2002)

I cook "from scratch" as much as I can but time does not always allow. 

I use my microwave a lot. That said it is hardly ever used for actual cooking. I picked out one that has buttons such as "melt" "soften" and "express defrost". This is ever so helpful when you wakeup in the morning ready to bake and discover someone used the last of the butter in the fridge that you were planning on using and all the rest is frozen  Also helpful when someone forgets to take meat out of the freezer and it is getting close to dinner time!


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

big rockpile said:


> Scratch same as you but go back to when I was a Kid nothing was measured  Try that now days and explain how you make it.I guarantee you will get the Deer in Headlights look from many. ound:
> 
> big rockpile


I"m writing a cookbook like this. Cooking stuff that tastes the best IS really about a lack of measuring. Since each tomato has a different flavour from the next and a different acid content - the other ingredients need to match. Your spices could be older than the recipe calls for and less potent, etc.

I've been working on writing a book that focuses on appearances of food as well as flavour of results. It's actually quite hard to do. D:

I love cooking this way. Sometimes I feel exact recipes are like chains. I edit even high-end chef's recipes if I see fit. Only one cook I don't edit: Maggie Beer.


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## TxHorseMom (Feb 21, 2011)

OK, I'm probably going to make yall mad at me, and maybe it's just because I can't tell the inflection of voice on a computer, BUT most of you "sound" pretty condescending over your "I cook from REAL scratch." Seriously, what does it matter? Most things I make from scratch. Cornbread, mashed potatoes, fried chicken etc. The majority of things really, but I DO use pasta and other convience foods sometimes. I generally use a box cake mix, but make the chocolate buttercream frosting myself. I'm just glad my family and friends aren't as judgemental as many of you seem to be.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Our scratch-made Thanksgiving meal started with catching the live turkey


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

Same as yours: basic ingredients. That's how I was raised. That's how we cook.


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

That kwanzaa cake video is gagworthy


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## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

Yep! Starting with the staples, spices, fresh meat and vegies, etc. and winding up with a meal is cooking from scratch


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

clovis said:


> "It is so easy to cook from scratch. Just cook 16 ounces of Creamette pasta in water, and heat a jar of Ragu. Add a side of Green Giant corn from the freezer as a side. You could cook all of it in a microwave" they say, making sure they add a bit of sneer to the tail end of their comment, just to make it sting a little.


I see cooking from scratch a lot like the way you do but... 

Unless you're taking a corn cob out of your garden and placing it directly on your table, I don't know how frozen corn is anything other than from scratch cooking. I don't know anybody who makes their own pasta so don't see why that cannot be considered homemade. I don't consider purchased pasta sauce to be homemade but I don't know that there's a huge difference between opening a jar of spaghetti sauce and opening a can of tomato sauce and doctoring it up to make spaghetti sauce. 

I guess I don't see why it really matters. Who cares if somebody cooks from scratch or not. To each his own. I think it's better to eat jarred spaghetti sauce at home with one's family than to eat fast food in the car.

My daughter loves "my" brownies. They're awfully yummy but they do come from a box of chocolate chunk brownies we got at Sam's. Sad to say they're better than any recipe I've made from scratch.

What really bugs me is when a company says they sell home cooked food. Ummm, how in the world does one make homemade food in a factory?


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

TxHorseMom said:


> OK, I'm probably going to make yall mad at me, and maybe it's just because I can't tell the inflection of voice on a computer, BUT most of you "sound" pretty condescending over your "I cook from REAL scratch." Seriously, what does it matter? Most things I make from scratch. Cornbread, mashed potatoes, fried chicken etc. The majority of things really, but I DO use pasta and other convience foods sometimes. I generally use a box cake mix, but make the chocolate buttercream frosting myself. I'm just glad my family and friends aren't as judgemental as many of you seem to be.


I don't think anyone is looking down on folks that don't cook from scratch; I think they are looking down on people who think that making a cake out of a box that says "Betty Crocker" IS making it "from scratch".

~smiles~ I don't know how old you are, if you are native, or if you were brought up rural, but do you remember the older ladies sniffing and talking about others, and one of the worse things they could say about someone was, "Oh, bless her heart, she makes her biscuits from a can."?

That would be the epitome of being judgmental towards someone who doesn't cook from scratch.

However, a vastly different thing would be, "Oh, bless her heart, she thinks if she takes biscuits out of a can and bakes them, they are from scratch!"

We're pretty much engaging in the latter on this thread.


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> Pancakes from "scratch" means you get out the flour, baking soda, salt, eggs, oil, milk, vanilla. You put them in a bowl and mix.


Pancake mix from scratch is the easiest thing to make in large batches. Thank you Alton Brown. We make waffles for Sunday breakfast religiously. Every six weeks, we need to make a new batch of mix.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

Scratch = basic ingredients here too.


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## BlueberryChick (May 12, 2008)

My husband's grandmother was well known in the family for her wonderful cooking, and made most things from scratch (she knew how to raise her own chickens and prep them for the table). However, she was quick to use a box mix if it made her life easier on a busy day.

Just the other night, I served leftovers from New Years Day, including collards and dried peas I had soaked the night before. The one thing I added was a box of Jiffy cornbread. My niece was here and loved the cornbread. She said, "It's just like Nanny used to make!". I told her well, now you know her secret.


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## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> I'm with you. Cooking from scratch means chopping tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions, and etc.
> 
> Since we've improved our diet and gone Paleo/Primal, the grocery store is 90% useless. Go in the door, hang a right, cruise the veggie/fruit aisle, turn left along the back of the store, pick up a dozen eggs and some bacon, look for meat on sale (we have quite a bit of grass fed beef etc in the freezer already), pick up some kleenexes, and I'm DONE in the store. Kind of amazing how much is in there that I don't even need to look at.
> 
> It is truly amazing to watch other folks check out and see that there is no real food in their carts.


 
sometimes if you saw me then you would think the same thing... however, you wouldn't know that my "real food" has been canned, frozed, dehydrated, smoked etc at home and that I may just be at the store for some "junk food" for a party or whatever. You never know the reasons behind things you see... that's why I leave the judging of people up to others who do it better.


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## SunsetSonata (Nov 23, 2006)

TxHorseMom said:


> OK, I'm probably going to make yall mad at me, and maybe it's just because I can't tell the inflection of voice on a computer, BUT most of you "sound" pretty condescending over your "I cook from REAL scratch." Seriously, what does it matter?


What Caliann said. Cooking is such a lost art that anyone who picks it up these days think ANY cooking warrants the "from scratch" term. They figure if they put any work into the cooking that they did it "from scratch" and they just don't realize that that's not exactly what it means.

In my mind, using a bag of Green Giant corn does not automatically mean that a meal was not made from scratch. Most people do not raise their own meat, or make their own cheese, or grind their own wheat, yet can still use those ingredients to create something from scratch. It's nice to be able to say you've used your own home grown ingredients, though.


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

i agree about cooking from scratch with you, but I generally don't go out and kill the steer myself


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## sidepasser (May 10, 2002)

My definition is the same as yours. When I cook a cake, I start with All purpose flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, etc.

Same for spaghetti sauce, I start with tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. When I had my farm and grew a lot of tomatoes, I made my own tomato sauce. This year I barely had enough tomatoes to make salsa.

I hardly ever buy anything "ready to cook". I do buy Progresso Soup but never claimed to make their soup myself. I will eat that for lunch sometimes if I don't feel like eating a real "meal".

But cooking from scratch means that you have to assemble the ingredients and that means everything. But I reckon if someone cooks at all these days that is to be applauded, so many do take out every day.


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

Yesterday we had waffles for breakfast. I made them from flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and bacon fat. I call that "cooking from scratch".

Tonight my husband wanted pizza. I started at 3:00 p.m. making the dough for the crust and making the sauce from my home canned tomatoes. Sauce simmered for a couple of hours. I shredded the cheese, took the onions and green peppers I froze last fall from the freezer and browned the sausage. The sausage we get from another farmer. I did use store bought pepperoni. I call that cooking from scratch. Supper was ready at 6:30. Pizza is not a simple phone call here.

Funny story: A friend of my husbands said to me one day, "M said that you take your pie filling from a can, Mary. I said I didn't believe it but he said to ask you. So, do you make pie from canned filling?"

I gave my husband the evil eye and said,"Our sons decided that if I am the one that put the pie filling in the JAR last fall and I made the crust myself, then dumping the jar into the crust and baking it still counts as making it from scratch." His friend hee hawed and agreed with the boys!


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## notbutanapron (Jun 30, 2011)

countrysunshine said:


> Yesterday we had waffles for breakfast. I made them from flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and bacon fat. I call that "cooking from scratch".
> 
> Tonight my husband wanted pizza. I started at 3:00 p.m. making the dough for the crust and making the sauce from my home canned tomatoes. Sauce simmered for a couple of hours. I shredded the cheese, took the onions and green peppers I froze last fall from the freezer and browned the sausage. The sausage we get from another farmer. I did use store bought pepperoni. I call that cooking from scratch. Supper was ready at 6:30. Pizza is not a simple phone call here.
> 
> ...


OMG My husband takes a jar of my canned pasta sauce, pulls out a packet of my home dried pasta, throws in my home-dried tomatoes and my marinated mushrooms and says to me, "LOOK I MADE DINNER."

No, you put together everything _*I*_ made, you credit-stealing vagabond.


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## Bob Huntress (Dec 17, 2012)

"...but I generally don't go out and kill the steer myself"

From what I am reading that is fine and acceptable as long as you don't claim that you made it from "scratch". This evening I made bread from wheat that I had grown and oil that I hand squeezed from corn. I milled the wheat in a food processor. I traveled thru 13 states looking for a hemlock with enough yeast in the bark for my from scratch bread loaf. A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of the ocean pulling up pieces of string with sea salt to get the 1/4 teaspoon of salt for my bread. Unfortunately, I ruined it all by spreading butter that I didn't churn all by myself, even though I bottle raised the calf and mother for three generations of cows and seperated the cream with a spoon. I could just die having to face folks that might judge me poorly for not making my bread from scratch. Woe is me. Since my hands were stung hundreds of times while reaching into a wild bee hive getting the honey for this loaf, it is becoming hard to type with my fingers all swollen. At least forgive any typo's as the result of my stung hands.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

ronbre said:


> i agree about cooking from scratch with you, but I generally don't go out and kill the steer myself


What? You don't eat at Mel's Char Palace?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ms00_saturday-night-live-mel-s-char-pala_fun#.UOoz_qxH6V8


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

(anyone know how I can get the video to load here?)


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

I'm looking forward to the homestead cooking from scratch reality show for tv series. Oh the places that could go!


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## Solarmom (Jun 17, 2010)

I cook dinner from scratch every night...the ragu opening folks do not have a clue..

Kris


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

Yes, cooking from scratch is seen differently. I make my own Marinara Sauce from my own tomatoes, onions, garlic, and most of the spices from my homegrown herbs. Then I can it, to use when I need a quick meal. I can my own homegrown fruits and veggies. No, I don't grow my own grain and there are other exceptions, too. Good points made about the ingredients used for scratch cooking. I'd have a hard time giving up cocoa powder!


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## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

Cooking from scratch is using basc singular ingredients to make a recipe. So bread is flour, water, oil, salt, yeast not frozen premade dough than on the counter.

Microwaves are only for thawing frozen stuff or reheating left overs in our house. Food cooked in microwaves tastes so nasty I can't even describe it!:yuck::yuck:


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

The simple ingredients could include commercial canned corn or homegrown canned corn, so that would make it different in my opinion, but not necessarily in others' opinions. The egg could be commercial or straight out of the nest box, from a home raised chicken. The water could be public with flouride, etc..., or pure well water. The milk could be store bought or straight from a milk cow. The flour could be purchased or homegrown and ground. All aforementioned are indeed basic, but certainly different.

I made a Dungeness Crab Corn Chowder that was raved over, but we have no cow, yet caught, shelled, and froze it beforehand (in milk). My canned crab turned out better than any I have tasted. I had brought that chowder to our networking social.

Sticking to basics, without eating processed chemical laden foods, is so much better for us all. Doing our best with what we have is all we can do.


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## Steve in PA (Nov 25, 2011)

Like was mentioned above, going paleo has made a big difference. My wife is struggling with the transition, but loves feeling better and losing weight.

I grew up with OP's definition, but my mother didn't work outside the home. Both of my wife's parents worked, so her mom cooking was opening boxes or cans. Notbutanapron's reply made me laugh because the in laws still 'bake' pies for dinners that are pre made shells and canned filling. To them that's a big deal.

Gradually my wife is coming around to my notion that just because that chemistry experiment is called food doesn't make it food.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

> I cook dinner from scratch every night...the ragu opening folks do not have a clue..


I like RAGU and since both DW and I work outside the home for pay. I consider a bottle of Ragu with some saute'd sausage/hamburger, diced onions and peppers, mushrooms added to it, served over some spaghetti I took from a box and boiled til it was al dente' and served with some grated cheese to be as home made as I'm going to get on a work night.

Sounds good for dinner tonight. I may even stop at the store and pick up some french bread to warm up with butter and garlic powder.

The air of superiority on this thread is really something else.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

mnn2501 said:


> I like RAGU and since both DW and I work outside the home for pay. I consider a bottle of Ragu with some saute'd sausage/hamburger, diced onions and peppers, mushrooms added to it, served over some spaghetti I took from a box and boiled til it was al dente' and served with some grated cheese to be as home made as I'm going to get on a work night.
> 
> Sounds good for dinner tonight. I may even stop at the store and pick up some french bread to warm up with butter and garlic powder.
> 
> The air of superiority on this thread is really something else.


No one is saying that doing that is wrong but just don't call it "cooking from scratch". 

For dinner tonight, I'm using prepared pesto, some pregrilled chicken, boxed pasta and broccoli rabe that I will clean and cut. It's a great meal, one that my family loves - but not one I'd say was from scratch. But that's OK. I don't need to cook from scratch all the time!


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## countrysunshine (Jul 3, 2008)

Annsni said:


> No one is saying that doing that is wrong but just don't call it "cooking from scratch".
> 
> For dinner tonight, I'm using prepared pesto, some pregrilled chicken, boxed pasta and broccoli rabe that I will clean and cut. It's a great meal, one that my family loves - but not one I'd say was from scratch. But that's OK. I don't need to cook from scratch all the time!


I agree completely. I do cook from scratch a lot BUT when I work a 12 hour shift, I generally don't. My husband LOVES what I call "kid foods". If he is the one getting supper ready it is either leftovers I fixed or "kid foods" - chicken nuggets, pigs in a blanket, mac n cheese, cottage cheese, apple sauce, canned fruit, etc... We say he "fixed supper." He knows it isn't cooking - from scratch or otherwise.

Thirty years of marriage and I still occasionally get asked, "Where is the Bisquick?" I have never ever used it. His mom does all the time. He still misses it. It is comfort food for him.


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## Oggie (May 29, 2003)

I've been told that my brother-in-law is a scratch golfer.

I guess that I'm now impressed.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

Annsni said:


> No one is saying that doing that is wrong but just don't call it "cooking from scratch".
> 
> For dinner tonight, I'm using prepared pesto, some pregrilled chicken, boxed pasta and broccoli rabe that I will clean and cut. It's a great meal, one that my family loves - but not one I'd say was from scratch. But that's OK. I don't need to cook from scratch all the time!


OK - I lied. I didn't make this for dinner tonight. DD cooked - just about from scratch in my opinion. Sausage and peppers but the sausages were from the store and we used canned tomatoes from the store. But I'd say it was close to scratch. LOL Heck, it was perfect because I didn't have to cook!


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## SageLady (Jun 10, 2008)

My definition of cooking from scratch is the same as yours, Clovis.

I think some people think they cooked from scratch if they heated up some convenience food at home cause they didn't go out and eat fast food....


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## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

Lol I'm not sure why people are getting all but hurt over heating prepared food not being cooking from scratch. LOL


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## SunsetSonata (Nov 23, 2006)

For brevity's sake: Just because someone has put in the effort of cooking, does not automatically mean that person has earned the term "cooking from scratch." 

If the main ingredients include a box with directions or a jar of sauce someone else already made, and you think you cooked from scratch, then you simply misunderstand the DEFINITION of cooking from scratch. 

Basic ingredients that someone else made commercially available - sugar, milk, flour, butter, meat, cheese, spices - can be used to make something from scratch. I would count canned tomato paste or canned tomatoes as a basic ingredient, but not tomato sauce, as someone else prepared its flavor. Those who use tomatoes from the garden, and cooked using nothing but basic ingredients, can claim they cooked from scratch, AND used home-grown ingredients.


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## Traveling Lady (Sep 20, 2020)

clovis said:


> I must have been mislead and misinformed for the better part of my life about the term 'cooking from scratch'.
> 
> You see, in the world that I grew up in, 'cooking from scratch' meant that you started with the basic ingredients, and made a meal from those items. For instance, I've always been told that making a cake from scratch included flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk and butter. Biscuits made from scratch includes flour, shortening, baking powder, milk, and sugar.
> 
> ...


I was also raised where cooking from scratch was starting with basic ingredients. So I found a recipe for Hummus from scratch, on-line. i was very disappointed to see the "from Scratch" hummus had canned garbanzo beans. I know how to open a can, I was looking for "from scratch" for how to cook the garbanzo beans. So i thought maybe I was wrong about what from scratch means and found this post. Just wanted to vent to some like-minded people.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

From scratch means ingredients to start (for me.) I might bend a bit for canned garbanzos in a pinch, but I recently cooked garbanzos from the dry state in my "Instant Pot" to make hummus.


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