Worth Making from Scratch | Pad Patter 3.4

[bestcee]

Last night for dinner we had homemade mac and cheese. I used it as a learning opportunity for my kid in economics. Which got me thinking, along with all the food talk,

What is something that you make from scratch because it's worth it?

90% of our bread is homemade, and I find it worth making. I hate that it molds faster of course. Also, mac and cheese is from the box when it's lunch, and homemade when it's dinner.

My latest addition to this list is pudding. Munchkin talked me into pudding cups the other day. I forgot how much better homemade pudding is! So, I'm swearing off the cups, and sticking to homemade.

So, what's your favorite made from scratch items? Bonus points for recipes!

 

[umyesh]

We had homemade mac last night too!

Biscuits and pie dough are worth making from scratch. I've started using Mel's Kitchen Cafe buttermilk biscuit recipe. I love that I can just scoop them instead of rolling them out!

 

[littlekiwi]

I have to make most things from scratch because of intolerances - lactose, garlic & onion! Though in saying that even if I didn’t have intolerances I’d still make a lot of my own bits to save $$$.

Some stuff I can get away with not doing from scratch but Mac & cheese, custard, rice pudding, cheese/white sauce I definitely need to make unless I want to go down the dairy free route rather than lactose free which I don’t need.

The garlic & onion intolerances are newer so I’m still figuring them out. My fave pasta sauce is a prepared Jamie Oliver Sauce but I’ve started to use (with minor changes due to intolerances) this recipe from Jamie Oliver - 7 Veg Tomato Sauce https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/seven-veg-tomato-sauce/

 

[Angela Toucan]

we cook nearly everything from scratch. We have lots of reasons including allergies and health needs that require us to ensure particular balance of carbs, proteins and vegetables etc.

When we've had something processed the children have always commented on how homemade is so much better.

 

[bestcee]

I've started using Mel's Kitchen Cafe buttermilk biscuit recipe. I love that I can just scoop them instead of rolling them out!

Oh! I'll have to try that one out! I've been keeping buttermilk around more lately.

this recipe from Jamie Oliver - 7 Veg Tomato Sauce

Oh, that looks great! I'm sorry about the garlic and onion intolerance. Is it only the fresh or can you use dried or spices?

When we've had something processed the children have always commented on how homemade is so much better.

That's awesome! My son gives me mixed reviews. I think sometimes he just wants to have whatever other kids have.

 

[carrie1977]

My hubby makes an amazing homemade alfredo sauce. Soooooo much better than anything from the jar. Also more fattening but we aren't talking health here, right?

 

[Memaw2Wm]

Do mashed potatoes count? I have a lot of friends who use the boxed potato flakes.

I make mine with Yukon Gold potatoes (yellow), a can of evaporated milk, a stick or two of butter, plus salt and pepper.

I don't cook much anymore due to picky eaters ... that said my "housemates" (DD and her kids) are mostly grown ... only Chase (15) is under 21 at this point.

 

[IntenseMagic]

Mac & Cheese for sure, even though DS would prefer Kraft.
Mashed potatoes, too. I always add a little sour cream to mine.
Alfredo sauce, definitely! It's probably the very best thing that I make.

 

[gonewiththewind]

I prefer the taste of homemade, but it all depends on how I'm doing with my chronic pain. If it's a bad day, then box mac and cheese sounds amazing. LOL If it's a good day, it's not that much more to create my own sauce but it does involve a lot of stirring and standing so that's why I have to assess. Sometimes my assessment is way off and I start doing all the work, and then realize I'm gonna be miserable at the end of it.

Honestly, I'm more like a semi-homemade gal. If there's a corner I can cut and have it not change the taste, I'll take the shortcut. So while I do use box mac and cheese or flavored noodle packs that my kiddos love to eat, I'll "jack them up" (hubby's phrase). That means adding extra butter, cheese, garlic salt, etc.

One thing I can't stand at all is alfredo sauce in a jar. There is no fixing that business. My homemade alfredo sauce is the one thing I can say is absolutely worth making from scratch. And it has to use the best parmesan, shaved, that doesn't have that preservative powder all over it. This is it and it's amazing:

 

[littlekiwi]

@bestcee its not a garlic/onion allergy but more of an intolerance so it’s more to do with quantity rather than type or form of garlic or onion

 

[bellbird]

One thing I can't stand at all is alfredo sauce in a jar. There is no fixing that business. My homemade alfredo sauce is the one thing I can say is absolutely worth making from scratch

100% agree - any white sauce, i don't know what they do to it to make it shelf stable or even just last a few days in the chiller section, but any white-ish sauce is definitely worth the 'from scratch' effort

 

[bellbird]

Do mashed potatoes count? I have a lot of friends who use the boxed potato flakes.

there are probably other things i make from scratch but don't think of them that way, like it would never have occurred to me to use anything other than actual potatoes that i peel and all myself (and mix with sweet potato or white beans etc) so i don't really think of making mashed potatoes as a 'from scratch' thing, it's just 'a normal thing'

 

[BevG]

Alfredo sauce for sure (DD triples the called for cream cheese so you know it is good)
Refried beans in crockpot (no fat, just beans, garlic, onion and spices)
Mashed potatoes - for sure, I hate instant
Mac & Cheese (I use the recipe that was shared on here somewhere)
Spaghetti sauce (diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, meat, onion, garlic, & lots of herbs & spices until it tastes right)

 

[dotcomkari]

I LOVE the taste of almost everything homemade and I cook a lot due to that fact. .. mmmm
things though I make a lot include:

Mac and Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Bread
corn Bread in bacon grease.. mmm
cookies
brownies
other sweet goodies.. *L*

 

[rach3975]

I'm sure there are some things, but I can't think of them--like Justine said, they're probably just things I think of as normal to make that way and think using the processed version is the unusual way.

I've been making mashed potatoes from scratch for years, but there was a period when the kids were very little and I had no time for anything that I used the boxed flakes. My 17 year old, who is such a picky eater, still complains when I make them from scratch. He likes the taste but hates that homemade mashed potatoes have a texture other than completely smooth mush. Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure that if I served him the boxed flakes now he'd hate them. Maybe that's what I need to do...

 

[Memaw2Wm]

IMy 17 year old, who is such a picky eater, still complains when I make them from scratch. He likes the taste but hates that homemade mashed potatoes have a texture other than completely smooth mush.

My former husband refused to eat mashed potatoes b/c his Dad made lumpy ones once when he was a young kid and his mom was in the hospital after giving birth to a sibling. It drove me NUTS that he wouldn't even try mine ... or anyone's due to one serving of lumpy mashies.

 

[mary kate]

so i don't really think of making mashed potatoes as a 'from scratch' thing, it's just 'a normal thing'

Same here. (Also: I think my mother would turn over in her grave if I made mashed potatoes from a box )

Salad dressing
Mac and cheese (I have a recipe for an insanely delicious, high-fat, retro-style heart-attack-on-a-plate mac and cheese...but I also like Kraft dinner once in a while for its childhood nostalgia value)
Chocolate chip cookies (but my son also likes Chips Ahoy!)
Marinara sauce (I do used jarred; but if I have the time/inclination, I'll make it from scratch)
Chocolate pudding
Biscuits/scones (my mother called them 'tea biscuits')
Pie dough

Something I've never made from scratch: puff pastry. I just use the frozen stuff.

 

[cinderella]

Most of the things I cook are from scratch. It's more expensive and time consuming but healthier.
Recently I started making pizza dough. I prefer starving rather than buy the frozen supermarket pizzas, and now with covid all around us we don't order food that often. It took me 3 or 4 times of semi-successful tries (we ate it anyway), but now I've figured out what to do!

 

[bellbird]

Biscuits/scones (my mother called them 'tea biscuits')
Pie dough

Something I've never made from scratch: puff pastry. I just use the frozen stuff.

there is a crazy amount of recipes that use things like pilsbury dough or something kind of fresh & doughy in a can (that i imagine is in the chiller section over in the US) that we just don't have here, like if we want to make cinnamon rolls or put a scone type of dumpling/ USA 'biscuit' kind of thing on top of a casserole or similar, you make the dough from flour etc yourself, not just because your at home in a pandemic but because that's just how it is here.
Pumpkin in a can and stuff that you would use to make a pie 'from scratch'; if i wanted to do that, i can't so i just think of the way i cook them as normal - the only shortcut i can possibly think of is buying pre-sliced big roasting-size chunks of pumpkin from the shops (and still my brain says it doesn't take that long to chop up pumpkin and honestly it's one of the only things that grow super well and easily in our backyard so i wouldn't) but frozen flat sheets of pastry are such a wonderful thing!

 

[bellbird]

My hubby makes an amazing homemade alfredo sauce. Soooooo much better than anything from the jar. Also more fattening but we aren't talking health here, right?

that's part of the benefit of homemade/from scratch to me - i don't want a bunch of numbered preservatives, colourings, extra salt, filler etc in my food - cooking from scratch is part of my control freak streak ;-)