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salad dressing from scratch is easy enough. I don't really like or often eat a lot of some other things mentioned (pretzels, etc...). Making soup at home is easy, you just need to be at home for a period of time. I think I'd rather have canned soup than bullion myself (neither of which I consider "from scratch"), but that's just me. Frozen and can veggies and meats aren't as nice as fresh, but I still consider that as "from scratch". Spaghetti sauce isn't something I eat a lot of that I stock as a convenience food. I don't make my own bread because I actually think some freshly made store bought breads can be better than what I could make at home. I eat a decent amount of noodles, and sure don't make those at home at all.
I cook a lot but I cheat. I usually start with something prepackaged and add to it for things like spaghetti sauce. I can get big cans for $1. I always make my own soup. Sometimes noodles too.
I enjoy cooking but sometimes I have to compromise. Love making bread but it's something I can only do occasionally.
Not from a box, can, or package. At least that's my definition.
But if you live in areas that don't have year-round fresh vegetables, one would either need food shipped from afar or frozen/canned.
In addition, do you milk your own cows or process your own oils? Salt and spices? All of those things are packaged. "From scratch" salad dressing would use a bottle of oil, maybe vinegar, etc...
I see a lot of posters who mention cooking "everything from scratch." I'm curious ... do people really make everything from scratch? What does that really mean?
I never buy canned soups. I make them at home. But I do use bouillon, canned beans, frozen vegetables, and other items I bought at the store. I make my own lasagna but buy the spaghetti sauce and noodles.
I know many people who bake their own breads and mix up their own meatloaves and pancakes, but ... cereal? Chocolate chips? Pretzels? Salad dressing?
I found it funny at my son's preschool when I asked if I could make his birthday cupcakes from scratch (due to food allergies, the school gave us info sheets on which manufacturers of foods were safe to use) and the teachers said that making them from scratch was fine, just use the manufacturers they recommended for cake mixes. I said no, I wanted to make them from scratch, and they said again, "use Duncan Hines/whatever-other-companies". It took me three times to explain what I meant. LOL! "Oh, from scratch-scratch!" they said. So yes, "from scratch" has a different meaning to different people. Opening up a box and pouring it in to me is not from scratch. I always bake from "scratch", although I don't raise my own cows/milk them/grow my own wheat/etc....but I make my own pie crusts/cakes/cookies without ever using a mix. I don't cook with canned soups, or boullion cubes. The only canned soup I buy is for myself at lunch, and it's Healthy Request without weird additives, but I wouldn't feed it to my family for dinner, unless we were seriously strapped for time. I bake a lot of our bread in a bread machine, but also buy sandwich bread, as my family eats a lot of sandwiches. However, I buy healthier, fresh-baked breads with healthy ingredients, not Wonder bread. I make my own sauces or buy healthy ones. (with healthy oils, no MSG etc.) I ALWAYS make my gravies from scratch though, like for Thanksgiving, and make my own broth, too. I don't make my own pasta, in fact we don't eat much pasta, anyway. I shop a lot at Trader Joe's, and lately at Whole Foods as well. Both stores have a wide variety of healthy, prepared foods, like crackers, etc. Kind of like buying "from scratch" foods that someone else did for me, I'm very fussy about ingredients. All that said, my youngest son right now is eating a chocolate dipped ice cream cone, so the kids still have their share of junk food. But again, everyone's idea of "from scratch" is different, and since people are so busy these days, I think it's a rare person indeed who makes absolutely everything completely, and totally from scratch, down to raising their own animals and crops. They have my sympathy if they do, it would basically take months to make a pie that way.
Honestly, I use a little of everything. Sometimes everything is from scratch and sometimes I have a little help from a package. When time is really tight the takeout arrives. In an ideal world I would like to cook every day, as I love food and love cooking. I can say this -- throughout many different life situations no one has ever complained.
Pancake mixes (Aunt Jemima) were available in the 1890s. Packaged mixes for biscuits (Bisquick/General Mills) were introduced in the 1930s. Refrigerator biscuits in the 1930's. Sources indicate packaged mixes for cake were introduced in 1920's. Betty Crocker/General Mills made them famous in the late 1940s. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in 1937. TV Dinners in the late 1940's.
So "Cooking from scratch" goes all the way back to the 1800's!!
Fresh or frozen veggies. The only canned veggies I'll buy are beets and Green Giant super-sweet yellow and white corn, but they also have extra sweet in the frozen section.
I love to make my own soups, but I'll crack from time to time and buy a can of Chunky chicken corn chowder. Yum.
Fresh fish, not packaged and seasoned/flavored.
I'll buy pasta, but I'm using whole wheat pasta now.
I'll buy bread, I'm not a baker.
I flavor my rice. No boxed rice/potatoes or dinners.
Good thread for sure. I like from 'scratch', but also cheat when I'm working and it depends on my mood, if I feel like 'scratch.'
I have canned spaghetti sauce because hubby and granddaughter like it () but if I'm cooking I'll use a can after doing my meat, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc., and add a can of diced tomatoes and water with some beef or chicken base, Better than Bouillon here too as I can't find my usual, let it cook, then add herbs and whatever else. If from scratch, then scratch the bought spaghetti sauce, I like it lighter especially in the summer. Buy the noodles most of the time.
Bread depending on the mood, but mostly bought and some type of whole grain.
Baked goods...scratch. Pie crust...usually scratch.
Soups...scratch.
Gravies, sauces,....scratch.
Veggies fresh if reasonable and freeze extra, or plain frozen and steam. Some canned on hand in case of emergency, but Lizzy will heat up a can of grean beans or corn for a snack...but rarely used for a meal.
Rice, usually I cook it, but sometimes will use the box rice-a-roni type things.
Casseroles...scratch...no hamburger helper allowed. Box mac and cheese if in a hurry.
Fruits...fresh other than mandarin oranges, pineapple, or maybe frozen berries.
I found a recipe for homemade mayo, and I think it sounds great. If a plain batch turns out, I'll try herbed mayo too. But it has raw egg in it, unlike store-bought mayo, which is pasteurized/cooked. I'm not particularly squeamish and will eat raw cookie dough, but I imagine that I'll be keeping homemade mayo in the fridge. I'm not going to whip it up every time I want to make a sandwich. (And we don't use that much mayo anyway--mostly mustards.) How long does it keep? Do I have to worry about packing the kids' lunch with it?
I think I will have to feed it to my husband a few times before I tell him it's raw egg, too.
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But again, everyone's idea of "from scratch" is different, and since people are so busy these days, I think it's a rare person indeed who makes absolutely everything completely, and totally from scratch, down to raising their own animals and crops. They have my sympathy if they do, it would basically take months to make a pie that way. 
) but if I'm cooking I'll use a can after doing my meat, onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc., and add a can of diced tomatoes and water with some beef or chicken base, Better than Bouillon here too as I can't find my usual, let it cook, then add herbs and whatever else. If from scratch, then scratch the bought spaghetti sauce, I like it lighter especially in the summer. Buy the noodles most of the time.
