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I don't think the OP is badmouthing shortcuts, I mean we all use them. I think she is pointing out and is venting about the hypocrisy of calling your food "homemade" while using prepackged mixes and then feeling and telling everyone you are superior to others using different short cuts you don't approve of.
On a side note I can't help but roll my eyes when someone calls themselves a foodie. I personally find it silly and used by people to make them feel better then others.
Gone to several Thanksgiving where every dish was store made take home and unwrapped foods. Pretty common these days. I prefer store bought turkey since not much people have the time & skill to cook a proper turkey.
I prefer to use my own spices in chili rather than rely on a premixed packed because I can control the amount of each spice. But premixed seasoning works ok too.
It doesn't bother me. I have particular brands of seasoning that i find to have a well-balanced flavor. Trial and error taught me what ones I like.
I try not to let myself get annoyed by such things, and focus instead on the fact that they're cooking dinner for their family. It's becoming more and more uncommon, unfortunately.
This. 100% this.
Convenience foods do have their place, too. For some of us, they represent some of our true comfort food.
I understand totally what the OP is saying, and I agree. If I see a recipe that includes "cream of...soup" I pass by. Same with ranch packet/taco seasoning packet/gravy packet, etc. This did make me chuckle a little though, because JUST last night I made a pot of chili. With a lot of cans. I thought to myself, this has got to be the most prepared foods I use in ANY dish I make.
I make my own hollandaise sauce, taco seasoning and all sauces I use for anything. I DO used canned tomatoes and beans. Other than my chili, I have a chicken taco stew recipe for the crock pot that uses a lot of cans of stuff as well. But that's about it.
Man, I wish I had such an uncomplicated life that all I could find to worry about was what my FB friends were cooking and serving for dinner. Lucky you OP!
Seriously, if you cook it, not just warmed it over.....and even if you used canned soups or store bought seasoning, imo it is homemade. No big deal.
Sandra Lee - Semi-Homeade. Pretty long run on the Food Network so someone's cooking this way.
Isn't it supposed to be more about the time spent sharing a meal then about how the meal is prepped? I wish I grew up in a family that had dinner together most nights regardless of whether the cook made the mayonnaise or mac and cheese from scratch or not.
I began using store bought marinara sauce after I stopped to consider that most "home made" tomato sauce recipes call for cans of tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, canned puree, etc. I guess the more cans called for, the more complicated, and thus more "home made" one could consider the recipe.
Reminds me of the craze many years ago for adding pudding mix to a boxed cake mix. The manufacturers began producing the boxed cake mixes with the pudding already added and supposedly people complained. They wanted to add the pudding mix themselves.
Let me start by saying that I'm not anti-convenience food. i use them every now and then.
Yet, I never claim to be "against" convenience-type foods, either.
A friend of mine...well, she's more of an acquaintance, but we're friends on Facebook...anyway, she has talked trash to me before about her sister-in-law, who "Only fixes things like Hamburger Helper for her kids..." (And she feels so sorry for the kids, their mom should care more about them, blah blah blah...) Apparently, she's "much better" because she always cooks "homemade" food for her kids...
Yet, her claim to fame is the "Mississippi Roast," which is a roast that is plopped in the crock pot with a packet of ranch dressing mix, a packet of au jus mix and a few jarred pepperoncini peppers (and a whole stick of butter!!)...
Tonight, she posted that her husband forgot an important ingredient when he tried to replicate her "best" dip, and that when she got home, she added in the ranch packet...oh, and her daughter is a "foodie just like her mom" because she detected that it was "ranch" that was missing..
I guess I just don't see how a "Mississippi Roast" is anymore "homemade" or "from scratch" or "healthy" than Hamburger Helper. Actually, now that I think about it, it probably actually takes more prep time to brown the hamburger, etc. for HH than to dump a chunk of meat and a few packets into a slow cooker for the day.
It's not just this acquaintance, though. I see this all over Pinterest. Those who like to "cook at home because it's healthier and better for the whole family" but who use cream of mushroom soup, Lipton's onion soup mix and powdered ranch dressing, Italian dressing, gravy mix, etc. in every other recipe.
Listen, I don't have a problem with convenience foods. I still make green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup for the holidays because my mother-in-law likes it that way. My husband's not a fan of mac and cheese, so I'll still make my Velveeta shells and cheese every now and then because it's just me eating it. Other than that, though, I mostly cook from scratch. If a recipe has "cream of" soup or onion soup mix, I'll mostly pass on by. I don't have a problem with people cooking that way, though. I think what annoys me is the air of superiority by many who are so much better than others, when what they are making is just as processed (if not more so) than Hamburger Helper or a quick meal from a restaurant down the street.
Wasn't there a "cooking" show that was built on this whole idea? You add processed stuff and it's still homemade?
It is sad that "heating" means "cooking" or even "homemade" to some. Is it homemade if I'm the one that pops the microwaveable dinner into the microwave? ANYTHING counts as homemade now because so few people do any cooking whatsoever.
But no, there is a continuum where I guess it is hard to draw a line but I wouldn't count any of that as "from scratch". Just because I'm heating up velveeta to combine with salsa for a dip doesn't mean much of anything and I wouldn't credit myself for it. And I mean that I would not say it is wrong or bad but call it for what it is.
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I thought to myself, this has got to be the most prepared foods I use in ANY dish I make. 