Forget already made; make it from scratch and save money
By Caroline Dipping

June 25, 2008

With the country in the throes of the worst food inflation in 17 years, consumers need to pull out all the stops (and their pots and pans) to get the most bang for their food buck. This is not the time to fork out $10 for a bag of premade frozen meatballs.
Scratch cooking – basic, timeless – is the little black dress of the culinary world.

By making such items as chicken soup, muffins, marinara sauce and even your own meatballs, you are practically guaranteed to save some change in the checkout line. The added benefits are quality control, healthier ingredients and, if you have kids in your midst, a chance to rope them into the kitchen to help cook every now and then.



ANGELA J. CESERE / Union-Tribune
Don't feel overwhelmed at the notion that you must purge every convenience item from your pantry or master the cookery skills of Julia and Martha. No one is asking you to churn your own butter. But you can bake your own bread, which would go nicely with a little pat of butter.

Cooking from scratch simply means cooking simply. It means using basic, healthful ingredients (think veggies, meats, fruits, whole grains) and not having to depend on pricey products laden with fillers and additives to get dinner on the table.

“The best food isn't cooked and boiled and processed and put through all these manipulations,” said Lee Blackmore, associate professor of culinary arts for the San Diego Community College District Continuing Education hospitality program, where he teaches basic cooking and food safety to young and old alike. “A lot of the money you pay for a name brand, packaged product isn't even for the food but for the marketing of that product.”

Blackmore suggests starting with a shopping strategy.

“Shop the perimeter of the grocery store where all the produce, meat and dairy is before you venture through the packaged-food aisles,” he said. “You can fill up your basket faster and more economically with wholesome, natural foods that way.”

Blackmore acknowledges that everybody is busy, but he advises people to look at cooking not as a chore but as an adventure. Surf the net for recipes, then carve a block of time on the weekends to cook in large batches and freeze several days' worth of entrees.

“When you are tired with no time during the week, you can defrost the entree that you made on the weekend, and just make a salad or steam a vegetable to go with it,” he said. “It's like a test. You do the hard stuff first and save the easy part for last.”

Here are a few foods that people often reach for in the supermarket for their convenience, but they are more economical and healthful, and almost as easy, to make at home. It may seem like a nickel here, a nickel there, but it all adds up.

AWASH IN SAUCE: MEATBALLS AND MARINARA

A pound's worth of homemade meatballs (which is quite a lot of meatballs – about six per person for four servings) will set you back about $3.50. With store-bought, you are paying about $1 more for the convenience, and getting a lot of saturated fat and some interesting fillers to boot. Can you say soy protein concentrate and dough conditioner?



ANGELA J. CESERE / Union-Tribune
To go with those homemade meatballs, you can jazz up a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes with a few on-hand staples such as garlic, oregano and olive oil, and call it marinara sauce for $1.75. Or you can crack open a 26-ounce jar of Ragu Traditional Organic Pasta Sauce for $3.65. You do the math.


Spaghetti With Meatballs
4 servings

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups canned crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper

1 pound spaghetti

MEATBALLS

1 large egg

1/3 cup milk

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 white onion, finely chopped

2/3 cup plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated asiago or parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey

To make sauce: In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, oregano and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, 20 to 25 minutes.

To make meatballs: In a large bowl, whisk together egg, milk, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper with a fork. Stir in onion, bread crumbs, cheese and parsley. Add ground beef or turkey and mix until combined. Form into 1/2-inch balls. Add meatballs to skillet, and spoon sauce over to coat. Place over medium heat until meatballs are just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions, about 12 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a bowl, pour the sauce and meatballs over the spaghetti, and toss gently. Serve with more parmesan.

(From Everyday Food, March/April 2003)

COMFORT IN A BOWL: CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Check out the soup kiosk at any given Vons on a weeknight. Chances are there's a small crowd pawing through the choices, trying to decide between Baked Potato Soup With Bacon or Tuscan Tomato Basil Bisque.

After all, who makes soup from scratch anymore?

Consider that the label on the 24-ounce tub-ette of Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup says it feeds three people (maybe if you're Keira Knightley). The price is $5.49, or $1.83 per serving.

But make your own soup at home (from a recipe by notable cookbook author Rick Rodgers, no less) and you have eight generous servings for about 53 cents per serving.


Farmhouse Chicken Noodle Soup
8 servings

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 yellow onions, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

3 celery stalks, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 (4-pound) chicken, rinsed, patted dry and cut into serving pieces

3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, plus chopped parsley for garnish

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon peppercorns

1 bay leaf

3 to 4 ounces wide egg noodles

Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add half of the onions, one-third of the carrots, and one-third of the celery and cook, stirring often, until the onions are golden, about 8 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces and cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the parsley sprigs, thyme, peppercorns and the bay leaf, reduce the heat to low, and cover partially. Let simmer, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface, until the chicken shows no sign of pink when the thickest parts are cut into near the bone, about 40 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken pieces and let cool slightly; keep the broth at a simmer. Remove the skin and bones, cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, cover, and set aside. Return the skin and bones to the simmering broth, cover partially, and continue to simmer for 1 hour.

Using a large spoon, skim any visible fat from the surface of the broth, then strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Rinse and dry the pot, return it to medium heat, and add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add the remaining onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the noodles and cook until tender, about 12 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, add the reserved chicken meat. Skim any visible fat from the surface. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into warmed bowls, garnish with chopped parsley and serve.

(From “Williams-Sonoma Chicken” by Rick Rodgers, Simon & Schuster)

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS: BANANA NUT MUFFINS

Flying out the door on a Monday morning, it's so easy to grab the muffin you purchased over the weekend from the supermarket's bakery section or to swing by the neighborhood bagel/muffin emporium. But to do so is to throw shekels to the wind. If you go the store route, you will pony up at least $1 per muffin, or upward of $1.70 at a fancy-schmancy bakery.

By baking your own, you could use up those overripe 'nanners languishing on your counter, throw in a little whole-wheat flour to boost the nutritional profile, and spend less than 50 cents a muffin. Yes, the homemade size is smaller than the glandular cases you see in stores, but you get 12 respectably sized muffins for future consumption.

Without getting too dreary, you are also saving yourself calorically by baking your own. A bakery muffin can cram in more than 600 calories and 30 grams of sugar.


Sour Cream Banana Muffins
Makes about 12 muffins

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix well. Whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt; combine with the butter mixture. Add the bananas, sour cream and vanilla; stir well. Fold in the nuts. Pour batter into the muffin cups to about 3/4 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn muffins out onto a rack.

(From “The Junior League Centennial Cookbook” by the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc., Doubleday)

PLAY DOUGH: WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD

A 24-ounce loaf of Oroweat 100% Whole Wheat Bread is going for about $4.40 these days at the supermarket. By baking your own, you shave the cost in half and lose the high-fructose corn syrup in the name brand. Bake up a couple loaves; they freeze beautifully for up to six months.


Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread
Makes 1 loaf, 16 slices

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 cup lukewarm water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

3 cups whole-wheat flour

3 tablespoons sugar

Heaping 1/2 cup dried potato flakes or 3 tablespoons potato flour

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them – by hand, mixer or bread machine – until you have a soft, smooth dough. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it's puffy and nearly doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Lightly grease an 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into an 8-inch log. Place it in the prepared pan.

To make a loaf with a braided top, cut off about one-third of the dough. Form the large piece into a loaf and divide the smaller piece into three equal sections. Roll each section into a long strand, and braid them together. Lay the braid lengthwise along the top of the loaf before placing it in the pan.

Cover the loaf gently with lightly greased plastic wrap and allow it to rise until it has crowned, about 1 1/2 inches over the rim of the pan, 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 hours. Near the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Uncover and bake the bread for about 35 minutes, tenting it with foil after 15 minutes. The bread is done when it's golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 190 degrees. Remove it from the oven, and after a minute or so turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter, if desired; this will keep the crust soft. Cool the bread for 30 minutes before slicing.

(From “King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking,” The Countryman Press)

More High-Fructose Corn Syrup Time to take up bread baking. And now that the heat wave is temporarily gone now is as good as time as any.

I would never buy pre made frozen meatballs




They are so easy to make fresh and so much YUMMIER

Plus you can use better quality meats and fresh herbs and stuff

Frozen meat balls FREAK me out

mmmm banana muffins

Mach said:

the ones from IKEA are unbelieavably salty

This morning I am trying to find a new way to do a wonderful pork roast in the crock pot

ZombieKitten said:

Lots of premade things are way to salty ( to me ) Ick



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[Edited 6/26/08 7:21am]

Mach said:

The only pork I've ever cooked in a crockpot is a marvelous pork stew with acorn squash and BBQ pork, both I haven't cooked in a long while so the recipes aren't right at the top of my head. I really need to pull that crockpot out with this weather getting all sticky and stuff and give the ole stove a rest.

I find cooking from scratch to be a bit pricey, too. Especially if you're using quality ingredients, herbs, etc. There's a reason so many people eat fast food. Cheap & filling!

But your own cooking always tastes better!

Mach said:

Oh my god, I did a Pork Shoulder Carnitas style in my crock-pot and it was THE BOMB!!! There are a ton of recipes on the net for crock users and the meat is SO tender.

Pork & Chicken work super in the crock pot. Beef not so much unless you use the tough cuts.

Crock-Pot WOOOOO!!



Damn! Now I'm hungry...

NDRU said:

Yeah, it can be, but if you do it in bulk it comes out less, plus the health benefits, time in the long run. Then with everything going up, a lot of pre-made stuff is using cheaper ingredients or so it seems to me.

I make everything from scratch. Rolls, breads, muffins, spaghetti sauce, cakes, desserts, casseroles, pancakes, granola bars, cookies, soups...even fried rice and lo mein. With a six-person family, I can hardly afford not to!

ZombieKitten said:

Didn't Cef from South Park sing about salty Ball?????

morningsong said:

I'm just complaining! There's no comparison, scratch is always better if you've got the time.

Mach said:

its the MSG isnt it?

Any time I've tried to go make something from "scratch" it ends up costing me more than just buying what I'm after...

Tom said:

What are you guys making that ends up costing so much??

This thread is really cool...

horatio said:

dunno, but if you stop eating so much salt your tastebuds get their sensitivity back