I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, pre- packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? wd39
"Bubbablue" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]... > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > wd39 That's something I've found to be very annoying to, oh that sounds good...wait it calls for a mix. I do think the answer is that a) people are lazy and b) many people don't realize that it doesn't take much if at all longer to make simple things from scratch. On the rare occassion that I do use a mix or other processed thing that requires any prep, it usually takes me longer because I have to read the instructions a couple of times. When I took a cooking class in HS (no longer home ec in 1990) I remeber the instructor telling us that in many instances mixes were more economical. It may cost more than the $0.99 cent cake mix and $1.99 can of frosting for me to make a cake, but it's worth it. Jessica
Bubbablue wrote: > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? ...because most people do not like cooking. ~john -- "This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" -- Adolph Hitler, 1935 "Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal." -- Janet Reno US Attorney General
Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > It's so difficult because they can't find "from scratch" recipes. The recipes all call for cream of canned soup. HTH, Bob
Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. Try Alton Brown's recipe. I make one similar to his and it turns out great without any prepackaged crap. > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? The culture in the U.S. at least is that of convenience, not quality. -- John Gaughan http://www.johngaughan.net/ [email protected]
On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 20:36:18 +0000, Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? I shall charitably presume that you were looking in places where you might reasonably expect to find recipes that met your requirements. I have no idea where that might be, as I'd be hard put to find recipes such as you describe were I to look for one, but still, I shall mightily most charitably to presume. Given that you were looking in sensible places, consider a hypothesis. While people who _can_ cook from scratch are perfectly capable of substituting sauces and herbs for canned and packaged ingredients, people who can't cook from scratch are incapable of substituting _back_. The recipes as written can be used by both populations. A kindly person holding the well being of mankind to heart would be pleased. Noblesse Oblige, old chum. Or, you might try opening a second cookbook, but this time, look for one that ISN'T in the series "A Hundred Hotdishes For The Holidays". Martin -- Martin Golding | If you boil it, they will come. DoD #236 BMWMOA #55952 SMTC #2 |
On 8 Mar 2004 20:36:18 -0800, Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > wd39 Really! Especially when it's some dort of mix or tin that I can't readily get. -- Tim. If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't.
On 8 Mar 2004 20:36:18 -0800, [email protected] (Bubbablue) wrote: >I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. >Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, pre- >packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. Where on earth were you looking? With the exception of canned chicken broth, I just found a dozen non-packet recipes for roast turkey on a single web page. >Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? Why is it so difficult for people to grow their own vegetables? Or play the piano? Or bicycle? Interests differ. Tastes differ. There are cookbooks for everything from 3- ingredient dishes to labor-intensive haute cuisine. "Why is it so difficult...?" Perhaps because of time contstraints. Perhaps for economic reasons. Maybe they just plain don't care -- many don't. Does it annoy me? Not a bit.
On 3/8/2004 11:36 PM, Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > wd39 Yeah, last time I was at the bookstore I picked up some cookbooks to look at and one of them was like that -- add one can of this, etc. I put it back. -- jmk in NC
On 2004-03-09, Bubbablue <[email protected]> wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? No profit. Can't sell any products. In case you haven't noticed, the world wide web has degenerated into one big online mega mart. Googlemart! nb
Scratch will have different meanings for different people. For some, making jell-o at home instead of buying it pre- made is a big deal. I don't churn my own butter nor grind my own flour. There are some who would call buying both of those in the supermarket convenience foods. If you're having trouble finding recipes that use the right amount of preparation from scratch for you, the problem isn't with the other people, it is with your searching skills. Find a few basic cookbooks (easy) or basic websites (a bit harder) that suit you. Keep going back to them. --Lia Bubbablue wrote: > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > wd39
just had a conversation this morning with two friends about "lazy mealtimes."One said that her daughter did not have the time to cook as she worked, so everything came out of a tin or packet or freezer."So what" was my reply, i too worked full time and had 3 children but i still managed to cook proper meals made with fresh produce and baked etc.my friend then realised that she too brought up her family whilst working and that was in the days before she had a freezer.we all decided that living in a time of conveience "everything," that a whole generation of people are growing up not knowing how to cook from scratch and baking is a no no. the product of lazy parents are usually lazy children.At the moment we have two tv. programmes about obese people and it all boils down to what they are eating eg. fish and chips, pizzas, fast food rubbish etc.Anyway getting back to the thread, i too get annoyed with recipes that ask for a packet of frozen pastry etc. etc. so i do not bother with them and if i need a recipe i get out one of my tried and tested old books.What we need is to bring back cookery and baking to educate the young as part of the school curriculum. i teach my grandson (just turned nine) how to bake and he loves it.
Imagine you were looking for a job. Which do you suppose would have more openings and pay more: working in advertising for firm that made pre-mix food items like packets of seasoning, canned soup and dessert mixes, or writing cookbooks that include items that have been published dozens of times before like homemade chicken stock, from scratch pie crusts and salad dressing? Now imagine you're advertising some pre-mix food item. How would you go about it? Maybe by inventing recipes that use your products for ingredients? --Lia
"zxcvbob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]... > Bubbablue wrote: > > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > > > It's so difficult because they can't find "from scratch" > recipes. The recipes all call for cream of canned soup. > > HTH, Bob My MIL pretty much refuses to cook anything that has more than 4 or 5 ingredients. And water, by the way, may be classified as an ingredient. She can take some chicken, throw a can of mushroom soup on top, sprinkle it with some pre-mixed spice, and she's got something with different flavor instead of plain baked chicken. If she had to make something similar from a scratch recipe, it wouldn't be possible, and she'd never add the spices individually that you would find in a mix. Donna
"Jessica Vincent" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]... : : "Bubbablue" <[email protected]> wrote in message : news:[email protected]... : > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. Almost every : > recipe I looked at called for canned soup, pre- : > packaged spice mixes, : > and other pre-processed foods. : > : > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? : > : > wd39 : : That's something I've found to be very annoying to, oh : that sounds : good...wait it calls for a mix. I do think the : answer is that a) people are : lazy and b) many people don't realize that it doesn't : take much if at all : longer to make simple things from scratch. On the rare occassion that I do : use a mix or other processed thing that requires any : prep, it usually takes : me longer because I have to read the instructions a : couple of times. : : When I took a cooking class in HS (no longer home ec : in 1990) I remeber the : instructor telling us that in many instances mixes : were more economical. It : may cost more than the $0.99 cent cake mix and $1.99 can : of frosting for me : to make a cake, but it's worth it. : : Jessica : -------------- Yep. I know what you mean. A while back I related this to a time when I was in the Service. I must have been at a potluck or somebody's house... regardless, I asked for the recipe for something that I had liked... some woman had said it was so easy... "a box of this and some of that...". I then asked her to save the ingredient section of 'the box' the next time she made it. Upon her asking why I explained that I rarely used mixes because they were too expensive and that most things, I could make from scratch at a far less cost. She couldn't conceive that notion and now that I think about it, she never did give me that label... whoever she was and for whatever that dish was... Hmmm, guess it wasn't that great after all. LOL -- Cyndi <Remove a "b" to reply
"John Gaughan" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]... > Bubbablue wrote: > > I was looking for a recipe for turkey a few weeks back. > > Almost every recipe I looked at called for canned soup, > > pre-packaged spice mixes, and other pre-processed foods. > > Try Alton Brown's recipe. I make one similar to his and it > turns out great without any prepackaged crap. And what recipe is that? I still haven't seen any mention of any particular recipe. The original poster was talking about a recipe for turkey. I find that one does not need a recipe to make a turkey. One can purchase them at the supermarket or butcher shop. Charlie > > Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > The culture in the U.S. at least is that of convenience, > not quality. > > -- > John Gaughan http://www.johngaughan.net/ > [email protected]
On 3/9/2004 12:16 AM, Levelwave© wrote: > Bubbablue wrote: > >> Why is it so difficult for people to cook from scratch?? > > > > ...because most people do not like cooking. > > ~john hehe! Most people haven't *tried* cooking. They have just tried opening blueberry muffin mixes with fake little blue bits and adding egg and whatever else is necessary to reconstitute it... -- jmk in NC
On 9 Mar 2004 06:56:31 -0800, [email protected] (paula) wrote: >just had a conversation this morning with two friends about >"lazy mealtimes."One said that her daughter did not have >the time to cook as she worked, so everything came out of a >tin or packet or freezer."So what" was my reply, i too >worked full time and had 3 children but i still managed to >cook proper meals made with fresh produce and baked etc.my >friend then realised that she too brought up her family >whilst working and that was in the days before she had a >freezer.we all decided that living in a time of conveience >"everything," that a whole generation of people are growing >up not knowing how to cook from scratch and baking is a no >no. the product of lazy parents are usually lazy children. But, but, but...not everyone *cares* about hand-crafted cooking. Just as not everyone wants to garden, or paint, or go swimming. My mother, a "housewife," cooked 3 reasonably decent meals a day at home and occasionally tried new recipes, but AFAIK didn't have much interest in the process. She sometimes baked a cake or cookies, and she never mastered piecrust. She made many of my clothes when I was a kid (many dresses with smocking), she gardened a bit. She kept house. She participated in church activities. She had rafts of friends. I don't think she was "lazy" for not baking bread or putting up preserves or for using frozen veg. Cooking was not especially interesting to her. In fact, the popularity of home 'adventures in cuisine' probably was uncommon before the 60s. You got y'r Betty Crocker cookbook and away you go. 'Convenience' isn't a dirty word. For many, cooking is a boring, messy, but necessary chore. It isn't "lazy" to help your hamburger, if you're not interested in cooking noodles and making a sauce and washing extra pots, and your audience is perfectly happy to eat the result. Look at the number of posts asking how to make something that "tastes like" a commercial product. It isn't "lazy" to buy a packet of taco seasoning if you don't care to maintain a spice cabinet with half a dozen jars of cumin, oregano, chile, etc., and you like the taste of a mix.
In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (paula) wrote: > just had a conversation this morning with two friends > about "lazy mealtimes."One said that her daughter did not > have the time to cook as she worked, so everything came > out of a tin or packet or freezer."So what" was my reply, > i too worked full time and had 3 children but i still > managed to cook proper meals made with fresh produce and > baked etc.my friend then realised that she too brought up > her family whilst working and that was in the days before > she had a freezer.we all decided that living in a time of > conveience "everything," that a whole generation of people > are growing up not knowing how to cook from scratch and > baking is a no no. the product of lazy parents are usually > lazy children. I agree. While I don't completely avoid prepackaged foods (we keep canned tomatoes and beans around, there is a brand of boxed chicken broth I like to keep on hand for when I don't have homemade stock, we occasionally have a frozen pizza, etc), I make my own bread, we get good meat from the butcher and cook it simply and well most of the time, we buy produce in season and use it, we cook just about everything from scratch here, including making yogurt and preserves. I am a mother of 3 little boys under 6, tomorrow that will be 4 children. Now, this is my full time job, but it takes less than 5 minutes to make quesadillas on the stove for lunch or sandwiches or a salad and heat up some leftover soup from dinner, I can get dinner on the table from start to finish in less than 45 minutes, including getting all the ingredients out and prepared, most weekday main dishes take about 20-30 minutes to cook, make some pasta or rice or something to go with it in 10-15 minutes, steam some veggie in the microwave or on the stove in 5-10 minutes, you can do these things at the same time. Breakfast we cheat a little, as we stock cereals and milk or give them fruit and boiled egg with toast. We also cook up a triple batch of waffles or pancakes on the weekend and freeze the leftovers to toast up on school days. It is more that it takes some thought and mental preparation than that much time or effort. Regards, Ranee -- Remove do not and spam to e-mail me. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24
In article <[email protected]>, "Jessica Vincent" <[email protected]et> wrote: > That's something I've found to be very annoying to, oh > that sounds good...wait it calls for a mix. I do think the > answer is that a) people are lazy and b) many people don't > realize that it doesn't take much if at all longer to make > simple things from scratch. On the rare occassion that I > do use a mix or other processed thing that requires any > prep, it usually takes me longer because I have to read > the instructions a couple of times. I remember our boys' godparents offering to make pancakes for the family when they were helping us out after we had our last child. They wanted to know where we kept the mix. We said we used flour, baking powder, butter, eggs, etc. They bought mix. It was a little faster, and we were grateful for the meal, but we were glad when we used it up and were back to our "normal" pancakes. They taste better, have better texture, and really don't take _that_ much longer to make. Most people don't know what scratch cooking tastes like anymore. > When I took a cooking class in HS (no longer home ec in > 1990) I remeber the instructor telling us that in many > instances mixes were more economical. It may cost more > than the $0.99 cent cake mix and $1.99 can of frosting for > me to make a cake, but it's worth it. Because of the kinds of cakes I tend to make, they do cost more than a mix, but there are things like applesauce cakes and shortcakes and carrot cakes which are at least as cheap if not less. I can make macaroni and cheese for much less than the boxed stuff, and it tastes much better. Part of it is that we shop sales, use coupons and buy in bulk when it will save us money. I always check the mark down section in the store, and the cheap meat section of the market has fed our family well for years. We use our stale bread for croutons and french toast and bread pudding. We use old cornbread to stuff a chicken, we use the carcass to make stock. We use the leftover chicken and veggies to make pot pies, or rice casseroles. We take what is on sale and in season and make it work. I think the real test of a cook is not what s/he can do with great or expensive or optimal ingredients, but what can be done with cheap things, pantry items or leftovers. Now, not everyone is interested in doing this, but it is far cheaper and tastes better. Regards, Ranee -- Remove do not and spam to e-mail me. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24
