Who cooks from scratch?

[Jaxson’s momma]

Yes to everything except homemade laundry soap, homemade mayo and homemade butter. I think the most people I’ve cooked for is 25

 

[Lari]

I think just 19.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

Only 26! I'm actually kind of disappointed. I rarely use convenience foods, and even taught myself how to cook Indian food and Korean food so I wouldn't have to spend all the money on pre made or take out. But some of the thing on this list gross me out. Mayo, brownies, and any salad other than one with lettuce and veggies? Gross!!

 

[Norachan]

5!



That's way more than I thought it would be.

 

[Willowy]

16, I think, unless I lost count. Also, we need to define terms. Like if it says "make chili from scratch", does that include using canned beans? Anyway I counted it, even though I've never prepared dried beans. I remember my mom trying to make stuff from dried beans and they always ended up too hard or too mushy.

I have made homemade mayo! It's soooo good. But it just doesn't keep and it's a lot of bother to make it for one sandwich so it's not something I do regularly.

You have to cook it to make it. Grease and lye (Draino).

Nowadays the recipes going around include Borax, washing soda, and grated Zote/Fels-Naptha. No cooking. But some of the other questions are non-cooking-related, like living in a house without a dishwasher, so I'm guessing it's just general domestic-type questions, not cooking-specific.

 

[furmonster mom]

…. I remember my mom trying to make stuff from dried beans and they always ended up too hard or too mushy.

I have made homemade mayo! It's soooo good. But it just doesn't keep…

I sometimes had that problem with dried beans being too crunchy, then I learned that you should not cook them in salted liquid. A lot of canned tomatoes have salt in them, so I quit cooking the beans in that. Cooking dried beans in plain water, then adding tomatoes and spices afterwards made a huge difference.

You’re right that homemade mayo doesn’t keep as long. Sometimes a bit of citric acid will help with that, but it still doesn’t last as long as the commercial product.

 

[Elphaba09]

I have done all but numbers 5 and 29. I have made plenty of different types of pies, but, given my cibophobia, I have never and would never make a disgusting one with those things in it. I am allergic to tomatoes, so I cannot make the sauce. My meatloaf does not have ketchup in it, and my chili is white chicken chili. (I know that Texans would scoff at me for my chili and say it is not chili. I am aware, but I am counting it.) My pizza also does not have tomato sauce. The last one I made was a pierogi pizza.

 

[Box of Rain]

Only 26! I'm actually kind of disappointed. I rarely use convenience foods, and even taught myself how to cook Indian food and Korean food so I wouldn't have to spend all the money on pre made or take out. But some of the thing on this list gross me out. Mayo, brownies, and any salad other than one with lettuce and veggies? Gross!!

If it makes you feel better, I'd much prefer to have homemade Indian or Korean food than Jello. Yuck! LOL

Bill

 

[maggie101]

Only 10. I am youngest of 2 sisters so they would do the cooking and not let me help. Now it's just me and 3 cats

 

[mani]

33. Some don't work for me as they tend to be an American thing. eg, cornbread isn't really a thing here, we very rarely roast turkeys, I'm not sure what 'made chili' means, no idea what a jello salad is...

 

[Margot Lane]

33. Some don't work for me as they tend to be an American thing. eg, cornbread isn't really a thing here, we very rarely roast turkeys, I'm not sure what 'made chili' means, no idea what a jello salad is...

I’d love to read an Australian version of this! 19.5 for me: made the pizza but bought the dough.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

40. I have never had a dishwasher, nor wanted one. They were pretty rare here when I was growing up. Never learned to cook, I don’t like doing it at all - two years of Home Eco at school hardened lack of interest into active dislike. Infind it stressful. Packet food and microwaving frozens was quite enough for me. These days I’m delighted to say I don’t have to do anything but reheat meals made for us and heat up porridge for my mother’s breakfast.

 

[misty8723]

20, some of it done when I was much younger.

30 I think. Some are like...we made butter in kindergarten as a class. Everyone took turns shaking the jar.

But I've never cooked a pot of beans (I have done split pea soup so maybe that should count?)

My mom occasionally made butter when I was a kid, and I helped sometimes, but it was the best butter I've ever had. I've never tried making it on my own.

I've cooked a lot of pots of lima beans over the years. Add ham and cook until they're mush Combine eat over rice. Delicious.

 

[betsygee]

About 30.

 

[catapault]

I believe I have done everything except making soap. Do have the ingredients for laundry soap - borax, washing soda etc - on hand as part of my covid preps. And if I have not fed 30 it has been very close. Have taught Dairy 101, twice, explaining / demonstrating how to make butter, yogurt, fresh cheese (like farmer's cheese), cultured buttermilk, etc.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I've cooked a lot of pots of lima beans over the years. Add ham and cook until they're mush Combine eat over rice. Delicious.

One of my old coworkers used to make us something called Lima Bean Pot Pie. It wasn’t a pie but it had like rolled and cut dumplings on top and it was creamy. She told us before not to ask for the recipe because she’d take it to her grave; and she did. Maybe this fall or winter I’ll find some recipes like that and try.

 

[Box of Rain]

Funny how somethings from childhood stick with us.

I remember two things from first grade that made an impact on me.

One was "rooting" Rosemary from fresh cuttings and nurturing them into plants. To this day Rosemary is one of my favorite plants and I have propagated many (many) plants from cuttings taken from a plant that family-lore claims was cloned from cuttings that my wife's grandparents brought from Italy.

Another was making butter in the classroom. I can't say that making my own butter has been my usual approach (that would not be true), but is is something I've done over the decades.

During "lockdown" I, like many it seems, started using freetime to do things like fermenting foods (like making various sorts of pickles, homemade vinegar, and cultured dairy products).

One of the things I started doing as culturing fresh heavy cream to make Crème fraîche. Delicious!

Then it hit me to whip the Crème fraîche to make butter from the cultured creme. This is course not a pure "invention" on my part, as many cultures enjoy cultured butter, but it is not an item one regularly sees on supermarket shelves, and boy is it delicious.

Reminder to self: time to make another batch.

Bill

 

[misty8723]

One of my old coworkers used to make us something called Lima Bean Pot Pie. It wasn’t a pie but it had like rolled and cut dumplings on top and it was creamy. She told us before not to ask for the recipe because she’d take it to her grave; and she did. Maybe this fall or winter I’ll find some recipes like that and try.

What else was in it? What I've done was from my grandmother who came from Louisiana. It was used as a cheap meal, and if we couldn't get ham we would use salt pork. But that's all that's in it. It get's a little creamy but not so much that I would call it that. I don't make it often because I cook the beans all day, but when I do I make enough to freez a lot of it. And now that I'm thinking about it, I may have to make some in the near future.

 

[nurseangel]

Thirty four for me. I will never, I repeat never, make a Jello salad or whatever it's called. No offense to anyone who loves it. I eat the Jello pudding from the box and would probably throw myself down in the grocery store aisle and throw a tantrum if they ever stopped selling it.

 

[DreamerRose]

I'm having trouble believing so many people don't know what a Jello salad is. It's fruit-flavored gelatin with fruit in it. I made it a lot when my kids were growing up. Grocery stores sell bunches of it, so someone is eating it. It's available with and without sugar.