What do you find not worth it to make from scratch? And what is worth making from scratch?

Anonymous
^^ Scant 3.5 cups
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have found pizza to be worth it during this quarantine.


Same here.


Homemade dough, too? Homemade or jarred sauce? What is the best cheese to use if making at home?


Yes, dough from scratch. It’s delicious! For the sauce you can make your own from scratch or use store bought. For cheese, I use whatever I have on hand but of course, preferably mozzarella (I don’t make the cheese from scratch!).


Love making mozzarella from scratch! It's so soft and pillowy. Even though I use cow milk, it comes out very similar to authentic buffalo mozzarella


Not really. Tasty. But nowhere near DOP buffalo.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
Mayonnaise and whipped cream taste completely different, and MUCH better, when made by hand at home. You haven’t had mayo or whipped cream unless you’ve tasted homemade.

Cakes and pies as well because I make them less sweet.

Bread and yogurt ate too much work, although I’ve liked my attempts.

Usually I cook from scratch.



Whipped cream is a good one. I always bring real whipped cream when my ILs host Thanksgiving because I refuse to put Reddi Whip on my pie. My MIL always makes such a big deal out of it, like I’ve done something soooo fancy and complicated, when it literally took me less than two minutes to whip up.


Agree, whipped cream takes like 2 minutes to make and tastes dramatically better than the chemicals in cool whip.
Anonymous
Rice is literally just rice and water.

What is so difficult about making rice.
Anonymous
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Anonymous wrote:
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Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Once you have a rice cooker, rice from scratch is definitely worth it.


How else would you make rice, other than from scratch?

I never made any weird rice...but frozen rice bowls from TJ are all the rage on dcum. I thought it was some kind of rice and veggies and meat bowl, but was told it is plain frozen rice.

NP here. OMG, this is insanely wasteful from an excess plastic perspective. I agree that once or twice I've wanted to make rice, but decided too late before dinner...but don't they have minute rice? Reheating frozen rice has to be about time and not ease, right?


Bag of frozen rice you microwave and bag of minute rice have the exact same footprint waste wise. Neither is more wasteful than the other. They each come in a plastic bag inside a box

Is a bag of minute rice single serving? Honestly, I don't know. I buy Basmati rice by the 10 lb bag, so totally different situation.
Anonymous
Not worth it: chicken cutlets. I get chicken parm at restaurants
Full puff pastry
Anonymous
Things I like to make from scratch:
Guacamole
Savory breads
Pie Crust and pie filling
Marinara sauce

Not worth it to me:
donuts
croissants
brownies
cinnamon rolls
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Not worth it: chicken cutlets. I get chicken parm at restaurants
Full puff pastry


I agree on the puff pastry. Croissants too.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Rice is literally just rice and water.

What is so difficult about making rice.


I make a lot of intricate recipes (handmade pastas, curries, maklouba (rice), tahdig (rice), risotto (more rice) but I find that plain white or brown rice is very difficult to make. Mostly because to make good rice (from observing MIL), you need to the leave the rice the eff alone and get the water ratio correct. There is a lot of trust involved in making rice. Unless I am doing something distracting like following a multi-part recipe, I will fiddle with the rice. I will open it up. I will worry it's not cooking and a bit of water from the electric kettle. Invariably I get dry or overcooked rice because I cannot turn off the stir stir stir in my brain. Good rice is an exercise in impulse control. When I put in in the rice cooker, it comes out sticky.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I make jam a few times a year, and it’s totally worth it. It takes me 2-3 hours to make twenty jars of jam. I do strawberry, grape, peach, and raspberry. I then have delicious homemade jam all year, and I put little labels on them and give them away with a couple of loaves of fresh bread as a hostess gift or without the bread if I need something in a pinch for a bake sale.

Oh, that's cute. I don't know if I have the patience for making jam, but I do with you were my friend coming over for dinner some time


. I stole this idea from a friend.
But you should try it! I can make $100 worth of jam in two hours while supervising children.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rice is literally just rice and water.

What is so difficult about making rice.


I make a lot of intricate recipes (handmade pastas, curries, maklouba (rice), tahdig (rice), risotto (more rice) but I find that plain white or brown rice is very difficult to make. Mostly because to make good rice (from observing MIL), you need to the leave the rice the eff alone and get the water ratio correct. There is a lot of trust involved in making rice. Unless I am doing something distracting like following a multi-part recipe, I will fiddle with the rice. I will open it up. I will worry it's not cooking and a bit of water from the electric kettle. Invariably I get dry or overcooked rice because I cannot turn off the stir stir stir in my brain. Good rice is an exercise in impulse control. When I put in in the rice cooker, it comes out sticky.


Ha!
I am guessing that you don’t have kids at home? Put it on, get the rest of dinner prepped, help kid A with homework, pick up kid B from soccer, take off the stove .
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Once you have a rice cooker, rice from scratch is definitely worth it.


How else would you make rice, other than from scratch?

I never made any weird rice...but frozen rice bowls from TJ are all the rage on dcum. I thought it was some kind of rice and veggies and meat bowl, but was told it is plain frozen rice.

NP here. OMG, this is insanely wasteful from an excess plastic perspective. I agree that once or twice I've wanted to make rice, but decided too late before dinner...but don't they have minute rice? Reheating frozen rice has to be about time and not ease, right?


Bag of frozen rice you microwave and bag of minute rice have the exact same footprint waste wise. Neither is more wasteful than the other. They each come in a plastic bag inside a box

Is a bag of minute rice single serving? Honestly, I don't know. I buy Basmati rice by the 10 lb bag, so totally different situation.


No both of those are a 3-4 serving size. Not sure why you’d make comments on the extreme wastefulness of a product you admit you don’t know anything about.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I’m never happy with risotto in a restaurant. I think I make it much better at home.

That and the whipped cream

Agree. I also don't get the restaurant flavors of risotto. Always something complicated!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Rice is literally just rice and water.

What is so difficult about making rice.


I make a lot of intricate recipes (handmade pastas, curries, maklouba (rice), tahdig (rice), risotto (more rice) but I find that plain white or brown rice is very difficult to make. Mostly because to make good rice (from observing MIL), you need to the leave the rice the eff alone and get the water ratio correct. There is a lot of trust involved in making rice. Unless I am doing something distracting like following a multi-part recipe, I will fiddle with the rice. I will open it up. I will worry it's not cooking and a bit of water from the electric kettle. Invariably I get dry or overcooked rice because I cannot turn off the stir stir stir in my brain. Good rice is an exercise in impulse control. When I put in in the rice cooker, it comes out sticky.


Ha!
I am guessing that you don’t have kids at home? Put it on, get the rest of dinner prepped, help kid A with homework, pick up kid B from soccer, take off the stove .


One toddler with an early bedtime.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I actually find beans worth it. I make a great white beans soup/stew with smoked pork. Canned beans taste like crap compared to home made. Now, re fried beans are fine from can, imo. I don't like them much anyway..

Agree. I always buy a bag of beans and cook them myself. They taste completely different. Also soups are worth to make it from scratch. If I had more time and didn't work full time, I would cook everything from scratch.
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