Cooking from scratch is not that hard.
By marguicha
@marguicha (215428)
Chile
June 7, 2017 8:43pm CST
This morning I made my hummus from scratch, just as I always do. All of a sudden, reading one of my friends´ posts here, I decided to check online some online recipes to see if they were made the same way. It so seems that cooking from scratch is almost a lost art.
The first thing that surprised me was that none of the recipes asked for dry garbanzos (chick peas) but all of them asked for a can. That, for me, means that it is not completly from scratch.
And talking with some friends, many of them did not have pressure cookers (I cooked the chick peas in 10 minutes there) because they dreaded that it would explode.
Do you cook from scratch? Do you own and use a pressure cooker?
16 people like this
17 responses
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
8 Jun 17
We cook from scratch as much as we can. Many things we eat are not cooked. We do make hummus, salsa, and all things tomato at home. Today we pickled our cucumbers-so good! And, doing it at home means we know what we are eating, which is really important to us @marguicha
We don't use a pressure cooker and never have.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I have had my pressure cooker over 25 years. I use it mainly for legumes and tough meats.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
@LadyDuck I do not buy cakes from posh bakeries because, although their cakes are delicious, they are too expensive. The supermarket has a very good bakery with reasonable prices.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
My birthday cake was bought at the supermarket. They have a bakery that is wonderful and not very expensive there. I buy a cake only once a year, for this occasion.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (458091)
• Switzerland
8 Jun 17
@marguicha We have a very good bakery store not far from home. Their cakes are very good, but of course a lot more expensive.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
8 Jun 17
Don't own a pressure cooker. Own a crock pot. It's more practical for my cooking style.
Agree. Cooking from scratch is a lost art. But you learn it when you need to. However, we love our conveniences. Why should I buy ingredients to make something when it's ready-made at the grocery store and taste just as good as if I made my own from scratch? Nevertheless, there are certain items you should always keep in your pantry, just in case there's a famine: oil and flour. 
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
Where I live, the kind of food I can buy for a small amount of money is not as good as the food I cook with that same money. Good food, such as the one I cook, can be eaten in expensive restaurants.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
@cmoneyspinner I like to cook. That helped me learn.
1 person likes this
@cmoneyspinner (9221)
• Austin, Texas
8 Jun 17
@marguicha - You must be a really good cook! My cooking is ... Eh! So so. It's edible.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79731)
• United States
8 Jun 17
I don't cook totally from scratch as I would probably use a can of beans rather than cook them. I haven't used a pressure cooker in a long time
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
@Marilynda1225 In a pressure cooker, lentils are done in less than 10 minutes. And I cook a whole kilo at the same time and freeze part of them to prepare them in another moment.
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I use the pressure cooker at least once a week. I cook legumes once a week.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79731)
• United States
8 Jun 17
@marguicha I do cook lentils occasionally but never thought to get out my pressure cooker to cook them.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
@Courtlynn I don´t use it daily, but it is very handy for tough meats and legumes.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
8 Jun 17
I do cook from scratch, I cook dry beans all the time. I also own a pressure cooker/ canner.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I once read in a magazine that there was incredible savings if you used dried legumes instead of canned ones.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
@andriaperry I cook all legumes with no salt in the pressure cooker. When they are cooked, I add the fried onion, crushed garlic, salt and whatever else I want to.
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
8 Jun 17
@marguicha I think they taste better , the canned beans are so salty.
1 person likes this
@marsha32 (6631)
• United States
8 Jun 17
No, it's not that hard, but I sure am lazy these days.....
When I babysit here it's almost all cooking from scratch. My daughter doesn't buy canned or boxed foods hardly ever. Even veggies are cooked from raw.
I have to be inventive a lot!
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I never buy canned veggies but I buy frozen peas and corn when out of season.
@prashu228 (37526)
• India
8 Jun 17
I use pressure cooker, most of the time. That makes cooking easy. Doing everything from scratch is difficult
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
Probably it is, if you eat indian food. I have read recipes from India and they are very difficult.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
8 Jun 17
I cook from scratch if I need too Marguicha.
I know what you mean..that is not from scratch stuff from a can.
I do not have a pressure cooker.
I bet your hummus is tasty as can be
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
It is. I don´t much likerestaurant food unless it is food that I don´t do at home. I love ethnic restaurants
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I always cook from scratch at home. And I only eat out when I´m invited.
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
Pressure cookers have now 3 valves. The only way they can explode is if you put them on the fire and leave the house.
@thislittlepennyearns (58137)
• Defuniak Springs, Florida
8 Jun 17
I cook from scratch often , but no we don't have a pressure cooker. I would like one.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
Are they expensive there? I feel that my pressure cooker saves my so much energy that it has paid off a long time ago.
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I do pancakes often but I stopped baking cakes when my husband was diagnosed with diabetes.
@kittypoppet (13)
• Maidstone, England
8 Jun 17
I love to cook from scratch - I made a pasta bake for my work day lunches and it was so much cheaper and nicer than the ready made kind
I don't have a pressure cooker but we do use our slow cooker a lot. It is ideal in a busy household where we eat at different times - just go to the cooker and help yourself to stew, curry etc.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
I don´t have a slow cooker, but as I live alone, I don´t think it is worth it to buy one now.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
8 Jun 17
Sometimes I do..but I usually take shortcuts, like using a can. I don't own a pressure cooker because I am the type that would manage to blow something up!
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
9 Jun 17
I always cook from scratch. It is challenging and it makes me feel great that great dish would come out of scratch.
@marguicha (215428)
• Chile
8 Jun 17
It is not hard to cook chick peas in the pressure cooker. And usually I cook a kilo of legumes and separate them to freeze.
1 person likes this
