Cooking From Scratch?

[Country Kids]

I have read several people on hear say they cook from scratch.

Are you basically saying you do this for the "Main Course" of your lunch?

Do you make bread daily? Do you make homemade noodles for dishes?

Also, do you not buy any canned fruits/veggies? If not is it just fresh produce from teh grocery store.

Also, what are some of the dishes you cook?

I know should be under the menu section but this gets more posters so if you guys want to post your receipes over in the menu section please do.

[coolconfidentme]

I don't buy canned food. I use frozen veggies & fruits for the most part. They are more nutritional & more cost effective. You can put frozen fruit in the microwave for less than 20 seconds & serve them. They are still solid & kids look at it like an ice cream treat.

A turkey or chicken can be uses throughout the week. Roll some up with cheese in a crescent & bake, make stir fry (with frozen vegges), serve ranch on the side to dip along with baby carrot & crackers, the list is endless!

(You can buy day old bread & keep it in the fridge too.)

Think outside the box..., just don't buy it in the box!

[coolconfidentme]

ps..., In the summer we plant a garden & the kids take care of it. They get to pick "lunch" & help freeze some stuff to eat later. They are more likely to eat something they helped with making!

[Willow]

I make all my own bread, but buy my pastas.

I do no canned fruits or veggies. We have a giant garden in the summer time so a lot ofit comes from there....beans, peas, carrots, squash, potatoes, peppers, asparagus, corn, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, melons etc. I freeze quite a bit of that to utilize through the winter. If I want something else I buy it whole and fresh from the grocery store.

I don't buy anything super processed....things like chicken nuggets, corn dogs and what have you. I realize they are allowed via my food program if I provide a nutritional number but I don't feed that stuff to my own kids so I don't even have it in my house.

Favorite homemade dishes I like making and the kids love...crepes, muffins, omelets, enchilada's, vegetable or chicken soup, chili, shepherds pie, roasts...right now they're chowing down on mini-pizzas they made themselves

[SunshineMama]

I have read several people on hear say they cook from scratch.

Are you basically saying you do this for the "Main Course" of your lunch?

Do you make bread daily? Do you make homemade noodles for dishes?

Also, do you not buy any canned fruits/veggies? If not is it just fresh produce from teh grocery store.

Also, what are some of the dishes you cook?

I know should be under the menu section but this gets more posters so if you guys want to post your receipes over in the menu section please do.

I don't make my own pasta (I buy the organic pasta in bulk when on sale) but sometimes I do make my own bread. "From scratch" to me, means not making anything from a box (like hamburger helper) or a mix. For example, I will use fresh cheese and milk and make a roux (spelling?) out of butter and flour, to make mac and cheese.

I don't ever serve fruit or veggies from a can. Occasionally, I will serve frozen organic mixed veggies (from costco), and I serve them frozen, bc the kids for some reason love them and go nuts

[jessrlee]

80% of what we eat is from scratch. I have 2 bread makers going, I make noodles for soups, all of our muffins, pancakes, waffles, cookies, pita, English muffins, pizza, tortillas, etc are all from scratch and ww. I grow as much of our produce as I can. What I don't grow is bought from a few farm families I have. My project as soon as my trees get big enough is to see how much of our fruit and veggies I can grow. It saves gobs of money.

[littlemissmuffet]

I never buy canned fruits/veggies - the quality is often poor. I only buy fresh, and frozen.

I do not serve prepacked/pre-made (at factory) meals.

All our lucnhes are Sunday dinner style.

I don't make noodles from scratch, but I only use whole wheat. I make all of my sauces (tomato, meat, alfredo, from scratch with fresh ingredients (no canned, jarred stuff).

I don't serve alot of store-bought bread... I make biscuits, scones, bannock, etc almost every day (very simple, takes very little time and is extremely inexpensive).

When we have fries/sweet potato fries/hashbrowns, they are hand-cut and baked by me from an actual potato or sweet potato.

I make any applesauce that is served. All pizzas are home-made (I make the dough, cut all the toppings), chicken "nuggets" are really cut up chicken breasts that I've breaded myself, all soups are made from scratch (no canned crap), no fishy crackers, chesse sticks, overly-processed junk food.

Some examples of typical lunches at my house:

- Stew (beef and veggie) seved with cheddar biscuit and apple slices
- Chili (beef, bean and veggie) served with whole wheat tortilla chips (cut and baked by me) and mango
- Stir-fried veggies with tofu (or chicken) and wild rice
- Spinach and Feta pitas with home-made hummus and pineapple
- Bacon tomato sammies with home-made mayo and banana
- Home-made lasagna served with garlic bisuits and pears
- Baked fish with mashed pototos and peas
- Home-made chicken/beef pot pies
- Fully loaded home-made hamburgers with hand-cut baked french fries
- Vanilla, banana and flax pancakes with home-made berry "syrup" and cottage cheese w/ fruit salad

And so on.

[Creek]

The only vegetable I buy in a can is tomatoes.
Other than that, no canned veggies/fruits.

Fruits are always fresh, sometimes we have frozen to make smoothies with.
Fresh or frozen veggies.

I don't do frozen prepared meals.
Sometimes I make bread, rolls, buns, etc. But often, I buy it.
Pastas - I buy in the package.
Meats are all bought fresh.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

We eat only local, organic produce. For us, that means a farm share in the summer and fall and lots of trips to farms to pick fruit and farmers' markets to stock up. We can, freeze, dry, and store for winter. We eat seasonally--tons and tons of apples right now; no asparagus until spring.

I buy bread (local bakery) and pasta and sometimes crackers, but barely any other processed foods. I bake lots of quick breads. Dairy products are delivered by a local farm. I do buy coconut milk, as I have some dairy allergies to work around. Eggs from our chickens.

I used to do more "dishes." Now, most of my meals are pretty basic: roasted veggies, raw veggies, sauteed veggies. Raw fruit when I have it. Lots of soups in the winter. I'm not on the food program, because I have quibbles w/their idea of healthful. This week was pretty hectic, so I took some shortcuts. Our meals were:

Monday
snack: peanut-butter-and-apple-slice sandwiches
lunch: pumpkin biscuits; roasted cauliflower, red pepper, and cashews; slices of roasted butternut squash; milk
snack: plain yogurt with blueberry curd

Tuesday
snack: pumpkin biscuits w/butter; mint tea
lunch: scrambled eggs; broccoli; buttered toast; apple slices; milk
snack: popcorn w/ coconut oil, salt, and powdered kale

Wednesday:
snack: plain yogurt w/apples
lunch: peanut-squash soup; broccoli; carrot sticks; milk
snack: apple-tatsoi-coconut milk smoothies; crackers

Thursday: (we have an event this evening for families, so I'm also cooking dinner, thus easy meals today!)
snack: whole-wheat bunnies (crackers--twice in one week is unusual); apples
lunch: peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches; carrots; celery; milk
snack: leftovers (Thursday's the last day of my school week; afternoon snack always finishes up the weeks' leftover bits)
dinner: baked-bean soup; corn bread; potluck contributions from families

[jen2651]

80% of what we eat is from scratch. I have 2 bread makers going, I make noodles for soups, all of our muffins, pancakes, waffles, cookies, pita, English muffins, pizza, tortillas, etc are all from scratch and ww. I grow as much of our produce as I can. What I don't grow is bought from a few farm families I have. My project as soon as my trees get big enough is to see how much of our fruit and veggies I can grow. It saves gobs of money.

You guys are awesome!! I don't do any boxed stuff but I do purchase all my own grain products...so, can you help me not? Can you share some recipes? I don't need to steal the thread, so you can pm me, but I would love to start this, it just seems rather daunting and overwhelming. I do have a breadmaker but I only do it on Sundays and of course it is gone by Tuesday. I think part of the deal is, I am not a carb person...they don't really appeal to me. If I get a breadstick with my salad at a restaurant, I'll just eat more salad and give it to my husband (why he has a belly, and I have no home made bread!).

[Country Kids]

You guys are awesome!! I don't do any boxed stuff but I do purchase all my own grain products...so, can you help me not? Can you share some recipes? I don't need to steal the thread, so you can pm me, but I would love to start this, it just seems rather daunting and overwhelming. I do have a breadmaker but I only do it on Sundays and of course it is gone by Tuesday. I think part of the deal is, I am not a carb person...they don't really appeal to me. If I get a breadstick with my salad at a restaurant, I'll just eat more salad and give it to my husband (why he has a belly, and I have no home made bread!).

You aren't stealing the thread at all! I don't understand how people do this as I'm not able to do anything from 6:30 in the morning till about 5:30 at night. I get up about 5:15 and on a mad dash till I go to bed.

[Willow]

You aren't stealing the thread at all! I don't understand how people do this as I'm not able to do anything from 6:30 in the morning till about 5:30 at night. I get up about 5:15 and on a mad dash till I go to bed.

Do you do a lot of structured play and activities that are eating into your time to just breathe?

I'm busy until bed but not mad dash busy. I offer a lot of free play here though. I definitely have a schedule, but very little structure within it. Most of my day is child led which affords plenty of time to cook and in general just observe my group so I can step in if needed.

[littlemissmuffet]

You aren't stealing the thread at all! I don't understand how people do this as I'm not able to do anything from 6:30 in the morning till about 5:30 at night. I get up about 5:15 and on a mad dash till I go to bed.

I can easily cook while I have kids in my care - but my house is set up so that I can still mostly see/hear the kids in the playroom from my kitchen. My kids are very well behaved and are taught very early how to problem solve without an adult constantly intervening - so this helps me alot as well.

I start prepping meats and veggies in the morning before kids even get here. To make a soup, stew, roast or chili takes maybe 10 minutes of prep - throw it all in a pan or pot and let it cook while I'm with the kids.


It takes me 5 minutes tops to make biscuits, bannock or muffins.

Alot of our pasta dishes and casseroles are left over from the night before's supper and reheated - but even if not, it takes maybe 15 minutes for me to make "lazy man's lasagna" (dice/grate veggies, smash tomatos, add spices, let simmer in a large pot, add lasagna noodles w/ one cup water, let simmer for 45 minutes, add 1 cup cottage cheese and 1 cup shredded mozza and voila!), and in the time it takes the water to boil for some macaroni I can make a delicious home-made cheese sauce!

Stir fries only take a few minutes as well. Cut up some fresh veggies and fry them up in a pan with some peanut oil, a little bit of oyster sauce and soy - add some pre-cooked chicken (can also be from the night before) or tofu and serve over rice!


If I wasn't able to cook/serve dishes like this for the kiddos and had to rely on prepackaged foods then I probably wouldn't do daycare.

[Country Kids]

Do you do a lot of structured play and activities that are eating into your time to just breathe?

I'm busy until bed but not mad dash busy. I offer a lot of free play here though. I definitely have a schedule, but very little structure within it. Most of my day is child led which affords plenty of time to cook and in general just observe my group so I can step in if needed.

A little of both-preschool and free play but we do more outdoor programs. My group have a hard, hard time freeplaying inside unless someone is supervising. Sad, I know but all are the baby of family or onlies. Each and everyone of them-

[Country Kids]

I can easily cook while I have kids in my care - but my house is set up so that I can still mostly see/hear the kids in the playroom from my kitchen. My kids are very well behaved and are taught very early how to problem solve without an adult constantly intervening - so this helps me alot as well.

I start prepping meats and veggies in the morning before kids even get here. To make a soup, stew, roast or chili takes maybe 10 minutes of prep - throw it all in a pan or pot and let it cook while I'm with the kids.


It takes me 5 minutes tops to make biscuits, bannock or muffins.

Alot of our pasta dishes and casseroles are left over from the night before's supper and reheated - but even if not, it takes maybe 15 minutes for me to make "lazy man's lasagna" (dice/grate veggies, smash tomatos, add spices, let simmer in a large pot, add lasagna noodles w/ one cup water, let simmer for 45 minutes, add 1 cup cottage cheese and 1 cup shredded mozza and voila!), and in the time it takes the water to boil for some macaroni I can make a delicious home-made cheese sauce!

Stir fries only take a few minutes as well. Cut up some fresh veggies and fry them up in a pan with some peanut oil, a little bit of oyster sauce and soy - add some pre-cooked chicken (can also be from the night before) or tofu and serve over rice!


If I wasn't able to cook/serve dishes like this for the kiddos and had to rely on prepackaged foods then I probably wouldn't do daycare.

My kitchen is right off my childcare room but around a corner so even though I can hear, I can't see and my group can't handle that. My group is kinda like -was it daycarediva-who posted about needing meals brought in.

They are able to only do something for like 5 min without me right there.