Is it cheaper to......

**Isaiahsmom91302** · 07-25-2008, 01:41 PM

make food from scratch or buy pre packaged or convience food??? I have noticed some foods seem cheaper if bought pre packaged. But what do you all think? Any meals made from scratch seem cheaper to you please post them, I would love to know.

** Melissa**

**JustMegan79** · 07-25-2008, 01:43 PM

Holy Moly!!

Scratch, by far. I am not such a cook, but the ladies (and gents) are sure to be able to give you a breakdown.

**Greebo** · 07-25-2008, 01:51 PM

Scratch for anything you can. Healthier too. Pre packaged meals means you're paying for processed food, cardboard, plastic, and the equipment to assemble it all.

**mombottoo** · 07-25-2008, 01:54 PM

Personally I find the majority of convenience foods to be cheaper than making them from scratch...but, that's just me. I use coupons and watch for sales, which brings the cost way down.

For instance I like the hamburger/chicken/tuna helpers and the Betty Crocker boxed potatoes...I get them on sale for B10for$10G11thFree...breaks down to 90 cents a box. When I buy them I use my coupons which are usually 75 cents off 3...by the time I'm done I pay roughly 70 cents per box if I only get 11.

When it's just the 3 of us I use 1 box of whatever it is I'm fixing. Using the hamburger helper my total cost for that dish runs close to $2.75 if it calls for milk to be used and $2.50 if it doesn't...it's not easy to feed 3 adults for less than $4.00 for dinner, but I can using the boxed items.

Some things are definitely cheaper from scratch...but, only if you already have everything you need on hand.

**MoonMommy** · 07-25-2008, 02:58 PM

Sometimes, prepackaged is cheaper, but it is better for you to make it from scratch. A lot of prepackaged foods have high levels of sodium, have MSG, preservatives, etc. When you make things from scratch you can control just how much salt you put in, what kind of meat to control for fat %, etc. I do like the Semi-Homemade lady (Sara Lee or something...has a show on Food Network and a few cookbooks). Her recipes are a combination of prepackaged and fresh ingrediants. It might slowly ease you into cooking totally from scratch.

**MoonMommy** · 07-25-2008, 03:03 PM

As for recipes, there are a lot of easy italian dishes.

lasagna is really easy and it taste SO much better when made from scratch. Plus, you can make it any way you want to....vegetarian, meat, mexican. Usually you can get a box of noodle really cheap. The priciest item that I tend to have to buy is the cheese, but if you have coupons, buy in bulk, or get a good sale, it makes it better. Plus, it makes a ton, and freezes well. Also, pasta tastes great as leftovers. It is one of those foods where sometimes the second day it tastes better than the first. If you want the "recipe" just let me know.
Most bake pastas are really easy, make a lot and are cheap. Like Baked Ziti.
There are also lots of great recipes for the crock pot that are really easy, cheap to make (use few ingrediants), and taste great.

**YankeeMom** · 07-25-2008, 03:09 PM

Pre-packaged may be cheaper in the short run...but how much more is that "convenience" going to cost your health? Personally, I'd rather spend a little more making something from scratch because I know exactly what's in it.

Also, sometimes it seems like cooking from scratch is more expensive because you have to stock up on things that most recipes require. Yes, if you don't have anything in your cupboards and you want to make a cake from scratch, it may seem more expensive to buy a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, a tin of cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla, butter, baking powder, and salt. Especially when you are drawn to the 99c Betty Crocker mix that's "on sale". But your ingredients won't just make one cake. With all those brand new packages of pantry goodies, you'll be able to make at least half a dozen cakes! Plus there's no partially hydrogenated oils, you can pronounced all the things you are putting in your cake, and you know exactly what you are eating.

Sometimes you have to look further than the bottom line.

**Wendy99** · 07-25-2008, 03:13 PM

scratch is by far cheaper imo

**DJ1972** · 07-25-2008, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by MoonMommy

As for recipes, there are a lot of easy italian dishes.

lasagna is really easy and it taste SO much better when made from scratch. Plus, you can make it any way you want to....vegetarian, meat, mexican. Usually you can get a box of noodle really cheap. The priciest item that I tend to have to buy is the cheese, but if you have coupons, buy in bulk, or get a good sale, it makes it better. Plus, it makes a ton, and freezes well. Also, pasta tastes great as leftovers. It is one of those foods where sometimes the second day it tastes better than the first. If you want the "recipe" just let me know.
Most bake pastas are really easy, make a lot and are cheap. Like Baked Ziti.
There are also lots of great recipes for the crock pot that are really easy, cheap to make (use few ingrediants), and taste great.

Lasagna is one thing I buy frozen when I have a coupon, I can get a huge one for around $8 and that feeds my family of four twice with an extra lunch for DH.....I hate buying all the stuff to make it especially the cheese, and I honestly just don't like to make it. But other than that, I think scratch cookin' all the way!

**xtena** · 07-25-2008, 03:35 PM

I prefer to make things from scratch even if it would be cheaper to buy a convenience version on sale with a coupon. Mac and Cheese (an occasional treat in our house, not a staple) comes to mind. I would much rather serve a homemade version made with white sauce blended with real cheddar as opposed to a chemical laden powdered cheese version.

Ditto bread. Have you read the labels on storebought bread lately? Sodium stearyl lactylate? WTF is that? (I just googled it, now I know, and I still don't want it in my bread!!!)

Pizza, homemade for sure. I can't remember the last time we had frozen, and the last takeout we had was served at a birthday party months ago.

Unfortunately, my husband is a ramen addict. He's originally from Beijing, and it's practically a staple over there. You can't get more chemically-processed and unhealthy than ramen...sigh.

**elphie** · 07-25-2008, 05:17 PM

I have drastically reduced my grocery budget since switching to making things from scratch. I even make my own version of hamburger helper strognaoff that my family loves. I figured it out once to cost me about $1 to mix up the powdered mix that I keep on hand in the fridge. This mix makes about 12 servings. I have to add noodles which are super cheap and a tablespoon of sour cream which I only buy when the big tub is on sale for 99 cents I figure that the meal, not including the meat or milk because I'd have to add that anyway, costs less than 50 cents and I can feel good about the healthy dish. I have also not utilized a lot of valuable resources with wasted packaging.

This is really the only recipe comparison I've done (it is my ds's favorite dish and I wanted to offer him a replacement that fit our new healthy/frugal lifestyle and he has never noticed a difference). The rest I can just tell, I used to rely heavily on convience foods, I was careful to look for sales and clip coupons and thought I was doing okay. Since we banned convience foods we have slashed our grocery bill by over half. The better I get at the more it goes down. Our goal is to cut it down by 3/4 of what we used to spend and I expect to reach that goal in the next couple of months.

**Mamaof2rugrats** · 07-25-2008, 06:08 PM

Cooking from scratch certainly saves money. I always bought Hamburger Helpers for instance which my family loves. Now I buy the pasta in bulk and make my own seasoning for it. Also of course buying the hamburger in bulk.
Mac and Cheese is about the only thing prepackaged I've found to be cheaper than from scratch. I can buy mac and cheese at Aldis for about 40 cents a box. I couldn't make it for that.

**maryhannahkali** · 07-25-2008, 06:22 PM

Scratch cooking is definitely better. Prepacked food has so many unnecessary and unhealthy additives. Not only will you save on your food bill by cooking from scratch, but your health care will cost you less. My children (knocking on wood here) have not had to go to the doctor for anything illness related in over 3 years.

**Cricketlegs** · 07-25-2008, 07:09 PM

One thing about scratch cooking is once you are stocked with the basics you always have a meal, always have bread, always have sweets.

NOTHING tastes better than scratch brownies--nothing. All it is is flour, cocoa, and other basic pantry items. You are no longer buying flour and cocoa in a box mix with ingredients like hru7yw3rihkeheyridhfkj on the package and you STILL have to add the egg, oils, water nuts etc.

Everything is loaded with MSG--in the US they do not have to put it in the label. Gravy mixes--use drippings, condensed beef or chicken stock--not broth--that pesky msg again--and CORNSTARCH. Why pay almost a dollar for 2 tablespoons of cornstarch or flour and a bunch of fake seasonings???

Home made biscuits are just a little more involved than can and taste so good and so much cheaper by far. Same for pancakes. That mix they sell is garbage--overpriced garbage.

Get big glass containers in the kitchen isle at walmart and fill up on corn meal, sugars brown and white, flour,and corn starch.

**momof42003** · 07-26-2008, 03:41 PM

I think there are some things that may be cheaper to buy convienence, but definately I would rather make from scratch... The other day the kids were wanting Hamburger Helper cheesey macaroni at 1.25 a box, and I need at least three to feed the six of us... Then I realized that I already had hamburger, macaroni, and seasonings on hand. I only needed the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and some cheese... They ate the entire pan..... I liked the way mine tasted too... For the hamburger helper it would have costed about 8.77 for the family or 1.46 per person... When I made it from scratch is was about 7.24 or 1.20 a person.. They are about the same, but I know exactly what I put in the homemade version, and it tasted SOOO much better.