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You had to work late. The traffic on the commute home was horrible. You're tired. You're hungry. But you've got to get dinner for the family on the table now. What do you do?
You could resort to picking up a bucket from the Colonel on your way home, or call for pizza delivery, but you're better than that, right? Apparently, you are, according to a study by UCLA's Center on Everyday Lives of Families that did the first academic study to track American families moment by moment as they make dinner. They had expected to see a lot more takeout in working families but what they really saw was that 70% of the households in the study cooked at home. However, these "home-cooked" meals heavy reliance on "convenience foods."
However, these convenience foods, things that augment home cooking, didn't necessarily make dinner preparation any faster or easier. In fact, the difference in time to prepare dinner between a household that relied on convenience foods like boxed mixes, packaged vegetables, and pre-made stirfries and a household that made everything from scratch, was not statistically significant.
Really? You mean all this time I've been using Hamburger Helper, and I could have made lasagna from scratch in the same amount of time?!?!
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8-29-2007 @2:49AM Wayne said... The difference though is that scratch cooking requires thought/attention, a bit of skill (though not as skill as attention), is not fault-tolerant, and the expectations are higher. Overcook the ground beef or boil the pasta too long in the hamburger helper, no one cares.
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8-29-2007 @9:38AM Rebecca said... Some convenience foods are as good as scratch - like frozen veggies, especially when the veggie is out-of-season. I'm not sure about pre-cooked bacon or roasts; but I do like the frozen meal-in-a-bag (veggies, potatoes, seasoning--just add the meat). For me scratch-cooking is more fun and healthier; but whether I scratch-cook or not - if it's over cooked or under-done, I hear about it. :)
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8-29-2007 @9:45AM Alex said... The thing for me is the ingredients. Sure you could have a bunch of different meats and veggies around, but the problem is they spoil. Some might say that you can keep them in the freezer, but to use frozen foods you have to figure in thawing time. I do love cooking from scratch, but being in college prevents you from going shopping on a regular basis. And when you get home from lab at 3 in the morning, you really don't want to wait for something to thaw. Thats why I have started to eat instant noodles, dinner in a box and sometimes (shudder) TV dinners.
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8-29-2007 @10:03AM Lily said... The article pointed to a huge difference that the study didn't account for: time spent planning and shopping. Unless you have a well-stocked kitchen and quite a bit of experience (which I don't, living in a studio apartment and being in my early-twenties, cooking for the first time in my life), it takes a lot of time to figure out what to make, what ingredients I need, and where to find them in the store. How am I supposed to know on Sunday what I want to eat on Thursday? How many meals can I get out of a pound of chicken? What if the boyfriend eats the sausages I was going to use for dinner?
That's where convenience food saves a lot of time for me: I know exactly how much I need, they're interchangeable from day to day, and I don't need to worry as much about forgetting an ingredient or saving extras.
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8-29-2007 @10:07AM Lily said... The article pointed to a huge difference that the study didn't account for: time spent planning and shopping. Unless you have a well-stocked kitchen and quite a bit of experience (which I don't, living in a studio apartment and being in my early-twenties, cooking for the first time in my life), it takes a lot of time to figure out what to make, what ingredients I need, and where to find them in the store. How am I supposed to know on Sunday what I want to eat on Thursday? How many meals can I get out of a pound of chicken? What if the boyfriend eats the sausages I was going to use for dinner?
That's where convenience food saves a lot of time for me: I know exactly how much I need, they're interchangeable from day to day, and I don't need to worry as much about forgetting an ingredient or saving extras. When I get to the store, I can grab exactly what I need from one or two places instead of getting each ingredient from wherever they sit.
The article recognizes the ease of just grabbing a complete meal off a shelf, but the study doesn't account for the time saved at grocery stores. Boo!
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8-29-2007 @11:05AM wintem01 said... And here I was thinking that, while in my 2:00AM drunken stupor, that I was saving time by nuking that 2LB'er frozen burrito. I could have made one from scratch in, what, two and a half minutes? Plus I shudder when I think of all the clean up joy I've been missing, not to mention the always thrilling rush of waking up to the smoke alarm.
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8-29-2007 @11:23AM Bonnie said... Once you get a few basic recipes lodged into our head, you can whip 'em up without thinking. The cost of "convenience" items is really what gets me. I'm just too darn cheap to pay someone else to through some flour, baking powder, salt and shortening in a box, call it a baking mix and charge me 5 times what it's worth!
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8-29-2007 @11:25AM R. said... Lily, if you can't figure out on Sunday what you want to eat on Thursday, how do you decide which frozen things to buy? What if your boyfriend eats some of your prepared food? Many of your excuses for not cooking from scratch apply to all food, including convenience foods.
That said, I do understand what you're saying: Figuring out how to plan a week's worth of meals can be intimidating. But I'm a former convenience food junkie who now cooks EVERYTHING from scratch, and my experience has been that it saves me time and money and results in tastier, more nutritious and well balanced meals to boot.
It requires some practice -- maybe a month, if your self-discipline is good -- and it WILL suck at first. You'll make many mistakes and you'll waste a lot of time. But once you get through that learning phase, your meals will be just as interchangeable as convenience foods (just because chicken salad is the fifth item on your menu doesn't mean you MUST eat it on Thursday), and your leftovers will themselves be bona-fide home-cooked convenience foods.
I find that I usually go out with friends for dinner on the weekends, so I plan five meals a week. Leftovers -- it takes all of 30 seconds to put them away, by the way -- are used in a subsequent meal or for lunch. I also buy a few items to make lunches with (e.g., bread and cold cuts). I spend about 20 extra minutes a week on grocery shopping compared to when I ate convenience foods. However, I spend about TWO HOURS LESS each week travelling to and from a restaurant or fast food place and waiting for my meal at lunch time. Had I carried convenience foods with me for lunch I would still save time, since prep time for luch often consists of nothing more than popping the lid off a plastic container. So worst case, cooking from scratch instead of using convenience foods costs me 20 minutes a week, though on average it does in fact save me time.
To be sure, for the first month or two after I quit convenience foods I spent quite a bit MORE time on my meals, but once I learned how efficiently plan a menu, shop, cook, and use leftovers I found I saved time AND money -- quite a bit of money, in fact. Plus, my meals taste a whole lot better and they're a lot more nutritious, since I can control the quality of the meats and vegetables I use and the stuff they're cooked in and seasoned with -- no more of the "flavor-enhancing" chemicals convenience foods use to make their crappy ingredients taste good. And I generate a hell of a lot less garbage, to boot (I never realized just how over-packaged convenience foods are).
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8-29-2007 @2:29PM Adriane said... Making meals from scratch does NOT have to be difficult or time consuming-- sure, if you're trying to follow an elaborate recipe you've never seen before, it will take you more time. Wouldn't you rather pick the foods fresh that you want to eat rather than settle for some calorie and sodium pre-packaged blah food? All it takes is a little creativity, mostly...and the tools and knowledge to realize what really IS quick...
For example, Burgers take the same time a frozen patty does, for sure...and I know the time difference between grabbing a box and grabbing a tray from the cooler are miniscule. Homemade macaroni and cheese is maybe- MAYBE! 5 minutes longer cook time than boxed.
It's understandable that someone who is new to the whole cooking and shopping game could get confused. Your first shopping trip and cooking endevours should be the lengthiest--and after that a breeze. Stock up on herbs and some marinades, if you so choose. Get staples like eggs, bread, salt, pepper, pasta, canned goods like beans, stock or boullion cubes etc. If you go to a bult store for the herbs, they will be cheap! Buy for larger meals like soup, make a ton- and freeze the rest. Not only is soup dirt simple and easy, you've got your quick meal for the late nights-- thats still satisfying and homemade! A steak and steamed veggies takes under 30 minutes. Open faced sandwiches, pasta with anything you like in it...cous cous is lightening fast and easy easy easy. Just get in there and start experimenting. I suggest the book "How to crack an egg" (I forget the author- sorry!) for first timers...great tips for new cooks.
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8-29-2007 @4:24PM Buck Q. Fitch said... This Wanchai Ferry looks like it'll save me a ton of time. Amazing Chinese created by me normally takes way too much effort.
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9-04-2007 @2:06PM MJ said... My family loves H helper. But I would have to make 3 boxes to feed my family. I started about 2 years ago maing my own version. Alot cheaper less salt and healthier. and I only use one roll of breakfast sausage or ground beef 1 lb. to a large box of what ever pasta, Canned tomatoes and tomato paste and herbs. Your imaginations is endless on this one!!
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9-04-2007 @2:28PM Roger said... Well since I had a heart attack, I started to read the labels on the foods that were pre-prepared. Wow a lot of stuff in them, Fat, Salt, Cholostrol, preservities. So I have cut out buying them by about 90%. It may take a wee bit longer and is more of a pain in the butt, yet I know more about what I am eating. Even some of those steamed veggies that you can nuke, have stuff added to them.
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9-04-2007 @2:31PM marian said... I like to cook. To me cooking is taking ingredients mixing them to create a meal that delights the senses. I don't care what you use to create the "dinner" atmosphere. Otherwise why don't we just have a sandwich and a cup of soup.
Bon appetiet!
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9-05-2007 @12:04AM it needs to be said said... Your comments: I raised five kids and worked full-time. I made everything from
scratch. I couldn't afford conveinence foods. With planning it's
relatively easy and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. All you need
are good organizational skills.
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9-05-2007 @10:00AM Mitchell said... Kraft Mac&Cheese 7 minutes
Roast 3 hours
tell me which one is cheeper and which one takes less time
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9-04-2007 @2:52PM Chuck said... Alex: TV dinners are one of the main food groups and have been a staple in my diet for years. The only down side is that the preservatives are interfering with the aging process. I may never die and if I do, decomposition will never set in. My living will provides that I be placed in front of a TV tuned to a 'Leave it to Beaver" (or The Andy Griffith Show) with my feet propped up on Swanson TV Dinner trays.
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9-04-2007 @3:10PM M.Ray said... Hamburger Helper? Ugh ugh ugh. Do you know what's in that junk food? I wouldn't eat that stuff if I was starving to death. Anything on the shelf or in the freezer of a supermarket has tons of preservatives, salt and artificial ingredients. Otherwise, they could not keep it on the shelf for such a long period of time. Really, the only healthy food at supermarkets are the fresh or some of the frozen ones.
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9-04-2007 @3:13PM JanT1053 said... I am constantly amazed at the number of people that will whip up a pan of Hamburger Helper, open a can of peas and a can of corn, put it on the table and call it dinner. Cooking from scratch tastes better and is healthier. It just takes organization.
On Saturday mornings I plan my menus fro the week, create my shopping list and go to the grocery store. This prevents me from over or under buying and I am not standing in the kitchen at 6:30 in the evening trying to decide what is for dinner.
I just can't see feeding my family any of those convenience foods.
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9-04-2007 @3:13PM Mary said... i cook double batches of lots of stuff, casseroles or soups, stews, and then i use the sandwich (quart sized) freezer baggies and scoop a portion into it and freeze. takes up little room and defrosts quickly in the microwave...easy and good...
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9-04-2007 @3:26PM smarteepantz said... As someone who is finally delving into the world of fresh-prep meals, I can tell you that, cooking-wise, fresh-prep and ready-prep foods are fairly comparable. But there's a LOT of other issues here. Buying all the required items for fresh-prep is EXPENSIVE! Spices, veggies, meats, condiments, eggs, etc and so on...that's WAY more expensive! And I know a bunch of you will jump right back at me that boxed foods are expensive: not really, when you consider the shelf life of said box meals. I stock up on the mac/cheese or Pasta Roni when it's on sale for $1, and don't have to throw it out after a week. I don't have a huge freezer, so stocking up on meat is a little difficult, although I do stock up on my favorite frozen veggies (brussel sprouts, snap peas, broccoli) when they're on sale, since they seem to keep better and are MUCH easier to prep. Also, I live by myself and can't afford to throw away a whole bunch of fresh food because I don't get to it within a week, and it really is nauseating to eat the same thing for more than a couple of days in a row.
Aside from the cost of the food, how about the cost of the tools you need in order to prepare fresh food? I have a couple of cheap, IKEA knives that can barely cut through a fresh apple, let alone dice chicken. For me to buy a proper set of prep knives would be, what, $40? Pots, pans, mixing bowls, shredders, slicers, garlic presses, pepper grinders...this is all expensive.
Then there's the time involved: planning the meal, making sure you have all the elements, going to the store to buy all the elements, actual cooking, then cleaning up. When you have a family, yeah, get everyone to pitch in and help with cleanup...but what if you live by yourself? All that work for a sinkful of pots and pans to clean up?
Before y'all think I'm just some lazy cheapskate, my thing is that I work full-time, am working on my masters full-time and am a research assistant for one of my professors part-time. Supplementing a ready-prep diet with fresh elements (i.e., I buy the bags of salad and cut up cucumbers as garnish, I make a bowl of ramen and add the veggies from the salad bag and slice up leftover steak that I burned the previous night) is far and away the most time and cost efficient method for us busy single folks.
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