It takes work to cook from scratch. It’s a job.

My good friend Dorothy, and a food blogger, asked me how long a simple homemade meal should take because she has been working hard over the years on preparing good food in not very much time. It’s something she is determined to do.

She is interested in preparing food from scratch, the heart of cooking, healthy food. It means a full larder – nuts, grains, beans and plenty of fresh produce, fresh fish and meat, and not a lot of processed food but some (canned tomatoes, frozen peas, ketchup, mustard, pasta, and so on).  

I’ve cooked professionally and no matter what, I do not see making something from scratch being something you do without investing ample time. Everyone wants to get it down to one hour.  Maybe it’s possible, but I don’t think so when all things are considered.

More Than the Meal

Cooking the meal is what we focus on, but it’s a whole lot more. If you really want to do this, and on a regular basis, then you’ll have to approach it like a professional because everything is done by the person in the kitchen. Only restaurants (and those who have trained their kids or partners) have people doing specific jobs – planning, washing the prep dishes, setting the table, loading and unloading the dishwasher, chopping the vegetables, etc.

Even if it is parcelled out, someone oversees all that and that someone is the household cook.

Too Busy

Today, people are very busy with other things – driving their kids to lessons, working really late, going to the gym… Yet people still want to sit around the table and chat about their day. But the days when the man came home and the women had the food ready (and saw that the kids weren’t poking each others eyes out) are no longer with us.

There’s meal kits now (which can be problematic – too much garbage, not enough food, costly, not family oriented), but I used to provide a service back in the 80s. Families were able to share the day with each other at the table around home-cooked food. My clients were busy business people – advertising, real estate, doctors, managers, and their kids took lessons and did loads of school work. These people had some extra money, although it frequently came out of the woman’s budget because ‘she wanted it’. Nevermind that everyone wanted it.

I gave everyone two hours and even though organized, I felt rushed.

This is what I did for them and what you would have to do it too if you cooked from scratch all the time.

• planned the weekly menus – weekly
• shopped – weekly
• cleaned the produce the day I bought it – weekly
• put all the food away – weekly
• baking – weekly
• cooked the meal (with dessert) – daily
• cleaned up the kitchen – daily

The Dull Job of Washing the Produce Ahead of Time

Success depends on everything on my list. But the really important thing is washing the produce when you bring it home.

I sound like my grade 8 home-ec teacher. Imagine reaching into the fridge and all the produce is ready to go. Bliss is what it is, pure bliss. So thank you, Mrs. Shopland (even though you were a finger-waving prig).

Produce is alive. Fruit and veggies grow mould, go soft, or get all soupy in the plastic bag in the fridge. We throw that out.

You probably know that Canadians throw out 30% of the food we buy. That’s terrible. We only can do that when we have plenty and this is still the land of plenty.

Anyway…

The Messy Kitchen

Don’t forget about doing the dishes before and/or after.

You have seen – maybe in real life but definitely on TV – what a slob is when the stove is unclean and the dishes undone (usually for days).

Cooking is creative and that can be messy for some people. Prepare yourself if you’re on clean up duty or prepare others. 

Don’t Forget the Most Critical Part

You have to care enough for everyone’s well-being. You just have to. It’s the planning part at the beginning. This is when you care about what people like (and don’t like), favourites, variety, and finally, getting the meals healthy.

It’s why women (it’s almost always women) like being served. They don’t have to think.

It’s a Job

Sorry everyone. Food from scratch takes time. I’d say an average of two hours (sometimes less, sometimes more). Cooking may be more creative than laundry, making up beds, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, or other household chores, but preparing healthy food, day in and day out, is a job.