Frugal Friday :: Cooking From Scratch

So I’m a day late in posting this post, my apologies for that. This week I started my new part-time job and on the same day, I had an interview for a voluntary role I hope to take on next year after my contract ends. More on that another time but needless to say I was a little preoccupied. Today I want to talk about cooking from scratch.

I grew up in a home where my mum cooked everything from scratch so it’s the way I have done things in my own home. There is something quite satisfying about cooking and providing wholesome meals and delicious bakes for your family. 

Interestingly, I have found that a lot of people don’t cook from scratch either because they don’t know how or their lives are just so busy it’s easier to by prepared meals. However, convenience food can prove to be costly both financially and possibly in the long term with regards to health.

By cooking from scratch I know exactly what is in our food. It’s not laden with sugars, salts or preservatives. 

I like to take advantage of food that is in season. I try to put aside some time each week to do a bit of batch cooking. I spend a few hours baking and cooking simple meals like soup for the freezer. That way there is always a quick lunch or supper option for busy days. Fakeaway if you like…making your own fakeaways saves money spent on fast foods. 

I try to make use of what may be considered waste. After a roast, I pop the bones, leftover vegetables, add some onions, celery, root vegetables and a handful of herbs from the garden into my crockpot. I cover the whole lot with water and set it on low for about 8 hours. This makes the perfect stock to use as a base for hearty soups.

Another thing I like to do is prepare crockpot meals in advance. I put all the ingredients I need for a meal in a freezer bag then pop them in the freezer. Easy to pull out the night before to thaw then into the crockpot to cook on the day. No fuss, all the prep is already done leaves you free to get on with other things whilst still providing your family with a hearty and healthy meal come dinner time.

This week I prepared 5 crockpot bags and it took me all of 45 minutes. We had Apricot Lamb Hot{crock}pot, Chicken Curry, Hearty Beef Stew, Chicken Fajitas and Cranberry Honey Roast Pork. 

Check out my Freezer Meal and Slow Cooked Goodness Pinterest Boards for loads of good ideas. 

I thought I would finish off this post with my favourite go-to pizza dough recipe. It makes enough dough to feed 5 or 6 people and we love making our own pizza over buying ready-made. We can be as creative as we want and each person can customise their own pizza according to taste. In our home, Friday nights are always burger and pizza nights. One week we do homemade burgers and the following week Homemade pizza. Needless to say, everyone looks forward to Friday dinners 😄

Homemade Pizza Dough

1.5 kg flour

1 sachet yeast (7g or 2 ¹/₄ teaspoons)

15ml sunflower oil

10ml salt

10ml sugar

Warm water

Tomato Base

Tomato Passata

Raw Garlic

Oregano

Herbs and Spices of choice – mix all together in a bowl

*Place all ingredients in a large bowl. Add warm water, enough to make a dough. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is shiny and elastic. Allow to rest a few hours or until double in size.

*If making individual pizza’s portion out dough per person, roll out, prick dough base with a fork a couple of times and pre-bake in a 200 degree C oven for about 5 minutes. You want to cook the base just enough so that you don’t end up with a raw base.

*Spread tomato sauce on your pizza base, add toppings of your choice, top with Mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven until cheese has melted and slightly golden.

Blessings to you all and may you have a lovely weekend.