Cooking from scratch has an image problem. It conjures up visions of hours spent chopping, simmering, and cleaning—time most of us simply don't have. So we reach for the ready meal, the jar of sauce, the freezer pizza. No judgement. We've all been there.
But here's the thing: cooking from fresh doesn't have to mean cooking all day. And the benefits—for your health, your wallet, and even your mood—are bigger than you might think.
What's actually in that ready meal?
Pick up a ready meal and look at the ingredients list. Go on, we'll wait.
Somewhere after the recognisable food items, you'll find a parade of additives: stabilisers, emulsifiers, flavour enhancers, modified starches, and enough salt to season a small restaurant. These aren't there for your benefit—they're there to extend shelf life and make cheap ingredients taste acceptable.
When you cook from scratch, you control exactly what goes into your food. That doesn't mean you need to become a clean-eating evangelist. It just means you can choose to use real butter instead of whatever "butter flavour" is made from. You can season your own food to your own taste, not the manufacturer's sodium targets.
The health benefits are real
The evidence on ultra-processed foods isn't pretty. Regular consumption is linked to increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and even depression. We're not saying the occasional ready meal will harm you—but when processed food becomes the default, the health costs accumulate.
Cooking from fresh, on the other hand, typically means:
- More vegetables and fibre
- Less sugar, salt, and saturated fat
- Better portion control
- Greater variety of nutrients
You don't need to cook elaborate healthy recipes. A simple pasta with fresh tomatoes and garlic is infinitely better for you than a processed pasta ready meal—and takes about the same time to prepare.
It's cheaper than you think
Processed food feels cheap because the price per item is low. But look at the price per serving, and the picture changes. A ready meal lasagne might cost £3. Make lasagne from scratch for four people and you're looking at £1.50-2 per portion, even with quality ingredients.
The savings multiply when you cook regularly. Buying ingredients in proper quantities—a bag of onions instead of pre-chopped portions, a block of cheese instead of grated sachets—is dramatically more economical. Your spice rack becomes an investment, not a recurring cost.
It doesn't have to take forever
The myth of scratch cooking is that it requires hours of effort. In reality, thousands of genuinely delicious meals take 20-30 minutes. A stir-fry. A frittata. Grilled fish with roasted vegetables. Pan-fried chicken with a quick salad.
The time-consuming part isn't usually the cooking—it's the deciding. Standing in the kitchen at 6pm wondering what to make, realising you don't have the right ingredients, settling for something disappointing. That's where planning changes everything.