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I mostly cook from scratch, but I do use canned beans and canned tomatoes a lot of the time.

To me, cooking is ANYTHING that takes two steps. So, a piece of toast? Not cooking. A piece of buttered toast? COOKING. ;)

I have a great friend who is also a Certified Working Chef, and he taught me the value of using prepared foods and then enhancing them, to save yourself time and headache when entertaining. For example, start with a bottled salad dressing, but mix in fresh parmesan and cracked peppper, then decant it into a bowl for serving. Not the purist approach, but it still works.

Do frozen foods & vegetables zapped in a microwave count under "jars & cans" or "prepared meals"? So many variables. ;)

I'm with me; I would consider most of my cooking "from scratch" but I definitely rely on canned beans and diced tomatoes for the convenience. Hmm, sometimes canned chicken broth too. I think of these things as labor saving devices, but the key is to add fresh veggies (and meat if that's your thing) and herbs and spices and really make the dish your own. But when it comes to breads, cookies, and cakes, I definitely cook from scratch. It just tastes better ;)

Ok question -- we're talking about dinner every night after work, right? I think most people would put jars, cans, etc. in the "cooking from scratch" department. Those scary complete meals-in-a-box from a MassiveFoodConglomerate, no.

Without tins of crushed tomatoes, dry pasta, cans of beans, and from time to time frozen vegetables, I don't think anyone on this board could really say they "cook from scratch". Same goes for zapping fresh or frozen veggies in the microwave -- faster and easier than boiling/steaming/saute-ing. Yeah, its not dinner party food, but who has the time to do that every day? Not me. And I'm a great cook (or so Ive been told).

I'm joining the chorus. For example, I make cheese tortellini with spinach, chickpeas and tomato and I usually use frozen spinach, canned chickpeas and canned diced tomatoes, making this one of the fastest and easiest recipes in my toolbox. Basically I'm just peeling garlic. But I would consider that cooking from scratch. Pouring spaghetti sauce on the tortellini, that's cooking from a jar. Maybe I have too flexible and generous a definition.

Ruth, do you make the pasta from scratch or from a box/package? ;)

All these "convenience" foods whether in a can, box or freezer were created for a reason. I see no harm in some shortcuts. Other than the occassional special event meal I'm just lazy in the kitchen.

I once made beans "from scratch" and while they were delicious, they were three hours of cooking, an enormous ammount of splatter/cleanup and really no better than my normal canned beans with jarred red peppers and garlic, which takes around 5 minutes of prep/cleanup and a lazy 20 minutes of boiling...

yikes, who's this second me? i guess i'll have to be like patrick -- me (the first one). or maybe me (first).

Cook? Girl, please. That's why God created the corner Korean deli and delivery. Now, if it's the day before payday, I head on over to Chinatown; I jingle my change; and then decide what to get. Two pork buns and a moon cake sounds good today.

I will, however, sit down and watch the Barefoot Contessa add pound after pound of butter to her latest creation or watch Nigella slurp, suck and bite as she cooks. It makes the pork buns that much tastier.

On weekends, I will cook brunch.

Once I get a bigger kitchen in NYC, I'll take it as a sign from above. I swear I'll cook.