Why Make It When You Can Buy It?
In the blogpost, “Why Buy It When You Can Make It,” we looked at reasons why I like to make food from scratch rather than always buying it.
Now, let’s look at the opposite, because it doesn’t always make sense to make something from scratch every single time.
The Cost:
Let’s take humus again as our example. Though it is going to be cheaper in the long run to buy ingredients separately and make it, those ingredients can be costly, especially if you are buying all of them at once. If money is tight, if you are just trying humus for the first time, if you are new to cooking/food prepping and need to buy all of those ingredients, or whatever your reason that you would rather buy the humus, it’s okay! Sometimes, it is more cost effective to just buy the finished product.
The Time:
Although making humus is not a very time-consuming project and there are aspects that can be done while you are doing other things, picking up a pre-made container at the grocery store is a lot quicker. Especially if you are already going grocery shopping (or using a grocery delivery service, which is one of our favorite life hacks recently). Let’s break down an estimate of how long you would need to make hummus:
Shop for ingredients if needed—🤷However long it takes you to grocery shop.
Soak chickpeas—12-24 hours (you can skip this step if you are using a pressure cooker to cook the chickpeas). Put them in a bowl, add water, cover, and let them sit. You can go do whatever else you need to do in the meantime.
Cook chickpeas–-Cook on stove top for 40–120 minutes or 55 minutes in an Instapot. Strain water.
Blend all ingredients—a few minutes!
However, if you buy premade hummus at the store, you just spend the time at the grocery store.
The “Spoons”
Food processing might be an enjoyable, relaxing activity for you. However, it might add more stress to your day. Maybe it depends on how you’re feeling that day—how many “spoons” you have available. (Did you miss the blog post on Spoon Theory? Read it here!) If making something from scratch costs you too many spoons, it’s okay to buy it from the store! Alternatively, maybe going to the store costs you a lot of spoons (and time) and so buying large containers of ingredients may mean less trips to the grocery store.
At the end of the day, my mama always said that life isn’t black and white. There isn’t one right answer, all of the time, for every situation.
Thanks for reading!
💜
Laura
