What is better to buy ready-made than make yourself?

If you spend hours in the kitchen chopping, slicing, baking and roasting, and the result has disappeared in less than fifteen minutes, you can’t help but wonder: couldn’t I have just bought this ready-made? More people ask themselves that question. That’s why we’ve put together a list of tips from real foodies, who reveal what they always buy ready-made.

Chopped nuts

Carlet: ‘Super handy. You always have the right amount and you know how it goes: when you chop nuts on your cutting board, they fly in every direction and the next day you’re still finding pieces of walnut behind the coffee maker or on the extractor hood.’

Bread

Margaret: ‘I love cooking and baking, don’t get me wrong. But when I bake bread myself, I really wonder what on earth I’m doing. I spend hours working on the dough, letting it rise, kneading it again, giving it a second rise, baking it, and then when you see what kind of bread you can buy from a good baker… Is it really worth it?’

Bagels

Laura: ‘I make a lot of things myself. Curry paste, ice cream, cheese: I’ve tried them all at least once. Making bagels myself is really a step too far. Here in the city I can buy delicious fresh bagels; it’s a lot of hassle. I’m not doing it anymore.’

Chili sauce

Garrick: ‘You can try making it, but you won’t get anywhere near the same flavor. And those bottles in the supermarket are incredibly cheap too. I’m talking about chili sauce, of course. Some things are best left to the professionals.’

Baguette

Allen: ‘I tried baking a baguette myself, but it was a disaster. The house smelled wonderful, I followed the recipe very precisely, but a brick came out of the oven. What a nightmare.’

Tomatoes

Davin: ‘Whenever tomatoes are used in a dish, I usually use a can of diced tomatoes.’

Soy sauce

Charles: ‘I simply buy soy sauce and teriyaki sauce at the supermarket. Have you ever tried making them? Impossible.’

Filo pastry

John: ‘Just thinking about how much work it is to make filo pastry already wears me out. The ingredients cost almost nothing, but I have better things to do.’

Peas

David: ‘It’s fun to buy pea pods at the market and then shell the peas, but man, what a lot of work. What’s wrong with a bag from the freezer?’

Read also:

• 5 things we never buy ready-made #1
• 6 things we prefer to buy ready-made #2
• An ode to ready-made garlic baguette

Source: Quora