Do You Even Bother With Baking-from-a-Box anymore?

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Hey everyone! I see so many people post so many amazing recipes on here that take so much patience and creativity! My baking skills still aren't that great yet, but I have been able to follow some recent recipes from scratch that I really like. My question to all of you advanced bakers out there is: Do you even bother baking with pre-mixed baking products anymore? Such as boxed brownies, cookies, etc? I usually only use them during holidays now because we have such a large family that all want different types of bread, so sometimes for some of the breads I'll still use it from the box. Other than that, I try to do homemade.
 
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Sure, there's nothing wrong with the occasional baking mix. Some of them are quite good. I don't believe baking mixes should be the only thing you ever make, though, because that means you're missing out on developing essential baking skills.
 
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I'm not ashamed to admit I still use the mixes. The reason is because I usually don't have enough time to make something by scratch.The only time I make homemade goodies is during the holidays, special occasions, or when I have a new recipe to try.
 
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Right now I use box mixes all of the time. I have kids running around keeping me extremely busy and I just don't have the time to do otherwise.
 
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Yes, I use cake mixes in recipes to make things that aren't cake. There are cake mix cookies recipes, cake mix cobblers, cake mix dump cake, etc.
If you use cake mix as an ingredient to make something else, it's still semi-homemade.
 
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Yes, I use cake mixes in recipes to make things that aren't cake. There are cake mix cookies recipes, cake mix cobblers, cake mix dump cake, etc.
If you use cake mix as an ingredient to make something else, it's still semi-homemade.

This is what my Mom does. She'll use a cake mix (or whatever) as a base and by the time she's done sprucing it up it tastes like something made from scratch.
 
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I much prefer to bake from scratch, but when I was at university last year I tended to bake from a box as buying individual ingredients was too expensive. My student loan goes up this year though, so I should be able to afford to bake the good old-fashioned way once again. :D
 
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This is what my Mom does. She'll use a cake mix (or whatever) as a base and by the time she's done sprucing it up it tastes like something made from scratch.



I totally agree limcid! I do this often myself.

I much prefer to bake from scratch, but when I was at university last year I tended to bake from a box as buying individual ingredients was too expensive. My student loan goes up this year though, so I should be able to afford to bake the good old-fashioned way once again. :D


It does get expensive to buy individual ingredients. I joined one of those big box clubs (Sam's Club) and buying in bulk saves a pretty penny when you can do that. If you can give it a try.
 
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It does get expensive to buy individual ingredients. I joined one of those big box clubs (Sam's Club) and buying in bulk saves a pretty penny when you can do that. If you can give it a try.

I've never heard of that. What does that involve? I'm not sure we have anything like that in the UK...
 
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I've never heard of that. What does that involve? I'm not sure we have anything like that in the UK...



We have several here in the states. Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's. They sell items in bulk rather than smaller sizes. When I go shopping I buy 25 to 50 pound bags of sugar or flour instead of the normal 5 pound bags. It really is much cheaper that way. I bring ours home and store it in larger containers. If I am feeling up to it I will bag the flour and sugar in paper sacks and then use my seal a meal sealer and seal it up air tight. Here is a link to Sam's club here in the US to give you an idea of what the store is.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/
 
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When I can find the time, I do like to experiment with new creative recipes for dinners as well as desserts. But sometimes my budget does not allow for the splurge on excessive ingredients needed for some of my ventures. So those have to sort of be a pre-planned venture. As a result, I tend to indulge in the box mixes quite a bit even if I do add a few ingredients to suit my tastes.
 
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Yes, it's convenient to bake from a box, especially if you're short on time and you have a lot of people to bake for; but I usually like to make my things from scratch because I believe they taste better that way.
 
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For people who sometimes use cake mix, I saw this on Pinterest.
You can add stuff to make the cake mix taste richer and less chemical-y.

c25969e19997d6cb4ce2d2eefd173da9.jpg
 
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I bake with a box occasionally, but I do love making things from scratch. Its more satisfying, although box mixes are quicker and you can also spruce them up.
 
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I haven't tried this yet because I only recently found it. I'll probably try it with a devil's food cake mix.


Let me know how it turns out. I would love to bake a cake right now but I recently started losing weight and I am afraid I will jinx myself if I go to baking sweets!
 
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Add me to the list of those who bake from a box. I also like to tweak the box mixes to make semi-homemade treats.
 
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I bake from scratch 90% of the time, but I do love the King Arthur flour donut mix for baked donuts. That Pinterest "recipe" is super interesting!
 

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