Cooking from Scratch vs. Coupon Food

As I was taking inventory of my pantry the other day preparing for the resurrection of my Weight Watchers life (and the Frugal Fat Fighters), a thought occurred to me:

"Look at all these Betty Crocker cookie mixes!  It wasn't too long ago that I would only make sugar cookies from scratch!  I must be the worst mother in the world to be using mixes!"

Then I looked around the pantry some more and saw cake mixes, lots of Chex Mix, Crystal Light and more.....and started feeling worse.

You see - I always made everything from scratch (including Chex Mix and iced tea).  I know that some of you may think that using a cake mix or cookie mix IS cooking from scratch (and it can be, if you usually buy the items pre-made), but that was never "me".  I pulled out the flour, the baking powder, the sugar, etc whenever I wanted to bake. I still do quite often, but these days I find myself reaching for a mix more and more often, especially now that I have 3 children under the age of 8 running around the house.

And so I flounced (yes - flounced!  I can be a Drama Queen at times) upstairs, threw myself on the sofa and told Brad "I've got to stop couponing so much and get back to making everything from scratch"!

And do you know what that poor man Brad said to me?

Brad: Min - go get a cookie mix

Me: Why?

Brad: Just do it - go get a cookie mix!

Me: (resume flouncing) Here!

Brad:  ok - look at this.  How much did you pay for it?

Me: I don't know....it was either $.16, free or I made money on it through a Catalina deal

Brad: and when you made everything from scratch, did you always make sure that the kids had cookies after school?

Me: sometimes I got lazy and bought Chips Ahoy instead of baking them

Brad: And when was the last time you bought pre-made cookies besides Girl Scout cookies?

Me: I can't remember

Brad: And aside from the butter and egg you add to this mix, could you put the other ingredients for sugar cookies in a bowl for less than $.16? Other than the 2 grams of TransFats, which isn't even that much, is there anything in this mix that you think is going to kill us?

Me: of course not

Brad: then quit trying to be Martha Stewart and put the cookie mix back in in the cupboard.  The kids aren't going to give you a medal if you make them from scratch.  They just want their cookies!

Me: fine - but if you think I'm using that mix to make Christmas cookies for the neighbors......

Brad: I'm fully prepared for the flour explosion next week.  Now can we get back to watching "CSI:  Miami"?

My point in telling you this?

We all have our own levels of "cooking comfort". If you are used to buying everything pre-made, switching to a mix can be cooking from scratch!

Which one is the better mom? The one who makes a spaghetti dinner for their family using a bottle of Prego?  The one who makes homemade tomato sauce using canned tomatoes?  Organic canned tomatoes? Fresh tomatoes that she peeled, cooked and reduced?

How about:  The mother that cares enough to try to feed her family the healthiest food that they can afford while managing to spend time with them and save her family some money?

She gets my vote!

And while I will still try to get my family off the Au Gratin potato mixes (which Brad wanted even before I started getting them free.  Whenever I make them from scratch he asks "Are we out of the boxed stuff?"), I'm not going to feel as guilty when I reach for the mixes.

But as soon as I can start getting flour, sugar, vanilla and baking powder for free........