Ask Lemmy

Croissants, or any other layered flaky pastry. Like, there should be a robot for this by now.

Honestly? Ramen. There are way too many ingredients that all needs to be cooked differently, and even the broth itself is a nightmare amount of effort for what you get at the end.

Crepes? Jesus, they're one of the easiest things you can cook. Anyway, to answer your question: croissants! I've made them from scratch before and it definitely wasn't worth it. Took half a day and weren't a patch on the real thing

Fried chicken.

It's soo good but not worth the hassle of dealing with all the oil.

Although, I've since found that air-fried, if done right, can be just as good.

Sushi. I just toss all the ingredients in a bowl and be done with it, instead of bothering to roll.

Baklava. I love it. When my aunts make it it's always amazing. But holy crap if it isn't the most tedious, fiddly, obnoxious stuff to make. And that's if you're not also making your own phyllo dough... all like six miles of it that goes in a batch one vapor thin layer at a time.

Cheese

Crepes are stressfull? How simpler could something be?

Gyoza/potstickers/dumplings

I will inhale plates of em and the time it takes to wrap em made me both appreciate the food more and appreciate the premade ones so much more

Chinese food. The common fast food type here in the US. Yeah, I can spend a bunch of time, work, and money to make orange chicken, boneless spare ribs, crab rangoon, teriyaki, coconut shrimp, and pork fried rice. Or, I can go 5 minutes up the street, and pay my favorite restaurant $20 for a big plate with all of that, with absolutely no work on my part, and it all tastes way better.

i have depression and adhd so it varies between every food and no food based on the rng going on in the ol' endocrine

Pumpkin pie filling. The real stuff takes forever and it’s stringy. It also doesn’t taste quite the same. Libby does it so well it’s not worth making your own.

My wife says pie dough. Pillsbury’s is almost as good and a lot less effort. I prefer pie dough with a ton more butter but she doesn’t.

Croissants. Only really good when an independent coffee shop makes someone come in at 4am to start making them. Even the industrial ones at the big chains or supermarkets are pretty meh and it's way too complex and time consuming to do myself but made right they are one of the best foods.

Phở Bo (Vietnamese beef soup). It’s such an amazingly good soup, but the making of it is a multi-step process that takes hours.

https://www.cooking-therapy.com/traditional-vietnamese-pho-recipe/

Ravioli, pierogies, wontons. Basically anything small that's wrapped up like that. Huge PITA and the quality improvement usually isn't worth it.

Maybe something worth doing in a social setting with a group though. Have some beers and BS while assembling everything.

Butter. I churned some once and no. Never again. Also ice cream, for similar reasons. And because we have some ice cream here that's very nice.

Pho. I have a killer recipe for the instant pot but it basically works out to the same price as just buying it from our local takeout. And they're Vietnamese.

Xiao long bao (aka soup dumpling). Also, made from scratch Tonkotsu Ramen.

Tried making them both. So much work.

Tater Tots.

Now I dont "love" them as a standalone but I do a few really nice loaded versions for catering family events. I tried to "elevate" my dishes by making my own and while I could and they were a little better it took half a day and a shitload of mess.

Macaroons. I have made them from scratch. I can appreciate the sophisticated sublime expression of culinary caution it takes to split egg white, whip them until hard peaks, and then gently and precisely fold in the other ingredients to get the flavor you are after... But holy hell is it tedious with lots of potential for failure most of the way.

Alternatively, making cinnamon rolls from scratch. Not because it's hard, just because it takes too long. I believe the recipe I was using allowed the dough to rise three separate times. Simple enough to make, but planning ahead for them to be breakfast is a 16:00 the previous day commitment.

French Fries. For those who don't know, when starting with a potato, you have to fry them twice. Once at a low temp to cook through, then again at a high temp to crisp up and brown. The frozen fries at the grocery have already had the first fry.

The double frying is just too much effort when the frozen stuff is just as good, even in an air fryer. So long as they're hot, the drive thru can compete with anything you make at home.

I used to feel the same way about egg rolls, but the product you get from scratch is superior to frozen or even take out.

Bubble tea. I've made everything from scratch before, but it's so much easier to just buy one and let someone else cook the boba.

Fried chicken and croissants.

Almost anything that involves phyllo dough. Banitsa is worth occasionally doing homemade only because you can't really find it anywhere, but anything else is just not worth it.

Apple Pie. The first step is nearly impossible.

Halal Chicken and Lamb over rice. I've made my own at home before and after all the effort that goes into making the sauces, the meats, the rice, and veggies, I somehow end up with a dish that cost at least twice what street carts sell, at 5 times the length to make it and isn't as good. I wouldn't make it at home unless I lived somewhere where that was the only way I could get it

Sub sandwiches are legitimately the same price or even less expensive if you buy it from a restaurant compared to buying all the ingredients yourself.

Similar with gyros.

Cereal!