Why Ree Drummond Says Store-Bought Isn't Always A Bad Thing

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Celebrity chefs often make names for themselves through teaching others how to cook. Ree Drummond is no exception. She's the star of Food Network's "The Pioneer Woman" and is known for making cozy Southern dishes, including her own favorite comfort food, which fuses Chinese-American flavors. But just because she cooks for a living doesn't mean she makes everything from scratch. Actually, Drummond believes that in some cases, it makes more sense to use store-bought ingredients.

When discussing her cookbook "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner's Ready!" with Tasting Table, Drummond explained why she now uses store-bought items more than she used to. "I don't have the patience I used to have for long prep times and multiple steps," she said. However, there's a trick for properly incorporating grocery store items. "The key to using store-bought items or shortcuts is limiting them to one or two per recipe and letting the whole or from-scratch ingredients lead," Drummond added. "The point of a store-bought shortcut is to save time, but you never want to use it at the expense of the flavor of the dish."

If cooking shows have taught us anything through the years, it's that some ingredients just aren't worth preparing from scratch. Ree Drummond has a few favorites she prefers to buy from the store, too. "My favorites are good jarred marinara — it can be a dipping sauce for calzones or incorporated into a rich Bolognese — and frozen bread dough. It makes the most incredible pizza crust, not to mention cinnamon rolls," she told Tasting Table.

Ina Garten, another popular Food Network chef, has some store-bought items she prefers to use in place of taking the time to make them from scratch. Puff pastry, pound cake, and good-quality tomato sauce are some big ones for Garten, and she's even become well-known for her signature phrase, "Store bought is fine." Bobby Flay, too, has some trusted store-bought go-to items, including Ford's Foods barbecue sauce; he also always keeps Mutti canned tomatoes in his pantry.

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