In other words, the family might be eating together, but Dad opts for leftovers, Mom dips into the freezer, and the kids tuck into something microwaved, something from the deli, or a combination of fresh ingredients combined with prepared products — also known as ''speed scratch.''
—Tom Sietsema, "Home cooking on the front burner," The San Francisco Chronicle, October 9, 1991
A less-popular synonym for this phrase is
component cooking. Jargon-spewing food industry types often call the packages of pre-measured ingredients
meal kits and the cooked result an
assembly meal, which is enough to ruin anyone's appetite. This phrase also comes in an adjective flavor, which is usually hyphenated:
speed-scratch.
