1. Tomato sauce
Unless it's the peak of the tomato season and you have access to fresh, local tomatoes and an army of family members to help you out, skip making homemade tomato sauce. A store-bought version is a great option; packaged tomato sauce is made during the height of the tomato season, when the flavour of the tomatoes is at its best. Look for a simple sauce and add your own veggies and seasonings.

2. Stock and broth
It can be hard to find the time to make a homemade stock with cooking scraps. A perfect time-saving substitute is a good quality store-bought stock that is low in sodium and free of artificial colours, flavours or MSG.

3. Fresh pasta
Fresh-made pasta may be delicious, but making it at home can be difficult. You need a lot of space, special (and expensive) pasta rolling/cutting equipment and it can get messy. Most grocery stores sell good quality fresh pasta in the deli section. For tips, see 11 ways to ruin pasta.

4. Perogies
Those delicious, pillowy, potato and cheese filled dumplings are extremely time-consuming to make from scratch. Buy your favourite brand from the local eastern European deli instead. Store-bought perogies are a perfect quick and easy weeknight meal—pan-fry them with a little onion and bacon and serve with a dollop of sour cream!

5. Puff pastry
Life is too short to make puff pastry at home. Look for the already rolled-out, all-butter variety in the frozen aisle. Make sure it's completely thawed (a slow, even thaw in the fridge is best) before unrolling to avoid cracks.

Try out this delicious Lemony Red Pepper and Asparagus Pasta Salad and check out which foods are worth making from scratch.