What will you never buy since you learned to cook? What can you cook but still buy from the store?

lemurcat12

pinuplove wrote: »

I will never buy Minute Rice. In 15 minutes I can have fluffy Jasmine rice that doesn't takes like cardboard.

Rice is my thing I will never make another way since I got a rice cooker. (It's great for oats too.)

Sabine_Stroehm

lemurcat12 wrote: »

pinuplove wrote: »

I will never buy Minute Rice. In 15 minutes I can have fluffy Jasmine rice that doesn't takes like cardboard.

Rice is my thing I will never make another way since I got a rice cooker. (It's great for oats too.)

and vegetables. I love artichokes in the steamer, and eggplant.

JohnnyPenso

Since I learned to cook just about everything, the answer for me is...everything I can't remember the last time I bought something from the store that was a prepared meal or dish unless you count cereals. Everything I eat is either whole food or a dish cooked by me or someone else.

happysherri

Any of those frozen meals (although it's been years since I bought any lean cuisines). Since I meal prep for the week, I just grab the tupperware for my lunch that day. Protein bars - I can make yummy, no preservative bars at home, but I still buy them because it's way more convienent.

jenilla1

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

Definitely soups. Also bread, almond milk, guacamole, salsa, and beef jerky (although I still buy it from a jerky-specific store from time to time).

OMG. Beef jerky! Once you make homemade beef jerky, it absolutely ruins store-bought jerky forever. All that stuff tastes like crap and chemicals to me now. Homemade beef jerky (from a good recipe) is one of the true joys in life.

LiftingRiot

I would never buy spaghetti from anywhere.

crzycatlady1

brewerfan13 wrote: »

I buy everything from the store since it is cheaper and the same nutritional value. #easymac

Ha, yeah this is pretty much me too I know how to cook and bake but I don't enjoy it so I don't do a lot of it.

estherdragonbat

I'm vegetarian; my husband eats meat. We are strictly kosher. And given that kosher meat and poultry are ALREADY priced significantly higher than non-kosher when they're raw, let's just say that I almost never buy them cooked.

Meganthedogmom

Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »

Mashed potatoes.

Omg how could I forget mashed potatoes?? Before I changed my lifestyle, I would literally have like a bag of fake mashed potatoes for dinner 2-3 nights a week. Never again!! My real mashed potatoes are the most amazing thing in the world.

jennybearlv

I still buy rotisserie chickens and bread because they are pretty cheap considering how many meals I get out of them and how much time they save. I often buy canned beans, not that they are particularly good in taste or cost, but they are so much more convenient than dried beans. I keep canned sardines and Spam around because they are a fast way to add protein to meals. My pantry also has Costco supplies of instant ramen and boxed mac and cheese as they are the ultimate comfort convenience foods.

Since I started gardening and canning I rarely buy canned tomato sauce and have not bought seasoned spaghetti sauce since I started an herb garden. I haven't had frozen dinners or vegetables in years. I rarely buy pre-cut fruit, vegetables, or salad mixes anymore. They are so expensive and don't keep as long as whole produce. I also haven't bought stock or broth since I bought my first cookbook and learned how easy, cheap, and tasty it is to make my own. The same goes for soup. I make up a big batch every week and eat it for lunch. Recently I discovered how easy it is to make tortillas, so we never buy those anymore either.

CooCooPuff

I only learned about instant potatoes from trying to make culture for fruit flies.

My parents eat a lot of quick foods, but even now, they still make mashed potatoes.

beaglady

I'll never buy canned or boxed stock. I make homemade, and can it in ball jars with my pressure canner.

I've made homemade pierogies but they're too labor intensive to make more than once every 10 years. If I made home made ice cream, I would want to eat it all.

lemurcat12

beaglady wrote: »

I'll never buy canned or boxed stock. I make homemade, and can it in ball jars with my pressure canner.

A great idea that I read somewhere and use was to make it and freeze it in an ice tray, and use the cubes when making soup, etc.

(Of course, I don't have a pressure canner. Canning may be a project this year.)

pinuplove

lemurcat12 wrote: »

beaglady wrote: »

I'll never buy canned or boxed stock. I make homemade, and can it in ball jars with my pressure canner.

A great idea that I read somewhere and use was to make it and freeze it in an ice tray, and use the cubes when making soup, etc.

(Of course, I don't have a pressure canner. Canning may be a project this year.)

We do that all the time! Just reduce your stock down until it is super concentrated, freeze into cubes and store in the freezer in an airtight container. Throw a cube or two into whatever you thing will benefit from it

zdyb23456

sgt1372 wrote: »

Just remembered the one thing that make that I have not bought in years and probably will never buy again:

Pasta sauce -- tomato based (red) or cream (white).

Bottled pasta sauces are way too expensive for what you get ($3-4 or more per jar). For red sauce, all it takes is a large can of whole tomatoes (that I can buy for just $1), crush them by hand, smash, slice or mince some garlic, throw the garlic in a heated saute pan for a few secs, add the tomatoes, season as you prefer w/basil, oregano, "Italian seasoning" or whatever and cook it til the tomatoes are tender. Then add the pasta and you're done.

For white sauce, all you need is butter, cream and parmesan cheese (garlic and other seasonings optional) which tastes much better than anything in a jar. Just Google "alfredo" for a recipe.

Takes only a few mins to make either one.

The only pasta "sauce" I'd still buy (rather than make) is pesto sauce because the basil often is not available and the cost of making it can be a "push" (given the cost of basil, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino or parmesean cheese) but making it always tastes better than pre-made.

Buying enough fresh basil for pesto is so expensive! We grow a "field" of it in the summer just for pesto. Just before it starts to flower we cut it down leaving the lowest level of leaves so it can grow back. We purée the basil with olive oil and freeze. We get at least 2-3 harvests of basil. Now my husband makes pesto all year, where it used to be a treat a few times a year.

We also sub walnuts for the pine nuts easier to find and cheaper. We buy Parmesan and Romano in bulk at Sams club.