Which items are/aren't worth making at home?

sumeetg37

Cut pasta, I'll make sheets no problem, but anything that has to be cut by the pasta roller is out. Took me like 4 hours to deal with a lb of pasta. I can buy fresh pasta for fairly cheap around here. Also anything deep fried. I hate dealing with all the left over oil, I'd rather pay somebody to do it for me. Plus I don't really like my house smelling like a chicken wing for a week after.

RivenV

Bread: ain't nobody got time fo' that!

To actually contribute to the conversation, I would say that the daily coffee/tea drinker would be better served by doing this him or herself at home. Not only is it less expensive (usually), but you can also customize your drink to your exact specifications (for those who are so very particular). This takes a lot of the guess work out of logging, as well.

padams2359

I make most things from scratch. Pasta, not so much. I use to, but the machine is a pain to clean. Roasted Red Bell Peppers are definately cheaper to make at home. I buy 5 or 6 large peppers and roast them in the oven. Chop them up, and freeze them in ice cube trays. 1 cube is about 1/2 of a regular size peppers. Store great in the freezer. I have lemon and orange trees. I juice them, and freeze them in ice cube trays. 1 cube is 1/2 lemon. I have juice for healthy marinades all year long. Just opened the last bag from last year. If you do not have trees, buy a large bag of them when they are 10 for a $1. Invest in a food vacuum sealer. I am on my third one in 5 years, and if this one died tomorrow, I would go out and buy a new one. You can save cheese for months. I make very large batches of pasta sauce and use a hand blender on it. Freeze it in various container sizes for pizza sauce or to add to previously cooked ground beef for spagetti sauce. I pop it out of the containers and put it in vacuum bags. No freezer burn. Buy a rib rack, these are the things I buy when I get income tax return, slice them into nice size steaks and vacuum seal. The steaks last for a year with no freezer burn.

I will never for get the day my son came home from school and came running into the house totally excited. He was about 7. I asked him was was wrong. He said, "Dad, did you know they have mashed potatoes in a box?" I could not help but laugh. He was amazed. I always made them from scratch. I also made all of their baby foods until they were 6 months old. It was easy at that point. That is when you are giving them carrots everyday, then squatch, etc. to check for allergies before moving to something else.

MagicalLeopleurodon

Ice cream. Butter. Mustard. Jelly. Wine. Bread. Toothpaste. Body lotion. Ketchup. Cheesecake. Pie. Whipped cream. Souffle. Pickled okra.

Honestly-once i started growing my own food it has dawned on me that EVERYTHING is better when you make it yourself. So much so, i have sourdough starter and apple cider vinegar i made under my cabinet as i type.

Getting milk goats and dairy cows ASAP.

WinoGelato

My Chuy's knock-off creamy jalapeno ranch dip. It's awesome, but it makes a huge batch which is way more dip than I need to be eating before it goes bad. Plus, I can drive ten minutes and buy an 8 ounce container with a bag of chips for just a couple of dollars. Well worth the trip.

Can you share this recipe? I've been trying to find one. Unfortunately I live a few states away from the nearest Chuy's so I need to find a homemade alternative...

Confuzzled4ever

Everything is worth making at home.. it tastes better!

unless you are talking money-wise. then buy nutella, don't make it.

chubby_checkers

Just bumping this to remind myself of all the great stuff that I should make. :drinker:

Loulady

stealthq

Bread: ain't nobody got time fo' that!

WOW!!! THIS is one of the Most Important things a HEALTHY person should make at home. Buy a Bread Maker, you will soon learn that (1) There are ONLY 6 Ingredients to make Bread (NOT the 15+ in store bought), (2) Real Bread tastes different, it is NOT that chemical laden cotton ball that you buy in those bags. :noway:

Where are you buying bread? Plenty of purchased choices out there these days without preservatives, etc. Not that I care about how many ingredients are in the food myself, but if that's what you want, you can find it.

Let me modify what I would have said.

Nobody who works has time to make the bread and pizza dough that I would want to eat. Oh, and I don't have the right oven, either. I'm not talking quick breads, those I'll make.

When I want bread, I want crusty baguettes, authentic sourdoughs, ryes, etc. Yes, I am a huge bread snob. You're not making those in any bread machine and have them turn out right. I've made baguettes, and while I can get the flavor right, even with baking stones and steam the texture just isn't the same. Close, but for $3-5 I can get even closer to exact at the market 10min away.

And the pizza dough is a no-brainer. People spend years developing their own recipes for the pizza doughs I like and need a wood or coal fired oven to bake them right, anyway. For those, I go to the restaurant.

FitCurves444

Sushi.

Nuff said.

tifferz_91

80% of my food is DIY & homemade. I save more money & i KNOW what's in them!

I vacuum seal them (helps my food last 10x longer) & freeze the leftovers.

The foods i've listed below are personally worth the time & effort FOR ME.

And no, i do NOT make them all at once. I still get to live my life :laugh:



● bread- (knead & no knead)

● biscuits

● chia jams

● udon noodles & fettuccine/spinach fettuccine noodles- (by hand)

● mcgriddles

● date syrup

● nut butters & nut milks

● oat flour

● almond flour

● waffles

● pancakes

● sunflower seed butter

● smoothie packs

● honey mustard

● nut & seed butter cups

● soft tortillas

● soft flatbread

● fries & potato wedges

● pizza dough

● alfredo sauce

● potato & sweet potato chips

Skrib69

I love to cook from scratch, but I am usually banned from the kitchen because I am a messy cook. The other killer is time..... If I wasn't at at work all day, I would cook a lot of things that I buy. The taste is not the issue as usually it tastes better when made at home, time dictates....... :-(

Skrib69

My husband and I can some food, make microbrew, mead and hard cider, regular apple cider, smoke some meats and make our own sausages. Most of the jams and jellies we make are for Christmas gifts this year. I am going to try to make homemade vanilla extract and some sparking cider too. You wouldn't believe the baskets of food we have planned for friends and family this year...haha

I highly suggest making your own sausages because big companies put a lot of "body parts" that you wouldn't normally eat in theirs. Same with meat, no nitrates!

If you have a garden, you can your own tomato sauces, pumpkin puree, pickles, zucchini, soups, jams, jellies, apple butter, apple sauce, salsa, dilly beans, beets, cranberry sauce, ketchup and much more. I know its a pain in the butt but if you take 2-3 weekends to do it, you'll save a ton of cash throughout the year and have organic/good food. The initial investment of the jars isn't too bad. It runs about .70-1.20 a jar depending on how big they are. Once you have them, we are talking like .10-.30 a jar with next years batch.

I like making my own bread even if its from a mix. The only gluten free bread I like is "Glutino favorite bread mix".

I am a baker so I make all my own sweets, icing, frosting and cake mixes. Totally worth it once you realize how easy it really is.

We make our own simple syrup and real brewed tea for drinks throughout the week. I still drink kool aid though...haha

I made potato chips a few weeks ago! OMG, so much better than normal ones....and super simple. We are talking literally 10-15 minutes to do. http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/09/homemade-chips-recipe/

Thats all I got for now.

Can you move next door to me.. Or can I move next door to you???? I should never read threads like this when I am having my breakfast - it screws me up for the day!

Dauntlessness

My husband and I can some food, make microbrew, mead and hard cider, regular apple cider, smoke some meats and make our own sausages. Most of the jams and jellies we make are for Christmas gifts this year. I am going to try to make homemade vanilla extract and some sparking cider too. You wouldn't believe the baskets of food we have planned for friends and family this year...haha

I highly suggest making your own sausages because big companies put a lot of "body parts" that you wouldn't normally eat in theirs. Same with meat, no nitrates!

If you have a garden, you can your own tomato sauces, pumpkin puree, pickles, zucchini, soups, jams, jellies, apple butter, apple sauce, salsa, dilly beans, beets, cranberry sauce, ketchup and much more. I know its a pain in the butt but if you take 2-3 weekends to do it, you'll save a ton of cash throughout the year and have organic/good food. The initial investment of the jars isn't too bad. It runs about .70-1.20 a jar depending on how big they are. Once you have them, we are talking like .10-.30 a jar with next years batch.

I like making my own bread even if its from a mix. The only gluten free bread I like is "Glutino favorite bread mix".

I am a baker so I make all my own sweets, icing, frosting and cake mixes. Totally worth it once you realize how easy it really is.

We make our own simple syrup and real brewed tea for drinks throughout the week. I still drink kool aid though...haha

I made potato chips a few weeks ago! OMG, so much better than normal ones....and super simple. We are talking literally 10-15 minutes to do. http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/09/homemade-chips-recipe/

Thats all I got for now.

Can you move next door to me.. Or can I move next door to you???? I should never read threads like this when I am having my breakfast - it screws me up for the day!

If you want to move to Maine, we will be getting a ton of snow in a few months though

LorinaLynn

I've made sushi at home. It was entirely too time consuming, and not all that good. :frown:

pkw58

Honestly, everything I make at home or have homemade is better than prepared and packaged frozen or boxed foods... that being said, there are places that make a much better chopped salad or chocolate souffle than I do.

I use semi processed foods all the time - like I buy a can of pumpkin puree rather than stew a fresh pumpkin! I know the fresh pumpkin is awesome, but I take the puree and make pumpkin soup or pudding.

For convenience sake, any vegetable I plan to stir fry or put in a soup or a casserole, I buy in frozen bags. Potatoes and carrots for my husband's meals being the exception.

I buy all my fish frozen. Etc, etc.

lynn_glenmont

Lots of inspiration here.
I used to make bread completely by hand, but about 10 years ago someone gave me a breadmaker, which I didn't use much for a while, "because I can do it myself," but eventually I started using it in the summer when I didn't want to heat up the house by turning on the oven, and got hooked. It's also nice if you're only baking for one or two people, because I always made three loaves in the oven (to justify the energy of running the stove, while you can do just one loaf in the breadmaker, for far less energy cost). And it does take less of your time and attention, although I never saw bread making as taking that much of either. One other sort-of advantage was that when I switched to using the bread machine a lot, I realized I needed a food scale, because if you don't have your hands in the dough kneading it to know whether the liquid-to-flour ratio is right, you'll get better results if you weigh your flour instead of measuring it by volume. So when I started doing MFP, I already had a food scale, which I'm sure has made a huge difference in accurately recording what I'm eating, especially for dishes I make from scratch.

But I still like to make bread by hand sometimes in the winter, when I don't mind turning on the stove. Let it rise and bake while you're making soup (white bean with smoked sausage and kale; vegetable with beef or chicken; anything with a lovely simmered stock).

I've never tried making pasta (unless you count dumplings); it just seems like way too much work when I like the way the convenient, inexpensive dried pastas taste. For my tastebuds, I've never noticed anything all that special in the pasta served at restaurants that tout that they make their own. Maybe that's something I'll try when I'm retired.

I'll make desserts from scratch, but my family tends to want nostalgia for dessert, so it's easier to give in to demands brownies from the Duncan Hines mix (one-egg, "chewy"). I do make the icing from scratch, but I get in trouble if I try to improve on it with pricier, darker cocoas instead of good old Hershey's. What can you do?

I buy jelly and jams, because I don't eat them much myself, and I know from my mother making it (and from occasionally providing age-appropriate assistance) that it's a lot of work (at least if you're making it from grapes that have to picked from the backyard, taken off their bunches in the house, making sure no insects or snails make their way into the pot, cleaned, cooked, strained... or from crab apples, that have to be picked from the yard, cut up -- they're very hard, stems and seeds removed, if my memory is correct, cooked, strained...) Maybe someday I'll try my hand at some for Christmas gifts -- I guess blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries would be a lot easier for the cleaning prep stages.

I buy pie crusts (mostly for making savory pies and quiches), because I used to not like the crust anyway, but then I found the frozen Marie Callender's pie crusts, and to me they taste better than most homemade pie crusts I've tasted (although I have a niece-by-marriage who does make a killer crust). I will make the cookie-crumb (e.g., graham crackers, ginger snaps) crusts for desserts.

Things that for me are worth making from scratch:

Mashed potatoes. I remember the first I ever tasted instant potatoes, probably around 10 or 12 years old. It was at a family gathering, and we were eating in the kitchen. I had one mouthful, and thankfully I at least was old enough to know better than to say, "What's wrong with the potatoes?" I discreetly glanced around the kitchen counters and saw the box of instant flakes. If I don't have time to make mashed potatoes from scratch (and I will admit that peeling potatoes is a chore -- why else do you see unhappy soldiers in old movies stuck peeling potatoes on KP duty?), I'll just bake them or steam them, or have pasta or rice.

Rice -- as opposed to instant or converted rice. It just doesn't taste good to me. Brown rice does take time, but you can cook a big batch and then reheat it (I prefer to reheat it with a brief trip through boiling water and drain it, if I'm not making fried rice or throwing it in a soup or casserole). I hear people talk about how hard rice is to make, and I truly don't understand that. All you're doing is heating water to a boil, adding the rice, and turning the heat way down. Use a thick piece of cookware that distributes heat evenly -- typically something that can be used on the range-top and in the oven will work well. I've almost always used Corningware. Once the rice (and salt and fat, if using) are added to the boiling water, turn the burner down about as low as it will go (maybe low rather than warm on an electric, especially if it's a small burner), and leave it alone for 15 minutes.

Tomato sauce. OK, I do usually have a jar on the shelf for "emergencies," but usually I break open a can of tomatoes, saute some onions, garlic, maybe a couple of moderately hot chilis or some red pepper flakes, add the tomatoes and dried herbs if using, cook down (a little or a lot, depending on time available), add a little paste from a tube maybe, add a little vinegar, maybe some salt, taste, adjust vinegar and salt, possibly add a little bit of sugar but probably not because my biggest problem with jarred sauces is most of them taste like tomato syrup, add fresh herbs if using, eating.

Roasted chicken. I only do it in cold weather, so I still occasionally buy the rotisserie version in warmer weather, but you have so much more control over the seasonings, plus the lovely pan drippings for gravy, plus it's not dried out the way it can be when kept warm for hours at the store. And hardly any work at all.

Gravy. There are three challenges to making gravy, and none of them have to do with lumps (lumps are easy: make a slurry with water and your flour or other thickener, add a little of the hot drippings or broth to raise its temperature, and add it to the pan; if you're really worried, pour it through a sieve as you add it; if there are any lumps, it just proves it's homemade). 1) You have to have cooked a bird or a piece of meat that gave you enough drippings to make gravy; 2) timing - there are probably at least two other last-minute things that need attending, so if you're working on your own, you make the gravy while the meat is "resting" before you slice it and while the potatoes are still cooking; and (for me) getting the salt right because I put so little salt on my own food that I'm always worried the gravy will be bland (if I make it for my own taste) or too salty (if I overcompensate). So I either get somebody else to taste it, or risk it being too bland, because people can always salt their own plates. A lot of the poultry sold at regular supermarkets is so salty, the gravy doesn't even need to be salted.