Foods That Are Easy To Buy But I Make From Scratch Instead

There are two reasons I might make something from scratch, rather than buy it. Either the store bought version is of inferior quality, or I can save a significant amount of money making my own. Most commonly, these items fall into both categories. Also, none of these things are very difficult or time consuming to make. I'm all about simplicity in the kitchen, so if it's on my list then it's not too tricky! In other words, if I can do it, you can, too!

Here is my list of must-make-from-scratch foods:

Bone Broth

I think I made my feelings on this topic pretty clear in my chicken stock post. Exponentially superior to store bought, and free. Store bought v. Homemade: no contest.

Ice Cream

Even if the ingredients appear to be okay, I simply don't trust store bought ice cream. Anti-freeze, anyone? The superior taste of homemade aside, making my own ice cream allows me to use sucanat or maple syrup instead of refined sugar, high quality cream, and raw milk. Homemade also has the additional nutrition of raw egg yolks from pasture raised hens. This usually costs more to make at home, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, kids LOVE to help! Making ice cream is so much fun!

Yogurt

I've recently been making yogurt at home in the crock pot. It's super easy, and I use the highest quality organic milk I can find. It costs about half the price of buying yogurt from the same dairy. Additionally, I am able to harvest whey, which I use for soaking grains and beans (saving me money on apple cider vinegar or kefir), and for lacto-fermenting things like mayonnaise and sauerkraut. The best part is that I can culture the yogurt for 24 hours, ensuring all the lactose is eaten up by those good bugs! My yogurt is both less expensive and higher quality than the store bought version.

Kombucha

At over $4 for one small bottle of raw kombucha, we couldn't afford to drink it as much as we'd like - especially considering the kids and I are practically addicted to it. Making kombucha at home is very simple, and once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature. You can experiment with different flavors. I can make three quarts for the cost of a few tea bags and a cup of sugar, making homemade kombucha the second-best bargain in my kitchen!

Beans

I want to ensure that our beans are soaked properly prior to cooking. I also want to avoid BPA-lined cans. And let's face it: you'll save yourself a lot of green buying beans dry instead of canned. As long as you remember to plan ahead and start soaking your beans at least 24 hours before you need them, you'll be all set.

Mayonnaise

Go ahead and try to find mayonnaise in the store that doesn't have soybean oil in it... you can't. Which is why homemade mayonnaise is the only way to go. Olive oil, raw, pastured egg yolks, and raw whey.... This stuff can't be beat! I haven't run the numbers but I'm sure, in this case, homemade costs more. Totally worth it. Homemade mayonnaise has a short shelf life of two weeks, and we can't go through that much that quickly unless artichokes are in season. But with the addition of whey, you can lacto-ferment mayonnaise and the shelf life increases from weeks to months! Super!

Salad Dressing & BBQ Sauce

Store bought salad dressing and bbq sauce has all kinds of nasty ingredients and it's not too hard to mix some olive oil and balsamic vinegar together (or mayo and ketchup, in dad's case). Ranch and bbq sauce take a little more time, but not a significant amount. When I buy dressing, I don't like my family to eat too much. When I make salad dressing, I don't care HOW much they eat.

Juice

Arsenic in apple juice, "flavor packs" in orange juice.... hmmmm, no thanks! It's always nice to have some juice on hand to add to a smoothie to make it more liquid-y (although kombucha or whey work well for this), but if we can't squeeze our own, we'll pass. Whatever we get off of our lemon and orange trees gets squeezed for juice, and we save the Tropicana for everyone else.

Vanilla

Wish I had figured this one out years ago: stick some cut up vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka, wait a month or two, and save yourself a boat load of cash!

Other things I can think of that would be easy to buy but I make instead are fruit leather, hummus, pizza sauce, pizza dough, enchilada sauce, spaghetti sauce, chocolate syrup, popcorn, french fries & sweet potato fries, egg nog, soup, and kale chips. Whether due to superior taste or superior quality, I find these things worthwhile to make.

Some items I'm hoping to add to my must-make list sooner, rather than later are: bacon (to avoid sugar), sausage, kefir, pickles and other lacto-fermented vegetables, ginger ale, ketchup (again, to avoid sugar) and sparkling cider.

There are some things that I could make myself, but I don't - not with any regularity anyway. Either we don't eat enough of it to bother, or I'm satisfied with my source and the price, or it's simply not worth my effort. These items include:

Bread - Trader Joe's has a wide selection of traditionally leavened - meaning no yeast - breads that are delicious and affordable. Some of them are even organic. I'm not a big bread eater (bread is just a vehicle for butter, IMO) and no one here is much of a sandwich eater, so TJ's bakery breads will do.
Flour Tortillas - I never eat them, the kids just nibble at theirs, and dad eats two at a sitting, tops. I buy a pack of handmade tortillas at Trader Joe's, keep them in the freezer, and pull them out as we need them.
Corn Tortillas - Whole Foods carries a very affordable pack of organic, sprouted corn tortillas - everything I would ask for in a corn tortilla! (We love to fry them up in coconut oil - yum!)
Butter - Trader Joe's carries Kerrygold butter - my favorite butter in the world! - for $2.79. Can't beat that!
Pasta - We pretty much only eat brown rice pasta, and not very often at that. Totally not interested in learning to make it.
Applesauce - If I have some extra apples, sure, I might make applesauce. But usually I buy it and I'm good with that. We don't go through that much anyway.
Potato Chips - Almost seems ridiculous to include this on the list because I wouldn't even consider making them myself, but it is one of the few processed foods I buy. Dad enjoys himself some bbq potato chips, and Whole Foods carries some that are cooked in avocado oil (as well as a plain chip cooked in olive oil). Not the healthiest food in our kitchen, but I don't want him to feel deprived and go looking for potato chips in some other woman's kitchen ;)

This was a fun post to write! Let me hear from you: what's on your must-make list? What would you like to learn to make? What's on your don't-bother list?

Chicken Soup

We almost always have chicken soup around here in the colder months. This soup has a lot going for it. It makes an easy, economical, delicious, and nutritious lunch. Add a slice of sourdough bread smothered with grass fed butter and you'll be in heaven! The key good chicken soup is simplicity - that, and homemade stock. Feel free to add some noodles or rice if you must, but it doesn't need anything else, in my opinion! I never make it the same way twice, so the following "recipe" is just a guideline.

Ingredients

1 quart homemade chicken stock (I like to use stock that's somewhat concentrated for extra flavor)
Leftovers meat picked from one roasted chicken (For us, this usually equates to half the meat from a 3-4 pound bird)
A few carrots, sliced
1 small or medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped small
Salt, to taste (I use a small palm full of coarsely ground Celtic Sea Salt - don't worry, salt is not bad for you!)
1 tbsp Thyme

Directions

I put all of the ingredients in a pot and simmer them all morning. It will be perfect by lunchtime!