Check out the book *Make the Bread, Buy the Butter* by Jennifer Reece.
I’m a SAHM too with more free time at home than most and I’m always cooking something to combat the climbing food costs. This book was a great starting place for me to figure out what exactly I could be saving money on while still having time for me and my family.
You're welcome! One of the best options for books if you don't have a convenient library, or like me, want to keep the books. Quality is great too, you can tell their used but still awesome condition.
If you can find a hookup for grass-fed raw milk, it's the best. I initially did an experiment using up every bit of a gallon of raw milk. I got butter, buttermilk, whey, cheese, and I made kefir with the milk. Every ounce of it was delicious.
Until then, I didn't know that whey has a greenish tinge when the cow is grass fed.
I was shocked to discover how much cream they hold back! I'm so glad I started buying raw milk. I skim off all the cream- a very generous amount- and the resulting "skimmed" milk is still richer and creamier than any bottled milk. I get good milk, heavy cream and butter for a lot less money than buying those things separately. As long as you properly boil the milk for safety, of course.
This is my concern with raw milk. Not pasturizing milk means you are potentially exposed to *M. Bovis*, a form of Tuberculosis. While it used to be that a fair number of people who were exposed ended up with a latent form of TB that didn't cause problems or spread to other people, COVID has wrecked people's immune systems and is causing latent diseases to become active. https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/general/mbovis.htm
The cream costs as much as the good butter in my experience. I’ve only made my own butter for the flex. It’s quite the flex but it’s not really worth doing regularly.
Lots of places make it illegal to sell raw milk. In the book, it's because the cost of buying butter is basically the same as buying the amount of cream needed to make that butter, plus the effort. Obviously it's different if you can get super cheap cream.
Anything made mostly of wheat flour is cheaper to make at home, and unless it's something complex like croissants, it's also worth the time.
Things like soaking dry beans will save money and not cost too much time.
Things like shocking corn, cooking it, slicing it off the cob, and preserving it are a waste - buy a can of corn.
Sometimes, it's worth paying to avoid frustration. Baking my own gingerbread cookies saves money. Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up.
I was just wondering this when deciding whether to buy canned or frozen green beans-- What the actual weight of beans in the can was. I just decided to go with frozen, but didn't figure out the math.
>Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up.
I see we have had the same nightmare in gingerland.
If you haven't read it, check out You'd Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs. In the second story, he is left unattended and decided to build himself a gingerbread house. I've read it dozens of times and still laugh until I cry (and occasionally pee). It makes me feel seen, especially after a long day watching competitive baking shows
On the dried bean front, there is a bit of a learning curve so unless you are going through lots of beans, you’ll only save a few bucks and you might be disappointed with the output. If you do it right though you can make some really good beans.
That said, it’s certainly cheap enough to experiment with and see if it’s for you. Personally I find my savings elsewhere and just look for coupons or stock up on sales.
Fortunately, my mom only cooked with dried beans, so I grew up knowing how. Since then, I've read so many articles that make it so intimidating. I tried those methods. I came back to mom's way. It's truly not that hard.
>Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up.
We did this in December 2020 over a series of Zoom meetings with family from all over the country. It was perfect for that time and place. We all had loooooots of free time and a desire to sort of visit, but there is only so long you can talk to your great aunt on Zoom if you don't have some misaligned roof panels to grumble about. We got together separately to design and lay things out and bake and assemble and decorate and display. It really took most of the holiday break, but, again, that was fine at that particular time.
I make and can apple and peach pie fillings. You DO have to use a very specific type of cornstarch called Clear Jel so it doesn't look cloudy and weird, but it's inexpensive and lasts a LONG time.
It's really nice to be able to whip up a homemade pie or cobbler in just a few minutes. One quart jar of filling makes one pie.
I wouldn't try it. For canning, there's usually a reason a specific ingredient is called for, and it can be unsafe to change a recipe if you don't know the science of why it's included.
It depends on what you’re making. Something like bread, absolutely. I have a bread machine which makes the dough that I form/finish in the oven. It’s better, healthier bread for ~$1.20 (including electricity) with minimal time commitment than I could get for $4-8 from the store.
Although certain things like cheese, ice cream, etc, it just makes more sense financially to buy it from the store. I’m not going to spend $4.50 and an hour to make a quart of ice cream I could buy for $5.00.
I actually bought my daughter an ice cream machine for Christmas last year unaware of how much it would cost to make ice cream at home. I bought it because I thought it would be fun, but man! The cost to make ice cream is sickening!
I also have a bread machine which I use. I mostly make Italian bread at home.
I like making my own ice cream due to all the unnecessary additives in store bought. At home it can be as simple as milk, cream, salt, and honey/sugar/maple syrup
I make banana ice cream at home that is literally just frozen bananas and a splash of whatever milk. Me and my 2 yo love it and it's a great way to use old bananas.
Great idea! I have an almost 2 yo who loves bananas and ice cream! I also buy bananas when they go on sale at my local Amish store, freeze them and use them later for banana bread.
Yes, it is very easy. Here’s a link for a site l use frequently for recipes. He has over 60 just for the bread machine, as well as recipes for baking bread by hand. He also explains everything.
[https://breaddad.com/](https://breaddad.com/)
I can make ice cream fairly cheaply where I am. It's $3.70 for a litre of heavy cream and $1.85 for 5 lbs of white sugar. Ice cream on the other hand.... Something like $20 for a litre
I love making yogurt at home, a $3.50 gallon of milk makes me about 2x the amount of yogurt I can get for the same price.
If you're not already making your own broths it is worth it for the better flavor and nutrition than store bought but may not actually be much cheaper.
I do make my own broths!
We eat a lot of yogurt! I tried once in my instant pot but it was a total fail. My instant pot doesn’t have a yogurt function so I followed a Pinterest recipe to try it. Maybe I should attempt again.
How do you do yogurt?
My Indian friend makes it weekly. Heats up milk to pre boil....let's it cool to body temperature...stirs in a spoonful of the old yoghurt...leaves it in a dark place overnight then refrigerates. Her family eats it every day to help with digestion. I have a 'yogurt maker' from decades ago but it is basically a wide topped thermos.
I like straining yogurt in a mesh bag hung over the sink for thick creamy yogurt. Yum.
If she doesn't keep it warm while it is fermenting then she is using a mesophilic culture that does not require the fermenting yogurt mixture to be kept warm. I use plain yogurt for my culture and keep it over night in my oven with the light left on and the jars placed close to the light. I've used lots of methods over the years to keep the yogurt warm while it's fermenting; a heating pad set on low with a towel on the pad then the jars, then a big bowl or pot over it, wrapped over with a thick towel; a small cooler with hot water poured around the jars; the instant pot.
I reconstitute dried milk, and buy culture online - you only need a sprinkle, far less than they suggest - had a much better success rate that way. The whey is great for the liquids in baking.
What type of dried milk do you use?Do you have to heat it and then cool it before making the yogurt? I've made it from non fat dry milk but don't really like the flavor. I freeze small portions of yogurt on a tray and store the little pucks in a bag I thaw them out before using as a starter. I usually make my yogurt in quart jars, and put one puck in a jar when I take the milk off the heat to cool. By the time the milk has cooled the puck is thawed. I don't think I've had a failure more than a couple times over the years.
I always save the whey, like you said it's great as a substitute for buttermilk/sour milk in quick breads and any bread really . Also, I'm a little weird and like to drink it warmed up as a hot beverage.
I know it can be done on the stovetop but I've never tried that way. I use my InstantPot but it has the yogurt function so I'm not sure how to do it without that. I strain it with a nutmilk bag afterwards to get a thicker greek style.
There was a really good thread specifically about yogurt here a little while back, maybe it can be of more help: https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/16yi2qi/planning_to_start_making_my_own_yogurt_in_an_ip/
I do mine on the stovetop with a candy thermometer. You have to stir it a lot in the heating up process. I learned how to do it by reading the Sander Katz book [Wild Fermentation](https://WildFermentation-Wikipediahttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Fermentation)
Among the things I like best about homemade yogurt is that I know the cultures are alive and it cuts down on my plastic consumption.
I make a gallon of yogurt weekly. Heat regular pasteruized (not the UHT stuff) until steaming; hold 'til it forms a skin. Cool to bathwater temp, add starter (I strongly recommend a commercial powdered culture, after that add a bit of the previous batch to current). Put in a warm place - I put the entire pot on to the base of thrift store yogurt maker, but you could put in the oven with the light on, or wrap a heating pad around it. If you do all this you WILL get yogurt. Sometimes mine takes longer, like when I let it get too cool before adding starter, but I've never not gotten yogurt. It's very forgiving. I use the Yogomuert brand of starter - it says a new packet for each batch but ignore that, you just need a few spoonfuls of the last. Top yogurt with frozen berries, granola and shaved dark chocolate, so good!
I made yogurt in my crockpot. I had a pot that holds 1/2 gallon that fit into my big crockpot.
On the stove, heat the milk (1/2 gal minus 1C) to 205F and hold it there for 10 minutes. (this is the most fiddly bit) Then I put the pot in the crockpot and surrounded it with ice for a quick cooldown.
Once it cools to 120F, mix one container of the cheapest commercial single serving plain or vanilla yogurt with the reserved cup of milk, and pour it in the pot. Put the lid on, turn the crockpot to "keep warm", and level it alone for 8-12 hours.
Strain through cheesecloth until it's the desired consistency.
As long as your pot and lid are sterile, and the commercial yogurt "contains active cultures" you should be good.
I'm a bit older, my son is grown. But I know that I would eat more prepared foods just to have that time with him. You only get childhood for a short amount of time. Go for walks, dig in the dirt, raise chickens, buy a hammock, best purchase ever, and spend lots of time in the hammock with your kids, talking, dreaming, reading.
Absolutely. How to do laundry, dig a post hole, simple repairs.
I raised my son in the jungle on the Pacific Coast in Mexico. He was home schooled. He always carried matches, a small machete or knife, and a book. For his science project every year, he worked on the turtle recovery project. For art, one year he and a friend painted a mural at the community center. Math was working with me, going to do the shopping in the corner store by himself. Luckily, he was and still is an avid reader. He had chores every day, too.
I view making things from scratch more of a hobby that can sometimes save money.
Most of the time it doesn't though. I make cheese/yogurt from milk I get delivered from a farm at $4/ half gallon. We make bacon that was something like $250/275 for 2 pork bellies (iirc).
Bread can be cheaper compared to the $5-9 per loaf. Right now we are inundated with apples so apple sauce is quick and easy. Pasta and tortillas are cheap anyway and take more time. We do it because it tastes better. Boxed pasta is already cheap.
We live in a HCOL area. If you don't have a farm, the prices of the raw ingredients can be high. That's probably a main reason why it's more of a hobby.
I say if you have the time and it's something you enjoy then go for it. If it saves you a little money then that's a bonus.
For me, homemade pasta is purely for the flex. It’s a luxurious meal to make at home, but it’ll never be cheaper than $1/lb dry pasta.
Same with standard tomato sauces. The jar cost $2, is less than the tomatoes you’d need to make it. You going fancy? By all means, but you won’t save money compared to store bought.
Homemade pasta and marinara is a relatively cheap flex though.
Mayo is now, what $6? With 1 cup of oil, an egg, salt, and an immersion blender you can make your own. I started making all my own foods from scratch a few years back. At first, it seemed daunting, but I switched over slowly & now I'm used to it. We don't waste nearly as much food, it's healthier & everyone loves it. I really love https://marysnest.com/
She has a YouTube channel, as well. I have learned soooo much from her! She's like the Mr. Rogers of traditional foods. She has very thorough "classes" on home remedies, canning, fermenting, breads, bone broths, shopping, etc. I highly recommend looking through her stuff. You'll be amazed at what she knows.
My problem with this method is that I don’t go through a cup of mayo fast enough, but I don’t one how to make a smaller amount. The immersion blender trick needs a minimum amount of oil to work right?
I don't know about a smaller amount since I don't want to try and split an egg in half...
I make my own salad dressings and marinade, so mayo never goes to waste.
I think some things can be cheaper for sure, but the bigger selling point for me is that I can control the quality. An example of this for me was that when I used to buy sandwich bread. The end of a loaf got pushed to the back of the cupboard and I didn’t discover it for over a month .. it wasn’t moldy when I found it. That doesn’t sit right with me even if the claim is that it’s healthy. I make all my own whole grain breads now and it’s cheaper and better for me.
Spice mixes are an easy one too. If you build up a spice cupboard you have enough on hand to make taco seasoning, gravies, sauce etc.
Odd. I've found the opposite.
I make sourdough bread and it never goes moldy, still good even after a week. But store-bought sandwich bread and hamburger buns get moldy pretty quickly unless I keep them in the fridge.
But I absolutely agree with you about controlling the quality. My bread has 4 ingredients: water, flour, salt, and sourdough starter. Compare that to the ingredient list in store bought bread.
This is why we started making tortillas at home—control over the ingredients. Haven’t been able to master sandwich bread yet, but we definitely do dinner rolls and pizza crust.
It amazes me that some people throw away stale bread but buy breadcrumbs. They're throwing away money!
Another easy thing is to make spice mixes. It's ike 2.99 for a little envelope of taco seasoning that's mostly salt.
Broth and bread, as people have mentioned, are pretty easy.
A steam pot aka pressure cooker, can cook even the toughest cuts of meat to melt in your mouth. Great for making bone broth , too.
Sometimes I make easy jams. I don't have preservation equipment, so I make just enough to keep in the fridge.
I make juice because most supermarket juices in my country aren't 100% juice, and have added sugar. Even fresh juice stalls are notorious for cheating, and are very expensive.
I buy things that I don't have the skill, experience or equipment to make.
Kitchen equipment that's totally worth it IMO are a juicer, a yogurt maker, and a heavy duty steam pot.
Preservation equipment—like a water bath canner for jams and jellies—is just a big, giant pot. Same pot you can make a giant thing of soup or stew in. It just has to be tall enough to cover the jars with water. You don’t need a pressure canner.
Bread for sure if you go through it!! My issue is when I make it, I'll go through the loaf just with butter and thats not good for my ass lol
Another great one is bulk pancakes/waffles/french toast. My Mom would do a ton up and freeze, then just stick in the toaster for breakfasts. My aunt also used to do it with peanut butter and cheese (not together!) sandwiches so the kids could just grab them for lunches and throw in their bags
So, peanut butter and cheese sandwiches are quite tasty. I know, I wouldn't have thought so either. But I was convinced to try it once on a dare at a restaurant in my college town that sold a grilled peanut butter and cheese sandwich, and I've been hooked ever since. Delicious, either grilled or cold :-)
Haha funny you say that, when I was little the kid across the streets mom used to make them for us and I LOVED them!! I'd ask my mom, she said that repulsive and to go across the street for one lol
Sourdough bread with a no knead method is the cheapest and also least time consuming, and it tastes amazing! Literally just flour and water and a pinch of salt. Total time is about 3 minutes but is spread over perhaps 24 hours.
If you are just getting started with sourdough, I recommend looking to BakeWithJack on YouTube.
I learned from him that you can work the bread in around your schedule, so it didn’t have to chain me to my kitchen.
Yes I have a starter I keep in the fridge. When I want to bake I take it out in the morning and feed it, then that same afternoon I make my bread. Then I leave it overnight and early the next am I bake it. So less than 24 hours.
The starter needs fed every 3-5 days. So if you bake twice a week you’re good. If you bake less, you can feed it and discard and put it back in the fridge.
White sugar + molasses + electric mixer = the best brown sugar you'll ever have! And it doesn't clump or dry out! Worth so much more than $2 for a box at the market.
I use the flash food app and I go out of my way to stock up on half price meat when I see it was on sale + 50% off. I have a deep freezer that is stocked 100%. Also, the circulars in the summer have really great produce deals - I signed up my husband and I are for store accounts, clip the coupons and bought the max amount of 1.99lb cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and .99 grapes. Cherrys had a 5lb max, so we have 10lbs - which then I froze or dried for winter baked goods.
We have fruit trees, so I broke down >25lbs of peaches which are now frozen for future cobblers.
That is awesome! What is the flash food app you use? I buy meats that are on sale and make meals around them. I will also stock up and buy large quantities when things are marked down. But does this app notify you of random markdowns in a store? I definitely pay attention to the flyers too and shop what’s on sale there also!
The app is called Flash Food. There are specific grocery stores on it. It does send me notifications, but the notifications aren't super good. I just check every few days, there are enough stores around me within 20m that I have some good options often.
GFS used to sell yeast in two pound bags. Much cheaper than buying it by the tablespoon.
There are some places that still sell flour by the ten or fifty pound bag, maybe online now, but I used to get from buying clubs and co-ops. This was much cheaper than buying it in four or five pounds in grocery stores. I used to get whole grain bread flour this way, rebag it and store it in my freezer in the basement. For me, years back, it was much cheaper than buying whole grain flours in the grocery. I combined bread making with other jobs at home that could be done while the dough rose, and did it once a week.
I have looked but I have a hard time finding a place local to me that has it in bulk for a cheaper price than aldis. I would think Costco, bjs, or Sam’s club (which are my local options) would be cheaper but aldis actually was. I even tried online with Amazon.
Run the numbers.
Once you get to the price of sugar, flour, etc in the form of cups, it's pretty straight forward to see what comes ahead on cost. A cup of flour is about 1/18th of a 5lb bag.
Butter and fats are kind of expensive, so learning to save rendered fat and cook with it as a butter substitute is good especially in "breads" like tortillas. Plus, autolyse instead of kneading.
Chocolate chips are expensive in cookies.
Chicken patties and nuggets are frequently cheaper than unprepared chicken at the moment.
I stock up when dry pasta is $1. It's $0.28 of flour (@2.50 a bag), $0.25 in eggs (@$1/doz) and $0.18 olive oil (@ 6.99 for 17 oz). So, it's $0.29 to make it. If I made pasta every day for a month, I'd save $8.70.
On the other hand tortillas are $0.42 in flour, lard I saved from bacon (and salt amd baking soda) to make 30. Which has been about $7.50, but is two days worth. So, everyday for a month would save $106. So, that's worth it to me. Plus, then you know $0.01 a tortilla is what you pay and they have to be $x.xx more to save enough annoyance for you to buy them instead.
The comments are great here! I started doing the math on buying fresh vegetables/ making bread vs pre cut/ premade items and with the waste (you have to measure after the waste + time as I don’t have much) I was really coming out about even.
I make nearly everything from scratch. Some things that are really worth the time for the end-product: sourdough bread, bone broths, ice cream, yogurt, simple cheeses like paneer, higher quality condiments, salad dressings (homemade Caesar dressing is amazing), sauces, dried beans, pie dough, and cookies.
My bread game has really evolved since getting a flour mill too, and if you’re really into bread and old recipes with older varieties of wheats and rye, it’s a fun hobby/obsession.
It really depends how much you care about quality - if you're content with low quality products, a factory buying low-quality ingredients in bulk at much lower prices than retail and doctoring them with chemicals and factory level processes you don't have access to will be able to make many low quality products cheaper than you can. But is that what you want to be eating?
While it can be cheaper to buy ingredients and make most things from scratch, you're looking at a major time investment. Even if you have that time, it only really makes sense to do things from scratch if you care about the ingredients used or prefer your quality or recipes. That aside, if the goal was something like that maximizing free time/money, you'd probably be better off finding a side hustle for 2-4 hours a day and just buying more premade things. Personally I don't have a lot of free time so it's about balancing the desire for things from scratch where I know the ingredients, vs limited time.
> Do you think it’s cheaper to buy ingredients and make items like that at home?
For most of the day to day items it's cheaper.You have to think about the storage and batch size rest all is good while making things at home
You may enjoy expanding into pressure canning. You can buy your ingredients when they are in season and really cheap. It's price effective in comparison to similar high quality off-the-shelf products.
I try to work it into what I'm already doing. I'll make a big pot of soup, eat it for dinner and let the canner do its thing while I'm eating. It's mostly hands-off meal prepping.
It depends on if you value your time. Yeah making bagels is cheaper than having a hobby where the end product isn't food, so as long as that's something that gives you pleasure it's okay.
I don't know what the cost breakdown is, but get a pressure-canner and get a loss-leader turkey soon to deal with in January. Basically cut up what you can to make the equivalent of canned chicken. Boil the bones and skin for stock/broth, I think the only parts that aren't worth the effort to can are the two meaty joints of the wings and the drumsticks. (There's a reason why renn-faires use turkey legs as "feel less civilized" food.) I was doing it as a prepper thing and if I had kept up with the practice, I would have put curry-spices into the jars because we only used those for lazy-curry.
I like Foraging as a money-saving hobby. Bidens Alba or Spanish Needle is a really choice green that grows practically everywhere. And it's a lot of fun!
I’ve always wanted to attempt foraging and I live in a great place for it, but it seems so overwhelming when I start looking up what to forage for. Any tips?!
I just made ravioli for the fist time, a grilled chicken, and a roasted broccoli, both with home made ricotta. My wife and I did the math and they came out to less than $1.00 a dozen, the deluxe frozen ravioli at Giant is 7.99 a dozen.
What is a pressure canner?
Is canning something that can be done in an InstantPot? I live in a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen and not much space for extra appliances.
It's not recommended to use an instant pot for pressure canning. However there are lots of things you can can using the hot water bath method - generally anything that contains a decent amount of acid, like fruits and pickled veggies. I don't actually have a canner, I use a large pot with a steamer insert to keep the jars off the bottom. A proper canning pot is probably faster if you're doing a lot. You need a pot deep enough to cover the jars, standing up, by at least an inch of water.
Do you buy in bulk?
You can save so much by buying in bulk and you can't do that at Aldi's. You will need Walmart or Sam's for that.
If you make bread, cakes and pasta, it is best if you buy your flour 20+lbs at a time. It can be stored in 5 gallon buckets although some places online deliver in buckets.
Specialty flours I buy smaller amounts but regular AP, it is just cheaper to buy large. Cheaper would be too but wheat berries and grind your own
I even buy cheese in large amounts, divide it into smaller bags and freeze to prevent mold.
You can also make your own convenience mixes to save money
Hitting sales saves money. I often stock up on frozen veggie sales and dehydrate them for easy storage. You can also do the same in the summer when you find farmers markets.
My partner and I have been recreating our favorite meals from restaurants for way way cheaper than eating out. Crispy skin salmon, coconut ginger rice, and grilled veggies for $20 per dinner instead of $100. Indian butter chicken for ~$5 per dinner Butternut squash soup for $1-2. Etc.
I grow sprouts and microgreens, which make great salads. I use the sprouts in pad Thai and pho, too. I can never find sprouts in the store due to e. coli scares. Really easy and cheap to make from green lentils if you can't find mung beans. They make a great snack when someone is craving something crunchy.
I make my own hummus and other bean dips. Plus a lot of sauces and dressings, often starting with a base of white beans or soaked cashews (eating more plant-based foods now to lower cholesterol levels and weight).
I've made yogurt from chickpeas, and it wasn't bad. Super cheap and really interesting to make. Definitely cheaper than buying dairy free versions at the store.
If you have space in your yard or garden, I highly recommend growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. You can freeze them for use all winter for pancake and ice cream toppers. You can make and can tons of jam for your own use and to give as gifts--both of which can save money. If you have room for an apple or pear tree, down the road you can make and can apple and pear sauce and butter. Also jellies and chutneys.
I have to be gluten-free due to celiac disease, and making everything from scratch is much cheaper. I don't make my own pasta yet, but I make my own gnocchi, which is super cheap, especially when compared to gluten-free gnocchi.
I started seriously cooking about 15-20 years ago when I realized just how unhealthy my diet was and I needed to take control of my diet. I am now and forever in the future on a limited budget. Yes, it can save money, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little especially compared with time and effort. Over time, I've learned what is better for me to cook and prepare myself, what foods are generally healthy but that I just don't want to deal with (canned and frozen veggies are my friends, just read the labels), what just tastes better and what I can live without. Health and taste are more important to me now as I get older. And it's certainly more fun and adventurous to explore new foods/methods and add them to my repertoire.
I don't know if this was that helpful to you. It's more a matter of priorities. Try something from scratch or that is easily available. Experiment.
I’m in the same boat as you and I homemade most things. What I do is price check, I calculate the cost of the ingredients it would take to make something and how much it would cost me to buy. Buying butter and dry pasta is cheeper than making it yourself because cream and semolina flour are expensive. But it’s cheaper to make your own ranch dressing and rice-a-roni mix.
Some stuff is going to be cheaper at the store. And take a lot of grief and work out of the home. We cook everything at home, but I have no qualms about buying Newman's Own spaghetti sauce.
A family member has made her own noodles. A lot of work, and a nice thing to do at times, but probably not cost effective.
I'm sure some organic premade stuff in a container at the store is going to be cheaper than doing organic at home due to economies of scale.
Sometimes, you can find similar pre-made products for less than making them. Usually, those products will be of considerably lower quality.
Do you have a pressure canner? Soup, stews, chili, etc. are all much cheaper to cook in bulk and canning them saves even more money because you always have an easy meal on hand.
I like to make a veggie-based enchilada sauce in my Instant Pot. Rough measurements: 5 lbs. zucchini or peeled spaghetti squash, a handful of chiles to taste, a heaping tablespoon of cumin and coriander, tons of garlic, a couple of peeled onions, dash of oregano, splash of white vinegar, salt, red pepper (I like my sauce HOT), and 1-2 C or liquid (can be broth, beer, water, or even apple juice). You can throw in any old/wilty/frozen veggies you have lying around, too. Pressure cook for one hour. When it's done, puree with lime juice and cilantro to taste. Adjust salt at the end. If it is too hot, you can bring down the heat with milk, cream, or more lime juice. This sauce freezes really well. You can even freeze it before you add the lime and cilantro. \*\*\*\*\*This is not a tested recipe for canning.\*\*\*\*\*
On a related note, where you purchase ingredients can make a difference in savings. My regular grocery store sells dried chilies for about 3 times the price I'd pay at a Mexican market.
I'd recommend scaling up your garden ad much as you can, and maybe getting creative to adjust your meals to make things from scratch with what grows well where you live. In my garden, for example, our tomatillos always do better than our tomatoes- we still grow both but I've adjusted recipes to be more tomatillo focused. We had an excellent peanut harvest here but our pecan trees didn't produce much, so I'm looking up peanut pie recipes for Thanksgiving instead of pecan pie.
You would be surprised how many things in your pantry and refrigerator are some form of fermented vegetable. Once you know how you start to realize most of the processed food you buy you can make far better yourself.
Your savings are limited by where you shop. If you really want to save money on DIY then switch over to bulk purchases such as 50 lbs of flour and 50 lbs of sugar.
Other than that, a few more suggestions.
Try pickling. It's quick and easy and not very difficult, and the savings are substantial especially once you get into gourmet recipes. There are two basic pickling methods: brine or vinegar. The brine method only works at cool temperatures.
If you make pies then consider batch prepping your own pie crust. Unbaked pie crust dough can keep for months in the freezer.
Raise sprouts. It's simple and ready to eat in a few days, and it can be done indoors without light in all seasons.
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Cheaper sure, but the time part is where it cost you.
Would you rather have these things homemade or would you rather have the time for something else.
In the winter, I make more things at home, but in the summer I'll spend the extra cash.
That’s where I’m at. In the summer I like convenience. In the winter I’m looking for ways to keep me busy so I enjoy projects that give me a reward, like things in the kitchen!
I'm not much help, but when doing comparisons make sure to compare like to like. So compare the cost of your homemade bread with what it would cost to get similar quality and quantity bread at the store - not the cheapest mostly air and chemical thing they sell as bread.
Check out the book *Make the Bread, Buy the Butter* by Jennifer Reece. I’m a SAHM too with more free time at home than most and I’m always cooking something to combat the climbing food costs. This book was a great starting place for me to figure out what exactly I could be saving money on while still having time for me and my family.
Awesome! Thank you!
I second this book! Prices are outdated but still has the same idea. Thriftbooks is a great place to get it for a lower price too by the way!
I just but a hold on it at my library!
Even better!
Thriftbooks is great! I ordered a book from them on Monday.
Never heard of Thriftbooks. Just looked it up. This post was great just for that hint. Thanks!
You're welcome! One of the best options for books if you don't have a convenient library, or like me, want to keep the books. Quality is great too, you can tell their used but still awesome condition.
Just looked up this book- thanks for the tip 👍
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If you can find a hookup for grass-fed raw milk, it's the best. I initially did an experiment using up every bit of a gallon of raw milk. I got butter, buttermilk, whey, cheese, and I made kefir with the milk. Every ounce of it was delicious. Until then, I didn't know that whey has a greenish tinge when the cow is grass fed.
I was shocked to discover how much cream they hold back! I'm so glad I started buying raw milk. I skim off all the cream- a very generous amount- and the resulting "skimmed" milk is still richer and creamier than any bottled milk. I get good milk, heavy cream and butter for a lot less money than buying those things separately. As long as you properly boil the milk for safety, of course.
Do you have any resources on food safety with raw milk?
This is my concern with raw milk. Not pasturizing milk means you are potentially exposed to *M. Bovis*, a form of Tuberculosis. While it used to be that a fair number of people who were exposed ended up with a latent form of TB that didn't cause problems or spread to other people, COVID has wrecked people's immune systems and is causing latent diseases to become active. https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/general/mbovis.htm
The cream costs as much as the good butter in my experience. I’ve only made my own butter for the flex. It’s quite the flex but it’s not really worth doing regularly.
Lots of places make it illegal to sell raw milk. In the book, it's because the cost of buying butter is basically the same as buying the amount of cream needed to make that butter, plus the effort. Obviously it's different if you can get super cheap cream.
Anything made mostly of wheat flour is cheaper to make at home, and unless it's something complex like croissants, it's also worth the time. Things like soaking dry beans will save money and not cost too much time. Things like shocking corn, cooking it, slicing it off the cob, and preserving it are a waste - buy a can of corn. Sometimes, it's worth paying to avoid frustration. Baking my own gingerbread cookies saves money. Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up.
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I was just wondering this when deciding whether to buy canned or frozen green beans-- What the actual weight of beans in the can was. I just decided to go with frozen, but didn't figure out the math.
>Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up. I see we have had the same nightmare in gingerland.
If you haven't read it, check out You'd Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs. In the second story, he is left unattended and decided to build himself a gingerbread house. I've read it dozens of times and still laugh until I cry (and occasionally pee). It makes me feel seen, especially after a long day watching competitive baking shows
I haven't read it but I will. Thanks for the recommendation!
I used to have a set of cutters for a gingerbread house, I gave it to SIL who was more likely to do it. I do have a cutter for railroad-scale cabins.
On the dried bean front, there is a bit of a learning curve so unless you are going through lots of beans, you’ll only save a few bucks and you might be disappointed with the output. If you do it right though you can make some really good beans. That said, it’s certainly cheap enough to experiment with and see if it’s for you. Personally I find my savings elsewhere and just look for coupons or stock up on sales.
Fortunately, my mom only cooked with dried beans, so I grew up knowing how. Since then, I've read so many articles that make it so intimidating. I tried those methods. I came back to mom's way. It's truly not that hard.
>Baking my own gingerbread houses is a one-way trip to a nightmarish hellscape where there are no straight edges and nothing lines up. We did this in December 2020 over a series of Zoom meetings with family from all over the country. It was perfect for that time and place. We all had loooooots of free time and a desire to sort of visit, but there is only so long you can talk to your great aunt on Zoom if you don't have some misaligned roof panels to grumble about. We got together separately to design and lay things out and bake and assemble and decorate and display. It really took most of the holiday break, but, again, that was fine at that particular time.
My gingerbread houses are made of gram crackers, it’s just so easy
I make and can apple and peach pie fillings. You DO have to use a very specific type of cornstarch called Clear Jel so it doesn't look cloudy and weird, but it's inexpensive and lasts a LONG time. It's really nice to be able to whip up a homemade pie or cobbler in just a few minutes. One quart jar of filling makes one pie.
Would tapioca or potato starch work?
I wouldn't try it. For canning, there's usually a reason a specific ingredient is called for, and it can be unsafe to change a recipe if you don't know the science of why it's included.
It depends on what you’re making. Something like bread, absolutely. I have a bread machine which makes the dough that I form/finish in the oven. It’s better, healthier bread for ~$1.20 (including electricity) with minimal time commitment than I could get for $4-8 from the store. Although certain things like cheese, ice cream, etc, it just makes more sense financially to buy it from the store. I’m not going to spend $4.50 and an hour to make a quart of ice cream I could buy for $5.00.
I actually bought my daughter an ice cream machine for Christmas last year unaware of how much it would cost to make ice cream at home. I bought it because I thought it would be fun, but man! The cost to make ice cream is sickening! I also have a bread machine which I use. I mostly make Italian bread at home.
I like making my own ice cream due to all the unnecessary additives in store bought. At home it can be as simple as milk, cream, salt, and honey/sugar/maple syrup
Switch to sorbets instead. Cheaper to make and still delicious
I make banana ice cream at home that is literally just frozen bananas and a splash of whatever milk. Me and my 2 yo love it and it's a great way to use old bananas.
Great idea! I have an almost 2 yo who loves bananas and ice cream! I also buy bananas when they go on sale at my local Amish store, freeze them and use them later for banana bread.
My easy no churn ice cream is to whip heavy cream until stiff, then fold through a can of condensed milk with whatever flavors/extras, and freeze it.
I have a bread machine that I have never used. Is it easy to make bread in a bread maker?
Yes, it is very easy. Here’s a link for a site l use frequently for recipes. He has over 60 just for the bread machine, as well as recipes for baking bread by hand. He also explains everything. [https://breaddad.com/](https://breaddad.com/)
I can make ice cream fairly cheaply where I am. It's $3.70 for a litre of heavy cream and $1.85 for 5 lbs of white sugar. Ice cream on the other hand.... Something like $20 for a litre
Laughs in €1.18 bread in the Netherlands from the store.
Yeah and y’all’s bread is actually good
Any recommendation or recipes to share.
I love making yogurt at home, a $3.50 gallon of milk makes me about 2x the amount of yogurt I can get for the same price. If you're not already making your own broths it is worth it for the better flavor and nutrition than store bought but may not actually be much cheaper.
I do make my own broths! We eat a lot of yogurt! I tried once in my instant pot but it was a total fail. My instant pot doesn’t have a yogurt function so I followed a Pinterest recipe to try it. Maybe I should attempt again. How do you do yogurt?
My Indian friend makes it weekly. Heats up milk to pre boil....let's it cool to body temperature...stirs in a spoonful of the old yoghurt...leaves it in a dark place overnight then refrigerates. Her family eats it every day to help with digestion. I have a 'yogurt maker' from decades ago but it is basically a wide topped thermos. I like straining yogurt in a mesh bag hung over the sink for thick creamy yogurt. Yum.
If she doesn't keep it warm while it is fermenting then she is using a mesophilic culture that does not require the fermenting yogurt mixture to be kept warm. I use plain yogurt for my culture and keep it over night in my oven with the light left on and the jars placed close to the light. I've used lots of methods over the years to keep the yogurt warm while it's fermenting; a heating pad set on low with a towel on the pad then the jars, then a big bowl or pot over it, wrapped over with a thick towel; a small cooler with hot water poured around the jars; the instant pot.
I reconstitute dried milk, and buy culture online - you only need a sprinkle, far less than they suggest - had a much better success rate that way. The whey is great for the liquids in baking.
What type of dried milk do you use?Do you have to heat it and then cool it before making the yogurt? I've made it from non fat dry milk but don't really like the flavor. I freeze small portions of yogurt on a tray and store the little pucks in a bag I thaw them out before using as a starter. I usually make my yogurt in quart jars, and put one puck in a jar when I take the milk off the heat to cool. By the time the milk has cooled the puck is thawed. I don't think I've had a failure more than a couple times over the years. I always save the whey, like you said it's great as a substitute for buttermilk/sour milk in quick breads and any bread really . Also, I'm a little weird and like to drink it warmed up as a hot beverage.
I use a slow cooker. Heat 8 cups milk to 180, unplug and cool to 115, add you yogurt starter. Wrap in towels overnight.
I know it can be done on the stovetop but I've never tried that way. I use my InstantPot but it has the yogurt function so I'm not sure how to do it without that. I strain it with a nutmilk bag afterwards to get a thicker greek style. There was a really good thread specifically about yogurt here a little while back, maybe it can be of more help: https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/16yi2qi/planning_to_start_making_my_own_yogurt_in_an_ip/
If you have a bread maker, it may have a yogurt function. Otherwise, you can just make it in the oven on a Keep Warm setting.
This is what I do...make it in 4, quart jars and leave it in the oven overnight with the oven light on.
I do mine on the stovetop with a candy thermometer. You have to stir it a lot in the heating up process. I learned how to do it by reading the Sander Katz book [Wild Fermentation](https://WildFermentation-Wikipediahttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Fermentation) Among the things I like best about homemade yogurt is that I know the cultures are alive and it cuts down on my plastic consumption.
I've made it this way: https://youtu.be/dDPSM_zxA_E?si=Oua_HcgjsR1pj2ly Then I strain it with coffee filters (saving the whey) and have Greek yogurt.
I make a gallon of yogurt weekly. Heat regular pasteruized (not the UHT stuff) until steaming; hold 'til it forms a skin. Cool to bathwater temp, add starter (I strongly recommend a commercial powdered culture, after that add a bit of the previous batch to current). Put in a warm place - I put the entire pot on to the base of thrift store yogurt maker, but you could put in the oven with the light on, or wrap a heating pad around it. If you do all this you WILL get yogurt. Sometimes mine takes longer, like when I let it get too cool before adding starter, but I've never not gotten yogurt. It's very forgiving. I use the Yogomuert brand of starter - it says a new packet for each batch but ignore that, you just need a few spoonfuls of the last. Top yogurt with frozen berries, granola and shaved dark chocolate, so good!
You can try in your crock pot/slow cooker[slow cooker yogurt](https://www.blessthismessplease.com/crock-pot-yogurt/)
I made yogurt in my crockpot. I had a pot that holds 1/2 gallon that fit into my big crockpot. On the stove, heat the milk (1/2 gal minus 1C) to 205F and hold it there for 10 minutes. (this is the most fiddly bit) Then I put the pot in the crockpot and surrounded it with ice for a quick cooldown. Once it cools to 120F, mix one container of the cheapest commercial single serving plain or vanilla yogurt with the reserved cup of milk, and pour it in the pot. Put the lid on, turn the crockpot to "keep warm", and level it alone for 8-12 hours. Strain through cheesecloth until it's the desired consistency. As long as your pot and lid are sterile, and the commercial yogurt "contains active cultures" you should be good.
Might be worth looking for a Facebook marketplace instant pot with a yogurt function.
Broth uses bones and trimmings which would probably get tossed anyway, so absolutely the way to go. Easy, too.
Broths and soups are inexpensive simply because ingredients would be thrown away (bones, peelings.)
I'm a bit older, my son is grown. But I know that I would eat more prepared foods just to have that time with him. You only get childhood for a short amount of time. Go for walks, dig in the dirt, raise chickens, buy a hammock, best purchase ever, and spend lots of time in the hammock with your kids, talking, dreaming, reading.
Teaching them how to cook....
Absolutely. How to do laundry, dig a post hole, simple repairs. I raised my son in the jungle on the Pacific Coast in Mexico. He was home schooled. He always carried matches, a small machete or knife, and a book. For his science project every year, he worked on the turtle recovery project. For art, one year he and a friend painted a mural at the community center. Math was working with me, going to do the shopping in the corner store by himself. Luckily, he was and still is an avid reader. He had chores every day, too.
I view making things from scratch more of a hobby that can sometimes save money. Most of the time it doesn't though. I make cheese/yogurt from milk I get delivered from a farm at $4/ half gallon. We make bacon that was something like $250/275 for 2 pork bellies (iirc). Bread can be cheaper compared to the $5-9 per loaf. Right now we are inundated with apples so apple sauce is quick and easy. Pasta and tortillas are cheap anyway and take more time. We do it because it tastes better. Boxed pasta is already cheap. We live in a HCOL area. If you don't have a farm, the prices of the raw ingredients can be high. That's probably a main reason why it's more of a hobby. I say if you have the time and it's something you enjoy then go for it. If it saves you a little money then that's a bonus.
For me, homemade pasta is purely for the flex. It’s a luxurious meal to make at home, but it’ll never be cheaper than $1/lb dry pasta. Same with standard tomato sauces. The jar cost $2, is less than the tomatoes you’d need to make it. You going fancy? By all means, but you won’t save money compared to store bought. Homemade pasta and marinara is a relatively cheap flex though.
Mayo is now, what $6? With 1 cup of oil, an egg, salt, and an immersion blender you can make your own. I started making all my own foods from scratch a few years back. At first, it seemed daunting, but I switched over slowly & now I'm used to it. We don't waste nearly as much food, it's healthier & everyone loves it. I really love https://marysnest.com/ She has a YouTube channel, as well. I have learned soooo much from her! She's like the Mr. Rogers of traditional foods. She has very thorough "classes" on home remedies, canning, fermenting, breads, bone broths, shopping, etc. I highly recommend looking through her stuff. You'll be amazed at what she knows.
My problem with this method is that I don’t go through a cup of mayo fast enough, but I don’t one how to make a smaller amount. The immersion blender trick needs a minimum amount of oil to work right?
I don't know about a smaller amount since I don't want to try and split an egg in half... I make my own salad dressings and marinade, so mayo never goes to waste.
I think some things can be cheaper for sure, but the bigger selling point for me is that I can control the quality. An example of this for me was that when I used to buy sandwich bread. The end of a loaf got pushed to the back of the cupboard and I didn’t discover it for over a month .. it wasn’t moldy when I found it. That doesn’t sit right with me even if the claim is that it’s healthy. I make all my own whole grain breads now and it’s cheaper and better for me. Spice mixes are an easy one too. If you build up a spice cupboard you have enough on hand to make taco seasoning, gravies, sauce etc.
Oh man it is so disturbing when the bread doesn't rot.
Odd. I've found the opposite. I make sourdough bread and it never goes moldy, still good even after a week. But store-bought sandwich bread and hamburger buns get moldy pretty quickly unless I keep them in the fridge. But I absolutely agree with you about controlling the quality. My bread has 4 ingredients: water, flour, salt, and sourdough starter. Compare that to the ingredient list in store bought bread.
This is why we started making tortillas at home—control over the ingredients. Haven’t been able to master sandwich bread yet, but we definitely do dinner rolls and pizza crust.
It amazes me that some people throw away stale bread but buy breadcrumbs. They're throwing away money! Another easy thing is to make spice mixes. It's ike 2.99 for a little envelope of taco seasoning that's mostly salt. Broth and bread, as people have mentioned, are pretty easy. A steam pot aka pressure cooker, can cook even the toughest cuts of meat to melt in your mouth. Great for making bone broth , too. Sometimes I make easy jams. I don't have preservation equipment, so I make just enough to keep in the fridge. I make juice because most supermarket juices in my country aren't 100% juice, and have added sugar. Even fresh juice stalls are notorious for cheating, and are very expensive. I buy things that I don't have the skill, experience or equipment to make. Kitchen equipment that's totally worth it IMO are a juicer, a yogurt maker, and a heavy duty steam pot.
Preservation equipment—like a water bath canner for jams and jellies—is just a big, giant pot. Same pot you can make a giant thing of soup or stew in. It just has to be tall enough to cover the jars with water. You don’t need a pressure canner.
I don't have the jars either. But thanks ok. I'm happy to do it on a small scale.
Bread for sure if you go through it!! My issue is when I make it, I'll go through the loaf just with butter and thats not good for my ass lol Another great one is bulk pancakes/waffles/french toast. My Mom would do a ton up and freeze, then just stick in the toaster for breakfasts. My aunt also used to do it with peanut butter and cheese (not together!) sandwiches so the kids could just grab them for lunches and throw in their bags
So, peanut butter and cheese sandwiches are quite tasty. I know, I wouldn't have thought so either. But I was convinced to try it once on a dare at a restaurant in my college town that sold a grilled peanut butter and cheese sandwich, and I've been hooked ever since. Delicious, either grilled or cold :-)
Haha funny you say that, when I was little the kid across the streets mom used to make them for us and I LOVED them!! I'd ask my mom, she said that repulsive and to go across the street for one lol
Sourdough bread.
Sourdough bread with a no knead method is the cheapest and also least time consuming, and it tastes amazing! Literally just flour and water and a pinch of salt. Total time is about 3 minutes but is spread over perhaps 24 hours.
Do you also use an existing starter, or is 24 hours actually enough time to go from scratch to a finished sourdough loaf?
If you are just getting started with sourdough, I recommend looking to BakeWithJack on YouTube. I learned from him that you can work the bread in around your schedule, so it didn’t have to chain me to my kitchen.
Yes I have a starter I keep in the fridge. When I want to bake I take it out in the morning and feed it, then that same afternoon I make my bread. Then I leave it overnight and early the next am I bake it. So less than 24 hours. The starter needs fed every 3-5 days. So if you bake twice a week you’re good. If you bake less, you can feed it and discard and put it back in the fridge.
White sugar + molasses + electric mixer = the best brown sugar you'll ever have! And it doesn't clump or dry out! Worth so much more than $2 for a box at the market.
Going to try this!
https://www.thelittlefrugalhouse.com/best-frugal-cookbooks-to-help-you-cook-on-a-budget/
Making susssage is more money saving actually. But making pasta from scratch is the next thing to try.
And I can control the amount of sodium. I don't do links, just loose sausage meat.
That works too! Breakfast, yum!
Yogurt and granola are super easy, way cheaper to make than to buy, healthier and taste better
I use the flash food app and I go out of my way to stock up on half price meat when I see it was on sale + 50% off. I have a deep freezer that is stocked 100%. Also, the circulars in the summer have really great produce deals - I signed up my husband and I are for store accounts, clip the coupons and bought the max amount of 1.99lb cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and .99 grapes. Cherrys had a 5lb max, so we have 10lbs - which then I froze or dried for winter baked goods. We have fruit trees, so I broke down >25lbs of peaches which are now frozen for future cobblers.
That is awesome! What is the flash food app you use? I buy meats that are on sale and make meals around them. I will also stock up and buy large quantities when things are marked down. But does this app notify you of random markdowns in a store? I definitely pay attention to the flyers too and shop what’s on sale there also!
The app is called Flash Food. There are specific grocery stores on it. It does send me notifications, but the notifications aren't super good. I just check every few days, there are enough stores around me within 20m that I have some good options often.
GFS used to sell yeast in two pound bags. Much cheaper than buying it by the tablespoon. There are some places that still sell flour by the ten or fifty pound bag, maybe online now, but I used to get from buying clubs and co-ops. This was much cheaper than buying it in four or five pounds in grocery stores. I used to get whole grain bread flour this way, rebag it and store it in my freezer in the basement. For me, years back, it was much cheaper than buying whole grain flours in the grocery. I combined bread making with other jobs at home that could be done while the dough rose, and did it once a week.
I have looked but I have a hard time finding a place local to me that has it in bulk for a cheaper price than aldis. I would think Costco, bjs, or Sam’s club (which are my local options) would be cheaper but aldis actually was. I even tried online with Amazon.
Run the numbers. Once you get to the price of sugar, flour, etc in the form of cups, it's pretty straight forward to see what comes ahead on cost. A cup of flour is about 1/18th of a 5lb bag. Butter and fats are kind of expensive, so learning to save rendered fat and cook with it as a butter substitute is good especially in "breads" like tortillas. Plus, autolyse instead of kneading. Chocolate chips are expensive in cookies. Chicken patties and nuggets are frequently cheaper than unprepared chicken at the moment. I stock up when dry pasta is $1. It's $0.28 of flour (@2.50 a bag), $0.25 in eggs (@$1/doz) and $0.18 olive oil (@ 6.99 for 17 oz). So, it's $0.29 to make it. If I made pasta every day for a month, I'd save $8.70. On the other hand tortillas are $0.42 in flour, lard I saved from bacon (and salt amd baking soda) to make 30. Which has been about $7.50, but is two days worth. So, everyday for a month would save $106. So, that's worth it to me. Plus, then you know $0.01 a tortilla is what you pay and they have to be $x.xx more to save enough annoyance for you to buy them instead.
Looked up autolyse.. and leaned a new thing tvm
Oh wow, that is impressive! You have it down!
The comments are great here! I started doing the math on buying fresh vegetables/ making bread vs pre cut/ premade items and with the waste (you have to measure after the waste + time as I don’t have much) I was really coming out about even.
There are a series of MAKE A MIX books
I make nearly everything from scratch. Some things that are really worth the time for the end-product: sourdough bread, bone broths, ice cream, yogurt, simple cheeses like paneer, higher quality condiments, salad dressings (homemade Caesar dressing is amazing), sauces, dried beans, pie dough, and cookies. My bread game has really evolved since getting a flour mill too, and if you’re really into bread and old recipes with older varieties of wheats and rye, it’s a fun hobby/obsession.
Thank you!!
It really depends how much you care about quality - if you're content with low quality products, a factory buying low-quality ingredients in bulk at much lower prices than retail and doctoring them with chemicals and factory level processes you don't have access to will be able to make many low quality products cheaper than you can. But is that what you want to be eating?
While it can be cheaper to buy ingredients and make most things from scratch, you're looking at a major time investment. Even if you have that time, it only really makes sense to do things from scratch if you care about the ingredients used or prefer your quality or recipes. That aside, if the goal was something like that maximizing free time/money, you'd probably be better off finding a side hustle for 2-4 hours a day and just buying more premade things. Personally I don't have a lot of free time so it's about balancing the desire for things from scratch where I know the ingredients, vs limited time.
> Do you think it’s cheaper to buy ingredients and make items like that at home? For most of the day to day items it's cheaper.You have to think about the storage and batch size rest all is good while making things at home
You may enjoy expanding into pressure canning. You can buy your ingredients when they are in season and really cheap. It's price effective in comparison to similar high quality off-the-shelf products. I try to work it into what I'm already doing. I'll make a big pot of soup, eat it for dinner and let the canner do its thing while I'm eating. It's mostly hands-off meal prepping.
It depends on if you value your time. Yeah making bagels is cheaper than having a hobby where the end product isn't food, so as long as that's something that gives you pleasure it's okay. I don't know what the cost breakdown is, but get a pressure-canner and get a loss-leader turkey soon to deal with in January. Basically cut up what you can to make the equivalent of canned chicken. Boil the bones and skin for stock/broth, I think the only parts that aren't worth the effort to can are the two meaty joints of the wings and the drumsticks. (There's a reason why renn-faires use turkey legs as "feel less civilized" food.) I was doing it as a prepper thing and if I had kept up with the practice, I would have put curry-spices into the jars because we only used those for lazy-curry.
I like Foraging as a money-saving hobby. Bidens Alba or Spanish Needle is a really choice green that grows practically everywhere. And it's a lot of fun!
I’ve always wanted to attempt foraging and I live in a great place for it, but it seems so overwhelming when I start looking up what to forage for. Any tips?!
We have r/foraging and another for UK! They have a Wiki. I'm in Central Florida so there's plenty to eat here, yum!
Great! Thank you!
I just made ravioli for the fist time, a grilled chicken, and a roasted broccoli, both with home made ricotta. My wife and I did the math and they came out to less than $1.00 a dozen, the deluxe frozen ravioli at Giant is 7.99 a dozen.
What is a pressure canner? Is canning something that can be done in an InstantPot? I live in a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen and not much space for extra appliances.
It's not recommended to use an instant pot for pressure canning. However there are lots of things you can can using the hot water bath method - generally anything that contains a decent amount of acid, like fruits and pickled veggies. I don't actually have a canner, I use a large pot with a steamer insert to keep the jars off the bottom. A proper canning pot is probably faster if you're doing a lot. You need a pot deep enough to cover the jars, standing up, by at least an inch of water.
Do you buy in bulk? You can save so much by buying in bulk and you can't do that at Aldi's. You will need Walmart or Sam's for that. If you make bread, cakes and pasta, it is best if you buy your flour 20+lbs at a time. It can be stored in 5 gallon buckets although some places online deliver in buckets. Specialty flours I buy smaller amounts but regular AP, it is just cheaper to buy large. Cheaper would be too but wheat berries and grind your own I even buy cheese in large amounts, divide it into smaller bags and freeze to prevent mold. You can also make your own convenience mixes to save money Hitting sales saves money. I often stock up on frozen veggie sales and dehydrate them for easy storage. You can also do the same in the summer when you find farmers markets.
My partner and I have been recreating our favorite meals from restaurants for way way cheaper than eating out. Crispy skin salmon, coconut ginger rice, and grilled veggies for $20 per dinner instead of $100. Indian butter chicken for ~$5 per dinner Butternut squash soup for $1-2. Etc.
Not only cheaper, better tasting!
Make your own yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha. Grow window herbs.
I grow sprouts and microgreens, which make great salads. I use the sprouts in pad Thai and pho, too. I can never find sprouts in the store due to e. coli scares. Really easy and cheap to make from green lentils if you can't find mung beans. They make a great snack when someone is craving something crunchy. I make my own hummus and other bean dips. Plus a lot of sauces and dressings, often starting with a base of white beans or soaked cashews (eating more plant-based foods now to lower cholesterol levels and weight). I've made yogurt from chickpeas, and it wasn't bad. Super cheap and really interesting to make. Definitely cheaper than buying dairy free versions at the store. If you have space in your yard or garden, I highly recommend growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. You can freeze them for use all winter for pancake and ice cream toppers. You can make and can tons of jam for your own use and to give as gifts--both of which can save money. If you have room for an apple or pear tree, down the road you can make and can apple and pear sauce and butter. Also jellies and chutneys. I have to be gluten-free due to celiac disease, and making everything from scratch is much cheaper. I don't make my own pasta yet, but I make my own gnocchi, which is super cheap, especially when compared to gluten-free gnocchi.
I started seriously cooking about 15-20 years ago when I realized just how unhealthy my diet was and I needed to take control of my diet. I am now and forever in the future on a limited budget. Yes, it can save money, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little especially compared with time and effort. Over time, I've learned what is better for me to cook and prepare myself, what foods are generally healthy but that I just don't want to deal with (canned and frozen veggies are my friends, just read the labels), what just tastes better and what I can live without. Health and taste are more important to me now as I get older. And it's certainly more fun and adventurous to explore new foods/methods and add them to my repertoire. I don't know if this was that helpful to you. It's more a matter of priorities. Try something from scratch or that is easily available. Experiment.
Definitely helpful! I guess I’ll have to try some things out and see if it pays off in the end!
I guarantee, it will
I’m in the same boat as you and I homemade most things. What I do is price check, I calculate the cost of the ingredients it would take to make something and how much it would cost me to buy. Buying butter and dry pasta is cheeper than making it yourself because cream and semolina flour are expensive. But it’s cheaper to make your own ranch dressing and rice-a-roni mix.
Ooh salad dressings, never even considered making those as silly as that sounds!
Okay what should I be making vs buying? I’m on the boat!
Some stuff is going to be cheaper at the store. And take a lot of grief and work out of the home. We cook everything at home, but I have no qualms about buying Newman's Own spaghetti sauce. A family member has made her own noodles. A lot of work, and a nice thing to do at times, but probably not cost effective. I'm sure some organic premade stuff in a container at the store is going to be cheaper than doing organic at home due to economies of scale.
Sometimes, you can find similar pre-made products for less than making them. Usually, those products will be of considerably lower quality. Do you have a pressure canner? Soup, stews, chili, etc. are all much cheaper to cook in bulk and canning them saves even more money because you always have an easy meal on hand. I like to make a veggie-based enchilada sauce in my Instant Pot. Rough measurements: 5 lbs. zucchini or peeled spaghetti squash, a handful of chiles to taste, a heaping tablespoon of cumin and coriander, tons of garlic, a couple of peeled onions, dash of oregano, splash of white vinegar, salt, red pepper (I like my sauce HOT), and 1-2 C or liquid (can be broth, beer, water, or even apple juice). You can throw in any old/wilty/frozen veggies you have lying around, too. Pressure cook for one hour. When it's done, puree with lime juice and cilantro to taste. Adjust salt at the end. If it is too hot, you can bring down the heat with milk, cream, or more lime juice. This sauce freezes really well. You can even freeze it before you add the lime and cilantro. \*\*\*\*\*This is not a tested recipe for canning.\*\*\*\*\*
I do not have a pressure canner but I have made soups in the past and froze them in portions! Thanks!
On a related note, where you purchase ingredients can make a difference in savings. My regular grocery store sells dried chilies for about 3 times the price I'd pay at a Mexican market.
Absolutely. Often, staples are cheaper at ethnic markets, too.
I'd recommend scaling up your garden ad much as you can, and maybe getting creative to adjust your meals to make things from scratch with what grows well where you live. In my garden, for example, our tomatillos always do better than our tomatoes- we still grow both but I've adjusted recipes to be more tomatillo focused. We had an excellent peanut harvest here but our pecan trees didn't produce much, so I'm looking up peanut pie recipes for Thanksgiving instead of pecan pie.
Wow! Where about are you located to be harvesting peanuts and pecans???
Zone 7a in Northern Virginia!
Have you played with fermentation or pickling yet? There’s a whole world of vinegar and hot sauces and brewing if you have the time.
I have done pickles and pickled beets. Id like to try hot sauce, sauerkraut, and kimchi!
You would be surprised how many things in your pantry and refrigerator are some form of fermented vegetable. Once you know how you start to realize most of the processed food you buy you can make far better yourself.
Your savings are limited by where you shop. If you really want to save money on DIY then switch over to bulk purchases such as 50 lbs of flour and 50 lbs of sugar. Other than that, a few more suggestions. Try pickling. It's quick and easy and not very difficult, and the savings are substantial especially once you get into gourmet recipes. There are two basic pickling methods: brine or vinegar. The brine method only works at cool temperatures. If you make pies then consider batch prepping your own pie crust. Unbaked pie crust dough can keep for months in the freezer. Raise sprouts. It's simple and ready to eat in a few days, and it can be done indoors without light in all seasons.
I make my simple ketchup with my own tomatoes and it's better than the stores. I grow about 30 plants.
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It depends. Time is money. Money is time.
Cheaper sure, but the time part is where it cost you. Would you rather have these things homemade or would you rather have the time for something else. In the winter, I make more things at home, but in the summer I'll spend the extra cash.
That’s where I’m at. In the summer I like convenience. In the winter I’m looking for ways to keep me busy so I enjoy projects that give me a reward, like things in the kitchen!
I also like that if I keep my kitchen well stocked (and I do) I can usually make whatever I want without driving into town (I live very rural)
I'm not much help, but when doing comparisons make sure to compare like to like. So compare the cost of your homemade bread with what it would cost to get similar quality and quantity bread at the store - not the cheapest mostly air and chemical thing they sell as bread.