I’m trying to prepare more and more food items from scratch, rather than buy a convenience version at the store. I like cooking, and I like to know what’s going into my food. Plus, in many cases, it’s more economical to do it yourself.
Some items I’ve made recently include:
- Homemade tartar sauce (It’s just mayo, relish, a few drops of lemon juice/vinegar, and dill)
- Bread crumbs. I just save the heels of bread loaves, and put them in the freezer. When I need to restock my supply, I toast the bread in the oven, and toss it into my food processor. I add some seasonings, and that’s it! Sooo much cheaper than the store-bought version.
- Jello as a spread on toast. Have you ever done this? Sometimes, we like to put butter on toast, and then sprinkle a little bit of Jello (the powder, not the finished product). It’s delicious! I don’t know how good or bad it is for ya, but it’s an idea for when you want some flavor but are out of jelly.
- Apple syrup. Yum!
Visit Tammy’s Recipies and Hillbilly Housewife for tons of ideas.
Here’s a list of interesting foods you can make. My husband put this list together. (He’s actually pretty involved with this site! I love it)
Top 16 homemade ingredients:
- Instant Oatmeal
- Microwave Popcorn
- Peanut Butter
- Brown Sugar Syrup
- Mustard Spread
- Grape Jelly
- Yogurt Mixins
- Ranch Dressing
- Beef Jerky (without dehydrator)
- Honey Mustard Sauce
- Curry Powder
- Salsa
- Corn Relish
- Chocolate Syrup
- Apple Butter
- Granola
… and for something completely different
What do you make from scratch? What has worked, and what is better to just buy pre-made?
Jello on toast, wow, that is like a poor mans Pop Tart! I will have to try that one with the kids!
Lol! I think you’re exactly right, Kyle :)
Let me know if you try it.
Kacie,
I make most of my condiments and such from scratch. Chocolate syrup, bbq sauce, ranch dressing, thousand island dressing, italian dressing/viniagrette, spaghetti sauce. I’ve also made apple butter, applesauce, jam, all sauces & gravies.
I mostly make my items and refrigerate and freeze. I sometimes make spice combos too. There are a lot of good books out there on mixes & of course online.
I love to make homemade spaghetti sauce - yummmy!
But I thought I’d share a list I came across from Rachel Ray (I was really really sick last year and I couldn’t ever eat… I lived vicariously through her show.. her food… oh.. drool..) Oh, sorry.. off track.. anyway, she has a list of “on-hand essentials” to keep in the kitchen and I always tell myself one day I’ll have a nice pantry that I can stock up (right now my kitchen is so small I’m lucky to have a fridge/stove/sink)..
(p.s… note to hubby.. good for you for being so involved in the site… nice to see, nice to hear … talk my hubby? lol! :) )
Great list! Thanks for sharing! I try to make as much as possible from scratch. Honestly I started doing it for health reasons-I wanted to know what my kids were eating, but the money saved is amazing!
Take Care and thanks to your Hubby too for being so involved!
Some of my kids won’t eat bread crusts, so I got smart and started removing the crusts BEFORE making the sandwich, and that’s what we use for bread crumbs and stuffing.
I make our own barbecue sauce, taco seasoning (cumin is the magic taco spice) and gravy. My son can’t have any fake colors or MSG, so that pretty much blows any envelope mix out of the water.
When I worked at a deli, we made fruit plates with dip. The dip was a package of jello powder mixed into a carton of cool whip. Yummy!
Pizza dough. I had been buying balls of deli dough for 98 cents and I thought that was just dandy. And then I had no dough and DH wanted pizza. I decided to try my hand at it and… it was SO easy. I was astounded. The second time I made it, I added some Italian seasonings and garlic powder in the dough. *swoon* Yum. Even got the thumbs-up from DH.
Only problem? Now he wants me to ALWAYS make it instead of buying it. ;o)
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