From Scratch

[Lady Day]

With penny pinching all over, Im curious if there are some foodie staples that you all have stopped buying and have decided to make yourself, and find this is the ONLY way I will ever enjoy said yumm yumm again?

I havent bought bread in nar' a year. I find I can make two loaves of whole wheat for about $1 each, as opposed to the pricy $4 a loaf I normally bought. All it takes is a bit of planning, and some neadin' time

So are there any staples you all prepare yourselves instead of buy?

LD

 

["Skeet" McD]

Dear LD: Good for you! And it TASTES better, as well as being cheaper. Once upon a time...everyone knew what really FRESH bread was like. Now...you're one of the few.

I bake 2 to 3 times a week, and have for 3 or 4 years. My wife started to keep chickens (layers, mostly) 3 years ago...so we always have FRESH eggs. Nothing wrong with what you buy at the store...but FRESH eggs are a completely different animal.

I am trying to get more in the habit of making salad dressings from scratch.

Every now and then we order in a pizza or chinese. Other than that: every meal we have I cook from scratch. It's not that hard, I think, once you master the basic skills...but when both my wife and I worked 9 to 5, we couldn't do it.

If you can do it...you'll never regret it.

"Skeet"

 

[JennyLou]

I have not stopped buying and food staples but I think I might have to start. Money has been getting more tighter. I'll probably eat out less but I don't really eat out so it won't make much of a difference.

 

[Brooksie]

Now I make salad dressings, spreads, dips and chutneys from scratch. Since I have moved into a house with a house mate there is a garden with veggies and herbs. I will now be able to have fresh veggies again (Yay!- a person gets pretty excited about food, especially fresh food when you try to live off of a can of beans and a cup of rice for a week).

Brooksie

 

[barra063]

I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment. I rarely eat out and I am really picky with what I buy. I avoid processed in a box junk so just about everything is made from scratch. I work long hours and at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is cook. I have found the 2 best inventions are the slow cooker/crock pot and my bread maker. Sundays I have a big cook up and freeze portions. On a weekday I decide what I am going to have for dinner in the morning and defrost it. When I get home, 5 min in the nuker and it is done. Either that or I eat a lot of stir fry's and they can be prepared and cooked in about 10 min. I bake my own bread and add all sorts of good stuff like linseeds and extra fibre type ingredients. Either way cooking for me is 2 min prep time, flick a few buttons and set and forget till cooked.

These days I am eating more than I ever have and I'm loosing weight.

 

[FinalVestige79]

Well, I bake often much like Skeet 2-3 times a week I spread it out throughout the week as to what type of bread to give some variety. Like dinner rolls, biscuits, garlic cheese biscuits...mmmm and then loaf breads. I cook for my family mostly...everything from scratch. And we buy food in bulk so that definitely saves a lot of money. Each meal has a protein, a vegetable, a starch, and a dessert. I usually prefer to cook alone because the kitchen is rather small and people get nosy. I wish i had a bigger kitchen. Im thankful my mom grows herbs...fresh stuff is always best.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Biscuits and I can't see why someone wouldn't make their own mash.

 

[KittyT]

I haven't switched to making certain things from scratch because of the economy, but there are a certain number of things I've always made from scratch, in part to avoid keeping mixes around that are single or limited use items, in part because it's cheaper, in part because of taste, and mostly because of pride I've always made my own biscuits, cornbread, pancakes, muffins, etc from scratch. Since living in France many years ago, I've also always made my own salad dressing.

That said, thank you for the reminder. I don't eat a ton of bread at home, but maybe I should consider making my own instead, as I already have all the ingredients and it will save money. I also have a bread machine, which I currently only use for making focaccia bread dough, so there's really no excuse to not give it a try.

 

[The Shirt]

Once the tomatoes come thru - I'm all about making a few giant batches of marinara that I freeze. This usually lasts me most of the way thru the winter. I also make zucchini bread that I freeze for later as well. As for staples, I am finding that I buy way less processed items and cook from scratch more. I'm usually saving about $25 a trip this way.

I haven't found that making soaps or beer has saved me any money, so I don't think I can count that.

 

[Slim Portly]

Biscuits and I can't see why someone wouldn't make their own mash.

Oh really?

 

[Geesie]

My wife and I cook, from scratch, most things most nights of a month. One thing we've started making rather than buying recently though is pizza.

 

[lolly_loisides]

Homemade pizza is fabulous. I also bake bread & have started to make my own pasta. I'd love to grow wheat & make my own flour.
Here's a pic of my homegrown tomatoes.

 

[Lady Day]

Graham crackers.
I like cookies, but not sweet ones, and graham crakers are perfect! I grabbed a recipe online and using actual graham flour (gives them a dense taste) Im sold!

LD

 

[Foofoogal]

I cook from scratch nearly daily. I do like eating out but it is never the same as homemade to me. I do not like processed foods either as a general rule.
I do not make bread but have a maker I have never used. Maybe I will start. My mom made homemade bread daily when I was a child the old fashioned way. God Bless her.

 

[Warbaby]

Pretty much everything we eat is either fresh from local farms or made from scratch. No prepared or processed foods, no frozen foods (except for big bags of peas from Costco). We make our own jams, cookies, pies, cake, pancakes and crepes, pasta, and occasionally make our own butter, ice cream, yoghurt and cheese. There's prolly more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Made from scratch is always cheaper and better.

 

[Drew B]

That's neat. I moved out of hom when I was 15 and so I had an early choice between procceced food and home mades. I'm glad I picked homemades. I make my own bread (mostly) and I do a fair amount of baking (mostly scones; easy, quick and delicious). Fresh fruit and Veg is the best kind of foods and cheap. And butcher bought meats are much finer in quality. It does however eat up a bit of time going from place to placce rather than just doing all your shopping a Woolworths (say, is there Woolworths in the US) but I say it's worth it.

Warbaby; that's awesome... I'm in awe! Do you live on a farm or do you just go to great lenghths to do things yourself? I think there is definitly a certain satisfaction in doing things yourself, I'm about to build my own bed.

 

[Cigarband]

Graham crackers.
I like cookies, but not sweet ones, and graham crackers are perfect! I grabbed a recipe online and using actual graham flour (gives them a dense taste) Im sold!

LD

Check up on Graham crackers, and you'll find that they were invented by Dr. Graham as part of a diet he designed to LOWER peoples libido.

 

[Cigarband]

(say, is there Woolworths in the US?)

Alas, the great F.W. Woolworths empire came crashing down. In 1997, F. W. Woolworth Company converted itself into a sporting goods retailer, closing its remaining retail stores operating under the "Woolworth's" brand name and renaming itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker Inc (NYSE: FL).

Retail chains using the Woolworth name survive in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and South Africa, and, until the start of 2009, in the United Kingdom. The similarly-named Woolworth's supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Woolworths Limited, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, this company did take the name from F. W. Woolworth as it had global appeal.

 

[JennyLou]

I love cooking meals from scratch but my family is so use to eating out that they usually don't like what I make. I also make dishes that their not use and sometimes they just don't want to try new things. Once in a while I'mm make my own butter and bread loafs. I hate baking or cooking anything from a box or bag.

 

[Lady Day]

I will never buy dog biscuits again.

Ive been baking my Georgia doggie treats for about a year and she loves them. Well, she IS a dog, 'love' and 'food' petty much mean the same thing.

I use to buy her treats that were a decent price, and would last about two weeks, but then they went up over 40% in literally two weeks, so I said heck no, Im-a-bakin'.

LD