what foods do you make yourself to save money?

[sprouthead]

I've heard that it's cheaper to make some foods from scratch, so I'm looking for ideas. My husband likes to buy muffins for breakfast and cookies for snacks, and he and DS like bread as well. The stuff they buy has no nutritional value (all white, refined, etc.), and I'm wondering if we can save money by making things like these from home, and could I increase the nutritional value as well? like add whole wheat flour or grated veggies or something? I just don't want to screw it up- I don't have many chances with DH because he already doesn't like my cooking I've looked at the recipes on hillbilly housewife and in that amy d. book but it didn't seem like those recipes had a lot of nutritional value..

Then as I was thinking about it, I was wondering if I could make things like rice milk and tofu from home..

any ideas?

[DisplacedYooper]

Originally Posted by sprouthead

and I'm wondering if we can save money by making things like these from home, and could I increase the nutritional value as well?

any ideas?

Yes, muffins are very easy to make. You can substitute up to 1/3 of white flour in a recipe with whole wheat without needing to make any other changes (or changing the flavor/texture very much), but I often use 100% wheat flour in recipes that are chemically leavened (baking soda or powder instead of yeast) without ill effects. The flavor is different (IMO better).

If you want to increase your cooking skills, I would recommend finding a copy of the Joy of Cooking. Many of the recipes are more complex than I usually use, but the discussion of techniques are invaluable - each section begins with general discussion of the type of food, the best ways to prepare it, techniques, etc. I'm sure you can find a copy at your local library, but I think it's worth the investment to buy. It practically taught me to cook.

[4evermom]

I make dh muffins every week for him to eat for breakfast. Otherwise he just would skip it. They aren't the best tasting because I make them too healthful, lol. But since he'd have nothing otherwise, he eats them.

Even if you just made stuff with straight white flour, they are bound to be healthier. The stuff your dh is buying probably has high fructose corn syrup and possibly partially hydrogenated oils.

I don't even follow a recipe so sometimes my muffins are a bit wonky. But making good ones would be easy. Just look up a recipe in any cook book, Betty Crocker, whatever. Substitute one cup of white flour for one cup of wheat (or white whole wheat which is just a lighter colored whole wheat). I usually put chopped walnuts and dried cranberries in. And I grind some flax seed in my coffee grinder and throw them in as well. You can grate a carrot, apple, or zucchini or mash a banana. Not too much, though, because it will increase the moisture of the batter. I bet you can find a nice recipe for pumpkin muffins if you google.

In the past, I've made yogurt and granola. Dh doesn't like how thin homemade yogurt is and it's a pia to drain the extra moisture through cheesecloth so I've pretty much given up on that.

[carmel23]

we've saved a ton of money making our own bread. It is also better. But we like the fancy bread that's like 5 buck a loaf, but even compared to the cheap stuff, you'll eat better.

But if you dh and son like that bread (and sometimes a loaf of franz bread is like cake, so I totally understand the cake bread jones) get a dough conditioner.

We make muffins, granola, tortillas, our own mac n cheese with nutritional yeast (not cheese), our own ricotta, veggie stock, beef stock, chicken stock, tomato sauces, jams...

And we couldn't live without doing this!

Check out hill billy house wife:

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

she has good instructions for making bread that are super clear and easy to follow. For us it is worth getting the good bread yeast in the fridge (in bulk). I never have good luck with the packets of yeast. Maybe that is just me.

We buy flour in 25 lbs. bulk bags from a local farm. It is really good and organic, and cheap!

I like the suggestion of using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour (get the unbleached flour, too--it is white, just not bleached).

[Poddi]

They will like fresh bread for sure! White sandwich bread is nothing compared to fresh, warm bread from the oven. I can't imagine anyone not liking them. Even my picky kids would devour them and they're never white bread. Cooking from scratch is easy. Start with just one or two things and gradually switch over. I think a lot of my "from scratch" food taste much better than store bought.

[terrabella]

2 1/4 cup of water
1/3 cup of oil
1 Tbsp. of yeast
1 Tbsp. of Salt
3 Tbsp of sugar
6 cups of flour

We make this daily. It can make two loaves of bread and a pizza. Or a pizza and cinnamon rolls and a loaf of bread. Or a batch of soft pretzels and a batch of bagels. Or two calzones and a load of flat breads. Or....

[tinuviel_k]

I use a LOT of chicken broth. The kind I used to buy isn't cheap: $3.50 or more a quart. I now make and freeze all my own broth. I bough bulk chicken backs from a local butcher for really cheap, and now I make big, 2 gallon sized batches of chicken broth and freeze them in wide mouth pint jars. it saves me a ton of money, I am not wasting those cardboard broth packages, and it tastes oh so much better than the store brnads.

[velochic]

You might also try the Traditional Homemaking threads in Mindful Home Management (just one level up) and do a search on cooking from scratch, as well. We've had a lot of threads about this that is just a treasure trove of ideas. There are many of us here that make almost everything from scratch (even grinding our own wheat flower and making our own yogurt and such).

[lalaland42]

I make some whole wheat pumpkin muffins that *everyone* likes. I got the recipe from someone here.

Anyway, I've heard they freeze pretty well and although I don't know how much they cost per muffin, it is certainly cheaper than $3/muffin. You can replace the 3/4 c ground flax meal with 1/4 cup oil (which is what I do for DD's school) to start with. The expensive part of this recipe is the flax meal and honey.

Beat together:
1/4 c. oil
3/4 c. ground flax meal
2 eggs
1/2 c. honey
1/3 c. water
Then add:
1-3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1 heaping c pumpkin puree
1/2 c. nuts (we omit)
Bake at 350 in a greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour for loaf, or if you make them into muffins, bake for 20 minutes, mini-muffins bake for 9-10 minutes

[Kyamo]

I make muffins using the Tightwad Gazette recipe that makes it super easy to adjust for whatever kind of fruit or vegtable you have on hand.

I found the recipe on another forum, scroll down to post 12. link

[BetsyS]

I make some things:

yogurt (dramatically cheaper)

chocolate sauce (the homemade costs just barely less than store-bought, but there is no HFCS in homemade)

taco seasoning (started because my dh hates store-bought, but it's cheap, and we like the taste of homemade better)

spaghetti sauce (costs the same as store bought, but we like it better)

muffins, cookies, brownies (homemade just tastes better; I've never broken down the cost)

Chicken broth (I make from scratch, so it's almost free, and it is really good)

Things I don't make:

bread--it tastes good warm and fresh from the oven, but not after that. We don't like it for sandwiches or the like. So, I look for sales, and I buy it around $1.80/loaf. I'm okay with that.

ricotta--not enough cost savings to justify the effort to learn this one

saltines--cheaper than homemade, and my family adores saltines, which are hard to make homemade

[Yooper]

Just about everything is cheaper homemade than store-bought if you consider the health costs associated with the items. It is true that you cannot beat the cost of super-cheap processed foods like white bread, cheap noodle kits, and, really, half of the grocery store...... But if you are comparing high-quality, whole grain bread to the same made at home, there is a big savings. We eat almost 100% organic, whole foods so I find that whatever I can "process" myself saves me a lot of money. Big hitters for us:

All baked goods including bread
Dry beans (rather than canned)
Veggie stock
Apple sauce
Yogurt
Salad dressing (this is a HUGE savings)
All spice mixes
Cheese shreds (especially Parmesan)
Pancakes/biscuits
Popsicles
Popcorn
French fries (baked)
Pizza
All sauces (BBQ, thai peanut, pesto, chutney, spaghetti, etc....)
Hot chocolate mix

[BetsyS]

Some of this depends on where you live and how much groceries cost, too. Where I live, groceries are cheap, and farms/you-pick/produce is on the more expensive side.

For instance, applesauce regularly goes on sale for $1.25 for 46 ounces (that's a buy one, get one price). It's not organic, but it's just apples and water (the "natural" kind).

To buy apples, I drive 2 hours to the orchard, and I pay around $0.50/pound (for non organic apples). A pound makes about 2 cups of applesauce, give or take. So, to make 32 ounces of applesauce, I'm looking at 2 pounds of apples, plus paying for the lid to process my jar (at around $0.22/each). Plus the work of canning, of course.

That means that homemade=3.8 cents per ounce. Storebought=2.7 cents per ounce.

Now, there are definitely benefits to homemade. But, it's not always the most frugal choice.

[Alyantavid]

pizza sauce and dough
spaghetti sauce
some bread
muffins
cookies
stock
granola bars

Almost all meals are from scratch.

[4evermom]

The problem with homemade bread...

People eat more of it and I'm tempted to eat it with a ton of butter. So I'm not sure I'd save money. I also hate the constant cutting board and crumb issue.

[Drummer's Wife]

We make a lot of stuff from scratch now. Everything tastes better - but I wouldn't say we save money. I'm sure any extra just goes to more fresh produce b/c that is where the bulk of our grocery costs go.

I'm trying to think of what we buy pre-made... Whole grain bread every once in a while (bakery fresh with no HFCS or other ickies) and bagels come to mind. Oh, vanilla extract - but I'd love to make my own someday. Otherwise, we do pretty well. It's been a process, though. I agree with starting with a couple things and learning how to make others along the way.

For us, I just stopped buying packaged stuff like crackers, cereal, granola bar, yogurt cups, etc., - which meant we found other things to snack on or eat for breakfast. Basically, when I shop I stay in the perimeter of my store - milk, eggs, cheese, butter, meats, fresh fruit and veggies, etc... and venture in only to get baking goods like flour and Ghirardelli chocolate chips .

Not that I learned how to make every premade thing we used to buy - I altered our diet here and there, and figured out stuff slowly as we needed it - like gravy, tortillas, salad dressing, etc., recently I started making chicken broth/stock and am transitioning to more of a TF way.

I agree that even if the costs aren't significantly lower (and there are definitely people who are able to save a lot by cooking from scratch, I'm just not one of them, yet) the nutritional benefits far outweigh the convenience of pre-packaged/made food.

ETA: the pumpkin muffins sound really good! I am going to make them.

[jessaroo]

check out whole foods cookbooks for more nutritional baked goods. Christina Pirello and the Moosewood cookbooks tend to use things like flax seeds and lower amounts of sugar. Almond and pumpkin seed milk are easy to make. I also make my own yogurt which saves money and has no sugar.

[Yooper]

Originally Posted by BetsyS

Some of this depends on where you live and how much groceries cost, too. Where I live, groceries are cheap, and farms/you-pick/produce is on the more expensive side.

For instance, applesauce regularly goes on sale for $1.25 for 46 ounces (that's a buy one, get one price). It's not organic, but it's just apples and water (the "natural" kind).

To buy apples, I drive 2 hours to the orchard, and I pay around $0.50/pound (for non organic apples). A pound makes about 2 cups of applesauce, give or take. So, to make 32 ounces of applesauce, I'm looking at 2 pounds of apples, plus paying for the lid to process my jar (at around $0.22/each). Plus the work of canning, of course.

That means that homemade=3.8 cents per ounce. Storebought=2.7 cents per ounce.

Now, there are definitely benefits to homemade. But, it's not always the most frugal choice.

We pick our apples for free on area public land. But that means we only get apples at one time of the year. And I am guessing that once you count my time and the electricity required to can a year's worth of sauce, it is probably not much cheaper than applesauce on super-sale from the store. However, this does mean I have cheap fruit to feed my family on hand when winter comes and any fruit I buy in the store is very expensive and not very high in quality. Plus I can make the sauce exactly to my family's taste (with the spice and sugar level we like) which means my family will eat more of it rather than asking for more expensive stuff. And actually I can take it further is that the sauce is all in mason jars I use over and over so I am not also paying for jar disposal or wasting time and space dealing with recycling the jars.

However, this is getting pretty philosophical.... I do think there is value in knowing how to make our food. We cannot count on our subsidized food system (that allows for super cheap apple sauce) to be sustainable forever. One day it IS going to be cheaper to make our own foods and either buy locally or grow things ourselves. The more we learn how to do, the cheaper it is going to be for us when that day some.

But, obviously, that is all beyond the scope of this thread.....

[isabchi]

Cooking from Scratch:

Bread, Pizza... from my modified recipe of Artisan Bread on 5 minutes a day..
Some time our own pasta ..many recipes in the web...and get the pasta machine in Freecycle.... super easy.
Mayo,Broth, Tortillas(corn and flour),Chilli, Sushi rolls, Miso soup, Kefir, Dressing, pesto.

[gillibean]

I think a lot depends on the types of foods. Things like cookies, muffins and bread will be cheaper (and usually healthier) if they're made from scratch.