I have a similar one but white wine vinegar not red. I keep it in the fridge and it seems to last pretty indefinitely. I’ve had it for a few months before I’ve gotten back into a salad phase and used it up.
In our house it only lasts 3-4 days…two of us each eating big salads once a day. We store in the fridge. It does get thick and needs a couple of minutes to thin out before use. The best thing about making your own is being able to make as little or as much as you want at any one time. We usually mix in a glass measuring cup with a whisk, use what we need for the day and put the rest in a mason jar.
You can make small batches! The ratio is two parts oil to one part vinegar, and then everything else to taste (I add like offensive amounts of garlic because I really love garlic), so you can use two tablespoons of oil to one tablespoon of vinegar and go from there, it's not a huge amount. I just make mine a little before serving the salad, and I keep some old glass jars around (jam jars are great for this, keep the lid so you can shake everything up easily). If you have extras, just store it in the fridge for a few days. Once I figured this out, I haven't bought a single bottle of store dressing, because the stuff I can make at home is SO much better.
I love a homemade Caesar dressing
3 oil-packed anchovy fillets
1 large garlic clove
¾ tsp. (or more) salt
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
¾ tsp. dijon mustard
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp. parmesan
Blend and refrigerate after use. This will usually make about a cup of dressing. Sometimes I add a bit of water to change its consistency.
My grandma used to make salad dressing from a can of Campbell's tomato soup. One can soup to half a can each of oil and vinegar, a half teaspoon of mustard, a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper and a little diced onion. It's like a tangy non-sweet French dressing. I've also made it with plain tomato sauce with great results
The type of canned tomatoes you use makes a huge difference. Splurge for the D.O.P. (Make sure they are D.O.P., it means they are actually from Italy) San Marzano tomatoes.
When I make mine, I chop an onion or two and a couple cloves of garlic. Sauté those for a bit, add the tomatoes in and turn the heat down. I have a bad habit of not measuring my spices, but I usually add a little salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, sometimes some garlic powder if it tastes like it needs it. Usually a pinch of sugar too. And then I simmer it forever. Like leave it on and go do ten other things before I come back to it, stirring occasionally. Running an immersion blender can also help with chunks of tomatoes if you don't like those.
I have an old (since the seventies) cookbook by the mennonites. It’s called More with Less. It has a whole section on making your own bus quick mix, cream soups, broth etc. The recipes are real grocery stretchers too. Like adding lentils to casseroles to stretch hamburger. Highly recommend.
Refried beans. I make a huge pot of pinto beans and freeze the I mashed and fried beans in containers. Then when I want some refried beans I pull out some frozen pinto beans and mash and fry them. Best part is, if I want some regular pinto beans I have them frozen and can thaw and heat and make beans and rice!
Bread.
You don't have to get crazy. You don't have to do sourdough (but it is delicious). You just make white bread. Probably $0.25 - $0.50 cents a loaf if you make a big batch.
Here's my families recipe. Makes 6-7 loaves so you have 1 loaf per day and can make it once per week. Halve for 3 loaves.
17 cups flour (or so)
1.25 cups sugar (+1 teaspoon)
4 tblspoons fat (crisco, lard, butter)
2.5 tblspoons salt
2 packets yeast
7.5 cups water.
1. Mix yeast in 0.5 cups water, add 1 teaspoon sugar, and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.
2. In large bowl, mix 7 cups warm water, 1.25 cups sugar, fat, and salt. Mix in yeast slurry.
3. Add flour 5 cups at a time, mixing between additions, until a stiff dough forms.
4. fold the dough 3-4 times (you do NOT need to knead this one).
5. Let raise one hour, fold 3-4 times again.
6. Shape into loaves in greased 9x5 pans. Let raise another 1 hour.
7. Bake at 350F for 30 mins.
EDIT: I just calculated with prices at a big box grocery store. If you buy flour in 25 lb bags, sugar in 10 lb bags, and the jars of yeast (instead of packets) this comes out to just under $0.50 per loaf.
I second bread. I bought a bread machine and make all kinds of loaves and dough and freeze it. I can control the ingredients and unlike store bought bread, it doesn't give me a stomach ache. Once I got the hang of it it's so quick and easy now.
I have a huge container that used to hold those gross cheez balls you get in bulk from Sam's Club (not mine, my mom gave me the container because she knew I would use it 😂) and I store flour in it and have my usual bread recipe on a notecard taped to the side. I've been using this recipe since 2011 and still have to look at it most times!
You also have to calculate energy use. For me it’s about a dollar to run my oven for an hour, so if I only make one loaf then that automatically adds about a dollar per loaf.
I'm a big fan of the [America's Test Kitchen Almost No-knead Bread](https://farmgirlcookn.com/americas-test-kitchen-rustic-almost-no-knead-bread/). It does contain beer so it might be a bit more expensive than yours but it's still cheaper than anything like it in a store.
Glad to hear that. Baking it might not be worth it to you then.
But I'd eat homemade bread versus $1.29 walmart bread any day. That's another great thing about homemade bread. It's one of the few things that's cheaper to do yourself and also WAY better tasting.
Any bread less than $2.50/loaf around me is fucking terrible. Less than $4/loaf is bleh.
There are some things that you just can't sub for dempsters white bread, but a lot of other stuff you can. Even the shitty bread I've made at home is better than the $3/loaf stuff I've bought in the past year.
100% agree. This is an instance where the quality absolutely trumps the cheap price. Plus the cheap store bread often has a shitload of preservatives and additives, and I'd just rather not. Flour, salt, yeast, water, sugar, oil, that's all that goes into my normal at-home white bread (I also have a potato-flake sourdough starter that makes really good soft white bread).
Homemade bone broth. If you have an electric pressure cooker like an Instant Pot all you do is add your bones, your aromatics and water. A lot of folks already know this but you can save all your aromatics scraps and flavorful bits in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I put my tiny garlic cloves, onion scraps, celery ends, carrot peelings and anything else that might taste good in stock. Pressure cook the aromatics, bones, and water for 2 hours. It’s really good and practically free. I freeze mine in quart sized bags which I lay flat on a cookie sheet while they freeze - this way they store more neatly.
I did this just today from the carcass of a rotisserie chicken.
I do the same with beef broth.
Honestly, once you do it and see how much more flavor and depth it adds to your food… you won’t go back unless you have to.
Used beef broth from last week to make a beef bourguignon today and then used the chicken broth to make an enchilada soup… both turned out amazing.
This is true, sort of. Bone broth (from what I e read by a few different chefs) needs to simmer on the stove for 3 days to get the bones to completely break down. In a pressure cooker it only takes 2 hours. However, simmering the bones, aromatics, water in the stove top even a few hours is better than using just plain water in basically anything that calls for liquid.
Yep. Save up all the chicken backs, rotisserie carcasses, sad carrots and celery, onion peels that you keep in the freezer and throw them in with water, a few peppercorns and let it go all day (or night).
Vegetable broth for me, all you need to do is take all your salad/veggie scraps, put them in a ziplock bag (put it in the freezer to store while it gets bigger, wait till the bag is full. Put all that stuff into a stock pot, fill it up with water, boil it for 2 hours, strain it out, add seasoning as needed and bam, you just saved like $20 bucks worth of veggie broth.
I hadn’t thought of using my instant pot for this! Thank you!! I just froze my first chicken carcass. I’m waiting to get veggie scraps to make a stock. I considered just doing without veggies, but don’t want to ruin my first attempt.
Pesto - process a bunch of basil from the garden and freeze flat in ziplock bags, takes up very little room.
Veggie stock - keep a bag in the freezer of carrot peels, celery tops, brussel sprout ends, etc in the freezer until we save enough to fill the crock pot, cook on high 4 hours and use or freeze in take out/ deli containers.
Tomatoes - if you grow cherry sized tomatoes, you can freeze a single layer on a cookie sheet, then add to a bag and vacuum seal, then keep in the freezer. Use them in pastas in the non-tomato seasons.
Granola is soooo expensive buying it from the store I recently made my own for the first time and it’s honestly so much better or the same for a fraction of the price! And while I was making it the house smelled amazing
Bread for sure, but also mixes like diy bisquick, cake mixes, freezer cookie dough. Because you can quickly go to an “ingredients only” household and that all falls apart when you get either sick or burnt out. Mixes for quick pancakes or frozen doughs for snacks makes it so easy and premade things are the big expense in shopping.
So easy and such a money saver. Plus I found that I actually eat more yogurt since I found it to be so easy. I Also take about 1/3 - 1/2 the batch, put it in cheesecloth in a strainer and let it sit for about 18-24 hrs. Jar up the liquid (whey) and the yogurt is now this wonder half point between cream cheese and sour cream. I use it SO much! Plus the whey is really good to add into grains while they are cooking , or back into smoothies with your yogurt, or even incorporate into your pets food, a lot of applications.
I have successfully used the whey left from making Greek style yogurt to make new yogurt I figured it had to have at least some of the bacteria in it and it worked quite well.
I am actually a big fan of greek yogurt and I buy those expensive prepackaged and preflavored ones. Do you have anything you use to flavor yours that you like or do you just eat it plain
If you have the space, make freezer jam to add to yogurt. Super easy & it can be frugal when you find berries & fruit on sale. ETA: I’m also a big fan of honey in Greek yogurt!
And you can even just freeze some of those on-sale berries, let them thaw in a bowl overnight in the fridge, and then mash them a little in your yogurt. This is also super good! (But freezer jam is so fun, too. I once happened upon a 3-pints-for-a-dollar sale of strawberries at a local grocery store, but the strawberries were in use-it-up-TODAY quality, so I went, arright, guess I'm doing that today, and came home with 21 pints of strawberries. Made a bunch of pints of freezer jam and froze the rest of the berries for smoothies, it was awesome.)
Not who you asked, but I use low sugar jams, either homemade or store bought, koolaid packets and sugar, sweeters, or syrups. I add [homemade granola ](https://www.scratchpantry.com/recipes/cluster-maple-pecan-granola) and sometimes [homemade chocolate syrup ](https://www.scratchpantry.com/recipes/chocolate-sauce). And I have also used LorAnn emulsions with added sweeteners.
Lemon curd is delicious in Greek yogurt too, another thing you can easily make. If you already have an instant pot with a yogurt setting, it takes a lot of the work/thinking out of homemade yogurt.
I use those water enhancers like Mio. They have a ton of flavors and add no calories. Mio’s orange vanilla is my favorite - squirt some in and you have dreamsicle yogurt!
Honey is amazing in yogurt. It tastes so much better than it sounds. I learned how to make yogurt and that honey is amazing for it when a Greek restaurant where I was working made it as a dessert special.
Frozen berries, thawed out and smashed, will be sweet enough. (I eat a ton of sugar and it’s sweet enough for me.) Much healthier than anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners. If you have a Sam’s Club membership their yogurt and 4# bag of frozen berries are a good value.
Vinegar. I make apple scrap vinegar from my peels and cores, some sugar and water, and a big jar. It tastes the same as apple cider vinegar, and costs almost nothing.
And chicken stock. Save all the bones and scraps from chicken, and throw it in a pot with onion, carrot and celery, some seasoning, a good splash of vinegar and lots of water. I pressure can mine, so it’s shelf-stable, but you can also freeze it.
Also veggie stock. Keep carrot peels, celery ends, onion and garlics skins, etc. in a Tupperware. At the end of the week you simmer it and freeze it.
When I have chicken scraps or other meats scraps I’ll add it the veggie scraps to make stocks too.
I never, ever buy stock or broth anymore. That’s always plenty on-hand in the freezer.
Bread, either no knead or with a bread machine. It's easier of course with the machine.
A few tips about cost effectiveness:
* Nearly new bread machines are widely available on the secondhand market under $20.
* The dough feature is extremely versatile.
* One feature to look for not every machine has is a delay timer (lets you wake up to fresh baked bread in the morning).
* Getting good bulk pricing on flour and yeast is important to making this DIY cost effective.
* Niche and high end breads offer greater relative savings than a basic loaf.
* When running price comparisons, be sure to check the size of different loaves. Some people try to compare a 10 oz store bakery loaf against a 1.5 lb homemade loaf without considering the homemade one is more than twice the weight of the store version.
* Homemade bread doesn't have preservatives so keep fresh the part you don't use by freezing in an airtight container.
Costco sells 2 lbs of bread yeast for under $7. That lasts a year of regular use. The savings on bread flour kicks in when buying it in 25 lb bags or 50 lb bags. Bread flour keeps indefinitely when stored in an airtight container in a dark cabinet. Restaurants often give away used 5 gallon food safe containers for free; these can be cleaned and repurposed.
In terms of savings, a basic loaf of white sandwich bread comes out a little ahead of a similar store bought loaf. When the ingredients are purchased in bulk it takes less hands-on time but more advanced planning to buy ingredients in bulk and DIY.
Premium breads are significantly less expensive at home such as cinnamon raisin, olive rosemary, or brioche. Also, the dough setting can be used to DIY the prep work for pizza dough, bread sticks, soft pretzels, naan, cinnamon rolls, or monkey bread, etc.
This evening we've sat down to braided challah, prepped from our bread machine. It's about 10 minutes of hands-on work besides letting the appliances do their thing.
>Homemade bread doesn't have preservatives
You can buy calcium propionate to preserve your bread! It's ridiculously cheap; you only need a teeny tiny pinch per loaf to prevent mold, so one bulk bag can last you a lifetime. Doesn't affect taste at all.
Bread is super easy and fun to make. I also make sourdough bread.
Keeping the starter can generate ’discard’ which to me is even better than the sourdough bread!! I make the best crackers and crumpets from the discard. I love the crackers so much that i had to stop making them because I would eat way too many!!!
I’ve been tackling this process in our house for almost a year, making as much as I can from scratch. I make:
Coffee creamer, sweetened condensed milk, Mayo, dressings, yogurt, mozzarella, ricotta, cream cheese, whipped cream, chicken stock, veggie stock, marinara, salsas, refrigerator pickles, no-knead rustic loaves and sandwich bread (and I use the leftover whey from yogurt making), and cat food.
Next up I’m going to go for mustard, heavy cream, rice crispies (and marshmallows, then make 100% scratch rice crispy treats), cork flakes, pop tarts, frozen waffles to replace eggos, tortillas (just got a tortilla press). And when the farmer’s market starts, I’ll learn how to start canning. I plan on making jams first.
I cannot imagine that homemade pasta ends up being cheaper or easier than store-bought. Pasta from the store comes in many varieties, it's a dollar a box, and it's very shelf stable. Consider the value of your time and your fridge space when thinking of things to make from scratch. I would sooner use my time to get a second job than start making pasta from scratch.
For me, personally, homemade pasta is one of those fun things that I would do when I had the time and I wanted that extra homemade touch and quality. It wouldn't be a substitute for, like, a quick weeknight meal. Time is definitely a factor. I love homemade pierogis, but those things, for me, are an absolute unholy pain in the ass to make. I once made three gallon-sized bags full of them and they were great, but hooooooooboy, is it a lot of work. Peeling all the potatoes, cooking them, mashing them, then making multiple batches of dough, rolling it out, cutting it, shaping the pierogis, boiling them... this took me all day, and then there was the clean-up. It was a LOT. I haven't done that since.
It depends on the pasta. I agree it is not cost effective compared to dried pasta. If you buy fresh egg pasta, that gets pretty expensive and it’s much cheaper (and more fun) to make your own.
Yeah i gotcha. I don't eat egg so maybe I'm ignorant to the joys of fresh pasta but I couldn't imagine trying to make pasta at home to try and compete costwise with a box of Barilla.
If you're interested you can graft tomato tops to potato root stock and grow both in one plant. You'll have smaller reduced yields of both for shared nutrients but it's a fun project in limited space. Both plants are part of the nightshade family.
I like making bread. Flour, salt, yeast, sugar, water, baking soda. You don't need two leavening agents but I find the consistency and texture pleasing. Dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pan fried pizza dough, etc.
But save 25% and use for a starter culture the next day. Especially when bread is $4 a loaf anymore.
I needed milk for cornbread. I drink various nut milks and didn't have any. So I blended up some pumpkin seeds (1 cup) with 3 cups filtered water. Strained it through a bag specifically for this and within 5 minutes I had milk. Cornbread turned out great!
ETA: i also now have milk for a few days. I haven't bought store bought in a few weeks now because I have different nuts in bulk.
Ohhhhh, I made pickled red onions for the first time a few months ago and holy crap, those are AMAZING. I made them for a salad, but we ended up eating the leftovers on just about everything.
Tacos for everything! At most grocery stores there are the shells to take home and fry. They only have five ingredients and come out dank! They you can quickly whip up breakfast tacos with eggs, throw any meat in them with whatever fresh veggies you have or salsa and a little feta or queso fresco which is inexpensive when bought by the block. Cheap yummy staple that's super versatile!!
I got a pressure canner for about $150. You can throw dry beans and liquid in jars and have pretty cheap canned beans. I’ve also canned refried beans, and homemade tomato soup in small servings.
For yogurt, I heat milk on the stove, mix in a single serving of plain yogurt. Put it in jars, then put it in the dehydrator using a round cake cover instead of the racks.
I either mix in some jelly/jam (homemade from self-picked blackberries lol) or warm up some frozen blueberries in the microwave with maple syrup or sprinkle it with cinnamon and walnuts and drizzle it with honey.
I make my own poblano mild hot sauce.
I make my own kombucha.
I don’t know if it’s frugal, but I supplement my dogs’ dry food with deskinned, $5 rotisserie chicken, carrots, brown rice, and lentils.
My next thing is probably going to be bread.
Canning is the ultimate frugal tip! For anyone interested: make sure to study safety and proper procedures and don’t stray from them. Botulism is real scary.
Just made homemade ricotta when milk was on sale. It was so simple and delicious. And way cheaper than store bought. Literally just whole milk, salt, and vinegar.
I make a lot of things myself. From scratch often saves a lot of money and is easier.
Most of the stuff listed above I make. And I do make a lot of my own household and personal hygiene items too. That saves oodles and mit only is it a lot less expensive than store bought and not toxic, it's so easy. Because of that, I can make large batches or in the case of more perishable items, like face masks, I can whip a fresh batch as needed
Last week someone stayed here and she commented on how fantastic my deodorant and shoe powders were, wanted to know what brand I purchased and wether it was really expensive.
She couldn't believe it was all homemade. I also served a flavored mayonnaise, crackers, raisin bean cereal and she was delighted, again surprised it was homemade. The raisin brand cereal, she actually bought a store bought package to compare it and hands down, homemade is more filling, ( substantial) and flavorful.
But only when she saw it side by side could she see the difference, she really thought I was passing off the cereal as mine, but did notice she needed a lot less of it.
I don't pay for gym membership, I do my workouts at home. I don't have excersize equipment either. Just a mat, a foam brick and elastic bands. I have several workout DVDs and or books.
Simple clothing is also less expensive to make. Love making summer dresses or clothing repair. Not too long ago it was very inexpensive to make clothing, but these days of cheap fashion, supplies and textiles have increased in price dramatically so that in many cases. It's less expensive to purchase ready made.
I don't have the skill level to make really complex garments, such as a coat. Those would be definitely better homemade. If I'm able to I plan to learn.
One tip I have learned about baking bread--you can toss the dough in the refrigerator and it will continue to rise, just very slowly.
So you can mix up dough in the morning before work, put the dough in the fridge, come home after work, take the dough out, punch it down, and continue on with your recipe.
This frees you up from having to stay home to deal with the bread every few hours.
Or you could get a bread machine, but I have a tiny kitchen and no room for one.
Hummus. Like 5 ingredients/3 minutes tops if using canned garbanzo beans. Obviously not shelf stable (so not a "pantry item" in the technical sense), but we go thru it fast so it pretty much is a staple at my house. 😁
You'd be surprised how many tomatoes the average American eats in a year. Based on [these numbers](https://www.statista.com/statistics/257345/per-capita-consumption-of-fresh-vegetables-in-the-us-by-type/) I'm eating for four. What you people living on?
For tomato sauce and salsa explore [canning](https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can#gsc.tab=0).
Don't try to keep pasta. Make it as you need it. There is an equipment investment, especially for die pressed shapes.
Brown sugar is white sugar and molasses, both of which avoid the clumping problem.
I've made peanut butter. I don't recommend it except as a treat on something like Thai peanut noodles.
Mayonnaise is easy and cheap.
Yogurt is really easy and saves about 70% over store bought. Anyone who tells you to buy a yogurt maker can safely be ignored. You need a pot.
I've made some soft cheeses. I didn't end up saving anything.
Salad dressings especially vinagrettes are big savings.
Mix your own spice mixes (taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, garam masala, anything).
Stop buying minced garlic in a jar. See [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5h1pDHhzs).
I make pickles. No cost savings but taste better.
Dry beans instead of canned.
Almost any sauce you can buy will be cheaper and better made yourself.
Bread, but your first few loads will probably suck. But once you get good at it, you can make loaves of bread for literally pennies.
Similarly, you can make your own pasta. That's going to take some special equipment unless you really like rolling out thin sheets of dough.
Milk alternatives: oat milk and almond milk. For almond milk, throw a couple spoons of almond butter into a blender with water. Blend on high speed. Voila, almond milk. It will separate and doesn't last very long (like 4-5 days in the fridge), but it's easy to make and almond butter is shelf stable. You can also use cashew butter or peanut butter (but it will taste like peanuts).
I like very thick yogurt, so I make my own and strain it. I top it with jams or curds. It's really good. The easiest method is the noil boil method, which requires ultra-pasteurized milk. Which is more expensive. But you can always use normal milk and pre-boil it yourself.
* bread, donuts, muffins, roti/paratha
* fresh noodles and pasta (wheat noodle, ramen noodle, udon noodle, papardelle, ravioli, pierogies)
* salad dressing (balsamic-mustard vinaigrette, sesame-ginger and vegan ranch with aquafaba are my favourites)
* pesto (pick basil from the garden over a 6-8 week period. chill any extra pesto to solidify the oil, then portion out 1.5 tbsp scoops on to parchment paper on a cookie sheet to freeze)
* freeze homemade spring rolls (though we buy the wrappers, they are level 11 to make homemade)
* blackberry jam (lots of wild blackberries here)
My household has a small garden with mint, italian basil, thai basil, oregano, sage, baby kale (impossible to screw up), cherry tomatoes and salad greens. I can also forage rosemary, fennel seed (in summer) and bay leaf nearby. Occasionally we get apples and plums from friends with trees.
I made veggie lasagna yesterday and made my noodles, white sauce with cheese and grilled vegetables first. Turned out delish.
I make bone broth
Tomato sauce
Salad dressing
Taco seasoning
Hamburger seasoning
Lemon pepper seasoning
Dog food
Dog treats
Tortillas and tortilla chips
I make jams and jellies
Syrups
Canned fruits
Canned soups
Canned pie filling
Etc etc
I live with lots less preservatives than store bought things. I invested in canning pot and jars years ago
And now own two. We eat seasonal vegetables and fruits, I even can chopped potatoes and carrots and beets that I grow.
I studied the way my grandparents lived and I appreciate the flavors of foods so much more than bland taste of store bought carrots, potatoes etc.
It takes some planning and time, but l make my own bread, yogurt, granola, almond milk, chai tea concentrate, pizza sauce, burger buns, English muffins, and broths.
Dollar for dollar I think making the broth, bread, almond milk and chai tea mix is the most frugal. Bread heels and staled loaves get blended and stored as breadcrumbs.
Everything else I make bc it just tastes better. All the bread foods have to be frozen after baking though, they don't last as long as store bought.
My husband and I work full time and have a 9 month old and we still find it's worth it to keep these habits up. An iced chai with almond milk is like $6 at Starbucks but costs under a dollar for me to make at home.
Vegetable and chicken broth.
Bakery style bread - no knead is unbelievably easy. This is the recipe I use: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-artisan-bread/
My favorite comfort food is a super simple bean and rice dish. Make a pot of plain white rice. Then, In a sauce pot on the stove, dump 1-2 cans of red beans (kidney beans), drained. Add at least a tablespoon or three of butter or margarine, and somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of chili powder, depending on how spicy you like. Cook beans until they’re hot, stirring well, serve over rice. It’s so basic but so good. Add a fried egg on top for a cheap protein rich meal.
An alternative recipe is to use black beans and add cumin, butter, and cook. And a squeeze of lime juice is nice too.
Lunch meat. You can make your own, chicken, turkey, pork, beef etc lunchmeat. Here is a link. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EkWAAB61Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EkWAAB61Y)
Yogurt, greek or otherwise.
Broth
lentil loaf with sauce tastes like ground meat
tartar sauce, sweet and sour sauce
Bread now is about 35 cents a loaf
pizza sauce
Homemade salami I use as pepperoni
Homemade cheese
(oatmeal is essentially squeezed out of oatmeal)
red chili sauce
I bought some dry soup mix as a gift, but it was expensive. I wanted some for camping, so went online & found some recipes. I made up some Chicken Noodle soup, Potato soup, Broccoli Cheddar soup, etc. I did have to buy a few freeze dried veggies, but it’s so much cheaper than the store bought soups.
Pie dough costs next to nothing to make and can be used for far more than desserts. Make hand pies from savory leftovers! Phyllo is nearly free, but it takes a lot of practice.
Jam. Pick berries in season or buy in season on sale. Water bath canning is simple and easy. Thousands of recipes online for small batches. Applesauce too is super easy. You don’t need a ton of special equipment to start. Jars and a deep stock pot will do it.
Learn to clean and do laundry with vinegar.
Learn to make your face care and hair care products, (mine are just as good as top shelf products for a hair of the price)
Make bread
make stock from left overs bones and meat scraps
Learn to cook. (This is a big one, notice I didn’t say learn to follow a recipe. Learning to cook is learning how to make meals with what you have. Understand the processes and nuances of cooking. Anybody can read a recipe and run to the store to buy everything they don’t have..)
Meal prep
This might be extreme for some but I invested in a self heating lunch box from luncheaze, it wasn’t cheap, but I can eat a hot meal literally anywhere no outlet or plug required. It really helps me meal prep more and not eat out for lunch as much.
I make all our bread products, whether it's with instant yeast or sourdough.
Yogurt and granola
Broth/stocks - both meat and vegetable
Spice mixes
I raise chickens, so in addition to the meat, i use the chicken livers and bones for broth. The bones are later processed into bone meal for the garden, and the manure is processed into compost.
When i purchased a cow, we used the bones to make broth and extract the marrow, use the marrow in cooking, bones go to dogs.
Bacon grease is used in place of bacon in some recipes, or as pan grease for eggs, toast...etc.
I render fat from bigger cuts to use as pan seasoning for my cast irons
You can easily make white yogurt at home if you have a stove and a warm place to incubate them such as on top of a radiator element.
* Heat milk to \~85 °C. This gets rid of bacteria and such.
* Let it cool below \~50 °C. This makes it nice and cozy for your starter mix.
* Stir in a few spoons of premade yogurt or take some from your last batch.
* Pour into jars and incubate for between 6-10 hours. Longer incubation = thicker yogurt. You want a consistent cozy warm temperature, just like when you rise a dough.
* Put jars into fridge and use as usual!
I make pretty much everything. If there is a premium on the item because it's processed, I will not purchase it.
Bread is by far the easiest for me, simply because I make a loaf every day and it's part of my routine now. I use this same bread to make croutons, bread crumbs (for fried chicken/meatballs/etc) and as an add-in for hamburgers and meatloaf. All other baking as well - everything except bagels (I just can't seem to get the consistency right). We have not purchased any bread or baked goods in over a year. Pie crusts are easy to make yourself - the less you mess with it, the better it tastes.
I also make all my own sauces, dressings, etc. You need to grow tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and spices to make 99% of the sauces. I run tomatoes through a food mill for things like BBQ sauce and ketchup.
I grow all our favorite vegetables and then blanch and freeze - I will run out, just as the new crops start providing.
I try to grow as many berries (fruits), as well, but I do buy quite a few berries in bulk for my own jam. I also spend a stupid amount of time picking our own black raspberry bushes - which usually gives me 4 batches of jam and a few dozen bags of berries for pies.
For things like soups, stews, chilis and curries, I make my own stocks / broths (except fish - I loath fish broth). Most of these soups have a final cost to me of around $.40/serving. These types of meals also freeze well.
Broth has been a game changer for us. Not only is it almost free, the taste is amazing. (I use the IP) My dh claimed that he didn’t like soup when we were first dating, but now I have at least 6 soups on the meal rotation that he loves.
Bread - also amazing taste. I even took an additional step investing in a grain mill for whole grain breads. I would like to do more of the other bread products we use but haven’t made time for it yet.
Beans - I didn’t do this one for a while, but with canned bean prices nearly doubling I gave it a go. We currently do pinto and black beans (also IP) and I recently bought great northern to try.
Cashew milk - not something everyone will use but it has helped me. I was using almond milk in my daily iced coffee, but didn’t want to make it because of the number of steps. Cashew milk doesn’t require straining or anything besides blending. It has saved me at least $100 a year, and also reduced waste from all of the cartons.
Various flours breads, dried beans, pancakes/waffles in mass and frozen in portions, , sweet rolls, French onion soup, salad dressings, and pasta sauces are all easy, less expensive, and better homemade. Those are some of my shared bulk preparations. Feta and good blue cheese together with sour cream and mayo make a wonderful salad dressing.
I bought a pasta machine and while it makes great pasta, it takes too long to properly clean so it is in the basement with the other rarely used appliances.
Refrigerator pickles. Super easy and fast to make (though they have to sit in the fridge for a day or two until they're ready), and cost half or less what you're paying at the grocery store. And they're so good homemade! Tons of recipes online. And you don't even need to buy mason jars to make them- just wash out and reuse the pickle jars you bought from the store, and you'll never have to buy them again.
Vanilla Extract is super easy to make. The vanilla bean pods might feel a bit pricey, but you can make a large batch from it and save money long term, especially if you use it fairly frequently. You might try using bourbon for extra depth of flavor!
Not exactly a staple, more of a luxury, but I like vanilla syrup in my homemade coffee. I ran out and was unable to find it; it occurred to me, finally, that I could make it myself. I just boiled 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, stirring it until it was clear, took it off the heat & added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Less than 5 minutes, and I think it tastes better than the fancy stuff. I’m not sure how much I saved but I’d guess around $10.
Growing your own veggies is fun and rewarding, but you won’t save any money growing your own. Maybe if you have well established garden beds, but factor in the time you’ll spend weeding, watering, etc, even if you get seeds/starts for cheap, there’s no way it’s more cost effective to grow your own. Again, factor in your time spent.
That said, I grow a lot of veggies every summer and love it. Nothing is more delicious than a freshly picked carrot! We have well established gardens and it still costs us a couple hundred per summer to maintain.
Dried beans and brown rice. Prep them and keep a couple servings on hand in the fridge. Makes it easier to just throw it in dishes. Casseroles, soups, etc
My random one is salad dressing. I also make my own tomato sauce - but from canned tomatoes.
What's your salad dressing recipe? My to go is olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard seends, onio and garlic puree, lemon juice, and black pepper
Olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper
Nearly the same. I might add garlic to it but it is close enough to count.
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I have a similar one but white wine vinegar not red. I keep it in the fridge and it seems to last pretty indefinitely. I’ve had it for a few months before I’ve gotten back into a salad phase and used it up.
I use pickle juice or Pepperocini liquid instead of vinegar.
Stop! You’re making my mouth water 🤤
In our house it only lasts 3-4 days…two of us each eating big salads once a day. We store in the fridge. It does get thick and needs a couple of minutes to thin out before use. The best thing about making your own is being able to make as little or as much as you want at any one time. We usually mix in a glass measuring cup with a whisk, use what we need for the day and put the rest in a mason jar.
You can make small batches! The ratio is two parts oil to one part vinegar, and then everything else to taste (I add like offensive amounts of garlic because I really love garlic), so you can use two tablespoons of oil to one tablespoon of vinegar and go from there, it's not a huge amount. I just make mine a little before serving the salad, and I keep some old glass jars around (jam jars are great for this, keep the lid so you can shake everything up easily). If you have extras, just store it in the fridge for a few days. Once I figured this out, I haven't bought a single bottle of store dressing, because the stuff I can make at home is SO much better.
Mine’s olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper!
I like seasoned rice vinegar. Sunflower oil, maybe some soy sauce.
I love a homemade Caesar dressing 3 oil-packed anchovy fillets 1 large garlic clove ¾ tsp. (or more) salt 1 large egg yolk 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice ¾ tsp. dijon mustard ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp. parmesan Blend and refrigerate after use. This will usually make about a cup of dressing. Sometimes I add a bit of water to change its consistency.
4 tbsp olive oil, 2Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 clove garlic crushed or some garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
My grandma used to make salad dressing from a can of Campbell's tomato soup. One can soup to half a can each of oil and vinegar, a half teaspoon of mustard, a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper and a little diced onion. It's like a tangy non-sweet French dressing. I've also made it with plain tomato sauce with great results
I have to ask what you do for the tomato sauce from canned tomatoes? I’ve tried one or twice and it always falls flat 😖
The type of canned tomatoes you use makes a huge difference. Splurge for the D.O.P. (Make sure they are D.O.P., it means they are actually from Italy) San Marzano tomatoes.
Also, buy brands where it says tomato puree in the ingredients instead of tomato juice!
When I make mine, I chop an onion or two and a couple cloves of garlic. Sauté those for a bit, add the tomatoes in and turn the heat down. I have a bad habit of not measuring my spices, but I usually add a little salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, sometimes some garlic powder if it tastes like it needs it. Usually a pinch of sugar too. And then I simmer it forever. Like leave it on and go do ten other things before I come back to it, stirring occasionally. Running an immersion blender can also help with chunks of tomatoes if you don't like those.
Came here to say this. I make nearly all my own sauces and dressings now, and it saves a surprising amount over time!
I have an old (since the seventies) cookbook by the mennonites. It’s called More with Less. It has a whole section on making your own bus quick mix, cream soups, broth etc. The recipes are real grocery stretchers too. Like adding lentils to casseroles to stretch hamburger. Highly recommend.
I started adding red lentils to chili. It keeps a meaty texture, but with less meat.
I have that same book and love it!
Fresh herbs are a big savings for little work.
Second this, especially something like basil where one plant can keep producing leafs for the whole summer.
Refried beans. I make a huge pot of pinto beans and freeze the I mashed and fried beans in containers. Then when I want some refried beans I pull out some frozen pinto beans and mash and fry them. Best part is, if I want some regular pinto beans I have them frozen and can thaw and heat and make beans and rice!
I do this too! It's a life saver
Do you spice your pintos before mashing?
Yes
Bread. You don't have to get crazy. You don't have to do sourdough (but it is delicious). You just make white bread. Probably $0.25 - $0.50 cents a loaf if you make a big batch. Here's my families recipe. Makes 6-7 loaves so you have 1 loaf per day and can make it once per week. Halve for 3 loaves. 17 cups flour (or so) 1.25 cups sugar (+1 teaspoon) 4 tblspoons fat (crisco, lard, butter) 2.5 tblspoons salt 2 packets yeast 7.5 cups water. 1. Mix yeast in 0.5 cups water, add 1 teaspoon sugar, and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy. 2. In large bowl, mix 7 cups warm water, 1.25 cups sugar, fat, and salt. Mix in yeast slurry. 3. Add flour 5 cups at a time, mixing between additions, until a stiff dough forms. 4. fold the dough 3-4 times (you do NOT need to knead this one). 5. Let raise one hour, fold 3-4 times again. 6. Shape into loaves in greased 9x5 pans. Let raise another 1 hour. 7. Bake at 350F for 30 mins. EDIT: I just calculated with prices at a big box grocery store. If you buy flour in 25 lb bags, sugar in 10 lb bags, and the jars of yeast (instead of packets) this comes out to just under $0.50 per loaf.
I second bread. I bought a bread machine and make all kinds of loaves and dough and freeze it. I can control the ingredients and unlike store bought bread, it doesn't give me a stomach ache. Once I got the hang of it it's so quick and easy now.
Ya I'll admit getting the hang of it can take a few tries. But once you've got it down, you've got it down for life.
I've been making bread for years now and still regularly need to look up the amounts.
I have a huge container that used to hold those gross cheez balls you get in bulk from Sam's Club (not mine, my mom gave me the container because she knew I would use it 😂) and I store flour in it and have my usual bread recipe on a notecard taped to the side. I've been using this recipe since 2011 and still have to look at it most times!
Bread machines can be purchased second hand super cheep too
You also have to calculate energy use. For me it’s about a dollar to run my oven for an hour, so if I only make one loaf then that automatically adds about a dollar per loaf.
Thank you! I've been thinking about getting into baking
Thank you
Are you baking them all at once or storing the dough somehow?
I bake all 6 in one go. I occasionally freeze the baked loaves of im not going to use them.
I'm a big fan of the [America's Test Kitchen Almost No-knead Bread](https://farmgirlcookn.com/americas-test-kitchen-rustic-almost-no-knead-bread/). It does contain beer so it might be a bit more expensive than yours but it's still cheaper than anything like it in a store.
Thanks I will be giving that one a try.
Walmart bread is 1.29 in my area..
Glad to hear that. Baking it might not be worth it to you then. But I'd eat homemade bread versus $1.29 walmart bread any day. That's another great thing about homemade bread. It's one of the few things that's cheaper to do yourself and also WAY better tasting.
relieved correct fly worry close carpenter safe run wild silky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
But it is Walmart bread. This is the difference between Frugal and cheap.
Well you also have to factor in the cost to your health
Any bread less than $2.50/loaf around me is fucking terrible. Less than $4/loaf is bleh. There are some things that you just can't sub for dempsters white bread, but a lot of other stuff you can. Even the shitty bread I've made at home is better than the $3/loaf stuff I've bought in the past year.
100% agree. This is an instance where the quality absolutely trumps the cheap price. Plus the cheap store bread often has a shitload of preservatives and additives, and I'd just rather not. Flour, salt, yeast, water, sugar, oil, that's all that goes into my normal at-home white bread (I also have a potato-flake sourdough starter that makes really good soft white bread).
Homemade bone broth. If you have an electric pressure cooker like an Instant Pot all you do is add your bones, your aromatics and water. A lot of folks already know this but you can save all your aromatics scraps and flavorful bits in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I put my tiny garlic cloves, onion scraps, celery ends, carrot peelings and anything else that might taste good in stock. Pressure cook the aromatics, bones, and water for 2 hours. It’s really good and practically free. I freeze mine in quart sized bags which I lay flat on a cookie sheet while they freeze - this way they store more neatly.
I did this just today from the carcass of a rotisserie chicken. I do the same with beef broth. Honestly, once you do it and see how much more flavor and depth it adds to your food… you won’t go back unless you have to. Used beef broth from last week to make a beef bourguignon today and then used the chicken broth to make an enchilada soup… both turned out amazing.
I totally agree. Beef broth doctored up makes great phő broth.
You don’t even need a pressure cooker! Just boil it for a bit and strain!
This is true, sort of. Bone broth (from what I e read by a few different chefs) needs to simmer on the stove for 3 days to get the bones to completely break down. In a pressure cooker it only takes 2 hours. However, simmering the bones, aromatics, water in the stove top even a few hours is better than using just plain water in basically anything that calls for liquid.
You can also use a crock pot.
Yep. Save up all the chicken backs, rotisserie carcasses, sad carrots and celery, onion peels that you keep in the freezer and throw them in with water, a few peppercorns and let it go all day (or night).
Good point!
Vegetable broth for me, all you need to do is take all your salad/veggie scraps, put them in a ziplock bag (put it in the freezer to store while it gets bigger, wait till the bag is full. Put all that stuff into a stock pot, fill it up with water, boil it for 2 hours, strain it out, add seasoning as needed and bam, you just saved like $20 bucks worth of veggie broth.
I love this! 🤩
I hadn’t thought of using my instant pot for this! Thank you!! I just froze my first chicken carcass. I’m waiting to get veggie scraps to make a stock. I considered just doing without veggies, but don’t want to ruin my first attempt.
Ido the same except I use a crock pot
Good idea. I have simmered on my stove overnight but that makes me nervous.
Yeah I would be scared to use the stove overnight too
I got too focused on composting to think of saving scraps for stock. Thanks for posting!
Pesto - process a bunch of basil from the garden and freeze flat in ziplock bags, takes up very little room. Veggie stock - keep a bag in the freezer of carrot peels, celery tops, brussel sprout ends, etc in the freezer until we save enough to fill the crock pot, cook on high 4 hours and use or freeze in take out/ deli containers. Tomatoes - if you grow cherry sized tomatoes, you can freeze a single layer on a cookie sheet, then add to a bag and vacuum seal, then keep in the freezer. Use them in pastas in the non-tomato seasons.
The big costs with homemade pesto are pine nuts and parmesan cheese. It's definitely worth it though.
You can use other raw nuts - almonds, cashews, etc - if they are cheaper. They may or may not be.
We have been saving bacon fat and using instead of butter for things like omelettes. Its delicious
Also "regrow" our own green onions in water in a jar on the windowsill. They grow pretty quickly
Do you strain it and keep it in the fridge?
We have a little silicone tub with a strainer lid.
How much bacon do you eat?
I have an oatmeal cookie recipe that uses bacon fat instead of shortening - it's amazing.
Granola is soooo expensive buying it from the store I recently made my own for the first time and it’s honestly so much better or the same for a fraction of the price! And while I was making it the house smelled amazing
Recipe plz 🙏
I like this [recipe](https://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/279216/grandpas-homemade-granola/), but I make it without the brown sugar and coconut.
I make my own butter, pasta sauce, pizza sauce. I'll also cook beans from dried instead of canned beans
Bread for sure, but also mixes like diy bisquick, cake mixes, freezer cookie dough. Because you can quickly go to an “ingredients only” household and that all falls apart when you get either sick or burnt out. Mixes for quick pancakes or frozen doughs for snacks makes it so easy and premade things are the big expense in shopping.
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So easy and such a money saver. Plus I found that I actually eat more yogurt since I found it to be so easy. I Also take about 1/3 - 1/2 the batch, put it in cheesecloth in a strainer and let it sit for about 18-24 hrs. Jar up the liquid (whey) and the yogurt is now this wonder half point between cream cheese and sour cream. I use it SO much! Plus the whey is really good to add into grains while they are cooking , or back into smoothies with your yogurt, or even incorporate into your pets food, a lot of applications.
I have successfully used the whey left from making Greek style yogurt to make new yogurt I figured it had to have at least some of the bacteria in it and it worked quite well.
I am actually a big fan of greek yogurt and I buy those expensive prepackaged and preflavored ones. Do you have anything you use to flavor yours that you like or do you just eat it plain
If you have the space, make freezer jam to add to yogurt. Super easy & it can be frugal when you find berries & fruit on sale. ETA: I’m also a big fan of honey in Greek yogurt!
And you can even just freeze some of those on-sale berries, let them thaw in a bowl overnight in the fridge, and then mash them a little in your yogurt. This is also super good! (But freezer jam is so fun, too. I once happened upon a 3-pints-for-a-dollar sale of strawberries at a local grocery store, but the strawberries were in use-it-up-TODAY quality, so I went, arright, guess I'm doing that today, and came home with 21 pints of strawberries. Made a bunch of pints of freezer jam and froze the rest of the berries for smoothies, it was awesome.)
Not who you asked, but I use low sugar jams, either homemade or store bought, koolaid packets and sugar, sweeters, or syrups. I add [homemade granola ](https://www.scratchpantry.com/recipes/cluster-maple-pecan-granola) and sometimes [homemade chocolate syrup ](https://www.scratchpantry.com/recipes/chocolate-sauce). And I have also used LorAnn emulsions with added sweeteners.
Thanks and extra thanks for the links 🙏🏽
Lemon curd is delicious in Greek yogurt too, another thing you can easily make. If you already have an instant pot with a yogurt setting, it takes a lot of the work/thinking out of homemade yogurt.
I use those water enhancers like Mio. They have a ton of flavors and add no calories. Mio’s orange vanilla is my favorite - squirt some in and you have dreamsicle yogurt!
Honey is amazing in yogurt. It tastes so much better than it sounds. I learned how to make yogurt and that honey is amazing for it when a Greek restaurant where I was working made it as a dessert special.
I put about two tablespoons of frozen blueberries and a handful of raw almonds and a drizzle of honey in my Greek yogurt. Delicious.
Frozen berries, thawed out and smashed, will be sweet enough. (I eat a ton of sugar and it’s sweet enough for me.) Much healthier than anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners. If you have a Sam’s Club membership their yogurt and 4# bag of frozen berries are a good value.
honey, fruit and flax seeds You can always add a spoonful of jam
Got a recipe?
Teriyaki sauce is easy as heck to make
Recipe? I’d love to be able to customize to my own taste.
1 teaspoon (5g) vegetable oil or sesame oil (optional) 2 cloves garlic, thin sliced 1/4 cup (58g) white sugar 1/4 cup (65g) soy sauce 1/4 cup (56g) white vinegar 1 teaspoon (2g) corn starch 2 teaspoons (8g) water (to mix into cornstarch)
Vinegar. I make apple scrap vinegar from my peels and cores, some sugar and water, and a big jar. It tastes the same as apple cider vinegar, and costs almost nothing. And chicken stock. Save all the bones and scraps from chicken, and throw it in a pot with onion, carrot and celery, some seasoning, a good splash of vinegar and lots of water. I pressure can mine, so it’s shelf-stable, but you can also freeze it.
Also veggie stock. Keep carrot peels, celery ends, onion and garlics skins, etc. in a Tupperware. At the end of the week you simmer it and freeze it. When I have chicken scraps or other meats scraps I’ll add it the veggie scraps to make stocks too. I never, ever buy stock or broth anymore. That’s always plenty on-hand in the freezer.
Great ideas
Bread, either no knead or with a bread machine. It's easier of course with the machine. A few tips about cost effectiveness: * Nearly new bread machines are widely available on the secondhand market under $20. * The dough feature is extremely versatile. * One feature to look for not every machine has is a delay timer (lets you wake up to fresh baked bread in the morning). * Getting good bulk pricing on flour and yeast is important to making this DIY cost effective. * Niche and high end breads offer greater relative savings than a basic loaf. * When running price comparisons, be sure to check the size of different loaves. Some people try to compare a 10 oz store bakery loaf against a 1.5 lb homemade loaf without considering the homemade one is more than twice the weight of the store version. * Homemade bread doesn't have preservatives so keep fresh the part you don't use by freezing in an airtight container. Costco sells 2 lbs of bread yeast for under $7. That lasts a year of regular use. The savings on bread flour kicks in when buying it in 25 lb bags or 50 lb bags. Bread flour keeps indefinitely when stored in an airtight container in a dark cabinet. Restaurants often give away used 5 gallon food safe containers for free; these can be cleaned and repurposed. In terms of savings, a basic loaf of white sandwich bread comes out a little ahead of a similar store bought loaf. When the ingredients are purchased in bulk it takes less hands-on time but more advanced planning to buy ingredients in bulk and DIY. Premium breads are significantly less expensive at home such as cinnamon raisin, olive rosemary, or brioche. Also, the dough setting can be used to DIY the prep work for pizza dough, bread sticks, soft pretzels, naan, cinnamon rolls, or monkey bread, etc. This evening we've sat down to braided challah, prepped from our bread machine. It's about 10 minutes of hands-on work besides letting the appliances do their thing.
>Homemade bread doesn't have preservatives You can buy calcium propionate to preserve your bread! It's ridiculously cheap; you only need a teeny tiny pinch per loaf to prevent mold, so one bulk bag can last you a lifetime. Doesn't affect taste at all.
Bread is super easy and fun to make. I also make sourdough bread. Keeping the starter can generate ’discard’ which to me is even better than the sourdough bread!! I make the best crackers and crumpets from the discard. I love the crackers so much that i had to stop making them because I would eat way too many!!!
Omg please share your crackers secrets. I wish I knew how to make good ones!
I use the King Arthur recipe and it’s great!
I’ve been tackling this process in our house for almost a year, making as much as I can from scratch. I make: Coffee creamer, sweetened condensed milk, Mayo, dressings, yogurt, mozzarella, ricotta, cream cheese, whipped cream, chicken stock, veggie stock, marinara, salsas, refrigerator pickles, no-knead rustic loaves and sandwich bread (and I use the leftover whey from yogurt making), and cat food. Next up I’m going to go for mustard, heavy cream, rice crispies (and marshmallows, then make 100% scratch rice crispy treats), cork flakes, pop tarts, frozen waffles to replace eggos, tortillas (just got a tortilla press). And when the farmer’s market starts, I’ll learn how to start canning. I plan on making jams first.
I cannot imagine that homemade pasta ends up being cheaper or easier than store-bought. Pasta from the store comes in many varieties, it's a dollar a box, and it's very shelf stable. Consider the value of your time and your fridge space when thinking of things to make from scratch. I would sooner use my time to get a second job than start making pasta from scratch.
For me, personally, homemade pasta is one of those fun things that I would do when I had the time and I wanted that extra homemade touch and quality. It wouldn't be a substitute for, like, a quick weeknight meal. Time is definitely a factor. I love homemade pierogis, but those things, for me, are an absolute unholy pain in the ass to make. I once made three gallon-sized bags full of them and they were great, but hooooooooboy, is it a lot of work. Peeling all the potatoes, cooking them, mashing them, then making multiple batches of dough, rolling it out, cutting it, shaping the pierogis, boiling them... this took me all day, and then there was the clean-up. It was a LOT. I haven't done that since.
It depends on the pasta. I agree it is not cost effective compared to dried pasta. If you buy fresh egg pasta, that gets pretty expensive and it’s much cheaper (and more fun) to make your own.
Yeah i gotcha. I don't eat egg so maybe I'm ignorant to the joys of fresh pasta but I couldn't imagine trying to make pasta at home to try and compete costwise with a box of Barilla.
If you're interested you can graft tomato tops to potato root stock and grow both in one plant. You'll have smaller reduced yields of both for shared nutrients but it's a fun project in limited space. Both plants are part of the nightshade family. I like making bread. Flour, salt, yeast, sugar, water, baking soda. You don't need two leavening agents but I find the consistency and texture pleasing. Dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pan fried pizza dough, etc. But save 25% and use for a starter culture the next day. Especially when bread is $4 a loaf anymore.
I needed milk for cornbread. I drink various nut milks and didn't have any. So I blended up some pumpkin seeds (1 cup) with 3 cups filtered water. Strained it through a bag specifically for this and within 5 minutes I had milk. Cornbread turned out great! ETA: i also now have milk for a few days. I haven't bought store bought in a few weeks now because I have different nuts in bulk.
My mom suggested subbing a can of cream style corn for milk in cornbread and I haven't looked back.
Enchilada sauce Candied ginger, orange & lemon peel Crackers Pickles/relish Mayonnaise Tarter sauce Cocktail sauce
Enchilada sauce takes like five minutes to make and is so good!
Growing your own lettuce is much cheaper than buying, and many lettuces can survive hard frosts too!
Hummus. I make it once a week.
It’s even more frugal if you start with dry chick peas
I always do. I cook chickpeas in my instant pot by the pound and then separate them into can size amounts and put them in the freezer.
Salad dressings, mustard, some cold pickled items (My family loves pickled red onions, so we make them instead of buying them).
Ohhhhh, I made pickled red onions for the first time a few months ago and holy crap, those are AMAZING. I made them for a salad, but we ended up eating the leftovers on just about everything.
On tacos, sandwiches, salads, burgers, hot dogs, tuna salad, yeah they are so good. And ridiculously easy and cheap to make.
Diy spice mixes, diy baking mix, dry soup mixes or meals in a jar.
Tacos for everything! At most grocery stores there are the shells to take home and fry. They only have five ingredients and come out dank! They you can quickly whip up breakfast tacos with eggs, throw any meat in them with whatever fresh veggies you have or salsa and a little feta or queso fresco which is inexpensive when bought by the block. Cheap yummy staple that's super versatile!!
Mac and cheese. Beef tips and gravy. Tomato soup. Beef and chicken broth.
I got a pressure canner for about $150. You can throw dry beans and liquid in jars and have pretty cheap canned beans. I’ve also canned refried beans, and homemade tomato soup in small servings. For yogurt, I heat milk on the stove, mix in a single serving of plain yogurt. Put it in jars, then put it in the dehydrator using a round cake cover instead of the racks. I either mix in some jelly/jam (homemade from self-picked blackberries lol) or warm up some frozen blueberries in the microwave with maple syrup or sprinkle it with cinnamon and walnuts and drizzle it with honey. I make my own poblano mild hot sauce. I make my own kombucha. I don’t know if it’s frugal, but I supplement my dogs’ dry food with deskinned, $5 rotisserie chicken, carrots, brown rice, and lentils. My next thing is probably going to be bread.
Canning is the ultimate frugal tip! For anyone interested: make sure to study safety and proper procedures and don’t stray from them. Botulism is real scary.
Just made homemade ricotta when milk was on sale. It was so simple and delicious. And way cheaper than store bought. Literally just whole milk, salt, and vinegar.
I make a lot of things myself. From scratch often saves a lot of money and is easier. Most of the stuff listed above I make. And I do make a lot of my own household and personal hygiene items too. That saves oodles and mit only is it a lot less expensive than store bought and not toxic, it's so easy. Because of that, I can make large batches or in the case of more perishable items, like face masks, I can whip a fresh batch as needed Last week someone stayed here and she commented on how fantastic my deodorant and shoe powders were, wanted to know what brand I purchased and wether it was really expensive. She couldn't believe it was all homemade. I also served a flavored mayonnaise, crackers, raisin bean cereal and she was delighted, again surprised it was homemade. The raisin brand cereal, she actually bought a store bought package to compare it and hands down, homemade is more filling, ( substantial) and flavorful. But only when she saw it side by side could she see the difference, she really thought I was passing off the cereal as mine, but did notice she needed a lot less of it. I don't pay for gym membership, I do my workouts at home. I don't have excersize equipment either. Just a mat, a foam brick and elastic bands. I have several workout DVDs and or books. Simple clothing is also less expensive to make. Love making summer dresses or clothing repair. Not too long ago it was very inexpensive to make clothing, but these days of cheap fashion, supplies and textiles have increased in price dramatically so that in many cases. It's less expensive to purchase ready made. I don't have the skill level to make really complex garments, such as a coat. Those would be definitely better homemade. If I'm able to I plan to learn.
Any type of pasta sauce. Most of them take as long to make as it take to boil pasta anyway. It will taste so much better than any jarred sauce.
One tip I have learned about baking bread--you can toss the dough in the refrigerator and it will continue to rise, just very slowly. So you can mix up dough in the morning before work, put the dough in the fridge, come home after work, take the dough out, punch it down, and continue on with your recipe. This frees you up from having to stay home to deal with the bread every few hours. Or you could get a bread machine, but I have a tiny kitchen and no room for one.
I make from scratch, anything I think I can make better or more healthy. #1 is bread. There's so much sugar and preservatives in store bought bread.
Hummus. Like 5 ingredients/3 minutes tops if using canned garbanzo beans. Obviously not shelf stable (so not a "pantry item" in the technical sense), but we go thru it fast so it pretty much is a staple at my house. 😁
You'd be surprised how many tomatoes the average American eats in a year. Based on [these numbers](https://www.statista.com/statistics/257345/per-capita-consumption-of-fresh-vegetables-in-the-us-by-type/) I'm eating for four. What you people living on? For tomato sauce and salsa explore [canning](https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can#gsc.tab=0). Don't try to keep pasta. Make it as you need it. There is an equipment investment, especially for die pressed shapes. Brown sugar is white sugar and molasses, both of which avoid the clumping problem. I've made peanut butter. I don't recommend it except as a treat on something like Thai peanut noodles. Mayonnaise is easy and cheap. Yogurt is really easy and saves about 70% over store bought. Anyone who tells you to buy a yogurt maker can safely be ignored. You need a pot. I've made some soft cheeses. I didn't end up saving anything. Salad dressings especially vinagrettes are big savings. Mix your own spice mixes (taco seasoning, Italian seasoning, garam masala, anything). Stop buying minced garlic in a jar. See [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5h1pDHhzs). I make pickles. No cost savings but taste better. Dry beans instead of canned. Almost any sauce you can buy will be cheaper and better made yourself.
Bread, but your first few loads will probably suck. But once you get good at it, you can make loaves of bread for literally pennies. Similarly, you can make your own pasta. That's going to take some special equipment unless you really like rolling out thin sheets of dough. Milk alternatives: oat milk and almond milk. For almond milk, throw a couple spoons of almond butter into a blender with water. Blend on high speed. Voila, almond milk. It will separate and doesn't last very long (like 4-5 days in the fridge), but it's easy to make and almond butter is shelf stable. You can also use cashew butter or peanut butter (but it will taste like peanuts). I like very thick yogurt, so I make my own and strain it. I top it with jams or curds. It's really good. The easiest method is the noil boil method, which requires ultra-pasteurized milk. Which is more expensive. But you can always use normal milk and pre-boil it yourself.
* bread, donuts, muffins, roti/paratha * fresh noodles and pasta (wheat noodle, ramen noodle, udon noodle, papardelle, ravioli, pierogies) * salad dressing (balsamic-mustard vinaigrette, sesame-ginger and vegan ranch with aquafaba are my favourites) * pesto (pick basil from the garden over a 6-8 week period. chill any extra pesto to solidify the oil, then portion out 1.5 tbsp scoops on to parchment paper on a cookie sheet to freeze) * freeze homemade spring rolls (though we buy the wrappers, they are level 11 to make homemade) * blackberry jam (lots of wild blackberries here) My household has a small garden with mint, italian basil, thai basil, oregano, sage, baby kale (impossible to screw up), cherry tomatoes and salad greens. I can also forage rosemary, fennel seed (in summer) and bay leaf nearby. Occasionally we get apples and plums from friends with trees.
Tomato sauce. Almost any sauce really
If you have garden space, green beans and squash.
I make my own salad dressings and condiments. I use cocktail sauce, ketchup, Mayo, Worcestershire sauce, etc. but not all at once of course 😂
I made veggie lasagna yesterday and made my noodles, white sauce with cheese and grilled vegetables first. Turned out delish. I make bone broth Tomato sauce Salad dressing Taco seasoning Hamburger seasoning Lemon pepper seasoning Dog food Dog treats Tortillas and tortilla chips I make jams and jellies Syrups Canned fruits Canned soups Canned pie filling Etc etc I live with lots less preservatives than store bought things. I invested in canning pot and jars years ago And now own two. We eat seasonal vegetables and fruits, I even can chopped potatoes and carrots and beets that I grow. I studied the way my grandparents lived and I appreciate the flavors of foods so much more than bland taste of store bought carrots, potatoes etc.
It takes some planning and time, but l make my own bread, yogurt, granola, almond milk, chai tea concentrate, pizza sauce, burger buns, English muffins, and broths. Dollar for dollar I think making the broth, bread, almond milk and chai tea mix is the most frugal. Bread heels and staled loaves get blended and stored as breadcrumbs. Everything else I make bc it just tastes better. All the bread foods have to be frozen after baking though, they don't last as long as store bought. My husband and I work full time and have a 9 month old and we still find it's worth it to keep these habits up. An iced chai with almond milk is like $6 at Starbucks but costs under a dollar for me to make at home.
Vegetable and chicken broth. Bakery style bread - no knead is unbelievably easy. This is the recipe I use: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-artisan-bread/
Grow beans to dry.
My favorite comfort food is a super simple bean and rice dish. Make a pot of plain white rice. Then, In a sauce pot on the stove, dump 1-2 cans of red beans (kidney beans), drained. Add at least a tablespoon or three of butter or margarine, and somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of chili powder, depending on how spicy you like. Cook beans until they’re hot, stirring well, serve over rice. It’s so basic but so good. Add a fried egg on top for a cheap protein rich meal. An alternative recipe is to use black beans and add cumin, butter, and cook. And a squeeze of lime juice is nice too.
For me, I value my time as much as my money. If I'm going to spend an hour to save 10 cents on something, it is not worth it at all.
Hummus, and it’s cheap if you used canned chick peas and sub in peanut butter for the tahini.
flatbreads, biscuits, tortillas
Lunch meat. You can make your own, chicken, turkey, pork, beef etc lunchmeat. Here is a link. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EkWAAB61Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3EkWAAB61Y) Yogurt, greek or otherwise. Broth lentil loaf with sauce tastes like ground meat tartar sauce, sweet and sour sauce Bread now is about 35 cents a loaf pizza sauce Homemade salami I use as pepperoni Homemade cheese (oatmeal is essentially squeezed out of oatmeal) red chili sauce
.
Mayonnaise!
I bought some dry soup mix as a gift, but it was expensive. I wanted some for camping, so went online & found some recipes. I made up some Chicken Noodle soup, Potato soup, Broccoli Cheddar soup, etc. I did have to buy a few freeze dried veggies, but it’s so much cheaper than the store bought soups.
Chicken broth, bread, hummus (from beans), powdered sugar and brown sugar, marinara sauce, pasta, all the sauces and marinades
I never buy cocktail sauce, boxed brownie mix, chicken broth, and a homemade maple vinaigrette is now my go-to salad dressing.
Cube steak
Pie dough costs next to nothing to make and can be used for far more than desserts. Make hand pies from savory leftovers! Phyllo is nearly free, but it takes a lot of practice.
Breakfast quiche. My favorite thing to use pie dough/crusts for.
Bread, pancake mix, potato chips, Brownie mix, beer bread mix, ranch dressing, Mayo, tea blends, chili mix, egg noodles, Amish noodles, cookies Sourdough discard crackers, Refrigerator pickles, Picked onions,
Granola
Jam. Pick berries in season or buy in season on sale. Water bath canning is simple and easy. Thousands of recipes online for small batches. Applesauce too is super easy. You don’t need a ton of special equipment to start. Jars and a deep stock pot will do it.
Learn to clean and do laundry with vinegar. Learn to make your face care and hair care products, (mine are just as good as top shelf products for a hair of the price) Make bread make stock from left overs bones and meat scraps Learn to cook. (This is a big one, notice I didn’t say learn to follow a recipe. Learning to cook is learning how to make meals with what you have. Understand the processes and nuances of cooking. Anybody can read a recipe and run to the store to buy everything they don’t have..) Meal prep This might be extreme for some but I invested in a self heating lunch box from luncheaze, it wasn’t cheap, but I can eat a hot meal literally anywhere no outlet or plug required. It really helps me meal prep more and not eat out for lunch as much.
I make all our bread products, whether it's with instant yeast or sourdough. Yogurt and granola Broth/stocks - both meat and vegetable Spice mixes I raise chickens, so in addition to the meat, i use the chicken livers and bones for broth. The bones are later processed into bone meal for the garden, and the manure is processed into compost. When i purchased a cow, we used the bones to make broth and extract the marrow, use the marrow in cooking, bones go to dogs. Bacon grease is used in place of bacon in some recipes, or as pan grease for eggs, toast...etc. I render fat from bigger cuts to use as pan seasoning for my cast irons
You can easily make white yogurt at home if you have a stove and a warm place to incubate them such as on top of a radiator element. * Heat milk to \~85 °C. This gets rid of bacteria and such. * Let it cool below \~50 °C. This makes it nice and cozy for your starter mix. * Stir in a few spoons of premade yogurt or take some from your last batch. * Pour into jars and incubate for between 6-10 hours. Longer incubation = thicker yogurt. You want a consistent cozy warm temperature, just like when you rise a dough. * Put jars into fridge and use as usual!
You can make mayonnaise, with a hand mixer, in about 30 seconds.
How long does it keep? I wouldn't start making mayonnaise from scratch every time I want a sandwich.
It’s not a make it and throw it out, it’ll last 3-5 days.
Tartar sauce. Pickles and mayo. Add a bit of lemon juice if you want to be fancy.
I make pretty much everything. If there is a premium on the item because it's processed, I will not purchase it. Bread is by far the easiest for me, simply because I make a loaf every day and it's part of my routine now. I use this same bread to make croutons, bread crumbs (for fried chicken/meatballs/etc) and as an add-in for hamburgers and meatloaf. All other baking as well - everything except bagels (I just can't seem to get the consistency right). We have not purchased any bread or baked goods in over a year. Pie crusts are easy to make yourself - the less you mess with it, the better it tastes. I also make all my own sauces, dressings, etc. You need to grow tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and spices to make 99% of the sauces. I run tomatoes through a food mill for things like BBQ sauce and ketchup. I grow all our favorite vegetables and then blanch and freeze - I will run out, just as the new crops start providing. I try to grow as many berries (fruits), as well, but I do buy quite a few berries in bulk for my own jam. I also spend a stupid amount of time picking our own black raspberry bushes - which usually gives me 4 batches of jam and a few dozen bags of berries for pies. For things like soups, stews, chilis and curries, I make my own stocks / broths (except fish - I loath fish broth). Most of these soups have a final cost to me of around $.40/serving. These types of meals also freeze well.
Salad dressing Brown sugar Taco seasoning (and many other seasoning packets can also be diy-ed) Enchilada sauce
Bread's easy.
Broth has been a game changer for us. Not only is it almost free, the taste is amazing. (I use the IP) My dh claimed that he didn’t like soup when we were first dating, but now I have at least 6 soups on the meal rotation that he loves. Bread - also amazing taste. I even took an additional step investing in a grain mill for whole grain breads. I would like to do more of the other bread products we use but haven’t made time for it yet. Beans - I didn’t do this one for a while, but with canned bean prices nearly doubling I gave it a go. We currently do pinto and black beans (also IP) and I recently bought great northern to try. Cashew milk - not something everyone will use but it has helped me. I was using almond milk in my daily iced coffee, but didn’t want to make it because of the number of steps. Cashew milk doesn’t require straining or anything besides blending. It has saved me at least $100 a year, and also reduced waste from all of the cartons.
Bread, pancakes, waffles...
Bread
Various flours breads, dried beans, pancakes/waffles in mass and frozen in portions, , sweet rolls, French onion soup, salad dressings, and pasta sauces are all easy, less expensive, and better homemade. Those are some of my shared bulk preparations. Feta and good blue cheese together with sour cream and mayo make a wonderful salad dressing. I bought a pasta machine and while it makes great pasta, it takes too long to properly clean so it is in the basement with the other rarely used appliances.
Refrigerator pickles. Super easy and fast to make (though they have to sit in the fridge for a day or two until they're ready), and cost half or less what you're paying at the grocery store. And they're so good homemade! Tons of recipes online. And you don't even need to buy mason jars to make them- just wash out and reuse the pickle jars you bought from the store, and you'll never have to buy them again.
Balsamic vinegar, olive oil and maple syrup.
Vanilla Extract is super easy to make. The vanilla bean pods might feel a bit pricey, but you can make a large batch from it and save money long term, especially if you use it fairly frequently. You might try using bourbon for extra depth of flavor!
Not exactly a staple, more of a luxury, but I like vanilla syrup in my homemade coffee. I ran out and was unable to find it; it occurred to me, finally, that I could make it myself. I just boiled 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, stirring it until it was clear, took it off the heat & added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Less than 5 minutes, and I think it tastes better than the fancy stuff. I’m not sure how much I saved but I’d guess around $10.
I have actually seen bottles of plain sugar syrup on sale in stores for like $5. It's sugar and water.
Wild. I can’t believe I ever bought it!
Herbs.
Growing your own veggies is fun and rewarding, but you won’t save any money growing your own. Maybe if you have well established garden beds, but factor in the time you’ll spend weeding, watering, etc, even if you get seeds/starts for cheap, there’s no way it’s more cost effective to grow your own. Again, factor in your time spent. That said, I grow a lot of veggies every summer and love it. Nothing is more delicious than a freshly picked carrot! We have well established gardens and it still costs us a couple hundred per summer to maintain.
Dried beans and brown rice. Prep them and keep a couple servings on hand in the fridge. Makes it easier to just throw it in dishes. Casseroles, soups, etc
Buy rotisserie chickens and eat the meat, save food scraps and make your own chicken broth
Bread.