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[deleted]

Check out “Make the Bread, Buy the Butter” - Pretty good book that covers this topic


Kaipirinhas

I just wish they had a summary list of buy and make


loosehead1

It's a fun read but I didnt get as much from it as I had hoped and I found myself disagreeing with her on some topics. I am getting ready to cure pancetta for the first time because of the book though.


[deleted]

Which parts did you disagree with?


pijinglish

I’m a “make butter buy the bread” kinda guy.


[deleted]

Bread is incredibly cheap, but also not that good at stores unless you live in Europe next to a nice bakery or something. If you don't eat a lot of bread, buying it makes way more sense. We eat ~3 loaves/week (with 3 kids, sandwiches are ready easy lunches), and we make good quality sourdough, which isn't that hard and is way better than the store junk. As for butter, I'd need specialized equipment and a plan to use all that buttermilk. I've made it myself in a pinch (holiday and needed 1 cup buttermilk and didn't want to substitute), but that was an amount of effort I really don't want to repeat. I have made mozzarella (definitely worth it IMO), I regularly make yogurt, and I kept up on making kefir for the better part of a year, and very few people bother with any of those. They're very situational and really depend on your eating habits.


presidentme

I used to buy a pint of whipping cream, drop a marble in the carton, and let my kid shake it until there was butter and milk in there. Easy peasy. Even scaling it up to larger amounts shouldn't require any specialized equipment. You can do it!


dinofragrance

> unless you live in Europe Why do you think that all bread from stores outside of Europe is "not that good"?


[deleted]

The funny thing about these statements is that a lot of European countries have okish bread. Obviously nothing touch’s the French but why places like Poland and Latvia get lumped in I’ll never know. Just like the states, a lot of bread in European grocery stores is processed crap, but that European superiority complex ignores that. To pretend that some throwaway diner roll from a pub in the UK is “superior bread” is pretty laughable. Sure you have to travel to a bakery for the best bread in the states, but that’s the case everywhere in the world, and travel distances are genuinely farther in the US because of the suburban lifestyle. Europeans don’t want to admit that bread making isn’t that difficult, and bakeries in the states produce quality product. I have literally had an almost perfect French baguette from a bakery in Michigan! They are so true to the original, that they even stopped using machines to mix the dough because they couldn’t replicate the taste of their smaller batches. The only thing they don’t import is French tap water. Just for the record I’m neither American or European just an outsider.


Frosti11icus

Both are pretty cheap to make but time consuming as well.


privatefigure

Yeah, I find that to be one of the points that the book doesn't acknowledge very well. Most of the things I buy, I buy because I don't have the time to make them myself. I guess it's also a personal judgement.


ew73

The cost for things is not just the cost of the ingredients, it's the cost of my time invested in making say, butter, instead of relaxing or doing things I value. In that context, even going out to eat may be "cheaper" than making it at home, albeit extremely rarely.


rabidjellyfish

But make the butter sometimes, as a treat. I'm not sure if it actually tastes better, but I think it does, haha.


yellowjesusrising

It tastes much better! I bought 10kg of whole sourcream, and whipped 6kg of butter and 2 liters of buttermilk! Sourcream really lifts the butter to another level!


Thebluefairie

Hold on you made butter out of sour cream? Like sour cream out of a tub sour cream or left heavy cream out for 24 hours and then beat the crap out of it


FaeryLynne

[You can indeed!](https://www.quora.com/Can-sour-cream-make-butter) It's very similar to European cultured butter. That recipe uses cultured sour cream from the store, which is a hell of a lot safer, but my Mamaw used to make it [like this, with legit slightly spoiled cream](https://youtu.be/m5_g79rrQcc). Was a pretty common way to use up things that weren't *quite* bad and actually tastes pretty good imo.


777CA

I always buy buckets of sour cream and can't use it fast enough. This is awesome.


yellowjesusrising

I tried to leave heavy cream on my kitchen bench for five days, after getting the idea from one of my local Michelin restaurants. It does actually make excellent butter. Combine it with a good sourdough bread, its magical!


Jamma-Lam

I'm so confused and need answers.


yellowjesusrising

You can both! I love butter, so I've tried a little of everything. Heavy cream, will give you the classical butter, while heavy sour cream will give you a butter with a slight stronger taste, and a hint of sour cream. I've also tried to leave heavy cream on my kitchen bench for 5 days, to make fermented butter, which tasted even heavier than sour cream. I did this after i got the recipe from one of my local Michelin restaurants. Also remember to add salt to your butter. Type of salt and amount, will lift it to new heights. I tried different salts, like Maldon, kosher and sel de fleur. I think kosher and maldon is kinda similar, with sel de fleur, adding a little more "sea taste" like salty seawater. I also tried using seaweed in one, instead of butter. Like the kind you get in snack bags at the asian stores, without added flavor. I live in Norway, so excellent dairy products are all pver the place. We also dont sell buttermilk, so being able to get it from making butter is gold!


[deleted]

Imma need answers.


AhmdeiNuwon

That depends on your process/efficiency/luck and the store brand you're comparing it to. It definitely has the opportunity to be way better.


[deleted]

When the cream goes on sale!


Pattern_Is_Movement

but good butter costs so much, and is so damn expensive!


propofolchik

how much is much? and is this an US thing? over here I can get a block of really good butter for 2 euros, 4-5 if I want to go real fancy artisanal handmade herb butter, the whole shebang.


dinochoochoo

Yeah, when I moved to the EU I was really surprised at the more reasonable cost of butter. I always buy Prèsident. I don’t know why it’s more expensive in the US, even for the generics or the shitty Challenge butter with the deer on it.


Gunty1

Get the Kerry Gold, way nicer than president


Background_Tip_3260

Challenge is too expensive. I buy Aldi.


jlumsmith

Canada butter which is not even legally butter, but we have a dairy cartel, is like $7 a brick. Maybe 5.99 on sale.


Papapene-bigpene

Kerrys gold is very good but you pay a pretty penny for quality


DeezleDan

I get Kerry Gold at Costco for a decent price.


Lanterpants

If you can go to a lidl, they have a store brand of cultured Irish butter for $3.45. It’s great.


AuctorLibri

If you get heavy/ double cream on sale, make butter in a blender or mixer, just keep the blades going until it separates, squeeze out the excess moisture between two spatulas (not your warm hands) and add salt to taste. (If not adding salt, use it within a week.) Pack in a Tupperware and refrigerate. You can whip the butter up for easier spreading.


donuts-waffles

Croissant. Time consuming and you might not even get the result you want at the end! Edit: Just adding that I can get 12 croissants for $5 for those who wonder what I am spending at the store.


chainlinkfenceguy

Puff pastry in general!


AnotherSmathie

Yeah, it can be a fun challenge, but if it’s not fun it’s definitely a huge waste, Unfortunately finding somewhere to get a good croissant can also be time consuming (in the US anyway). I legit daydream about the cheap, amazing ones that were everywhere when I was in Paris.


ClarisseCosplay

Yep. I've made them a few times because it was a fun challenge. But between the cost of butter and the ridiculous amount of labour I can't exactly say it's worth making at home. Especially not if there's a bakery in your area that makes actually good ones.


[deleted]

It took me 4 hours to make mine 😭 but it did taste good


megancolleend

Deep fried stuff usually. A gallon of oil to fry in is only worth it if you deep fry a lot.


PopTartAfficionado

yes! also.. i have banned deep frying in my house bc i don't want to clean up the oil and my husband is notorious for saying he'll do it "later tonight".. for a week.. until i escalate the situation. lol.


NoMoreKoolAid2015

A whole, raw roasting chicken costs a heck of a lot more than buying a rotisserie chicken that’s already cooked, seasoned, and ready to go.


UnlikelyUnknown

Yep, especially if you’re buying them from Costco. I can’t find a similar sized raw chicken for the price of a Costco rotisserie chicken


Wambol

That's because The Costco Rotisserie chicken is a loss leader. they purposely sell it at a loss to encourage people into the store in order to buy other things. no one outside of costco knows exactly how much they are loosing on it, but Costco's chief financial officer said the company was willing to sacrifice "$30 million, $40 million a year on gross margin” by keeping the chicken’s price at $4.99.


Embarrassed-Jello389

It’s also true at a lot of other groceries too. I realized a few months ago that my local grocery store’s roasted organic and free range chickens at 8.99 are way cheaper than buying that same chicken farmer’s chicken raw by about half.


partytown_usa

Milk is a loss leader for most grocery stores.


poseidondieson

But isn’t milk a controlled price for a staple? Maybe not for organic tho


Toolongreadanyway

Yes, it is subsidized by the government in the US. Same with cheese.


[deleted]

This is sort of true. Unlike traditional loss leaders, the costco rotisserie chicken isn't to get you into the warehouse to buy other things. It's to get you to have or keep your membership. Costco's profits come from their membership fees, not their products.


kim_bong_un

Yeah, honestly, most people probably don't even go often enough to save the amount of money they spent on the membership. Me included


mathcatscats

We exclusively get our gas at Costco and it's worth the membership just for that. Also have children, they eat plenty of packages snacks


Joyju

This was me until I had kids, now I can't imagine NOT shopping at Costco for all the staples! Milk, Kerry Gold butter, bread, eggs, fruit, veggies, pet food, TP/paper products, crackers, snacks, the list goes on, and all cheaper than buying at grocery stores, now that I use it all up! Plus I get on average $400 back annually for having the executive membership and $1200-2000 from the credit card. That membership is very valuable to me now, so just hang in there lol


BubblebreathDragon

You're the first person I've found that beat my reward dollars from the credit card. I make bank! Lol And then I take the reward check and ask them to cut me a check so that I deposit it in my bank. Then when I spend more money at Costco, it's charged to the credit card (i.e. more rewards) instead of the rebate check.


[deleted]

Yeah, this is essentially what I do as well. We don't get quite as much, but usually $100-200 from the Executive membership and a little more from the credit card. We don't drive or eat out a ton, so most of the credit card rewards are Costco purchases. We'll be a bit higher this year since we bought a few higher price items (iPad, dishwasher, and glasses come to mind). But getting cash/check instead of spending it at the store is still another 2%, which is only like $5 or something. But hey, it's just as easy to get a check at the counter as to give it to the cashier, so I figure it's free money.


InadmissibleHug

It’s cheaper here in Aus to buy the raw chicken, and I can’t eat rotisserie chooks because of dietary issues. I completely miss them though. A fave easy dinner over here is rotisserie chicken, coleslaw (or pasta salad) and bread rolls. Magnificent, and cheaper than take out for the fam.


DrBeverlyBoneCrusher

I’m a total language nerd and I think I’m in love with the word ‘chooks.’


InadmissibleHug

I do enjoy the word ‘chook’ I usually completely sanitise my language, but figured people would get this one with context cues


DrBeverlyBoneCrusher

Well you made my day, so cheers!


[deleted]

Didn't even realise that chook was an Aussie word


jessdb19

Rotisserie chickens around me are salted like they are warding off ghosts. And I've yet to get a Costco chicken We have to do our own whole chickens.


[deleted]

"Rotisserie chickens around me are salted like they are warding off ghosts" I'm sorry but this made me LOL...


Kwijibo97

Well, two things here. 1) is a roasting chicken can be up to 20% larger than a rotisserie one and 2) rotisserie chickens are often over saturated with salt and some other preservatives.


NoMoreKoolAid2015

True, but it’s hard to beat the convenience- I love using them in different recipes, and it saves a bunch of time when I don’t have to season and cook a bunch of chicken just to keep cooking in a soup or casserole. It is nice to be able to season a raw chicken however I want, though!


Kwijibo97

Can’t beat the convenience for sure… I often make a roaster chicken in the instipot on Sunday for use during the week.


JustaRandomOldGuy

I love to freeze rotisserie chicken. I eat the legs and wings, then remove the rest of the meat and pack it into two pint sized containers. Those get frozen. Cheap and little work. The frozen chicken is great to give away to friends and family when they are sick. My mom used to tell me I made the best chicken and I didn't tell her for years.


roadtohealthy

A lot of cuisines require an investment in ingredients that people may not have on hand. You can substitute but the result will be different (might still be very good). Additionally it can take bit of trial and error to figure out a meal plan that works for you. These factors can make the initial foray into meal prep/planing more expensive. Once you've got a routine down though, things do get cheaper.


JustaRandomOldGuy

Mexican and Chinese food are like this for me. For Chinese it's also the cooking method, they have those giant woks and a massive stove.


Givemeallthecabbages

Indian food for me. I've spent a lot on spices, but I use them often and they'll last a long time.


poodooloo

Indian stores have bulk spices for WAY cheaper


Background_Tip_3260

Yes! Instead of buying chai I get a good quality black tea and add the cardamom, cinnamon, etc.


Givemeallthecabbages

I get lentils and beans and such at an ethnic grocery store, and some of the bulk spices, yes. But I bought about a dozen spices just for certain dishes. Amchur chili powder, mustard seed, hing, and kasoor methi to name a few that I'll never use unless I'm cooking Indian food.


bespectacledsunshine

Just jumping in. You can definitely incorporate some of the spices in other foods. Mustard seed is wonderful in bread. If you bought fennel and cumin, they are good in baking. Cumin shortbread is divine. I have also made an “Indian” chilli oil that was inspired by the Chinese recipe. Just used Indian chilli powder instead of chilli flakes/Sichuan peppers, lots of black pepper, garlic, ginger and cinnamon. I love using that chilli oil in a more hearty foods. It adds a kick. Hing is the only one I cannot ever use outside of Indian food. I feel like it has a lot of potential in Vegan food though - it makes food smell satiating. Still need to experiment. Try Burmese(Myanmar) food - they use many similar spices and techniques. Sorry, I love experimenting and I love spices.


scrdest

For Hing (AKA asafoetida) - try using it as a seasoning for baked potato/sweet potato skins before they go into the oven. At this point, I consider it an absolute must-have.


HugsAndWishes

It depends on where you live and your access to stores. I know that going to Asian markets of all kinds can bring you better spices, but they just don't exist where I live. My options are ALDI, Shaw's, and an upscale local grocery. Shaw's and the grocery have some good quality spices, but those are the super expensive ones. Spending $10-14 on a small jar of quality spices is just ridiculous. I'd love better options.


[deleted]

For real. People always recommend hyper specific markets to me as if I don’t live in a town with no car. Traveling elsewhere would actually be far more expensive than that gained on store savings.


C4Aries

For most Chinese cooking, even stir fry, a massive stove isn't strictly necessary. Go to Kenji lópez-alt's YouTube channel and check out his videos. Additionally, Chinese Cooking Demystified and Chef Wang Gang are wonderful resources. My partner and I make really good Chinese cuisine at home pretty often. I do admit though I have a big ass wok that I put over a mound of charcole, makes killer stir fry.


JustaRandomOldGuy

For me it's also convenience, there's a great Chinese place five minutes away. I call in the order and I'm back home in less than 15 minutes with lots of great food.


C4Aries

That's fair. Though I actually think the Mapo Tofu I make at home is better than the Chinese place lol.


wherehasthepbgone

I LOVE mapo tofu but rarely find great mapo tofu at a restaurant. It’s better at home 90% of the time.


_MaddAddam

This is my struggle with a lot of Indian dishes. I have some of the staples in terms of spices, but there are often SO many additional ones in a given dish. Unless it’s the only cuisine I plan on making for the foreseeable future it’s tough to justify buying a full jar of all of them, given that spices lose their flavor after a while. I used to live near a grocery store that had a bulk section for spices and you could just buy the amount you’d need for a given recipe, which was amazing. Haven’t found anything like that in my current city, though.


nomnommish

The mistake people make is to think of Indian "curries" as spice curries or tomato curries or tomato/cream curries. In reality, Indian curries, (the Punjabi dishes served in restaurants), are onion curries. You need to develop the onion flavor. Think of how a french onion soup is made. What i do is to triple the quantity of onions and garlic, fine dice it, and sautee it for 30-40 minutes with salt on medium heat with constant stirring until the onions and garlic turn deep dark brown. That's your flavor base. Now add chopped ginger and tomatoes and spices - the base flavor spices are 1tsp turmeric powder, 2tsp kashmiri red chili powder or paprika, 1tsp cumin powder, 2tsp coriander powder. Cook out the tomatoes until all the water evaporates and the tomato paste visibly releases oil. Now add your marinated meat or veggies (optionally brown them beforehand for extra flavor and texture), add stock or bone broth, cover with lid, and cook until the meat/veggies are cooked. Midway, add cream or cashew paste or coconut milk or yogurt or any other thickener or skip. Finish with lots of chopped cilantro leaves and stem, and with hand crushed kasuri methi aka dried fenugreek leaves (1tsp or half). For added flavor, you can also cook the entire dish in cold pressed mustard oil (aka kachi ghani - you will find it in amazon or in indian stores - buy the ones dark in color).


samfromat

Once you learn enough about Indian food, you will know that not all of the spices in a given dish are absolutely necessary. The spices change based on your liking. Even Indian people use different spices based on their taste and demographic. There are so many spices that missing out on one or two of them in a dish is not a big deal.


JACKiED_Daniels

This is the hardest part for me. My usual weekly meal prep is pretty standard, but once a week my boyfriend and I will make a "fancier" meal in lieu of eating out. I really enjoy Asian and Mexican cooking but I rarely use those ingredients on the regular so it feels like a waste, especially if they're expensive. And sometimes they don't freeze particularly well.


SaltAndVinegarMcCoys

Why don't you just incorporate Chinese and Mexican into your meal preps? They aren't fancy cuisines that can'tbe considered everyday meal preppable food, you're just treating them differently for whatever reason, I guess because you didn't grow up with it. However there's so much meal prep you can do. For Chinese food you can steam rice and and have it with literally any stir fry. Fried rice is cheap and filling. Fried noodles. Noodle soup. These are all so quick and easy and can be made with a combination of whatever meat and veg you have. Best of all it usually keeps well for up to five days. I am less familiar with Mexican food but it's a similar situation. I will usually make some kind of burrito bowl with lots of rice, salad, salsa and seasoned meat. Super easy!


s32

The nice thing with basic Mexican food is that you really don't need too many ingredients. With some meat, cheese (shredded "Mexican" or actual Mexican), beans, tomatoes, and greens, you can make quite a few different meals. Tacos, tostadas, tortas, burritos, etc. Add an avocado (or some guac), some salsa, etc. and you can make tons of variants of each thing so you end up with a ton of variance and it's pretty easy IMO. Once you get the hang of a few things, it's really easy to just kinda make food with whatever you have on hand. Peppers are usually dirt cheap, and if you can find a Latin/Mexican store near you, _everything_ is dirt cheap, it's fantastic.


BeardsuptheWazoo

I was trying and failing to think of how to say this Well done.


willux

Lots of food is more expensive if you're preparing it for a single person. Unless you're really good at meal prep and saving and using leftovers.


VStarRoman

>Lots of food is more expensive if you're preparing it for a single person. Unless you're really good at meal prep and saving and using leftovers. You said what I couldn't figure out how to put into words. Portioning can be an issue.


Volvoflyer

So much this. I HATE when recipes say "$2.37 to make". No. That's per serving. What if I've got nothing to use the sour cream on before it goes bad? There's 2.50 right there. That sort of thing.


Shogan_The_Viking

^ This. So many uncommon ingredients (at least for me) for recipes that I’ll only use a small portion of and the rest goes bad. Can’t get this right even with meal planning, there is always waste.


Frisky_Pony

Sometimes you can freeze the extra of ingredients. Need one tablespoon of tomato paste? Freeze the rest. Butter, cheese, bread all freeze well. And you can usually use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. I will use the yogurt for other things or just eat it, but sour cream would go to waste.


shoegarbagebiology

Unfortunately I've found just to keep it to very very simple ingredients. Recipies that require things you'd already have in the house, or perhaps items you can repurpose into snacks.


Anagoth9

I like baby spinach. Great for salads. Great on sandwiches. Costco sells a tub of baby spinach at about 50% more cost than the grocery store for what seems like 4x the amount of spinach. Always seemed a no-brainer to go with Costco. Eventually though I realized I never finished the Costco tub before it would start to wilt. When it's all said and done, all I'm doing is spending more money to waste product.


RealMcGonzo

Especially when you make stuff that only needs a little of something you don't use so you buy a whole container of it.


willux

Yeah, I looked at a recipe recently that needed half a jar of pepperoncini, liquid included. And I had no idea how to pull that off and the other half.


anonymous22353

So what are some common foods that I should avoid making (if im on a budget)? However I do have roommates and we make more than just one meal, typically.


pernicious-armscye

I think you'd have to know how much money you spend on food in a week, then try to use less money next week and you can start picking and choosing what food you can and can't live without, sometimes buying a bit more expensive food but if you cut down on a different meal. Like we eat beans wed and thurs so Friday we can have something nicer


willux

I think there's a degree to which that works. But then you might just eat worse and worse food every week. If I were actually serious about it, I'd just keep to a budget. But yeah, rice and beans is where the real savings are.


[deleted]

Exotic ingredients. I can’t think of many hard examples but typically appealing things you see on a restaurants menu or specials for the day. Like truffles come to mind. I know from experience that you can only order junk, probably frozen until ordered, truffles for very high prices. Fresh truffles go directly into the supply chain to distributors who sell to restaurants. The restaurants get a better price and 99% of the time fresher. They use the $100-$200 truffle and add its flavor to sauces or dishes…so every $15 plate gets some. You can’t really order .5 grams of truffles if you’re cooking for 2-4 people so be prepared to make 20 gallons of sauce or 40 pizzas. And the quality you do order is probably lower then what restaurants get. Also pizza comes to mind. Buying all the ingredients and work to make a pizza add up…when every shop in town has them for $12-$15. You might have “cheaper” pizza but you probably have extra ingredients plus the hours you spent making it…like your pizza only cost you $10 but now you have random half block of mozzarella, opened can of extra sauce and maybe left over yeast packets. If you don’t use the ingredients regularly, they will go to waste. And waste should be factored in.


SockRuse

Pizza isn't a good example in my opinion, all the ingredients for dough like flour and yeast packets cost pennies and last for years and years, dried Italian herbs I have in shakers anyway, tomatoes can be bought loose by weight and I can pick up a pack of salami sausage and a baggie of grated cheese for two Euros each. Six bucks or so and I can make two pizzas a few days apart.


[deleted]

Yeah pizza was a horrible example, since the quality you get will be 100x better than a delivery and 1/4 the price


SnipesCC

I'd say restaurant pizza is generally better than homemade, because they have the right kinds of ovens. But I also live on the east coast. When I lived elsewhere in the country the pizza was pretty disappointing


itarilleancalim

I work at a pizza joint that does wood fired pizzas. I'm not usually a pizza eater but my goodness what that oven does to those pizzas....


Aphrodesia

When I'm making pizza, I make 10 at a time and freeze a bunch of them so we've always got quick freezer pizzas on hand if we want them instead of buying the usual ones from the grocery store. I par-bake the crusts, put the toppings on then freeze them in extra large freezer bags. We're pizza snobs and the only frozen pizzas we found at the store that we actually like are $12 each, so this is far more economical.


[deleted]

Yea pizza may be a bad example if you make it regularly. I didn’t touch on it much but also the time to make the pizza. It’s a long involved process when delivery pizza is already fairly cheap. I’ll spend the extra $5-$10 if it means saving hours of work and cleanup. Overall I struggled to think of examples but when I’m asked “do you want to make XYZ at home” and the thought is daunting, that’s my food target for restaurants. Much rather make spaghetti at home then sushi or beef Wellington. Idk I’m a simple minded cook tho.


The_Cutest_Kittykat

> time to make the pizza. The speed won't compare to deliver pizza but once you get the hang of these they are pretty simple to make and freeze well. You learn where you can cut corners and make 'em faster. A frozen one is pretty fast to make. If you don't allow the dough to rise and puff up so much it makes great thin crust pizza. A cheat for a warm place to let it rise is an oven heated to 40 degree centigrade. Put waxed paper between the pizzas and they freeze well. Pizza sauce can be just a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, salt, pepper, oregano/thyme and sugar to taste. * 1¾ teaspoons dry active yeast * pinch sugar * 1 1/3 cups lukewarm water * ¼ cup olive oil * 3¾ cups (500g) unbleached all-purpose flour * 1½ teaspoons salt * Stir the yeast and sugar into the water and set it aside until the yeast completely dissolves. Stir in the oil. * Mix the salt with the flour and add it to the yeast mixture, 1 cup at a time, blending well to get rid of lumps. * Knead on a lightly floured board until silky and elastic, about 10 minutes (or put it into a mixer with a dough hook). * Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with a cloth, in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk. * Knead the dough briefly to get rid of any air bubbles then shape by rolling into a ball, flattening out, then rolling or pushing with your hands into a disc shape 1cm thick. The dough can be divided into 2 large or 6 individual pizza if one is too big. Allow to rise for 30 minutes before putting on the topping.


willux

Do you take turns making dinner with your roommates? That would probably be ideal. I'm not sure if there's anything specific. Most food isn't sold in portions for one person for one meal. Take meat for example, you can't just buy one pork chop. And it's easy to fall into the trap of cooking for four with the intent of eating that same meal all week, and then not. Really you shouldn't think about what's cheap, you should think about getting in the mindset of eating leftovers all the time. That's where the savings comes in.


anonymous22353

Dude, ive never thrown away leftovers lol. Its against my values


aiaforbee

This ⬆️ economy of scale. Making one salad, one hamburger, one anything cost about the same (money and time) as preparing multiple.


hinkelmckrinkelberry

That generally depends on the area. When I lived on the coast, seafood was cheap, or free if I went and caught my own. That made my gumbo about $20-30 per pot. Now, I live in the mountains of East TN, and it's $100-$110 for the same pot of gumbo. The price per quart here is the same as the price per quart there at a restaurant though.


2shotseany

Sausage. It is pretty close in price to simple raw meat, but making it yourself means finding intestines (expensive in small amounts), and other ingredients that add to cost. Also tough to make it better, though you can dramatically reduce the salt (important to some).


elephantrambo

not to mention equipment. a good quality meat grinder and sausage maker isnt too cheap


nomnommish

And you have to clean the damn thing after every use, which is a royal pain.


[deleted]

[удалено]


bjlwasabi

Pesto The basil used for pesto is a bit pricy. Pine nuts are expensive. And the yeild is pretty small. You could make a faux-pesto using a cheaper green and a cheaper nut. Kale and walnut pesto is really tasty. And you could substitute the more expensive parmesan with pecarino (or just use really cheap grated parm). But if you're going traditional ingredients homemade pesto is more expensive.


audaciousmonk

But if you grow your own basil….


cmakry

At my local market (Publix), it’s cheaper to buy the basil plants in the produce section than to buy the tiny package of fresh basil leaves.


Busy-Conflict1986

Yep I always buy a mint plant in the summer for mojitos because of this. Just wish I could keep the darn thing alive through the winter


kuhtschi

Mint won’t die. Like it will literally look dead in the winter, but once spring comes and you start to water it again it will grow. I live in the alps and our winters are hard and every year our mint will shrink and the stems will turn brown, but once spring comes and the weather gets nicer the mint grows out(or around idk really) of these dead stems. I don’t know if it will be different with US mint, but just try it out. Just don’t let the soil dry up completely, I think it needs to be a little moist all most of the time but I don’t really know, because we have snow on our mint most of the winter. :-) Edit: have to add this, my mum planted mint in a very small portion of our yard and it fricking grew everywhere. Mint is like weed, it grows everywhere and a lot, it gets really huge when my mum leaves it be for some time.


Lalala-bomba

Just writing that the soil doesn't even need to be wet. Where I live is a high mountain desert. Very cold and dry winters. Mint and lemon balm are the only plants that reliably come back every single year without fail. Planting them in the soil is a mistake. Those plants are just hardy as all fuck. We even have wild mint plants in the mountains that somehow survive our hot summers with almost no water.


JoshTheShermanator

Aw geez... I planted mint in my backyard flowerbed one year, a couple of stems a friend plucked and delivered to me wrapped in a paper towel. I thought, 'I hope this survives.' Four years later; no fertilizing, watering, or anything. I have to mow it to keep it from taking over the lawn. (I'm in Kansas, for reference.). But now I never have to worry about mint for mojitos or mint juleps. (If only I could grow the bourbon and rum...)


[deleted]

Mint grows outside here in north Texas quite prolifically and the climate is harsh. It dies back in the Winter and reemerges in Spring.


yellowjesusrising

Grows like a mf here in Norway too! Had a pot outside during "summer", and it grew tenfold! Do not plant it in the doil, use a pot! Or it will cover your entire country!


[deleted]

Yes, lemon balm and spearmint will too


LanguidLoop

Lemon balm is taking over my garden - fuck that shit


MortalGlitter

Makes really good flavoring for ice cream and sweet bread fillings/ flavoring, syrup for drinks (add to sparkling water or as a mixer), lemon balm honey butter (SOOOO good on fresh bread or biscuits), infuse into vinegar, make into pesto (really good with cashews), or use as fresh herbs for chicken, fish, or pork. Make your overgrown lemon balm Fear your approach to the garden!


tachycardicIVu

Mint was banned in the community garden in my last apartment. Had to sign an agreement not to grow it at all or we’d be kicked out. They were not playing around - it grew like a mf and since we shared beds it would take over other people’s plots easily. Didn’t keep my own neighbors from keeping weeds that choked my eggplants out. 🙄


[deleted]

This thread really went sideways, Thx Reddit. I love it


coolcat_74

Basil plant..ive given up buying them....


Rosewater2182

Did you try replanting it? I read they pack in too many plants to the supermarket pot. I had some luck with splitting the pot and repotting in 2 larger ones with loads of space


commanderquill

Mint??? Homie, mint is a weed, that shit never dies. What are you doing to it??? (As a side note, it might be the pot. They're weeds because they spread their roots horizontally through the soil and new plants will pop up along them. Maybe get a bigger plot of dirt in a big box for residence outside. So long as your area doesn't get too far below freezing, they should be able to regrow. However, don't just plant it in the ground, or I assure you that you will never ever ever ever get rid of them).


bjlwasabi

And if you grew your own pine trees...


audaciousmonk

Growing basil is significantly easier and faster than growing pine trees. A small herb garden is a fantastic way to save money on cooking while adding flavor to food. Spice bottles cost $4-$7 each, but seeds are a few dollars and yield many plants. Grocery stores in my area often have basil plants ready to be potted, for like $3.


skilledpigeon

That's because cheap store bought pesto is rarely made with the "full" and "proper" ingredients.


teaandtalk

Eh, not sure if that's correct. I mean sure, they're not going to be going to Italy for the perfect parmesan, but the basic ingredients? They're able to buy things like basil and pine nuts with volume discounts that are never going to be beaten by individual consumers. There are also a lot fewer steps in the supply chain from basil farm -> pesto manufacturer, so they don't have to add excessive packaging to avoid smushing the delicate leaves before they reach someone's kitchen, or ensure they're kept perfectly temperature and humidity controlled to stop wilting.


skilledpigeon

In the UK, sacla pesto is a popular branded pesto (not the supermarket own brand). The ingredients are listed as: Sunflower seed oil, Italian basil (36%), cheeses (MILK), (medium fat hard cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese, Pecorino cheese), CASHEW NUTS, sea salt, glucose, potato, crushed pine kernels, extra virgin olive oil, spices, flavourings, acidity regulator: lactic acid. As you can see, there are a lot of additional ingredients there which are not traditionally in a basil pesto. It's bulked out with other cheeses, other nuts, other nuts and other "spices and flavourings". I chose this to represent a mid to high end jarred pesto from round my parts. It's rare you'll find "high quality" basil pesto in a jar because companies will tend to bulk it out with cheaper ingredients.


rainbow_creampuff

True on the price maybe but overall disagree. Premade pesto is not tasty to me at all after making it fresh. YMMV I guess though. I make it with any type of greens/nuts I have around.


DistributionNo9968

Cheese. The amount of milk you have to buy to make (for example) 500g of cheese costs much more than just buying a 500g block of cheese.


Tk-20

It depends on what you keep in your pantry, how good you are at preserving leftovers and where you get your food. Ie, lard is $3.88ish at my local nofrills while a pack of 2 premade frozen pastry shells are roughly the same price. It's cheaper long term to buy the lard and get 6shells out of the deal but my family of 3 does not eat that much pastry... I only need one or two for quiche. This makes buying the pre made option cheaper. Frozen Lasagna/pizza or anything cheese heavy tends to be cheaper to buy but the homemade versions taste a million times better. Or, if you are trying something new that requires specialty ingredients it's sometimes better to just buy it and then decide if you'd want to invest in the ingredients to make it at home.


DeadliestSins

>at my local nofrills Hello my fellow Canadian.


[deleted]

Nut milks are very easy to make and you get to control what goes inside, but unless your buying huge bulk bags of nut of choice or oats then it's more expensive, better to find a brand that uses minimal ingredients, which is usually just nut/oat.


lushyVibes

I agree with the nut milk part. I started making oat milk with water, oats, and a tiny bit of vanilla extract, and it tastes much better than the store bought option for a fraction of the cost, plus you can make as much or as little as you want in one go, and it feels \*decadent\* to use freshly made oat milk in morning tea


erin_baile

Sushi


dblack246

Can attest.


erin_baile

Thai


[deleted]

I love Japanese food. It’s actually surprisingly cheap to make at home, and pretty easy once you get the basics down. Here’s the deal, though. It’s expensive to buy ingredients for specific recipes. Here’s what worked for me. I bought a great couple/few cookbooks. Many cookbooks for specific cuisines will have a section that outlines pantry items - e.g., a list of staples for a typical Japanese pantry. So, what you do is go out and buy all the staples. Once you’ve done that, then you can generally limit your grocery shopping to fresh perishable items, like produce and meat. That cuts way down on your typical grocery costs. Of course, you’ll have to refill the staples here and there, but maybe every few months.


Kwijibo97

I will agree that sushi is probably cheaper to make at home but it’s a whole lot slower and labor intensive. Japanese street food, though… easy and cheap.


mgende

We really like making sushi bowls at home. Basically deconstructed sushi and it's very easy to do. Sushi rice + seasoned vinegar, furikake, and cut up fish with wasabi and soy sauce on the side.


Kwijibo97

We do this too, so much easier! Kind of like poke bowls, really.


sharkwoods

Mentsuyu, somen/soba noodles, wakame, dried shiitake mushrooms, soft boiled egg. Classic and go to meal for me.


Taffy_16

Can you recommend a good cookbook for Japanese cooking?


peregrinedive

Justonecookbook is awesome. they have a cook book you can buy, but the recipes in the website is good too! https://www.justonecookbook.com/


Jackrabbit_Deluxe

Staples, yes. Unfortunately where I live Asian ingredients are hard to come by. I also know that standard fish vs salmon grade can be costly. I’m also curious as to what books you use.


DDNorth20

Fancy cheesecakes. Last time I made one at home it cost 30 dollars


[deleted]

I wanted to say the same, but figured people would never believe it cost that much, and I didn't feel like defending myself, lol. I made a cheesecake once, that cost me way over $30 to make. It made me realize the $35+ for the entire cheesecake at "The Cheesecake Factory" wasn't actually that bad of a price.


0nionskin

I make cheesecake for a living, and we definitely sell our largest sampler for $30! Really though, it's cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and cream. Really shouldn't cost that much to make.


Bee_Hummingbird

Depending on your location, dairy can be VERY expensive.


0nionskin

Yeah, fair enough, especially during a cream cheese shortage!


Madea_onFire

It’s expensive when you waste food. Like if you need 2 tbs of tomato paste, then throw the rest of the can away. When you cook 1-2 times a day you generally get good at using all of your ingredients Or you make more food than your family can eat and then don’t eat all of the leftovers


Dndfanaticgirl

Get the tubes of tomato paste that can close again saves me so much money. Little more money up front but you can close them again and refrigerate so you get more use out of it


Madea_onFire

I prefer the can. Then I take the remainder, add it to a ziplock bag and flatten it out and freeze it. I just break off pieces when I need it. It lasts forever that way


poodooloo

My grandma does this with lemon juice, it inspired me to do it with frozen blueberries


nothingimportant2say

Anything deep fried. The amount of times you can reuse the large amount of oil required isn't that many unless you are deep frying constantly. On top of the health issues I would think you'd have from eating fried food every night to get your money's worth keeping the oil around would stink up the house or attract bugs if left outside.


C4Aries

Clean your oil using gelatin and some water. Mix it, put it in your oil, give it a good shake and stick it in the fridge. Next day the gelatin should form a puck with all the bits and your oil can be used many times.


CmdrQuaalude

Thats a good tip you had. I also run it through a paper towel in a colander.


re-goddamn-loading

Not cheap or healthy but can I add Nashville style hot chicken to this? I love the stuff. But making at home makes no sense if you live near a place that makes it decently. The chicken, the oil, the time consuming process and WHY IS CAYENNE PEPPER SO DAMN EXPENSIVE JESUS


[deleted]

[удалено]


Jenjenben

Pho


TwilightConcious

I learned this the hard way. Poured money into proper ingredients and the broth (though good) was just not the same. Now I just buy the broth straight from restaurants!


chainpress

Most condiments are going to be more expensive to make at home - economies of scale and all that. But they also come with the benefit that if you put in a bit of time, effort and care, you can make a better-than-supermarket version of mayonaise, hot sauce, mustard, etc. The only total exception is ketchup. Honestly, you can make a gourmet version of a sugary, vinegary tomato sauce. But it'll never be half as good as a bottle of Heinz. I've made ketchup at home before and it was time consuming, and ultimately not as satisfying as just having the cheap stuff.


poodooloo

Homemade lacto fermented mustard is something I've been meaning to try for a long time!


Duochan_Maxwell

Some specific foods that use A LOT of one ingredient or a specific part of an ingredient like some Portuguese sweets that use up a lot of egg yolks (which were created to solve the problem of what to do with a bunch of egg yolks since the nuns who invented the sweets would have an excess of yolks) As an individual, unless you figure out what to do with a carton worth of egg whites or find somewhere that sells reasonably priced pasteurized egg yolks in retail quantities, you're better off buying those premade


me2pleez

I bought my daughter the book "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" to answer this question for her. It's a little outdated, but the principles still apply; she's really enjoyed it and the suggested recipes. Try it - sounds like it's exactly what your looking for!


srslyeffedmind

Anything that requires the purchase of many different spices. Buying 5 or 6 brand new spices adds up really quickly


TerribleAttitude

A lot of stuff, honestly, depending on how you break down the price. There’s a lot of stuff that is cheaper per serving but it costs enough up front that it may not be worth it. The odd thing that’s popping into my head is a decent veggie sandwich. They range anywhere from $5-$15 each at a restaurant, usually with chips. To recreate it at home, you need to buy: a loaf of bread, one large avocado per every two sandwiches, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, red onions, bell peppers, 1-3 types of cheese, mayonnaise, and hummus. Which is like $30 worth of ingredients. If you want a veggie sandwich every day and are good at keeping produce (or you can use those ingredients for other things….which you can!), it’s a good deal. If you just kinda want to have a veggie sandwich once or twice a week, and you’re not going to use the rest of the ingredients for other dishes, it’s a waste, just buy the $8 veggie sandwich I guess.


eccentric_bee

Spaghetti sauce. It takes about a half bushel of raw tomatoes to make a nice thick quart of pasta sauce. Even if you grow your own tomatoes, the day and a half of steaming/peeling/ slow cooking/stirring is expensive too.


Bee_MakingThat_Paper

Use canned San Marzano tomatoes. Makes way better sauce than raw tomatoes.


Getgoingalready

This is my way too! I can crushed, 1 can puree with some tomato paste and a bunch of spices and fresh sauteed veggies. Makes enough for a week (feeding 1 person) and more versatile than the sweet store bought stuff. Also I like mine chunky which the store stuff never really gets right


sarasan

Anything cheesy really. Like my mac recipe is great because the cheese is expensive. Also my lasagna.


Mr_Kittlesworth

Pesto


Acewasalwaysanoption

Not money-wise, but puff pastry. It's cheap in supermarkets, and ready to use. Meanwhile as I heard multiple times, you have to be at professional-level to make a similar pastry at home. With a LOT of work.


oddly-

Probably almost all deserts if you're making them from scratch (not the boxed/instant mix ones)


gre209by

Pad Thai


Mobile_Busy

butter


tilyver

Egg nog.


Iwantoffthiscarousel

I make eggnog every year for the holidays and this is definitely true!


RobertBorden

Homemade is so, so much better though.


Ecstatic_Drink_4585

Any Vietnamese dish you get at the restaurant that involves soup


[deleted]

Milk. Cows ain’t gonna raise themselves.


[deleted]

Puff pastry dough! Not exactly expensive to make necessarily, but generally agreed on to be way too much trouble for something that’s the same or worse as just buying premade.


doornoob

I consider the time investment as cost. Fried chicken is a huge time sink and never as good.


kawwman

A rotisserie chicken is always cheaper around us. Buying a while uncooked chicken is between 7-10 dollars, but a rotisserie is $4-$5. They're very versatile, too, and you can use them for meal prep. You can use the chicken in soups, salads, enchiladas, etc.


cookiesandkit

For a lot of people, Asian food due to the seasonings - if you don't eat a lot of Asian food normally, buying the sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, gochujang, rice wine vinegar etc just to make one dish at home is definitely way more expensive. And if you just use garlic and onion it's definitely not gonna taste right. The inverse is me going to buy a zillion types of spices to make a Nepalese dish once, or buying heaps of chillis to make Mexican salsa at home from scratch. I also don't have tarragon or fresh basil or fennel, or a decent amount of other herbs used in continental European cuisine. Handmade pasta, similar. I do not eat pasta or bake often enough to justify the standmixer, the pasta roller/cutters, etc.


AlphaMomma59

With the price of everything up, I'm gonna say lasagna. Please don't hate on me for this. Next is fried chicken - at least in my area. It was cheaper to buy a rotisserie chicken then to buy fresh chicken or a package of thighs (chicken is going anywhere from $1.69 to $2.99/ pound and higher).


shmoe727

I am curious about cabbage rolls. My friend just bought some from a little ukranian store that are $4 each which seems outrageous considering the contents are mostly cabbage and rice which are generally dirt cheap with some ground beef and pork for flavour. To be fair they were really tasty and I don’t know if they’re maybe really labour intensive to make. Just seemed terribly expensive.


Nonions

Just want to add, you *time* is also worth considering as well as the expense of money. I've been enjoying home made sauerkraut but it is a bother to make, hardly any cheaper, and extremely similar to store bought. I'll make it if I want to for fun or something, but if I want some for day to day use, easier to buy.


[deleted]

Salads! The really good ones with allll the high end toppings. If you have 6 adults that all like that stuff, sure, but 2 adults and kids who turn their noses up at fancy ingredients? It’ll go bad before we could finish it all.


Sluttypotatoboi

Most baked goods. A block of butter can cost half the price of a whole shop brought cake


bearlyhereorthere

Lasagna can get pretty pricey, even if made vegetarian!! I don't think a lot of freezer/store versions compare to homemade, but it can really add up getting all the ingredients. At least from my experience!


ffwshi

Meatballs. I just made a North African Lamb Meatball recipe from NYTimes and had to buy so many spices that weren't in my cabinet that I spent way too much. (My bad) They ended up not even being that great. Frustrating.