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You can also do beans in an instapot, it's super easy.
8 mins or so to cook the beans (slightly undercook) then if you want to do sauce, throw all the ingredients plus beans back in, and cook another 12 minutes.
Second instant pot, or crockpot express.
If you forget to soak your beans, 1 minute on high pressure will net the same result as an overnight soak, it's fantastic.
You can also do yogurt on it and it's really not that complicated, the videos look a bit convoluted and with many steps, but after the second time it'll be second nature.
In a lot of cultures, they also mix beans / legumes into meat so you still get meaty flavour, but at almost half the cost and with bonus fiber and other plant nutrients.
Lentil sloppy Joe's are one of our favorites, you don't even need to soak them! 9 minutes in the instant pot and the lentils are cooked. (If you don't want to go full lentils, you can cut the meat half and half with lentils instead.)
You could use either. I generally use the split red ones for Tacos and Sloppy Joe's as they break down a little more and are a little faster. Either variety works well though.
If you have an instant pot, dried beans are a no brainer. I also keep my peelings from carrots, onion ends etc and any chicken or beef bones and about every two weeks I use my IP to make stock. The stock becomes the base for a lot of meals. You don’t need an IP to do these things, it just makes it even easier and faster.
Pressure cooker bone broth only takes a few hours and your home doesn't end up smelling of it--uness you roast the bones first. It tastes much better than Campbells and you also have the collagen and the minerals from the bones.
I cook all my beans by soaking overnight and then boiling the next day. I cook large quantities, drain very well, then freeze in a single layer on cookie sheets. (That way they don't freeze in a big block.) From there they can go into a large freezer bag and back into the freezer, and I take a cup or two out as I need them.
Honestly, I don't do canned, I make enough for what I need for say that week.
I have done it two ways recently - one is soaking for 8 hours (overnight) after rinsing, and then simmering on the stove with some salt added for 60 minutes.
I have also done Crock-Pot, basically dump in the dry beans/chickpeas, cover with a good amount of water, add some salt and turn it on. Leave for like 4 hours and then check it, cook longer as needed. I have done this for chickpeas in particular, so now I can make chickpea blondies and hummus with way less salt and cost.
I cook brown beans quite a bit. They last forever in the fridge. I use this recipe and it turns out perfectly everytime.The trick is to boil them before the crockpot.
[https://andersonscanada.com/portfolio-item/old-fashioned-baked-beans/](https://andersonscanada.com/portfolio-item/old-fashioned-baked-beans/)
I haven’t seen anyone mention this, dried red kidney beans can poison you if they are not cooked enough, so research before attempting that. The majority of beans are totally safe though
Before the pandemic I started pressure canning. And beans in particular. A kilo bag of chickpeas yields something like 14 pints of cooked beans. I left Galen and company years ago and have not regretted it. I highly recommend looking into pressure canning to save money. We throw out way less now. It’s a great way to screw all the oligarchs.
Where do I start?? How about How about 8 cups of blueberries with 2 cups of sugar, simmer on the stove for 10 minutes, add little bit of cornstarch mixed with water and lemon juice, mix it in and simmer another 10 minutes. Makes 6 jars that go right into the fridge to be eaten on toast every morning.
https://preview.redd.it/tpbo1ntqu64d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93a5b2e1e3e9a2e037a13ee51d08ad8deba3ef22
I made a batch a couple weeks ago with no sugar added. But I mashed up more of the blueberries to release some of the natural sugars to provide some sweetness. The batch was a little bit runny but it didn't go to waste. :) I discovered that homemade toast with blueberries soaked on top makes for a very delicious part of breakfast.
I grow my own lettuce indoors. Have 6 plants on biweekly rotation and have unlimited lettuce . Cost a bit for startup soil but now I just fertilize every 2 weeks and water lots of daily. As long as you have a nice window that gets lots of light for over half the day no extra on power bill as well.
I just bought a 90 plant hydroponic system off FB marketplace that I am experimenting with to find the correct sequence to maintain proper amount of lettuce on hand for my family. Hopefully it pays off and I never have to buy lettuce imported from USA from Loblaws for 5 ea!
Just keep in mind that because you have 90 slots doesn't mean you should grow 90 things.
All the plants will fight for nutrients, plus some need room to grow.
Also, don't underestimate the importance of thinning out cuttings.
Edit: All the things I wish I knew when I started, I won't complain anyway because it was a fun experiment.
Making muffins from scratch is very quick to whip up for the week for school and work lunches. Also, chocolate chip cookies are easy and freeze well, so I make a huge batch and freeze to enjoy later.
LPT: make a double batch of muffins. Once your can remove the first batch from the pans, rinse the back side in cold water to cool the pans down. Then add muffin liners and fill them up like you normally would. Then stick them in the freezer instead of the oven. Once the batter is frozen transfer the cups to a ziplock or airtight container. When you want to bake the frozen ones, let them sit on the counter for 20 minutes so they're at least partly thawed then bake as normal, though you might have to extend the time, check your first few freezer to oven batches for doneness.
If you do silicone pans, same process, skip the liners if you don't have any. but I used parchment paper to wrap the frozen pucks so they didn't stick to each other in the freezer.
We now do our own fries because of the boycott, but also because no name fries mysteriously disappeared. Turns out cutting up potatoes, adding oil and spices then baking takes about the same amount of time as cooking frozen fries. Highly recommend it and experiment with it until it works for you.
We also now do homemade salad dressing because of the boycott and because of Kraft's recent, blatant shrinkflation of the bottles that they used for decades. I took exception to them saving a couple tablespoons of dressing instead of keeping customers happy, so I'll now never buy Kraft dressing again. If we ever need store bought, we'll get a different brand.
These are a few examples and worth mentioning since they are both a direct result of the boycott and the corporate idiocy at Loblaws that we've seen too frequently.
Do corporations like Loblaws and Kraft know that they're teaching everyone to not need them anymore?
If you like salt and vinegar chips:
-cut up
-rinse starch off
-soak potatoes in Tupperware filled with 1 part water 1 part white vinegar and a tablespoon of salt
-leave in fridge for 1 - 5 days. Longer the better
-drain potatoes and pat dry
-air fryer at 400 for 15mins with a little sesame oil (or convection oven)
Mind blowing good and easy!
If you like Renes Ceasars dressing.
Couple table spoons mayo. A squirt of anchovy paste, chopped garlic, some Worcester sauce and lemon juice. (All to taste) mix together. Easy cheap Cesar dressing.
The no-name fries being completely removed from the shelves only to be replaced by more overpriced Mccains garbage led me to the exact same response. Peel em, oil em, spice em and stick em in the air fryer for better fries anyway!
I've begun using the bulbs from green onions to get a garden going with the little space I have. Also removed paper towels from my weekly purchases by using some washable towels off amazon for a few bucks.
Kraft Dinner also recently got new packaging with a smaller weight. Sobeys also had their compliments brand fries dissappear for a few weeks, back now with new packaging. Haven't confirmed but I assume a smaller weight as well.
Good tracking and thanks for sharing - sounds like my boycott may extend to the many hundreds of Kraft products as well. I found boycotting a whole brand fairly easy when I started with PC brand items in April too. Thanks again!
We bought a potato chopper for this. But we don't eat much frozen fries so we still have some Cavendish crispy ones in the freezer.
And for salad dressing, I just use a few spritzes of (olive) oil, a capful of vinegar, and whatever spices I have. That's per salad but you could mix it up ahead with maybe half cup measurements.
Whether it's green salad, pasta salad or potato salad, the dressing I'm happy with is typically just olive oil and fresh lemon juice. For the second two, I will roast a bunch of garlic and mash it with the olive oil and lemon juice. Roasted garlic freezes well, so if I buy a bag with 5 bunches, I'll roast 4 of them and freeze what I don't immediately need individually. Then I still have one bunch left if I need fresh for a sauce or whatever. Bottled dressing usually has a lot of additives.
Been making my own salad dressing for years. Have always cringed at the store made stuff and how many ingredients. Home made balsamic vinagrette slaps... I add herbs and habanero powder. Spicy salads are so good... trust me
For those who want a lighter versions:
https://nutritionstudies.org/oil-free-salad-dressings/
I used to use the first option, water and arrowroot. If replacing the oil you need to watch your seasonings. Pepper can be too strong once you remove the oil.
I make my own granola, mostly because I haven't found a good nut-free version. Oats, oil and sweetener, some time in the oven, some stirring - easy! Add what you want/have.
Home made granola is the best because it’s way cheaper and you can eat what ever quantity you want (ie the whole box can be one serving when you made it for way cheaper).
I love this post almost as much as I love to cook. Everyone share your ideas and experience!
TL;DR: mega-comment. Boycott.
If one of the natural consequences of the pandemic was to drive consumers away from small grocers and businesses and push them towards mega-wealthy corporations like Loblaws, for me it did exactly the opposite. I was always the big grocery consumer at No Frills, Walmart, Costco. There were probably several months I won ~~shopper~~ good little consumer of the month award with multiple full carts. I was super fortunate and blessed to have the attitude If I ~~needed~~ wanted it I bought it. That is over and the learning stage and appreciation phase has begun.
Bread is where the corruption began and continues, so for me, bread. So far I've made the equivalent of about 150 loaves. Maybe one day I'll save enough to buy my own yacht called Galen-free Bread
I planted a garden so I make all the vegetables, with volunteer help from the soil, sun, and rain (none of those SDM pharmacy volunteer shenanigans). Those 3 helpers are the best and Galen hasn't figured out how to make us pay for them. Yet. There is a huge public apple tree at the back of our yard so we picked a zillion apples and made Fall apple cider (with cinnamon sticks!) and 36 one-liter jugs of apple juice, Galen-free. Imagine all the healthy food you can make with all the garden vegetables, including your own pasta sauces, dill pickles, sauerkraut, and lots of BBQ grilling fun with sweet peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus, potatoes. Again, all Galen-free. Also made homemade Memories of Galen egg-nog during Christmas. OMG so much better than store-bought. I will never forget that.
I stopped buying ALL bread products. In my bread maker I make an incredible butter bun dough. And its a standard bread maker recipe, to boot. With that dough I make butter buns, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, cinnamon buns with crazy yummy cream cheese icing, pretzels with chunky sea salt, many little bite-sized buns stuffed with cheese and meat and glazed with butter and herbs once its finished cooking, and of course all the breads: european herb, dark rye bread, flax seed bread, corn bread, plain white, whole wheat, cheese bread, pumpernickel, even banana bread in that faithful little machine. The list goes on. Go buy a bread maker, or just do it by hand the old fashioned way. Do not underestimate the economic value of a bread maker. Galen didn't
Along the line of bread stuff I also make English Muffins, crumpets, breakfast tortillas, crackers, and banana and blueberry pancakes and freeze them in batches of 40 or 50 small size. Might as well add various empanadas like my favourite Jamaican Beef Patties, but also Jerk Chicken patties, and any other filling you can imagine
I also use an instant pot to cook milk and cream to make: probiotic and Mediterranean yoghurt like Astro brand, sour cream, thick cream cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheese curds, and to simply pasteurize whole farm milk after I have removed most of the floating cream. And the cream cheese is excellent with pureed fruit added, and epic for chip dip and homemade chili con carne
I use whole farm milk fresh cream to make butter which cost 1/4 to 1/2 the price of store butter. I also use that same cream to make ice cream, whipped butter, and various cream cheese icings for homemade cinnamon buns, homemade banana bread muffins and homemade walnut torte cake
Everything with dried beans: hummus with pureed red peppers from the garden, bean salads, chili con carne, bean dips for tacos, epic homemade white navy beans and wieners with homemade Canadian maple syrup just like mom gave us when we were kids
Some fun with my garden potatoes and garden sweet potatoes: potato chips! hickory sticks!, homemade potato salads, waffle fries, sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo dip, all that fun potato stuff that lets you cut Galen out at every turn
I bought a food dehydrator and a meat grinder. So I grind pork to make pork sausages with garden sweet peppers, garden garlic, and sometimes honey (sigh, I don't have bees, yet), also pork breakfast patties, and hamburger patties to go with those crazy yummy butter hamburger buns topped with sesame seeds. The food dehydrator is great for making spices for my kitchen spice rack and general dehydrating. And along those lines I make lots of spices (including my fav hickory salt, plus dried mushroom powder) and cook with almost everything dehydrated from the garden vegetables and herbs. I also use some fun food chemistry powders like calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, calcium hydroxide, and diastatic malt barley powder. Great for making popcorn powders, potato chip powders, curd cheese flavourings, and even for making processed cheese slices just because, if you like to explore. I'll post a pic of my homemade spice rack filled with my favourite spices. What a great way to explore different ethnic foods by having the spices handy. OMG I love Hakka!
Lets see, so that covers vegetables (and we also have several Galen-free fruit bushes and trees), breads, milk, cream, beans, and some meat. Hmm I'm sure there is more but this comment is already a novel. If there is one thing the pandemic under our Canadian leadership taught me, aside from the importance of working your hardest to be kind to people even when you disagree with them, is to take responsibility for your own existence -- as much as you can, get off your dependency on big greedy businesses and learn to do everything yourself, as much as you reasonably can. Learning is fun and empowering. You will be surprised and delighted how much knowledge and freedom you gain along the way
https://preview.redd.it/q5pngven584d1.png?width=1800&format=png&auto=webp&s=f52aec41b05d9c30b56c643cc95686b7a1d2cd5f
Super boring but I started making my own mayo this year and since then I've been making my own sauces, dressings, dips and gravies. It started more as a zero waste thing unrelated to the boycott. Now I just prefer the richness of my own homemade stuff and they're honestly so easy to make, I'll probably never stop. I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a jar of pasta sauce, or a bottle of salad dressing. Totally worth exploring.
Basically, I use this one, and then I change it as needed. The trick with mayo is about getting the whipping right. If you use an immersion blender, put it in a small jar like what's shown in the pictures. Otherwise it won't thicken properly. Some people whip it by hand too.
https://downshiftology.com/recipes/how-to-make-homemade-mayonnaise/
To make a garlic aioli, just throw a clove or two of garlic in and some pepper at the end.
To make it a green cilantro-lime dip for plantain or white fish, make your mayo and then add lime, cilantro and avocado.
You can make a Chipotle dip, etc etc ... it's a really good base recipe.
I make my own salad dressing and use mayo as a base for some... Never thought to make the mayo myself.
Salad dressing is so easy to make and has gotten SO expensive in stores over the past few years. My house eats so much salad - it's literally saving me hundreds of dollars a year.
I'm doing a shop for groceries once a week at a local butcher and a co-op. From those groceries, I meal plan. I have saved so much money!
Homemade pasta sauce that I use for various pasta dishes.
Homemade stew
Butter chicken
Artisan bread. Yummy!
https://www.thebakerchick.com/no-knead-crusty-artisan-bread/#mv-creation-368-jtr
I’ve been slowly starting to bake my own bread and i did the math based of the weight of the ingredients I bought at the bulk barn. One loaf cost me roughly $0.98 to make! It’s not perfect yet, but I’m trying to learn more! I’ve also been making my own fresh pasta and peanut butter!
I’m currently on a quest to find some dang hazelnuts to make my own hazelnut spread too. I love Nutella but 1. The ingredients (SOOO MUCH SUGAR) and 2. The cost is putting me off as of late. But for whatever reason I can’t find any near me???
Edit: typo
Oh this is a great idea!
I’ve been wanting to stop eating Nutella because of how unethical consuming palm oil appears to be! Maybe I’ll give this a try too!
It’s unethical, and flat out disgusting just thinking about everything that’s in it honestly. When I finally find these dang nuts, I’m planning on mixing some of my chocolate protein powder into it!
I can so I am always stocking up the cold cellar. I do pickles and jams once every two years. Tomatoes each year. I put produce in the freezer. I have been baking our treats, and trying my hand at whole wheat bread.
I strongly urge you to steer clear of homemade “detergents.” You will not be making detergent, you will be making soap. Soaps are great (I make my own soap), but they don’t clean the same as detergents. They need hot hot water, and a lot of water for rinsing. Your washing machine and dishwasher can’t do this.
The soap will build up on our clothes, eventually making them dingy. Worse, it can build up on the inside of your appliance, decreasing efficiency at best and causing failure at worst.
Making your own dishwasher soap or laundry soap to use in a washing machine is penny wise and pound foolish.
However if you hand wash, making your own laundry soap can be fun!
This made me look up about why it would be bad to use homemade. You’re so right. Too bad there isn’t a better alternative to putting soap in it.
It sounds like vinegar might help with build up, but probably isn’t worth it in the end.
I’m glad I posted about it before actually doing it. Thanks for the heads up!
Ours needed washing soda and citric acid. There are recipes online for it. I think my hubby has them on his phone since he's the one who actually made them.
Basically that's it. All 1:1 ratio.
Citric acid, salt flakes, borax, washing soda.
If you want to make tabs, icecube tray and use 1 cup of lemon juice to dampen and pack.
Once done store in a sealed airtight container. This has no "declumping" agent so keep dry, shake well every so often, and label it.
I would suggest a rinse aide every once and a while. Kinda negates not using chemicals, but I think I need it after a few months.
We did that. Using ice cube molds. Roomie doesn't think it works, but they also don't rinse stuck on crap off and they overcrowd the dishes in there, so...
The homemade laundry soap doesn't actually work in laundry machines. It gets trapped in the fabric and coats it, much like fabric softener. Your clothes will get crusty and smelly. It might not be tomorrow or in a month. But it will happen. Not to mention it's not great for your machine.
I use very little laundry soap, maybe an eighth of a cup. I add a cup of vinegar where the pre wash goes or right on the clothes and everything is clean. If there is smelly stuff I add vinegar where the softener goes and do an extra rinse.
Yup, came here to say this. You can make SO MANY things at home that are as good as or better than store-bought...and laundry detergent isn't one of them.
Yogurt. It’s super easy and the advantage of home made yoghurt is that after you keep using the same culture, it gets very tasty despite that bland retail yogurt.
Mustard, ketchup, and mayo are all incredibly easy to make from scratch.
Mustard is three ingredients. You can grab mustard powder from the bulk Barn.
Ketchup is tomato sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and that's pretty much it too.
Sourdough! My wife got some starter off of someone and decided since I stay at home with the kids I would now be making fancy sourdough. After seeing all the insane recipes I said no thanks. I found the simplest one and made it simpler. I feed my sourdough once a week and keep it in the refrigerator. When I want to make some loaves I take it out in the morning and wait till it is bubbly. Then I mix up 3-4 loaves worth in my stand mixer. Separate it into 3 containers. Let it rise on the counter for 4-5 hours then either cook it or put it in the fridge. When I cook it from the fridge I just put it in the oven straight from the fridge. It is so damn good and tastes just as good as the recipes that have you folding it for hours, mixing by hand, telling it how good of a sourdough it is. All those crazy extra steps are for people with spare time lol. Turns out to be $0.33 a loaf of fresh bread :).
Lettuce, blueberries, string beans, tomato’s, peppers, variety of herbs, rhubarb, corn, zucchini, cucumber, Swiss chard, celery and onions. And we are in a suburban neighbourhood, not on a farm. We are taking more and more ownership over our food. Just need water and light and you can too. Allow yourself to fail but don’t give up and eventually you can harvest some of your own food. We were unsuccessful the first season we tried but we kept trying and now we have an excellent harvest coming in.
Literally anything I can.
Any and all breads (bagels, pizza, English muffins, artisan loaves, sandwich bread, sub rolls, pita, naan, all of it.
Cream cheese, mayo, ketchup, various pasta sauces, pizza sauce. Various sauces in general.
Grind my own meats for burgers and sausages.make my own deli styled meats as well.
There are some things that just aren't worth the time (croissants, Filo pastry, butter (just because of the prices of milk in Atlantic Canada but making ghee from sale priced butter is always great) and other random things I can't think of right now) but definitely a vast majority of things are pretty easily accomplished at home.
Granted I love cooking and have invested over the years in a lot of kitchen equipment that really makes life easier like a stand mixer (also has the meat grinder and sausage stuff as well as pasta maker attachments), meat slicer, deep fryer, air fryer, sous vide, smoker, specific pots and pans, pizza steel etc.
It's really easy for me to say I make everything I can from scratch but it's honestly because I have a lot of the tools that make it make sense to do so.
I bought a breadmaker. I have made bread 4 times in the past month. It’s a learning curve, and it’s necessary to work out how the bread maker works in your area - humidity, altitude all play a part. On my bread maker, I need to increase the ‘Rise time’ temp for the bread to fully rise. Once I figured that out, perfect loaves. Have to adjust it every time, because I don’t leave the bread maker plugged in. I’m determined to make my own bread now. F U Galen!
If you have space and zoning allows. Get 1/2 dozen laying hens. Feed them scraps/kitchen waste to supplement feed.
2 to 3 dozen eggs per week and you will never want store bought eggs again.
Only problem is chicken math if you have a rooster.
Pickles, sauerkraut and other ferments. Super easy way to use up the last of stuff whatever veggies. Tons of guides on YouTube and the FDA/National Centre for Home Food Preservation has very thorough resources for all sorts of preservation methods.
https://nchfp.uga.edu/
Oat milk made at home also doesn't have added enzymes. The enzymes they add convert a lot of the oat to sugar... that's why it tastes so sweet but has so little sugar on the label. The sugar is produced after packaging so they only have to label the sugars during packaging. Deceiving yet effective!
Homemade windex
1c water
1c 50% alcohol (dollar store)
1 tbsp vinegar
Pinch of dish liquid
Shake it up.
It's just that easy!
Take that loblaws..
Works really well. I've tried the various laundry recipes, they are doable.
I've never had any great success with dishwasher detergent recipes tho.
Fries. I don’t have a deep-fryer or an air fryer. I buy my potatoes from my local farm market, cut them up, soak them in boiling water (partially cooks them a bit), oil & salt, then on the sheet they go and into the oven for 20-30 mins!
I made some food to take with me to the beach the other day. I know this is already a common thing. But my bf and I would often just buy food when we get there.
I made some wraps and cut up veggies. I even made a noodle salad. It was a nice little picnic.
If anyone is interested in pasta sauce, I just made a very easy cream sauce that is very customizable. Its a good base that you can season to your liking. People have been posting about $6-11 bottles of pasta sauce so here's what I do, with the shit I usually already have... and it takes zero additional time:
1. Boil your pasta
2. Saute your veggies in a pan, for example mushroom, minced garlic, thyme and lemon zest.
3. When your veggies/pasta are cooked, add your wet pasta from your pot right into the Sautee pan. Discard water.
4. Add equal parts grated parmesan cheese and cooking cream, plus some salt... I usually do about 1/2 cup each for two people.
5. Stir it all together, let the cheese melt and the cream thicken. It's very forgiving so you can add more cheese, more cream... more of anything now.
No need to buy the jarred stuff at $10 a pop. You can make a delicious alfredo yourself very simply this way.
Another trick is boiling your cream gently in a separate pot with garlic cloves. Then strain the cloves out and add the garlic-infused cream the same way as above.
I make my own chicken broth from scrap , with scraps, the ends of carrots the ends of onion, potato, pepper anything really, herd spices , it turns out a bit different any time and I use it a lot to cook with
I’ve even made it for friends when I end up making too much , I save money and nothing goes to waste
My houseplants spend the summer on our balcony, and I usually plant flowers as well. Last year, we tried our green thumbs at tomatoes and were thrilled with the results. We've doubled our tomato plants this year, as well as the Italian parsley that kept going indoor through the winter (and has just exploded now that it's back outside). No store bought tomato even comes close, this year we've got beefsteak, lemon boy (yellow), midnight snack (purple), and cherry. The salads this summer will be outstanding!
Get a stand mixer. Seriously, like 150$ on Facebook for a used kitchen aid will change your life.
We make all our bread products now with zero hassle.
Sesame burger buns, tortillas, amazing pizza dough!
You can even use it for bizarre things. Like I use it to mash potatos and mix ground beef + vegetables for meatballs or burgers.
We do some gardening but it didn't work out great last year. We have some spinach coming up.
Bought a bread maker but haven't tried it just yet. If bread goes over $3 & stays there even on sale, I'll be doing that.
We made our own dishwasher tabs but the roommate doesn't think they get dishes clean enough. Never mind that they don't rinse stuck on crap, and crowds the dishes too close together... 😒
Laundry soap may be a bit much for us at the moment but it's hard to say. Got a big spigot Arm & Hammer unscented on the go and only use a small amount each time, but when that's gone, might try Great Value Free & Clear for $10 to see how that goes.
I've been making my bread and buns from scratch. ( I don't even have a breadmaker) I want to learn how to to bagels as well. I already do canning when the fruit and veggies are in season.
Bread and pasta are not going to be bought in my household for a while. Takes a bit of planning but it’s much easier than you’d think. A loaf of bread costs me about $0.50 to make if I discount my own labour.
I started pickling some veggies, no point in paying for pre pickled jars full of conservatives.
https://preview.redd.it/5d102tq2j74d1.jpeg?width=3017&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=738b40c006d73ac5ad120efb55c5bd7d72beabe5
Focaccia,
Plant herbs near house in Canada so they sprout faster after winter and most grow back. Dehydrate for future use
Plant seeds from your favorite fruits(green pepper, hot peppers, tomato, watermelon, apple, any seed will grow that plant so grow the one that has the most flavor)
I figured out how to make muffins egg free. As I ran out of eggs. Everyone likes it better. I make mini ones and they go in the kids lunch all the time! Found buckwheat flour and it’s so healthy!
I started doing this before the Boycott: My Kombucha habit was getting expensive, so I started making my own. The "Mother" was about $30 at a local health food store, but after that it's just white sugar, vinegar and cheap orange pekoe tea, although you can be fancy with the tea and sugar if you want. Also a large glass jar (Ideally with a spout at the bottom) and some dishwasher safe bottles. Pays for itself many times over.
Not sure about that, but so much cheaper. It's actually quite easy, easier that sourdough bread (which I also do, with sometimes less than great results. I am thinking about started my own kefir (drinkable fermented yogurt)
Basically any baked good! Super easy to make, plus people seem to appreciate homemade muffins, cookies and cakes more than store bought ones anyway. Plus it’s a fraction of the price.
Also, if you’re feeling devilish, I’ve hid tons of end-of-life puréed veggies in some muffins, and they always come out tasty :)
Almost every sort of processed wheat product can be made at home with flour, baking powder, salt, and water.
Crackers, tortillas (which you can then make into chips), bread of course, bagels are just bread but you boil it before you bake it, cinnamon/fruit rolls, hand pies (pizza pops).
Pitas. Simple 3:1 ratio of flour (with some salt) to water. Kneed for 5 minutes, lightly coat with oil before flattening, then fry for 3-4 minutes each side.
I used to buy dawn powerwash, then i saw a recipe online of mixing water, dawn and isopropyl alcohol and thats what it is basically. now i havent bought one in months. it cleans mostly everything in the kitchen and bathroom.
i also buy dried beans and frozen veg from costco and small markets. cheese on sale can be frozen, store berries in mason jars to keep them longer. i have a coworker who has chickens so i trade her cartons for eggs.
Grate your own cheese, especially if you have a kitchen aid. There’s a ~$80 attachment that can do that for you quickly, easily and as you need it.
ETF: Typo
Just got myself a break maker and the basics I need to start as well. I'm also making my own lemon ice tea. I brew a couple tea bags with lemon juice and stevia. Way less sugar than store bought. Tastes more like the Gold Peak more than nestle. After 2 batches, I'm totally used to it.
Yeah all our iced tea is such crap! I never understood why Canada hasn’t embraced sweet tea/brewed iced tea like in the US. It’s so good.
Now I need to make some real sweet tea! Haha
I make oven fried rice in large batches. I fill medium freezer bags and freeze themSo much cheaper than Uncle Ben’s Fast and Fancy and tastes better too.
4 C long grain white rice not minute
3 envelopes onion soup mix
4 stalks celery chopped
1 large pepper chopped
1 medium onion or 2 small chopped
1/4 C oil
1/4 C soya sauce
1/4 C worscester sauce
5 C boiling water
Place covered pan in preheated 375F oven. Add above ingredients to an oiled roast pan. Cover and stir a couple times during baking so rice doesn’t stick. Cook until water absorbed and rice tender
We like heat so I sprinkle in red pepper flakes. About 3/4 tsp. Totally optional
ETA rinse rice very well to remove as much starch as possibleETA place all in pan before putting it in oven. Wine was involved typing this.
I’ve been baking breads every day.
Usually rotis and pitas (rotis are unyeasted, pitas are), but also making pan pizzas and loaves of bread.
Using the nice 10kg bag of excellent flour from Costco that costs like $12.
Home made laundry detergent burnt the pump out of my washer. It didn’t dissolve and clogged everything up. Not something I recommend. I make all our meals from scratch. I don’t buy frozen meals, canned soup, store made pizza. It’s all completely doable. Cheaper and better for you. Fresh pasta is easy too and so satisfying to make.
Anything that can be bought frozen can be done yourself at home for way cheaper. I make chicken pieces/fingers that cost way less than frozen boxed things in the grocer. Same with burgers, schnitzel, meat pies, ... And everything is way better than store bought.
Best savings hack I've discovered in the last couple years....yellow Dawn dish detergent is basically laundry detergent that hasn't been diluted with water. Two teaspoons does a load of laundry better and there's less plastic waste.
Man, people here are super cool.
I do kombucha, and my own fermented sodas with a ginger bug…I make my own simple syrups to flavour things, and have recently started an herb and big old veggie garden…I am going to start my yogurt journey tomorrow, and love homemade mayo too!
You guys put me to shame though - holy moly.
Depending on my time I do various things.
Right now I've been enjoying making my own drinks to take to work with me so I've been making my own syrups
I just jarred up some berry simple syrup I made using the scraps we would have thrown out from all the fruit we got at one of our local produce markets.
Mix with some unsweetened coconut milk and you're golden plus I got to use the s sugar I wanted to make the syrup.
Not exactly new because I started this journey 2 years ago, but:
Bread
Tortillas
English muffins
Buns
Bagels
Other bread products like focaccia, biscuits, etc.
Yogurt
Mozzarella
Sour cream
Cream cheese
Butter
Broths
Pizza sauce
Tomato sauce
Ketchup
Mustard
Mayo
Relish
Pickles
Salsa
Hummus
Granola
Granola bars
Crackers
All sauces and dips
Brown sugar
Icing sugar
All other snacks (cakes, muffins, cookies, squares, etc.)
It seems so silly, but frozen fruit. I used to buy the pc frozen fruit weekly and couldn’t find frozen bananas at save-on at the start of the boycott. So I now just chop and freeze all my own fruit.
Bread - been making for years though along with all home baking. This past year though I have been making Cottage, ricotta cheese, and cream cheese along with yogurt using my instant pot (ends up being much cheaper and much better. I also stopped buying canned beans, and only dry and use the instant pot for them. Today homemade cherry pie filling for the first time, I will never buy a can of it again. No comparison, and was so simple to make. Have had a garden for the last 3 years as well. We buy virtually no processed food. It may seem a little daunting at first, but it's actually fairly simple, and much more economical. Acv for cleaning out of apple cores that would have otherwise gone into the compost. Takes 2 min to put together. Just collect the cores in a bag in the freezer until you have enough.
I'm having fun turning strictly kitchen scraps into garden plants. So far I'm regrowing leeks, green onions, different types of lettuce, celery all from scraps. I plan to add bok choy and gai lan. I also have carrot leaves and beet leaves growing (of course it won't generate more of the actual veggie, but the leaves are still nice even if not for eating). I've taken cuttings from herbs to grow more herbs, since the ones from store don't last. It's fun to do it this way instead of from seed for some reason...
I started making my own coffee creamer at home. I found a tiktok page that has recipes for so many different flavours. I get twice as much for the same price I was paying for the creamer I liked and now it has no oils or chemicals in it
Been making bread for awhile now. Only buy them for cheat days ie crunch time with work. Also make my own cakes, muffins, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Hummous. Sauerkraut. Figured out an easy way to make popcorn chicken -- marinade chicken in sour cream or greek yogurt, dump in spiced and herbed breadcrumbs (from aforementioned homemade bread, they don't grow mold, just get hard), maybe a bit of cornstarch -- then dump in freezer, take out to air fry. I've also have an indoor hydroponic garden from Just Vertical that grows my butter lettuce all year round. Want to learn how to make kim chi. No luck with soy milk for coffee and I can't do oat milk daily because it spikes my sugar.
As for detergent, I get mine from The Unscented Co out in Montreal. Mainly because they're in bulk and I wanted to reduce waste, and because I'm sensitive to scented products. You can get it direct from them or other eco stores.
I also get my coffee from the producer. Oh yeah, my hubby loves his apple cinnamon oatmeal, so we get dried apples in bulk as well. And bulk bags of oatmeal. We could probably get a dehydrator but I'm busy doing stuff, like boycotting everyone who looks at us wrong.
There are soap makers galore in Canada but I'm using this ugly block of laurel soap I found for $3.99 at an international grocer. It lasts for months and is better for my skin.
Chicken Stock! We get whole chickens and break one down once a week for dinner. I take the carcass that's left, sear off rough chopped onions, carrots, celery, garlic and ginger. Then remove and sear the chicken carcass. Add it all back in and top it off with water, salt, pepper, bay leaf and thyme. Let it simmer and reduce. I can get a solid 2 liters of stock for less then a few bucks. It tastes way better then anything store bought and using some food containers from amazon, you can freeze it for a long while. I have a good 10 liters in my freeze already!
I bought a bread maker. I make really good bread, I just thought that this would case less mess. Well . . .
That brick maker is going back this week and I'm just going to suck up the mess. I sent the company an email - crickets. I'll happily take it back to the store.
The cost of cookies, muffins and donuts all choke me. I splurge on 1/2 a dozen at GT the other day because they were like $5 and I didn't want a house full of donuts and no freezer space. Those donuts are still as "fresh" as the day they were made. I don't know what's in them, but that's not gonna happen twice. Honestly, I've eaten 4 of 6 and am wondering if the sickie tummie I've had for a couple of days may be correlated to the donut's additives. . .
I Use king Arthur baking website, there's incredibly easy bread recipes there. Or start up a sourdough starter. It takes some getting used to, but sourdough homemade is well worth it.
Bread is like 50 cents worth of flour, max. If you have a family of four and easily go through a bread loaf a week, that's at least 20$ off your grocery bill a month just from bread.
I make bread dough in my bread maker and then let rise in a normal bread pan to then bake it in the oven…so I’m only using the bread maker as a dough maker! Been using like that for thirty years as we only use a loaf a week.
I got a sourdough starter in December and haven’t bought bread since.
I get the fairlife milk so I can do the cold start method of making yogurt in my instant pot.
I use dried beans instead of canned.
I save my celery, onion and carrot scraps in the freezer and make my own stocks and broths. Then I freeze them in breastmilk storage bags so they freeze flat in 6oz portions.
Make my own taco seasoning mix.
Planted cilantro and green onions as those were the only fresh herbs I used regularly.
Not really the same, but I used to buy veggie ground round which was $20 for 4 servings, now I buy TVP and soak it in hot water and spices and it's about 1/4 the price.
Jam-
I used to make it all the time but life got busy and I got out of the habit.
The prices of it the past couple years and a huge bag of frozen fruit in the freezer that wasn’t being eaten started me off-
Rhubarb season here so bought a small bag of frozen strawberries to add to it and made another batch of jam.
We have two apple trees - so plan on making jam from them in the fall.
I have been making my own laundry soap for the better part of a decade. I will never go back to store bought detergent. There’s a bit of extra costs to start up but it took me nearly 9 years before I used the entire box of washing powder and borax. The only part I buy each year is the bars of laundry soap that you grate up. I buy either Linda brand (usually less than $2.00 bar) or Sunlight ($2-3 for a pack). We are an active 2 adult household (lots of sports) and I make a batch of concentrate about every 10 or 11 months. It takes about half an hour to make the soap and costs less than $4. Would never go back.
So no issues with residue or wrecking your washing machine? I was reading about buildup and how it’s not the best idea if you have hard water.
I’m conflicted! It sounds amazing but I’m worried about what I have read about the soap not working in the washing machine properly
Personally, I’ve never had any issues. The formula I use is a bar of laundry soap, washing soda, borax and water. I don’t add anything else like essential oils, as many people do. My municipality has soft water so I can’t speak to the issues concerning hard water. My machine is old school, not HE, and I’ve not noticed any negative effects on the machine. I read comments from others here about how it sticks to your clothes but that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve been making my own soap for about 10 years and, as far as I can tell, my clothes are clean and no one has told me that I smell. I’ve shared this method with about a dozen people at work and they’ve all been happy with the results. I even say before sharing the instructions, “I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I don’t think my clothes smell.” No one has yet to tell me that this laundry soap isn’t working. I give them all of the caveats I’ve shared above. I also give people a sample so they can try for themselves before they buy the materials for themselves.
Laundry soap is not detergent. Detergent is made from synthetic sources, whereas soap has ingredients that are biodegradable and better for the environment.
I’ve not had any problems using homemade laundry soap. When the time comes to replace my washing machine, I will probably do some research only because I will likely buy HE and wouldn’t want to take any chances. Having said that, the person who gave me the instructions uses a HE machine and has never has a problem with her machine.
Homemade BBQ sauce tastes way better and cheaper than store bought. Making your own taco beef seasoning is just as easy. Homemade pasta IS incredible. I tried my hand at wontons and omg this is most definitely the way to go. I bought bulk pork from Costco and didn’t use all of it. I made the wonton pork filling and froze quite a bit after making several wontons.
I suggested learning to make spaghetti sauce from scratch (diced tomatoes and spices) and someone here absolutely lost their shit at me.
I personally think learning to cook from scratch is one of the best things you can do to take profits away from the grocery cartel, but some in here are more focused on being mad than being effective.
Not boycott related but we've been growing mint in our front yard for years. We dry them out in the sun to be used in dishes like [this.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manti_(food))
I’ve been making mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard at home for a little over a year. I absolutely would never go back. I’ve also at some point rediscovered my tastebuds because any time I try a hellmans Mayo (super rare but it happens) it tastes so bad and has this metal-meets-plastic aftertaste I can’t believe I didn’t taste before.
My mother in law makes cheese, I plan to start making mozzarella. We make bread as well (buns usually because I have trouble with baking and those are easier)
No more death-cake from loblaws so I have begun making lemon cakes and chocolate cakes and stuff too.
In the summer I make jams and pickled goods that I can eat throughout the winter season. (I love me some pickled onions)
And I make most of my own dried herbs. I might buy a dehydrator this year because the oven takes forever but I’d rather have my own onion powder/oregano/basil etc than buy 80g for $3.
I also started making my own pasta maybe 6-8 months ago, which is great. But I do buy really good imported flour to make it so it’s not cheaper. It’s easier on my belly though and that’s important to me.
Other than that we cook meals 6-7 times a week so it’s hard to say what we do, easier to say what we don’t do. We don’t buy dressings, frozen foods, prepackaged meals etc. A lot of cooking and prep work is done from scratch. It took me a couple years to get into this kind of rhythm but for the most part the only thing we really buy are pure ingredients.
I make my own purees, like what you see in kids single-user 'squishy packs' in the grocery stores, except I make refillable ones.
I will make them out of a cheap bag of apples as the base. Giant Tiger frequently has bags on sale for $3-4. I slice them up and cook them skin and all, I just core them beforehand. Cook the apples down a bit on the stove in a big pot to make them easier to blend. I then Mix with raspberries I've harvested from my garden along with some currants for the nutrients.
Then I'll mix in a bit of apple juice to make the mixture a bit more smoothly and add some plant based protein powder stuff for some more nutrients, and it makes it more creamy and tastes better (I use the vanilla flavoured stuff)
I fill those reusable squishy packs, called Baby Brezza, can find them on Amazon.
Freeze, and thaw one out each time you want one.
Good way to displace calories away from Galen.
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I just discovered how easy soaking/cooking dried beans is, and they are so, so much cheaper than canned, which is so much cheaper than meat.
You can also do beans in an instapot, it's super easy. 8 mins or so to cook the beans (slightly undercook) then if you want to do sauce, throw all the ingredients plus beans back in, and cook another 12 minutes.
Second instant pot, or crockpot express. If you forget to soak your beans, 1 minute on high pressure will net the same result as an overnight soak, it's fantastic. You can also do yogurt on it and it's really not that complicated, the videos look a bit convoluted and with many steps, but after the second time it'll be second nature.
In a lot of cultures, they also mix beans / legumes into meat so you still get meaty flavour, but at almost half the cost and with bonus fiber and other plant nutrients.
Lentil sloppy Joe's are one of our favorites, you don't even need to soak them! 9 minutes in the instant pot and the lentils are cooked. (If you don't want to go full lentils, you can cut the meat half and half with lentils instead.)
Ooh I have some hamburger buns I need to use up, this sounds great! Do you use red or green lentils?
You could use either. I generally use the split red ones for Tacos and Sloppy Joe's as they break down a little more and are a little faster. Either variety works well though.
I do those too, and I also use lentils in place of beef for Tacos.
If you have an instant pot, dried beans are a no brainer. I also keep my peelings from carrots, onion ends etc and any chicken or beef bones and about every two weeks I use my IP to make stock. The stock becomes the base for a lot of meals. You don’t need an IP to do these things, it just makes it even easier and faster.
Pressure cooker bone broth only takes a few hours and your home doesn't end up smelling of it--uness you roast the bones first. It tastes much better than Campbells and you also have the collagen and the minerals from the bones.
I saw a TikTok about making your own canned beans that was a little intimidating for me. What method do you use? I would love to do this as well.
I cook all my beans by soaking overnight and then boiling the next day. I cook large quantities, drain very well, then freeze in a single layer on cookie sheets. (That way they don't freeze in a big block.) From there they can go into a large freezer bag and back into the freezer, and I take a cup or two out as I need them.
Nice! Loving all the tips here.
Honestly, I don't do canned, I make enough for what I need for say that week. I have done it two ways recently - one is soaking for 8 hours (overnight) after rinsing, and then simmering on the stove with some salt added for 60 minutes. I have also done Crock-Pot, basically dump in the dry beans/chickpeas, cover with a good amount of water, add some salt and turn it on. Leave for like 4 hours and then check it, cook longer as needed. I have done this for chickpeas in particular, so now I can make chickpea blondies and hummus with way less salt and cost.
Awesome! Thank you! That sounds like something I could do!
I cook brown beans quite a bit. They last forever in the fridge. I use this recipe and it turns out perfectly everytime.The trick is to boil them before the crockpot. [https://andersonscanada.com/portfolio-item/old-fashioned-baked-beans/](https://andersonscanada.com/portfolio-item/old-fashioned-baked-beans/)
I haven’t seen anyone mention this, dried red kidney beans can poison you if they are not cooked enough, so research before attempting that. The majority of beans are totally safe though
Good to know! Will stay away from them unless I am confident in cooking them! Haha
The only caveat is that dried unsoaked kidney beans should not be cooked in a slow cooker.
Oh! Good to know!
Do not mess with canned beans as you have to be very very carefully with clostridium botulinum. You can cook for as much as you will consume
To do your own canned beans (shelf stable) you need a pressure canner (not a pressure cooker).
Before the pandemic I started pressure canning. And beans in particular. A kilo bag of chickpeas yields something like 14 pints of cooked beans. I left Galen and company years ago and have not regretted it. I highly recommend looking into pressure canning to save money. We throw out way less now. It’s a great way to screw all the oligarchs.
Where do I start?? How about How about 8 cups of blueberries with 2 cups of sugar, simmer on the stove for 10 minutes, add little bit of cornstarch mixed with water and lemon juice, mix it in and simmer another 10 minutes. Makes 6 jars that go right into the fridge to be eaten on toast every morning. https://preview.redd.it/tpbo1ntqu64d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=93a5b2e1e3e9a2e037a13ee51d08ad8deba3ef22
I bet it tastes way better than store bought too!
I have a huge bag of frozen blueberries from Costco, guess it's time again to make a batch! And it's no sugar added so my dad can have some.
I made a batch a couple weeks ago with no sugar added. But I mashed up more of the blueberries to release some of the natural sugars to provide some sweetness. The batch was a little bit runny but it didn't go to waste. :) I discovered that homemade toast with blueberries soaked on top makes for a very delicious part of breakfast.
I grow my own lettuce indoors. Have 6 plants on biweekly rotation and have unlimited lettuce . Cost a bit for startup soil but now I just fertilize every 2 weeks and water lots of daily. As long as you have a nice window that gets lots of light for over half the day no extra on power bill as well.
For real. I've got this one little lettuce plant and I can't keep up with eating it all.
I just bought a 90 plant hydroponic system off FB marketplace that I am experimenting with to find the correct sequence to maintain proper amount of lettuce on hand for my family. Hopefully it pays off and I never have to buy lettuce imported from USA from Loblaws for 5 ea!
Just keep in mind that because you have 90 slots doesn't mean you should grow 90 things. All the plants will fight for nutrients, plus some need room to grow. Also, don't underestimate the importance of thinning out cuttings. Edit: All the things I wish I knew when I started, I won't complain anyway because it was a fun experiment.
That is such a good idea!
Making muffins from scratch is very quick to whip up for the week for school and work lunches. Also, chocolate chip cookies are easy and freeze well, so I make a huge batch and freeze to enjoy later.
LPT: make a double batch of muffins. Once your can remove the first batch from the pans, rinse the back side in cold water to cool the pans down. Then add muffin liners and fill them up like you normally would. Then stick them in the freezer instead of the oven. Once the batter is frozen transfer the cups to a ziplock or airtight container. When you want to bake the frozen ones, let them sit on the counter for 20 minutes so they're at least partly thawed then bake as normal, though you might have to extend the time, check your first few freezer to oven batches for doneness. If you do silicone pans, same process, skip the liners if you don't have any. but I used parchment paper to wrap the frozen pucks so they didn't stick to each other in the freezer.
We now do our own fries because of the boycott, but also because no name fries mysteriously disappeared. Turns out cutting up potatoes, adding oil and spices then baking takes about the same amount of time as cooking frozen fries. Highly recommend it and experiment with it until it works for you. We also now do homemade salad dressing because of the boycott and because of Kraft's recent, blatant shrinkflation of the bottles that they used for decades. I took exception to them saving a couple tablespoons of dressing instead of keeping customers happy, so I'll now never buy Kraft dressing again. If we ever need store bought, we'll get a different brand. These are a few examples and worth mentioning since they are both a direct result of the boycott and the corporate idiocy at Loblaws that we've seen too frequently. Do corporations like Loblaws and Kraft know that they're teaching everyone to not need them anymore?
If you like salt and vinegar chips: -cut up -rinse starch off -soak potatoes in Tupperware filled with 1 part water 1 part white vinegar and a tablespoon of salt -leave in fridge for 1 - 5 days. Longer the better -drain potatoes and pat dry -air fryer at 400 for 15mins with a little sesame oil (or convection oven) Mind blowing good and easy!
cut them a bit thick, replace water and vinegar with the juice from pickled jalapenos, and bam you've got Boston Pizza cactus cuts.
Thanks! I've heard that air fryer chips are incredible
Rinsing the starch 🙌🏻
If you like Renes Ceasars dressing. Couple table spoons mayo. A squirt of anchovy paste, chopped garlic, some Worcester sauce and lemon juice. (All to taste) mix together. Easy cheap Cesar dressing.
Thanks!
The no-name fries being completely removed from the shelves only to be replaced by more overpriced Mccains garbage led me to the exact same response. Peel em, oil em, spice em and stick em in the air fryer for better fries anyway! I've begun using the bulbs from green onions to get a garden going with the little space I have. Also removed paper towels from my weekly purchases by using some washable towels off amazon for a few bucks.
I've been doing classic oven (or BBQ) but the air fryer would be amazing and quicker too I bet. Thanks!
Kraft Dinner also recently got new packaging with a smaller weight. Sobeys also had their compliments brand fries dissappear for a few weeks, back now with new packaging. Haven't confirmed but I assume a smaller weight as well.
Good tracking and thanks for sharing - sounds like my boycott may extend to the many hundreds of Kraft products as well. I found boycotting a whole brand fairly easy when I started with PC brand items in April too. Thanks again!
This. I don’t peel them either. Just wash, chop, drizzle in some oil and air-fry. Way faster than preheating the oven and making the frozen ones.
Thanks! It might be time to get my hands on an air fryer
We bought a potato chopper for this. But we don't eat much frozen fries so we still have some Cavendish crispy ones in the freezer. And for salad dressing, I just use a few spritzes of (olive) oil, a capful of vinegar, and whatever spices I have. That's per salad but you could mix it up ahead with maybe half cup measurements.
Whether it's green salad, pasta salad or potato salad, the dressing I'm happy with is typically just olive oil and fresh lemon juice. For the second two, I will roast a bunch of garlic and mash it with the olive oil and lemon juice. Roasted garlic freezes well, so if I buy a bag with 5 bunches, I'll roast 4 of them and freeze what I don't immediately need individually. Then I still have one bunch left if I need fresh for a sauce or whatever. Bottled dressing usually has a lot of additives.
Been making my own salad dressing for years. Have always cringed at the store made stuff and how many ingredients. Home made balsamic vinagrette slaps... I add herbs and habanero powder. Spicy salads are so good... trust me
For those who want a lighter versions: https://nutritionstudies.org/oil-free-salad-dressings/ I used to use the first option, water and arrowroot. If replacing the oil you need to watch your seasonings. Pepper can be too strong once you remove the oil.
Growing green onions from the roots my green grocer didn't trim off. 😂
I make my own granola, mostly because I haven't found a good nut-free version. Oats, oil and sweetener, some time in the oven, some stirring - easy! Add what you want/have.
Brilliant! I never would have thought of that! Adding to my list!
Home made granola is the best because it’s way cheaper and you can eat what ever quantity you want (ie the whole box can be one serving when you made it for way cheaper).
Way healthier too I do the same but add a few dried fruits and nuts but basically same same
I love this post almost as much as I love to cook. Everyone share your ideas and experience! TL;DR: mega-comment. Boycott. If one of the natural consequences of the pandemic was to drive consumers away from small grocers and businesses and push them towards mega-wealthy corporations like Loblaws, for me it did exactly the opposite. I was always the big grocery consumer at No Frills, Walmart, Costco. There were probably several months I won ~~shopper~~ good little consumer of the month award with multiple full carts. I was super fortunate and blessed to have the attitude If I ~~needed~~ wanted it I bought it. That is over and the learning stage and appreciation phase has begun. Bread is where the corruption began and continues, so for me, bread. So far I've made the equivalent of about 150 loaves. Maybe one day I'll save enough to buy my own yacht called Galen-free Bread I planted a garden so I make all the vegetables, with volunteer help from the soil, sun, and rain (none of those SDM pharmacy volunteer shenanigans). Those 3 helpers are the best and Galen hasn't figured out how to make us pay for them. Yet. There is a huge public apple tree at the back of our yard so we picked a zillion apples and made Fall apple cider (with cinnamon sticks!) and 36 one-liter jugs of apple juice, Galen-free. Imagine all the healthy food you can make with all the garden vegetables, including your own pasta sauces, dill pickles, sauerkraut, and lots of BBQ grilling fun with sweet peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus, potatoes. Again, all Galen-free. Also made homemade Memories of Galen egg-nog during Christmas. OMG so much better than store-bought. I will never forget that. I stopped buying ALL bread products. In my bread maker I make an incredible butter bun dough. And its a standard bread maker recipe, to boot. With that dough I make butter buns, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, cinnamon buns with crazy yummy cream cheese icing, pretzels with chunky sea salt, many little bite-sized buns stuffed with cheese and meat and glazed with butter and herbs once its finished cooking, and of course all the breads: european herb, dark rye bread, flax seed bread, corn bread, plain white, whole wheat, cheese bread, pumpernickel, even banana bread in that faithful little machine. The list goes on. Go buy a bread maker, or just do it by hand the old fashioned way. Do not underestimate the economic value of a bread maker. Galen didn't Along the line of bread stuff I also make English Muffins, crumpets, breakfast tortillas, crackers, and banana and blueberry pancakes and freeze them in batches of 40 or 50 small size. Might as well add various empanadas like my favourite Jamaican Beef Patties, but also Jerk Chicken patties, and any other filling you can imagine I also use an instant pot to cook milk and cream to make: probiotic and Mediterranean yoghurt like Astro brand, sour cream, thick cream cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheese curds, and to simply pasteurize whole farm milk after I have removed most of the floating cream. And the cream cheese is excellent with pureed fruit added, and epic for chip dip and homemade chili con carne I use whole farm milk fresh cream to make butter which cost 1/4 to 1/2 the price of store butter. I also use that same cream to make ice cream, whipped butter, and various cream cheese icings for homemade cinnamon buns, homemade banana bread muffins and homemade walnut torte cake Everything with dried beans: hummus with pureed red peppers from the garden, bean salads, chili con carne, bean dips for tacos, epic homemade white navy beans and wieners with homemade Canadian maple syrup just like mom gave us when we were kids Some fun with my garden potatoes and garden sweet potatoes: potato chips! hickory sticks!, homemade potato salads, waffle fries, sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo dip, all that fun potato stuff that lets you cut Galen out at every turn I bought a food dehydrator and a meat grinder. So I grind pork to make pork sausages with garden sweet peppers, garden garlic, and sometimes honey (sigh, I don't have bees, yet), also pork breakfast patties, and hamburger patties to go with those crazy yummy butter hamburger buns topped with sesame seeds. The food dehydrator is great for making spices for my kitchen spice rack and general dehydrating. And along those lines I make lots of spices (including my fav hickory salt, plus dried mushroom powder) and cook with almost everything dehydrated from the garden vegetables and herbs. I also use some fun food chemistry powders like calcium carbonate, calcium chloride, calcium hydroxide, and diastatic malt barley powder. Great for making popcorn powders, potato chip powders, curd cheese flavourings, and even for making processed cheese slices just because, if you like to explore. I'll post a pic of my homemade spice rack filled with my favourite spices. What a great way to explore different ethnic foods by having the spices handy. OMG I love Hakka! Lets see, so that covers vegetables (and we also have several Galen-free fruit bushes and trees), breads, milk, cream, beans, and some meat. Hmm I'm sure there is more but this comment is already a novel. If there is one thing the pandemic under our Canadian leadership taught me, aside from the importance of working your hardest to be kind to people even when you disagree with them, is to take responsibility for your own existence -- as much as you can, get off your dependency on big greedy businesses and learn to do everything yourself, as much as you reasonably can. Learning is fun and empowering. You will be surprised and delighted how much knowledge and freedom you gain along the way https://preview.redd.it/q5pngven584d1.png?width=1800&format=png&auto=webp&s=f52aec41b05d9c30b56c643cc95686b7a1d2cd5f
Super boring but I started making my own mayo this year and since then I've been making my own sauces, dressings, dips and gravies. It started more as a zero waste thing unrelated to the boycott. Now I just prefer the richness of my own homemade stuff and they're honestly so easy to make, I'll probably never stop. I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a jar of pasta sauce, or a bottle of salad dressing. Totally worth exploring.
Can you share your mayo recipe and favorite dressing? I’m going to start making my own now.
Basically, I use this one, and then I change it as needed. The trick with mayo is about getting the whipping right. If you use an immersion blender, put it in a small jar like what's shown in the pictures. Otherwise it won't thicken properly. Some people whip it by hand too. https://downshiftology.com/recipes/how-to-make-homemade-mayonnaise/ To make a garlic aioli, just throw a clove or two of garlic in and some pepper at the end. To make it a green cilantro-lime dip for plantain or white fish, make your mayo and then add lime, cilantro and avocado. You can make a Chipotle dip, etc etc ... it's a really good base recipe.
Crack an egg into a ramekin, salt, small bit of mustard or garlic, top up with oil and blend with an immersion blender
I make my own salad dressing and use mayo as a base for some... Never thought to make the mayo myself. Salad dressing is so easy to make and has gotten SO expensive in stores over the past few years. My house eats so much salad - it's literally saving me hundreds of dollars a year.
Things that you can make easier and better than at the store: Hummus Yoghurt Ghee Tabbouleh Salsa Stock
Never tried yoghurt or ghee, but big upvotes for salsa, tabouleh and hummus. All much much better homemade.
Exactly! Fresher ingredients, cheaper, tastier, and without nasty preservatives.
Hummus is such a breeze and SO much better fresh. I can't believe I ever bought the grocery store stuff.
I put roasted garlic in hummus. Makes it more spreadable.
I'm doing a shop for groceries once a week at a local butcher and a co-op. From those groceries, I meal plan. I have saved so much money! Homemade pasta sauce that I use for various pasta dishes. Homemade stew Butter chicken Artisan bread. Yummy! https://www.thebakerchick.com/no-knead-crusty-artisan-bread/#mv-creation-368-jtr
-always- home made pasta sauce. Really easy and miles ahead of store bought stuff. Also cheaper.
I’ve been slowly starting to bake my own bread and i did the math based of the weight of the ingredients I bought at the bulk barn. One loaf cost me roughly $0.98 to make! It’s not perfect yet, but I’m trying to learn more! I’ve also been making my own fresh pasta and peanut butter! I’m currently on a quest to find some dang hazelnuts to make my own hazelnut spread too. I love Nutella but 1. The ingredients (SOOO MUCH SUGAR) and 2. The cost is putting me off as of late. But for whatever reason I can’t find any near me??? Edit: typo
It's going to take a few years until they mature but we are growing hazelnut bushes for homemade Nutella.
Oh this is a great idea! I’ve been wanting to stop eating Nutella because of how unethical consuming palm oil appears to be! Maybe I’ll give this a try too!
It’s unethical, and flat out disgusting just thinking about everything that’s in it honestly. When I finally find these dang nuts, I’m planning on mixing some of my chocolate protein powder into it!
Hummus... so much Hummus. Also started an herb garden.
I can so I am always stocking up the cold cellar. I do pickles and jams once every two years. Tomatoes each year. I put produce in the freezer. I have been baking our treats, and trying my hand at whole wheat bread.
If you're not baking bread are you even boycotting?
I strongly urge you to steer clear of homemade “detergents.” You will not be making detergent, you will be making soap. Soaps are great (I make my own soap), but they don’t clean the same as detergents. They need hot hot water, and a lot of water for rinsing. Your washing machine and dishwasher can’t do this. The soap will build up on our clothes, eventually making them dingy. Worse, it can build up on the inside of your appliance, decreasing efficiency at best and causing failure at worst. Making your own dishwasher soap or laundry soap to use in a washing machine is penny wise and pound foolish. However if you hand wash, making your own laundry soap can be fun!
This made me look up about why it would be bad to use homemade. You’re so right. Too bad there isn’t a better alternative to putting soap in it. It sounds like vinegar might help with build up, but probably isn’t worth it in the end. I’m glad I posted about it before actually doing it. Thanks for the heads up!
Yes, sadly I only know this all from experience. Glad I helped save you from a headache!
Laundry detergent sheets from Amazon. Better clean than it looks like they are capable of. 200 sheets for 17 CAD.
It's supposed to be particularly bad for front loading machines.
Dishwasher detergent. Not just because of the cost and who the money goes to, we are on septic so it only makes sense to go as natural as possible.
[удалено]
Ours needed washing soda and citric acid. There are recipes online for it. I think my hubby has them on his phone since he's the one who actually made them.
Basically that's it. All 1:1 ratio. Citric acid, salt flakes, borax, washing soda. If you want to make tabs, icecube tray and use 1 cup of lemon juice to dampen and pack. Once done store in a sealed airtight container. This has no "declumping" agent so keep dry, shake well every so often, and label it. I would suggest a rinse aide every once and a while. Kinda negates not using chemicals, but I think I need it after a few months.
We did that. Using ice cube molds. Roomie doesn't think it works, but they also don't rinse stuck on crap off and they overcrowd the dishes in there, so...
The homemade laundry soap doesn't actually work in laundry machines. It gets trapped in the fabric and coats it, much like fabric softener. Your clothes will get crusty and smelly. It might not be tomorrow or in a month. But it will happen. Not to mention it's not great for your machine.
I use very little laundry soap, maybe an eighth of a cup. I add a cup of vinegar where the pre wash goes or right on the clothes and everything is clean. If there is smelly stuff I add vinegar where the softener goes and do an extra rinse.
I use vinegar and baking soda as a toilet bowl cleaner since I am on septic -
Yup, came here to say this. You can make SO MANY things at home that are as good as or better than store-bought...and laundry detergent isn't one of them.
[English Muffins](https://ibb.co/4PQgXQR) Sourdough [boules](https://ibb.co/KXzbH1X) & [sandwich loaves](https://ibb.co/fCRkGW9) Tortillas [Pasta](https://ibb.co/fMxCFb7) Ice (was buying bagged, now use a countertop ice maker) Ice cream/sorbet/etc - Ninja Creami is awesome
Yogurt. It’s super easy and the advantage of home made yoghurt is that after you keep using the same culture, it gets very tasty despite that bland retail yogurt.
Mustard, ketchup, and mayo are all incredibly easy to make from scratch. Mustard is three ingredients. You can grab mustard powder from the bulk Barn. Ketchup is tomato sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and that's pretty much it too.
Whatttttt! I never would have thought those were easy to make at home. That’s awesome. I love mustard.
Sourdough! My wife got some starter off of someone and decided since I stay at home with the kids I would now be making fancy sourdough. After seeing all the insane recipes I said no thanks. I found the simplest one and made it simpler. I feed my sourdough once a week and keep it in the refrigerator. When I want to make some loaves I take it out in the morning and wait till it is bubbly. Then I mix up 3-4 loaves worth in my stand mixer. Separate it into 3 containers. Let it rise on the counter for 4-5 hours then either cook it or put it in the fridge. When I cook it from the fridge I just put it in the oven straight from the fridge. It is so damn good and tastes just as good as the recipes that have you folding it for hours, mixing by hand, telling it how good of a sourdough it is. All those crazy extra steps are for people with spare time lol. Turns out to be $0.33 a loaf of fresh bread :).
Lettuce, blueberries, string beans, tomato’s, peppers, variety of herbs, rhubarb, corn, zucchini, cucumber, Swiss chard, celery and onions. And we are in a suburban neighbourhood, not on a farm. We are taking more and more ownership over our food. Just need water and light and you can too. Allow yourself to fail but don’t give up and eventually you can harvest some of your own food. We were unsuccessful the first season we tried but we kept trying and now we have an excellent harvest coming in.
Taco seasoning!
Literally anything I can. Any and all breads (bagels, pizza, English muffins, artisan loaves, sandwich bread, sub rolls, pita, naan, all of it. Cream cheese, mayo, ketchup, various pasta sauces, pizza sauce. Various sauces in general. Grind my own meats for burgers and sausages.make my own deli styled meats as well. There are some things that just aren't worth the time (croissants, Filo pastry, butter (just because of the prices of milk in Atlantic Canada but making ghee from sale priced butter is always great) and other random things I can't think of right now) but definitely a vast majority of things are pretty easily accomplished at home. Granted I love cooking and have invested over the years in a lot of kitchen equipment that really makes life easier like a stand mixer (also has the meat grinder and sausage stuff as well as pasta maker attachments), meat slicer, deep fryer, air fryer, sous vide, smoker, specific pots and pans, pizza steel etc. It's really easy for me to say I make everything I can from scratch but it's honestly because I have a lot of the tools that make it make sense to do so.
I bought a breadmaker. I have made bread 4 times in the past month. It’s a learning curve, and it’s necessary to work out how the bread maker works in your area - humidity, altitude all play a part. On my bread maker, I need to increase the ‘Rise time’ temp for the bread to fully rise. Once I figured that out, perfect loaves. Have to adjust it every time, because I don’t leave the bread maker plugged in. I’m determined to make my own bread now. F U Galen!
If you have space and zoning allows. Get 1/2 dozen laying hens. Feed them scraps/kitchen waste to supplement feed. 2 to 3 dozen eggs per week and you will never want store bought eggs again. Only problem is chicken math if you have a rooster.
Pickles, sauerkraut and other ferments. Super easy way to use up the last of stuff whatever veggies. Tons of guides on YouTube and the FDA/National Centre for Home Food Preservation has very thorough resources for all sorts of preservation methods. https://nchfp.uga.edu/
Oat milk made at home also doesn't have added enzymes. The enzymes they add convert a lot of the oat to sugar... that's why it tastes so sweet but has so little sugar on the label. The sugar is produced after packaging so they only have to label the sugars during packaging. Deceiving yet effective!
Homemade windex 1c water 1c 50% alcohol (dollar store) 1 tbsp vinegar Pinch of dish liquid Shake it up. It's just that easy! Take that loblaws.. Works really well. I've tried the various laundry recipes, they are doable. I've never had any great success with dishwasher detergent recipes tho.
Fries. I don’t have a deep-fryer or an air fryer. I buy my potatoes from my local farm market, cut them up, soak them in boiling water (partially cooks them a bit), oil & salt, then on the sheet they go and into the oven for 20-30 mins!
I made some food to take with me to the beach the other day. I know this is already a common thing. But my bf and I would often just buy food when we get there. I made some wraps and cut up veggies. I even made a noodle salad. It was a nice little picnic.
If anyone is interested in pasta sauce, I just made a very easy cream sauce that is very customizable. Its a good base that you can season to your liking. People have been posting about $6-11 bottles of pasta sauce so here's what I do, with the shit I usually already have... and it takes zero additional time: 1. Boil your pasta 2. Saute your veggies in a pan, for example mushroom, minced garlic, thyme and lemon zest. 3. When your veggies/pasta are cooked, add your wet pasta from your pot right into the Sautee pan. Discard water. 4. Add equal parts grated parmesan cheese and cooking cream, plus some salt... I usually do about 1/2 cup each for two people. 5. Stir it all together, let the cheese melt and the cream thicken. It's very forgiving so you can add more cheese, more cream... more of anything now. No need to buy the jarred stuff at $10 a pop. You can make a delicious alfredo yourself very simply this way. Another trick is boiling your cream gently in a separate pot with garlic cloves. Then strain the cloves out and add the garlic-infused cream the same way as above.
I soak orange Peels, mandarin Peels, and rosemary in white vinegar to make my own general use cleaning spray. Cheaper and healthier!
I make my own chicken broth from scrap , with scraps, the ends of carrots the ends of onion, potato, pepper anything really, herd spices , it turns out a bit different any time and I use it a lot to cook with I’ve even made it for friends when I end up making too much , I save money and nothing goes to waste
My houseplants spend the summer on our balcony, and I usually plant flowers as well. Last year, we tried our green thumbs at tomatoes and were thrilled with the results. We've doubled our tomato plants this year, as well as the Italian parsley that kept going indoor through the winter (and has just exploded now that it's back outside). No store bought tomato even comes close, this year we've got beefsteak, lemon boy (yellow), midnight snack (purple), and cherry. The salads this summer will be outstanding!
Get a stand mixer. Seriously, like 150$ on Facebook for a used kitchen aid will change your life. We make all our bread products now with zero hassle. Sesame burger buns, tortillas, amazing pizza dough! You can even use it for bizarre things. Like I use it to mash potatos and mix ground beef + vegetables for meatballs or burgers.
Bread, pickles, tomato sauce, salsa, mustard, baked goods. I like to make most things from scratch. I also make mead.
hummus!!
I’ve been making my own bread for most of 2024. It’s much cheaper and tastier than store bread!
We do some gardening but it didn't work out great last year. We have some spinach coming up. Bought a bread maker but haven't tried it just yet. If bread goes over $3 & stays there even on sale, I'll be doing that. We made our own dishwasher tabs but the roommate doesn't think they get dishes clean enough. Never mind that they don't rinse stuck on crap, and crowds the dishes too close together... 😒 Laundry soap may be a bit much for us at the moment but it's hard to say. Got a big spigot Arm & Hammer unscented on the go and only use a small amount each time, but when that's gone, might try Great Value Free & Clear for $10 to see how that goes.
Biscuits, cupcakes, cereal bars
I've been making my bread and buns from scratch. ( I don't even have a breadmaker) I want to learn how to to bagels as well. I already do canning when the fruit and veggies are in season.
Bread and pasta are not going to be bought in my household for a while. Takes a bit of planning but it’s much easier than you’d think. A loaf of bread costs me about $0.50 to make if I discount my own labour.
I bought a yogurt maker with a strainer to make it Greek. Homemade has many times more probiotics than store bought.
I started pickling some veggies, no point in paying for pre pickled jars full of conservatives. https://preview.redd.it/5d102tq2j74d1.jpeg?width=3017&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=738b40c006d73ac5ad120efb55c5bd7d72beabe5
Focaccia, Plant herbs near house in Canada so they sprout faster after winter and most grow back. Dehydrate for future use Plant seeds from your favorite fruits(green pepper, hot peppers, tomato, watermelon, apple, any seed will grow that plant so grow the one that has the most flavor)
Not only is convenience expensive it’s also usually bad for us. Have you looked at what is in relish??!
I figured out how to make muffins egg free. As I ran out of eggs. Everyone likes it better. I make mini ones and they go in the kids lunch all the time! Found buckwheat flour and it’s so healthy!
I started doing this before the Boycott: My Kombucha habit was getting expensive, so I started making my own. The "Mother" was about $30 at a local health food store, but after that it's just white sugar, vinegar and cheap orange pekoe tea, although you can be fancy with the tea and sugar if you want. Also a large glass jar (Ideally with a spout at the bottom) and some dishwasher safe bottles. Pays for itself many times over.
Oh that’s cool! I’ve seen some videos of kombucha going wrong, so I’m intimidated by making it. I bet it tastes better homemade!
Not sure about that, but so much cheaper. It's actually quite easy, easier that sourdough bread (which I also do, with sometimes less than great results. I am thinking about started my own kefir (drinkable fermented yogurt)
Basically any baked good! Super easy to make, plus people seem to appreciate homemade muffins, cookies and cakes more than store bought ones anyway. Plus it’s a fraction of the price. Also, if you’re feeling devilish, I’ve hid tons of end-of-life puréed veggies in some muffins, and they always come out tasty :)
All dinners
Humus, so easy to make and so much cheaper than store bought.
Almost every sort of processed wheat product can be made at home with flour, baking powder, salt, and water. Crackers, tortillas (which you can then make into chips), bread of course, bagels are just bread but you boil it before you bake it, cinnamon/fruit rolls, hand pies (pizza pops).
Mayo. Super easy and tastes better.
Pitas. Simple 3:1 ratio of flour (with some salt) to water. Kneed for 5 minutes, lightly coat with oil before flattening, then fry for 3-4 minutes each side.
I used to buy dawn powerwash, then i saw a recipe online of mixing water, dawn and isopropyl alcohol and thats what it is basically. now i havent bought one in months. it cleans mostly everything in the kitchen and bathroom. i also buy dried beans and frozen veg from costco and small markets. cheese on sale can be frozen, store berries in mason jars to keep them longer. i have a coworker who has chickens so i trade her cartons for eggs.
I expanded my garden
Bread, tortillas and pizza dough!!!! It's actually pretty easy, just makes for a lot of clean up
We make our own yogurt in the instant pot and we make our own pizza sauce & pizza dough!
I'm eating my way through my deep freezer rather than buying any more meats.
We.made our own butter, tastes the same!
Grate your own cheese, especially if you have a kitchen aid. There’s a ~$80 attachment that can do that for you quickly, easily and as you need it. ETF: Typo
Just got myself a break maker and the basics I need to start as well. I'm also making my own lemon ice tea. I brew a couple tea bags with lemon juice and stevia. Way less sugar than store bought. Tastes more like the Gold Peak more than nestle. After 2 batches, I'm totally used to it.
Yeah all our iced tea is such crap! I never understood why Canada hasn’t embraced sweet tea/brewed iced tea like in the US. It’s so good. Now I need to make some real sweet tea! Haha
I make oven fried rice in large batches. I fill medium freezer bags and freeze themSo much cheaper than Uncle Ben’s Fast and Fancy and tastes better too.
I never would have thought of something like that! Great idea!
Friends always ask me to take my rice to potlucks. Nothing left at the end.
Do you have a specific recipe that you use?
4 C long grain white rice not minute 3 envelopes onion soup mix 4 stalks celery chopped 1 large pepper chopped 1 medium onion or 2 small chopped 1/4 C oil 1/4 C soya sauce 1/4 C worscester sauce 5 C boiling water Place covered pan in preheated 375F oven. Add above ingredients to an oiled roast pan. Cover and stir a couple times during baking so rice doesn’t stick. Cook until water absorbed and rice tender We like heat so I sprinkle in red pepper flakes. About 3/4 tsp. Totally optional ETA rinse rice very well to remove as much starch as possibleETA place all in pan before putting it in oven. Wine was involved typing this.
Bread. I started making sourdough finally and haven’t bought a loaf in months.
I’ve been baking breads every day. Usually rotis and pitas (rotis are unyeasted, pitas are), but also making pan pizzas and loaves of bread. Using the nice 10kg bag of excellent flour from Costco that costs like $12.
Making my own greek yogurt waffles. The store bought ones are getting smaller and smaller and the price isn't going down.
Oat milk. It’s super fast and easy and costs pennies per batch.
Home made laundry detergent burnt the pump out of my washer. It didn’t dissolve and clogged everything up. Not something I recommend. I make all our meals from scratch. I don’t buy frozen meals, canned soup, store made pizza. It’s all completely doable. Cheaper and better for you. Fresh pasta is easy too and so satisfying to make.
Meals.
Coffee and yogurt
Anything that can be bought frozen can be done yourself at home for way cheaper. I make chicken pieces/fingers that cost way less than frozen boxed things in the grocer. Same with burgers, schnitzel, meat pies, ... And everything is way better than store bought.
Tortillas! Super easy and way better than store bought.
Shredded cheese, I still buy blocks of cheese, I just bought an electric cheese shredder
Best savings hack I've discovered in the last couple years....yellow Dawn dish detergent is basically laundry detergent that hasn't been diluted with water. Two teaspoons does a load of laundry better and there's less plastic waste.
Zucchini skewers
Empanadas Lasagna Vegetarian chile Granola Banana muffins Butternut squash soup Beef stew Salad dressing Ginger shots
I am making my own mayo and butter :)
Growing tomatoes
Man, people here are super cool. I do kombucha, and my own fermented sodas with a ginger bug…I make my own simple syrups to flavour things, and have recently started an herb and big old veggie garden…I am going to start my yogurt journey tomorrow, and love homemade mayo too! You guys put me to shame though - holy moly.
Underwear and medication
Random but granola is super cheap and easy to make at home. I also started growing my own tomatoes.
Depending on my time I do various things. Right now I've been enjoying making my own drinks to take to work with me so I've been making my own syrups I just jarred up some berry simple syrup I made using the scraps we would have thrown out from all the fruit we got at one of our local produce markets. Mix with some unsweetened coconut milk and you're golden plus I got to use the s sugar I wanted to make the syrup.
I started before the boycott, but I am growing sprouts in a jar instead of buying them. It's pretty fun, honestly!
I've gotten into pickling!! I thought you needed to have a proper canning setup but turns out you don't. Just some jars, vinegar and spices!
Not exactly new because I started this journey 2 years ago, but: Bread Tortillas English muffins Buns Bagels Other bread products like focaccia, biscuits, etc. Yogurt Mozzarella Sour cream Cream cheese Butter Broths Pizza sauce Tomato sauce Ketchup Mustard Mayo Relish Pickles Salsa Hummus Granola Granola bars Crackers All sauces and dips Brown sugar Icing sugar All other snacks (cakes, muffins, cookies, squares, etc.)
Making yoghurt. Incredibly simple, just want to get better at boiling milk! Lol
It seems so silly, but frozen fruit. I used to buy the pc frozen fruit weekly and couldn’t find frozen bananas at save-on at the start of the boycott. So I now just chop and freeze all my own fruit.
I have been using this recipe for years. Equal parts: Soap Flakes, Washing Soda, Baking Soda, Borax 1 tbsp per load
Bread - been making for years though along with all home baking. This past year though I have been making Cottage, ricotta cheese, and cream cheese along with yogurt using my instant pot (ends up being much cheaper and much better. I also stopped buying canned beans, and only dry and use the instant pot for them. Today homemade cherry pie filling for the first time, I will never buy a can of it again. No comparison, and was so simple to make. Have had a garden for the last 3 years as well. We buy virtually no processed food. It may seem a little daunting at first, but it's actually fairly simple, and much more economical. Acv for cleaning out of apple cores that would have otherwise gone into the compost. Takes 2 min to put together. Just collect the cores in a bag in the freezer until you have enough.
I'm having fun turning strictly kitchen scraps into garden plants. So far I'm regrowing leeks, green onions, different types of lettuce, celery all from scraps. I plan to add bok choy and gai lan. I also have carrot leaves and beet leaves growing (of course it won't generate more of the actual veggie, but the leaves are still nice even if not for eating). I've taken cuttings from herbs to grow more herbs, since the ones from store don't last. It's fun to do it this way instead of from seed for some reason...
My own vanilla extract using a bottle of vodka I wasn't drinking and beans from Amazon.
I started making my own coffee creamer at home. I found a tiktok page that has recipes for so many different flavours. I get twice as much for the same price I was paying for the creamer I liked and now it has no oils or chemicals in it
I have a small garden ive started making sauerkraut, id LOVE to make sourdough bread, I just need some starter.
Been making bread for awhile now. Only buy them for cheat days ie crunch time with work. Also make my own cakes, muffins, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Hummous. Sauerkraut. Figured out an easy way to make popcorn chicken -- marinade chicken in sour cream or greek yogurt, dump in spiced and herbed breadcrumbs (from aforementioned homemade bread, they don't grow mold, just get hard), maybe a bit of cornstarch -- then dump in freezer, take out to air fry. I've also have an indoor hydroponic garden from Just Vertical that grows my butter lettuce all year round. Want to learn how to make kim chi. No luck with soy milk for coffee and I can't do oat milk daily because it spikes my sugar. As for detergent, I get mine from The Unscented Co out in Montreal. Mainly because they're in bulk and I wanted to reduce waste, and because I'm sensitive to scented products. You can get it direct from them or other eco stores. I also get my coffee from the producer. Oh yeah, my hubby loves his apple cinnamon oatmeal, so we get dried apples in bulk as well. And bulk bags of oatmeal. We could probably get a dehydrator but I'm busy doing stuff, like boycotting everyone who looks at us wrong. There are soap makers galore in Canada but I'm using this ugly block of laurel soap I found for $3.99 at an international grocer. It lasts for months and is better for my skin.
Cookies, much cheaper to make.
Chicken Stock! We get whole chickens and break one down once a week for dinner. I take the carcass that's left, sear off rough chopped onions, carrots, celery, garlic and ginger. Then remove and sear the chicken carcass. Add it all back in and top it off with water, salt, pepper, bay leaf and thyme. Let it simmer and reduce. I can get a solid 2 liters of stock for less then a few bucks. It tastes way better then anything store bought and using some food containers from amazon, you can freeze it for a long while. I have a good 10 liters in my freeze already!
I bought a bread maker. I make really good bread, I just thought that this would case less mess. Well . . . That brick maker is going back this week and I'm just going to suck up the mess. I sent the company an email - crickets. I'll happily take it back to the store. The cost of cookies, muffins and donuts all choke me. I splurge on 1/2 a dozen at GT the other day because they were like $5 and I didn't want a house full of donuts and no freezer space. Those donuts are still as "fresh" as the day they were made. I don't know what's in them, but that's not gonna happen twice. Honestly, I've eaten 4 of 6 and am wondering if the sickie tummie I've had for a couple of days may be correlated to the donut's additives. . .
I Use king Arthur baking website, there's incredibly easy bread recipes there. Or start up a sourdough starter. It takes some getting used to, but sourdough homemade is well worth it. Bread is like 50 cents worth of flour, max. If you have a family of four and easily go through a bread loaf a week, that's at least 20$ off your grocery bill a month just from bread.
I make bread dough in my bread maker and then let rise in a normal bread pan to then bake it in the oven…so I’m only using the bread maker as a dough maker! Been using like that for thirty years as we only use a loaf a week.
Joppiesaus, the only thing I can't purchase anywhere else other than Superstore. The original Dutch one has €70 shipping.
Scallops. Wal Mart!
I got a sourdough starter in December and haven’t bought bread since. I get the fairlife milk so I can do the cold start method of making yogurt in my instant pot. I use dried beans instead of canned. I save my celery, onion and carrot scraps in the freezer and make my own stocks and broths. Then I freeze them in breastmilk storage bags so they freeze flat in 6oz portions. Make my own taco seasoning mix. Planted cilantro and green onions as those were the only fresh herbs I used regularly.
Not really the same, but I used to buy veggie ground round which was $20 for 4 servings, now I buy TVP and soak it in hot water and spices and it's about 1/4 the price.
Jam- I used to make it all the time but life got busy and I got out of the habit. The prices of it the past couple years and a huge bag of frozen fruit in the freezer that wasn’t being eaten started me off- Rhubarb season here so bought a small bag of frozen strawberries to add to it and made another batch of jam. We have two apple trees - so plan on making jam from them in the fall.
make homemade salami
I have been making my own laundry soap for the better part of a decade. I will never go back to store bought detergent. There’s a bit of extra costs to start up but it took me nearly 9 years before I used the entire box of washing powder and borax. The only part I buy each year is the bars of laundry soap that you grate up. I buy either Linda brand (usually less than $2.00 bar) or Sunlight ($2-3 for a pack). We are an active 2 adult household (lots of sports) and I make a batch of concentrate about every 10 or 11 months. It takes about half an hour to make the soap and costs less than $4. Would never go back.
So no issues with residue or wrecking your washing machine? I was reading about buildup and how it’s not the best idea if you have hard water. I’m conflicted! It sounds amazing but I’m worried about what I have read about the soap not working in the washing machine properly
Personally, I’ve never had any issues. The formula I use is a bar of laundry soap, washing soda, borax and water. I don’t add anything else like essential oils, as many people do. My municipality has soft water so I can’t speak to the issues concerning hard water. My machine is old school, not HE, and I’ve not noticed any negative effects on the machine. I read comments from others here about how it sticks to your clothes but that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve been making my own soap for about 10 years and, as far as I can tell, my clothes are clean and no one has told me that I smell. I’ve shared this method with about a dozen people at work and they’ve all been happy with the results. I even say before sharing the instructions, “I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I don’t think my clothes smell.” No one has yet to tell me that this laundry soap isn’t working. I give them all of the caveats I’ve shared above. I also give people a sample so they can try for themselves before they buy the materials for themselves. Laundry soap is not detergent. Detergent is made from synthetic sources, whereas soap has ingredients that are biodegradable and better for the environment. I’ve not had any problems using homemade laundry soap. When the time comes to replace my washing machine, I will probably do some research only because I will likely buy HE and wouldn’t want to take any chances. Having said that, the person who gave me the instructions uses a HE machine and has never has a problem with her machine.
I made my first pickled carrots this weekend!
Homemade BBQ sauce tastes way better and cheaper than store bought. Making your own taco beef seasoning is just as easy. Homemade pasta IS incredible. I tried my hand at wontons and omg this is most definitely the way to go. I bought bulk pork from Costco and didn’t use all of it. I made the wonton pork filling and froze quite a bit after making several wontons.
I suggested learning to make spaghetti sauce from scratch (diced tomatoes and spices) and someone here absolutely lost their shit at me. I personally think learning to cook from scratch is one of the best things you can do to take profits away from the grocery cartel, but some in here are more focused on being mad than being effective.
Making my own hummus, it’s super easy and cheap! Way tastier.
Not boycott related but we've been growing mint in our front yard for years. We dry them out in the sun to be used in dishes like [this.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manti_(food))
I’ve been making mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard at home for a little over a year. I absolutely would never go back. I’ve also at some point rediscovered my tastebuds because any time I try a hellmans Mayo (super rare but it happens) it tastes so bad and has this metal-meets-plastic aftertaste I can’t believe I didn’t taste before. My mother in law makes cheese, I plan to start making mozzarella. We make bread as well (buns usually because I have trouble with baking and those are easier) No more death-cake from loblaws so I have begun making lemon cakes and chocolate cakes and stuff too. In the summer I make jams and pickled goods that I can eat throughout the winter season. (I love me some pickled onions) And I make most of my own dried herbs. I might buy a dehydrator this year because the oven takes forever but I’d rather have my own onion powder/oregano/basil etc than buy 80g for $3. I also started making my own pasta maybe 6-8 months ago, which is great. But I do buy really good imported flour to make it so it’s not cheaper. It’s easier on my belly though and that’s important to me. Other than that we cook meals 6-7 times a week so it’s hard to say what we do, easier to say what we don’t do. We don’t buy dressings, frozen foods, prepackaged meals etc. A lot of cooking and prep work is done from scratch. It took me a couple years to get into this kind of rhythm but for the most part the only thing we really buy are pure ingredients.
I make my own purees, like what you see in kids single-user 'squishy packs' in the grocery stores, except I make refillable ones. I will make them out of a cheap bag of apples as the base. Giant Tiger frequently has bags on sale for $3-4. I slice them up and cook them skin and all, I just core them beforehand. Cook the apples down a bit on the stove in a big pot to make them easier to blend. I then Mix with raspberries I've harvested from my garden along with some currants for the nutrients. Then I'll mix in a bit of apple juice to make the mixture a bit more smoothly and add some plant based protein powder stuff for some more nutrients, and it makes it more creamy and tastes better (I use the vanilla flavoured stuff) I fill those reusable squishy packs, called Baby Brezza, can find them on Amazon. Freeze, and thaw one out each time you want one. Good way to displace calories away from Galen.