What do you find not worth it to make from scratch? And what is worth making from scratch?

[Anonymous]

Rice in microwave has changed my life. Saves money too. I freeze extra whoever there are leftovers.

[Anonymous]

The absolute best thing to make at home is chicken stock. 1000000x better than anything you can buy.

Whipped cream and vanilla cream are also amazing and low effort.

Bread is also fairly low effort and delicious but it’s also easy to get good bread from the market.

Homemade rice crispy treats are 1000x better than prepackaged ones. And I have a great/easy chocolate chip recipe that we make frequently.

We love to grill so many of those foods are much better at home for us.

I’ve tried a gazillion red sauce recipes and can’t find one I love. So I go with Rao’s (marinara or arrabbiata) or a quick bolognese. Would love a recipe rec if someone has one they really love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Mayonnaise and whipped cream taste completely different, and MUCH better, when made by hand at home. You haven’t had mayo or whipped cream unless you’ve tasted homemade.

Cakes and pies as well because I make them less sweet.

Bread and yogurt ate too much work, although I’ve liked my attempts.

Usually I cook from scratch.

Whipped cream is a good one. I always bring real whipped cream when my ILs host Thanksgiving because I refuse to put Reddi Whip on my pie. My MIL always makes such a big deal out of it, like I’ve done something soooo fancy and complicated, when it literally took me less than two minutes to whip up.

My family prefers the reddi whip! And why are you looking down on your mil? I can read the snark.

Wow, for real. It sounds like she was trying to be nice to you, when you were being a snob.

I had no idea people didn’t make rice from scratch (grew up in an Asian home). I would recommend getting a cheap rice cooker. Set it and forget it. Instant pot also works, although I can’t seem to get it quite right in that so I stick with my rice cooker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything is worth making from scratch if you have enough time & motivation IMO. I make the homemade whipped cream too. My MIL had no idea how to make it as she only used coolwhip her entire life.

Your life revolves about finding any single instance to put your MIL down? Even in her death? Perhaps she was a nicer person than you. I bet you she was. Do you have a long enough wisk to mix the whip cream from your high in the sky perch?

LOL. Lots of angry, cool-whip-type MILs on here today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worth it: English muffins, roasting your own nuts (easy to control salt), pitas, whipped cream, cold brew, pie crust, pesto, salad dressings

Not worth it: hummus (have not mastered this one, maybe with more tries it would be?) peanut butter (not much cost savings and my homemade tastes the same as store bought fresh ground),

Are you using dried garbanzo beans? Maybe you are using the wrong or not enough tahini paste?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rao’s is better than any marinara I have had that is homemade.

What a tragic life you do lead.

No. 99% of people are not good cooks.

Go to Italy and report back.

Someone please share a marinara recipe that is “worth it”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Mayonnaise and whipped cream taste completely different, and MUCH better, when made by hand at home. You haven’t had mayo or whipped cream unless you’ve tasted homemade.

Cakes and pies as well because I make them less sweet.

Bread and yogurt ate too much work, although I’ve liked my attempts.

Usually I cook from scratch.

Whipped cream is a good one. I always bring real whipped cream when my ILs host Thanksgiving because I refuse to put Reddi Whip on my pie. My MIL always makes such a big deal out of it, like I’ve done something soooo fancy and complicated, when it literally took me less than two minutes to whip up.

My family prefers the reddi whip! And why are you looking down on your mil? I can read the snark.

Wow, for real. It sounds like she was trying to be nice to you, when you were being a snob.

I had no idea people didn’t make rice from scratch (grew up in an Asian home). I would recommend getting a cheap rice cooker. Set it and forget it. Instant pot also works, although I can’t seem to get it quite right in that so I stick with my rice cooker.

What ratio of water to rice in rice cooker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything is worth making from scratch if you have enough time & motivation IMO. I make the homemade whipped cream too. My MIL had no idea how to make it as she only used coolwhip her entire life.

You had to use this as an opportunity to make a dig at your MIL? Just answer the question about food!

I disagree. PP is just pointing out that Cool whip is NASTY (have you read the ingredients list? Yuck!)

And it seems that those who like it have no idea how much better homemade whipped cream tastes (like PP’s mil).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rao’s is better than any marinara I have had that is homemade.

What a tragic life you do lead.

No. 99% of people are not good cooks.

Go to Italy and report back.

PP. I am Italian and agree that Italians are good cooks. Revision - 99% of Americans are not and Rao’s is much better than their marinara.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Mayonnaise and whipped cream taste completely different, and MUCH better, when made by hand at home. You haven’t had mayo or whipped cream unless you’ve tasted homemade.

Cakes and pies as well because I make them less sweet.

Bread and yogurt ate too much work, although I’ve liked my attempts.

Usually I cook from scratch.

Whipped cream is a good one. I always bring real whipped cream when my ILs host Thanksgiving because I refuse to put Reddi Whip on my pie. My MIL always makes such a big deal out of it, like I’ve done something soooo fancy and complicated, when it literally took me less than two minutes to whip up.

My family prefers the reddi whip! And why are you looking down on your mil? I can read the snark.

PP here. My kids love Reddi Whip and I treat them to it sometimes. It’s ok if you prefer it, I just don’t. And I’m not exactly looking down on my MIL—although if you can read the snark, I’ll concede it’s there for a multitude of other reasons—but for the purposes of this thread, she’s just not a cook. Would never occur to her that whipped cream is something people make.

[Anonymous]

I make pho broth using Andrea Nguyen’s recipe and freeze a ton. It’s not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth it: English muffins, roasting your own nuts (easy to control salt), pitas, whipped cream, cold brew, pie crust, pesto, salad dressings

Not worth it: hummus (have not mastered this one, maybe with more tries it would be?) peanut butter (not much cost savings and my homemade tastes the same as store bought fresh ground),

Are you using dried garbanzo beans? Maybe you are using the wrong or not enough tahini paste?

DP but I have never succeeded in making hummus as smooth as store bought and I’ve done every imaginable thing to get the garbanzo beans softer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything is worth making from scratch if you have enough time & motivation IMO. I make the homemade whipped cream too. My MIL had no idea how to make it as she only used coolwhip her entire life.

Your life revolves about finding any single instance to put your MIL down? Even in her death? Perhaps she was a nicer person than you. I bet you she was. Do you have a long enough wisk to mix the whip cream from your high in the sky perch?

LOL. Lots of angry, cool-whip-type MILs on here today.

Oh, it's you! The "I have no smart retort, but only resort to calling people MILs when they point out that I am the angry, miserable one. Yep. You have no MIL issues, none at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rao’s is better than any marinara I have had that is homemade.

What a tragic life you do lead.

No. 99% of people are not good cooks.

Go to Italy and report back.

PP. I am Italian and agree that Italians are good cooks. Revision - 99% of Americans are not and Rao’s is much better than their marinara.

I’m also Italian and also agree that most Americans are not good cooks. That said, a marinara sauce is pretty much the easiest sauce on the planet. Master that, and move onto a meat sauce. Tomatoes in season (not cherry) or good quality canned tomatoes off season. Garlic, olive oil. Not that deep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything is worth making from scratch if you have enough time & motivation IMO. I make the homemade whipped cream too. My MIL had no idea how to make it as she only used coolwhip her entire life.

Your life revolves about finding any single instance to put your MIL down? Even in her death? Perhaps she was a nicer person than you. I bet you she was. Do you have a long enough wisk to mix the whip cream from your high in the sky perch?

LOL. Lots of angry, cool-whip-type MILs on here today.

Oh, it's you! The "I have no smart retort, but only resort to calling people MILs when they point out that I am the angry, miserable one. Yep. You have no MIL issues, none at all.

Yikes, lady. Relax. We’re just talking about Cool Whip here.