What do you make from scratch?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I went through a brief period making yogurt in the instapot and I don’t see what the fuss was. It's not very thick, and no cheaper than buying it. I prefer the thick Icelandic skyr. Am I missing something?

Nope. You are not missing anything.

The only reason people make their own yogurt is to tell people they make their own yogurt.

Maybe they want to avoid microplastics or they go through a lot of it. DIY is way more affordable.

it’s not really any more affordable though.

It is. I make enough for at least a week of daily breakfast using less than a gallon of $3.89 milk. If you could direct me to plain whole milk yogurt cheaper than that, I’d love to know brand/source.

I went through a brief period making yoghurt in the instapot. From what I remember, the yoghurt was comparable to the Brown Cow yoghurt in texture and flavor. At the time those were selling for $1 a pot in the supermarket. I was paying $4-5 for a gallon of good organic milk. Plus you still had to buy a yoghurt to start the batch. The outcome was maybe a few dollars savings per week. It wasn't worth the hassle.

Totally fine, I 100% get not wanting the hassle (I could not be bothered to make tomato sauce and plenty of other things from scratch). But Brown Cow appears to currently be $5 for 32 oz, so using half a gallon of $3.89 milk is cheaper, if not easier.

Yeah for many people 2 days worth of waiting and effort isn’t worth a couple dollars of savings. Me included.

Making yogurt can be so easy and hands off though. I have a yogurt machine I got off Amazon so to make yogurt, you pour the milk in, stir in your starting culture/yogurt, and push a button. Do this in the morning and then at the end of the day transfer your yogurt to the fridge or the strainer if you want thicker yogurt (bonus, the whey that drains make for amazing biscuits!). Then voila, the next morning you have yogurt.

And that’s another appliance you have to store and clean too.

+1

This was my thought -- I'm not finding a place in my cupboards for a freaking yogurt machine.

DP and I use an instant pot for this and dried beans pretty much every week. YMMV, which is fine.

[Anonymous]

Well damn, this was such a nice thread of enthusiastic cooks, and then the trolls showed up. What's next, a thread about knitting overtaken by people who want to point out the superior ROI of factory made sweaters?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My husband makes a lot of fruit jam but that's just a garden thing. When you have 4 pounds of figs you need some ideas.

During covid I learned to make tortillas because the store kept running out of them and my then toddler was obsessed with them.

I generally prefer to make "sundried" tomatoes (it's just a low oven thing) if I need them because the store ones are too salty.

My husband and both work so there's very little I won't buy but if I'm having a slow week I'll prep some stuff (hummus, breakfast muffins, egg bites, etc.)

If you have too many figs try making chutney. It’s nice to open up a jar for sandwiches in the winter.

I dehydrated a lot of figs last summer and am still eating them as a snack. You can make all kids of baked goods with the dried ones too.

[Anonymous]

I used to make many things from scratch. Then my kids grew up and my career ramped up. Now I only make meals (mostly protein and veggies), and I can vegetables and fruit from my garden.

I do support my local neighborhood baker who has a bakery stand with sourdough and baked goods on weekends.

If you are looking for solid recipes, I love this cookbook:

https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Pantry-Foods-Buying-Making-ebook/dp/B007EEJCX6?ref_=ast_author_mpb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well damn, this was such a nice thread of enthusiastic cooks, and then the trolls showed up. What's next, a thread about knitting overtaken by people who want to point out the superior ROI of factory made sweaters?

Well I think the issue is in the vast majority of cases homemade from scratch is superior in taste and nutrition and sometimes cheaper.

But there are times like in this case yogurt-where it doesn’t really have any of those benefits. You are making yogurt from processed dairy anyway (using milk and premade yogurt as a starter). So really it’s one of those cases where it simply doesn’t really make sense. If saving $1-2 is that important to you and you like making it yourself well then that’s awesome-but the benefits over store bought are simply not there.

Now if you find a way to make homemade greek yogurt that tastes like the greek yogurt in Greece-then we can have a conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to make many things from scratch. Then my kids grew up and my career ramped up. Now I only make meals (mostly protein and veggies), and I can vegetables and fruit from my garden.

I do support my local neighborhood baker who has a bakery stand with sourdough and baked goods on weekends.

If you are looking for solid recipes, I love this cookbook:

https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Pantry-Foods-Buying-Making-ebook/dp/B007EEJCX6?ref_=ast_author_mpb

This book looks awesome, I just bought it. Thank you for sharing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well damn, this was such a nice thread of enthusiastic cooks, and then the trolls showed up. What's next, a thread about knitting overtaken by people who want to point out the superior ROI of factory made sweaters?

Well I think the issue is in the vast majority of cases homemade from scratch is superior in taste and nutrition and sometimes cheaper.

But there are times like in this case yogurt-where it doesn’t really have any of those benefits. You are making yogurt from processed dairy anyway (using milk and premade yogurt as a starter). So really it’s one of those cases where it simply doesn’t really make sense. If saving $1-2 is that important to you and you like making it yourself well then that’s awesome-but the benefits over store bought are simply not there.

Now if you find a way to make homemade greek yogurt that tastes like the greek yogurt in Greece-then we can have a conversation.

Lol, DP who is apparently too much of a rube to make many of the things in this thread from scratch, yet I don’t feel the need to tell people who do that their efforts don’t make sense.

Go on with your bad selves!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well damn, this was such a nice thread of enthusiastic cooks, and then the trolls showed up. What's next, a thread about knitting overtaken by people who want to point out the superior ROI of factory made sweaters?

Some people get really upset by cooking from scratch. It's triggering for them in some weird way, I've noticed this on other threads as well.

[Anonymous]

Very few people make things from scratch. Homemade sauce is made from canned tomatoes from an assembly line. Homemade yogurt is made from pasteurized milk from a dairy farm. Opening up cartons and cans and pouring them together in a simmering pot is not “making things from scratch”. It’s using convenience foods and it’s just a few steps away from buying a jar of Rao’s. I’m not maligning it- that’s my preferred way to cook, but I don’t tell people that my bolognese is made from scratch when I used commercially prepared tomato paste and San marzano tomatoes from a tin.

[Anonymous]

Always mashed potatoes
SOS with homemade white sauce
children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very few people make things from scratch. Homemade sauce is made from canned tomatoes from an assembly line. Homemade yogurt is made from pasteurized milk from a dairy farm. Opening up cartons and cans and pouring them together in a simmering pot is not “making things from scratch”. It’s using convenience foods and it’s just a few steps away from buying a jar of Rao’s. I’m not maligning it- that’s my preferred way to cook, but I don’t tell people that my bolognese is made from scratch when I used commercially prepared tomato paste and San marzano tomatoes from a tin.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLL

[Anonymous]

The dream would be to learn how to make canned everything like my grandmother. Right now, I make "quick freezer" pickles, jams and other safe old school treats (baked goods, candies, nut butter, sauces, etc.) but true steam-packed canned goods...one day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The dream would be to learn how to make canned everything like my grandmother. Right now, I make "quick freezer" pickles, jams and other safe old school treats (baked goods, candies, nut butter, sauces, etc.) but true steam-packed canned goods...one day!

I have thought of getting into canning but I am scared of botulism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very few people make things from scratch. Homemade sauce is made from canned tomatoes from an assembly line. Homemade yogurt is made from pasteurized milk from a dairy farm. Opening up cartons and cans and pouring them together in a simmering pot is not “making things from scratch”. It’s using convenience foods and it’s just a few steps away from buying a jar of Rao’s. I’m not maligning it- that’s my preferred way to cook, but I don’t tell people that my bolognese is made from scratch when I used commercially prepared tomato paste and San marzano tomatoes from a tin.

Tomatoes are from my garden in August. Canned and stored for the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to make many things from scratch. Then my kids grew up and my career ramped up. Now I only make meals (mostly protein and veggies), and I can vegetables and fruit from my garden.

I do support my local neighborhood baker who has a bakery stand with sourdough and baked goods on weekends.

If you are looking for solid recipes, I love this cookbook:

https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Pantry-Foods-Buying-Making-ebook/dp/B007EEJCX6?ref_=ast_author_mpb

I find this super impressive. Would love to maybe do this some day, buy am light years away as this is only my first year with a garden and I'm not even sure I grew much that will grow lol. But I'll learn.