I’m so thankful not to have the piles of kale and mustard greens we grew last year 
Just kidding. We had a lot of blanched and frozen greens for soup and saag paneer (in addition to salad).
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This is the kind of stuff I remember. At the expense of stuff I actually need to remember.
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That brings up a point…I’ve found a lot of cool things to make when I’ve lived places where I couldn’t buy certain things, and my dairy issues have led me down a path of plant-based subs for traditional dairy-filled recipes.
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Given the fact we are on a food and cook forum. There are many things we are curious to try to make ourselves.
Prefer to make
- Here, I will add planting as well, certain varieties of tomatoes, herbs or strawberries I plant, you don’t find them in the market.
- I prefer to cook my dishes than to order from online delivery unless I’m too tired, or lazy or no food at home
- my own soup than the ready made ones
- whipped cream
- tomato sauce
- butter
Prefer to buy
- Yogurt
- Jam / confiture (absolutely no interest at all, I don’t have fruit trees that give me abundant fruits, buy fruits to make jam seems silly)
- cheese (no way that mine will be better than the store bought ones)
Tried to make, buy is better
- Fruit juice (cheaper than DIY)
Make and buy
- Bread (mine is not yet as good as the bakers, although bakers around my home is so so)
- Fresh pastas, noodles or dumplings
- Pastries and desserts (i like to make for friends or for dinner parties, but also I like to check out the stuff from the bakeries)
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I did a lot of baking last year… this year, not so much. The local Safeway’s bakery does a fine job with breads and cakes (although I’m not a big cake guy, except for German chocolate). I still do pita and pizza crust ‘cause what’s in the store is sub-par. I also do corn bread. Used to make cheesecake too, but the ingredients have gotten so expensive I can buy a really nice one for about what It costs to make… then I’ll just make the toppings for it if I so desire.
And while I always keep a box or two of pasta in the pantry, I usually make it fresh.
One thing I don’t do (but would like to) is soup. Mostly because I rarely have ingredients for a great protein stock… and making soup for one calls for a lot of freezer space.
This is slightly tangential to the topic, but I have developed some real opinions on what to buy vs what to grow. For instance, I am astonished at the difference in quality between a grocery tomato and grape than a home grown one. You can of course approximate the home grown by shopping at farmers markets, but in terms of what I can create in my house - vs buy - that makes a big difference - those are 2. Whereas I really would not grow something like broccoli or cauliflower. I find the grocery ones to be absolutely fine and the flavor profile is quite similar to garden. But growing them is hard, takes a long time, and lots of potential insect or other problems.
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And homegrown tomatoes for just $60 a pound…
And so I’m not that delinquent that didn’t really answer the question, for me it generally comes down to time and curiosity. Whether I can get something easily and whether I feel like that product could be improved. I know some people make their own ketchup, but that’s a head scratcher for me. What’s wrong with Heinz? And then there is the matter of whether I like something but it can be hard to get. So I tried a few times to make red bean baked buns, because I’d have to drive 100 miles otherwise to get them. And when we were all quarantined, I experimented with making a few Thai dishes (like pad thai) which I normally would just order or dim sum (shrimp rice noodles). Again, not because mine is better at all. But at the time, it was learn to make it or don’t have it. We bought Thai tea powder to make Thai iced tea at home, because it is much cheaper than buying it out.
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There’s actually a book I read called the $64 tomato. Have you heard of this, or was this a particularly apt coincidence?
Purely a coincidence. I actually thought I typed 50!
The title is everything.
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Last August, when I was evacuated from my home due to the CalDor fire I spent a couple of weeks with some friends in Auburn. They had a huge garden of tomatoes, berries, and peaches. My first breakfast was berries and peaches, which was delicious, and nothing like supermarket fruit.
At the end of the next evening, I had a peach pie that was one of the best pies I have ever had (and I have never been a peach pie fan).
Growing your own can seriously change the game!
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We are a 2 person household, we live on outer Cape Cod. Our options for groceries and take-out are quite limited. So I have learned how to cook some Asian recipes to satisfy our cravings for those cuisines - usually have to order ingredients online. We tend to cook big batches of soups, stews, chili, meatloaf, meatballs, meat sauces and feed the freezer. We buy all of our condiments, some rice pilaf mixes, pasta, Rao’s marinara, canned tomatoes, canned beans, salsa, chicken & beef broths.
We do grow tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots and beans in our summer garden but eat all of it and don’t preserve anything.
We don’t eat much bread or sweets and I hate to bake, so we buy bread/rolls and occasionally cookies when we want them.
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I started making sourdough bread shortly after Covid hit in earnest last year. Locally our supermarkets sell sourdough boules for $4.99-$5.99 or so but artisan places are more like $12.99, so baking your own is a huge saving assuming I get similar results……. which are astounding different in taste and texture from the lower priced products.
There is a significant time commitment in making your own SD, and there can be a challenging learning curve, but I’ve never yet had a result that I wouldn’t eat. I love to cook but always felt baking was too much work. If you’re thinking of trying SD just know that you have to care for your starter, then figure out what works for you in terms of ingredients, dough handling, fermentation timing, proofing, and baking. The last ‘method’ I followed stretched out to almost 48 hours.
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I seem to remember a make or buy thread too
Easier to answer about growing
Scotch Bonnet peppers
Aji Amarillo peppers
Figs
Apricots
When it comes to make, much to my husband’s chagrin, I tend to “make” things from produce I have from the garden or CSA, and things that last like shrubs, hot sauce, preserves. He would prefer I do everythingfrom scratch. My fault; that’s how it used to be.
I was thinking of signing him up for that “Lasagna Love” recently posted by @Sasha here on HO.
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Do it hahahaha!
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Came across this old thread that I also started a while back - different questions, though.
Very well organized response, @naf!
Lots of good points and overlap for me.
Your mention of jams made me remember preserved lemons, which are so expensive to buy here but were ridiculously easy to make. Even easier with a sous vide setup. Ditto limoncello, which turned a $10 bottle of vodka into something special.
Extending the thought from preserved lemons, I usually buy indian pickle (unless I have some given by family) but I made my first pickle last year - lime - and it inspired me to explore some more because it was both easy and more delicious than what I buy - reminiscent of my mom’s/grandmom’s. Only factor against is that I don’t eat much pickle in general, so there’s the “why” countering my curiosity / desire to learn.
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It was one thing I couldn’t stick with through the pandemic. I am so tempted to try again, though.
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Even though there is no shortage of options in nyc, I identify with this after my experience last year in CA.
Lots of looking up and learning favorite dishes due to family food allergies (gluten, soy, dairy just for starters) that made takeout restrictive, and then a general lack of good versions of the takeout we wanted to eat.
I found the availability of some ingredients very hard but I think the dramatic rise in online grocery shopping actually helped, as more asian stores added that option (H-mart arriving on Instacart elicited loud hurrahs!)
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