Groceries are expensive, and you can save so much money by making food at home! Here are my top 10 foods you should make from scratch (plus 3 that you shouldn’t).
Food often takes up one of the largest portions of the budget, so it’s a great area to try to save money! Over the past few years, I’ve been analyzing what we buy at the store and comparing prices to see what I should be making myself.
While almost everything is cheaper to make at home, time is limited, so I only make things myself if it’s healthier, easy to fit into a busy schedule, and saves money. These are my favorite foods to make myself plus a few you don’t need to waste your time making.
1. Granola
A healthy granola is one of the best breakfast foods, but it’s so expensive to buy! The good news is that it’s easy and cheap to make.
When you make it yourself, you can also customize it to your flavor preferences and make it even healthier than the store-bought versions.
Favorite Recipe:
2. Salad Dressing
Salad dressing is one of the best places to start if your goal is to make more food at home! It’s extremely easy, quick, and cheap to make, and it’s so much healthier than what you would buy.
Favorite Recipes:
Basic Italian Vinaigrette Dressing
3. Yogurt
Yogurt typically costs a few times more than milk, however, milk is the primary ingredient you need to make it. Making yogurt is easy to add to your routine, and can save you so much money!
Favorite Recipe:
4. Broth or Stock
If you buy quality broth or stock, the cost adds up quickly! Making it yourself is easy, and it feels great to be able to fill your freezer with a few months’ worth of broth.
Store-bought versions also usually have unhealthy additives, so this is another reason to make it yourself.
Favorite Recipe:
5. Guacamole
Not only is homemade much fresher and tastier, it’s also a whole lot cheaper! It’s such an easy condiment to make yourself that you’ll never need to buy it again.
Favorite Recipe:
6. Raw Nut Butter
If you prefer raw nut butter instead of roasted nut butter, you’ve got to make this yourself! Raw nut butter is typically very expensive, and you can make it yourself for a fraction of the cost.
Favorite Recipe:
7. Pancakes
Not only is pancake mix expensive for what it contains, but it isn’t the healthiest. You can save money and eat healthier by making pancakes yourself.
If you like the ease of pancake mix, simply mix together a large batch of the dry ingredients of your favorite pancake recipe. Now you have your own homemade pancake mix that’s cheaper and healthier!
Favorite Recipes:
8. Bread
Homemade bread is so much better than store-bought in every aspect, and if you ask most people, it’s one of the top foods you should make from scratch! Homemade bread is healthier, cheaper, and tastes incredible! If your family eats a lot of bread, making it at home is so important.
Favorite Recipes:
Gluten-Free Sourdough Sandwich Bread
9. Tortillas
Just like bread, store-bought tortillas can’t compete with homemade! Once you start making them, you’ll never want to buy them again.
Favorite Recipe:
5 Ingredient Soft Flour Tortillas
10. Snacks
Premade snacks are expensive! No matter what types of packaged snacks are your favorite, the cost adds up quickly.
You can save so much money by making your own snacks! As a bonus, they taste so much better and are often healthier too.
Favorite Recipes:
Savory Mexican Roasted Cashews
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 Foods You Should Not Buy
While cooking from scratch is almost much always the best, there are a few foods that are just not worth the time and effort to make at home.
Pumpkin Puree
It’s easy to find canned pumpkin with simple, healthy ingredients and it doesn’t cost much more than buying fresh pumpkins. Unless you’re growing your own pumpkins, it makes sense to buy this at the grocery store.
Canned Tomato Products
If you don’t have an abundance of tomatoes in your garden, it’s not worth buying tomatoes to can. Canned tomato products are very affordable, and it’s easy to find organic versions with great ingredients.
Almond Flour
The price per pound between almonds and almond flour is usually very similar. Making it yourself requires removing the skins which adds a step in addition to grinding. Also, almonds are one of the hardest nuts, so, even if your food processor can handle it, it may wear out the motor more quickly.
What are your favorite foods to make yourself? Let me know in the comments!
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This was super helpful! I need to try homemade granola. I was shocked at the price last time I bought it at the store. I have never done it before, but my kids convinced me to make homemade fruit snacks. We will see how it goes!
I’m glad this list helped! I agree, the price for granola at the store is painful. Homemade fruit snacks sound amazing! I bet your kids will love them!