I always make my frosting from scratch. I literally make a box cake and homemade frosting and people go crazy thinking I made the whole thing from scratch and it's so delicious.
Box cake mixes are so easy to dress up. Brush a chocolate cake with coffee, brush a white cake with fruit juice, ganache as a crumb coat, add in stuff like jam or dried fruit powder to the batter, crème patisserie or custard layer in between the cakes, etc.
The box cake mix cheat code is --
-- where it calls for oil, use melted butter
-- where it calls for water, use milk
-- add one more egg than it says to on the box.
Box cake gets a bad rap, but it's very, very good if made right. My wife has made cupcakes for parties (and I think one wedding?) and she uses box cake. She does elaborate decorations, which is what people paid her for.
She stopped doing it because it stopped being fun when it was something she had to do instead of something she wanted to do.
Box cake mix doesn’t really get a bad rap.
Most bakeries use it.
Cake mix is just a mix of dry ingredients. It won’t really be different if you mix them yourself.
Even if you go the ulta lazymans method and just add a tub of store bought spicy salsa/pico de gallo to fresh ripe avocados and mash. Salt and lime juice. Done and so much better than storebought.
Whatever they have to do to avocado to prevent it from turning brown makes it taste funny. Fresh avocado plus (ingredients of your choice) for the win. I think fresh lime juice and salt added at home make a huge difference too.
Limes help that and i was told by an old cook, putting the pit in the mix and to refrigerate will help keep it fresh. Goes without saying it should be covered as air tight as possible
The pit does nothing. All you’re looking for is an airtight barrier between the guac and the air, since the browning is caused by oxidation. Easiest (and tastiest) method I’ve found is simply adding a layer of salsa over the top of the guacamole. This acts as a seal, and when you grab it later, you can just dip through the salsa.
Afaik, that’s been mostly debunked. The common recommendation is a squeeze of lime juice on top which only works by creating a barrier preventing oxygen from creating contact. At that point it’s better to press seram wrap onto the surface before lidding.
Half the time I don't even bother adding anything to it other than maybe a bit or lime juice or paprika. Mashed avocado is pretty great by itself and super easy
Guacamole recipe from someone who lives in southern california-
4 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, smashed
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 roma tomato, seeds removed, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
juice from 1/2 lime, 1/2 lemon, probably more. i like it citrusy
salt and pepper
Lol, living in CA has the perk of reasonably priced avocados. Heck, I even have friends who have trees, so I can get them for free.
Now, being able to afford the rent for such a perk, that's a whole different story!
Maybe this is dumb, but shredded cheese. I used to get shredded cheese in a bag. For the tiny amount of effort it takes to shred cheese, the benefits are huge.
I buy giant bricks of mozzarella from Costco, weigh out 8 oz portions, shred them, vacuum seal them and toss them in my freezer. The whole process takes maybe 15 minutes and I have mozzarella I can pull out of the freezer and throw on a pizza or pasta or something.
I have never used a shredder in my life until yesterday.
I had also never seen the bone in my finger before yesterday but that shredder gave me an inside look.
The effort of shredding isnt horrible, but cleaning the shredder makes me want to cry
*edit I am NOT looking for people to give suggestions on how to clean or use a cheese shredder/grate
I had this weird feeling like buying a Kitchenaid was a vanity investment, because I didn’t feel I’d get much use out of it. But I literally use it for EVERYTHING.
I do this a lot !
Step 1: buy some herbs (either in a pot or a packet)
Step 2: forget about herbs until they die / dry out
Step 3: voilà .. dried herbs .. Simples!
Simple syrup for drink recipes. It’s literally equal parts sugar and water boiled till the sugar dissolves. The grocery store sells a bottle for almost $4, but I can make 10 bottles worth with a $4 bag of sugar.
I'll make a large batch of simple syrup, portion out half in a squeeze bottle for cocktails, and dilute the other half for hummingbird food. Only dirty one pan that way.
After boiling toss some mint in it and let it steep. Mint simple syrup for mojitos.
Cinnamon sticks, basil, rosemary, all work great too. Have fun with it. (Vanilla, cinnamon, orange peel is my current favorite)
Yes, and if you make flavored ones with a bit of vanilla, hazelnut, peppermint (or whatever you'd like) extract, you can make flavored coffee drinks at home instead of paying $4.50 for them
Demerara sugar is the best, and you probably won't get that in a store-bought syrup. Use the same scale as you use for your coffee. If you're doing this yourself you're into both cocktails and coffee.
I just started doing this. I had for some reason looked at it before and it seemed too complicated… it’s just boil it and let it cool off and put it in a jar, as needed. Never bought it from a store though, just said to hell with this and mixed sugar and water.
Croutons. Super easy to make and light years better than any store-bought ones. Unfortunately, they’re so good, we eat them all as snacks before we can add them to salads.
Edit: Wow! Did this blow up! Since people were asking, here’s my crouton recipe…
I use whatever leftover bread we have in the house. We love sourdough, and we can get some pretty good stuff in nearby stores, so we usually use that.
I cut it into thick slices.
Then, in a bowl, I’ll melt a stick of butter and add ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil. To that mixture, I add a tablespoon each of garlic powder, onion powder and Italian herbs mix. Add an additional teaspoon of salt. Mix well.
I then use a basting brush to generously brush the mixture on each side of the sliced bread. Then each slice gets cut lengthwise into about 4 or five strips, then crosswise into cubes. It can get a little messy, but it’s worth it.
Line a large baking pan with parchment or foil and spread all the cubed bread evenly.
Bake at 350° F for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until they’re golden brown/ lightly toasted-looking.
Cool, then put in an airtight container.
(You can adjust the seasonings to your taste: more garlic, salt, etc.)
Edit 2: BTW, I save bread ends and scraps in my freezer until I have enough for a batch of croutons. I slice them up beforehand so they’re ready to be brushed and cubed when they come out of the freezer. It takes a while to thaw a hunk of bread in order to slice it properly.
I will say that canned soup has a place though as far as accessibility is concerned. The point of it wasn't to make something that was particularly good, but just to have what can essentially be a meal to somebody for a buck or two. When you're poor and don't have the resources to cook from scratch, it's a lifesaver.
Agreed. We have a whole pantry section for canned soups. We buy them on sale and they serve in a pinch if we're sick, injured or need a last minute lunch to bring to work. Has saved us a LOT of money just by reducing the need to buy lunch.
I always laugh at Gordon Ramsey when he asks if the soup was made that day. Soup is always better after it's sat overnight. Hell, some of the soups I've made were better after being frozen!
Speaking of soup, leeks are available at the grocery store so it's time to make vichyssoise (potato and leek soup).
Marinara sauce.
You don’t even need to use fresh tomatoes. Canned tomatoes (San Marzano preferably), tomato paste, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, S&P, bay leaf. Let it simmer.
Even that *very* basic recipe is 100 times better than from a jar. From there you can add things like pepper flakes, oregano, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms etc if you want.
Cook the onions until soft, add garlic and cook until it blooms, then brown the tomato paste a bit and deglaze with red wine before adding the rest of the ingredients. You'll thank me later.
Whipped cream ….
Grew up with canned and someone taught me how to make it after I got a kitchenaid. Freakin life changing, will not ever use store bought again. 3 ingredients and super easy, tastes fresher and lighter!
My kids were mindblown when I taught them to make homemade whipped cream.
Doubly so when they once over-whipped it. Started freaking out because "it got lumpy and watery!", I tell them,"Keep going!". Mixed in some honey after the buttermilk fully separated out, made toast.
Little minds blown.
In daycare they used to give us clean baby food jars full of heavy cream and have us shake them until they became butter. We were fascinated, and it tired us out! 😂
This is how I make whipped cream for one without a mixer or whisk. I put it in a small Tupperware container and shake it until it gets to the right consistency.
/Lived alone for 9 years
Same. My dad always made us stovetop popcorn as a kid and now as an adult it’s still my one and only way to make popcorn. It’s so delicious warm and salty right out of the pot. I’ve converted so many of my friends!
Cornbread. I make it in my cast iron skillet using the recipe in the Jubilee Cookbook. Simple and while cornbread is almost always good, when it’s fresh and warm out the oven it is on a whole other level.
Homemade is great, but a 59 cent box of Jiffy with some jalapenos chopped up in the batter and honey drizzled into holes poked into the cooked loaf just can't be beat.
That is an attractive price point and strategy haha - I'll have to check it out. The Jubilee Cookbook recipe also calls for jalapenos which are such a crucial addition.
Home made teriyaki sauce is easy and FAR superior to anything store bought. You will impress your friends. But something more useful regularly would be salad dressing. Get some fancy mustards, some nutritional yeast, a few standard seasonings, some garlic, some lemon, oil and a variety of vinegars and you can make just about any dressing you could want. And dressing is super expensive store bought!
Use low sodium soy and then season to taste once it's at the consistency you want. Especially when it comes to salt!
Also you can always add a splash of water if something reduces too far.
It’s so stupid easy. Equal parts low sodium soy sauce and mirin. Then half that amount of brown sugar. (But it ain’t that critical to measure exactly.) Pour into pan and reduce until thick. It takes longer to reduce than you think it will. It will be quite bubbly when the consistency is right. Many recipes call for sake but you absolutely do not need it and I think it tastes better without it.
Trick to make it creamier without adding extra heavy cream (American version) is adding an egg yolk or two. Credits to [Kenji](https://www.seriouseats.com/lighter-fettuccine-alfredo-recipe)
Here’s a solid recipe; cutting in the fat with a pastry blender (like $7 gadget at target) really helps. Also weigh your flour (1 cup = 120g)
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/buttermilk-biscuits-recipe
I want to downvote because pretzels are never a waste, but I agree they don't absorb flavor.
But that's fine because pretzels usually have great flavor on their own.
Sauces and Salad dressings. I don't what they are doing with those premade jar sauces for things like curry, stir fries, etc but they are so bland and always so vinegary and bitter! It might save time, but man is a home made sauce really what makes a meal. Same with salad dressings, they are typically quite simple to make, can make in large batches and keep in your fridge no problem, just needs to be shaken. Tastes 100 times better and is usually healthier.
Brown sugar. I don't ever use it fast enough so it always dries out. I started making my own (combine 1 cup white sugar and 1-2 Tbsp molasses) whenever I needed some and it is sooooo much better! Much more moist and fresh, I get better baking results now because of it.
Edit to add that yes, there are many ways to keep brown sugar moist. Instead of fussing with them, I just make how much I need and never have to worry about it.
Maybe you assumed brown sugar was unrefined sugar rather than refined sugar + molasses?
I know before it was commercialized, that’s essentially what it was. Now, it’s refined sugar + molasses. I know a lot of people have that assumption and I did before learning this for the first time.
Do you just calculate and add those straight to your recipe, or do you mix in the molasses and dehydrate the sugar again and then use whatever amount it calls for?
I rarely need brown sugar so I like to have substitute options in case I run into a recipe that needs it last minute.
A roux - it's just equal parts butter and flour.
And then the lead on from this it's great for thickening soup and sauces. And from this a white sauce/Béchamel sauce.
This is a basic sauce and from this many other sauces can be made, and it's a really simple recipe and changes and tweaks to add extra flavours are super easy.
Lemonade, make a simple syrup and zest 6-12 lemons in it to extract the oils, juice 6-12 lemons depending on how sour you want it and add water.
I can’t go back to packet lemonade.
Pour 3.5 cups of heavy cream (low temp pasteurized or less but NEVER ultra pasteurized) into a food processor. Process it on high for 5 minutes. Drain it through a mesh sieve, put the solids back into the processor, and add 3 tbsp of ice cold water. Process it on high for two more minutes, strain through the sieve again, and the remaining solids are butter. Press it out a little bit (if you want salted butter, add 1/4 tsp at this step), and then shape it as you want.
BAM, butter.
Where can I get low temp pasteurized heavy cream? Every store in my area seems to only have ultra pasteurized, I've been keeping an eye out bc I want to make clotted cream so I can have it with homemade scones and feel fancy.
Tortillas
unless you live in a place dominated by mexicans, good quality tortillas (both flour and corn) are not available to you. you kind of need a tortilla press to make good corn tortillas but you can make decent flour tortillas by hand without any special tools
I live in Mexico so the first line made me scoff because here a kilo is like a dollar and a half, but then your second paragraph made all the sense in the world. It must suck not to live in a place with nice tortillas :(
Chimichurie. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley garlic, red onion, and a little lemon juice. I make a batch a week and nothing you buy on a shelf compares.
Yeah but that's a pretty obvious one. No one is going to the bar because they want to specifically buy the cocktails, it's just a part of the experience.
Stock is just great. My local spot sells the bones from chicken, beef, pork, as well as pig trotters and chicken feet. When they get discounted before expiry I pick them up and freeze what I don't need. Pressure cooker with aromatics it's too fucking easy. It's really cold where I am right now so I'm pumping about 12L a fortnight and use it for a soup base to stay warm.
Plug you get the meat and goop from trotters to throw in a soup, and fry the skin up for crackle
It's kind of a problem. I used to exclusively make red sauce, but raos is close enough it's not worth the effort and the price isn't all that different.
Pickles. I grow them and everything. All my friends have been looking forward to this time of year to get a jar. Made my first batch yesterday. Cost depends if I have to buy jars or not. Probably the most expensive part. But they are reusable, so just gotta get everyone to bring them back.
I make fridge pickle slices from the tiny cukes, they're *so* good. Slice em thin, mix soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, grated or dried garlic powder, fresh grated ginger, roasted sesame seeds and a lil squirt of sesame oil, cover the cukes fully, marinate overnight.
Fuckin delish.
Peanut butter. It's so easy if you have a food processor. Just get one or two jars of peanuts (we prefer unsalted), then process until it is fully smooth.
If you like chunky, save aside some peanuts before processing. When processed to smooth, dunk in remaining peanuts and pulse a bit.
Store in fridge to prevent oil separation. Peanut butter made like this is very easy to spread even when refrigerated. Also it's healthier than most peanut butter brands as it has no added saturated or hydrogenated fats.
As a former chef I disagree. Grinding peanuts into peanut butter will cause a ton of wear on the gears of a food processor. There are special stone grinders, like the ones to make chocolate with that are the right tool for the job. Incredibly expensive, though. Just buy it imo.
Ceaser dressing!
Smoosh garlic cloves into some canned anchovies - mix it with a squeeze of lemon, some ground pepper, worcester sauce (soy sauce if you don't have it), dijon mustard and mayo (doesn't even need to be home made). Fantastic.
Shout out to my boy, [Vincenzo](https://youtu.be/a_noYdQ6CaI?si=RJfrZPLNfB0-HThA)! I’ve travelled the world eating pizza and this guys recipe is the closest thing to Naples. Absolute beauty and this recipe is always a hit!
Side-note, got any tips? Always looking to improve. Right now, trying to get a good oven spring which I think just isn’t possible without a real pizza oven.
❕I remember Julia Child saying that was one thing NOT worth the time and trouble of making at home. I understand most grocery store "bakery" French bread is trash, but bakeries usually don't charge much for it considering the time involved.
Personally, I just enjoy making it because my children (three elementary age) all absolutely love it but they don't all ever agree on anything else I make. It's frustrating. So when I went to feel good about myself, I make French bread for the family, lol.
Blue cheese dressing. Store bought stuff is always seriously lacking on both flavor and the quality of the blue cheese. Get your own cheese and your own fresh herbs. It's super easy to make and super easy to make something better than any store bought brand.
Chicken noodle soup. It isn’t even that complicated. Just chicken breast and some broth in a slow cooker for a few hours. Add some veggies half way through, and some noodles in the last 30 minutes or so. I also like to add some lemon pepper but that’s just me.
Either way it kicks the crap out of canned soup.
Croissants and puff pastry are two things that nobody's got time for, not even high-class restaurants, who nearly always source the dough from their suppliers.
Homemade pasta sauce. I hand squeeze 4 cans of San Marzano tomatoes, put that in a dish with a quartered onion, whole peeled carrot, and basil leaves. Cover with foil tightly and cut a few skits. Pull all whole veggies out after cooking at 250 for four hours. Literally makes me enough pasta sauce to last 8-10 meals!!
JAM!!! (ok the kitchen and i are on bad terms but my mother is amazing) My mother makes this red currant jam that i love. I dread going back to the store for jam. all the xtra sugar in store bought jam seems to hide the actual flavor.
Dough. Takes me 15 mins to make it by hand using yeast, flour, salt, sugar, and water. Once it's risen I keep it covered in a mixing bowl in the fridge and simply tear off however much I need.
The same dough can be used to make pizza, ciabatta, focaccia, rolls, hot dog buns, and more and keeps for 3-4 days, improving the flavour each day.
Shortbread. It is the easiest thing to make that tastes incredible using 3 basic ingredients. Butter, sugar, and flour. It takes 10 mins to prep. The most difficult thing is trying not to devour it all before it cools.
For me, its whipped cream, no contest. Because in terms of "worth it," that takes me about 90 seconds to make, makes barely any mess, doesn't cost much (even with a bit of real vanilla how I make it), and the finished product is of exponentially higher quality than any of the crap you can buy in plastic tubs or aerosol cans. I can do it from start to finish including clean up in 2 minutes even without power tools. Plus, liquid heavy cream keeps quite a while in the fridge, so one half quart keeps me in fresh whipped cream for my coffee (or pie or whatever else) for quite a while!
Marinara sauce, and it's stupid easy. Pour a little olive oil in a pot, dice some garlic and onions, shallots if you got them. Add Italian seasonings if you want. Once those are see through, pour in a can of crushed tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes on low. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take it off the burner when it's good and add fresh basil if you have any. It'll be the best sauce you'll ever have. But I use a secret ingredient. Instead of olive oil, I use rendered bacon fat, and it tastes AMAZING! I saw the bacon fat in Shaws one day and though, "Who would ever use this stuff?" Then someone suggested using pork fat instead of olive oil if you have it for the sauce, and it really kicks my sauce up a notch.
In terms of money saved, chocolate eclairs or cream puffs. Our favorite deli sells them for $8 each. A dozen would be $96 at that rate; in about an hour and for under $8 in ingredients I can make a dozen at home that are just as good and fresher.
It's a useful party dish skill.
Bread. 100% bread.
Store bought bread straight up tastes nasty now. Some people look at me crazy but I swear to god it’s like I can actually taste plastic in it.
Fresh bread makes the whole house smell amazing, it’s about the most heavenly thing to eat, and while it doesn’t stay good for as long as store bread, I eat it so fast It doesn’t even matter.
Pesto! There are so many combinations you can make, and the ingredients are basic. The last time I made pesto, I just used parsley and spinach. You just need nuts (I used toasted almonds), olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Lemon, when serving, makes the flavors brighten.
Chicken stock. It makes chicken and Turkey gravy taste way better that the boxed stuff. A good stock is the foundation of many recipes. I used veal stock for French Onion soup one time and it was off the charts awesome.
I always make my frosting from scratch. I literally make a box cake and homemade frosting and people go crazy thinking I made the whole thing from scratch and it's so delicious.
yes! Boxed cake mix is OK but those jarred frostings are not. Home made frosting is so easy too, even boiled fudge frosting is easy.
Box cake mixes are so easy to dress up. Brush a chocolate cake with coffee, brush a white cake with fruit juice, ganache as a crumb coat, add in stuff like jam or dried fruit powder to the batter, crème patisserie or custard layer in between the cakes, etc.
Subbing ingredients is an easy upgrade too. If it calls for oil, use butter instead.
The box cake mix cheat code is -- -- where it calls for oil, use melted butter -- where it calls for water, use milk -- add one more egg than it says to on the box.
Box cake gets a bad rap, but it's very, very good if made right. My wife has made cupcakes for parties (and I think one wedding?) and she uses box cake. She does elaborate decorations, which is what people paid her for. She stopped doing it because it stopped being fun when it was something she had to do instead of something she wanted to do.
Box cake mix doesn’t really get a bad rap. Most bakeries use it. Cake mix is just a mix of dry ingredients. It won’t really be different if you mix them yourself.
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Even if you go the ulta lazymans method and just add a tub of store bought spicy salsa/pico de gallo to fresh ripe avocados and mash. Salt and lime juice. Done and so much better than storebought.
Whatever they have to do to avocado to prevent it from turning brown makes it taste funny. Fresh avocado plus (ingredients of your choice) for the win. I think fresh lime juice and salt added at home make a huge difference too.
Limes help that and i was told by an old cook, putting the pit in the mix and to refrigerate will help keep it fresh. Goes without saying it should be covered as air tight as possible
The pit does nothing. All you’re looking for is an airtight barrier between the guac and the air, since the browning is caused by oxidation. Easiest (and tastiest) method I’ve found is simply adding a layer of salsa over the top of the guacamole. This acts as a seal, and when you grab it later, you can just dip through the salsa.
Afaik, that’s been mostly debunked. The common recommendation is a squeeze of lime juice on top which only works by creating a barrier preventing oxygen from creating contact. At that point it’s better to press seram wrap onto the surface before lidding.
Pressing plastic wrap flat onto the surface of the guacamole in whatever container I put it in to make airtight seal is indeed the “trick” I use.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saran_(plastic)
Half the time I don't even bother adding anything to it other than maybe a bit or lime juice or paprika. Mashed avocado is pretty great by itself and super easy
Same. Avocados, salt, lime juice: that’s it
Guacamole recipe from someone who lives in southern california- 4 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, smashed 1/2 red onion finely chopped 1 roma tomato, seeds removed, chopped 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped juice from 1/2 lime, 1/2 lemon, probably more. i like it citrusy salt and pepper
From someone who lives in Minnesota: do you save up to buy 4 avocados, or can you finance them?
Lol, living in CA has the perk of reasonably priced avocados. Heck, I even have friends who have trees, so I can get them for free. Now, being able to afford the rent for such a perk, that's a whole different story!
Give and take right
They're like apples in So Cal, you just pick em up off the side of the road.
Toss in a finally chopped jalapeño (de-seeded for me) and that’s the same recipe I follow!
This plus one clove of garlic is my recipe.
I will say Central Market (Texas) guac is bomb though.
I was gonna say, they clearly don't live in Texas. HEB guac is as good as any restaurant guac I've ever had
Maybe this is dumb, but shredded cheese. I used to get shredded cheese in a bag. For the tiny amount of effort it takes to shred cheese, the benefits are huge.
Make America Grate Again
That's maga I could get behind.
Gouda 'nuff for me
Plus pre-shredded cheese has a coating on it that makes it less melty for cheese sauces and the like.
Plus you get shredded from shredding cheese. That workout.
And then you shred a piece of your knuckle and it takes forever to heal and hurts the whole time
Then you feed us all some knuckle and we are stronger and closer for it
The real knuckle sandwich.
I buy giant bricks of mozzarella from Costco, weigh out 8 oz portions, shred them, vacuum seal them and toss them in my freezer. The whole process takes maybe 15 minutes and I have mozzarella I can pull out of the freezer and throw on a pizza or pasta or something.
I tried to vacuum seal shredded cheese with a sealer machine, and it sucked into solid mass.
Spread them on a sheet pan and freeze first, then vacuum pack the frozen shreds
That sucks!
I have never used a shredder in my life until yesterday. I had also never seen the bone in my finger before yesterday but that shredder gave me an inside look.
The effort of shredding isnt horrible, but cleaning the shredder makes me want to cry *edit I am NOT looking for people to give suggestions on how to clean or use a cheese shredder/grate
Don't use a sponge as it will shred, use something with hard bristles, like a bottle cleaner.
Already using hard bristles, still want to cry
Just buy a new shredder. Every. Time. You. Shred.
If you can, use the single plate style instead of the 4 in 1 grater. Makes cleanup easier.
Am I crazy or is it actually a lot of effort to shred a whole 8 oz block of cheese? I did it once and took like 20 minutes and my arm hurt. Not worth
I invested in a bunch of attachments for my Kitchenaid, including the grater. Works like a charm!
I had this weird feeling like buying a Kitchenaid was a vanity investment, because I didn’t feel I’d get much use out of it. But I literally use it for EVERYTHING.
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I do this a lot ! Step 1: buy some herbs (either in a pot or a packet) Step 2: forget about herbs until they die / dry out Step 3: voilà .. dried herbs .. Simples!
Simple syrup for drink recipes. It’s literally equal parts sugar and water boiled till the sugar dissolves. The grocery store sells a bottle for almost $4, but I can make 10 bottles worth with a $4 bag of sugar.
Sounds like hummingbird food
1 part sugar to 4 parts water, just as easy to make and better for the birds than the dyed store syrup.
Yup, that's what I do for my tiny feathered friends. I don't know why I hadn't realized simple syrup was basically the same thing but different ratio
I'll make a large batch of simple syrup, portion out half in a squeeze bottle for cocktails, and dilute the other half for hummingbird food. Only dirty one pan that way.
After boiling toss some mint in it and let it steep. Mint simple syrup for mojitos. Cinnamon sticks, basil, rosemary, all work great too. Have fun with it. (Vanilla, cinnamon, orange peel is my current favorite)
I didn’t even know hummingbirds liked mojitos but goddamn I’m impressed with them even more
Just like The Flash, they can really put'em away and never get drunk due to their shared high metabolism from The Speed Force.
Who *doesn't* like a mojito?
Be careful though; it's not shelf stable at room temp. 2:1 ("rich") simple syrup, however, is.
And you can easily add more water to your cocktail if you need it less sweet. I do 2:1 so the bottle can make more drinks and less refilling that way.
A good way to think about it is that your simple syrup isn't supposed to be sweet water, it's supposed to be pourable sugar.
Yes, and if you make flavored ones with a bit of vanilla, hazelnut, peppermint (or whatever you'd like) extract, you can make flavored coffee drinks at home instead of paying $4.50 for them
Demerara sugar is the best, and you probably won't get that in a store-bought syrup. Use the same scale as you use for your coffee. If you're doing this yourself you're into both cocktails and coffee.
I just started doing this. I had for some reason looked at it before and it seemed too complicated… it’s just boil it and let it cool off and put it in a jar, as needed. Never bought it from a store though, just said to hell with this and mixed sugar and water.
Croutons. Super easy to make and light years better than any store-bought ones. Unfortunately, they’re so good, we eat them all as snacks before we can add them to salads. Edit: Wow! Did this blow up! Since people were asking, here’s my crouton recipe… I use whatever leftover bread we have in the house. We love sourdough, and we can get some pretty good stuff in nearby stores, so we usually use that. I cut it into thick slices. Then, in a bowl, I’ll melt a stick of butter and add ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil. To that mixture, I add a tablespoon each of garlic powder, onion powder and Italian herbs mix. Add an additional teaspoon of salt. Mix well. I then use a basting brush to generously brush the mixture on each side of the sliced bread. Then each slice gets cut lengthwise into about 4 or five strips, then crosswise into cubes. It can get a little messy, but it’s worth it. Line a large baking pan with parchment or foil and spread all the cubed bread evenly. Bake at 350° F for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until they’re golden brown/ lightly toasted-looking. Cool, then put in an airtight container. (You can adjust the seasonings to your taste: more garlic, salt, etc.) Edit 2: BTW, I save bread ends and scraps in my freezer until I have enough for a batch of croutons. I slice them up beforehand so they’re ready to be brushed and cubed when they come out of the freezer. It takes a while to thaw a hunk of bread in order to slice it properly.
Croutons were my struggle “snack” when I couldn’t buy chips I would make these with the cheap bread I had🤣
CMV: There is nothing wrong with eating croutons like a bag of chips
Oyster crackers were mine. They're so cheap
That is way better than chips
This is how I repurpose all the heels of my bread loaves.
you say that till you've had wegman's italian croutons i've since moved away and i miss them
Homemade chocolate chip cookies always beat store bought. And pound cake.
Well obviously homemade chocolate chip cookies beat pound cake.
Any kind of soup. Soups are infinitely better when cooked from scratch instead of that canned bullshit
I will say that canned soup has a place though as far as accessibility is concerned. The point of it wasn't to make something that was particularly good, but just to have what can essentially be a meal to somebody for a buck or two. When you're poor and don't have the resources to cook from scratch, it's a lifesaver.
Agreed. We have a whole pantry section for canned soups. We buy them on sale and they serve in a pinch if we're sick, injured or need a last minute lunch to bring to work. Has saved us a LOT of money just by reducing the need to buy lunch.
I always laugh at Gordon Ramsey when he asks if the soup was made that day. Soup is always better after it's sat overnight. Hell, some of the soups I've made were better after being frozen! Speaking of soup, leeks are available at the grocery store so it's time to make vichyssoise (potato and leek soup).
Gravy for homemade chicken fried steak. You can't buy all the goodness that ends up in that grease.
I call it Vitamin G
I'm stealing that.
You can still it, but I get a cut of that gravy.
Marinara sauce. You don’t even need to use fresh tomatoes. Canned tomatoes (San Marzano preferably), tomato paste, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, S&P, bay leaf. Let it simmer. Even that *very* basic recipe is 100 times better than from a jar. From there you can add things like pepper flakes, oregano, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms etc if you want.
Cook the onions until soft, add garlic and cook until it blooms, then brown the tomato paste a bit and deglaze with red wine before adding the rest of the ingredients. You'll thank me later.
I’m just gonna go ahead and thank you now
Whipped cream …. Grew up with canned and someone taught me how to make it after I got a kitchenaid. Freakin life changing, will not ever use store bought again. 3 ingredients and super easy, tastes fresher and lighter!
My kids were mindblown when I taught them to make homemade whipped cream. Doubly so when they once over-whipped it. Started freaking out because "it got lumpy and watery!", I tell them,"Keep going!". Mixed in some honey after the buttermilk fully separated out, made toast. Little minds blown.
My mom poured a little bit of sugar in a carton of heavy cream and told my brother and I to shake it until it stopped shaking.
Ok that would've been a *lot* less messy and easier for them. You're mom's a certifiable genius. Make sure to tell her mom of 4 says so.
In daycare they used to give us clean baby food jars full of heavy cream and have us shake them until they became butter. We were fascinated, and it tired us out! 😂
This is how I make whipped cream for one without a mixer or whisk. I put it in a small Tupperware container and shake it until it gets to the right consistency. /Lived alone for 9 years
Wait....you're telling me that buttermilk is a byproduct of making butter?!?
The holdup moment is when you realize buttermilk has less fat and calories than regular whole milk.
Commercial buttermilk is cultured instead, but classically, yes, butternilk was the byproduct of butter-making.
I recently discovered using mascarpone cheese to stabilize the whipped cream. Total game changer!
Three?!
Hummus. Easy to make, and you can spend a lifetime experimenting with different additions.
Same with pesto! I liked to use radish greens to add a little “zip.”
Garlic scapes are in season atm too
To piggyback on this, fresh pita are also easy to make and 10x better than anything store bought.
Popcorn
Same. My dad always made us stovetop popcorn as a kid and now as an adult it’s still my one and only way to make popcorn. It’s so delicious warm and salty right out of the pot. I’ve converted so many of my friends!
Bread. Beautiful, crusty, chewy bread.
Ah. I want to be a homemade bread person so bad. One day. (I'll start with focaccia)
I make focaccia. The easiest bread to make.
Cornbread. I make it in my cast iron skillet using the recipe in the Jubilee Cookbook. Simple and while cornbread is almost always good, when it’s fresh and warm out the oven it is on a whole other level.
Homemade is great, but a 59 cent box of Jiffy with some jalapenos chopped up in the batter and honey drizzled into holes poked into the cooked loaf just can't be beat.
That is an attractive price point and strategy haha - I'll have to check it out. The Jubilee Cookbook recipe also calls for jalapenos which are such a crucial addition.
Home made teriyaki sauce is easy and FAR superior to anything store bought. You will impress your friends. But something more useful regularly would be salad dressing. Get some fancy mustards, some nutritional yeast, a few standard seasonings, some garlic, some lemon, oil and a variety of vinegars and you can make just about any dressing you could want. And dressing is super expensive store bought!
Teriyaki sauce is one of those things I've tried to make and it tastes okay and then boom it's over reduced and too salty
Use low sodium soy and then season to taste once it's at the consistency you want. Especially when it comes to salt! Also you can always add a splash of water if something reduces too far.
Ditto on the teriyaki sauce. I make mine with brown sugar then reduce until the sauce thickens.
Can I get your teriyaki sauce recipe? I don’t have one and the stores near me only sell marinade.
It’s so stupid easy. Equal parts low sodium soy sauce and mirin. Then half that amount of brown sugar. (But it ain’t that critical to measure exactly.) Pour into pan and reduce until thick. It takes longer to reduce than you think it will. It will be quite bubbly when the consistency is right. Many recipes call for sake but you absolutely do not need it and I think it tastes better without it.
Alfredo Sauce!
Jarred Alfredo is Miracle Whip levels of gross compared to the real thing
I read this as "Jared Alfredo" and was wondering who the hell that is and why he's Miracle Whip. I'm... not always good at reading
I did the same thing. I was wondering "who the hell is Jared Alfredo?"
This is the one for me. I can handle red sauces in a can but all canned Alfredo has a weird ass taste to me that makes me gag.
Trick to make it creamier without adding extra heavy cream (American version) is adding an egg yolk or two. Credits to [Kenji](https://www.seriouseats.com/lighter-fettuccine-alfredo-recipe)
Biscuits. It's essentially three ingredients and can be as little as two.
Biscuits are my nemesis. I KNOW they are supposed to be dead easy, but mine are always terrible. They aren’t inedible, but they just aren’t great.
It's the technique. Watch a few reputable YouTubes on how to make biscuits. Ice cold butter is important.
Freeze the butter, then use a cheese grater to mix it in if you don't have a pastry cutter
No one tells you this but a lot of baking requires living in a cold climate.
Here’s a solid recipe; cutting in the fat with a pastry blender (like $7 gadget at target) really helps. Also weigh your flour (1 cup = 120g) https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/buttermilk-biscuits-recipe
Chex mix. That recipe on the back of the box is so much better than the stuff in the bag.
And the smell while it is baking is divine.
Plus you can modify it to your taste. I always thought pretzels are a waste because they don't really absorb the flavor.
I want to downvote because pretzels are never a waste, but I agree they don't absorb flavor. But that's fine because pretzels usually have great flavor on their own.
Sauces and Salad dressings. I don't what they are doing with those premade jar sauces for things like curry, stir fries, etc but they are so bland and always so vinegary and bitter! It might save time, but man is a home made sauce really what makes a meal. Same with salad dressings, they are typically quite simple to make, can make in large batches and keep in your fridge no problem, just needs to be shaken. Tastes 100 times better and is usually healthier.
Brown sugar. I don't ever use it fast enough so it always dries out. I started making my own (combine 1 cup white sugar and 1-2 Tbsp molasses) whenever I needed some and it is sooooo much better! Much more moist and fresh, I get better baking results now because of it. Edit to add that yes, there are many ways to keep brown sugar moist. Instead of fussing with them, I just make how much I need and never have to worry about it.
Okay, my head just exploded. 🤯 How have I never heard this before!?
Maybe you assumed brown sugar was unrefined sugar rather than refined sugar + molasses? I know before it was commercialized, that’s essentially what it was. Now, it’s refined sugar + molasses. I know a lot of people have that assumption and I did before learning this for the first time.
Do you just calculate and add those straight to your recipe, or do you mix in the molasses and dehydrate the sugar again and then use whatever amount it calls for? I rarely need brown sugar so I like to have substitute options in case I run into a recipe that needs it last minute.
[удалено]
A roux - it's just equal parts butter and flour. And then the lead on from this it's great for thickening soup and sauces. And from this a white sauce/Béchamel sauce. This is a basic sauce and from this many other sauces can be made, and it's a really simple recipe and changes and tweaks to add extra flavours are super easy.
Cheesecake. It’s a bit of work, but it’s so much better than store bought cheesecakes
Lemonade, make a simple syrup and zest 6-12 lemons in it to extract the oils, juice 6-12 lemons depending on how sour you want it and add water. I can’t go back to packet lemonade.
Pesto sauce and butter.
Tell me more about this butter
Pour 3.5 cups of heavy cream (low temp pasteurized or less but NEVER ultra pasteurized) into a food processor. Process it on high for 5 minutes. Drain it through a mesh sieve, put the solids back into the processor, and add 3 tbsp of ice cold water. Process it on high for two more minutes, strain through the sieve again, and the remaining solids are butter. Press it out a little bit (if you want salted butter, add 1/4 tsp at this step), and then shape it as you want. BAM, butter.
Where can I get low temp pasteurized heavy cream? Every store in my area seems to only have ultra pasteurized, I've been keeping an eye out bc I want to make clotted cream so I can have it with homemade scones and feel fancy.
Tortillas unless you live in a place dominated by mexicans, good quality tortillas (both flour and corn) are not available to you. you kind of need a tortilla press to make good corn tortillas but you can make decent flour tortillas by hand without any special tools
I live in Mexico so the first line made me scoff because here a kilo is like a dollar and a half, but then your second paragraph made all the sense in the world. It must suck not to live in a place with nice tortillas :(
It does. It really, really does.
Chimichurie. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, parsley garlic, red onion, and a little lemon juice. I make a batch a week and nothing you buy on a shelf compares.
Cocktails. A $2 cocktail at home costs $15 at the bar.
Yeah but that's a pretty obvious one. No one is going to the bar because they want to specifically buy the cocktails, it's just a part of the experience.
Chicken stock, salsa, spaghetti sauce. I don’t buy any of those from the store because homemade is so much better.
Stock is just great. My local spot sells the bones from chicken, beef, pork, as well as pig trotters and chicken feet. When they get discounted before expiry I pick them up and freeze what I don't need. Pressure cooker with aromatics it's too fucking easy. It's really cold where I am right now so I'm pumping about 12L a fortnight and use it for a soup base to stay warm. Plug you get the meat and goop from trotters to throw in a soup, and fry the skin up for crackle
Rao’s is pretty good for premade
It's kind of a problem. I used to exclusively make red sauce, but raos is close enough it's not worth the effort and the price isn't all that different.
And when it’s on sale at Costco (if yours carries it) the 32oz jars are 2 for $9 (reg 2/$12). Cannot beat that value.
Alfredo sauce, once you do it at home, you realize how bland the premade stuff from a store is.
Turkey gravy. Made it homemade for the first time this past Thanksgiving and it blew away any store bought brand I ever had.
Pickles. I grow them and everything. All my friends have been looking forward to this time of year to get a jar. Made my first batch yesterday. Cost depends if I have to buy jars or not. Probably the most expensive part. But they are reusable, so just gotta get everyone to bring them back.
I make fridge pickle slices from the tiny cukes, they're *so* good. Slice em thin, mix soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, grated or dried garlic powder, fresh grated ginger, roasted sesame seeds and a lil squirt of sesame oil, cover the cukes fully, marinate overnight. Fuckin delish.
Gnocchi
Ice cream
Peanut butter. It's so easy if you have a food processor. Just get one or two jars of peanuts (we prefer unsalted), then process until it is fully smooth. If you like chunky, save aside some peanuts before processing. When processed to smooth, dunk in remaining peanuts and pulse a bit. Store in fridge to prevent oil separation. Peanut butter made like this is very easy to spread even when refrigerated. Also it's healthier than most peanut butter brands as it has no added saturated or hydrogenated fats.
As a former chef I disagree. Grinding peanuts into peanut butter will cause a ton of wear on the gears of a food processor. There are special stone grinders, like the ones to make chocolate with that are the right tool for the job. Incredibly expensive, though. Just buy it imo.
Do you have a preferred type of raw peanut to use?
I don't use raw peanuts. I used peanuts that are jarred and already roasted.
Deez nuts. Gottem
You got him within 1 minute of the comment god damn lmao
Roasted. Nuts.
Kimchi!
Pickled red onions and onion jam. Can you tell I have a fixation on onions?
Ceaser dressing! Smoosh garlic cloves into some canned anchovies - mix it with a squeeze of lemon, some ground pepper, worcester sauce (soy sauce if you don't have it), dijon mustard and mayo (doesn't even need to be home made). Fantastic.
Anchovies are seriously underrated as an ingredient, they got that umami thang going on.
Wow.. had no clue Caesar had anchovies in it. TIL.
Lasagna
Pizza crust. It’s a lot of fun to make; doesn’t even feel like work.
Shout out to my boy, [Vincenzo](https://youtu.be/a_noYdQ6CaI?si=RJfrZPLNfB0-HThA)! I’ve travelled the world eating pizza and this guys recipe is the closest thing to Naples. Absolute beauty and this recipe is always a hit! Side-note, got any tips? Always looking to improve. Right now, trying to get a good oven spring which I think just isn’t possible without a real pizza oven.
French bread
❕I remember Julia Child saying that was one thing NOT worth the time and trouble of making at home. I understand most grocery store "bakery" French bread is trash, but bakeries usually don't charge much for it considering the time involved.
Personally, I just enjoy making it because my children (three elementary age) all absolutely love it but they don't all ever agree on anything else I make. It's frustrating. So when I went to feel good about myself, I make French bread for the family, lol.
That's a very good reason!
White gravy every time. The mixes never have as good of a flavor profile as homemade
Bought a yogurt maker and made supercharged probiotic greek yogurt. It's easier than I thought, so yummy and healthy.
Cocktail sauce. Ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire, lemon juice. Done.
Garlic Sauce (Toum)
Blue cheese dressing. Store bought stuff is always seriously lacking on both flavor and the quality of the blue cheese. Get your own cheese and your own fresh herbs. It's super easy to make and super easy to make something better than any store bought brand.
Chicken noodle soup. It isn’t even that complicated. Just chicken breast and some broth in a slow cooker for a few hours. Add some veggies half way through, and some noodles in the last 30 minutes or so. I also like to add some lemon pepper but that’s just me. Either way it kicks the crap out of canned soup.
I would t say “worth it” because it’s a 2 day process. But homemade croissants were the best I ever had.
Croissants and puff pastry are two things that nobody's got time for, not even high-class restaurants, who nearly always source the dough from their suppliers.
Homemade pasta sauce. I hand squeeze 4 cans of San Marzano tomatoes, put that in a dish with a quartered onion, whole peeled carrot, and basil leaves. Cover with foil tightly and cut a few skits. Pull all whole veggies out after cooking at 250 for four hours. Literally makes me enough pasta sauce to last 8-10 meals!!
My fiancée makes pasta sauce and freezes it. We get a can of tomatoes for like $8 at Costco and it makes enough sauce to probably save $40 at least.
JAM!!! (ok the kitchen and i are on bad terms but my mother is amazing) My mother makes this red currant jam that i love. I dread going back to the store for jam. all the xtra sugar in store bought jam seems to hide the actual flavor.
Dough. Takes me 15 mins to make it by hand using yeast, flour, salt, sugar, and water. Once it's risen I keep it covered in a mixing bowl in the fridge and simply tear off however much I need. The same dough can be used to make pizza, ciabatta, focaccia, rolls, hot dog buns, and more and keeps for 3-4 days, improving the flavour each day. Shortbread. It is the easiest thing to make that tastes incredible using 3 basic ingredients. Butter, sugar, and flour. It takes 10 mins to prep. The most difficult thing is trying not to devour it all before it cools.
For me, its whipped cream, no contest. Because in terms of "worth it," that takes me about 90 seconds to make, makes barely any mess, doesn't cost much (even with a bit of real vanilla how I make it), and the finished product is of exponentially higher quality than any of the crap you can buy in plastic tubs or aerosol cans. I can do it from start to finish including clean up in 2 minutes even without power tools. Plus, liquid heavy cream keeps quite a while in the fridge, so one half quart keeps me in fresh whipped cream for my coffee (or pie or whatever else) for quite a while!
Lemon curd. Comes out so much better than anything store bought.
Marinara sauce, and it's stupid easy. Pour a little olive oil in a pot, dice some garlic and onions, shallots if you got them. Add Italian seasonings if you want. Once those are see through, pour in a can of crushed tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes on low. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take it off the burner when it's good and add fresh basil if you have any. It'll be the best sauce you'll ever have. But I use a secret ingredient. Instead of olive oil, I use rendered bacon fat, and it tastes AMAZING! I saw the bacon fat in Shaws one day and though, "Who would ever use this stuff?" Then someone suggested using pork fat instead of olive oil if you have it for the sauce, and it really kicks my sauce up a notch.
Biscuits… simple process, few information, light years better results.
Blackberry jelly. Could buy it cheaper,but the picking berries and the end result reminds me of when my grandmother made it for me as a kid
In terms of money saved, chocolate eclairs or cream puffs. Our favorite deli sells them for $8 each. A dozen would be $96 at that rate; in about an hour and for under $8 in ingredients I can make a dozen at home that are just as good and fresher. It's a useful party dish skill.
Bread. 100% bread. Store bought bread straight up tastes nasty now. Some people look at me crazy but I swear to god it’s like I can actually taste plastic in it. Fresh bread makes the whole house smell amazing, it’s about the most heavenly thing to eat, and while it doesn’t stay good for as long as store bread, I eat it so fast It doesn’t even matter.
Pesto! There are so many combinations you can make, and the ingredients are basic. The last time I made pesto, I just used parsley and spinach. You just need nuts (I used toasted almonds), olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Lemon, when serving, makes the flavors brighten.
Chicken stock. It makes chicken and Turkey gravy taste way better that the boxed stuff. A good stock is the foundation of many recipes. I used veal stock for French Onion soup one time and it was off the charts awesome.