We have food allergies here, too, so we do a lot of from scratch stuff. I bake all sweets from scratch, but I don't bake my own bread very often (I just find a safe brand and stick with it). I cook about 8 out of 10 meals from scratch. Now that took a bit to get used to at first, and we do get into food ruts every so often. For the most part, it has been better than if we were making from mixes or buying pre made from stores (taste and money wise). My family actually thinks it is a treat when they do get a mix or box dinner- kid quisine is safe for my son and he gets it about once a month for a special suprise. Also, funny story- my step kids tell me all the time about how they love when they are at our house because I cook (they have lists of what they want to eat when they are over, lol). So last year, my son wanted to try hamburger helper to see if he could have it- he never had it before and had seen the commericals. I checked and it was safe for him so I made it. Well, my step kids come ove and what do I make for a treat for lunch one day- hamburger helper. They hate it- they eat it all the time at home, lol. they tease me about it all the time after that.
I find most things I make homemade are cheaper. My cousin says "But I can buy hamburger helper for $1" Well, yeah, but I buy my spices and pasta in bulk at Sam's club and for $1 I can make 2-3 times as much homemade hamburger helper than you can. Brooke-I've never made pasta from scratch but I would love to try! EyeoftheStorm-How do you make your homemade ketchup? 1mom04 - I cook from scratch because my mom did. I didn't know what hamburger helper was until I was a teen! I thought people bought cake mixes because they didn't know how to cook LOL My mom made homemade croutons, potato chips, cakes from scratch, etc People paid my mom to cook for them. So for me it's mainly a taste issue, but I now also see it as a health issue and also a money issue in many cases as we are VERY frugal (we have no income right now) We're trying to make the switch to all homemade bread. I tried my hand at homemade hamburger and hot dog recently and they turned out great so I bought a bread slicer guide so I could start making bread for sandwiches too (I can't slice straight to save my life!) The most expensive part of homemade bread is yeast-and I've shopped around and found it for 1/2 the price I was paying for it. And we were paying $2.50 a loaf for bread so it's def a huge $$ saver to make it myself! I bought a 25 lb bag of flour at Sam's last week to cut costs on our homemade bread.
Sonita, I buy a large container of yeast at a cheap market. I keep some in a jar in the refridge; the rest I keep in the freezer and use it to fill up my jar when it starts getting low.
I have been making a lot more from scratch lately. Not only to save money, but to eat a bit healthier. We are also trying to cut more gluten out of our diets. Things I have made the last couple weeks with success: Homemade Pizza Crust (gluten free) Bread Cream of Chicken Soup Cream of Mushroom Soup (moving away from the cans) Alfredo Sauce Chicken Tenders (using corn flakes and breast strips) Next week I am going to attempt to make homemade pasta and tortillas. I generally make things semi-homemade. I'm trying to take the 'semi' out of it when possible.
I just made a HUGE batch of All Purpose Muffin Mix. I can't wait to try some. I used Whole Wheat Flour. Shhhhh, don't tell my family.
Just slice up chicken breasts into strips. Dip in egg then roll around in crushed corn flakes. Bake at 400 on a greased cookie sheet until done. VERY easy and yummy!
I was wrong on the temp...bake them at 375! This is something my whole family loves, which is a blessing because we are all so different when it comes to tastes. Enjoy!
I'll try that, Jen! I made some with garlic and Parmesean Cheese, and the kids didn't care for them at all. I'm betting these will go much better!
Have you tried putting Ranch Dressing Mix in with the crushed corn flakes? I do this with boneless chicken breast and yummy!
We like ours with rice cereal and blackened seasoning. :d (that is my attempt at a licking-my-lips smiley) :lol:
I have never tried the ranch dressing with it. Perhaps I will try a seasoning with it next time though. I bet that would be yummy!
I've been learning to can, and it's been FUN! I've done 3 different jams and pickled some veggies. I don't have the recipes on hand, though. They were written by people I know. I made my own liquid laundry detergent. It works beautifully, and does not irritate my extremely sensitive skin. (http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html) I've been "making" my own toothpaste. All I do is wet my toothbrush, dip it in some A&H baking soda, and gently brush. Sometimes I create a paste using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It's very cheap, and does a much better job than regular toothpaste. (This is all done under the recommendation of my dentist, btw). I've been making my own bread for a while now. Sometimes I do it by hand, and sometimes by machine. I've been following several recipes in this book. I've been making artisan bread by hand: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1616 I've been making homemade meals every day for about a month now, with the help of http://www.e-mealz.com/. It's a WONDERFUL tool! Next I want to make my own dish soap, shampoo & conditioner, and body soap.
If you find some good recipes for these please post them. Especially the dish soap. I haven't found a recipe for it that I like yet.
I just made pizza dough for a deep dish pizza from scratch. I use the ww.allrecipes.com Jay's signature pizza crust recipe, I tweek it a bit and add Italian herbs with the salt, and I add a little more sugar. I've made bagles in the bread machine (dough) but that was a long time ago, we made the dough, divided up and made bagles, and boiled and then sprinkled with all kinds of toppings. I've also made jam in my first bread maker, I havn't done it in my new one yet. strawberry is yummy!~
