Foods to Make from Scratch Instead of Buying from the Store

There are a lot of foods to make from scratch rather than buy from the store. By making these foods at home, you’ll find yourself using healthier wholesome ingredients, improving the taste, and best of all- saving money! Try making these foods from scratch this week instead of buying them.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links.

I am a do-it-yourself kind of person. If I can make it myself with my own two hands, I definitely want to do that. Perhaps that’s part of what has driven me to the homesteading lifestyle where growing your own food is what life is all about!

And so, it became almost a game to see what I could make from scratch rather than buy. If a recipe called for a processed/pre-made item, I figured out a way to make it work by experimenting with ingredients. By doing so, I learned a lot about cooking- both what to do and what not to do! That’s also how I learned how to make from-scratch meals without a meal plan!

All You Need is a Little Bit of Time

Today, even as a busy mom of four, I make these from scratch foods almost 100% of the time for our weekly meals, and you can too! Once you learn the process, it will just become part of the meal prep. Most of these things take the ingredients you already have in your pantry and just a little bit of time to make. Plus, if your family is like mine, you will have little helpers always eager to get their hands dirty when it’s time to start cooking, making it a great bonding experience.

While at times it’s convenient (and necessary depending on your life situations) to buy some pre-made foods, I think you’ll find that making them from home and from scratch has its own conveniences (like you always have what you need in your pantry and generally it saves you money!). You don’t have to make these foods from scratch every time you need them for a meal, but knowing that you can gives you the freedom and ability to cook without needing the grocery store. I hope you enjoy these recipes for foods to make from scratch and can start to make them on a regular basis!

Table of Contents

• All You Need is a Little Bit of Time
• Bread
• Vanilla
• Yogurt
• Pasta
• Butter
• Baked Goods
• Chicken Broth
• Tortillas
• Pizza Crust
• Gravy
• Canned and Frozen Foods
• Be sure to save this post for later!

Bread

All of the breads that my family eats at our home come directly from our kitchen. This includes buns for sandwiches and burgers, breads for sandwiches and toast, and dinner rolls. And it doesn’t have to be hard! Spend some time one day per week making the weekly bread, then pop the loaves in the freezer. Pull them out as you need them throughout the week for fresh, homemade bread. And plus- is there anything better than the smell of homemade bread baking?

I have two go-to recipes for my bread. The first (and most frequently used) is my yeast bread recipe. It takes a significantly shorter amount of time than my sourdough bread (though the sourdough bread is so worth it!) which is why it’s what I usually make weekly. You can find both of my bread recipes here:

• Homemade Yeast Bread
• Homemade Sourdough Bread

Vanilla

Making vanilla from scratch is seriously so much tastier and so much cheaper than buying it from the store! We never buy vanilla from the store anymore because it is super, super simple to make at home (it’s only two ingredients: vodka and vanilla beans!).

As an added bonus, it makes a great present for Christmas, too!

Learn how to make vanilla here.

Yogurt

One of the best foods to make from scratch instead of buying from the store is yogurt! This process is super simple and relatively hands-off if you have an instant pot, but even if you don’t, it’s still not a very difficult process. Basically, you heat up whole milk, cool it, and then keep it at a steady warm temperature for 8-10 hours. You can add in any sweeteners, fruit, or toppings that you’d like! That’s one of the beauties of making foods from scratch, too- you get to choose what goes into it and what doesn’t.

Make your own yogurt with this step-by-step explanation here.

Pasta

Pasta is another simple (do you see a pattern here?!) food to make from scratch and again, the taste is so much better homemade. This is a really fun way to get kids involved with the cooking process and into the kitchen because they will really love mixing the dough with their hands, rolling it out, and of course eating them! My kids chow down on these noodles without any sauces or toppings. All you need to make these noodles is flour, water, and salt. That’s it!

Learn the process of making pasta here.

Butter

Butter is super simple to make, and odds are, you’ve probably already made it at some point in your life during a school experiment. All you have to do to make butter is agitate the cream long enough to separate the cream from the buttermilk, and voila! Butter! And buttermilk!

We have fresh cream most of the year from our family milk cow that we can use for butter, but you can easily make butter from cream from the store too. You can add different seasonings to your butter, too, to make things even more exciting! Think cinnamon butter over warm buns or garlic and chive butter on crackers. Delicious!

I make my butter using my ninja food processor, which makes the process go super quickly. I’ve also done it by hand using a hand crank butter churn (which can also make a fun gift!).

The basic process to making butter:

1. Churn or agitate your cream. It will first turn to whipped cream, then will break and separate into butter cream and buttermilk.
2. Remove the butter cream (now butter) and rinse with cold water to remove any further bits of buttermilk. Add salt (or other spices) as desired and place in a container. Store in the refrigerator.
3. Optional: Pour the buttermilk into a jar to use for pancakes or other baked goods. Also store in the refrigerator.

Baked Goods

There are so many delicious baked goods that you could be making for your family instead of buying them! Like the bread, dedicate one day per week to making baked goods for your family. Some of my favorite baked goods to make for our family are:

• Blueberry Muffins
• Old Fashioned Rhubarb Muffins
• Banana Maple Syrup Muffins
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Brownies
• Old Fashioned Apple Bars
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
• And of course lots of cookies!

Chicken Broth

Another food that’s typically bought from the store but can easily be made from scratch is chicken broth. It’s a great and easy food to have on hand for soups, stews, and gravy. Plus, it’s a really hands-off process to make it! Just dump everything in a crockpot or roaster and go!

Find my chicken broth recipe here.

Tortillas

With just flour, lard (or another solid fat like coconut oil or butter), salt, and water, you can make your own from scratch tortillas instead of purchasing them from the store. The flavor comparison between the from scratch tortillas and the

Learn how to make tortillas here.

Pizza Crust

Making your own pizza crust at home is another easy way to reduce your dependency on the grocery store and instead make it from scratch. This is another recipe that is just a handful of ingredients that you probably have already at home (and if you don’t, you’ll want to keep these items on hand at home because many from scratch foods are made up of these ingredients!):

• Flour
• Water
• Yeast
• Sugar
• Salt

That’s it! Like I’ve mentioned before, making foods from scratch instead of buying them doesn’t have to be difficult- it just takes a little time. This homemade pizza crust only takes about 10-15 minutes to rise, and I usually use that time to chop veggies for the pizza toppings. You’ll have pizza made completely from scratch on your table within an hour.

Get my pizza crust recipe here.

Gravy

Gravy is easy to make after making a meat that produces drippings. Think whole chicken and beef roasts. Once the meat is finished cooking, strain it and set it aside. Meanwhile in a pot over low heat, melt about 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in 4 tablespoons or so of flour and a little milk (maybe about 1/4 cup). Increase the heat to low-medium and add your drippings while stir constantly. Pretty soon you’ll have a nice gravy to go with your meal!

Canned and Frozen Foods

Then of course there are lots of canned foods that you can make from scratch, too, that drastically decrease your dependence on the grocery store. We can tomatoes in many forms, peppers, pickles, carrots, green beans, jams, fruits, maple syrup, and sauerkraut for our family. We also freeze foods to use, like pumpkin, applesauce, and corn. By eliminating the middle man of doing the canning process for you, you are able to know exactly what’s in your food (and if you grow it yourself, you can have some pride in knowing how it was grown too!).

If you’re thinking about canning this year, check out this post on how to get started.

Be sure to save this post for later!