9 Money-Saving Staples to Make not Buy
Many of these require little hands-on work
My diet has been fairly inflation-proof. Because I eat mostly plants that I cook myself, I haven’t experienced much sticker shock when grocery shopping. The data backs me up: The cost of fresh vegetables and fruit has increased much less than the cost of pretty much everything else.
But on the weekend, I bought a can of coconut milk. You see, I make my own coconut milk for less than a dollar per can’s worth. But I’ve been developing a coconut corn chowder recipe and before I share it, I thought I should test it with store-bought coconut milk because I figure most people will use that. To my shock, one can cost $4.59! I started to think about the cost of store-bought versions for other staples I make. Hence this list.
I’ve included easy-to-make staples here. Tofu costs less to make but requires quite a bit more work than other staples. Still, it’s fun to prepare your own! (Go here for the recipe.) You do have to plan ahead for some of the staples I’ve listed below but not too much and thinking ahead is not a bad thing.
1. Coconut milk
For every two cups I make, I save about $3.59. Like my homemade version, the coconut milk I bought contains organic coconut and no guar gum, a stabilizer. So that can likely costs more than non-organic coconut milk with stabilizers. But I wanted to compare coconuts to coconuts.
To make a can’s worth of coconut milk, soak 1 cup of dried shredded coconut in 2 cups of hot water, wait 10 minutes, blend and strain. Add the strained coconut pulp to homemade granola to add texture. Go here for the full coconut milk recipe.
2. Nut butter
Almond-only almond butter costs more than almond butter with additives. This 3/4 pound jar costs $12. At the same store, a full pound of almonds costs $8.
If you buy raw nuts, roast them to bring out the flavor and to draw out the oil during grinding, which renders a creamier nut butter. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet, roast at 350°F for 5 minutes, stir and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. When they have darkened a bit and smell fragrant, remove them from the oven. Allow them to cool and whir them up in a food processor or high-speed blender.
3. Oat flour
Out of stale bread for making breadcrumbs and need a filler for bean burgers or nut loaf? Grind up some oats. Oats cost about 18 cents an ounce and oat flour, 39 cents per ounce.
(I also grind wheat, emmer, spelt and other flours in a grain mill. Those flours cost less and make amazing baked goods.)
4. Yogurt
You’ll need yogurt to make yogurt but once you have made some, you can use a scoop from the current batch to make a new batch. Basically, heat up milk, let it cool a bit, add yogurt with live cultures, cover and let it sit in a warm spot overnight. If you have an Instant Pot, use the yogurt setting to make your yogurt.
We buy Straus milk, which costs about 12 cents per ounce. Straus yogurt costs 22 cents per ounce. Four cups of milk yields about 3 1/2 cups of yogurt at a cost of $3.84. The equivalent of store-bought works out to $6.53.
Go here for the full yogurt-making instructions.
5. Hummus
Good heavens, a small plastic tub of hummus at Safeway costs $6! Also at Safeway, a pound of dried chickpeas costs only $2, which will make a vat of hummus. Even canned chickpeas will lower your hummus bills but beans cooked from dry taste better. For hummus recipes, go here for standard hummus, here for super creamy hummus and here for chocolate hummus.
6. Popcorn
The price of store-bought popped popcorn feels like a tax on people who were never taught how to make the stuff. I can’t imagine paying $6 for a bag of it. We eat so much popcorn—at least three bag-sized servings per week, which would cost about $100 per month were I to buy the stuff pictured below. A giant bowl of popcorn made with organic kernels and oil costs about $1.
Pop kernels on the stove in a pot, in a hot-air popper if you have one and apparently even in the microwave but I haven’t tried that myself. Eat healthier snacks, keep plastic out of the oceans and save a bundle.
7. Applesauce
I buy not-so-pretty organic apples at the farmers’ market for $1 per pound. Three pounds of those yield about 6 cups of applesauce in my slow cooker. I add a bit of lemon juice (free because we have a lemon tree) and a cinnamon stick. So let’s say homemade costs $3.50. This store-bought brand costs $4.79 and I doubt it tastes nearly as good. Go here for the applesauce recipe.
8. Vanilla extract
While decluttering last year, in the back of a bookcase, I found a bottle of brandy that no one will ever drink. I also happened to have some of these vanilla beans in the kitchen cupboard and so plunked them straight into the bottle. I ran out of my previous batch of homemade vanilla extract about a month ago and started using this new batch. OMG. It’s the best I’ve ever made.
Vanilla beans and alcohol are not inexpensive but you would pay a fortune for vanilla extract of this same quality. A pint (16 ounces) made with this brandy costs less than $35. (The beans cost $25 plus $10 worth of brandy.) A pint of McCormick’s would cost $70.
By the way, this makes a lovely gift for bakers in your life. Start now and it will be ready for the holidays. For every cup of alcohol, slice open 4 or 5 beans, place them in a jar, pour in brandy or rum or vodka and wait at least two months. I don’t bother straining. Just keep the beans in there to further infuse the alcohol.
9. Tomato purée
I make lots of this near the end of tomato season after tomato prices have plummeted. Like the applesauce, it almost makes itself. Cook down quartered tomatoes in a slow cooker for about six hours. Purée them with the skins on or run them through a food mill to remove the skins. Use as is or cook down further. I use this in tomato-based sauces and soups and other dishes that call for canned tomatoes. I freeze mine but you could also can it. Go here for the recipe.
You may not want to DIY all of your staples but if you make even a couple of them, you’ll eat tastier food and save money. Check out my recipe index for more staples. Enjoy!
For my Canadian readers (especially in Ontario), I’ll be on CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning tomorrow (August 22nd) at 8:15am ET discussing ways to cut plastic waste in the kitchen. Go here to listen live.
In our neighborhood are many fruit trees, where the fruit is not being picked and just falls to the ground or gets put out on the street by the gardeners. I talk to the neighbors and pick up the fallen apples to make apple sauce.
these are brilliant and I never thought to do my own coconut milk!