9 Foods to Stop Buying and Start Making Yourself At Home
By Matt Duckor, Epicurious
Ritz crackers are about as close to perfect as a food can get. Period. End of story. Want to make a better Ritz in your home kitchen? You can try. But you’ll fail.
Same goes for Heinz ketchup and JIF (and, heck, Skippy) peanut butter, by the way.
But that list of foods you can’t make better yourself in the confines of your own kitchen? It’s pretty darn short. Because the truth is that you can make most foods better, cheaper, and (sometimes) healthier.
Some things are better left to the pros. These are not those things.
SALAD DRESSING
It’s shocking how much bottled dressing people buy—$3.4 billion’s worth, if you can believe it. But homemade dressing is better, not only because it’s cheaper and often healthier, but because it’s endlessly riffable. Want it creamy and tangy? Use buttermilk as your base. Punchy and acidic? Just up the vinegar. Thin and light? You don’t need much more than lemon, olive oil, and a bit of Dijon.
Related: 10 Incredible Salads That Deserve Your Full Attention
GRANOLA
Store-bought granola can be great. But it can also be a sticky, sweet mess loaded with tons of processed sugar and other additives. Sure, the bespoke artisan stuff usually skips that stuff, but it’s also $10 a bag. Make your own at home with quality ingredients—rolled oats, agave, coconut oil, chopped nuts, etc—and get the best of both worlds.
HUMMUS
If you’ve never had homemade hummus before, you’ve never really had hummus. The tubs sold in the grocery aisle can’t match the subtle, mild creaminess of what you can make fresh at home.
PESTO
What’s better than bunches of fresh basil, earthy pine nuts, a few handfuls of salty parmesan cheese, chopped garlic, and oil? Absolutely nothing. Jarred pesto doesn’t hold a candle to the vibrancy of pesto you’ve just scraped out of the blender.
Related: These Addictive, Amazing 22-Minute Meals Will Change Weeknight Dinner
BREAD CRUMBS AND CROUTONS
Making your own bread crumbs and croutons is a great way to use leftover or stale bread that you’d otherwise throw away.
MAYO
We love Duke’s, Hellmann’s, and Kewpie mayo as much as the next digital food brand, but most of the time we whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, Dijon, and canola oil. Five ingredients and five minutes gets you the same results as the jarred stuff.
STOCK
Throwing away that leftover chicken carcass? Don’t. Toss it into a pot with onions, carrots, celery, some parsley and, in just three hours, you’ll have stock that’s more flavorful than anything you’ll get in a box. Let the stock cool and use right away or freeze for up to three months.
SALSA AND GUACAMOLE
You’re kidding, right?
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PHOTO: CHRISTINA HOLMES
