A newer passion of mine this year has been trying to make as much as possible from scratch, and I thought I would share a few of my homemade kitchen staples with you! You would be surprised how many pantry and fridge staples can be made from scratch with minimal ingredients and effort. I started on this journey after falling on a video of a two-hour baguette, which resulted in me going down a rabbit home of homemade goodies.
While I do enjoy making fun dinners and desserts during the week and trying new things, I do have 8 homemade staples that I would like to share with you. When I say staple, I mean items that I tend to make weekly, or as soon as I run out. These are items that I have not purchased since I started making them from scratch. Some of these items I have not purchased at the store all year!
Homemade Staples: Butter
It feels only right to start with the homemade staple that started it all. Technically, I made butter before I attempted the baguette recipe I mentioned earlier. When I first saw how ridiculously easy it is to make, I just had to try it.
The first time I made it was with an immersion blender, using the mini food processor option. This took a bit longer, but it got the job done. I also used blenders and have heard of others using handheld mixers or even by intense shaking! Since going on this homemade journey, I have purchased a proper, full-sized food processor. All I have to do is poor in the heavy whipping cream and let it do it’s thing in my processor for a good five minutes or so and bam! Butter. It really is that simple. The butter will separate from the liquid and you just need to strain, rince, and store. Plus, it makes buttermilk! This is something I never find in stores, so it’s great being able to make it myself.
The butter itself has lasted two weeks (the more you rinse it initially, the longer it lasts), but I tend to make enough for the week so that it is as fresh as possible. This is one of the only homemade items that I make that actually costs more money to make from scratch than from the store. However, I do it more for the sake of controlling what ingredients go in my food versus store bought preservatives.
Bread:
I have to say, nothing feels quite as good as making your own bread. It looks so complicated and it always impresses family and friends when you say you make it yourself. The truth? It is quite easy, you just need time and patience. I started with focaccia at first as this is quite a forgiving dough. I then quickly moved up to baguettes, rolls, regular loafs, and even sourdough bread! The latter is a bit trickier to get right, but is incredibly rewarding once you nail a gorgeous loaf. Most recently, I have started to make sandwich bread as well.
A guest of ours actually purchased bread for their sandwich on their way home as I did not have time to make it from scratch for them and we kept the rest. I was so disappointed in the taste! After trying the stuff from scratch, it quite literally tasted like cardboard. Bread is something I will continue to make at home and I can’t wait to experiment with different flavors and techniques.
Vegetable Broth:
I have always been uneasy with all of the sodium in storebought broth or bouillon, so when I learned I could just save all of my vegetable scraps (I am vegetarian) and make my own? I was sold. And when I finally tried the first of my homemade broth, I was convinced. The taste is much stronger and elevates all of my dishes that require broth.
There are many different ways to make this, but the way I do it is by saving my clean veggie scraps and sticking them in a large Ziploc bag in my freezer. I will also toss old veggies that I did not use during the week in there to avoid waste. Once the bag is full, I will stick it in a large pot filled with water, add in some salt and other goodies, and let it simmer for half the day.
I have limited freezer space, so I tend to freeze my broth in cupcake tins and store them in a ziplock bag. Not only is it pre-portioned, but it saves me a lot of space.
Strawberry Jam:
Another homemade staple that shook me when I learned how easy it is to make! I do make this every week to make sure I actually go through it as I don’t add anything other than lemon juice to preserve the jam. However, I know many people will actually make this in batches and properly seal them in mason jars to use as needed, especially when strawberries are off season.
Personally, I am only a fan of strawberry jam, but I could easily do the same with other berries. The concept stays the same. Aside from usual jam usage, I have used it to make strawberry cream cheese and I plan to try it with ice cream, soon.
Ice Cream:
As previously mentioned, ice cream is one of our household staples now. I have made cookie dough and double chocolate chip for now, but strawberry cheesecake is planned later this month. I actually don’t have an ice cream maker. I use my stand mixer, but even that is not needed as it is very easy to make.
The ice cream is creamy, delicious, and very addicting. However, the chocolate version tends to be rock solid, unlike the vanilla cookie dough. When it finally thaws over though, oh my goodness, it is worth the wait. Ice cream is so expensive, and this one certainly saves us money, especially since I can add all of the toppings I want without paying a small fortune.
Homemade Staple – Sweetened Condensed Milk:
I actually started making this from scratch after my first batch of ice cream. I was already buying it for coffee creamer and complaining at the price, so I decided to see if this is something I can do myself. The answer, as per usual, was yes!
This is another one that is ridiculously easy. It is just milk and sugar. Nothing else. Crazy, right? You just have to be careful not to let it spill over as removing melted milk sugar from the burner is comparable to removing cement… I don’t want to talk about it…
Coffee Creamer:
Since my partner and I visited the States last year, him for the first time, he discovered coffee creamer and was obsessed. This led me to discovering how to make it from scratch, of course. This one is certainly worth the cost due to cutting down all of those weird ingredients brands tend to add in. Even there, I do make my own sweetened condensed milk as mentioned above, which helps.
I tend to switch up the flavor based on the mood. So far, I rotate between vanilla and hazelnut. Pumpkin spice was a huge hit, though. I also plan to try caramel, soon. This is another one that I make every Sunday for the week.
Peanut Butter:
Last, but certainly not least, peanut butter. This one has to be the most cost effective staple that I make. I strongly dislike European peanut butter as I find it a bit sad and very overpriced. So, I often bought American peanut butter, which is very expensive as it is imported. At risk of sounding like a broken record, I was shook when I learned how to make this.
The process is very simple, but I will add that it is a pain to make without a good food processor. I struggled for a couple of months making this in our mini processor, having to stop, scrape, and quite literally shake the mixture. It often took me over half an hour to make a batch for the week when I was on a protein-heavy diet. Now, I just throw my roasted peanuts in the food processor for a good 10 minutes and forget about them.
I also love how you can salt and add sweetener to your own personal liking. I even often add a neutral oil to get a bit of a creamier consistency. The taste is really exceptional. You taste the peanuts and not just artificial flavors and an overabundance of sugar. I have even made peanut sauces with my homemade peanut butter!
Homemade Staples Final Thoughts:
While just about everything is homemade in my household now, these are my staples that I will never run out of. I tend to make these every Sunday, or when they run out. I would say that I do save money in most cases, but not always. However, the goal is not to save money, that is just a wonderful side perk. The goal is to have less ultra-processed foods in our diets and to go back to our roots. We used to make everything from scratch back in the day!
Personally, I absolutely love it. Sure, it takes some time, planning, and organization. However, I love the feeling that I get when I make something from scratch. It is like a personal accomplishment for me. I think it is a lovely skill to have and it can come in handy! It is good to know where our staples come from and how to make them.
Kitchen Tools:
When I realized that this was going to be a lifestyle change and not just a temporary hobby or project, I decided to invest in lots of quality kitchen tools to make my life easier. Here are some of the items that I use to make the eight homemade staples mentioned above.
Check out some of my other favorite kitchen items here.
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Stay Chaotic,
Tess
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