That's a pretty good list! Yes, I think the same thing sometimes.

When I think back to how my mom had to cook when I was a kid, though, we've really got it easy. What is available to us would shock our grandparents. I'd never make anything on your list.

I think someone here has made their own phyllo, too, if I'm not mistaken.

Of the things on your list, I have only made beef jerky. I haven't had the desire to make any of the others.

Another to add to the list is English Muffins.

Linda

Linda

While I make English Muffins quite often, I'm not up to Croissants that Ann T makes from scratch! I have a shortcut recipe for those that I use and another one for Rough Puff Pastry.

Teresa

I've made crackers before, and they were a failure, but I do want to try again. They're supposed to be easier, and much better than store bought. Mine weren't, but I bet that it's just a matter of practice. It's not really any more trouble than making pie crust or biscuits.

Sauerkraut is the one that gets me. I don't eat it frequently to make it worth making myself, yet I'm tempted to try, just to taste home made sauerkraut. But, where would I keep the special jar to make it in, both during the time it's "cooking" and then when I just need to store it? I just don't have the space.

Marshmallows and beef jerky aren't on my list of things to make since they're not vegetarian.

Sally

I've made lots of crackers & beef jerkey.

My list would include ketchup...DH wants Heinz & nothing but Heinz. (sigh) I don't eat any ketchup.

/tricia

My mother used to make her own phyllo from scratch. It takes days to make and is a huge task.

I've only recently gotten in to baking my own bread. The trouble is that with only me & DH at home now, it takes us a long time to finish what I make.

Making things from scratch is fun, I think. It's just that some things are more effort that they are worth (for me) simply because I don't eat that much of those things.

From your list above, I don't eat marshmallows or beef jerkey, I buy crackers mainly for spreads/dips when I'm having a party, and drink ginger ale only when I have a queazy stomach.

I'm always interested in seeing others make these kinds of things from scratch though... it's fun to see.

If I had the time, I would "like" to make everything from scratch!! But that's the problem - finding the time to do it ontop of working full-time, plus other family issues to deal with.

I'm in the middle of a grand experiment myself - making from scratch what's feasible for me to make from scratch. I'm finding myself becoming increasingly concerned about pesticides, preservatives, the amounts of high fructose corn syrup in everything, the hormones, antibiotics, as well as genetically modified foods on the market, a lot of which, they're not required to even tell us are in things.

I'm expanding my vegetable bed, planting berries specifically to make my own preserves, I'm looking into learning how to can, etc.

All that being said, I ALSO love to cook and just for the pleasure I get in making things from scratch - not to mention how much better they taste! - I'd probably make a lot of things from scratch regardless, but my concerns above are prompting me to try making things I might not have considered tackling in the past.

I'm loving the recipes people are posting for these things - the links such as those to the cheese making site, the links to canning and preserving sites - they're great!! And as sherrman pointed out, our grandparents didn't have this stuff available - if they wanted something, they had to make it themselves. In a way, it's a shame that so many of us have lost those skills. But I think it's great that many people are becoming interested in making things from scratch again. I've heard more than once that the downturn in the economy is prompting a lot of people to start gardens and cook more from scratch. Maybe more people will regain those lost talents and the less junk and chemicals we all eat, the better off we'll be! :)

Lisa

Sometimes I think I was born 100 years too late. I make:

- Jams, jellies, pickles, salsas, mustards (canning)
- Wine!!!
- Beer!!!
- Bread
- Beef jerky

And soon to add cheese. My DH says if I ever come home with a butter churn, he's going to have an intervention!

But I am surprised at how people don't "trust" homemade goodies. As in, "if it doesn't have a commercialized label on it made by a company I know, it's gotta taste terrible" or "it's not going to be as good as that brand name".

It's okay though, I save what I make for people who appreciate it, which are usually my gardening friends, cooking friends, and friends who grew up on farms. :-)

I've never made ginger ale, but have made marshmallows (very good, better than the poofy store bought ones), sometimes make crackers and always make my own jerky.

I make a lot of things from scratch because they taste better, are less expensive and haven't all the added junk I'm not sure we're meant to eat anyway.

I got really annoyed a while ago when bread prices shot up, and began making our bread again. I've been making my own yogurt for years, as well as vinegar. I'd rather make things like pudding and other desserts myself because at least if we're going to indulge, they'll have some honest food value.

So many foods one buys pre-made are loaded up with corn syrup, sodium, preservatives and "natural flavors"(whatever that means), not to mention a variety of enigmatic, ominous sounding ingredients of dubious wholesomeness.

I'm going to try Boursin cheese from home instead of purchasing it at $7.00/5 oz.
Also, I don't buy pasta sauce anymore. I found some good recipes. The Gorgonzola sauce on here was really good. I received a dutch oven for V-day & I don't think DH would go for store bought sauces now. The house smells so good as it simmers.
I would like to make cereals & doughnuts, that the boys would like, from scratch.

I will try to make a lot of things from scratch. It usually only happens once! My first would have been when I was around 8 or 9. My friend and I were little pyromaniacs who had a fire every weekend. One weekend we had no money for marshmallows but had all the ingredients. Um, homemade marshmallows don't hold up to fire if you are ever in a bind. I just like to experiment but like I said it rarely turns out - especially my doughnuts.

I get the same response from homemade bagels. But honestly, Wegman's are better than mine. Marshmallows are deceptively easy to make.
A few things I won't try due to the work involved and in some cases (hellman's mayo), I like the store bought better.
Jo

I was reading this thread as I was looking over the grocery ads for this week...when you can buy a bag of Jet-Puffed marshmallows for as low as 70cents...why on earth would you make them from scratch....simple...I know when they were made and with what. I have a canning jar in the pantry half filled with homemade marshmallows..a recipe I found online that is "old time". No corn syrup..just sugar, water, vanilla, salt and gelatin. I'm sure with the gas to power my range, and the electricity to run my KA..I don't make a batch for 70 cents..but I don't care.

Cookie, after they've "dried" out..I'm sure they'd be fine..in fact I may just test that theory myself today. LOL

I've been meaning to make graham crackers..and maybe today is the day since I don't have much else to do...and it's RAINING like the dickens outside. (see above entry) LOL

I wouldn't make Ginger ale..because it's not something I drink alot of anyway.

I make English Muffins, because again, I control every ingredient that goes in them. And my husband eats one in his "freezer" breakfast sandwich M-F, and then on the weekends with breakfast.

I've never tried beef jerky..but I'm not against it at all...It's very expensive to by NITRATE/Chemical free products. But we don't "need" jerky..it's an occasional treat.

However, I still by white sandwich bread for the boys lunches. But it's HFCS free, and "whole grain".

But I bake most everything else...hot dog and hamburger/sandwich buns. And toaster bread for the weekends and french toast.

oooh and I make stock from bones..because it's using up "garbage" and again..I know what went into it.

I was surprised at how easy Mayo was to make. It's gotten so expensive that I finally tried it and it was actually pretty good. I don't make it often because DH is picky about it, but when we run out and I have eggs, oil and vinegar, why not?

If I were an at-home mom with time and a bunch of people to cook for I'd surely do more from scratch just for the sense of accomplishment if nothing else. My friends think it's amazing that I have made tamales and canned some salsa and jam. I make pasta and bread.

Things I might make from scratch if I had time and more peeps to feed:

bagels
croissants
crackers
marshmallows
beer
mustard
demi glaze
cheese
pickles
sausage
yogurt

Things I wouldn't bother to make from scratch:

mayo
sauerkraut
wine
doughnuts (fear of frying)
jerky

I think most of us really just love the feeling of accomplishment making from scratch gives us, don't you?
I've tried my hand at crackers twice...once graham and the other was a savory cheese cracker. Grahams weren't rolled thin enough, so they were a bit tough and the savorys were tasty, but they'd crumble almost before we got them to our lips. LOL!
My son loves jerky, so I make that occasionally.
Tried my hand at some cinnamon sugar marshmallows, I thought they were delicious...the grandkids thought they were too sweet. Too sweet for kids? LOL!
My father used to make wine, beer and sauerkraut. Maybe it was his technique, but they weren't my favs.
I've been intrigued by cheese making and would love to pursue that further. I did try a basic whole milk and vinegar type once..really no flavor even with extra salt added.
I love reading and looking at the pictures of hand made things people here make, a real inspiration for sure.

The only thing on the list I've made are marshmallows. It was not one of those "oh I really want some marshmallows." It was more that I wanted to see if I could do it. I'm perfectly able to make bread but I don't because only one person in our house eats it on a regular basis. All baked goods are from scratch, and I make my own salsa, salad dressing and maple-flavored syrup for the kids. I'm always in awe when I see some of the from scratch foods forum members make.

Well I have my first batch of Graham Crackers dough chillin in the fridge.

So later I'll be trying that "homemade" toasted marshmallow on a homemade graham cracker.. I think the chocolate may be an organic "nutella"..that is delish..LOL

I am a stay at home mom..so I have the time...and the desire.

Homemade sauerkraut and fermented dill pickles are especially good and worth making. I've made them several times. Kimchee, Korean sauerkraut, is easy to make and very good also.

I have tried to make cheddar cheese several times but have never made a good one. :-(

Homebrewed beer can be very good and is lots of fun. It requires a fair amount of special equipment though, and it's time consuming, requiring at least 3 hours per batch, not including bottling. You are committing to a major hobby with homebrewing.

I like to cure and smoke meat and fish. I've made pastrami and sausage. The lox I make is inexpensive and good so I make it fairly often so I can pig out on a delicacy.

Corn tortillas are very much worth making at home. You should try it. Homemade corn tortillas are so much better than store bought. It's like the difference between freshly baked artisan bread and Wonder bread. Ann T. has a terrific pictorial which explains tortilla making step by step.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Ann T's Tortilla Pictorial

Like deborah I also think many of us love the accomplishment of making food from scratch. I sure do, & most have been worth the time and effort. let's see some I can think of that I have made:
marshmallows
graham crackers,(still looking for the perfect one, to cover with chocolate)
mayo, mustard
ricotta, mozarella,
Ginger Ale, Lemoncello, Vin'd Santo,
bread, jam, yogurt, jerky, granola
when the kids were little I use to make fruit rollups, and fish sticks

If you haven't had a made from scratch marshmallow, you haven't lived! Those jet-puffed things are not the same, not that they aren't good, they are, especially melted (smores) but a homemade marshmallow is very different in texture. They are not at all difficult to make or really that time consuming either.

I would think that beef jerky would also be better from scratch than store bought; however, ginger ale, without a lot of experimentation, would probably be a challenge - for me anyway ;) We don't drink it that often to bother really. As for crackers, we also don't consume enough of those either.

Condiments I would try for sure...except for ketchup - around here Heinz rules!

There was a similar thread in the Recipes Forum last November. I posted, laughing at myself because I had come across a recipe for jellied cranberry sauce, & it had never occured to me that it came from anywhere else than a can!

Here is a link that might be useful: looking for recipes

I use to grow and cook almost everything from scratch because I didn't want my kids eating all the salts and preservatives from processed foods.

Today I still make things from scratch that are hard to find well made and some that I do just for the fun of it.
 This past Fall I actually found a way of making 1 whole cup of olive oil... not an easy prospect at all.
 I annually make demi glacé, which takes several days, lots of patience, and careful watching at the end so it doesn't burn.
 One recent Summer I made fermented peppers and had a pot of bubbling peppers smelling up the kitchen for weeks.
 Every couple of years I make a Cranberry Spice Vinegar that is rather complicated with many steps... and weeks of "vinegaring". The end product is on the order of a Balsamic Vinegar and well worth all the effort.
 I grow my own fruit trees and Black Raspberries just so I can have the fresh fruit to make into jams and compotes.
 At least once a year I slowly roast a huge pile of bones just to get the marrow fat from inside the bones for cooking. Ever have mushrooms sauteéd in marrow fat?

I truly enjoy the challenge of making/ cooking many different things -- at least once. '-D

I am _so_ enjoying everyones responses in this thread! I thought I'd get alot more examples of things that posters saw other posters make and would never attempt. Instead I got a fresh tide of CF'ers happily espousing their love for the basics and taking pride in the items they attempted from scratch albeit a success or not-so-much.

I love that we are all so willing to 'try'. It's a quality we seem to be beating out of our kids. If they try they get a trophy, ugh sometimes you fail, suck it up and learn.

This forum is rare, it's informative but not condescending, it's close without being incestuous [I mean in bringing in personal problems], it's entertaining yet not flippant or frivolous. A collaborative effort such as this is a unique resource. I truly appreciate that you all put up with my bipolar contributions :)

Marshmallows always get a laugh in our family because my cousin and I made some when we were about 12. After we cut them in squares and rolled them in confectioner's sugar and cornstarch, we piled them on a plate and set them on the edge of the highly polished wooden dining room table and went out to help my mom, who had been working in the garden.

When we finally came inside, they had joined together and morphed into a moving blob of marshmallow fluff that had made its way all over the end of the table and onto the floor. I waited about 20 years to try them again, with much better results.

Items I make frequently from scratch:
Ketchup
Pickle relish
Ladyfingers
Italian water ice
Schnitz
Gyros
and more common things like salad dressings, pie crusts, broth, pudding, jams and jellies, pasta and other sauces, etc.

One from-scratch item I always wanted to try and finally mastered a few years ago was consomme.

Items I used to make but don't anymore:
Bread and rolls
Mayo
homemade jello
dandelion wine
noodles
sausage
mustards

Never made:
Pizza dough
sauerkraut
bagels
cheese
smoked foods
beer
dill pickles
and I sure do admire those who do.

ruthanna,

If you've made bread and rolls you have made pizza dough and are a step away from making bagels.

Jim

Sometimes the little bell just doesn't ding in your head. Even though I'd been baking bread forever, it never occurred to me that hamburger buns came in anything but those plastic packs in the grocery store. Then I stumbled on a recipe while looking for something else, and now I would never buy supermarket hamburger buns again. I even sneak whole-wheat flour in, so they're almost health food. My buns are a thing of beauty.

"My buns are a thing of beauty."

(Snicker!)

Ruthanna, I thought I might have been the only one who ever made dandelion wine. It was very sweet and altogether disgusting. LOL I've also made beer and Elery made a batch of wine that was much better. At least I guess it was, atleast people drank HIS!

I've made everything listed here at leas5t once, including the sauerkraut, yogurt, butter, pickles, ketchup. I also make my own sausage and my own pancetta. Elery is in charge of smoking fish, though.

I work fulltime and don't have a lot of people to feed, but it's more like my hobby than anything. I like to can and make things that cause others to raise their eyebrows. Sometimes it's worth the trouble, sometimes not. I don't think peanut butter or English Muffins are worth the trouble, neither are bagels. Sauerkraut is, though!

Annie

I was wondering when Annie would check in here. Talk about cooking from *scratch*! Anyone who starts a steak dinner by raising her own beef takes the trophy for cooking from scratch.

Jim

i guess the are you nuts comments when i say i make it from scratch meets this definition

ketchup
chili sauce
pancake mix ( you do know you can get this stuff in a box was what i was told)
mayo
jams
jelly
sauerkraut
dill pickles
green tomato pickles
B&B pickles
pasta
english muffins
kielbasa
tried dandelion wine what a disaster
cheese
and I am sure there are others I just do and do not think about

It's definitely worth making your own chili sauce from scratch, and I don't know why more people don't do it - the flavor is so much better, and you can control it better also. I always keep plenty of dried chilies on hand for that, even though I also keep chili paste in the fridge. I don't buy chili powder, however, as that doesn't come close to the flavor I want. Canned chili sauce is okay, but the paste is better.

I haven't yet made sauerkraut or kimchee, but I definitely intend to. I've made pickles, but I also buy them. I have the ingredients to make mustard but haven't done that yet either - I'm pretty happy with Grey Poupon, but it's a bit expensive - but then so are the ingredients to make mustard.

Lars

For me it's a combination of avoiding the junk I can't pronounce in ready-made foods and just proving to myself the I can make something.

I have made from scratch

croissants
pickles
home canned spaghetti sauce
home canned salsa
home canned jams, jellies and sauces
wine (not good, but I'll try again)
liqueurs (raspberry and blueberry vodkas & limoncello)
breakfast sausage
Italian sausage
baguettes
beef jerky
all my own chicken and beef broth

I think marshmallows would be fun, but I really don't like marshmallows, so I would only be making them for fun. No desire to make graham crackers, ginger ale or crackers. But I would like to try my hand at sauerkraut and pasta sometime.

Linda

I didn't think of that, Jim. I guess i do make steak from scratch, LOL, in the truest sense of the word! Eggs too.

Annie

I find myself making more and more from scratch after joining this forum! :) I too like knowing what's in things and how they were prepared... The things I make when I have the time and inclination:
english muffins
bagels
bread
pizza
sauerkraut(once)
pasta
pasta sauce
girlscout cookies :)

And a bunch of other stuff but it's hard to determine what qualifies as "different" and what's just normal baking!

Bri