(This is not my refrigerator.)
Can I make you think for a moment? If you pondered your family’s eating habits and figured out the one prepared item that is used in your household, what would it be?
I asked a similar question on Facebook the other day and got a variety of answers: ketchup, salsa, ranch dressing, Miracle Whip*, barbecue sauce, bread, spicy mustard…
Now, think about the trash and plastic you could eliminate from the waste stream, the chemicals (in many cases) you could remove from your family’s diet, and the trips to the store you could avoid if you made that one item at home. What if instead of depending on Heinz and Kraft and Pace to fulfill your family’s desire for that must-have item, you made it yourself? Of course, you’ll likely need the help of a farmer or two for some of the ingredients necessary to make your version, but removing that whole step of manufacturing your favorite prepared item is better for the environment and very likely better for your health. It gives you the opportunity to choose organic or sustainably farmed items. And it teaches the younger generation that food, real food, doesn’t have to come with a label.
I’ve already converted to making my own grainy mustard, ketchup, hamburger relish, salsa, and barbecue sauce. My eldest son has started baking our sandwich bread. We’ve still got a long way to go toward eliminating all prepared foods, but it’s a start. And I can tell you that it has been a painless conversion. In most cases, all you need to do is commit to a half an hour or so of cooking. In the case of ketchup, it will take longer, but that’s because it needs to cook down. There’s not much active work going on during that stage. And that half-hour in the kitchen will generally net you way more of your favorite condiment than what you’d get at the store – for less money.
*I’m not a fan myself, but I found this recipe for homemade Miracle Whip. Even that can be created in your kitchen!
Photo: Flickr user sylvar.
Mayo is super easy to make yourself. I’ll have to try the Miracle Whip recipe too!
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How long does your mayo keep for you, NoPot?
I love homemade mayo and have been making it for years….I don’t know why, but I don’t like Miracle Whip and never have.
I like to make my own roasted (meatless) tomato sauce which can be used in a bunch of different ways in all sorts of recipe and enjoy making refrigerator pickles, although at one time I did go the canning way. Since most of my favorite ingredients to use for sauces, pickles, fruits for jams and jellies, etc are available year round here, I just make small batches more often rather than go the canning route….
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I don’t much care for Miracle Whip, either. When you make your mayo, how long can you keep it in the fridge?
Wait a minute, that’s MY fridge door! It even has Publix-brand butter (a Florida grocery store chain)!
A great goal — I’ve stopped buying salsa in favor of making it myself, and for 6 glorious weeks I had EVERYTHING for it coming from my garden! It was delightful!
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Did you preserve any this year so you won’t have to buy salsa when garden season is over? I LOVE it when my garden is at that stage!
This a great goal. I have on my list to make homemade mayo. Maybe I’ll get it done this week with your encouraging post. We love salsa in our home and canned a lot last year. We made it 10 months without buying any. I am hoping my tomatoes ripen up enough this week to get going on a year’s supply.
Heather, when the season comes to an end and you’ve got green tomatoes, you can make a salsa verde with those. Maybe with that, your salsa will last all year!
We go through two packages of pitas and a jar of pickles every week. I learned how to make both this weekend. That’s about $10/week I’ll be saving and both of those items taste WAY better home made. I’m beginning to suspect that a lot of things do.
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Karen, that’s so inspiring! I think that’s exactly what we all need to do – figure out what we’re big fans of and figure out how to make that item at home. What a savings.
Fun topic! We (so far) make ketchup, ranch dressing, Asian dressing, mayo, salsa and jams at home. Need to try making the mustard and relishes…have done pickles but they weren’t crisp.
Cathy, have you tried refrigerator pickles? Certainly not practical for a bunch of cukes, but worth a try. I’ve never had much luck with processed pickles, either.
No, I haven’t, but should. Will have to see if I can get my hands on some pickling cucumbers. Thanks!
I used to make mayo when I lived in France. You asked how long it would keep above. That’s the drawback. I remember it being fine when I had a crowd to feed, but not too good for keeping in the fridge. I think I used to buy a jar at the store for regular times. So, my response is not too promising, I’m afraid. Someone mentioned pita. Would love that recipe. Someone also needs to mention the time involved. I had time to do these things when I was a housewife. Now that I run a business, not so much.
For most of this year, the great food blog Serious Eats has been doing a column called Sauced, available here:
http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/recipes/Sauced
Recipes include classics like homemade ketchup, yellow mustard, and ranch, and a few more interesting ones like remoulade and cilantro pesto. Great post!
Impressive. I should look into making my own chutney.
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I should learn how to make some of this stuff. Many of our condiments just sit in the fridge until they go bad anyway.
Today I made home made hot choc and I’m going to try and make my almond milk from scratch…
I have made ketchup, pickles (make sure they are pickling cucumbers or they are soft), salsa (LOVE IT!), and about to try homemade teriyaki sauce.
Can you recommend a ketchup recipe? I didn’t care for the one I used…a bit too spicy.
Thanks!!
I used the recipe here: http://www.sbcanning.com/2011/07/condiment-canning-ketchup-mustard.html I left out the allspice though, as I didn’t have any on hand. My kids pronounced that “it tastes just like….ketchup!” Not spicy at all.
I must admit, I like having sauces on hand. I’ve been meaning to try your mustard recipe, thanks for the reminder. But how would you go about making soy sauce or fish sauce on your own? Ketchup, I can imagine, mustard too. This makes me wish I would have paid better attention when my mom was doing canning with us growing up.
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You can – it’s just a matter of finding a recipe and !figuring it out. I mean, look at this: http://chubbyhubby.net/blog/?p=271 The method is pretty rustic and uses basic ingredients. It’s just a matter of time and interest. I’d actually like to try soy sauce. I generally avoid the bottled shoyu since it has wheat.
Bread! I think if we all started buying flour (or wheat berries) in recyclable 25-pound paper bags and made our own bread at home the world would change over night. If we all did it with WHOLE GRAIN FLOUR our health would change too! (Of course, many believe wheat of any kind is unhealthy…)
You are so right. I don’t buy salad dressing any more. Homemade is so, so simple and way healthier. And tastier.
I would really like to take on this challenge because the other issue with store bought condiments is that they go bad before we ever get a chance to use them all. We hardly use stuff like that. So it makes more sense to make from scratch. Except that I never make it from scratch. I’m adding this to my to do list, pronto.
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I make my own bruschetta – and it’s really good! Got the recipe by Googling CPK’s recipe.
What a great idea to make one small change at a time. It makes it doable rather than an overwhelming set of endless tasks. Maybe I’ll start with your grainy mustard recipe.
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