JonobieRE: https://ablerism.micro.blog/2026/06/15/regular-random-reminder-that-bangforbuck.html
I’ve found this to be true as well.
This makes me wonder beyond salad dressing and granola:
What else is low effort to make and vastly better or cheaper than store-bought?
Chris Mackay 🇨🇦
clewSeconding bread, especially in a temperate or cold climate, and after you’ve sorted through various recipes for compatibility. A multi day batch of five minute bread, for example, or occasional baking of really dense sour keeping bread, or overnight baguettes, or the adjustable timings-for-schedules in _Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book_.
@clew @jonobie As for bread being cheaper when made at home, I literally got a cheque for $47 in the mail today as the result of the federal government charging a national grocery chain for decades of price-fixing and gouging consumers. Haven’t seen any sign of reduced bread prices on the shelves, though. https://www.canadianbreadsettlement.ca/
Maria Langer | 📝🛥️💎@clew @tantramar @jonobie Also saying bread, especially if you have a bread machine. Seriously: it can't get any easier.
Benjamin Geer@jonobie @beandreams Bread and yogurt!
@benjamingeer @beandreams I’m just starting to okay with yogurt! Any particular culture you recommend?
@jonobie @beandreams We just buy a jar of good plain yogurt and use that as the culture, it works fine 😃
Sarah dreams of beans
EllenIn Edmonton@jonobie
#kimchi, #yogurt, and #sauerkraut are pretty easy, at least the way that I do it. They are SO delicious, and have the natural benefits of fermentation, unlike storebought, which will usually be pasteurized, killing all of the good bacteria.
#fermentation
#kimchi, #yogurt, and #sauerkraut are pretty easy, at least the way that I do it. They are SO delicious, and have the natural benefits of fermentation, unlike storebought, which will usually be pasteurized, killing all of the good bacteria.
#fermentation
@EllenInEdmonton I’m just starting to play with yogurt! Do you have a particular culture you like to use for that?
@jonobie
Usually, I just keep a couple of tablespoons of my last batch of yogurt, and I also empty a capsule of probiotic from the pharmacy. After I returned from holidays, I didn't have leftover yogurt, and my yogurt didn't set this time. I may be forced to buy a small tub of yogurt to get things going again. I'm sure it's still full of probiotics, but I prefer the solid texture to liquid.
Usually, I just keep a couple of tablespoons of my last batch of yogurt, and I also empty a capsule of probiotic from the pharmacy. After I returned from holidays, I didn't have leftover yogurt, and my yogurt didn't set this time. I may be forced to buy a small tub of yogurt to get things going again. I'm sure it's still full of probiotics, but I prefer the solid texture to liquid.
Matt Chambers@EllenInEdmonton @jonobie kefir is quite easy.
Sunanda
Rehana Rodrigues@jonobie Pickles, if you're just keeping them in the fridge instead of trying to sterilize anything. That is, pickling for flavor not preservation.
Nic The Briny
Jon
Plsik (born in 320 ppm)@jonobie Kimchee. Hummus. Red bean paste.
Depends, yesno? What’s your kitchen, what’s your climate, what kinds of attention are easier for you…
There’s a book _Make the Bread Buy the Butter_ about a lot of these experiments. Rates each thing on… I think cost savings, tastiness, and hassle, as three independent axes.
I know I have different results than the author for some things, but it’s a great frame for the idea and a great way to take notes.
My household buys wheat from the farmer and grinds it by hand for bread, frex. @jonobie
zompus@clew @jonobie I think of bread is high-effort because of the various timings, as well as the various things that have to be cleaned afterward. If I'm doing it for a hobby, then fine, but if I'm doing it because I need bread, I'm just going to go buy bread.
Things I would make rather than buy include granola, cake, chicken stock, pasta sauce, and hummus. Also I would rather make Hainanese chicken at home rather than get it at a restaurant.
how much do I want, is it a hassle to buy it, and and and. even in the city but not in a high rise, if it isn’t a commuting day, I’d rather make bread than go out to buy it. In a good high rise neighborhood, I could buy practically anything fresh in single servings exactly when I wanted it. But I’ve also lived far enough out that I could make bread faster than an errand could go get it. Everything depends!@zompus @jonobie
@clew @jonobie I also tried making crumpets a couple of times but aside from the dough mixing and rising time, it takes about 10 minutes to cook 4 crumpets in a pan, which means I was actively standing at the stove for an hour to get through all of them. Running 2 pans sped things up but it was twice as much mental load to not overcook them.
AspiringLudditeDepends on your definition of 'low effort' and 'better' ;-)
I've optimised bread and several kinds of cheese for What We Like, so it's low effort at this point.
Ditto the lacto-fermentation of various bits and bobs.
Reminds me, I need to get a rennet order in sometime soon.
ohir@jonobie
> low effort to make and vastly better or cheaper than store-bought?
It depends on which country you are in.
@tantramar
> Bread.
Especially bread is neither low effort nor cheap. It's not that easy to prepare and store real bread starter and the bake process itself needs a practice too.
@ohir @jonobie I use a no-knead (therefore low-skill) loaf that has 4 ingredients (water, bread flour, salt, and rapid yeast); comes out to around CA$1/loaf, maybe? No starter (not sourdough), no fancy storage needs; doesn’t last that long. ;) I’ve not had a single failure with this loaf, and I’m no expert baker. It does require some gear — bowls, oven, mixing tools, parchment paper — but no specialty tools, and nothing remotely exotic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ukMbpMuof3g
Never Buy Bread Again: The Easiest 4-Ingredient Daily Bread (No Kneading)
@tantramar
Thank you. Bookmarked. I will try the recipe.
My traditional bread is coming once per three weeks from the nearby countryside mom'n'pop store and they have it straight from the small traditional bakery. Not effortless, just some 7km by bike ;)) CA$6 per 1.4kg loaf though.
@ohir @tantramar Thanks for the link - I literally just wandered into my kitchen and made this. I love the NYT recipe for no knead bread, but it’s too slow for me sometimes — I often forget to start it early enough for the long proofing time.
@jonobie @ohir This loaf is 3 hours from I-should-make-bread to slicing-and-buttering. The key is the quick-rise yeast, though; I find many American recipes use various names for it. This is the one I use — and one of the stores I frequent that carries Fleischmann’s yeast doesn’t carry it — so read the label carefully.
@tantramar @ohir Lol, well, it’s possible I just made it without the right yeast, not sure. Though the first rise looked good, so we’ll see when it comes out of the oven? 🤷🏻♀️
@tantramar I’m rarely too upset to eat my errors 🤣
@jonobie @ohir I’ve seen others talk about how much they like the NYT recipe — but the overnight proofing can’t compete with the quick-rise yeast for me.
People are also unhelpfully vague about water temperature (to activate the yeast): 105–120°F works for me, and if you don’t have a thermometer, 1 ¼ cups of room-temperature water + ¾ cups of boiling water tends to work out fine.
Adding 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds or chopped walnuts to the dough — and maybe some sesame seeds and/or poppyseed sprinkled on top (wet the dough first so it sticks better) — makes it extra flavourful.
Photo is one of my loaves out of a 9-inch Dutch oven. Comes out about 4 or 5 inches tall.
AmgineSyrups and sauces - from liquid sugar and coffee flavours to raspberry coulis and chocolate syrup.
Soups and stocks. Often just put ingredients in a pot and heat through.
"hot dish", casserole, or whatever your regional term: a 1-pot melange usually involving a protein, a starch, vegetables &/or fungi, and a flavorful sauce/gravy. Process is usually baked or slow-cooking.
Best skill to practice & improve: making rice. Easy to do, hard to perfect.
sport of sacred spherical cowsNut butters.
Just finalized our household recipe of Wallseed Peanut Butter. Two parts peanut, one part walnut, pumpkin and sesame seeds, with avocado oil and blackstrap molasses.
Popcorn spice.
My own bespoke seven seasonings recipe includes ground allium skins, orange zest, and nutritional yeast flakes, among other ingredients. For my roommate, a simpler spice: anise and thyme with Himalayan pink salt.
Muffins.
Currently developing a ginger blueberry oatmeal muffin with crushed fennel seeds, and some of the okara left over from making soy milk. (Also working on an okara crackers recipe.)
Hot cereal.
Quinoa oatmeal and accompanying six-part seed-meal topping can be measured out and set aside in reclaimed condiment containers, to be rice cookered up a night for a dose of tryptophan, enjoyed with maple syrup and blackstrap molasses.
Sports drink.
Water, fruit juice, rounded out with lemon juice, blackstrap molasses and maple syrup again, ginger powder and Himalayan pink salt.
Body butter.
Shea butter base, with coconut oil, cornstarch, ground chamomile flowers, baking soda, garlic and ginger powders, golden seal and myyrh.
These are just items that have something resembling store-bought equivalents.
@beadsland Those popcorn spices sound really interesting! Would you be willing to share a recipe for them?
=== Seven Seasonings ===
1. Clean and dry spice shaker and add 1/2 tsp of fresh brown rice to jar.
2. Coarse grind (Cuisinart spice and nut grinder):
• 5 g shredded dried allium skins
3. Add to mixing bowl. Wisk well.
• course ground allium skins
• spice and popcorn remnants (sifted from last bucket of popcorn: optional)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 cup homemade orange zest
• 1 tbsp black pepper kernel
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp savory herb seasoning
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
5. Grind (Krups spice and coffee grinder) in batches, transferring ground material back to mixing bowl.
6. Once thoroughly ground and mixed, transfer to spice shaker.
=== Roommate's GERD-safe spice ===
Grind in Krups:
• 1 tbsp anise (ground: dehydrated fennel fronds, fennel seeds or star anise)
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
Transfer to spice shaker.
We use walnut oil in our sprayer when applying either spice to a batch from the Poplite.
@beadsland Those look amazing - thank you!
Tiota Sram@jonobie sushi. No seriously, especially if you're vegetarian. The raw fish versions not so much (worth paying for safety there probably), but tamago, inari, kappa, and a whole world of whatever suits your fancy is dead simple to make and cheap.
Just get sushi-style rice, throw it in a rice cooker, then as it cools add sushi vinegar (possibly also sesame oil if you want). Once cooled & seasoned, put it on nori wrappers and then roll up whatever you like inside (or you can just stir-fry some stuff and mix it in and eat out of a bowl if you're lazy to do seaweed. One of my go-to lazy dinners skips even the stir-fry and just adds a bit of soy sauce and some store-bought crispy onions straight to the sushi rice.
@tiotasram I love this idea! For some reason it never occurred to me to season sushi rice to be, well, yanno, suitable for sushi 😂🤣
Mael Eoin mac EchuidI make a lot of harissa that I jokingly call the thinking person's ketchup.
So. Good.
I shred onions and peppers, add salt (5% by weight) and wait a couple weeks. The fermented result is a great topping for sandwiches, salads, etc and the brine can be mixed with oil or the like as a dressing. Fermented cherry tomatoes (whole, in a 3% brine) are amazing...and they're effervescent! Wonderful in cocktails and the tomatoey brine...
Fermented Vegetables: From Arugula... book by Christopher Shockey
Buy a cheap copy of Fermented Vegetables: From Arugula... book by Christopher Shockey. This updated and revised bestselling guide to fermenting vegetables shares 65 new recipes, 8 new vegetable and fruit entries, 12 new producer profiles, 4 new... Free Shipping on all orders over $20.
irrational methodHummus is high on my list but we often buy it as I always make it too garlicy for my kid.
There's a whole cookbook around this concept called "make the bread, buy the butter" that has a fairly extensive and entertaining narrative with each recipe about the author's attempts to make everything from scratch for a whole year.
@IrrationalMethod I'm so confused about this concept of "too garicy" 🤣
That cookbook sounds fun - I put it on hold at the library to see what I get out of it. Thanks!