33 Things to Stop Buying and Start Making to Save Money
If you're looking for ways to save money on groceries and everyday household expenses, one simple place to start is by looking at the things you regularly buy that you could make yourself.
I'm not suggesting you spend your entire weekend making everything from scratch. (Because honestly, who has time for that?) But there are plenty of pantry staples, sauces, mixes and household essentials that are really easy to make at home. Some can save you quite a bit of money!
Making things yourself can also give you more control over what goes into them. Instead of standing in the grocery store trying to decipher a long ingredient list, you can choose the ingredients yourself and adjust recipes to suit your family's preferences.
And there's another benefit to making things yourself: you become a little less dependent on the grocery store.
Run out of taco seasoning? You can make your own. Need pancake mix? You can mix up a batch. Have some leftover bread? Turn it into breadcrumbs instead of buying them.
That doesn't mean everything is cheaper homemade. Sometimes the store-brand version is the better deal, and sometimes your time is worth more than the savings. The trick is to find the things that make sense for you to make.
33 Things to Stop Buying and Start Making
Ready to try a few homemade swaps? Here are 33 things to stop buying and start making yourself.
Pantry Staples & Baking
- Homemade Peanut Butter | Fox and Briar
- Homemade Bisquick | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packs | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Pancake Mix | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Brown Sugar | Nourishing Joy
- Homemade Powdered Sugar | Mom with a Prep
- Homemade Baking Powder | Mommypotamus
- Homemade Bread Crumbs | Make and Takes
- Homemade Pizza Dough | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Vanilla Extract | SimplyFrugal.ca
Sauces, Condiments & Seasonings
- Homemade Mayonnaise (video) | Simple Bites
- Homemade Ketchup | Cupcakes and Kale Chips
- Homemade BBQ Sauce | Simply Scratch
- Homemade Ranch Dressing | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Taco Seasoning | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Alfredo Sauce | The Novice Chef
- Homemade Tomato Sauce | Love and Lemons
- Homemade Worcestershire Sauce | Little House Living
- Homemade Soy Sauce | Little House Living
Dairy & Other Basics
- Homemade Yogurt | Faithfully Gluten Free
- Homemade Flavoured Coffee Cream | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Butter | Unsophisticook
- Homemade Cream Cheese | Alpha Foodie
- Homemade Sour Cream | Oh Lardy
- Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk | Cooking with Books
- Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup | Buns in my Oven
- Homemade Bouillon Cubes | Simple Bites
Snacks & Meal Basics
- Homemade Refried Beans | Simply Scratch
- Homemade Applesauce | Pioneer Woman
- Homemade Pop Tarts | Smitten Kitchen
Homemade Household Essentials
- Homemade Laundry Detergent | DIY Natural
- Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner | SimplyFrugal.ca
- Homemade Dryer Sheets | SimplyFrugal.ca
A book for making more things from scratch
If you're interested in making more of your everyday pantry staples yourself, you might enjoy The Homemade Pantry. It features 101 recipes for making common foods from scratch.
You don't have to make everything yourself
Here's the thing about frugal living: you don't need to turn everything into a DIY project.
If making your own bread crumbs takes five minutes and uses bread you already have, that's an easy win. If making homemade mayonnaise requires more time and effort than you're willing to spend, there's absolutely nothing wrong with buying it.
The goal isn't to make everything from scratch.
Instead, look for the homemade swaps that:
- use ingredients you already keep on hand
- are quick and easy to make
- cost noticeably less than the store bought version
- help you use up food you already have
- are things your family uses regularly
- save you an extra trip to the store
Once you find a few that work well for your household, you can make them part of your regular routine.
What should you stop buying and start making?
You don't need to tackle all 33 of these ideas. Pick one or two that you buy regularly and give the homemade version a try.
You might discover that you actually prefer the homemade version. Your grocery budget may thank you too, as the little savings can really add up over time!
How many of these have you tried? What are some things you stop buying and make yourself to save money?
Homemade is soooo much better than store bough anything. And fermented foods like pickles, suarkraut and hot sauce. They are all so easy. And if you start making pizza dough, why not ALL your breads. Pizza sauce, tomato soup, any soup!, and the list is endless. Starting with whole ingredients and knowing what EXACTLY is in the food you eat is soooo important. Did you know that not ALL ingredients are listed on prepared foods? They don’t have to mention it if it’s under 0.5 grams per serving. So they could add a dozen or more icky ingredients and NOT tell you.
This is so absolutely true. Some of those extras added are actually poisoning us. The U.S. uses doctors more and the people have more medical problems than any other country. We need to eat for health and not just for pleasure.
I’m going to have to try This at
I’m interested in making my own homemade stuff in small quantities. Sometimes it works and other times it’s a disaster. But thanks for the work.
Wow this unbilivable I also interested in making home made stuff. Please assist me to have that knowledge and save
Kind regards
Leah Reneilwe makola
I’m looking for a recipe for a powder coffee creamer. My late Mother made this but I’ve not found her recipe. I’m not certain that she had even written down. Any help will be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I need easy recipes for bread .cakes and pastries
Would love to know the Nutella recipe.❤️
3 cups powdered milk. 1 cup confectionary sugar. Mix in a food processor until powdery.
Thanks for the cream cheese recipe! I’ve made several of these things, but by no means all. I’ve actually got two old honey jars in the pantry right now that are full of (almost) vanilla extract. They’ll be ready in June. I bake WAY too much to buy teeny bottles of vanilla extract for exorbitant prices. I’m trying the cream cheese tomorrow morning, so excited!
I’ve been making homemade vanilla extract, and selling it at farmers markets for years now, along with bread starters.
I’ve made my own laundry soap for 18 years. I started because my son was allergic to every soap I tried.
Any recipe for A1 steak sauce?
I cook my steak with thyme, rosemary and butter and then just pop abit of flour and water in the pan after I pull the steaks out to rest. It’s a lovely gravy/sauce.
I haven’t made this yet but I wanted an au jus recipe instead of buying the tiny packets. https://familydinners.com/au-jus-seasoning-mix-recipe/#recipe
I have been making brown sugar for my husband’s coffee for a while now, and he absolutely loves it. I use organic cane sugar and molasses and scrape vanilla seeds into it. It’s better and it’s custom, just for him. Making things from scratch helps make things special for our family. 🙂
Another one I’ve come across, is homemade Nutella, (with a few different versions), but I’ve yet to try. 🙂
Such a great list. I need to start making these.
My Granny made butter when I was little but she always soured (?) the milk in a churn. How do you have buttermilk left if the cream is not soured first?
Churning will separate the butter from the buttermilk
She most likely “cultured” the cream before making her butter, Gives as good a flavor as Irish butter. You can buy some CULTURED buttermilk and use that to culture the first batch of butter. From there on use your buttermilk from making the butter for future batches. Beyond delicious!!!
Making powdered sugar from granulated is really not easy, and I’m not even sure it’s possible. I’ve tried it – and watched video about someone else trying it – and it just didn’t work. It’s grainy and not smooth like the store bought kind. I want it to work, but just putting it in the blender, doesn’t. Some recipes call for cornstarch; I didn’t find that it helped either.
Don’t give up just yet… I don’t have a high powered blender and I know that I have to make my powdered sugar in very small batches for it to work… Like quarter cup at a time… And then I have had to put it in a sieve or sifter to get the big sugar chunks out and put those back in the blender… I hope that helps don’t give up you’ve got this
I agree. What they are making is CASTER sugar.
Hi it works great in a Kenwood seed and nut grinder or a coffee grinder. That’s what I do and it comes out great
If you need only a few tablespoons, use a coffee grinder. I don’t need a full box of powdered sugar, which I use rarely. This is for a quick fix used in a pinch.
I use a simple coffee grinder to make powder sugar. It’s really easy. Coffee grinders are cheap, around $20.00. I keep one for only coffee, and the other for powdering sugars, herbs, and spices.
Try a coffee grinder it’ll make it nice and smooth I use one for my herbs when making my yearly seasoning
The longer you put it through a grinder. I use a nut/ coffee grinder then you can make caster sugar. Longer icing sugar/ powder sugar.
Don’t listen to the others – unless you have a VERY high powered blender, it is grainy. I have a blend tech and I have made it -just because I could, and I’m a pinch. But powdered sugar is so easy and cheap -it isn’t worth making your own.
With the blend tech, I make my own rice flour from rice and wheat flour from wheat berries.
A small magic bullet works great for this it takes some time to get a big batch, but works!! (Granulated sugar & corn starch)
Thanks for this awesome list!!
Thanks for the link-up to my PB post. We seriously make this peanut butter every week and it takes just minutes. So easy!
How many items do you make homemade to save money personally? I’m not asking in a judge-y way at all I’m simply just curious if it’s possible to make most things from scratch these days and still have time for other things lol. I like the idea of homemade and recently made my first turkey stock from bones we had leftover. I know it’s so much better for you and I felt better using it in our turkey soup. But having said that we don’t always have bones in the freezer to make stock from, especially beef bones. And it did take quite a while to make enough for a pot of soup. I had to leave it in the crockpot all day and then make the soup the next day.
I totally get what you’re saying! 🙂 Sometimes it makes more sense to buy things when it’s going to cost you more time than money. I personally make the instant oatmeal packs, the coffee cream, all-purpose cleaner, Bisquick, bread crumbs, taco seasoning, ranch dressing, Alfredo sauce, vanilla extract, pizza dough and apple sauce. Most of those things only involve pouring/combining ingredients so are super quick to put together.
I have been making ghee (butter oil) from KerryGold butter for awhile now. I love it!l I found out how on YouTube. I’m also making my own yogurt, and just in the last few months I’ve been experimenting and learning how to make graham crackers. ( I want to get away from “seed oils”.) Been making bone broth for several years. I’m 76 and want to live healthier.
What I do is I make stuff once I run out of the store-bought thing. I have a big list of homemade stuff I want to try, it seems to get longer all the time! Next one is I want to make butter, but I have four sticks right now. I’m not going to make it tomorrow, but once I’m on the last stick, I will try. I just do one thing at a time as it comes up that I need it, and over a few years I’ve made a ton of stuff.