Things you'd be crazy not to make yourself

[Blether]

soup.

I'm a big fan of home-made soup, too, but there was one period when I lived in London when I often bought ready made soup in a tetrapak from the Covent Garden Soup company. Those were excellent soups.

[DeliciouslyLekker]

I do buy canned soups because we're not really soup people and when we do eat soup, we don't eat much so a whole pot-full would definitely be a waste.

Home-made tomato sauce is definitely a must. It really doesn't require any effort and I just watched this programme on TV yesterday- Jamie Oliver's 1 (yes, ONE)-minute sauce so it doesn't always have to take lots of time (Italian old man I know often leaves his sauce on the stove for about 2 hours. Of course it tastes gorgeous but I can understand why one wouldn't make it).

Something else I try not to buy is Asian stir-fry sauces. It just lacks the complexity and I'd rather not eat it than to eat the horrid sauces available at the western supermarkets (the Lee Kum Kee ones are acceptable though).

[petite tête de chou]

I make my own pizza because it's my husbands very favorite food and the *only* other pizza alternative in my small town is Dominos. Not delicious or nutritious and highly suspicious.

I also make all of our baked goods- breads, rolls, cakes, pies, cookies etc. Sometimes I'll buy a loaf of (mediocre) sourdough because I haven't started a sourdough starter. The local Safeway bakery provides insubstantial tomfoolery but no real baked goods.

Seriously, when I moved from the food nirvana (Japanese! Indian! Ethiopian!) that the city offered to a rinky-dink town that specializes in fast food and a greasy diner breakfast...part of me died but then I revived myself by learning how to cook from scratch. Most but not all of my own product seems to be better than store bought and I'm good with that ratio.