Convenience Free

[budrichard]

To make Mayo and not worry about salmonella I put the eggs in boiling water for 5 minutes and then scoop out the contents. Works great and no risk!

Mustard was prepared with mustard powder, cracked seeds, vinegar and honey both cooked and uncooked. Both had a raw taste and were unpleasant. -Dick

[babyluck]

Mustard was prepared with mustard powder, cracked seeds, vinegar and honey both cooked and uncooked. Both had a raw taste and were unpleasant. -Dick

Hunh. I've read that mustard will not taste right for a few days after making it. That wasn't the problem, right?

I must say I'm concerned about the instant mashed potatoes too, but I applaud you for having the balls to admit it. That would probably be the last convenience item I'd go for, but then I think they taste vile. I think it depends if you grow up with them or not. I know some people who love them!

[snowangel]

No way anymore on canning tomatoes. Standing in a very hot kitchen in late August during the hottest hotspell of the summer, all that water, all of those jars, all of those kids...I'll never forget those summers on my grandparents farm when we would "put up" 12 dozen jars of tomatoes. I now just toss the tomatoes into the freezer (whole and unpeeled). There's a reason those farm women many years ago lauded the freezer.

I'd have to say that outside of dried pasta, condiments, canned tomatoes, saltines, and mayo. Add to the list peanut butter and honey.

What's the fridge life of homemade mayo? We eat it frequently, and at 7:00 am, when I'm helping the kids make lunches for school, the extra minutes of sleep do not allow for making mayo.

[hjshorter]

What's the fridge life of homemade mayo? We eat it frequently, and at 7:00 am, when I'm helping the kids make lunches for school, the extra minutes of sleep do not allow for making mayo.

Susan, I've heard a week for homemade. We don't eat that much and I hate throwing it out.

[fifi]

As for too many condiments I have 4 bottles of olive oil, 3 types of mustard and 5 types of vinegar and I am only cooking for one!

Tourist.

The apartment maintenance guys are here working on the refrigerator. I overheard one of them say... "Why does one lady need so many kinds of mustard?"

[tejon]

Definitely pick what you plan on making from scratch. I had to make almost everything from scratch for several years because my son had extreme food allergies, and it was overwhelming. I learned quite a bit, and did change the way we all eat in many positive ways, but I wish I'd been able to tackle less all at once. Also, like anything else, there are some foods that are difficult to recreate well at home (mustard I was able to do, but it didn't come out as well as my favorite premade type, kechup would fall in the same category if you use it, tortillas are pretty time consuming if you eat a lot of them).

Among the things I now prefer to make at home: stock, applesauce, salad dressings, breads and baked goods, kimchi, chutney, breakfast sausage, and chile oil.

I would love to follow along as you start making more from scratch!

[hjshorter]

Thanks Kathy, one of the reasons I've been thinking about it is because of Emma's allergies. She reacts badly to corn and corn products, and corn syrup is in everything, especially condiments.

What about yogurt? That's easy to make at home, isn't it? We almost always make our own salad dressing, but not chutney or relishes. That's the sort of thing I want to tackle.

Fifi, I counted. We have six different mustards. That's just nuts.

Guajolote recommended The Joy Of Pickling and it's on my Christmas list. Does anyone else have a recommendation?

[fifi]

My sister has this book that she has used for years...

Better Than Store Bought

authors Witty & Colchie

Harper Roe Publishers

ISBN 0-06-014693-1

It has all kinds of stuff, yogurt, crystallized mint leaves, condiments, etc. etc. etc. It is her Bible for all of the weird shit she comes up with. It may be out of print. I will see what I can find.

(BTW... I have 8 mustards. Beat ya! Yes... That is nuts.)

edit to add: Amazon has it. Also, I didn't spell the authors right.

Edited November 12, 2003 by fifi (log)

[hjshorter]

MatthewB mentioned that also. Time to track it down.

The River Cottage Cookbook is on my list now too. And I have been following Jack's preserving and breadmaking lessons closely.

This could be fun. Bread day again tomorrow. We need another loaf pan, so maybe a trip to the kitchen store too. Is it possible to find one that will make a two pound loaf?

Edit: Holy Cow! www.powells.com has one of Witty's books, The Fancy Pantry used...for $45! It and Better Than Store Bought are out of print now.

Edited November 12, 2003 by hjshorter (log)

[Suzanne F]

FYI: the second author on Better Than Storebought is now known -- or rather, again known -- as Elizabeth Schneider. Yes, she of Vegetables from Aramanth to Zucchini.

I just have one question for Heather: before you think about starting from scratch, do you make full use of what you cook now? Do you wring every bit of goodness and taste out of what you make? Just something to think about. Because I don't believe it's all that worthwhile, as an example, to make your own bread if you don't use every bit of it, including the stale crumbs or dry end slices. Or to raise your own vegetables if you toss the cooking water. You get the idea.

[skmcdade]

Great thread!

You might also want to read the Tightwad Gazette books by Amy Dacyzcyn (I hope I spelled that right). It's not all about food, but she advocates cooking from scratch, and does include a lot of recipes, including recipe equivalents for some packaged mixes. She also includes at least one or two articles comparing the cost of scratch vs. mixes, and pieces on how to figure out whether it's really worth your time to make something from scratch (for instance, she decided that homemade tomato paste just wasn't worth it).

[snowangel]

Guajolote recommended The Joy Of Pickling and it's on my Christmas list.  Does anyone else have a recommendation?

The Farmer's Journal Freezing and Canning Cookbook. Get it. Get it now if you are serious about this stuff. When my grandmother died, and everyone was divying (sp?) up the appliances and furniture, all I wanted was the Farm Journal Cookbooks and the Christmas Cactus (a gift from her grandmother). I got what I wanted and will never part with them. I'm sure it's OOP, but available on e-bay.

Edited to add: 7 kinds of mustard at the cabin! That's obscene.

Edited November 12, 2003 by snowangel (log)

[jwagnerdsm]

Heather,

This is an interesting topic for me because for the last seven months, we've attempted to eat only locally grown food. Not only does it take a lot of extra work, but it also takes some careful management because you can't just run out to the store at 4:30 p.m. to pick up those extra ingredients for dinner. I spend, on average, two hours in the kitchen every day just making dinner. And then there's the time I spend growing or sourcing food, canning or freezing it, cleaning produce, and figuring out substitutions for certain ingredients. The toughest months are ahead if you haven't been freezing and canning all winter. I say start slow. And get a copy of Putting Food By. It's the bible of food preservation and it will probably save you from killing your family.

Good luck.

[tejon]

Thanks Kathy, one of the reasons I've been thinking about it is because of Emma's allergies. She reacts badly to corn and corn products, and corn syrup is in everything, especially condiments.

What about yogurt? That's easy to make at home, isn't it? We almost always make our own salad dressing, but not chutney or relishes. That's the sort of thing I want to tackle.

Both my boys were allergic to corn - and you're right, it is in everything. A couple of tricks I found to locating corn free food items were to look for foods produced outside the US (corn is a cheaper sweetener in the US, cane is cheaper elsewhere), and to look for Kosher foods, especially Kosher for Passover. I'd be happy to put together the information I learned while dealing with their corn allergy & send it to you, it'll just take me a day or so.

Yogurt is definitely easy to make at home, and so much better than anything you can buy. Now that my youngest has taken a liking to it, I'll have to start making some again :-). Chutneys and relishes are a lot of fun, especially if you're new to canning. Leave yourself plenty of time the first few times around, and be sure to read everything over several times so you know all of the steps beforehand.

[Priscilla]

Charming little book, Fine Preserving by Catherine Plagemann, has been very useful for me.

There is an edition, probably the easiest one to find, reissued with annotation by M.F.K. Fisher, whose notes are interesting. But even without the M.F.K.F. commendation this is an inspiring, and confidence-inspiring, book.

Mrs. Plagemann works with small batches, encouraging to the novice or sometime canner/preserver, and sophisticated flavor profiles that are fresh even now, many years after her book's 1967 publication. (The Fisher-annotated edition came out in the late 1980s.)

The Ball Blue Book or the Kerr Canning Guide, with their meticulous instructions and basic formulas and recipes, have been just indispensible, as well.

[hjshorter]

Thanks Priscilla, I will hunt it down. I like the idea of small batches.

Scored a copy of Better Than Store Bought for $9.00 through abebooks.com. I love the internet.