Make It or Buy It? 15 Pantry Staples Worth Comparing

6. Broth and Stock

Homemade broth or stock can be extremely inexpensive.

Or surprisingly expensive.

The difference is what goes into the pot.

If you’re using chicken bones, meat trimmings and appropriate vegetable scraps that would otherwise be discarded, you’re extracting more value from food you’ve already purchased.

If you go to the grocery store and buy chicken and several vegetables specifically to make stock, the math changes.

Don’t overlook bouillon and concentrated bases, either. Depending on how you use broth, they can provide an inexpensive middle ground between homemade and cartons.

Make it when: You’re making stock primarily from usable scraps and leftovers.
Buy it when: You’d need to purchase most of the ingredients specifically for stock or need it quickly.
Verdict: MAKE IT FROM SCRAPS. Otherwise, compare your options.

Anytime I make bone-in chicken, I use the bones to make broth and freeze it. But I also stock up when I find canned broth (or cartons) or bouillon on sale. Relying on a combination of broth and stock types saves my household the most money.

Here is a short how-to for making stock from bones.

7. Gravy

If you’ve just cooked a roast, chicken or turkey and have flavorful drippings, homemade gravy makes good financial sense.

You’re turning something you already have into something you’d otherwise buy.

But sometimes you just want gravy with mashed potatoes.

An inexpensive packet or jar may be worth the convenience, especially if you don’t have drippings available.

Make it when: You have drippings or broth available and you’re already cooking.
Buy it when: You need a small amount quickly and don’t have a flavorful base for homemade gravy.
Verdict: MAKE IT WHEN THE MEAL PROVIDES THE INGREDIENTS.

8. Pasta Sauce

Pasta sauce is a perfect example of why “homemade is always cheaper” doesn’t work as a rule.

You can make an inexpensive sauce from canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and seasonings.

You can also spend considerably more making an elaborate sauce from fresh tomatoes, meat, wine, herbs and other ingredients.

Meanwhile, jarred pasta sauce frequently goes on sale and may be available on BOGO.

There’s also a middle ground: buy an inexpensive basic sauce and add vegetables, meat or seasonings you already have.

Make it when: You can make a simple sauce inexpensively from pantry ingredients or have garden tomatoes to use.
Buy it when: You find a brand you like at a good sale price and value having a quick meal in the pantry.
Verdict: IT DEPENDS. Keep both options available if they serve different purposes.

9. Pizza Sauce

Homemade pizza sauce can be surprisingly simple, especially if you already keep tomato products and Italian seasonings in the pantry.

But how much pizza sauce do you use?

If you make one pizza every few months, an inexpensive jar may make more sense than preparing a batch and potentially wasting the remainder.

If homemade pizza is a weekly event, making your own becomes more attractive.

Make it when: Pizza frequently appears on your meal plan and you already have the ingredients.
Buy it when: You use small amounts infrequently.
Verdict: MAKE IT for regular pizza makers. BUY IT for occasional use.

10. Barbecue Sauce

It’s easy to look at the price of homemade barbecue sauce and conclude that it’s inexpensive.

Until you realize you need to buy six ingredients to make it.

Recipes may call for ketchup or tomato products, vinegar, sweeteners, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and multiple spices.

If they’re already in your kitchen, great.

If they’re not, that $2 or $3 bottle of barbecue sauce starts looking pretty reasonable.

Make it when: Your kitchen already contains the ingredients and you’ll use the batch.
Buy it when: You don’t regularly stock the ingredients or can buy your preferred brand cheaply.
Verdict: BUY IT for many households unless you have another reason to prefer homemade.

11. Salad Dressing

Here’s one where it helps to divide the category in two.

Simple vinaigrettes can be incredibly easy to make. If you have oil, vinegar and seasonings, you’re most of the way there.

Creamy dressings may require additional refrigerated ingredients and can involve more preparation.

Shelf life matters, too. Commercial dressing generally gives you much more time to finish the bottle.

Make it when: You regularly eat salads, have the ingredients and can finish homemade dressing while it’s fresh.
Buy it when: You use dressing slowly or prefer varieties requiring ingredients you don’t normally keep.
Verdict: MAKE SIMPLE DRESSINGS. Compare the numbers on everything else.

12. Mayonnaise

Yes, you can make mayonnaise at home.

But should you?

Homemade mayonnaise can offer excellent flavor and ingredient control. From a purely frugal standpoint, however, it isn’t an obvious winner.

Oil and eggs cost money. There’s preparation involved. Homemade mayonnaise also doesn’t have the long refrigerator life of commercial mayonnaise.

If your household slowly works its way through a jar over several months, store-bought may result in less waste.

Make it when: Flavor or ingredient control matters enough to justify the effort and you’ll use it promptly.
Buy it when: You want convenience, long refrigerated storage and predictable cost.
Verdict: BUY IT for most households.

13. Ketchup

Ketchup is another product where homemade sounds more frugal than it necessarily is.

You can make it.

But commercial ketchup is relatively inexpensive, lasts a long time and regularly goes on sale.

Unless you have a specific reason for making your own, such as controlling sugar, sodium or other ingredients, the financial payoff may be small.

Make it when: You specifically prefer homemade or want more control over ingredients.
Buy it when: You’re primarily concerned with cost and convenience.
Verdict: BUY IT. Watch for sales and buy an amount you’ll use.

14. Pancake and Waffle Mix

A box of pancake mix primarily provides convenience.

If you regularly make pancakes or waffles, you can premeasure and combine your own dry ingredients in larger batches. Then you’ve created your own convenience mix.

The savings per batch may not be enormous, especially when boxed mixes go on sale, but the time requirement is minimal.

Make it when: Pancakes or waffles are regular meals and you keep the basic baking ingredients on hand.
Buy it when: You rarely make them or find a low-priced mix that your household likes.
Verdict: MAKE IT for frequent pancake eaters, especially if you’re already a baker.

Try this pancake mix recipe (and homemade syrup recipe).

15. Baking and Biscuit Mix

All-purpose baking mixes are convenient because one box can become biscuits, pancakes, dumplings and other dishes.

Homemade versions can also be inexpensive.

But look closely at the recipe before making a large batch. Ingredients affect how and how long a homemade mix can be safely stored.

And if you rarely use baking mix, you may not need a homemade or store-bought version. You can simply make the occasional recipe from individual baking ingredients.

Make it when: You use baking mix regularly and already stock the ingredients.
Buy it when: The convenience is worthwhile, especially at a good sale price.
Verdict: IT DEPENDS. Don’t make a huge batch until you know you’ll use it.

A Few More Things You May Not Need To Buy

Once you start looking around your kitchen, you may find a few other products that are easy to make when you need them.

Bread Crumbs and Croutons

Bread approaching staleness can become bread crumbs or croutons rather than food waste. This can be especially economical because the primary ingredient is something you might otherwise throw away.

On the other hand, packaged bread crumbs are inexpensive, shelf-stable and convenient. If your household rarely has leftover bread, buying them may make more sense than purchasing bread specifically to make crumbs.

Self-Rising Flour

If you occasionally encounter a recipe calling for self-rising flour, you may not need to buy an entire bag.

Self-rising flour can be made using all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt in the proper proportions.

This is less about saving pennies and more about avoiding another specialty ingredient that could sit unused in your pantry.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar can be made from granulated sugar and molasses.

Whether that helps you financially depends on what you normally keep in the pantry. If you already buy molasses for other purposes, knowing how to make brown sugar in a pinch could save you a trip to the store.

If you’d need to buy molasses solely to avoid buying brown sugar, the savings become less compelling.

Don’t Forget the Value of BOGOs and Sales

There’s another mistake we can make when comparing homemade with store-bought:

Comparing homemade only with the regular shelf price.

If you rarely pay full price for pasta sauce, cream soup or condiments, regular price isn’t your true comparison.

Suppose a jar of pasta sauce costs $4.49 but frequently goes BOGO.

For you, pasta sauce may effectively be closer to $2.25 per jar.

Can you make sauce for less? Perhaps.

But is the difference large enough to justify your time?

That’s the calculation that matters.

If you know a shelf-stable product regularly goes on sale, stock up on a reasonable amount when the price is low rather than assuming making it yourself is automatically cheaper.

Sometimes You’re Paying for More Than Ingredients

When you buy a convenience ingredient, part of the price pays someone else to do the work.

That isn’t automatically wasteful.

You’re also potentially buying:

• Time. Open the can and add it to dinner.
• Shelf life. It can sit in your pantry until you need it.
• Consistency. You know how the product will perform in a recipe.
• Less cleanup. No extra pan, blender or mixing bowl.
• Reduced waste. You don’t have half-used ingredients left from making something yourself.

Those things have value.

The question is whether they’re worth what you’re paying for them.

TDS Takeaway: The Best Kitchen Doesn’t Have to Be 100% Homemade

You don’t get extra points for making your own ketchup.

And buying a can of cream soup doesn’t mean you’ve failed at frugal cooking.

The goal is to identify the places where homemade gives you a worthwhile combination of savings, quality and convenience.

• Make taco seasoning because it takes two minutes.
• Make stock because you already have the chicken bones.
• Buy mayonnaise because your family takes three months to finish a jar.
• Grab pasta sauce when it’s BOGO because Wednesday is going to be hectic.

That’s not inconsistent.

That’s simply using the option that offers the best value when you need it.