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Following! My parents gave us a food processor for Christmas and I can't wait to make my own salsa!

I like to make easy microwavable freezer food type that's tempting to buy for convenience's sake (hot pockets, breakfast burritos, etc.) It's pretty easy/cheap to make your own, and there are less preservatives while having more control over ingredients.

We make a lot when we have the time because we enjoy being in the kitchen.

Bread is definitely a big one. We have a bread maker that used to belong to my BIL. It is SO much cheaper! A loaf of regular Italian is $2-3 where all you need is a bit of flour, baking soda, sugar, etc.

Pizza dough. SO easy to make and costs peanuts. An average dough at the market costs about $2.

Homemade pizza. Pizza is stupid expensive here.

I think Greek yogurt will be a great one but I'm too chicken too!

Iced tea/lemonade. A few lemons and or tea bags plus A bunch of water.

We really enjoy making our own pasta but that's pretty time intensive.

Baked goods. I just prefer to because I don't make it tooth aching sweet.

ETA: homemade applesauce is so good! But so time consuming with cutting apples. Anyone have a quick workaround for that?

Not worth it: pesto and granola. Wegmans makes a freaking awesome pesto. You need SO much basil to make pesto. I find granola ingredients to be pricey.

I don't have time to make things from scratch, but if I did, I would do no-knead bread. Don't even need a bread machine to do it, all you need is to plan ahead, have an enameled dutch oven and like artisan breads.

We also have a yogurt maker, but it doesn't get a lot of use. I think we made 3 batches and I've since moved it to the basement.

My mom is hardcore, she buys tomatoes and puts up puree once a year and from there makes her tomato sauce, that's where she and I differ. I buy the puree in a can when I want to make spaghetti sauce. But for her, it's cost effective because they have all the equipment.

I prefer to make my own salad dressing because I don't care for store bought. Often pasta sauce too, but we do really like TJ's vodka sauce.

I used to make a lot of stuff from scratch - hummus, veggie dip, ranch dressing, granola - but 7 months pregnant with a 2 year old a lot of that stuff has fallen by the wayside. I still make granola sometimes, although I find it a lot more expensive than just buying it (my granola is pecan-heavy). I always make my own pasta sauce because I have a roasted tomato sauce that I LOVE, but I make it in bulk and freeze it. Otherwise, pretty much just baked goods and balsamic salad dressing.

eta oh yeah, pancakes and waffles. I make them both on a pretty regular basis is bigger batches than we'll eat and freeze the leftovers - presto, toaster waffles! And breadcrumbs, I run bread ends through the food processor every so often and keep them in a bag in the freezer.

@erinbaderin: Can you share the recipe for your roasted tomato sauce? I've been looking for one!

@jlm22: No problem! It's an Emeril recipe that I've been using for years. I tend to buy a bushel of plum tomatoes every summer and make it in giant roasting pans.

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce:
3 pounds Romanita tomatoes, cored ( If Romanita tomatoes are unavailable, use a combination of Roma and grape tomatoes to approximate the sweetness of Romanitas)

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

12 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large, 14-inch, oven proof frying pan, combine all the ingredients. Stir to blend then transfer to the oven and cook until the tomatoes begin to caramelize, about 30 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and stir well. Return to the oven and continue to cook until further caramelized and much of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from the oven, cool slightly, and transfer to a blender, in batches if necessary, and process sauce until coarsely pureed.

The cost effectiveness depends a lot on what you buy at the store.

We make big batches of spaghetti sauce a few times a year and working out the cost using good ingredients it’s certainly cheaper than paying $8.99/bottle for good pasta sauce, but it’s probably more expensive than buying cheap Prego or whatever on sale. (Not talking flavor, obv, just straight costs). So, whether it will save you $$ depends entirely on what you buy.

Making your own chicken stock is likely to be more cost effective.

Pesto is cheaper for us because there is no decent store option under $6 I’ve found – for a tiny tub, while I can get a big bunch of basil, pine nuts, garlic and parm at the Italian grocer for less than that on a total cost basis. But, the initial cost of the ingredients is higher out of pocket than $6 here or there might be.

We make our own roasted tomatillo salsa and that’s cheaper than buying, for sure.

Cakes/cupcakes are super cheap to make if you already have the vanilla extract, flour, sugar, eggs, whatever. But are they cheaper long term than just buying $.99 boxes of cake? If you’re buying real vanilla extract and good eggs, maybe not cheaper.

I make my own buttercream frosting when we have cake, and that’s definitely more expensive than buying cans of frosting on sale.

The one big “rip-off” are 100-calorie packs of normal things, like nuts. So much cheaper to buy bulk almonds and count out 11 yourself than buy “100 calorie packs” already pre-measured.

Of course, most of the above we make because it tastes better than buying store-bought, but if you’re looking purely from a wallet standpoint, you’ll really have to compare what you actually buy vs. hypothetical cost savings.

@erinbaderin: Thank you!

We make a lot of stuff ourselves! I make all my own desserts, chicken stock, applesauce, pesto, pasta sauces, pancakes from scratch vs a mix, etc. Occasionally make bread from scratch. We never buy pre-made food items like entire meals.

Maybe food is really cheap around here but I find it's usually more expensive to make stuff from scratch (or at least close to even, but I have to spend 2-3 if I make it from scratch). Plus when I make it from scratch I tend to get the "good" ingredients which probably drives up the price.

I like to make my own baked goods even though it's typically more expensive. It just tastes better to me! Things like pasta sauce , I tend to buy in bulk when it's on sale (I can get $8-9 jars for $5).

I prefer store bought for almost everything these days just because of time. But we always make our own salad dressing or just use oil and vinegar. With mac & cheese, pudding, guacamole, frosting, and mashed potatoes, we just like the taste of homemade better so we make those at home. But bread, stock, hummus, baked goods, yogurt, etc we buy at the store. So in conclusion, I don't think we're saving a lot of money, but right now time is more dear to us.

One thing we never get is pre cut or prepped fruits or vegetables or snack packs-way too expensive!

I hate buying store-bought desserts and much prefer to make them from scratch! Never tried baking bread, but I'm tempted-- I know some people who do and love it.

@Bao: The ingredient list for pancakes or waffles from scratch is pretty short, so it would never even occur to me to start with a mix. We almost always have all the ingredients kicking around.

(Someone gave us a waffle iron a few years ago. It was a regift, and it was actually meant as a joke. But now we have a toddler so a few weeks ago we used it for the first time. He loved it!)

tomato sauce, hummus, pancakes/waffles, chicken/turkey/veggie burgers, salad dressing, muffins and baked goods (but not bread)

We make almost all our own things due to tight budgets and food restrictions. I actually really enjoy cooking and baking so it's kinda fun and nice for me. I find almost all my things come out better then store bought anyway.

@regberadaisy: we make applesauce without any peeling or cutting. I think the piece of equipment I use is called a ricer? Kind of like a big cone shaped colander with tiny holes and a wooden thing to press it with. It's pretty old fashioned but is amazing!

I try not to buy convenience meals like frozen dinners or anything but always buy pasta and at least have sauce on hand. Baked goods and breakfast foods are easy to make. Also by saving our veggie scraps we make our own broth. So much better tasting and healthier!

ETA I always buy hummus because I cannot get the consistency right, ever. That is my big convenience splurge!