I am going to start making laundry soap and fabric softener at home. I've got enough store-bought soap and fabric softener to last about 3 more weeks, but I've already got the stuff to make my own, so I probably will one night this week. In preparing for this and searching for recipes, I started wondering what other people make at home instead of buying at the store?

One thing I make that a lot of people probably buy is beef jerky. I can find beef on sale and make a lot of very high quality jerky for significantly less than what high quality jerky would cost at a shop. I actually have 2 dehydrators going now with venison jerky.

I also make my own stocks (vegetable, chicken and beef) instead of buying that canned.

What do you make that most of your friends/family buy?

TIA!

Kim

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Kim

soap - dh started making our soap a few years ago and it's wonderful.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

I make firestarters. I make beef jerky from time to time, too

Any chance you guys would be willing to post how you make this?

TIA

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Kim

I also make my own stock and it's much better than what you can buy and people still tell me to BUY it. Stock isn't hard to make!

I make my own refried beans, they are also better than canned. I make my own sloppy joe sauce and BBQ sauce, Tartar sauce, oh and I make my own Zaxby's sauce... I love that sauce and Zaxby's charges $0.25 a container. No thanks, I'll make my own!! Wow.. I'm into sauces. HAHAHA

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

I don't have a clue It is completely DH's thing. I know the ingredients he uses: olive oil, lard, lye, essential oil, various other fats like shea butter. It's all very scientific and precise. He uses a portable burner to cook it. He also uses a stick blender to saponify it, built a special mold for it, etc. Each batch has to "age" for about 4-6 weeks for the lye to neutralize so it doesn't burn.

He uses these two books:

The Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch and
Country Living's Handmade Soap

He gets many of his supplies here: MMS - Home

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

There's not a whole lot I do, but what I do do, if I changed doing it, DH and the boys wouldn't be happy! I make my own:

laundry soap
tarter sauce
cocktail sauce
clorox wipes
glass cleaner
sloppy joe mix
chili mix
stock (beef, ham, chicken, clam)

I give my FIL all of our jerky strips from when we have a cow butchered and he does it for us! DH and I are too impatient to sit out there and "watch" the smoker! Besides, his is better!

Kids clothes!
I love to sew. I can't wait to get my sewing room set up. Everything is still packed in boxes from when we moved last month.

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Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking

cookies/brownies, etc: I don't use boxed mixes
latte's/coffees/smoothies: make my own at home so I don't have to go to a coffee place
BBQ sauce
horseradish sauce
I'll make my own stock when I can
ice cream (I never buy the ice cream in the store although we will go out on occassion)
sweet & sour sauce

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Gosh, I can't think of much of anything.....perhaps centerpieces and arrangements.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Dinner - lol

Pickles, applesauce, tomato sauce all from the garden.

Venision jerky here too.
Cakes not from a mix, ditto for the brownies.
buttermilk pancakes
rolls and cinnamon bunns

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Sometimes the elevator often the shaft

Cakes, Cookoies, Brownies etc.
Bread
I cook most things from scratch
and I give my 5DS and DH haircuts (the boys have NEVER gone to a barber!)

Some one posted that they make their own glass cleaner- I'd love the recipe!

This is so true. Alot of people we know rarely cook their own meals from scratch. They rely on convenience foods, take-out, eating out, and a combination of all of these.

When I had two children in diapers I made my own baby wipes.

I sew, so some clothes - not nearly all of them, curtains, pillows, and do our hemming, etc.
I knit face clothes, dish scrubbies, slippers and some of our socks (take too long to do them all!)
I bake from scratch and make stuff like sloppy joes, cakes, chicken salad, etc. from scratch. I cheat and use jarred spaghetti sauce because I like it better than homemade!

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Reading is Fundamental.

love

dl

I use this recipe for glass cleaner and it works pretty good:

1 part vinegar
1 part rubbing alcohol
1 part water

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Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, if you do criticize them, you're a mile away and have their shoes.

I do boys' haircuts... They always get compliments on their hair. We try different boy styles and some have been pretty creative!

Unless we go out (which is about once a week), we make all our meals and most desserts at home. We brown-bag our lunch for work too. Most of them we make from scratch, we don't use frozen dinners, boxed meals, canned stuff, or frozen pizzas. However, we do buy brownie mix, pasta (usually), and sandwich bread.

I don't make stuff like soap or other cleaning products.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

btw - if you have hard water deposits on shower doors and vinegar doesn't get it all off, try straight rubbing alcohol, just make sure you have have good ventilation. Much cheaper and healthier to use than stuff sold at hardware stores.

I make soap ( *Boo-Boo Soap made w/tea tree oil and shea butter) that my old fam. doc, who was also a neighbor, asked me for to use on her own fam and to give as teacher's gifts.

I used to sew a lot more when the kids were younger. I miss it. I used to sew the majority of my own clothes, but now I have a fabulous thrift shop to buy silk, cashmere, and even a mink coat from, cheaper than if I made them. (Please, no recriminations about my mink coat, it's the warmest thing I own here on the tundra, was already made of dead weasels, and cost dh $15)

I cook almost everything from scratch, almost everyday. (okay, not always *I*, but the kids also ;-)

Dh just cut my hair a few mins ago and it looks great. I cut one of the dd's hair this past weekend.

I make yogurt. ( am working on learning how to make cheeses cuz we consume a lot of them, but haven't tried anything other than yogurt cheese yet)

Homemade laundry soap.

Dryer softner sheets made by soaking a wash cloth w/essential oill soaked vinegar (even though I already put vinegar in the rinse cycle of my front loader)

I garden so we do a lot of canning/freezing.

We make wrapping paper from stamps and butcher paper or brown paper bags.

All purpose cleaner/disinfectant cleaner with vinegar - and homemade disinfectant wipes for kitch. & bath. (vinegar and baking soda are 2 things I could not live w/out)

Homemade mixes (ww biscuit, hot cocoa, cake, pudding, etc.)

I make a lot of homemade remedies for illnesses that have worked sooooo much better than scripts.

Homemade dog ear cleaning solution, outrageously cheaper than what pet shops and vets sell. ( one part alcohol, one part vinegar, 2 parts H2O in a spray bottle) - my own vet gave me this recipe, she uses it on her dogs).

I've knitted some really cool stuff in the past (sweaters, socks, mittens, scarves, hats, blankets, etc.) in the past, wish I had time to do more of it now. Knitting and crocheting are so much easier than most folks realize, and making cable knits are waaaay easier than I ever thought they would be. I have my late fabuloso MIL to thank for teaching me those skills.

Cheap shoulda been my middle name, but in order to have a larger than average fam, we've learned to make as much stuff as possible homemade.
MZ

I make infant and toddler fleece blankets but the are expensive . I also always make my own spagetti sauce(no canned sauce here)

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When you don`t know what to do-Walk fast and look worried.

I am a stay at home mom that has started an embroidery business. I started with one and now I have two embroidery machines. It has paid for my machines and then some. I am starting to do more sewing, baby steps. I am making bibs, burps, etc. I want to make some of my daughter's clothes and some to sell, too.
I have also started sewing more for around the house as I have the time.

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NSDQ-Nightstalkers Don't Quit!

I've made cheese, but it probably makes more sense to buy it. It takes ages for the hard kind to get that way.

I make, umm . . .scones, and other baked things, and jewelry. I'd like to say I make baby wipes, but all I do is get washcloths wet. I've put together computers and networks, and fixed them, too.

I make my own stock, soups, mashed potatoes, try not to buy any packaged foods. A 10 lb. bag of potatoes goes so much further.

I can't think of anything else, I'm envious of all of you that make soaps and all that jazz!!!

Also at dinner I always make extra, to take to work the next day instead of buying it. Which sometimes is tough because everyone I work with orders out ( I can't imagine blowing that kind of money) every day, and man does it get tempting!

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*** Find A Need , Fill A Need ***

I write my own sheet music. My students love to play the most recent songs. For the last few years, I've written out E-Z versions of Hannah Montana & High School Musical songs. I was really proud of myself when I had figured out "This Is Me" the night it debuted on Camp Rock on TV this past summer, and before you could buy it in stores. I write all my music at beginner levels / advanced beginner levels for my students. I should start selling my music, but I think there are copyright laws against it.

In any event, my kids sure practice more these days! LOL.

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

>>>I've made cheese, but it probably makes more sense to buy it. It takes ages for the hard kind to get that way.<<<

Wow, I am impressed! I'd love to learn how to make it, have only made yogurt cheese which doesn't even really count in my book.
Where do you store it for aging?
I've watched videos and tv shows on cheese making and it seems to be a long and complicated process. Is that true for homemade cheeses also?
What kinda cheeses have you made?
MZ... might as well admit it I'm addicted to cheese ;-)

Forgot to mention - I make reservations, lol.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I make mistakes - does that count?

reservations and mistakes .... bwahahahahaha 8^D

I make messes.

Next? ;-)


MZ

I've made neufchatel, which is pretty simple, but never been bold enough to try a hard cheese. You can get Junket rennet tabs at Safeway, and the recipe I used is here:
Neufchatel Cheese Recipe

Ooooh!

Do you have room for one more student? I'm doing homeschool piano with my youngest (I'm not a homeschooler - just for piano since we couldn't find anyone with an opening!) and just tonight he was showing me how he'd figured out the first couple of bars from one of the songs from Wicked. I think he'd love what you do!

Wow devinmom!!

My little homemade stock and dinners kind of pale in comparison to writing music!!

I'm so impressed!! I'm sure the kids just love it!! You go!!

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*** Find A Need , Fill A Need ***

Wow - it sounds like he'll be doing it, himself any time! That's incredible, and melodies from Wicked are beautiful (and complex!)

Oh, your stock and dinners don't pale at all - if you lived any closer we'd have to work out a deal (whether you wanted to learn to play music or not...LOL!) My kids love going to gramma's, where they're guaranteed a "real" home-cooked meal...

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

There are some cool ideas on here. I appreciate everyone sharing!

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Kim

Breakfast, lunch and dinner!

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

When I first read this, I thought it meant what you do make at home...and sell to others?...Like jewelry, wreaths, candles, etc. ~Lisa

Just remembered this one: We make our own pita chips - and they're yummy, if I do say so myself. We cheat a little bit with a premixed spice combination - but still, they're way cheaper than prepared pita chips and we don't have stale pita bread leftover any more.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.