Why Buy It When You Can Make It?
I enjoy food processing and baking.
I love figuring out how to make something myself. I might not make it from scratch every time, because as my mama always said, life isn’t black and white. Sometimes, it makes more sense to buy it from the store (or freshly made from another person). Let’s use homemade hummus as an example to look at my top reasons why I like making food myself:
I Know What’s In it:
I can use all organic ingredients—dried chickpeas that I purchased from a bulk store, extra virgin olive oil, tahini, and garlic. I get to experiment with different flavors, like sweet potato hummus or even chocolate hummus (recipes coming soon!). I’m in control of how much sodium and how much spice goes into it. There are no additives!
Waste Reduction:
If I’m in a big hummus phase (does anyone else go through different food phases??) I might go through about a cup of hummus once a week. It’s so creamy, garlicky, flavorful, and it is pretty good for you! If I buy it at the store, a ten ounce container (equivalent to 1 ¼ cups) of hummus makes for a lot of plastic. On the other hand:
Chickpeas from the bulk store—zero plastic! I’m going to bring them home in a cloth, drawstring bag and store them in a mason jar.
Olive Oil—I’m going to use two tablespoons of olive oil from a large container, leaving much more oil leftover for other recipes.
Tahini—I need ¼ cup of tahini, from a 16 oz jar.
Garlic—bought loose.
Saves Money
Depending on the brand and whether or not it is organic, a brief survey of different types of hummus revealed that a 10 oz container can go anywhere from $2.99–$10.99. Most of the organic brands cost around $5.50. Let’s break it down by ingredients, on average.
Chickpeas—to make the equivalent of a 10 oz container of hummus, I need ½ cup of dried chickpeas. There are many brands with varying prices, but I can get a 16 oz bag of organic chickpeas for $2.49. The ½ cup costs approximately 62 cents.
Olive Oil—25.4 fluid oz of organic olive oil will cost me $12.97, or 52 cents for my two tablespoons.
Tahini—I can buy a 16 oz jar of tahini for $6.49. The ¼ cup therefore costs $1.60.
Garlic—Organic garlic costs $6.99/pound, however, I only need about three cloves, which is approximately .06 pounds and costs about four pennies.
The approximate total cost for my hummus using organic ingredients is $2.78.
It’s Fun and Tasty
Plain and simple. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Maybe with an audiobook on or with some music. Maybe with a glass of wine or just some water. One day, I look forward to working in the kitchen with my daughter. But for now, I’ll enjoy making homemade goods.
Homemade tastes better than store-bought!
Thanks for reading!
💜
Laura
