Reddit reviews Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch -- Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods

Believe it or not there is a book on this.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

There's a book I read that weighed the pros and cons of buying/making common foods - Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

This is amusing, as there is a book called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter which goes on about why you should spend time on one but not the other.

I have personally found that making my own butter is only worth it if I am using really high quality dairy that comes from grass-fed cows. Otherwise, it just isn't worth the time.

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Bread-Buy-Butter-Shouldnt-ebook/dp/B004T4KXMS

This book was recommended on this sub previously: Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. It is.. ahem... available in other forms if you can't pay for it. Details what things can be made from scratch, and if it's worth it to bother or not.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is written for this question. The author spent a whole year going more DIY and talks about what's worth it and what's not, and NOT with some holier-than-thou attitude (when she has it in her real life experiences she quickly pokes fun at herself for it).

There was an American Test Kitchen DIY book that came out at the same time, which was great if you're into the whole kitchen experimentation, but it didn't have the same insights as Make The Bread.

There's a great cookbook called "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" where the author makes a lot of things from scratch that most people buy. Then she compares the time, cost and end result to determine if you really should make something from scratch or just buy it.

Some one else suggested reading the book buy the butter make the bread, on amazon it has a preview and in it a bread recipe
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004T4KXMS?pc_redir=1410351118&robot_redir=1

This type of calculation is the premise for the book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. Basically the author agrees with you, you probably won't come out ahead making your own butter, unless you have a cheap source for cream. You do get buttermilk out of it though.

It depends on your blender and it's not ideal, but /u/greybeards is right. What happens with a lot of blenders is as soon as the cream gets whipped, it gets too viscous and stops flowing, so you're stuck.

If you have a good blender you can make it work. Unlike making whipped cream, you'll want your cream to be a little warmer, and you'll probably need a spat to push the whipped cream down toward the blades.

Once it's grainy, you'll want to chill it, strain it, and rinse it, and knead it a little to get as much water out as you can.

Much better to use a mixer, food processor, stick blender, or just do it by hand.

Better still: Make the bread, buy the butter.

Clotted cream is a British thing- specifically a Devon and Cornwall thing, as I understand it (and as stated on the Wikipedia page). I live in Chicago and I haven't run across any places that make it fresh or stores that sell it. I wanted to try it, so I made my own.

The recipe for both the clotted cream and the scones came from Jennifer Reese's "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch" http://www.amazon.com/Make-Bread-Buy-Butter-ebook/dp/B004T4KXMS

Last summer, I got really into cheesemaking after reading the book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. After an initial investment at http://www.cheesemaking.com/, I made goat cheese and camembert from recipes on the internet. So fun, if you are so inclined. They were both fantastic....I did have a failed cheddar experiment. Let me know if you want further info.

You might find Jennifer Reese's Make the Bread, Buy the Butter an interesting read. It seems more applicable to your question than a lot of the responses that you've gotten thus far.

Well, the good news is that reducing your grocery bill is completely doable, even for a family with a new baby. It's an area where a lot of folks, including people whose spending habits are otherwise good, often find that they're spending far more than they need to.

> How in the heck do you guys knock down your eating money? Amazing willpower?

It's a combination of several things:

1. The first step is recognizing what's causing your grocery bill to be so large. You've already figured out that eating out is a big problem for you, and what's even better is that you've figured out why. Instead of just saying "we're not eating out anymore", brainstorm a couple of ways that you can get out of the house with your husband for less money - perhaps even with someone watching the baby so you can have a real date (when you're ready if your baby is still a newborn). You can take walks together, have cheaper outings (say, getting an ice cream sundae and sharing it rather than having a full dinner out, or making a date out of a glass of wine and shared appetizer somewhere), or depending on where you live, some areas have plenty of free activities to offer, such as free concerts in a park, free screenings of movies in a park, or free museums.
   
   
2. Once you've decided how you're going to reduce your spending, you need to figure out what it's going to take to make that happen. A very common reason that people spend more on prepared foods or going out is being too tired or too busy to prepare meals. A lot of people do some cooking in advance on various levels. Some people get ingredients that require dicing or mincing all prepped to reduce the total cooking time for each meal, some people prepare entire meals and freeze them in portions, and some folks (especially those with kids, it seems) actually have monthly meal swaps where you make a big batch of a favorite meal and can trade portions of it with other people for what they've made as a way to get more variety in your meals without having to increase your effort too much. I personally think the last one is an awesome idea and I've been trying to find something like that in my area. Slow cooking is also a great idea that might fit your lifestyle!
   
   
3. To lower the cost of the groceries themselves, stock up items when they're on sale if you have a chest freezer or reduce your spending on meats and prepared foods. Look for both manufacturer's and store coupons for items you use regularly or that you use occasionally but are shelf-stable. You can also do the math and see if you'd save money by shopping at a place like Costco, BJ's, or Sam's Club. I personally love Costco because of the amazing quality and their great business practices, and even just with two of us plus our dog, we definitely save more than the membership cost each year. Again, this is helped by the ability to freeze some items.
   
   
4. Lower the cost of each meal. While I personally like having some meat and fish in my diet, meats are generally the most expensive ingredient and not every meal has to feature flesh as the main dish. Whether you choose to try her recipes or not, I think you'd really benefit from perusing Budget Bytes to see the variety of delicious, healthy meals you can prepare for $1-2 per serving. There's also a great book called "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" that explains what foods you can save money on by making yourself versus which ones just aren't worth the trouble or may even be more expensive to DIY. I bet your local library has a copy!
   
   
5. Reduce food waste. Beyond re-purposing veggie scraps and chicken bones to make stock, make sure you go through your leftovers quickly enough or freeze what you know you won't eat immediately. This is one I still struggle with even though I have a freezer, in part because I often think my husband is bringing leftovers for lunch when in reality he's totally forgotten about them. I'm going to try putting a chart on our fridge that says what leftovers we have in there and when they were made, and hopefully that might help!
   
   If you want to stick to a particular food budget rather than just trying to have better food spending habits, try Dave Ramsey's envelope system where you withdraw your grocery budget in cash, and what goes in the envelope for the week or the month is what you get to spend - so spend wisely. I would budget a small amount each month for going out as your entertainment budget.
   
   My other non-related food comment is that you're absolutely right - with three of you, $1000 definitely isn't enough of an emergency fund. That wouldn't even cover a major car repair, frankly, and that Subaru is probably going to need a new head gasket at some point down the road (I'd guess around 130-150k miles). Talk to your husband about directing your savings from the reduced grocery budget towards the emergency account.
   
   One last question - your budget does include your husband paying into a 401k and/or other retirement accounts, right? Planning for retirement as early as possible is really important because time is your best ally.

The Kitchn does a better series of Make or Buy actually looking into the time and financial cost to make your own instead of buying from the store: http://www.thekitchn.com/categories/make_or_buy

And I still haven't bought it but I've heard great reviews of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Bread-Buy-Butter-Shouldnt-ebook/dp/B004T4KXMS

I got this very informative cook book from Reddit gifts

https://www.amazon.ca/Make-Bread-Buy-Butter-Shouldnt-ebook/dp/B004T4KXMS

You should check out the book "Buy the Bread, Make the Butter".

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Bread-Buy-Butter-Shouldnt-ebook/dp/B004T4KXMS

I don't agree with all of her conclusions, but it's worth checking out for her insights into making things at home versus buying.

Take a look at Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese. She explores several recipes and considers things like time, cost, and effort required to determine whether they are best made at home or purchased.

I seldom buy bread anymore - its so easy to make!

I don't know which thread (though I would be interested in seeing it) however I recently checked out this book at my library and it has some interesting suggestions along those lines, include cost breakdowns/differences so you can compare to your area