Did you know you're allowed to make your own condiments? It's true! And it's not even hard.
The following are all so stupid easy to make that even seeing the prices on them in the grocery store makes me pull a lemon face. In no particular order, here are some of the staples in our kitchen that are not only free of hidden additives, but save you money, help the environment by creating less waste and make you sound really cool by going full-on DIY:
1. Salad Dressing
Look at the ingredients list on the back of the salad dressings at the grocery store. I dare you to find one without added sugar. Ok, there's probably one or two for $6/bottle, but why waste your money and then have garbage to throw away at the end when you can make your own in the old pickle jar you have sitting on the top shelf of your pantry?
Here are some easy, yummy vinaigrette recipes for literally a fraction of the cost of store-bought. We've been on a Ranch Dressing Bender that has the added bonus of being high in fat (see #4 below). Extra credit for growing your own dill on your windowsill.
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| basil, dill and cilantro |
2. Salsa
Canned salsa has a different taste than fresh, but I'm not at the canning stage yet and fresh is so easy to make and tastes so good that I see no reason to stray.
I use this recipe but in a batch with 3 tomatoes instead of 6. Throw your ingredients in a food processor and that's literally all there is to it.
Compare $2 per fresh, delicious batch (roughly 16 oz) with the price of jarred salsa at your grocery store, and then start questioning all of the purchases in your cart.
3. Almond Butter
Compare $2 per fresh, delicious batch (roughly 16 oz) with the price of jarred salsa at your grocery store, and then start questioning all of the purchases in your cart.
3. Almond Butter
Prepackaged almond butters at the store are so expensive it hurts my eyes to look at. Our Whole Foods does fresh-grind for $8.99/lb, but you can get $6.88/lb raw almonds on Amazon Prime Subscribe & Save (or $8.08/lb for a one-time purchase). (I could do a whole post on the virtues of Amazon Prime but I'll condense it down to say on S&S you get 20% off the things you buy on a monthly basis.)
Toast the almonds for 10 minutes at 350 and then food process the hell out of them. Honestly just let it go for like 10 minutes, scraping down the sides intermittently, until the oils release and you get creamy dreamy almond butter of a consistency to your liking.
If you want a step by step, Google 'easy almond butter' or just go here.
4. Mayonnaise
If you want a step by step, Google 'easy almond butter' or just go here.
4. Mayonnaise
The mayonnaises are suspiciously never refrigerated in the store so I had no idea the ingredients include raw egg. But lo, combine an egg with light olive (or sesame) oil and you get delicious, additive-free mayo!
I use a combination of this recipe and this recipe from my bro, Sarah Fragoso. Mustard and cayenne in your mayo is most excellent and highly recommended. Use an immersion blender for maximum impact and minimal time investment.
Use your homemade mayo and windowsill herbs in your ranch dressing to impress your dinner guests.
A Note About Supplies
The only thing you might not already have to make most of these is a food processor. We bought this Cuisinart in 2011 and still use it on the reg. (Side note: make your own smoothies in this bad boy. Half a frozen banana, a couple frozen strawberries and some milk. Throw a spinach leaf in there for the baby, she'll never even know. DO NOT go to Jamba Juice for this shit or I will disown you.)
This Cuisinart immersion blender is also pretty rad. It's almost worth it just for the mayo alone, but I've used it to make mashed potatoes and other creams as well.
Honorable Mentions:
5. Pizza/Pasta Sauce
While not a staple, I make it once every couple months or so and it's so crazy easy I can't even walk down the sauce aisle anymore without having a fit.
Don't pay upwards of $3/jar (for comparable quality) when you can get a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste, throw it together with an onion and some spices for less money, and not have to deal with another glass jar floating around in your pantry.
I use Sarah's recipe from this book that I use allllll the time, but you can Google 'paleo pasta sauce' and get some ideas.
6. Gluten-Free Bread
While not a condiment, Babs loves a good ole Almond Butter and Jelly sandwich, and you can't make those without bread. You can get fancy with it, just like you can with anything, but the Gluten-Free (Paleo) bread recipes I use have about 5 ingredients. They usually require a lot of eggs and mine never seem to rise to a traditional bread shape; they're more like biscotti. But it's mainly a vehicle for almond butter anyway so it doesn't matter.
This one was Babs' favorite for a few weeks, until she moved on to the 'nothing but smoothies and pie' phase we're currently on.
7. Sauerkraut
There's not huge cost savings here, since you can get a can of Kraut for .79 and a head of cabbage for .69, roughly. But Mr. Go claims to like homemade better, so I do my best not to get cuts on my fingers before I make a batch. Learn How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut in a Mason jar here.
The Extra Bonus: When you make these things yourself, you not only save your hard-earned money for better things like retirement, you also have a reason to reuse your old mason jars instead of paying for packaging and then throwing that packaging away.
Live Green and Save Green.
A Note About Supplies
The only thing you might not already have to make most of these is a food processor. We bought this Cuisinart in 2011 and still use it on the reg. (Side note: make your own smoothies in this bad boy. Half a frozen banana, a couple frozen strawberries and some milk. Throw a spinach leaf in there for the baby, she'll never even know. DO NOT go to Jamba Juice for this shit or I will disown you.)
This Cuisinart immersion blender is also pretty rad. It's almost worth it just for the mayo alone, but I've used it to make mashed potatoes and other creams as well.
Honorable Mentions:
5. Pizza/Pasta Sauce
While not a staple, I make it once every couple months or so and it's so crazy easy I can't even walk down the sauce aisle anymore without having a fit.
Don't pay upwards of $3/jar (for comparable quality) when you can get a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste, throw it together with an onion and some spices for less money, and not have to deal with another glass jar floating around in your pantry.
I use Sarah's recipe from this book that I use allllll the time, but you can Google 'paleo pasta sauce' and get some ideas.
6. Gluten-Free Bread
While not a condiment, Babs loves a good ole Almond Butter and Jelly sandwich, and you can't make those without bread. You can get fancy with it, just like you can with anything, but the Gluten-Free (Paleo) bread recipes I use have about 5 ingredients. They usually require a lot of eggs and mine never seem to rise to a traditional bread shape; they're more like biscotti. But it's mainly a vehicle for almond butter anyway so it doesn't matter.
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| it's so flat. maybe my bread pan is too big?? |
This one was Babs' favorite for a few weeks, until she moved on to the 'nothing but smoothies and pie' phase we're currently on.
7. Sauerkraut
There's not huge cost savings here, since you can get a can of Kraut for .79 and a head of cabbage for .69, roughly. But Mr. Go claims to like homemade better, so I do my best not to get cuts on my fingers before I make a batch. Learn How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut in a Mason jar here.
The Extra Bonus: When you make these things yourself, you not only save your hard-earned money for better things like retirement, you also have a reason to reuse your old mason jars instead of paying for packaging and then throwing that packaging away.
Live Green and Save Green.
