20 Commonly Bought Products You Can Make at Home

A lot of the products you buy and put in your pantry or fridge can be made from scratch.  

Not only will you KNOW what is in them, they will be fresher, and you can save a lot of money.  Of course some of them are quite fiddly, but why not just give them a go! Great projects to do with the kids!

1. Butter

Butter is really easy to make at home, and there is nothing like the taste of a freshly made one.  If you have an excess of cream, why not give it a go! It’s not cheap to make unless you get cream for free, but it sure does feel good to produce butter from your own kitchen!

Here’s how to make your own butter >

2. Tomato Sauce

Keeping jars of fresh, tomato sauce in your fridge is totally delightful! Making your own is not too difficult, but it requires anything from 30 to 90 minutes of your time. Shorter time will yield thinner sauce and longer cooking time will result to a thicker sauce. Your sauce, your choice. Choosing the variety of tomato depends on your budget and the availability in your area.

3. Pasta Sauce

There are all kinds of pasta sauces, but one that never fails the palate is the herb and cheese sauce. It is so easy to make–the perfect recipe for a hungry bunch who can’t wait. Don’t go far. We have a recipe for homemade pesto sauce, too. You can do that in a jiffy!

4. Pastry

Pastries are such pretty things to look at from a pastry shop display! Of course you wish to have those yummy stuff at home all the time. Well, definitely you can! If you want healthy pastry, specifically the gluten-type variety, there are easy-to-make recipes like the gluten-free pie pastry and the gluten-free sausage rolls. We have a lot of pastry recipes here.

5. Pasta

Why make pasta when you can buy them cheap? Simply because homemade pasta is easy to do, cheap and taste way better than what you buy from the grocery. With or without a pasta machine, you can make lasagna, ravioli and fettuccini. Making pasta from scratch doe snot require magic. Check out our recipe for homemade pasta!

6. Bread

Needing some no-knead bread to serve at home? You read it right, no need to knead bread is one of the things you can create in your kitchen in easy-to-follow steps. Even beginners can do this without the fuss. Bread Rolls is one of our easier recipes to make.

7. Yoghurt

What’s a home without yoghurt? It is one of the healthiest snacks available and it’s pretty versatile, too. You can use any fruit you want with it and serve it anytime. We have a recipe for healthy and yummy homemade yoghurt here.

8. Salad Dressing

You can whip up a salad dressing with your eyes closed. You can even make a creamy herb dressing in five minutes or under, I kid you not, with as little as 4 ingredients that you already have in your kitchen.

9. Deodorant

Chemicals in our toiletries and cosmetic products have been proven time and again to be detrimental to health. Do something that your body will thank you for. A homemade deodorant isn’t only safe; it’s also very easy to make at home. Make your own deodorant using this recipe.

10. Lip Balm

You have it at home, you carry it in your purse, you need it morning, noon and night time. Some lip balms have chemicals in them, such as phenol, fragrances and alcohol which can cause skin irritation. Making your own lip balm is easy, cheap and safe. This way you never have to worry about chapped lips ever again.

11. Shaving Cream

We all sometimes begin our day with a shaving cream. It makes a lot of sense to have an ample supply of it, but one with no toxic ingredients like the ones commonly sold at the stores.

12. Baby Wipes

Never leave home without them! There are so many brands you can choose from if you need baby wipes. But what you want is the safest, gentlest kind that will not irritate your little one’s skin. The best one would be the one made by you so you can choose the kind of wipe and the solution to use. They’re easy to make and they mean huge savings, too! You can make your own one using our recipe for homemade baby wipes.

13. Laundry Detergent

Breakouts and skin irritation are common. We put the blame on cosmetics all the time, forgetting that the culprit could be the laundry detergent soap that we’re using at home. Here’s a super easy do-it-yourself laundry detergent. It will help you save heaps of money and you’re sure that your family’s skin is protected, too. One more bonus is they smell wonderful.

14. Window Cleaner

Why even bother running to the store to buy window cleaners when you can make your own? All you need are four readily available ingredients. You can ditch the chemicals that you’ve long been using now.

15. Fabric Softener

If you’re tired of spending too much on fabric Softener, there is an alternative that will help you save lots and lots of money. Your DIY fab Softener will smell so good that you will never have to buy one ever again. Ever wondered what’s in your bottle of fab conditioner? They have chemicals, needless to say. For your homemade fabric Softener you will only need vinegar, water and hair conditioner.

16. Mayonnaise

One of the easiest things to make in the kitchen is mayonnaise. You can do different kinds depending on what you have available in the kitchen. No egg? No problem. We have a mayonnaise recipe that doesn’t use eggs. Whip it up now!

17. Nutella

Can one actually make her own nutella? But of course! Most homemade nutella recipes prove to be better tasting than the most popular one available in the market. It’s so easy to do and only needs a few ingredients.

18. Shampoo

With all the brands and kinds of shampoos, why would you even bother to make your own? Well, for one, it will keep you and your family away from chemicals. Two, you’ll be helping the environment, plus you will be saving tons of money. If shampoos can be made from home, why are we still buying? Because we like the easy way sometimes. But DIY shampoo is fairly easy to make, too!

19. Dish Soap

So you’ve seen a lot of homemade dishwashing liquids, tried some of them and you found out that most of them didn’t deliver the results you wanted. You don’t want to keep on searching for good-smelling, grease-cutting dishwashing soap lest you’d be disappointed again. We have recipes that will keep you hands happy and the grease completely washed away. All you need to do is to check you kitchen for the needed ingredients.

20.Toothpaste

The studies on the negative effect of toothpaste on health are growing in number. We’re used to just grabbing a tube of toothpaste for brushing (how convenient is that!), but we want safer alternatives. Can toothpaste be made out of ingredients from the kitchen? Definitely so! If you have baking soda, sea salt, peppermint essential oil and water, which I bet you have, then you’re more than ready to make your own toothpaste.

We’d love to know the products you can make at home.

What do you usually make?