“It” can be anything. Spaghetti sauce, penicillin, salad dressing, shoe polish, peanut butter, toothpaste—anything! If you can make it better and cheaper at home, vote YES and tell the world about it!
Keep in mind that the “and” in “better and cheaper” is a Boolean operator. If you can make it better but not cheaper, or cheaper but not better, it doesn’t count! So don’t even think about voting YES, you phony.
If you’re like me and can’t make a single goddam thing better and cheaper at home, vote NO and take comfort in knowing you’re not alone. As they say, misery loves company.
Yes for some things. All four possibilities exist to a certain extent. It largely means excluding the opportunity cost of my labor to be cheaper though. Knowing which “it” you are talking about is the trick.
I make my own sushi rolls better, fresher and cheaper. Cook a little rice, crab sticks, cucumber, roll it artfully in sheets of nori sea weed… easy to take with me to BYO dinners. When l’m there, I slice my nori rolls in slices, arrange those on a plate, and Bob’s your uncle.
My smoked ribs are the bomb. With the base price of good meat these days it’s pretty much a given that anyone can make anything smoked cheaper at home.
I’ll just have to take the word of my guests that my product is better than anything they can get at local restaurants and stores.
Custom metal fabrications. I get exactly what I want, using stuff laying around the garage and my labor is free, the welder and tools are all paid for.
I’ve made some little pieces that if I had to hire a fab guy, would cost me a fortune!
Pretty much all food, too. I only pay to get real good Prime Rib, Sushi and Sukiyaki. I could probably make the sushi as good for cheaper, but that would spoil the fun.
I was going to say auto repair, but I have to be honest, it ain’t better. It’s only “good enough”, but it sure as hell is cheaper.
Nope. I live alone in a 520 sq foot apartment, I can cook some basic things, but even if I dedicated myself to really learning cooking, it often isn’t worthwhile. I’m also not particularly handy or creative.
I can make cookies, cakes and pies better at home. I will say cheaper with the assumption that we’re talking “like for like”, i.e. using premium ingredients.
Once I work off the cost of the equipment, I find that I can make fresh-roasted coffee for $8 a pound that tastes like coffee worth twice that much at the store. Same for home-brewing; I’d pay about $5 a six-pack for the ingredients to make beer comparable to Bell’s, which is $10 a six-pack.
I’m also reminded of a picture that a friend of mine (who suffers from depression and anxiety, and has been on psychoactive medications for many years) posted on Facebook the other day:
“If you can’t make your own neurotransmitters, store bought is fine.”
Sometimes we have to specify better than what. For instance, if I wanted a cheesesteak around here, I could spend too much for an inferior one at a restaurant, or I could make a decent one myself. But the one I could make myself still wouldn’t be as good as one from a half-decent dive in the Philadelphia area.
But there are definitely some foods for which it’s unconditionally true, and some even that can’t be had at any quality or for any sum of money if I don’t make them myself.
Things I started making at home several years ago and never buy any more: bread,* Chex mix, granola, paneer, pizza, pesto, tomato sauce.
*That includes Italian bread, French baguettes, bagels, sandwich bread, chapatis, roti, parathas, challah, matsoh, brioche, focaccia, cornbread, pita, and every other type of bread. I’m an extreme bread head.
Yes, lady, I know you can make it cheaper at home! But you aren’t paying wages, utilities, overhead of several sorts. Oh, and BTW, profit is not a dirty word!!!:mad::mad::mad:
Nope. I value my time too highly. If I were to consider that I was paying myself what I think I’m worth, NOTHING I make at home would be cheaper. Better, possibly, but never cheaper.
It’s only “good enough”, but it sure as hell is cheaper.
