# Can you make it better and cheaper at home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 19, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473 "2018-05-19T20:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/81 "2018-05-23T11:14:41Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Low alcohol beer. I brew a fair amount of beer in the 2% - 4% alcohol range. Good luck trying to buy that in the supermarket or at a bar. There isn’t a good commercial market for low alcohol beer in the US. Go live in Oklahoma; it’s an excellent commercial market for not very excellent beer. But I’ve got to ask… low alcohol beer? Too much Snow Beer back in the day? ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/82 "2018-05-23T15:15:17Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Go live in Oklahoma; it’s an excellent commercial market for not very excellent beer. But I’ve got to ask… low alcohol beer? Too much Snow Beer back in the day? Looks like Oklahoma is finally doing away with that low point nonsense come October. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/83 "2018-05-23T15:57:24Z")
Yes: salad dressing. A vinaigrette is super easy and cheap, since you only need some olive oil, a little vinegar, a little salt & pepper, maybe a tiny squirt of mustard or mayo as an emulsifier. Also, curtains. They’re super easy to make. I can customize them to fit my window exactly, thus better. A lot cheaper than I can get long fancy curtains at the store. If I shop the sales and use my coupons, I can get fabric for super cheap. It’s not _easier_ than just ordering curtains from Amazon, but the only qualifiers in the OP are better and cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/84 "2018-05-23T17:22:19Z")
> [@Pabitel](#): > > . But, if you value my time at the hourly rate I get paid at work then there is virtually nothing I can make at home cheaper than store bought. By that metric, absolutely nothing I do around the house is cheaper than paying someone to do it or buying it store bought. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/85 "2018-05-23T17:29:46Z")
Christmas pork roast probably is probably what I can make the cheapest and bestest compared to buying “ready made” or in a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/86 "2018-05-24T05:34:20Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Go live in Oklahoma; it’s an excellent commercial market for not very excellent beer. But I’ve got to ask… low alcohol beer? Too much Snow Beer back in the day? Ha ha. Opposite of Snow Beer, although you’re one of the few on these boards that will know what that is. IIRC, West Lake beer was something like 1.5% alcohol. Naw, when you brew it yourself, there are tricks to getting a full mouth feel, and a good hoppy balance. I’ve got ~2% alcohol beer that drinks about like a 5% “session” craft beer. I like to sip a lot but not get ploughed. I want to be able to have 2 beers and still be legal to drive, and that’s questionable with some of the “average strength” micro brews out there ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/87 "2018-05-24T08:39:21Z")
Can I make it better and cheaper? YES . Assuming that I place no value at all on my own time, there are several products that I can make better than store-bought, and way cheaper. Like mulberry jam. I have a tree that bear plentiful fruit, and my jam come out _so_ much tastier than any of the commercial brands. But… Should I discount the 8-10 hours of my labor that was needed to make just 6 bottles of jam? If I value that time spent at even minimum-wage rates (for a third world country, thus basically peanuts), the sore-bought still comes out cheaper. . So to the original poll, I had to vote NO ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/88 "2018-05-25T10:56:30Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I’ve never tasted anybody’s home-made ice cream or beer that was better than the bargain priced store brand. I’m not much for beer, but had a blurted “Holy crap” from the ice cream comment. There are very few, very expensive premium ice creams, IMO, that are as good as home-made, and none that are better. Cheap store brand ice cream is terrible, usually foamed up and lacking actual cream to go with the ice. Even premium brands have strikes against them in freshness and variety. Home made ice cream can be made using fresher ingredients (just picked berries, etc) and in whatever flavor you want, rather than what is on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/89 "2018-05-25T12:06:10Z")
Pickled eggs. I didn’t think I liked them, having seen an unappetizing jar of them on the bar of many a dive I frequented in my youth, but I started making them because my boyfriend likes them, and discovered that they really are quite tasty. I’ve experimented with adding hot peppers, or dill, or onion to the pickling liquid. The eggs disappear, so they must be okay. Ten bucks in a store for two jars, less than three bucks in ingredients and reusable supplies, plus about twenty minutes of my time, which I’d spend making eggs anyway, to make them at home. Granola. Again, I can tweak the recipe and reduce the fat and sugar, or add more nuts and fruit that I like. Makes a big container of premium granola that I don’t pay a premium price for. Knitted hats. They are a fast and easy project that I can knock off while watching television. I like shopping for yarn, and finding colours or textures that appeal to me, and combining them into something pretty and useful. Not sure they are cheaper than a crappy, commercially made hat, but nicer and cheaper than anything of similar quality I could buy. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/90 "2018-05-25T17:31:35Z")
Some things, sure. I saw a ukulele stand for sale on the internet for $70. I looked at how it was made (a couple of dowels, small boards, and padding) and said to myself “I can make that with about $5 worth of material from Home Depot.” Sure enough, I did just that. Not only that, mine is custom made to fit my Kamaka baritone. As for food, **scootergirl** is such an excellent cook that we rarely eat out any more. Almost every time we finish a restaurant meal we pay the bill with a resentful “could have made that better and cheaper at home.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/91 "2018-05-25T20:00:27Z")
Almost anything **custom** but reasonably simple that you have the basic skills to create will be better and cheaper if homemade. In my case, that covers a lot of foods and textiles, particularly repairing or altering textiles. If you really want a specialty item custom-made because they don’t sell it commercially, and you settle for something that **is** sold commercially, that’s (usually) cheaper but not better. If you want a more complicated specialty item that’s above your skillset and hire somebody else to make it for you, that’s (usually) better but not cheaper. But if it’s something that there’s no mass-produced equivalent of and making it is within your capabilities? That’s when you max out your quality-to-cost ratio, even if you factor in the alleged value of your time (and most of us, as noted by other posters, are not really missing out on serious earning opportunity by using our leisure time for making stuff). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/92 "2018-05-25T20:16:45Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > Some things, sure. I saw a ukulele stand for sale on the internet for $70. I looked at how it was made (a couple of dowels, small boards, and padding) and said to myself “I can make that with about $5 worth of material from Home Depot.” Sure enough, I did just that. Not only that, mine is custom made to fit my Kamaka baritone. Being able to design and build stuff that fits your home, and that fits your stuff, is a big deal. I built a wall-sized bookshelf that has two shelves for oversized books at the bottom, a shelf for atlases and stuff like that to lie flat in, and shelves for standard-sized hardbacks above that. And since the bottom shelves require more depth than the shelves for the standard-sized books, there’s a nice ledge there to put a coffee cup on when I’m moving around in the morning. It’s exactly what I needed, and I’ve never seen one like it in a store. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/93 "2018-05-26T00:21:03Z")
A few things I like to make at home: **Iced tea**. I love to drink iced tea but I’m not supposed to have lots of caffeine. So I’m basically forced to make it at home because no company markets bottled decaffeinated iced tea. \*\* Beef Stew\*\* Personally I wouldn’t feed canned beef stew to a dog because it tastes like someone ate beef stew and then vomited it back up in can. **Spaghetti** I’d never order spaghetti at an Italian restaurant because it’s easy to make myself. The few times I’ve eaten at restaurant I usually order lasagna because while I can make it at home, it’s really a pain to make. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/94 "2018-05-26T16:59:43Z")
> [@Sasquatch](#): > > I’m not much for beer, but had a blurted “Holy crap” from the ice cream comment. There are very few, very expensive premium ice creams, IMO, that are as good as home-made, and none that are better. Cheap store brand ice cream is terrible, usually foamed up and lacking actual cream to go with the ice. > > Even premium brands have strikes against them in freshness and variety. Home made ice cream can be made using fresher ingredients (just picked berries, etc) and in whatever flavor you want, rather than what is on the shelf. Complete nonsense. I’ve never tasted a home-made ice cream that was as good as, let alone better than, that purchased retail. But every home-made I’ve ever tasted, the maker thought it much better. I just smile and politely agree. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/95 "2018-05-26T17:12:19Z")
Mayonnaise, takes 2 minutes to make something that tastes much much better than anything store bought. Store bought mayo tastes absolutely nothing like what mayo is supposed to taste like. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/96 "2018-05-26T21:02:43Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Mayonnaise, takes 2 minutes to make something that tastes much much better than anything store bought. This. My mayo has just the right amount of garlic for me, and my garlic mayo is cheaper and tastier than the stuff in the supermarket. Plus many other sauces. My Hollandaise / Bearnaise / etc sauces are vastly better than what you can buy. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/97 "2018-05-27T00:24:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Complete nonsense. I’ve never tasted a home-made ice cream that was as good as, let alone better than, that purchased retail. But every home-made I’ve ever tasted, the maker thought it much better. I just smile and politely agree. I suppose it’s kind of a Big Mac effect. If you think a hamburger is supposed to taste like a Big Mac, then a legitimately good burger isn’t going to taste good to you, because you’re expecting it to taste like a Big Mac. I made my own tonic water once, and it sucked. It was probably good in its own right, but it didn’t make my gin tonic taste the way I expected it to taste. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/98 "2018-05-27T00:53:44Z")
My booze is way better and cheaper than store bought. That being said I make booze commercially so it probably doesn’t count. Including labor and materials I can make a bottle of vodka for about $6. When I was still doing that on a home scale the materials were more expensive but the labor was fairly minimal it would take about 10 hours to make 4 gallons of vodka and while the ingredients were more the taxes were less so it probably cost me about $5 in materials and say $25/bottle at max rate in labor but $30/bottle is about what I’d pay for equal vodka at the store so I probably broke even. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Woody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Mr.Woody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Woody)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/99 "2018-05-27T20:46:54Z")
Yes: coffee. I roast my own. When I brew a pot of my own roast in the office, people can tell just by the smell! ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473/100 "2018-05-27T20:54:38Z")
All kinds of pastry much better at home, Cooking chicken I do ok but I prefer most any kind of chicken I buy outside to my own except for fried chicken which I seldom cook anymore. Steaks much better at home, roast beef I finally feel like I mastered it. Furniture, I make when I want durable but I can’t match the finer finish of production. I do most all of my own mechanical work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/814473.md?page=6)