What else is homemade at your house??

I discovered this awesome hobby while talking to some peers about homemade things. I had started this kick of making things yourself after moving from the city out to the sticks. In addition to beer, I also make my own jerky (deer and otherwise), applesauce, apple butter, apple juice, marinara sauce, and eggs from backyard chickens. So what, if anything, do you make at your home?

Let's see- veggies all homegrown, meat and fish (lamb, venison, fish), soap, shampoo, detergent, lotions, beer, wine, wild rice, cheese, milk and eggs, and pretty much anything I can. We can vension and fish, and pickle other things (fish) and eat only what we grow, friends grow, or we can hand-harvest.

The list of what I buy is shorter. I buy most clothes (but at thrift stores), some groceries like coffee, and "big" stuff like my car, house, insurance, utilities, etc, But for my basic needs we produce our own. We don't eat refined products (again, except for coffee!) so we don't spend more than about $30 or so a week on stuff at the store like toilet paper and a few other items.

But, we are old hippies! We don't eat refined foods, or buy new clothes. I'm sure I'm quite an oddity around here.

We don't buy bread in my house anymore. And I can't remember the last time I ordered a pizza. Being a chef, just about everything in my house is 100% scratch. Including butter, pizza dough, fermented beverages and pasta.

Yooper said:

Let's see- veggies all homegrown, meat and fish (lamb, venison, fish), soap, shampoo, detergent, lotions, beer, wine, wild rice, cheese, milk and eggs, and pretty much anything I can. We can vension and fish, and pickle other things (fish) and eat only what we grow, friends grow, or we can hand-harvest.

The list of what I buy is shorter. I buy most clothes (but at thrift stores), some groceries like coffee, and "big" stuff like my car, house, insurance, utilities, etc, But for my basic needs we produce our own. We don't eat refined products (again, except for coffee!) so we don't spend more than about $30 or so a week on stuff at the store like toilet paper and a few other items.

But, we are old hippies! We don't eat refined foods, or buy new clothes. I'm sure I'm quite an oddity around here.

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sheesh..you have a full time job just living I too am an old hippie but my SO is not! If I could get away with buying clothes at the thrift store I would.

Alas, a full time job keeps me a bit opposite...though I love to keep us in salsa, pepper sauce,pasta and herbs. And she makes great bread. Not much I know, but I left the commune long ago.......and that's another story.

I do a lot of canning and preserving. I just started dipping my toes in it last year, but now that my garden has tripled in size I will most likely make all my own jams for the coming year. I will also be freezing and preserving large amounts of vegetables. The goal is to not buy any vegetables from the grocery store all winter.

I make all my own ice cream and do 95% of the baking at my house. On the horizon is cheese making, bread making, and getting a few egg laying hens.

I'm glad to see there are others interested in self-efficiency. Some people look at you funny, but when the world ends, I'll at least have chicken and beer.

I make my own chicken stock, applesauce, yogurt, salsa, can tomatoes. I also make dog treats from the spent grains. Thinking about making bread fron the spent grains.

And of course make great beer......

I envy the time and skillset you people have to make all of that stuff from scratch. Very cool.

I've started making spent grain bread from my beer. That's the only homemade (other than beer) thing I do on a regular basis. I do cook a lot and I like to start from scratch as much as possible when time allows. I'm pretty good at it and I am slowly working my gal away from the idea that the convenience of stuff coming in a bottle is better than having something fresh and to your specifications.

My wife makes soap and sews. We also grow a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I'd have to say that beer has probably taken the majority of my interest though.

I make my own beer, and that's about it. I enjoy cooking, but don't do it that often. I work long hours, but this thread is making me feel lazy!

I suddenly have an urge to plow the backyard!

I make jerky and beer.

researching wine, mead and soda as well.

Bread, bacon, sausage (fresh only at this point), wine, cheese (both hard and soft).

Pizza is my favorite dish. All ingredients are either fresh or made by my hand.

I have to say, homebrewing has inspired it all.

forgot pastas and soups and soup stock (both chicken and beef)

Oh, and I make my own laundry detergent, cleaners and bleaching agents, but that's on a slightly larger scale.

2gl of yogurt every week, sourdough baguettes & pizza doughs, all my own sauces ,salad dressings, grow herbs, some lettuces & veggies

-d

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk

i currently have a batch of my homebrew and some homemade spaghetti sauce in the house right now. i also make my own ice cream and beef jerky as well.
i'm also looking into eventually making my own soda, wine, and hard cider.

the kids

Right now, just soap (laundry, bath, dish and shaving, all with a percentage of biodiesel glycerin), and pasta. In the (hopefully near) future, I'm planning on making my own fuel (biodiesel and ethanol), methane for cooking, cheese, grow my own herbs, and, with any luck, build my own brick oven, so I can go back to make bread and pizza the right way again.

All the furniture except the couch. The stuff they sell in stores is over priced or total crap.

pizza, bread, sausage, cured salmon, dog treats

apartment limits growing/building things.

beer, bread, maple syrup, always venison to eat, garden will be expanded this year if the ground ever thaws, canning will take place this year also.

I build my own computer, wife makes bread, cheese, yogurt, we buy our eggs from a farmer, plans are in the works for vegetable/herb garden, and the mrs. has been very interested in beekeeping for honey.

Edit: +soda

I just started this recently but I make my own bullion cubes for making stock and broths. I make my own stock, add a mire poix and season well then add the half gallon or so to the dehydrator and run it for a LONGGG time. Scrape up the gellatin stuff thats left over and mush it into balls and freeze. Works perfectly for making soup in a hurry and I dont even have to add any seasoning.

I used to raise my own chickens, Had up to about 100 at any time for about 3 years. We sold the eggs and the meat to friends and it basically paid for everything to raise them. Also raised rabbits and sold as pets and as food.

Now I just make my own beer, jerky, and grow most of my own herbs for cooking. I am an Asst. Chef and do most of my cookiing from scratch. Food wise though, the only thing I really make myself, other then meals, are my jams and ice cream on occation

Well let's see. Of course I like to cook, so I make a lot of things from scratch. I occasionally make bread. Beer and Apfelwein, of course.

Now outside the kitchen... I've built radios, guitar gear like stomp boxes, guitar tube amps (starting to design my own line), and custom computers. I also 'build' software... but only for my own needs.

I'm pretty much a Jack of All Trades... woodworking, wiring, tile laying, etc. just about anything to do with remods (though I don't like plumbing or concrete work).

I no longer live in a house, so I don't grow anything anymore... but I used to have a home garden.

Fishing lures and flies!!!!!!!

Beer
flies (for fishing)
breads, pizza, bagels etc
computers
handload for multi calibers
Venison (well, I dont MAKE it)
Pastas

When we get back to the States I will take over my Dad's garden and then....

pasta, pasta sauce, tried to make sake but it failed miserably

In addition to the homebrewing I fish, hunt, make my own bread and pasta, homemade sausages, I maintain a decent herb and veggie garden, I grow my own peaches, figs, and citrus. I am looking into soaps, and have been smoking my own bacon as of late. I also dry-age my own beef. cooking is all from scratch, including the baked goods and stocks, I make a vegetable stock, chicken stock, and seafood stock.

My homemade list is actually short these days. Bread is the primary food item that is rarely store bought but most all meals are from scratch. Blankets/quilts are homemade as are most of my sweaters. If I had more time, I would get back to making more of my things.

I brew beer, spearfish, make my own chicken stock(sometimes) and I have a biodiesel reactor and I'm nearly making my own diesel and a friend will be making soap from the glycerin. That's it I think!

I make vinegar (malt, red wine, and white wine so far), chicken stock, pasta, pasta sauce, pickled things, wine, and have plans for fermented/cured sausages.

Le'ts see...I cut my own grass (chasing self-propelled mower), shovel my own snow (12HP Ariens), clean my own pool (Kreepy Krawler), wash dishes (Hotpoint), cut wood for the fire pit, not heat (chain saw), wash my car (really! by hand with a hose)...kidding...but not really...you did actually get me to thinking...most of my neighbors hire that stuff out and I think of them as "out of touch" but I do admire you all for your dedication and energy.
But I'm getting better...put my 4th homebrew batch up yesterday (to primary, WindRiver Red Cedar Ale...looks nice!) and this summer I will graduate from upside-down porch tomatoes and a couple zukes along the side of the house to a 2' x 24' raised bed garden (by the pool near the fire pit!. Really I'm hoping to put up some spicy green beans like you get in a Bloody Mary in New Orleans (btw, try the Black beer at Crescent City Brewery if in NOLA...gotta love a city with "walk-up-to-go beer windows" on the bars!). I also make my own smoked turkey, jerky, ribs, sausage and roasted veggies (Brinkman electric)...a hobby similar to homebrewing in self-gratification quotient.
Now I'd be exceptionally impressed if someone posted the comment that they cut their own trees down to get firewood to brew all-grain beer! (actually here in Maine making maple syrup over wood fire is common).
I think we would all be smart to become more self-sufficient and buy less at Wally-world!

Hugh_Jass said:

Oh, and I make my own laundry detergent, cleaners and bleaching agents, but that's on a slightly larger scale.

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That made me laugh! "Slightly larger scale"! :rockin:

I'm of the mindset that I'll never be self-sufficient, as I don't plan on building a windmill to generate electricity! but I want to minimize what I buy. I'm a lot older than many of you guys, and have the time to do my hobbies!

I think in my 25+ years since leaving home, I've had a repairman in 4 times, twice for the oil furnace where we used to live, once for our washing machine, and the cable guy once (outdoor line issues). Anything else needs fixing, I do it myself. More $$ for things I like. Of course this often means less time to do the things I like.

Oh, I guess we did have someone tear out our old railroad timber retaining wall and put a stone one in. That required more toys than I have.

Probably a dozen pieces of furniture in the house are homemade.

Sausages are homemade

Yogurt, sauerkraut, honey, garden produce, compost tea!

Wow, you people are ambitious. I have too many other hobbies (Golf and snowboarding) to keep up with all that. I do make my pizzas from scratch though

Dang, I was feeling pretty much the least of the homemade people but then I realized I may have done my share too. I built my house starting with the drawings and logging the timber, sawing the lumber and doing the carpentry. I've built some of the cabinets for it too although we bought the kitchen cabinets so we could get moved in quickly.

I make brats from deer and pork and sometimes anything else that roams the woods. i also make a morning sausage from pork.

beergolf said:

I make my own chicken stock, applesauce, yogurt, salsa, can tomatoes. I also make dog treats from the spent grains. Thinking about making bread fron the spent grains.

And of course make great beer......

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Tell me about making dog treats! My composter needs a break and the three dogs would love you.

I hate to pay someone to do something that I can probably do better and cheaper myself.

I make beer, cheese, bread & pizza, pasta, preserves, sausage and soap. We cook everything from scratch. I grow an herb and vegetable garden. I reload shotgun ammo, do my own auto and home repairs, upholstery, and build computers.

My current passion besides brewing is restoring my '66 Clark Cortez motorhome.

chezhed said:

Tell me about making dog treats! My composter needs a break and the three dogs would love you.

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I have a deal with the couple across the street. I give them four cups of spent grains and they make the dog treats, sharing some back to me.