Homemade vs. Store Bought

If you're a fan of Food Network's Ina Garten ("Barefoot Contessa"), you've probably heard her talk about the importance of using "good" olive oil and cheese or how homemade stocks can lift a soup from good to amazing. But most of us don't live in a gorgeous home in The Hamptons with a big, blooming herb garden and a pink-loving male florist for a friend. So for those of us who enjoy eating well and cooking but have a limited budget, what's best: homemade or store bought?

It's a deceptively tough issue to address. If you're looking at it solely from a taste and quality perspective, it's simple - homemade trumps all. But what about cost? I've always thought that making staples from scratch was more cost effective than buying from the grocery store. But after tinkering a bit with an ice cream maker, I've found that's not always the case. With all the dairy and add-ins that go into homemade ice cream, it's often cheaper to purchase your favorite flavors.

As it turns out, I'm not the only one who has been ruminating on the subject (phew!). Check out this article from Slate by Jennifer Reese, in which she breaks down the cost of six different homemade recipes versus the generic, storebought equivalent. She considers factors like ingredient cost and energy use, but leaves out time because she takes it "as a given that everyone knows better than to quit their job—any job—to take up cracker-baking."

Reese's findings are pretty interesting. In a nutshell, she found that the answer depends on the item. Cost-wise, homemade yogurt won by $0.75 per quart, while homemade cream cheese was was about double the price of a generic brand.