What have you tried making yourself when the store bought would've been just as good if not better?

[buddhasbelly]

For me baking. Every time I think "oh yes I shall make a beautiful lemon drizzle cake, some ginger snaps" I remember all the 'incidents' .

The incidents of burned cake on top that's not set in the middle; the £ in ingredients, the time spent. And then go and buy something ready made.

Buying the butter alone for any baking makes me think christ this isnt some great money saving hack.

Yes I know it's supposed to taste better homemade. I know a lot of folk find baking a great hobby/stress relief. For me it just works out an expensive, time consuming thing.

What other things have you made yourself where you've realised you'd have been better off just getting it from the shops?

(I know my baking could rectified by going on some cookery course or other... I'm beyond help, I've made my peace with it).

My FIL, who never spent money if he could make a thing himself, used to buy catering size tins of fruit cocktail, as that was the cheapest way to get something suitably sweet, and use that to make 'wine'. We drank it, and it was actually not unpleasant, but god knows what a real wine connoisseur would have made of it. His homebrewed beer was better.

Someone else has mentioned it.... crumpets, don't bother, nightmare to make and I suspect cardboard tastes better!!! This was a lock down experiment!!!

Shop bought cake has a weird taste to it though - kind of like it's made with oil instead of butter and the eggs aren't fresh. Maybe dried egg? That's what I prefer about home made cake. In fact shop bought is not really worth eating at all IMO.

Like if you make those little cupcake kits and they request oil instead of butter, that kind of taste and an absence of the freshness that a baked cake has.

Tiramisu. I love making desserts and they all turn out lovely apart from this.

Home made cakes, shop purchased pastry!

Marmalade.

I once bought Seville oranges and spent a long afternoon making my own marmalade. I ended up with a kitchen that somehow had a thin, sticky layer of syrup on every single surface, and some jars of marmalade that were nice enough, but no better than good, bought marmalade. Definitely not worth all the faff.

@BertieBotts

Shop bought cake has a weird taste to it though - kind of like it's made with oil instead of butter and the eggs aren't fresh. Maybe dried egg? That's what I prefer about home made cake. In fact shop bought is not really worth eating at all IMO.

I don't know that I'd say that! McVitie's Ginger Cake is lovely, or at least it was when I last had any, which is a while ago now. Someone mentioned Battenburg cake, which I haven't had for years and certainly won't be trying to make any time soon. Might look for one of those just to see if it's as good as I remember ...

@BertieBotts some shop bought cake has a best before 3 weeks ahead. Goodness what's in it that preserves it for so long.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Paddington would sorely disagree with you.

Jamie Oliver's Xmas gravy- what a faff and was completely tasteless, never again- gravy granules every time. Anything in a sauce- curries, bolognese, chilli etc I always make from scratch, much better.

Most things for me! I can however, make brownies and cookies but the work and lost temper!

Oh and Yorkshire puds. Can never make them so it's pre-bought every time.

Mashed potato.

I am surprised at the lots of mashed potato answers. One of the easiest things. Get a Braun hand mixer with a masher thingy and life becomes a breeze :)
total fail:
Gravy. Tried and failed multiple times.
no diff:

• bath bombs. I really only do them because both H and kid prefers my smells better. And the fact that they have a say in what exact smell they prefer that month :) and it's about 5 mins to make.
• bath scrubs - again for the unique smell

much better tha store: hamburger buns and pizza. Grissini and pasta if I'm up for it.

Crumpets, croissants and hummus.
My cakes, lasagne and pizza are loads better than anything I have had from a shop.

I am surprised at the lots of mashed potato answers. One of the easiest things. Get a Braun hand mixer with a masher thingy and life becomes a breeze

It’s not that mash is hard, it’s that frozen mash tastes exactly the same and is sooooo much easier.

The secret to good mashed potatoes butter. And a bit more butter. Biiiiit more. And salt.

I always find home-made pizza too 'bready' - I'm not quite sure why but it's not just mine so whatever I'm doing wrong is a common mistake!

Hot Cross Buns.
A faff to make and tasted fine.
But nowhere near as nice as supermarket ones!

Salt free stock when weaning DS. I had the Annabelle Karmel book and spent an afternoon using perfectly good veg to make a few hundred ml of veg stock, before a friend pointed out that you can buy salt free stock cubes that are just as suitable

For mash potato, the answer is microwaving potatoes as if you were making jacket potatoes (obv never the method for actual jacket potatoes!), cut them in half and put them cut side down through a potato ricer. The skin stays in the ricer, so you can just scoop it out. Add butter and/or milk to suit.

Puff pastry, pasties, sausage rolls are far better shop bought, although I try and avoid palm oil where I can and the buggers put it in EVERYTHING. I have made my own crumpets, including sourdough, and they're not as good as Warburtons. HM pizza is a faff. HM naan takes ages.
I do make and prefer my own cakes, biscuits, bread / sourdough, flatbreads, pittas, pasta sauces, lasagna, curries and soups. I enjoy baking and cooking though. I am rubbish at icing, decorating and presentation.

Can I add, for the failed bakers among us, that you need to buy an oven thermometer? £5.99 at Dyas or similar, and an absolute revelation. In my case I found both my ovens (fan and the non-fan one above it) were running at least 15-20 deg hotter than the dial indicated. No wonder my cakes were all burning at the edges.

“Salt free stock when weaning DS. I had the Annabelle Karmel book and spent an afternoon using perfectly good veg to make a few hundred ml of veg stock, before a friend pointed out that you can buy salt free stock cubes that are just as suitable.”

Don’t talk to me about Annabel Karmel 🙄 and her recommendation of something called a ‘mouli’ to make pea puree with. Who has time for all that nonsense with two under three and no servants?

@HardbackWriter

I always find home-made pizza too 'bready' - I'm not quite sure why but it's not just mine so whatever I'm doing wrong is a common mistake!

It’s the flour - you need durum wheat flour - and needing a clay pizza oven which you won’t have unless you’re Jamie Oliver.