h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/01/cheap-food-diy-homemade-ingredients
10 foods to make yourself to save money

(I've paraphrased that headline because I despise the part of it I've taken out).

Let's go through them.

1. Yoghurt.
Yep, done that. One of the several things I wish I hadn't unloaded before I came to Texas was my little yoghurt maker. It was nothing more complicated than an insulated pot that held about a litre, I think, with a domed lid. The purpose of the lid was to allow condensation from the warm milk as it cooled to run into a groove in which the lid sat, thus keeping it out of the yoghurt, which was utterly delicious.

I've tried making it a handful of times on this side of the pond, but without the same kind of success, and most of the commercial yoghurt makers these days are electrical and have to be plugged in. I can do without that.

2. Granola
Like muesli, I'd rather poke myself in the eye than have that for breakfast. Breakfast should be cooked. Or leftover curry. Or a hefty sandwich of some kind. End of.

3. Rye bread
Well, I like rye whiskey and rye beers, for their spiciness. Maybe I'll have a crack at rye bread soon.

4. Pesto
Now this looks promising. Pine nuts give me terrible heartburn (so do one of the alternative suggestions - almonds, in quantity), but I do like the stuff. I'll definitely look into this one.

5. Healthy snacks
Define 'healthy'. I used to make a lot of flapjacks with oats, dried fruit, seeds, nuts and... a great deal of butter and golden syrup And I believe I do have some oats in the cupboard which really ought to be used up soon

6. Jams and curds
Check. At least, jams. Still got some strawberry jam in the pantry. And some frozen strawberries (organic) which were on sale at a knockdown price, in the freezer.

7. Nut milks and butter
Y'know, I pay a lot of money each week for soya milk. I've been thinking for some time about making my own, and whether it would be possible to recreate the kind of flavour that commercially-made soya milk does, especially since they keep changing the recipe so that it's becoming ever more difficult to find one that isn't too sweet or makes you taste of vanilla

I've a feeling I did once try it, and it tasted of, well, soya beans. Not really what you want in your cuppa. So perhaps that's why I've continued to buy it. As well as that, I understand it's hard to find organic soya beans in the US right now. Demand outstrips supply by a margin. The local food co-op, for example, doesn't sell them. At all. Either packaged or in bulk, and you'd think that would be a stock item for them.

8. Pickles and ferments.
Yep. Green tomato chutney jars in both the cupboard (open and half empty) and the pantry (not yet opened). I really want to have a bash at mango chutney And piccalilli

9. Flavoured oils and salts
A bit too bourgeois for me, to be honest.

10. Dips
I can see why you might want to buy these - an impulse buy, or if you're having a gathering of some kind and there's just too much other stuff to prepare, but honestly, if you've got a blender, hummus is the easiest thing to make. You don't even have to cook the chickpeas fer cryin out loud - buy a tin!

Rye Bread you say. The same place you got that list from has the latest article in their series 'How to make the perfect' on Rye Bread so you may want a look theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/jan/28/how-to-make-the-perfect-rye-bread

I did notice that one I've tried a few of Felicity Cloakes 'How to make the perfect...' recipes from the Guardian, usually with success.

One for Baron Grim, if I remember rightly http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/13/how-to-make-perfect-cranachan-scottish-dessert-recipe

We make pesto with walnuts because we have a walnut tree in the garden and basil is one of the things we grow in the summer in quite large amounts. We could plant our own garlic, but the most expensive ingredient is the pine nuts, so if you can reduce that cost, you're doing well.

I then fill it into small bags and freeze it. You'd think it wouldn't need it, consisting mainly of oil, which should normally preserve food, but it goes mouldy after a couple of days if we don't. The rest of the family love it on pasta and salads, but I can't stand the stuff.

(This may be because I once made some and served it at a time when my gall bladder was beginning to act up and the generous amount of fat it got that evening made me feel quite

Everything else on the list I agree with (except, like you granola, but for other reasons) and have either made them myself or have never needed to. Jam, for example, we don't eat and I have never been successful at making - so two wrongs make a right in that case!

I've found my old flapjack recipe

12 rolled oats
2 dried fruit (that would have been currants/sultanas/raisins at the time)
2 nuts
6 muscovado/brown sugar mixed
4 honey
4 butter
vanillin (a powdery substance used in the food industry - I worked in a sweet factory at the time)
1 bran

20 minutes at mk 4

Whether those amounts were ounces or parts, I don't remember, but it's scalable, obviously. And I could have sworn it was golden syrup rather than honey

I also found recipes for rich fruit cake, shortbread, toffee tart, syrup tart (those would have been my mum's recipes), pickled eggs, tomato and chickpea soup, and some kind of chocolate and raspberry cake that I didn't give a title but which (as far as I can see) is mixed like a regular cake - creaming the butter and sugar, adding the eggs etc, but is then microwaved for 8½ minutes (rotating every three minutes - guess that was before domestic microwaves had turntables), frozen, the bottom cut off, most of the inside of the cake spooned out and filled with ice cream with added raspberries, the bottom put over that, frozen again (probably) then the whole things covered with a chocolate icing and decorated with more raspberries.

Maybe when I've got a bit more time I'll transcribe that one.

I have to say, my handwriting was a whole lot better in them days (this would be at least 30 years ago), but I was using a fountain pen.

And there's also a recipe for... muesli

They have (finally) soya beans at the co-op

I took the last of them until they restock

One thing they left out of the list (of the potentially hundreds of others) is mayonnaise. Can be expensive to buy (if it's organic), but cheaper and very easy to make.

Agree entirely. In a similar category: thousand islands dressing, mincemeat, curry powder.

The dry ingredients for the flapjacks are mixed and the sugar plus honey plus golden syrup is melting. They'll go in after today's bread. It's interesting to note that there are so many more interesting ingredients now that I either couldn't get back then or didn't think of. I've added various seeds (which I might have at the time, just included them in the nuts category). I've grated in some coconut oil (hardened). Next time I might add some peanut butter or tahini. I had some dried cranberries left over from something else so some of those went in. I might also some dates and/or dried apricots.

And oats are very, very good for you A4888858

The only kind of curry powder I make is garam masala, which is added to other curries during cooking. Actually no - I made pav bhaji masala last week, and I'll be doing so again.

Homemade mincemeat is so much better than bought, unless you buy the really high-end stuff, and the whole idea of making it yourself is to avoid that kind of expense. Plus you get to decide which (and how much) you put in it

As in, minced meat, or sweet mincemeat?

I'm assuming sweet mincemeat, although I have also made my own minced - or rather, finely chopped - beef. The secret to doing that easily (and chopping bacon too) is to chill until it's almost frozen but still a bit pliable.

And by "chill" I mean to chill *it*. Not to relax greatly

Relaxing whilst chopping semi-frozen meat I imagine would also be beneficial!

Best count your fingers afterwards though

The flapjacks have no structural integrity Maybe I should have reversed the phase polarity, or restarted the flux inducers, or, or...

Have they cooled down compeltely? They may still be bendy and crumbly if you take them out of the pan while still warm. Again, I hate saying this sort of thing on one of your threads, you're obviously a better and more experienced cook than I am.

No, they were completely cooled when I tried to take them out of the pan. Maybe I used too much butter/syrup, or not enough. The temperature and cooking time were right.

I'm eating them with a fork