Ever wonder what food is actually worth making from scratch - whether it comes to time, quality, or money? We collected tips from some serious foodies, and the result is 12 foods that are often better and more cost-effective when made at home instead of purchased from a store or restaurant. Discover how easy and satisfying it can be to create these items in your own kitchen, and save a buck while doing it!
Biscuits and Gravy
A few foodies said this dish is usually flavorless in restaurants. Just like with other homestyle foods this dish needs a lot of love to come out right, something a Southern home kitchen has lots of. So just stay away from the restaurant version, and instead ask your Southern friends to make you some!
Lo Mein Noodles
While you might be able to find great noodles in the big cities, in most parts of the country, they're quite hard to come by. Foodies recommend trying your hands at making them at home instead - it's not that hard, and it tastes amazing! Best of all? You can season it exactly as you like, and add whatever veggies and protein you want.
Steak
There's definitely an art to cooking a great steak, but it's an art that's simple enough to perfect at home. Meat + the right amount of heat are really all you need, and you don't even have to worry about over-salting because you can just salt it after it's done. So rather than order overpriced steaks in restaurants, invest a few evenings in teaching yourself how to cook it just the way you like it! And maybe spend that extra money on getting a really nice cut of meat, instead. Because that really does make a difference!
Lasagna
Since lasagna is difficult to make as a single serving, if you order it at a restaurant it has almost certainly been frozen. Not to mention - your grandma's recipe is probably better, anyway!
Mashed Potatoes
Maybe it's because it's the most homestyle of potato sides, but they just never taste right in a restaurant. The fact that they're probably made earlier in the day and reheated does not help matters!
Tamales
For tamales the debate is not whether they're better in a restaurant or at home (that's an easy one: never order them at a restaurant), but whether they're better homemade or bought from the guy on the street. While the consensus seems to be that homemade tamales win out slightly, the guy on the street is a great second bet!
Chili
Maybe it's due to the constant debate about what ingredients should really be in a chili: beef? beans? corn? All of the above, or neither? Either way, foodies just don't enjoy restaurant chili as much as the homemade version.
Soup
With the exception of those delicious broth-based South East / East Asian soups that really do get better with time, other soups that have been kept on the back burner all day just aren't all that. So while you'd be better off skipping the potato leek soup at anything but a dedicated soup restaurant, don't shy away from the Pho - that is one dish that's definitely worth eating at a restaurant!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Like a lot of simple baked goods, chocolate chip cookies are better made at home. Some foodies talk about specific restaurants or bakeries that do something exceptional to their cookies, like folding in a chocolatey center layer, but the places are too few and far between to be a safe bet. Making them at home, however, has never been known to end in disappointment!
Roast Chicken
Just as with lasagna, this is a dish you can't really make for one, and not to order either. So that roast chicken you order will likely have been cooked earlier in the day, and now they just reheat it for you. While it might not be bad and can still be quite tasty, it's never going to be the same as the Sunday dinner-style chicken roast you make at home.
Mac and Cheese
Now we're not talking about the boxed version here - but traditional, homemade, mac and cheese from scratch. I've had a few good versions at barbecue joints myself, but nothing comes close to what I make in my own kitchen. A lot of foodies commented with their own recipes they love and use, and this might be one reason mac and cheese is always better at home: you know exactly how you like it, and you will make it that way.
Try my favorite Mac and Cheese: Dump-and-Bake Mac and Cheesekoijl+
Vegetables
Multiple foodies say they've never had really good vegetables in a restaurant - and I am bound to agree. While I've had decent veggie sides and a few great experiences with vegetable-forward dishes, mostly I find them to be either underdone or overcooked. I assume they DO teach how to cook vegetables in culinary school, so this is likely more a matter of how you prefer your veggies cooked. It's impossible to please everyone!
Source: Reddit.
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