Anything NOT worth making yourself?

**elphie** · 08-20-2008, 04:53 PM

It goes against logic and reason to think that buying something pre-made is a good deal but...

I was really excited when I found a recipe for tater tots from scratch. We love tater tot casserole and I've been making it with shredded potatoes since making the switch to cooking from scratch but it isn't quite the same.

Today I finally made them. With the potatoes, flour, oil, and electricity I figured I had $2 in what was the equivelant of 1/2 bag of tater tots plus I had spent a LOT of time and effort on them. they were really tasty but frugally speaking not my best venture.

I pride myself on cooking from scratch and tell everyone that I don't buy food... I buy ingredients.

I guess I'll just have to stick to the shredded potatoes for everyday and just "splurge" on the bag of tots for dh's birthday (its his fave meal that he doesn't have to grill himself).

So, anything else you all have found that the pre-made version is actually a better bargain than making from scratch?

**elphie** · 08-20-2008, 04:54 PM

oh yeah before someone beats me to it...

Hey Napolean, give me some of your tots. LOL

**dcompton** · 08-20-2008, 06:05 PM

Off hand, I'd say tater tots were not worth making myself! But if they are part of a casserole, doesn't that make them an ingredient? I'd consider myself home free buying them.

**Ms. Clear** · 08-20-2008, 06:17 PM

I've never found a good recipe from homemade dish soap.

**alarosalpn** · 08-20-2008, 06:24 PM

Would it be a better 'deal' if you made alot at a time and froze what you didn't need right away? just curious. I might be interested in doing that myself for DS. I would think that homemade has to be better for you.

**spyzvixxen** · 08-20-2008, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by elphie

oh yeah before someone beats me to it...

Hey Napolean, give me some of your tots. LOL

NOOOO get yer own!

**elphie** · 08-20-2008, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by alarosalpn

Would it be a better 'deal' if you made alot at a time and froze what you didn't need right away? just curious. I might be interested in doing that myself for DS. I would think that homemade has to be better for you.

I don't think it would be a better deal... I really just rounded up to the next dollar from 1.87 for the cost of the electricity (a rough guess I know, not very scientific on my part). It took eight potatoes, 1/4 cup of flour, and about 1/4 bottle of oil to make the tots plus a generous amount of salt and pepper. I boiled the potatoes whole, used the food processor to shred them, and then fried them in the electric skillet... none of those would be lessened by making a big batch except for the initial heating of the oil which only took about 5 minutes. All of this was barely enough for 1 casserole and I usually get 2 1/2 to 3 casseroles from a bag of tots.

As for them being better for you... I don't know if potatoes fried in oil could ever be good for you, LOL.

**shortstack** · 08-20-2008, 07:51 PM

This is an interesting post.

I personally would make the shredded potatoes on my stoneware in the oven. Thats how I make french fries. I just spray them with oil (I use a salad dressing sprayer to spray bottled oil instead of buying spray oil in the store) and then season salt the fries.

I will have to ponder for a little bit to come up with what I wouldn't make myself.
Andrea

**Back2Earth** · 08-20-2008, 08:30 PM

I'm still trying to perfect my dishwasher soap recipe. I'm not sure it's worth the hassle.

**Greebo** · 08-20-2008, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by elphie

It goes against logic and reason to think that buying something pre-made is a good deal but...

On the contrary -

Today I finally made them. With the potatoes, flour, oil, and electricity I figured I had $2 in what was the equivelant of 1/2 bag of tater tots plus I had spent a LOT of time and effort on them. they were really tasty but frugally speaking not my best venture.

This is an example of why our economy evolved as it did. Someone who is really good at making tater tots, really efficient at it, has a ready supply of cheap potatoes from their own farm(s), etc., can specialize in making them, and trade them to you for something you specialize in, that they don't do so well at making themselves at, and you both come out better.

But since you can't carry around tater tots on carts all your life, money became the symbol of trade.

Are you always better off buying than making it yourself? Of course not! There's lots of bad deals out there to be made, where the other person is better off, but you're worse off. But that's the trick - finding the deals that are worth making, and not making the ones that aren't.

So don't beat yourself up if you buy tater tots instead of making them - if you know the cost of doing it yourself, and you can spend that time doing something else more productive for you and yours, then by all means, do THAT, and buy the Ore Ida's!

**elphie** · 08-20-2008, 09:43 PM

Excellent points Greebo and I hadn't really thought of it this way... too bad I didn't check with you before I started out on this little venture today

Thankfully not a total loss as they were a tasty treat and I'm also thinking this might be an excellent use of leftover potatoes, just not so great as a project in and of themselves, at least not for me.

And I'm not really beating myself up so much as learning a lesson and asking if others had a similar lesson with other attempts so I could avoid another wasted afternoon.

**Squirt** · 08-20-2008, 09:53 PM

Thought evoking thread to start there, elphie. I wonder myself, especially when it comes to "making" your own meat. The kids here buy and raise steers to sell at the 4-H auction at the fair... After buying a calf and feeding them tons of hay and grain, it seems as though they are lucky if they make any money.

I suppose how you go about things makes the biggest difference. Sort of like baking the tots instead of using a bunch of oil to fry them. If a person bred their own animals and had pasture to raise them on, I imagine things would be a lot cheaper.

It's something to think about, for sure. I'm interested to hear everyone else's input.