When I was younger , much younger….lol. I was scared to death to scratch cook. After a few cooking classes and going to cooking school, that fear was diluted. It’s not hard, and these days with the advent of countertop appliances, it is, it inky a while lot easiee, bit a while lot faster too.
Thendifference in cost between making your own muffin mix and buying one, even from the dollar store is remarkable. When thinking about difference in costs, it helps to think about percentages and also ingredient lists. Almost any “dry mix “ you buy in a store will have an anti caking agent in it. it has to be shelf stable and it has to sit on a shelf for months, When you scratch cook you save money and you avoid the chemicals that are out into mixes. A batch of muffins cost .30 for the mix, Now, you add butter, eggs and milk so that isn’t the entire cost of the muffin, , bit it is still a lot less than ready made and cheaper than a good mix.
The Internet is full of easy recipes that take notes much more time than buying the things ready made, Pizza crust takes a matter of minutes whether you manual make it, use a bread machine in the dough cycle, or use a food processor. Filling a pizza is easy, my granddaughter has dine it sink every she was four yo. I never understood take and bake pizza. By the time you drive to the store and bring it home, you could have made scratch and you get exactly what you want and you have to cook it anyway,
I feel the same way about food kits, They cost as much as going to a restaurant and you still have to cook the food and do the dishes.
If you are anxious about it, Start with one thing and master that and then move on to the next. It’s only food. It isn’t the end of the world of you mess up. You will gain confidence with time.
Basic 10 pantry Items : you could survive on them…notice I said SURVIVE, NOT THRIVE.
- Flour
- Yeast
- Oatmeal
- Beans
- Rice
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Baking soda
- Dry Milk Powder
- Salad Oil
This gives you protein, grains and dairy. This does not give you vegetables, Bit, if that is all you have to find, it makes life a lot easier. Five dollars can give you eggs and some kind of fruit and a vegetable. Worst case scenario.
Jane frugal food 
Jane, I love reading your blogs. I mean, I am 77 yrs old but it is just fun to read yours, something light and there’s that. Yes, to homemade pizza, the easiest thing in the world and so much easier and faster than picking up pizza, not to mention cheaper and of course, helps clean out the refrigerator of bits and pieces of stuff that you don’t want to go bad…a few olives, that piece of onion not yet used, a little balognia or some weiners that you really almost threw away. it is amazing what can go onto a pizza. If covered with some mozarella, you really don’t even know what’s on there. I actually think making homemade pizza is about the thriftest things you can do in the kitchen. And ALWAYS GOOD ! Arlis Clarke
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