Homemade: How to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh, and Naturally

by Reader's Digest Association (Editor)

Homemade: How-to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh, and More Naturally

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Self Help, Crafts, Food, Green, Cooking

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with great suggestions for homemade cleaning products, garden pest control, and food recipes. Find the best ones on my blog.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not usually a big fan of DIY books, and am usually pretty skeptical of some of the Reader’s Digest collection, but this book was actually quite a gem. Many of the home-care recipes are things that I do already, but these are great suggestions if you are trying to lessen your family’s consumption and trash production, plus they offer the added benefit of many of the recipes being less toxic for both you and the environment.

Take for example something as simple as lotion. You probably spend about $7-10 at a store like Target to get a bottle. This book has a recipe to make your own for less than half that. Yes, there are some weird ingredients needed, and I have yet to find some of them, and yes there are definitely some recipes that I’ll probably skip (toothpaste?!), but by and large this book has some great options. I just made some raspberry sorbet from one of the recipes and it was super-easy and turned out delicious. I’d recommend checking it out at your local library before you commit, as I did, to make sure the recipes are doable for your family and your lifestyle.

[Alissa Faust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of recipes from bread to bath products!

[Dan Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

But I saw it in store today and browsed through it for a very long while. It has about 400 pages, zero photos or illustrations, BUT has great recipes separated in convenient sections:

- Green cleaning products: window cleaner, dish soap, pipe cleaner and lots more;
- Home remedies: cramps, indigestion, migraines, cold syrup and more;
- Health and beauty: toner, bath salts, lotions, masks and hair products;
- Pet food and supplies: pet treats for dogs, cats and birds, flea repellents and more;
- Garden solutions: insect/pest/animal repellents, soil and planting mixes, etc.;
- Cheaper healthier: this is the food section. Homemade ketchups, salsas, breads and such.

The table of contents is somewhat lacking (you'll have to bookmark each chapter for a complete list of its recipes and even then you'll have to browse the chapter as the page number isn't indicated in the chapter contents list) but the book does have an index at the very end.

Someone who's passionate about saving money and/or the environment may get a little overwhelmed at first thinking they should start making all of this themselves immediately, but I'm sure someone who uses this book as a reference for slow and steady improvement will get a lot more enjoyment out of it. While I've seen most of the food recipes in many other recipe books (only with lovely photos to boost) and don't find it out of the ordinary, most of the other sections are somewhat of a home-bible godsend.

* For those interested in making beauty products at home, I would also suggest Natural Beauty at Home by Janice Cox -- still no photos, but lots of recipes;
* For those who would additionally like to re-purpose and give new life to their old clothes, I would suggest the 99 Ways to Cut series, by Faith Blakeney, In Stitches by Amy Butler who has a wonderful website by the way, as well as (I have lots more but this is my personal favorite) Tendance Vintage by Helene Le Berre;
* For those interested in homemade decor, I would also suggest (modern/industrial) Hardware Style, by Marthe Le Van.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of everything to help budgets and inspire those who want to make things from scratch.
Could use some more variety cuisine wise.

[Shane White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book hoping for to find a collection of recipes for household products. This book does not disappoint. It is obvious that this book is not written for Prepper's or for any sort of catastrophe where products will be hard to get. It is written for people who want to save money and make their own soaps and things with simple and relatively common products that you can find in your local stores. About half of the recipes in this book require that you have access to common products that are available today to make them. For example, over-the-counter tube of toothpaste, dishwasher soap, and a hole lot of different oils and herbs and things.

This book include so many different things that you can make after doomsday happens. Some include, beeswax candles, drain opener, seed starting mix, insect repellent, and a whole lot more. I recommend this book as a good one for your prepper library. I wish they had a list in here of common ingredients, but I guess that would be unrealistic since there are so many. What you need to do with this book is to look through it, mark it up, flag the pages of the things that you think you will need, and start collecting ingredients and keep them in a safe place.

I rated this book as a 4 out of five just because it has so many recopies for the things we use every day. It will be a great book to have after a disaster to get life back to normal.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covered a lot of DIY basics. The good thing is that it contains a lot of information; the bad thing is that you (hopefully) will know some of this information already. Like the sections on making your own beauty treatments and cleaning products were of particular use to me. The cooking sections were pretty redundant - does anyone not know how to make plain tuna salad? And the recipes are very basic - if you were looking to learn more about prepping your own food, there are several books dedicated to making your own condiments, etc that are better and have a lot more variety. But if you're just getting into this kind of thing, this book is a great primer. I do have one quibble, though - they make a few claims that making your own products is eco-friendly, which is generally true. But some of their suggestions (using alcohol in cleaning products, bleach in weed killer) aren't exactly good for the earth. Their pre-made counterparts may be worse, but I think that calling these eco-friendly is a stretch.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of our cleaning supplies now come from this book. We also made bake-able clay last weekend. Great book. Makes me feel all thrifty and revolutionary. And a bit stupid. I'm just now embracing the power of white vinegar. This book teaches you stuff you should've picked up years ago in your grandma's kitchen, had you been paying attention.

Edit: there are a few recipes we aren't crazy about in this book so I'm reducing the rating from 5 to 4 stars-- like the toilet bowl cleaner (I'm too impatient to wait that long) and the shower cleaner, I think. The work well, but the shower cleaner has a lot of baking soda in it and does not do well in a spray bottle, as recommended. That's all I can think of right off. Still, great book and it's nice to have all the info in one place even though you can find all this stuff on the internets.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly recipes, most of which you can find better versions of elsewhere. The "recipes" for homemade cleaning supplies were good and simple though. But I'd probably never use any of the beauty supply ones (homemade shampoo? I think I'll pass). The whole book would have been easier to read through if it wasn't so self-promoting the whole time. "Sure you can buy lotion, but you can make a better version yourself for pennies!" Good concept, but I don't want to read it in the introduction of every. single. recipe.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic for anyone wanting to lower their monthly cleaning bills or wanting to make cleaning products more naturally. The book goes beyond cleaning, but that's the section we've used the most. Six chapters on food products, three chapters on health and beauty care (including pets), and two chapters on household cleaning and garden stuffs. An awesome and easy do-it-yourself manual.

[GateGypsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, but ultimately it didn't have a lot of recipes that I will use in my life. I really liked the house cleaning and gardening chapters, though. I'd like more information in those areas, and less about how to make home made beauty products.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and found a lot of the recipes very useful. I do wish it would have included more around the house type mixes and less food and cooking recipies, as I wasn't looking for a cook book when I read it. Overall, a very useful book.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great recipes. I copied a few food recipes, a few cleaning supply recipes and a few medicinal ones down for my household book that I am collect these type of things for. Definitely worth checking out.

[Danielle Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome.. I've used it to make a lot of my own stuff, from laundry soap to shampoo.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book-lots of stuff I didn't know would be so easy to make!

[sara frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a vegan, this book was pretty much useless. Also lots of the recipes in here were not mind blowing. Most were fairly "duh, obviously" to me.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want to make your own dog food, laundry detergent, bbq sauce? This is the book for you. Great recipes.

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes for easy homemade cleaning solutions. I don't think I'll ever buy a bottle of windex again. I have added this to my wishlist- it's a must have!

[katherine ✡︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

TONS of great recipes!

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This covers many topics, from food to facials to household cleansers. I copied lots of recipes for future use.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been making a lot of homemade products that I've found online. I found some more great recipes in this book! Can't wait to try them!

[Athena Macmillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good range of recipes ranging from food to cleaning products - with many good enough for me to have written down to keep for future reference.

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

add to library

[WitchHaven Apothecary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have around the house book!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Invaluable resource!!!