Homemade: 707 Products to Make Yourself to Save Money and the Earth

by Reader's Digest Association

Make your own pantry staples, cleaning products, pet food, health and beauty supplies, and hundreds of other household items—fast, fresh, and more naturally.

Here are low-cost, all-natural replacement recipes for more than 700 name-brand products that you buy week in and week out at the supermarket, pharmacy, or discount store. Save a fortune making your own everyday cooking, cleaning, and toiletry products! At the same time, you’ll fill your cabinets with fresh, super high-quality products that work or taste great—without all the chemicals and preservatives of store-bought versions. Plus, ‘think green”—you will greatly reduce the amount of useless, environment-damaging waste and garbage—spray bottles, jars, and cans. For cleaning, laundering, and polishing, the compounds are much gentler and less damaging to drains, sewage, and septic systems.

The ingredients in most brand-name products account for only pennies of the purchaser’s dollar and rest of what you spend covers advertising, packaging, shipping, and the retailer’s overhead.

Try these easy to make recipes:

Food Staples: mayonnaise, peanut butter, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, pasta sauce, pickles, and jellies—save 50% on homemade salsa

Beauty and Health Supplies: moisturizers, facials, lip balm, aftershave, decongestant, foot powder, and PMS tea—save 90% on aftershave

Household Compounds: glues, wood stains, ant traps, and houseplant food

Cleaning Supplies and Polishes: carpet fresheners, cleaners, mildew remover, dishwasher detergent, and fabric softener—save 95% on homemade bathroom cleaner

Pet Supplies: liver snaps, dog shampoo, flea dip, cat litter, pet bird honey treats, and hamster fruit cup—save 73% on cat treats

Garden Products: fertilizer, soil conditioners, weed killer, deer repellents, and snail traps

And much more

Making low-cost, more natural versions of your favorite name brand grocery items is simple when you know the secrets. Homemade is your guide to saving a small fortune by making everyday household items yourself.

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Cookbooks, Crafts, Cooking, Health, Gardening

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

[Julie]

Easy to read reference book, which provides the reader with alternatives to store bought products. It is organized into three sections:

Part 1. Kitchen - recipes for a variety of meals including take-out, snacks and prepared foods, baked and sweet goods.
Part 2. Health & beauty products - home remedies for things such as colds & bug bites. Natural pet care products.
Part 3. House & Garden - covers a number of cleaning products, craft making supplies & garden helpers.

This book provides great ways to save money, and make healthier and more natural products that create less waste, as you re-use your own bottles and containers.

[L.C. Tang]

A superb reference book for every home! A keeper on my shelf for sure, as I will revisit it again and again. Great layout and visuals.

[Anastasia Tuckness]

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

[Jenny]

Picked it up on a whim. As a reader's digest book it could easily be useless or useful. I'm happy to say this book is a TREASURE.
It took me all of 20 minutes to decide to buy it, because it's such a great reference book.
From food mixes, canning, preserving and spice mixes to how to make shampoo, cold cream, pet food , cleaners & medicine it has it ALL.
The book itself is lovely, thick aesthetically pleasing, textured pages, sturdy binding and clear printing it's also a joy to flip through.
If you're building any sort of homesteading/prepping library or just really love reference books - you'll love this.

[Sarah]

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.

[Michelle Hankes]

This book is a lot of fun! There are lots of great ideas from homemade crafts, to foods, to elixirs and tonics, to learning to knit! This is a great book for anyone who likes to try their hand at making their own creations, but don't necessarily want to be an expert. Great for the variant heart.

[Chrisi]

Very cool book with lots of ideas for making lots of products naturally for your home.

[Alissa Faust]

Tons of recipes from bread to bath products!

[Maureen]

I liked this book and think it would be a good choice for someone starting out in life. I never tried any of the recipes or helps but it seemed solid. Otherwise, it seemed pretty solid.

[Dan Stern]

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.

[Shane White]

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.

[Annie Smith]

Simple and Easy to instigate changes - ideas.

[Laura]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[cheri]

I keep this one in my kitchen and use it all the time. It has great "recipes" and ideas for home made items all the way from cough drops to bath oils. Great reference book for those that want an environmentally friendly world and who have even an inkling of creativity in their bones. Some of these recipes can be fun to make.

[Felicia A Sullivan]

I have had this book for some time, but had not yet posted a review. It's not that type of book. You have to peruse, browse, and try a few things before you discover whether the book is helpful or not. It is. It's not the most awesomest of references out there, but it is a helpful collection of things to make and do.

[GateGypsy]

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]

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.

[Judi]

This book has a little of everything, recipes and instructions to can and make preserves, bread, sauces, treats, patterns for soft furnishings,decorating, crafts, gardening and landscaping, gardening and herbal lotions.

[Jeanette]

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]

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

[Stephanie]

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

[Katie]

This book has a lot to offer on many different levels. It's a great book, and one I wouldn't mind owning.
It's a great homemaking idea and how-to book.

[sara frances]

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]

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

[Kasey]

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 ✡︎]

TONS of great recipes!

[Alicia]

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