Made from Scratch

We live in a society where homemade brownies come from a box and homemade cookies come sliced from a tube. Putting together a home-cooked meal involves opening some cans of cream of whatever soup and putting it on some chicken while microwaving some minute rice. Frozen dinners and mashed potatoes from a box are pretty normal in some households. Somehow we've gotten away from real food. A lot of this comes from how busy people have gotten. In many families both parents work, the kids are involved in all kinds of activities and there just isn't time for a true made from scratch meal. I totally understand. However, we are compromising our health because all of these boxed, canned and bottled foods are loaded with all kinds of questionable ingredients. High fructose corn syrup, MSG, refined grains, trans fats are the norm in these overly processed foods. I've been hearing it time and time again...we are overfed yet undernourished.

In our house we try to eat a lot of whole foods (however we are way addicted to sweets, chocolate in particular). I buy the bread at the store that is 100% Whole Wheat without the HFCS. I get organic yogurt and ketchup. However, buying these natural/organic products can be pricey. I'd like to start making more of our food from scratch. Part of the reason is for our health, part is for our budget, and partly I just like doing nutty experiments that drive my husband up a wall. Each week I'd like to try making something from scratch that I would normally buy.

Here is a list of food items that I would like to try making:
yogurt
kombucha
sauerkraut
sourdough bread
ketchup
bbq sauce
salad dressings
mayo
granola bars
kefir
crackers
vanilla
soft pretzels
tortillas
chicken stock
pitas
naan
hummus
english muffins

Non-food items that I would like to try making:
Laundry detergent
deodorant
facial cleanser

Does anyone have suggestions on what else I could try?