The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila is all about reconnecting with the basics and empowering home cooks to make pantry staples from scratch. This cookbook presents a realistic path to making 101 everyday essentials at home, ranging from pasta to ketchup, without artificial preservatives. Chernila’s warm, approachable style encourages readers to take charge of what they’re putting on their shelves—and to have fun along the way. This book is amazing. If you’re looking to start from-scratch cooking (or just want to pretend to be a tradwife for a couple minutes), this book is so great for that.
The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila
Published by Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed on April 3, 2012
Pages: 288
“This is my kitchen. Come on in, but be prepared—it might not be quite what you expect. There is flour on the counter, oats that overflowed onto the floor, chocolate-encrusted spoons in the sink. There is Joey, the husband, exhausted by the thirty-five preschoolers who were hanging on him all day, and he is stuffing granola into his mouth to ease his five o’clock starvation. There are two little girls trying to show me cartwheels in that miniscule space between the refrigerator and the counter where I really need to be.”
In her debut cookbook, Alana Chernila inspires you to step inside your kitchen, take a look around, and change the way you relate to food. The Homemade Pantry was born of a tight budget, Alana’s love for sharing recipes with her farmers’ market customers, and a desire to enjoy a happy cooking and eating life with her young family. On a mission to kick their packaged-food habit, she learned that with a little determination, anything she could buy at the store could be made in her kitchen, and her homemade versions were more satisfying, easier to make than she expected, and tastier.
Here are her very approachable recipes for 101 everyday staples, organized by supermarket aisle—from crackers to cheese, pesto to sauerkraut, and mayonnaise to toaster pastries. The Homemade Pantry is a celebration of food made by hand—warm mozzarella that is stretched, thick lasagna noodles rolled from flour and egg, fresh tomato sauce that bubbles on the stove. Whether you are trying a recipe for butter, potato chips, spice mixes, or ketchup, you will discover the magic and thrill that comes with the homemade pantry.
Alana captures the humor and messiness of everyday family life, too. A true friend to the home cook, she shares her “tense moments” to help you get through your own. With stories offering patient, humble advice, tips for storing the homemade foods, and rich four-color photography throughout, The Homemade Pantry will quickly become the go-to source for how to make delicious staples in your home kitchen.
Author
Alana Chernila, a food writer and farmer’s market advocate, brings a personal touch to every recipe, drawing on her own family’s journey from store-bought convenience to home-prepared abundance. Her narrative approach makes her relatable, and readers often find her enthusiasm infectious. Chernila’s passion for sustainable, flavorful cooking and her background as a mother who loves to feed her family informs every page.
Audience
This cookbook is a gem for anyone interested in DIY kitchen projects, from beginners looking to replace some grocery items to seasoned home cooks wanting to reclaim control over ingredients. It’s perfect for those who value from-scratch cooking and enjoy the satisfaction of homemade foods without additives or preservatives.
Mission
The mission of The Homemade Pantry is to transform how we think about the pantry. Alana invites readers to step into a world where kitchen staples are handmade, offering a deeper connection to food and greater control over quality. Through 101 recipes, she shows that making your pantry basics from scratch can be easy, affordable, and deeply rewarding. If you’re looking to get into from scratch cooking even more, I’d highly recommend this guide my friend Rachael from Our Handcrafted Home wrote!
What I liked about it
- This is the only book that I know of that has recipes for made-from-scratch pantry items, which is so useful when you want to make things on your own.
- The warmth in Alana’s writing makes even new kitchen tasks feel familiar.
- The emphasis on sustainable ingredients and reducing food waste adds another layer of purpose to cooking from scratch.
- The organization by “when you’ll use it” (breakfast items, weeknight essentials, etc.) is also practical.
What I wished was there
- Honestly, this is one of the few books I’m upset that doesn’t have a whole blog behind it that still updating. I want clear and easy instructions like this for everything in my pantry, and it’s upsetting there’s only 101 recipes.
FAQ
Yes, most of the recipes are good for weeknight cooking.
This is good for the basics. The recipes are well-explained, and Alana’s style is reassuring, helping even first-time DIY cooks feel comfortable trying new things.
The book includes a good number of photographs, but not all recipes are pictured. The photos that are included are rustic and inviting.
Basic kitchen equipment like saucepans, mixers, and baking sheets are used. No special tools are required.
Most ingredients are commonly available in grocery stores, and Alana often provides alternatives to accommodate various diets or ingredient availability.
Recipes vary, but many can be completed within an hour or less. Some items, like homemade cheese or pickles, require resting or fermentation time, but the active preparation is minimal.
No, nutritional information is not included.
Yes, these recipes are designed to be approachable for families, and kids might enjoy some hands-on aspects like making crackers or granola. I’m sure it would also be so interesting, as a child, to make something that I thought you could only get in the store, like ketchup.
Alana Chernila has written several other cookbooks, including The Homemade Kitchen and Eating from the Ground Up, focusing on sustainable and wholesome cooking.
Yes. Each recipe has a page long story behind it, and it’s so interesting.
This is a keeper. I would probably forget what I could make from scratch if I wasn’t constantly flipping through this book.
Recipe Review
Recipes I’ve Tried
Vanilla Extract. Homemade Granola.
Recipes I’m Excited to Try
- Homemade Ricotta
- Ketchup
Best Recipes for Different Occasions
- Quick Weeknight Need: Pasta dough for a simple homemade pasta night.
- Special Weekend Project: Her jam recipe would be perfect to make on a slower day.
- Family Fun: Granola that can be customized with each family member’s favorite mix-ins.
Final Verdict: A Permanent Addition?
Absolutely a keeper! This is a resource I’ll return to when I want to reconnect with the basics or try my hand at new pantry projects.
If You Are Interested In This Book, You Might Also Like:
If you enjoyed The Homemade Pantry, you might also like The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters for its emphasis on straightforward recipes, or Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat for a deeper dive into the science of cooking. For other books with edible DIYs, get some more ideas here!
-
The Christmas Baking Cookbook Review
-
100 Afternoon Sweets Cookbook Review
-
Squishmallows: The Official Baking Book
Leave a Reply