>Kombucha is another one I haven't seen mentioned here...you don't really save money in general and decent commercial products you can easily get many places are as good or better.
Kombucha is the exception.
I make kombucha at home. The labor is extremely minimal (basically the same effort as making a gallon of sweet iced tea) and the economics absolutely make sense - the cost less than $1 a gallon for me to make it vs $3-5 for 16 oz at the grocery store. Plus I already have pounds of tea at home.
The other reasons I make it are to avoid having to haul heavy bottles into the house and because I prefer unflavored kombucha and only flavored ones are widely available commercially.
Fair. But, like a lot of these things, economic home production probably also requires a fair bit of production/use. My problem was that I just wasn't drinking enough and my scoby ended up contaminated.
Yeah, if you use a lot and are just producing unflavored, kombucha is pretty easy/cheap.
But, yeah, you don't really save money in general and decent commercial products you can easily get many places are as good or better.
There are exceptions. Some bread products (including biscuits etc.) are reasonable to make at home, especially if you don't have convenient access to a good baker. (There are a few in the city but not near me.)
I find cooking in general is rewarding and can save quite a bit of money.