Most of these foods seem simple on the surface to concoct. That's the allure of them, right? Simple sounding with a big punch of flavor.

And yet...

Easier Done Than Said

"I made my own chipotle aioli after having a sandwich in a restaurant and loving the sauce."

"Food processor, eggs, oil, seasoning, and some trial and error resulted in a pretty good sauce (and a lot of cleanup)"

"I later learned the restaurant just mixes chipotle powder into Hellmann's mayo..."

MyNameIsRay

Only Once, Never Again

"I've made homemade ramen fully from scratch (noodles, the broth, the chasu, whole nine f-ckin yards) literally once in my life."

"Once. Never doing that sh-t again."

stickyWithWhiskey

"I've done the same after getting Chang's Momofuku book, although I've done it a handful of times. The broth with 10+ pounds of bones I'd been saving for half a year, the Tare, pork shoulder, cured pork belly, etc. I made it all except the noodles (found some good fresh ones). It was a lot of work. When I was finally eating it I just kept thinking, "wow this is great, but I could be eating homemade Pho that takes 1/10 the time and is arguably better and definitely healthier."

Bdigs138

Exploded, You Say?

"Once we made home made coca cola. It was amazing to see the absolutely crazy different flavours that go into it and this crazy broth to slowly become such a familiar smell. Came out right on the money. Then we went and bought some cokes."

MrSnowden

"My dad made root beer once. While it was delicious, a bunch of the bottles exploded. Fortunately the full bottles were stored in the garage so at least the kitchen remained unscathed."

pittipat

Tastes Exactly The Same

"Stuffed shells. Honestly, just get the frozen ones in the bag and put your own sauce on them. There is no point going to all the trouble of making them from scratch when it tastes exactly the same."

Alice_Van_Osbourne

These foods are an interesting batch. While you would never assume they take a long time to make, after your third hour in the kitchen, you'll definitely be reaching for your phone to place that order.

They Never Quite Take The Same Shape, Do They?

"I've had multiple people try and make tater-tots. You can't recreate the magic with low effort."

wurner_turner

"Yeah, if I want tater tots and don't have any frozen tots to stick in my air fryer I'm just going to make hash browns. It's not the same, but it's close enough and hash browns are WAY easier."

J0h4n50n

Are People Really Trying This At Home?

"Making homemade coconut milk is not worth it. You need special equipment to grate the coconuts. Then you have to squeeze the milk out of the grated coconut, which is labor-intensive. In the end, the results taste no differet from the canned stuff."

Revolutionary-Fox486

Half Price Is Better Than Half Taste

"Indian food , Biryani takes u 2 hours to prepare it & never tastes same like the restaurant as the ingredients/ preparation time or heat (fire from the stove ) , cooking methods aren't the same. Will cost u half the price at the restaurant but will never taste the same for the effort & time"

BellPuzzleheaded3093

People Share Dark Secrets From Their Profession The Public Doesn't Know | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Worse? Sure. Cheaper? No.

"Why should I pay $10 for Pad Thai when for $15 I can buy the ingredients and make a much worse Pad Thai"

sznfpv

Layer Upon Layer Upon Layer Upon...

"Croissants. I spent hours trying to make those once and the result tasted fine but they weren't Croissants, getting the layered puff pastry right is beyond my skills and it's an absurd amount of work. Now I just buy some if I want some."

Aibeit

Forever To Take, Seconds To Eat

"Crackers. I made them from scratch and it was more trouble than it's worth."

SqueezleStew

"this is my #1. Takes a while to make, seconds to eat. The only crackers I've made that are worth it is a rainforest crisp knockoff because those things are super expensive."

luckylimper

And then there's these. Foods so tasty, so scrumptious, that even wasting a second longer to make them would be a waste of life. Just buy them ready to go. .

Just Buy It From The Jar

"Some soups"

_DoctorSpeed_

"Along the same lines, homemade roux for gumbo. It's a tedious pain in the @ss and most people don't have the right touch to make it properly."

"I have several friends native to South Louisiana who are Cajun food purists, and even they use the pre-made base. They all say nearly the same thing- just don't bother. Get a decent jar of the stuff."

Thesqueegeable

Mmmm, bread...

"I've seen 3-day Cookies, 5-day brownies, 7-day pizza... but YouTube recently recommended 21-day Sourdough Bread. I ain't waiting that long for bread."

tzisorey

Best Listen To Paul Hollywood

"Filo pastry"

Ozdiva

"Even Paul Hollywood says to just buy it frozen because it's not worth it."

buffystakeded

"I was a chef- it's a major pain to make. It's a lot like making pasta (flour, egg, oil), but you have to keep rolling sheets and layering it. It has almost no flavor and is mainly used for texture, so get the frozen store bought and nobody will know the difference."

Fritzo2162

From The Source Themselves

"My aunt was a professional baker for a long time"

"According to her, if you shop at Costco the answer is cheesecake. She was always particularly good at making cheesecake and she fully believes there's no reason to put in the effort because the ones they sell are that good"

"I haven't had her home made cheesecake in a long time so I can't compare, but those Costco cheesecakes are the bomb. Also, my cat loves to sleep in the lids"

hereforbutts23

Just. Buy. It.

"I'm the kind of guy to go all the way in making things myself. Bread, pasta, pizza, burger buns, flour tortillas, sushi, etc all from scratch."

"Never again am I trying to make Mochi Ice Cream. Hard, long and frustrating."

KyxeMusic

"So you spent like an hour hammering a blob of rice with a big wooden mallet?"

rabbitwonker

"Most people here in Japan use a mochi maker (a dedicated mixing device). It's about as big as a breadmaker. Making it with hammers is akin to pressing grapes with your feet - it's done for show and cultural history lessons more than practicality. The food conglomerate that makes mochi uses a machine the size of a car."

Javbw

Just go pick it up at the store. Who are you trying to impress? We only got so many hours on this world. What would you rather do with them? Spend them making cheesecake or spend it eating cheesecake?

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.