Why You Shouldn't Bother Buying Store-Bought Potato Salad

A number of store-bought staples are well worth buying for a picnic or backyard barbecue. Who'd want to bake their own hamburger buns or fry batch after batch of potato chips? Other items, however, are better made at home. Take potato salad, for example. Making it yourself is almost as easy as buying it and is bound to taste a whole lot better. What's more, it will likely be cheaper. While the first two qualities (ease of preparation and flavor) aren't easily quantifiable, we can definitely look into the economics of DIY potato salad.

A 1-pound tub of potato salad from the Kroger deli may cost about $4, or 25 cents per ounce. On the other hand, a pound of potatoes at that same store is about 80 cents, while mayonnaise can cost as little as 13 cents an ounce. Even if you like your potato salad heavy on the mayo, you're still looking at not much more than $1 a pound. Want to add mustard? This can be had for just 11 cents per ounce. If you'd like your salad to have a touch of greenery, an entire bundle of green onions will run you about a buck. Celery might cost up to $2, but you'll have a lot left over for making ants on a log or dipping in blue cheese and buffalo sauce. At any rate, unless you're adding truffles and caviar to your potato salad, making it yourself can save up to 75% off the price of the store-bought stuff.

Yet another reason to make your own potato salad is that you can make it exactly the way you like it. You can use your preferred brand of mayo, although that may raise the price just a bit (the prices quoted above were for Kroger generics), or go with Miracle Whip or Vegenaise. You can even skip the creamy stuff and make an Italian-style potato salad with an oil and vinegar dressing.

Other ways to customize potato salad involve incorporating various ingredients that store-bought salads may skip. Crumbled bacon is always a tasty addition, and thrift-minded cooks can even use the bacon drippings in the potato salad dressing. (Bacon grease is actually one of the ingredients that make German potato salad unique, along with bacon, onions, and vinegar.) Pickle juice is another throwaway item that actually tastes pretty great in potato salad, as does the brine from banana peppers, pepperoncini, or pickled jalapeños. If your potato salad is meant to accompany a crab or shrimp boil, you can flavor-match by seasoning it with Old Bay. Let whatever's in your fridge or spice cabinet be your inspiration for a delicious yet thrifty homemade potato salad that's miles beyond anything you'll find at a supermarket deli.