Welcome to Food Wars where we break down store-bought foods and put them up against its homemade counterpart. Judging is based on nutrition, price and taste. The current contender is eggnog. Let the battle begin!
Eggnog has been one of my favorite holiday drinks for as long as I can remember. My grandma used to keep a quart in her fridge just for me. I’ve always loved its spicy, thick, custard-like goodness and with Christmas merely two weeks away, cravings are in full swing. There’s just one big hurdle standing in my way…
The list of ingredients.
Kids have the amazing ability to ignore nutrition labels. Adults concerned about their health and those around them? Not so much.
Have you read the nutritional label of eggnog lately? The list of ingredients is dismal:
Grade A Milk and Cream, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Egg Yolks, Sugar, Nonfat Milk, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Spices, Carrageenan, Annatto (Color), Turmeric (Color).
For crying out loud, that darn high fructose corn syrup seems to be everywhere! Not to mention the carrageenan too.
Talk about a buzz kill. And we don’t even spike our ‘nog!
This leaves me with a major bone to pick.
Why does one of my favorite holiday drinks contain a bunch of junk?!
Surely it’s possible to enjoy this delicious drink without all that fake stuff, right? I mean, what did our great-grandmothers do 50 years ago? Wikipedia pegs eggnog of being available earlier than 1800 – way before high fructose corn syrup OR carrageenan ever existed. Why do we need all the icky stuff now?
The fact of the matter is we don’t. To prove it, check out this impressive list of real food eggnog recipes, none of which contain artificial ingredients:
- Post Run Eggnog by Pickle Me Too
- Chocolate Eggnog by Pickle Me Too
- Traditional, Hot, Dairy-free, Probiotic, Chocolate AND Dark Chocolate Eggnog by Commonsense Home
- Dairy-free Coconut Milk Eggnog by Real Food Whole Health
- Raw Eggnog by Real Food Whole Health
- Homemade Eggnog by All Things Health
- Vegan Eggnog by Eat Play Love More
- Basic Eggnog by GNOWFGLINS
- Egg-free “Eggnog” by Rejuvenating Recipes
- Creamy Eggnog by Real Food RN
- Sugar-free Eggnog by Intoxicated on Life
In fact, here’s my own real food eggnog recipe (taste-tested and approved!).
In all the recipes, the ingredients are fairly the same: milk, cream, egg yolks, sweetener (maple syrup is another common sweetener), vanilla extract and nutmeg. All of which are real, whole foods; none of which are processed or artificial.
Store-bought vs. Homemade Eggnog {INGREDIENTS}: Homemade
Now let’s start talking about the numbers…
My local grocery store is selling 32oz of store-brand eggnog for $1.99. (Wow that seems cheap!) The organic variety is $4.99 for 32oz. Since we buy organic milk and organic eggs, let’s use the organic eggnog for comparison purposes.
A homemade recipe won’t yield an exact amount, but let’s use the measurements in my recipe since one batch makes two 8oz servings. It’s the same one I made last week (before the oven broke) for a batch of cranberry eggnog scones. Here’s the cost break-down, for one quart, using prices from my most recent shopping trips:
- 2 cups of whole organic milk @ 33¢ each = $0.66
- 4 egg yolks from organic eggs @ 24¢ each = $0.96
- 2 Tbsp honey = $.37
- sprinkles of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla = $.15 (an approximation, and I’m rounding up)
Total Cost of 32oz “Mostly Organic” Homemade Eggnog = $2.14
Plus this doesn’t account for the extra egg whites you’ll have leftover. Scrambled eggs for breakfast anyone?
Store-bought vs. Homemade Eggnog {PRICE}: Homemade
What about the taste – can you tell the difference?
I think I can, but I’m not entirely sure. I think store-bought eggnog is extremely thick, and in some cases, too thick to drink. The homemade version is definitely thicker than milk, but not as thick as store-bought ‘nog and I liked it this way better. I’m guessing the recipes that call for additional cream would be thicker, but I don’t have cream so I wasn’t able to verify that.
Besides thickness, the taste was really good! It tastes clean, if that makes sense. And the fact that you can add more cinnamon and/or nutmeg and/or vanilla if you want? And make just one single cup (instead of letting the remaining three spoil in the fridge)? Totally in love. Freshly grated nutmeg would likely put.this.over.the.top., but make do with what you have.
Now I know this is a somewhat biased result, but…
Store-bought vs. Homemade Eggnog {Taste}: Homemade
So there you have it folks. When homemade eggnog is put to the test up against store-bought, it won in all three categories.
You know what’s in the store-bought stuff. You know how to make homemade. You likely already have what you need to make it AND you know it’s cheaper. What do you do now?
Make 2 cups of homemade eggnog. Use half in the scone recipe and enjoy them fresh out of the oven with the other half!
Previous Food Wars you might be interested in:
Just made homemade eggnog this weekend for the first time. I’m not a huge nog fan but my husband is and we thought it would be a fun tradition. Our recipe was different because I’m nursing and wanted to cook the eggs. It came out great and I would totally make it again, in fact we probably will! I agree, tastes much cleaner than store bought, worth the extra effort!
I’ve seen some recipes where you temper the eggs too Joyanna, which is a great alternative for pregnancy or conventional eggs. And I wholeheartedly agree that it’s worth the effort, although with a blender, the effort isn’t much. 😉
My entire family loves egg nog, as in my husband and I can drink a quart in one sitting! However, there is only one brand that we really, really love (I even drove 30 miles and paid >2x more for organic and we still liked the bad stuff better) and I am afraid homemade just won’t cut it. We only get 1 gallon of raw milk each week and I don’t want to waste it. However our farmer gifted us with an extra gallon this week so maybe it’s time to give it a go! Will try it and let you know what we think! I can already tell yours is going to be way less sweet – which is unfortunately why I think we love it?
I don’t blame you for not wanting to waste the raw milk! And you’re right, my version is way less sweet. I thought my recipe was wrong, but it took me a few sips to realize that it was because of the sweetener! You can always add more honey if you’d like. 1/2 cup of honey is still better than even just a tiny bit of HFCS. 😉
I love homemade eggnog. Hubby not so much. I’ve found it such a great high protien drink for pregnancy!
I LOVE the taste of homemade eggnog, I can tell for sure. Though, my recipe is much creamier than store-bought. Thanks for linking to it 🙂 Merry Christmas! 🙂
You’re welcome Trisha! Merry Christmas to you! 🙂
I just tried my hand at homemade eggnog for the first time, and it’s delicious! I’m going to try it in your scone recipe too!
Just a note – I think your math is off 😉
LOL – thanks for catching my error Heather! I think I should keep quiet about that math degree. 😉 Glad you liked the eggnog, and it’s SO good in the scones. Gives it a dark, richer, fuller flavor. So Christmas-y! 🙂
re: alotta honey is better than a little HFCS
unless ur getting raw honey from a local farmer ur honey is prob from “farmed-bees” which are fed HFCS. they set a tray of HFCS beneath the hive and bees go no where else as their food source is right there. so no pollen from flowers in the honey either.
so in effect most honey is straight HFCS!
which makes me kinda glad i buy the cheapest honey i can find, unless i could afford the health-food kind, local and truly raw.
but it makes me mad as i thot at least it’s not corn syrup or even traditional white or brown sugar. 🙁
but now…
i was upset to comprehend this when i learned it, but it is true, research it.
Thanks for sharing a link to my eggnog recipes, Tiffany.
A note on the honey. I’m a part of a local group that gets together to organize bulk buys from local producers on things like honey and maple syrup. Together we get better prices and get the real thing from producers we trust, and they have a guaranteed market for their products.
I can’t stand store eggnog – way too thick and sweet! I grew up on a dairy farm and my mom always made the fresh stuff with our own milk and eggs.
You’re welcome!
Looking into local sources for honey and other items is on the list for 2014, but I do think it’s tougher in my area. Just not sure why!
Did you try making eggnog with non-dairy milk? What would you recommend?
Yeah for providing homemade egg nog recipes. I fell in love with Organic Valley’s eggnog, but their brief season is over. Excited to possibly extend my egg nog season a little longer by trying to make some of these recipes!
Enjoy Gwen! It’s so good!
I just mad the egg nog. My kids had never tried egg nog before. Let you know how they like it.
Thank You
Maria