This is such a no-brainer to me. I don't believe there's a single bottled dressing out there that tastes anywhere near as good as homemade.

Make everytime! We do it with homemade mayonaise so we don't have to buy any with all the fake fats from the gross manufactured oils (vegatable oil, YUCK!).

I make ranch dip and dressing at home. I don't buy $3 scallions (don't like them) and I just use dried herbs that I already have sitting around. I usually do half yogurt and half sour cream. It doesn't have to be as expensive as the example!

I haven't bought dressing in months because this is an easy-peasy DO! There's so much variety you can create yourself and it's so easy. Not to mention avoiding all the preservative, corn syrup and manufactured oils in the store stuff. yuk.

a little olive oil, some balsamic, and a shake of s&p... i'm in the make camp.

DEFinitely make. I prefer vinaigrettes to creamy dressings anyway, but it takes us so long to use a full bottle of it that it just makes since to whip up a small batch each time. I always either use dijon mustard or honey to emulsify, it's so much tastiter and more natural!

Argh - I mean it makes "SENSE", not "since" :P

We pretty much always make our own dressing, although we usually stick to vinaigrette. I will say that in the first couple months after my daughter was born I was so exhausted that even a vinaigrette felt like too much work and I broke down and bought a bottle of dressing at the store. One situation where "buy" is justifiable. :-)

We eat salad several times a week and usually just drizzle olive oil and vinegar straight from their bottles. When I have a taste for something different I just throw some ingredients into the Magic Bullet Blender (the thing is genius for dressings) and give them a spin. Since we grow a lot of our salad stuff it's cheap as all get-out. When it comes to store-bought, there is simply no comparison to homemade and it's so completely easy to make.

We keep a bottle of "Lite Ranch" dressing in the fridge because some of our friends refuse to even try home-made dressings. Incomprehensible to me, but they shake their heads at my compost bucket and then we move on.

If you weren't paying an absurd price for your herbs than the homemade would be far cheaper. Plus your homemade dressing doesn't have GMO soybean oil as the primary ingredient and MSG and gums. Bleck. Bottled dressing is NOT a natural product.

And homemade tastes far FAR better.

The CI Blue Cheese Dressing, especially with Maytag Blue. But cheaper Buttermilk blue is good too

Rich and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

2-1/2 ounces crumbled blue cheese (about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons buttermilk
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and ground black pepper

Mash the blue cheese and buttermilk together to form small curds. Do mix it all together or it will lump. Whisk in other ingredients Taste and adjust with S&P.

This is my other favorite: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/aragula-mint-apple-salad-walnuts-buttermilk-dressing.aspx from Suzanne Goin / Lucques I do like a bit of minced garlic in this.

i make them at home. hands down, better than store bought--except for ranch dressing, which never quite tasted like RANCH.

i searched for years for a good ranch dressing recipe and finally found it on saveur. turns out that the secret to that delicious inimitable ranch flavor is using powdered garlic and onion salt.

you can make this a lot less fattening by subbing yogurt for some of the mayo and some or all the sour cream. i don't miss the sour cream, but you need some mayo flavor. or just use more buttermilk and less mayo and sour cream, for a thinner dressing, if you're not planning on using it as dip.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Ranch-Dressing

make make make. a garlicky lemon-tahini dressing is my standby, so good and so easy. same with so many others, and they come together with pantry staples!

the link i just posted in previous comment was for the wrong saveur ranch recipe--not the one i use. it looks delicious, but has no sour cream, so my previous comment may be confusing to some.

here's the recipe i use:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Watercress-Salad-with-Ranch-Dressing

I always make. My boyfriend is lactose intolerant so I make vegan ranch all the time - substitute Veganaise for mayo and Tofuti sour cream for yogurt. Sometimes I'll even add soy milk to thin it out. I use dried herbs and garlic & onion powder if I'm out of fresh.

Vinaigrettes are a no-brainer to make at home. It's just the two of us, so for small batches, I use a handheld milk frother (my $1.50 ikea frother works great) to blend the vinaigrette.

The only dressing I buy bottled is Girard's Caesar. I haven't been able to duplicate that successfully at home.

I don't use creamy salad dressings much, so when I do I usually just whisk together an easy version. A little mayo or greek yogurt, some whole grain mustard, some apple cider vinegar, herbs, salt. It does the job and is tasty enough, though I'm sure not as good as a real batch of home made.

Make make make! Almost always...I do grant exceptions for this one store-bought champagne vinaigrette, but probably because it never occurs to me to buy champagne vinegar. There is also something a little magical about store-bought bleu cheese dressing...

This Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from Southern Living is so good, you will want to eat it with a spoon. About two hours before you want to serve it:

Mix all together and return to the refrigerator.
1 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cloved garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon crushed basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper

Note: If you have teenage boys at home, triple the recipe because they will eat it on everything.

I almost always just do a basic vinaigrette (mixing up the sweetener and vinegar to suit the salad). But I do have a bottle of an asian ginger dressing (Newman's Own, if I recall correctly)...but mostly because I only rarely have ginger on hand so wouldn't ever make the dressing.

Make, always. I think the last time a bottle was in the house did indeed conincide with a newborn!

Also, re: cost. Bottled dressing doesn't keep well. It doesn't actually seem to go bad, just... dressing that's been in the fridge a few weeks is just gross somehow. Maybe this is my personal thing, but on the rare occasions I've used bottled dressings, I found myself tossing the stuff long before it was gone. Which makes it quite pricey indeed.

While I would agree that homemade ranch dressing tastes better, sometimes I am just in the mood for Hidden Valley ranch dressing. I give into those moods occasionally.

I'm surprised this one is so solidly in the "make" pile. I usually make all of my salad dressings and I never buy ranch, but every once in a while I love coming across it at a family reunion or something. I guess it is a nostalgic flavor.

I make my own, too. Once I read the ingredient list on the bottled kind, I was finished with it.

While I make a variety of salad dressings, ranch wasn't one of them. I can't wait to try the recipes here! My son will be thrilled.

Always make. Went home to my fiance's parents house recently where they only use bottled dressing. I know I sound like a huge snob, but it was seriously barely edible. And it was vinaigrette, which I can't fathom why you would buy. Even if you have absolutely no time or energy to cook, pouring some decent EVOO and vinegar onto a salad is still better than the bottled crap.

I usually do minced garlic, olive oil, bit of dijon mustard, and either lemon juice or sherry / white wine / balsamic vinegar. Honey and worcestershire sauce also sometimes go in for a nice touch.

Best way to make ranch is when you have about a cup of mayo in the jar, toss in the seasonings, splash of cider vinegar and parsley, top with buttermilk, lid up and shake!
There is no comparison between real and bottled dressing, just like most homemade food , you taste the effort!

Make, make! You've put a more labor intensive (and as others have noted, expensive) version of dressing than I'd usually make. Nothing could be easier: dijon, red wine vinegar, olive oil, shake in a jar; balsamic, olive oil, shake in a jar; some kind of citrus juice, olive oil, shake in a jar. Takes so little time, and doesn't contain any of the nasty tasting chemicals almost all bottled dressings contain. Or, do as the French, and just put some oil and vinegar in the bottom of the salad bowl stir with fork, and add in greens. It takes no more time than actually tossing the salad together would....

I don't make home made to save money, it's all about the taste. Also when I have my parents over for dinner, just makes the salad something special to see something homemade in a mason jar or cruet.

I love the recipes in the California Pizza Kitchen cookbooks, I make the gorgonzola/basil/EVOO all the time.

Almost make my own with a little shallot/garlic/onion, dijon, vinegar of choice and extra virgin olive oil. But I do keep a bottle or two on hand; usually Annie's Goddess, the cilantro dressing from TJs, or whats in my pantry right now: Brianna's blue cheese. I have zero issue with using bottled dressings although it is rare.

While we don't make ranch dressing (not a big fan) we make all our own dressings, usually enough to last about 4-5 days. They are fresher, take up less room, and have fewer additives; I would guess they are cheaper, but then again we never make enough at one time to fill a bottle. I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would buy salad dressing since it is so easy to make even on a one off basis.

I make a dijon vinaigrette that's my favorite, but sometimes I just want some Annie's goddess dressing or some ranch. If I made ranch, I'd eat it all the time -- not necessary.

I am a homemade vinaigrette girl all the way! They are so easy and much cheaper than bottles. If I want something a little creamier I just add some dijon.
I made a cute graphic on my blog called the "Little Basic Vinaigrette or LBV". It takes a fun fashion approach to creating vinaigrettes at home. You too can use it to have the best dressed salad at your house:)

http://katesentertainingideas.blogspot.com/2011/07/best-dressed.html

I go both ways - I cheat and keep a bottle of newman's in the fridge but it's used mostly when I either really don't have time or the spouse's having a salad without me. The rest of the time it's a vinaigrette done with the hand blender. I just started trying to make creamy dressings with yogurt and mayo together.

Make! I grew up in a family where we always bought bottled dressing, so it was quite the revelation the first time I made vinaigrette. Love controlling what's in my dressing and not having the clutter of bottles in the fridge.

Buy. I cook for two and I don't use dressings often and my husband likes his salads plain. I would never be able to use it all in a two week time frame. Maybe I'll try it next time I'm making a ranch based pizza or something that requires a lot of it.

I don't think I've ever eaten bottled dressing. I like making my own - balsamic, apple cider vinegar to keep it from being too sweet, olive oil, pesto, bit of yellow mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, shake it in a peanut butter jar, om nom nom. Also fabulous for dipping bread in.

Garlic and onion powder?
What is that?
Don't you use fresh onions and garlic?
That is weird.

To save money on scallions - use the green tops then either place white bottoms in a glass with water or plant in dirt. The green tops regrow and you have free scallions.

@Merete, I can't tell if your questions about garlic and onion powder are sincere or if you simply forgot your manners.

I don't know Shiyaya's reasons for using garlic and onion powder instead of fresh, but can say why I use the powders on occasion. Sometimes, I want to make salad dressing and discover that I don't have any (or enough) fresh onion or garlic. Or, for a particular salad, I might want a vinaigrette without the texture of chopped stuff in it (I supposed I could use fresh, then strain it, but well...). Or it's 6 am and I'm putting lunches together and lack the time or inclination to deal with fresh garlic and onions. Plus, I've found that dressing made with the powders stays fresh a little longer, which is important when I make a jar of dressing for my two person household. I will often avoid adding fresh herbs for the same reason - and will add them separately when I compose the salad, just as I often add fresh onion to the salad itself.

Like sberry, I buy because the hubby and I don't use dressing fast enough. I'd rather not have to throw it away every couple of weeks.

For me it's nearly always "make" but I do keep a bottle of ranch around in a cabinet since it's rarely used but sometimes wanted. I like making ranch but always end up throwing a lot away so unless it's an occasion and enough eaters I just can't do it. I also occasionally buy a specialty flavor bottle of something for myself for when my husband isn't around. The kind of thing that I don't want every day but like the ranch, don't want to make and throw out.