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I agree. And I'm more likely to have these ingredients on hand than I am to have a box of pudding mix (instant or not). I like making chocolate pudding and adding extra cocoa.

mmm... pudding. I'm on a kick to make one dessert per weekend. I think I'll have to make chocolate pudding next week.

How about a post devoted to things that are just about as easy to make from scratch as from a box mix?

My first reaction was to grumble about the impracticality of assembling all the ingredients necessary for homemade pudding, but look at that, I already have 'em all! And if memory serves, I DON'T have an instant pudding box!

I forgot to mention--because this is not instant, I don't do it all the time, which is really good. But it is easily doable, probably as quick as a trip to the store for some ice cream, in case I'm determined to have a treat.

do you have to use whole milk? because I never have that just sitting around the house.

Hanna - whole milk isn't necessary. When I make cream pies (which is really just basically pudding in a crust) I use 1 or 2%, whichever I happen to have.

Wow so basically you are doing exactly the same thing as cook and serve jello---what a revelation. Both instant and cook and serve jello puddings are for the most part a big box of corn starch and sugar---yes there are added thickeners which improve product texture---carageenan, derived from seaweed, not artificial. Now the yellow no.5, well I'm not so picky but if it bothers you then yes make your own. Still, theres not all that much difference between your recipe and the jello box and frankly I think the seaweed really adds a nice consistency that you don't get with homemade. The link is the ingredients for vanilla jello pudding.

http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=product&m=product/Product_display&Site=1&Product=4300020692

Sally, even if the difference in ingredients is minimal, it's always good to cook outside of the Instant Box.

It fine to cook outside the box, what irritates me is the attitude that something must be inferior because it requires less work. The author didn't even bother to check the ingredients before disparaging them. To me this is just snobbery, my olive oil must come from where this year? Oh, Greece really, but what if I like the Italian stuff better?

Ooh, I just made tapioca pudding the other night myself. I, too, was surprised by how easy it was~ I think next time, I'll add almond extract too.

Sally, even if the difference in ingredients is minimal, it's always good to cook outside of the Instant Box.

If the ingredients are essentially the same, why is it preferable to take more time over the project?

I totally see the point of cooking from scratch to get a preferred flavor balance, to have control over ingredients where freshness or type makes a difference, or to adapt to dietary needs. But what puzzles me is the people who advocate cooking from scratch solely for the sake of taking longer over it, because then there's "love" in the mix. At 5 minutes including chilling time for instant pudding, vs. a minimum of 15 minutes of constant stirring for scratch pudding plus chilling time (more if you're making chocolate), you're tripling your time commitment in order to lose the benefit of professionally calibrated and predictable results.

In that same extra 15 minutes, you cook whip up a nice batch of muffins. Or walk your dog. Or hug your kids.

tartrazrine (aka yellow food colouring) is a common allergen and not actually good for you. Plus, cooking from scratch is cheaper.

I, for one, greatly appreciate "diy" recipes to substitute for packaged foods. Not all of us live in locales selling instant foods! Thanks for posting exactly what I was looking for to fill my (preggo) craving for pudding, a comfort food I haven't had since leaving the U.S. almost two years ago. I especially love the suggestions for lemon pudding, an old favorite of mine!

And if anyone else finding this recipe lives in Asia like me, and can't find cornstarch, never fear: we've found that lotus root starch works as a perfect 1-to-1 substitution!

A tip for smoother home-made pudding is to stir very well after chilling. I find that otherwise it goes a bit clumpy, not nice and smooth like the boxed mixes. My recipe is almost identical to this one but does not include butter, I'm not sure if that makes a differece.