Why buy when you can make?

So yesterday, I got bitten by the baking bug again. Photos here . I have the worlds easiest pie crust recipe. To make that strawberry pie, it took a grand total of 45 min of work (not including cooling/setting of pie in the fridge). You read that right, 45 min. And only about 20 of that was pie crust (and most of that 20 min was baking time). So why would anyone buy a frozen pie crust? Do you have to thaw them, because if you did it would probably take as long as it does to make the crust. For the record, I'm the type of baker that considers using an un-doctored mix or those pillsbury cookies in a roll cheating. About the only prepared baking type thing I use on a semi-regular basis is frozen puff pastry dough (but that takes special machines to make and pretty much the only people that make their own are commercial bakers).

BTW, pie beans are beans that I use to weigh down the pie crust while it's baking without a filling. They sell pie weights but I don't see why you'd spend the money on them when a 79 cent package of navy beans does the trick (just put them in a bag labeled pie beans and remember not to eat them).

Edited 8/24/07 to correct image links