The short version: You can sell food from home in every state under a home food law, usually called a cottage food law, but your state decides what you can make, how much you can sell in a year, and whether you can take orders online. Start with 2 or 3 shelf-stable products people already ask you for, like cookies, bread or jam, sign up with your state or county if it requires it, and print a label with your state's exact warning statement. Hot plates and cooked meals need a different permit, which California's opt-in counties and Utah's local health departments issue, while Texas allows some hot or refrigerated food (but no meat, poultry or seafood) after you register. Starting supplies run about $100 to $300 before any state fee, course or insurance, and a part-time vendor who sells about 10 to 42 products a week at $12 takes in roughly $500 to $2,000 a month before costs.
Checked on each agency's and company's own page, September 30, 2026: the cottage food pages of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Utah's home kitchen rule and Davis County's permit page, and the pricing pages of Homegrown, Etsy, Square, Shopify and Venmo. Rules change, so verify your state's current rules before your first sale. Homegrown customers create an account to place their first order, and Homegrown has no drops feature and no price-by-the-pound option.
You already make the food. Friends rave about your salsa. Coworkers fight over your banana bread. Someone at church asked if you sell your jam, and you said "not yet" because you didn't know where to start.
The good news: selling food from home is legal in some form in every state, doesn't require a commercial kitchen for most baked goods and jams, and you can start as early as this weekend. The bad news: most of the advice online assumes you want to build the next big food brand. You don't. You want to sell your stuff to people nearby and get paid for it.
Here's everything you need to know: what you can sell, what's legal in your state, whether you can sell plates of food or hot meals, how to set up your kitchen, where to find customers, how to sell online, how to handle orders, and what you can realistically make. We checked the rules in 5 states (Texas, California, Florida, Minnesota and Utah) on September 30, 2026, so you can see how much they differ before you look up your own.
_Ready to choose where to sell? Our comparison of the best platform to sell food from home lays out the monthly cost and the fee on every order for each option._
You can sell shelf-stable baked goods, jams, honey, candy, granola, and dry mixes from your home kitchen in nearly every state. Every state has some version of a cottage food law, which is the name for the rules that let you make low-risk food at home and sell it to the people who will eat it. What you're allowed to sell depends on where you live, but the general pattern is the same: shelf-stable foods made in a home kitchen, sold directly to the end consumer.
"Shelf-stable" means the food stays safe on a counter without a fridge. Bread, cookies and jam are shelf-stable. Cheesecake, cream pies and chicken salad are not, because bacteria grow fast in them once they warm up.
Products that almost always work under cottage food laws:
Products that usually need a commercial kitchen or a special permit:
The safest starting point: stick with what your state explicitly allows. Most cottage food laws have a clear list of approved products. California's list, for example, is a CDPH document that names "Baked Goods Without Cream, Custard, or Meat Fillings" as its first category and lists dozens of examples. Florida's list on the FDACS cottage food page has 12 lines, from "Loaf breads, rolls, biscuits" to "Popcorn and popcorn balls." If your go-to product is on the list, you're in business.
Start with what people already ask for. If everyone loves your lemon bars, sell lemon bars. If your neighbor keeps asking for more of that strawberry jam, sell the jam. Don't try to launch with 15 products. Pick two or three things you make well and that people already want. Our list of food business ideas you can start from home walks through 20 options with startup costs if you are still choosing.
Yes, selling food from home is legal in every state for at least some foods, but the details change a lot at the state line. Forrager, a site that tracks these laws, scores a home food law for all 50 states in its state-by-state cottage food law directory, which we checked on September 30, 2026. What changes from state to state is the yearly sales cap, whether you have to sign up first, and how your food can reach the customer.
Here is how the 4 cottage food states we checked compare. Every figure comes from the state agency's own page, loaded the same day.
Scroll sideways to compare all four states.
| State | Yearly sales cap | Sign up before selling? | Online orders | Shipping by mail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $150,000 | Food handler training required. Register with DSHS only if you sell foods that need a fridge or hot holding, or to print a number instead of your home address | Allowed if you, an employee or a household member deliver in person, and the label details are posted on your site before you take payment | No. Online orders must be delivered in person |
| California | $88,878 (Class A, direct sales) or $177,756 (Class B, can also sell through shops and restaurants) for 2026 | Yes. Register or get a permit from your county environmental health office, and finish training within 3 months | Allowed. Phone and internet orders count as direct sales | Allowed. CDPH says a direct sale "may be fulfilled in person, via mail delivery, or using any other third-party delivery service" |
| Florida | $250,000 | No state permit needed | Allowed over the internet or by mail order | Allowed by U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier. No wholesale |
| Minnesota | $78,000 | Yes. Take the training and register with the Department of Agriculture. No fee at $7,665 a year or less, $50 above that | Allowed, with the same warning statement posted on your website | No for food people eat, until August 1, 2027, when shipping within Minnesota begins. Pet treats can ship now |
Sources: Texas DSHS cottage food page (SB 541, in force since September 1, 2025), CDPH's cottage food page and its "Adjusted Gross Annual Sales Limit 2026" PDF, Florida Statutes 500.80 and the FDACS cottage food page, and Minnesota's cottage food law guidance from MDA. All loaded September 30, 2026. California re-sets its caps every January for inflation.
Three things jump out of that table:
Since SB 541 took effect on September 1, 2025, the Texas DSHS cottage food page lets a home cook sell "any foods" except meat, poultry, seafood, ice or ice products like ice cream, low-acid canned goods, CBD or THC products, and raw milk. The yearly cap is $150,000, and you must finish a food handler course first. We loaded that page on September 30, 2026.
The legal requirements are much simpler than most people expect: cottage food laws let you sell directly to customers from your home kitchen with a short training course or a simple registration in many states, and nothing at all up front in Florida. The rules were designed specifically to let people like you sell homemade food without jumping through commercial hoops, and getting your labeling requirements right covers most of what an inspector would ever ask about.
What cottage food laws typically require:
What you typically DON'T need:
What some states DO ask for that people miss:
The one thing you need to do right now: Open your state agency's page. In Texas that is the Texas DSHS cottage food production page, which lists the $150,000 cap, the excluded foods and the label statement in one place. Elsewhere, search your state's name plus "cottage food law" (for example, "Ohio cottage food law"), open the state agency's own page (it ends in .gov), and read the requirements for your state. Every state is different. Some are very permissive (Texas, for example, allows almost any food except meat, seafood, ice cream and a few others, with a $150,000 cap). Others are more restrictive. Know your state's rules before you start selling.
When you need more than cottage food: If you want to sell products that aren't on your state's approved list, sell to retail stores in states that ban it, ship where your state does not allow shipping, or go past your sales cap, you'll need a licensed kitchen. Most people in that spot rent hours in a shared commercial kitchen before they ever think about building one. But for most home food vendors starting out, cottage food laws cover everything you need.
Sales caps move. California raises both of its caps every January for inflation (Class A went from $75,000 in 2022 to $88,878 in 2026), Texas raised its cap to $150,000 on September 1, 2025, and Minnesota's fee and shipping rules change on August 1, 2027. Before you plan a year of sales, look up your state's current figure on the agency's own page, and check it again each January.
Of the 5 states we checked, 3 let you sell plates of food or hot meals from home, and each one asks for a permit or registration first. California counties that opt in and Utah's local health departments issue these permits, and Texas allows hot or refrigerated food (but not meat) from a registered cottage food home. Of the 5 states in this guide, Florida and Minnesota had no route for selling plates from home.
Plates are different because cooked meals spoil fast. A plate of rice, beans and enchiladas left at room temperature can grow enough bacteria to make someone sick within hours, so states that allow them add rules: California and Utah require a local permit, California caps meals at 30 a day and 90 a week, and Texas requires registration and strict hot and cold holding temperatures.
Swipe sideways to see the limits for each state.
| State | Can you sell plates or hot meals from home? | What you need | Main limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Yes, only where your city or county has opted in | A Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) permit from your local environmental health agency | 30 meals a day, 90 a week, and $110,442 in yearly sales for 2026. Food is made and served the same day. No making cheese, ice cream or other dairy products |
| Utah | Yes, with a local permit | A microenterprise home kitchen permit from your local health department. Davis County charges $300 a year and inspects before you open | No eating at your home. Customers pick up or you deliver straight to them. Hot or cold foods are made and served the same day. No sales to stores or wholesalers |
| Texas | Some, under cottage food rules | Register with DSHS to sell foods that need temperature control | No meat, poultry or seafood. Hot food delivered at 135°F or above, cold food at 41°F or below, with the date made and a safe handling statement on the label |
| Florida | No | A permitted commercial kitchen | Cottage food covers the 12-line list of shelf-stable foods only |
| Minnesota | No | A food license and an approved kitchen | Cottage food covers foods that don't need a fridge plus acidic canned goods. Meat and dairy need a license |
Sources: CDPH's Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations page and its 2026 sales limit PDF, California Health and Safety Code 113825, Utah Administrative Code R392-106-5, Davis County Health Department's home kitchen permit page, the Texas DSHS cottage food page, Florida Statutes 500.80 and MDA's Minnesota guidance. All loaded September 30, 2026.
In California, start with CDPH's Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations page, which links the list of local opt-in ordinances and the PDF with the 2026 sales limit of $110,442. If you want to cook full meals anywhere, our explainer on MEHKO laws for selling cooked meals from home covers county permit fees and what an inspection looks like. If your state is not on the list, the usual path is renting time in a licensed commercial kitchen and getting a food service permit there.
California's state law allows home kitchen restaurants, but CDPH says a MEHKO "will not be able to be issued a health permit to operate" until your own city or county authorizes them. Living in California is not enough. Call your county environmental health office and ask whether your city or county has opted in before you print a single menu.
Pizza and ice cream usually fall outside basic cottage food rules because cheese and dairy need temperature control. Here is how the 5 states we checked handle them:
We did not check Utah's frozen dessert rules. If ice cream is your product, plan on a licensed kitchen and ask your state's dairy or food program which license applies.
You do not need to renovate your kitchen: keep it clean, follow your state's cottage food guidelines, and set up for consistent batch production. Most of the work is in how you package and label, not in new equipment.
What following the rules means at home: Follow your state's cottage food guidelines. In most states, this means a clean kitchen with proper handwashing, safe food storage, and no pets in the kitchen during production. It's not a commercial inspection. It's basic food safety practice you probably already follow, and Texas posts handwashing posters and a safe temperature sheet on its cottage food page.
Packaging and labeling basics: Most states require your products to include:
That last line trips people up, because every state words it differently and some set the type size. Here is the exact wording in Texas, California, Florida and Minnesota:
Slide the table sideways to read each statement in full.
| State | Statement that must be on the label | Other label details |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION." | Address or DSHS number, allergens, the date made and a 12-point safe handling statement (on the label or a receipt) for foods that need temperature control, and a batch number on pickled or fermented products |
| California | "Made in a Home Kitchen" in 12-point type on the front panel | Registration or permit number and the county that issued it, your name, city and zip code, and net quantity in both pounds or ounces and grams |
| Florida | "Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations." | At least 10-point type, net weight or volume, ingredients by weight |
| Minnesota | "These products are homemade and not subject to state inspection" | Date made, registration number or address, allergens. A QR code cannot replace any of it |
Sources: Texas DSHS cottage food page, CDPH's "Cottage Food Labeling Requirements" PDF, Florida Statutes 500.80(3)(g), and the Minnesota label list in MDA's Q&A, all loaded September 30, 2026.
Labels don't need to be fancy. A printed label from your home printer works fine when you're starting out. You can upgrade to professional labels once you're selling consistently.
Batch production tips: The biggest difference between cooking for fun and cooking to sell is consistency and efficiency. A few things that help:
Working within home constraints: You're sharing this kitchen with your family. That's fine. Most home food vendors produce in focused blocks: a few hours on a weekday evening or a full morning on Friday. You don't need a dedicated production space. You need a schedule that works around your life.
Close your order window 36 to 48 hours before pickup. For a Saturday 10 a.m. pickup, a Thursday 8 p.m. cutoff gives you Friday morning to shop for exactly what was ordered and Friday afternoon to bake, with no Saturday-morning surprise orders.
Start with people you already know, then expand to farmers markets, social media, and an online ordering link. You don't need to figure out all your sales channels at once. Start with the easiest path and add more as you find your rhythm.
Start with who you know. Your first 10 to 20 customers are already in your life. Friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, church members, parents from your kids' school. These people already know your food is good. They just need to know they can buy it and how to order. Tell them what you're selling, what it costs, and when they can get it.
Farmers markets are the best discovery channel. Once you're ready to sell beyond your personal network, a farmers market puts your products in front of dozens or hundreds of potential customers every week. Booth fees typically run $20 to $50 per market day, the range our guide on how to become a farmers market vendor found across six real 2026 market applications, and five of those six required $1,000,000 in liability coverage. You show up, set up a table, and sell directly to people. Markets are also the fastest way to learn what sells, what pricing works, and what customers want more of. Our guide on how to sell at a farmers market covers what to bring and how to run your first market day.
Social media is a marketing tool, not an ordering system. Post photos of what you're making on Instagram. Share your market schedule on Facebook. Join local food groups. Baked goods and homemade food photograph well, and people love supporting local vendors. But don't try to run your ordering through DMs, because that breaks fast. Use social media to attract customers, then send them somewhere to actually order and pay.
An online storefront brings it all together. A simple online ordering link fixes the DM problem. Customers see what you're selling, place an order, and pay, all without texting you back and forth. You share one link everywhere: text it to regulars, post it on Instagram, hand it out at the market.
Other places home food vendors find customers, where your state allows it (Minnesota allows cottage food sales only from your home, a farmers market or a community event):
You sell food online from home by putting your menu on an ordering page that takes payment, then handing the food over the way your state allows: pickup, your own delivery, or the mail. Texas, California, Florida and Minnesota all allow online orders, but only California and Florida allow cottage food to go out by mail. For a step-by-step setup, our guide on how to sell food online as a local vendor goes deeper on platforms and pickup.
Here is the order that keeps you inside the rules:
Can you sell food online without a license? In Florida, yes: no state permit is needed for cottage food sold online or by mail. In Texas you need no license, but you must finish a food handler course, and you register only for foods that need temperature control. In California you register (Class A) or get a permit (Class B) with your county environmental health office, and in Minnesota you register with the Department of Agriculture, before your first sale, online or not. A registration is not a license in the restaurant sense, but skipping it can shut you down.
Etsy's Payments Policy, checked September 30, 2026, says that by using Etsy Payments you "agree to ship sold items once a payment transaction is complete." Etsy is built for shipping. If you live in Texas or Minnesota, where cottage food bought online has to be handed over in person, a shipping marketplace is the wrong tool for your food, even if Etsy would let you list it.
Set up one shareable ordering link so customers order and pay on their own schedule, and you get a clean order list and money in your bank. This is where most home food vendors hit a wall: not in making the food, but in managing orders.
Here's what happens: someone at the market says they want to order next week. They text you Wednesday. Another person DMs you on Instagram. A coworker sends an email. Your neighbor catches you in the driveway. Now you have orders coming from four different places, no clear record of who's paid, and you're trying to figure out how much to make while juggling your day job and getting kids to school.
The DM juggle is what burns home food vendors out. Not the baking. Not the legal stuff. The constant back-and-forth of managing orders through personal messages.
What you actually need is one link. A single URL where customers go to see what you're selling, choose what they want, pick a time to get it, and pay. That's the entire system. The question is which tool gives you that link without costing more than you make.
Google Forms + Venmo costs nothing per month but is entirely manual. You build a form, share it, then match Venmo payments to form responses yourself. Venmo charges 1.9% + $0.10 on payments to a business profile, and 2.99% when a buyer marks a payment to a personal account as goods and services. It works for your first five orders. By order fifteen, you're spending more time tracking payments than baking.
Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee, and 3% + $0.25 payment processing on each US sale, and a one-time shop set-up fee may apply. Etsy also charges an Offsite Ads fee on orders its outside ads bring in: 15% for shops under $10,000 in yearly sales, which can opt out, and 12% with no opt-out once a shop passes $10,000. On a $40 cookie order, that adds up to about $4.25 ($0.20 + $2.60 + $1.45), and Etsy owns the customer relationship, not you. Etsy also expects you to ship, which Texas and Minnesota do not allow for cottage food bought online.
Square Online has a Free plan at $0 a month that charges 3.3% + 30¢ on online card payments. It's built for retail stores and restaurants, so the setup is more than someone selling 30 jars of jam per week from their kitchen needs, and you won't use its inventory or shipping tools.
Shopify Basic costs $29 a month billed yearly or $39 billed monthly, plus 2.9% + 30¢ online card processing, and it adds a 2% fee if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. It is designed for e-commerce businesses shipping products nationwide, which is a different scale than home food sales.
Homegrown is the option built for exactly this problem: getting your weekly orders out of your DMs and into one prepaid list. It costs $10 per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly) with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30, which you pay, with no service fee added to your customer's total (they pay your price plus sales tax, and your delivery fee if you offer delivery). You get:
Setup takes about 15 minutes, with a 7-day trial (no charge until day 8). No website building, no coding, no contracts.
Scroll sideways to see every fee on a $20 order.
| Option | Monthly plan | Trial | Platform or listing fee | Card processing | Customer pays on a $20 order | You pay on a $20 order | You pay in a month of 50 orders at $20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Forms + Venmo business profile | $0 | None needed | None | 1.9% + $0.10 | $20.00 | $0.48 | $24.00, plus your time matching payments |
| Etsy | $0 (one-time set-up fee may apply) | None | $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction | 3% + $0.25 | $20.00 plus any shipping you charge | $2.35 | $117.50 |
| Square Online, Free plan | $0 | None needed | None | 3.3% + 30¢ | $20.00 | $0.96 | $48.00 |
| Shopify Basic | $29 billed yearly ($39 monthly) | 3 days, then $1 a month for 3 months | None with Shopify Payments (2% with another provider) | 2.9% + 30¢ | $20.00 | $0.88 plus the plan | $73.00 ($83.00 on monthly billing) |
| Homegrown | $10 billed annually ($12.50 monthly) | 7 days, no charge until day 8 | None, 0% commission | 2.9% + $0.30, paid by you | $20.00 | $0.88 plus the plan | $54.00 ($56.50 on monthly billing) |
Fees from each company's own pricing or fee page, checked September 30, 2026: Venmo's fee page, Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy and Etsy Payments Policy, Square's pricing page, Shopify's pricing page, and Homegrown's signup page. Etsy's Offsite Ads fee on orders its outside ads bring in (15% for shops under $10,000 a year, 12% with no opt-out above that) is left out of the Etsy row, since it applies only to those orders and shops under $10,000 a year can opt out. Card processing is figured on the $20 price; Etsy charges its processing fee on the full total including tax and shipping, so it runs a few cents higher. Sales tax is left out of every row.
Homegrown does not handle custom orders with back-and-forth quoting, wholesale invoicing, or nationwide shipping. It has no drops or countdown release feature, you can't price by the pound yet, and customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order. It's built for vendors who sell a set menu of products on a regular schedule to local customers, which is exactly what most home food vendors do.
Pre-orders eliminate the biggest risk of selling from home. When customers order and pay ahead of time, you know exactly how much to make. No guessing, no overproduction, no waste. You bake what's ordered, plus a small batch for walk-ups or last-minute requests. If your Saturday orders are still scattered across three apps, set up your Homegrown storefront, add your two or three products with the lead time you need before pickup, and send the link to the regulars who already text you.
Expect to spend about $100 to $300 to make your first sale from home, because the kitchen, the oven and most of the tools are already there. The first four lines in the table below (ingredients, packaging, pans and a booth fee) add up to $95 to $300, which matches the $100 to $300 range in our guide on starting a cottage food business. A state registration fee (up to $50 a year in Minnesota), any required course fee, insurance and any county permit come on top. The money goes to ingredients, packaging, labels and, if you sell at a market, your first booth fee.
Swipe sideways to see the notes for each cost.
| What you buy | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients for your first batches | $50 to $100 | Buy for the orders you have, plus a small extra batch |
| Packaging and labels | $25 to $50 | Bags, boxes or jars, and printable label sheets |
| Extra pans, racks or jars | $0 to $100 | Only if your home kit can't handle a full batch |
| First farmers market booth fee | $20 to $50 per market day | Skip it if you start with pickup orders only |
| State registration | $0 in Florida; $0 or $50 a year in Minnesota, by sales | California counties and Texas's registry set their own steps, so check your state |
| Required food safety course | Set by the course provider | Texas, California and Minnesota require one; Minnesota's course is free if you sell $7,665 a year or less, and has a fee above that |
| Insurance (once you sell regularly) | $400 to $800 a year for a policy bundling general and product liability | Our insurance guide puts general liability alone at $300 to $600 a year and product liability alone at $200 to $500 |
Booth fees come from the six 2026 market applications in our farmers market vendor guide, and insurance ranges from our cottage food insurance guide. State fees come from the Florida and Minnesota agency pages, loaded September 30, 2026. Your county's permit fee, if your state has one, is not included.
A few things you can skip at the start:
A part-time home food vendor who sells at one market per week plus online pre-orders can plan on roughly $500 to $2,000 a month in sales. That is about 10 to 42 products a week at $12, the median starting price of a bakery listing on Homegrown. It is money taken in, not profit: ingredients, packaging and fees come out of it.
Here's what's realistic at different levels. If you are still deciding what to make, our guide on starting a cottage food business walks through the steps for every state.
Part-time (one market per week + online orders): $500 to $2,000 per month in sales. This is a common starting point: you sell at a Saturday market, take pre-orders from regulars during the week, and bake in focused blocks around your schedule.
More dedicated (multiple markets or heavy online ordering): $2,000 to $5,000+ per month. This requires more production time and usually a larger product lineup, but it's still operating from your home kitchen under cottage food laws, as long as you stay under your state's cap.
What a typical week looks like for a part-time home food vendor:
These income levels are planning ranges of $500 to $8,000+ a month in sales, not averages from a survey. The last column shows the weekly volume each range takes at the $12 bakery median, over 4 selling weeks a month.
Slide sideways to see the weekly volume for each level.
| Level | Sales per month | Time per week | Description | Products a week at $12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time | $500 to $2,000 | 12 to 20 hours | One market a week + online pre-orders | About 10 to 42 |
| More dedicated | $2,000 to $5,000+ | 25 to 35 hours | Multiple markets + heavy online ordering | About 42 to 104 |
| Near full-time | $5,000 to $8,000+ | 35 to 45 hours | Shared kitchen, multiple sales channels | About 104 to 167 |
Math: monthly sales divided by 4 weeks, divided by $12. For example, $2,000 ÷ 4 = $500 a week, and $500 ÷ $12 = about 42 products. The $12 median comes from a pull of the Homegrown catalog on September 30, 2026.
Watch the yearly total as you grow. $8,000 a month is $96,000 a year, which is more than Minnesota's $78,000 cap and California's 2026 Class A cap of $88,878. In Minnesota or California's Class A, that means moving production into a licensed kitchen, which is why the near full-time row says "shared kitchen." The Texas ($150,000), Florida ($250,000) and California Class B ($177,756) caps leave more room.
What vendors on Homegrown charge: median starting price by food category
Source: Homegrown catalog data pulled September 30, 2026, 2,768 products from 311 vendors. Grouped by the category each vendor chose; price is each listing's starting price before size options. Number of listings in brackets.
In a pull of the Homegrown catalog on September 30, 2026, 2,768 products were listed by 311 vendors. The 1,402 listings vendors filed under Bakery had a median starting price of $12.00, and the middle half of them sat between $6 and $16. The 299 pantry listings had a median of $10.00, and 54 of them mention jam and 43 mention sauce in the name or description. We grouped products by the category each vendor chose; the jam and sauce counts are pantry listings that use the word in the name or description.
Why pricing matters more than volume. Count your time, not just your groceries. Our baked goods pricing guide works through a batch of 24 cookies that takes 2.5 hours and sells for $96, which is $38 an hour and $48 a dozen. Charge $12 a dozen for the same batch and you earn $24 for 2.5 hours, before you pay for butter. If you underprice, you'll burn out before you build anything sustainable. Your products are handmade, fresh, and local, so price them accordingly. For more on selling cookies, breads and cakes specifically, see our guide on how to sell baked goods.
Your first weekend of selling food from home takes about a week if your state needs no registration: 3 days to read the rules, take any required course and set up, then 3 days to take orders, bake and sell. It takes longer if your state does need registration: Minnesota says a new registration can take up to 30 days to show up, so register a few weeks ahead there. Once the paperwork is done, the first weekend itself is simple. Here is a plan that fits around a day job.
The goal of weekend one is not money. It is to find out whether 10 people will pay for your food at your price, and how long it takes you to make it. Both answers decide whether you scale up or change the menu.
The mistakes that sink new home food vendors are usually fixable: pricing too low, taking orders from too many places, and selling something their state does not allow. None of them have anything to do with how good the food is.
In Texas, California, Florida and Minnesota, selling food from home needs a registration, a short course or nothing at all, not a full food business license. Florida requires no state permit, Texas requires a food handler course (plus DSHS registration to sell food kept hot or cold), California requires a county registration (Class A) or permit (Class B), and Minnesota requires registration, all before your first sale. Your city may separately require a home business license, so call your city clerk. Check your specific state's agency page, since the rules change.
Baked goods are what most home vendors list, because they're easy to produce in batches, travel well, and people buy them on impulse. On Homegrown, vendors filed 1,402 of 2,768 listings under Bakery in a September 30, 2026 catalog pull, more than every other category combined. Pantry goods like jam, honey and sauces come next: vendors filed 299 listings under Pantry goods in the same pull, the second biggest category, and they make easy gifts. The best thing to sell is whatever you already make that people ask for.
You can market your food on social media and even take orders through DMs, as long as your state's cottage food law allows the food and the way you hand it over. Our guide on whether selling food on Facebook is legal found that homemade food is not on the prohibited list in Facebook's Commerce Policies, and it covers the state limits. Taking orders in DMs works for your first handful of customers, but once you have about 10 regulars, managing messages becomes a part-time job. Most home food vendors use social media for marketing and a separate ordering link for orders and payment.
Very little: about $100 to $300 in supplies. That covers ingredients for your first batches ($50 to $100), packaging and labels ($25 to $50), up to $100 in extra pans or jars, and possibly a farmers market booth fee ($20 to $50 a market day). State fees run from $0 in Florida to $50 a year in Minnesota once sales pass $7,665, and California counties set their own registration and permit fees. Texas, California and Minnesota also require a food safety course, and Minnesota's course is free if you sell $7,665 a year or less and has a fee above that. Once you're selling regularly, budget about $400 to $800 a year for a policy that bundles general and product liability, the range in our insurance guide (general liability alone runs about $300 to $600).
None of the 4 cottage food state pages we checked on September 30, 2026 lists insurance as a requirement to sell food from home, but many farmers markets do: five of the six 2026 market applications in our farmers market vendor guide required $1,000,000 in liability coverage. General liability runs about $300 to $600 a year, product liability about $200 to $500, and a policy bundling both about $400 to $800, according to our cottage food insurance guide. Product liability protects you if someone claims your food made them sick.
Yes. Cottage food laws in every state let you make and sell certain shelf-stable foods from your regular home kitchen, with no commercial kitchen required. You need a commercial or shared kitchen if you want to sell foods your state does not allow at home, sell wholesale where your state bans it, or go past your state's sales cap. Hot meals are the exception in a few places: California's opt-in counties and Utah allow them from a permitted home kitchen, and Texas allows hot food without meat, poultry or seafood after you register with DSHS.
Most states require your name, address or registration number, product name, complete ingredient list, allergen information, and a home kitchen statement in the state's exact words, and some add net weight or the date made. In California, for example, the front of the package must say "Made in a Home Kitchen" in 12-point type, and the label must carry your registration or permit number. Labels can be simple printed labels from your home printer when starting out. Check your state's cottage food labeling page for the exact rules.
These six Homegrown guides answer the next question most home food vendors have after reading this one, from the exact rules in your state to the price that makes your time worth it:
Selling food from home doesn't require a commercial kitchen, a business degree, or a Shopify store. It requires a home kitchen, the right labels, your state's sign-up if it has one, and a way for customers to find you and pay you. Most people overthink the starting part. The food is already good. The customers are already asking. The legal boxes are simpler than you expect once you read your own state's page. Start this weekend.
If you do one thing today, open your state agency's cottage food page and check three lines: whether your product is allowed, whether you have to register first, and the exact words your label needs. If the answer to the first is yes and you do not have to register first, you can take your first orders by next Saturday. If you do have to register, do that first; Minnesota says a new registration can take up to 30 days to show up. If it's no, because your product is a plate of food, ice cream or something with meat, look up your state's home kitchen permit or a shared commercial kitchen near you before you spend a dollar on ingredients.
Ready to take orders from home? Set up your Homegrown storefront in about 15 minutes, add your first two or three products with a pickup time, and share the link with the people who already ask for your food.
