Definitely something everyone should try to make. It's not hard and yes, so much better than the store stuff. Slicing was the tricky part with my little one but then my husband bought me a huge, takes up the counter(and 2 to carry,) meat slicer that cuts through it like butter. Whatever thickness we like. Lucked out on finding a scratch and dent that did not affect the performance and took a chunk (LOL) out of the price.