Nanomaterials may permit innovative solutions to critical problems now faced by the developing world. High quality magnetic oxides, for example, when formed of nanoscale dimension are platforms for water purification in areas with no electrical power; quantum dots are promising components in battery operated diagnostic health kits; titanium dioxide allows farmers to use sunlight to treat agricultural run-off. In order for these examples to become sustainable solutions, however, requires a new approach to the manufacture and distribution of their key components. Particularly for water purification, where the application of nanomaterials requires no complex devices, material generation could occur on site in small businesses or possibly even households. In this talk, we present a scheme for generating metal oxide nanocrystals that relies on everyday items and simple tools of the type found in restaurants. The methods takes advantage of the unique particle growth mechanism found in metal salt decomposition in fatty acid mixtures; surprisingly high quality materials can be generated. The unique nanoscale properties of the resulting nanocrystals permit for the easy separation and confirmation of material quality. These methods have been further refined for these unusual manufacturing settings using open source techniques pioneered by computer scientists.