There is no way to convert the large breadth of items into a sensible amount of more universal crafting materials like many other systems.
Useful ingredients are expensive and/or difficult to find. Even trying to find A SIMPLE EMPTY BOTTLE requires A LOT of time exploring the map. It's really frustrating to see you have spent a lot of hours in the game, you have tons of 'crafting' materials cluttering your inventory, but still you are not capable of crafting 2 or 3 relevant items.