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Stop Buying These Money-Wasters: 7 Fast and Fool-Proof Foods You Can Make at Home

Stop Buying These Money Wasters

The supermarket is ripping you off.

In less time than it takes you to drive to the store, pick up some staple food item, and return home, you could have done all of the prep work to make it yourself – and for a lot less.  Some of these items (like croutons, baby food, and yogurt) may seem mysterious and difficult to create at home, but they are fast and near-foolproof to create in your own kitchen.

As a bonus, yours will probably be tastier than what you could pick up at the store . . . and you will save a ton of money without spending a ton of time.

Here are seven foods that you can make super-fast and easily at home on the cheap.

Read the rest of my recently published blog post on Money Pantry!

Save Time and Money with a Supermarket Pick-Up Service

Save Time and Money with a Supermarket Pick-Up Service

Having someone else do your grocery shopping?  It sounds like a major luxury . . . right?

Instead of spending time alone or with small children in the supermarket, a friendly person takes care of your whole order and even packs it neatly into your car when you arrive to pick it up.

Even if the idea is appealing, you may be reluctant to try out a service that sounds pricey. However, our family actually saves time and money by occasionally using our supermarket’s pick-up service.

Read the rest of my recently-published blog post on Money Saving Mom, one of the largest personal finance blogs and one I’ve been reading for years!

Make It From Scratch: Fancy Granola

Make It From Scratch - Fancy Granola

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

Granola makes for a delicious breakfast, a great snack, and an excellent and crunchy topping to yogurt.  However, it is seriously pricey to buy (and sometimes the store-bought stuff is still tragically dry and crumbly).  Making your own fresh, amazing granola is easier than you think and insanely inexpensive.  Here’s the cost breakdown:

Cost comparison of granola:

  • Store price:                   $0.19/oz. for the generic stuff up to $0.55/oz. for the premium stuff
  • Price of homemade:  $0.11/oz.
  • Savings:                           41% – 80%

[Read more…]

Make It From Scratch: Yogurt

Homemade yogurt

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

Have you ever made your own yogurt?

It’s easier than you think . . . and it can save so much money!
Here’s the breakdown on savings when I look at the cost of a single serving (typically a 5.3-oz. container) of Greek yogurt:

  • Store price (on sale!):  $1.00
  • Price of homemade:     $0.14
  • Savings:                             86%

If you use yogurt as a snack, ingredient in your meals and desserts, or baby food, making your own is such a great way to save a serious amount of cash.   [Read more…]

Quick Tip: Having Cubed Bread Ready to Go

bread freezer bag

Now that you’ve got a homemade croutons addiction, you may be looking for a way to streamline the preparation process.  An excellent way to increase your efficiency in the kitchen here is to cube a big batch of bread, toss the cubes into a freezer bag, and store the bag in the freezer.  Then, when you’re ready to make croutons, just grab the quantity of bread cubes you need from the freezer. [Read more…]

Make It From Scratch: Fool-Proof Croutons

Make It From Scratch Fool-Proof Croutons

You know when you visit a fancy restaurant or even a Panera and you’re eating the real thing — freshly-made croutons.  They are nothing like the tiny, dry, artificial-tasting cubes you pick up in the supermarket.  They are also incredibly easy to make at home — no frying or flipping tiny pieces of bread.  Plus, these croutons are so much cheaper than those grocery-store salad toppers!

[Read more…]

Make It From Scratch: Baby Food

Make It From Scratch Baby Food

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

Baby products come with major sticker shock.  Of the many hefty baby expenses out there, one that really adds up over time is baby food.

When my son started solid foods at four months of age, I was baffled by the fact that a minuscule jar of mashed bananas — on sale! — cost more than a full-sized banana from the produce department.  For standard Gerber fare, my supermarket wanted to charge me, on a good day, $0.50 per portion of Stage 1 foods, $0.60 per portion of Stage 2 foods, and $0.75 per portion of Stage Stage 3 foods.  The Beech-Nut foods usually hovered around twice that price!

There was no way I was willing tho shell out that much money for groceries when a simple solution would allow me to have high-quality baby food for so much less — making my own baby food. [Read more…]

Favorite Products for Banishing Kitchen Chaos: Part 2

This post is part 2 in the series Favorite Products for Banishing Kitchen Chaos.

Favorite Products for Banishing Kitchen Chaos

Check out Part 1 of this series!  Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

Big Containers

Baking is a breeze with these babies.  A bag of flour fits with room enough for a scoop into a single one of these 5.5-quart containers.  They’re great for storing your flours, sugar, rice, and more.  Smaller containers are handy for confectioner’s sugar, coffee, pastas, dry beans, etc.  They’re attractive enough — with a small enough footprint — to leave on the counter. [Read more…]