Just in time for the holidays, I am providing a list of homemade versions of some of the most popular foods on the market. If you are on a tight budget this year, these homemade substitutes will save you money (in addition to being much healthier)! Last week I posted Part I which included Bisquick mix substitute, boxed yellow cake mix substitute, cream of chicken soup and a generic cream of... soup substitute. You can see those recipes here.
I have researched many substitute mixes over the years as I looked for new ways to save money. Today, I am posting a few more of my favorites. I have tried all of them and they taste delicious!
Homemade Stove Top Stuffing Mix
6 cups cubed bread (Cut up into small pieces like the boxed brand. I usually use whatever bread I have on hand but it tastes better if you don't mix different types of bread. For example, don't use 3 cups of sourdough bread and 3 cups of oat bread together.)
1 TBS parsley flakes
3 tsp chicken bouillon
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/2 tsp celery seed (or 1/2 cup dehydrated celery)
1 TBS poultry seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground pepper
Bake bread 8 to 10 minutes on a sheet pan. In a large bowl toss bread with remaining ingredients till evenly coated. Store in an airtight container. This will keep for 1 to 4 months or 12 months frozen. Cook just like you would for the prepackaged mix:
To serve four people: Combine 2 cups stuffing mix with 1/2 cup boiling water and 2 TBS melted butter. To serve the entire batch: combine 1 1/2 cups boiling water and 1/3 cup melted butter. This recipe comes from my friend Chef Tess. You can see the original on her blog, here.
Homemade Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 whole vanilla beans (you can substitute 2 tsp to 2 TBS of vanilla powder)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, milk powder and set aside Split open the vanilla beans and use the back of a knife to scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the sugar mixture and whisk well to evenly combine. Use a fork to break up the chunks of vanilla beans, if necessary. Combine 2 cups of milk with 1/2 cup of the mix in a medium saucepan over high heat. Whisk constantly until it boils. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (about 3 to 5 minutes). Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.
If you make your own vanilla flavoring, you will know that vanilla beans can be very expensive! You are not saving money by making this when you purchase whole vanilla beans unless you can get them cheaply. Another good alternative is to use 2 tsp of vanilla powder in place of the vanilla beans. Vanilla powder is a little harder to find but much cheaper. King Arthur Flour sells it. So does Emergency Essentials, you can see their products here and here. One of these cans from Emergency Essentials will last for years! The vanilla powder tastes just as good as the vanilla beans in this recipe! When serving this mix as pudding, I will use 2 TBS of vanilla powder. If using this mix in a cake recipe, I will use 2 tsps. You can see the original recipe here.
Homemade Kool-Aid Concentrate Mix
1/2 cup unsweetened fruit juice
2 tsp honey (you can use a bit more to taste)
Place juice in a saucepan and heat over low heat. Add the honey and stir until dissolved. You can make this a Gatorade substitute mix by adding 1/4 tsp sea salt to the juice/honey mix. Use 2 - 3 tsp per glass of water or use the entire amount with 2 quarts of water. Any leftover concentrate can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. You can see the original recipe here.
If you have kids at home, I bet they will drink a lot of Kool Aid/soda while they are on break from school. Kool Aid (and soda for that matter) is nothing but artificial ingredients. This is a much healthier alternative. It is also much cheaper! Besides, you can make any flavor you like!
Try some of these boxed mix substitutes in your cooking this holiday season! You can make them ahead and store in glass jars if you would like! (I store mine in canning jars.) They sit on my shelf just like the boxed versions would. Once you find out how easy they are to make and use, you won't want to return to the box version again! Take it from me, when you use these boxed mix substitutes, you will save money!
Now, how frugal is that?
Monday, November 25, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Amish Friendship Bread
On Monday of this week I showed you how to make an Amish Friendship Starter. It is a sweet sourdough that can be used to make many different kinds of quick breads, muffins, and even cakes! Today, I thought that I would start with the basic Quick Bread recipe.
You can see the original recipe here. Below I have listed it with the changes I made.
Amish Friendship Bread
2 cups starter
3 eggs
1 cup oil (Next time I make this, I am only going to use 1/2 cup. I have difficulty eating a slice with this much oil in it. I used olive oil.)
1 cup sugar (I really don't think this is necessary! Way too much sugar! I only used 1/2 cup and next time I am going to use 1/3 cup.)
1/2 tsp vanilla (I used 1 tsp. I made my own. You can see how to do that here.)
2 tsps cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (I used 2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp salt (I used a scant 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat made from soft white wheat berries.)
1-2 boxes instant pudding, any flavor (I used one small box of vanilla.)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (Although this is listed as optional, I think you should add nuts. I made one batch with nuts and one without. The nuts win! I used walnuts.)
In a separate bowl mix:
1/2 cup sugar (Again, this is too much sugar! You will only waste it if you use 1/2 cup. A more appropriate amount is 1/3 - 1/4 cup.)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
I started with the batter. I added each ingredient to the mixing bowl and then whisked it in before I added the next. I went right down the recipe and added them in the order listed. Here is what mine looked liked when I finished. The picture is of the batter without the nuts.
Next, grease the loaf pans. You will need two. I greased mine with Pam olive oil spray. Then, take some of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and lightly dust the pans. Here is what mine looked like.
Pour in the batter. Fill the pans about 1/2 full. You can sprinkle the rest of the topping on the batter before you bake it. Here is mine.
Let me add here that I think the topping isn't necessary. The second batch (the one I made with the nuts) did not have topping. Personally, I like it better without the topping. I did dust the pans with the sugar/cinnamon mixture for both batches. I didn't need to make up any more for the second batch. The 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon dusted all four pans and I still had enough for the topping you see in this picture.
Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. I wanted to use my Sun Oven because the sun was quite bright the day I made these. However, it was very blustery! So much so that it reminded me of the children's book Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. With that much wind, the reflective panels can act like a sail and will tip the oven over! I learned this the hard way. Then you have an awful mess to clean up off the oven and the patio! I opted for the kitchen oven. Mine needed to bake about 70 minutes. Here is what they will look like when done.
In this picture I have one pan from the first batch and both pans from the second batch. I used smaller pans for the second batch and had some left over so I used muffin tins for the remaining batter.
The quick bread is quite tasty! I am making a second batch of starter and with it I am going to bake double chocolate chip cupcakes and pumpkin bread!
You can see the original recipe here. Below I have listed it with the changes I made.
Amish Friendship Bread
2 cups starter
3 eggs
1 cup oil (Next time I make this, I am only going to use 1/2 cup. I have difficulty eating a slice with this much oil in it. I used olive oil.)
1 cup sugar (I really don't think this is necessary! Way too much sugar! I only used 1/2 cup and next time I am going to use 1/3 cup.)
1/2 tsp vanilla (I used 1 tsp. I made my own. You can see how to do that here.)
2 tsps cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (I used 2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp salt (I used a scant 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat made from soft white wheat berries.)
1-2 boxes instant pudding, any flavor (I used one small box of vanilla.)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (Although this is listed as optional, I think you should add nuts. I made one batch with nuts and one without. The nuts win! I used walnuts.)
In a separate bowl mix:
1/2 cup sugar (Again, this is too much sugar! You will only waste it if you use 1/2 cup. A more appropriate amount is 1/3 - 1/4 cup.)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
I started with the batter. I added each ingredient to the mixing bowl and then whisked it in before I added the next. I went right down the recipe and added them in the order listed. Here is what mine looked liked when I finished. The picture is of the batter without the nuts.
Next, grease the loaf pans. You will need two. I greased mine with Pam olive oil spray. Then, take some of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and lightly dust the pans. Here is what mine looked like.
Pour in the batter. Fill the pans about 1/2 full. You can sprinkle the rest of the topping on the batter before you bake it. Here is mine.
Let me add here that I think the topping isn't necessary. The second batch (the one I made with the nuts) did not have topping. Personally, I like it better without the topping. I did dust the pans with the sugar/cinnamon mixture for both batches. I didn't need to make up any more for the second batch. The 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon dusted all four pans and I still had enough for the topping you see in this picture.
Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. I wanted to use my Sun Oven because the sun was quite bright the day I made these. However, it was very blustery! So much so that it reminded me of the children's book Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. With that much wind, the reflective panels can act like a sail and will tip the oven over! I learned this the hard way. Then you have an awful mess to clean up off the oven and the patio! I opted for the kitchen oven. Mine needed to bake about 70 minutes. Here is what they will look like when done.
In this picture I have one pan from the first batch and both pans from the second batch. I used smaller pans for the second batch and had some left over so I used muffin tins for the remaining batter.
The quick bread is quite tasty! I am making a second batch of starter and with it I am going to bake double chocolate chip cupcakes and pumpkin bread!
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Frugal Holiday Baking, Part I
If you are on a tight budget this holiday season, (And who isn't? The cost of food keeps going up!) you can still bake up all your special treats without it costing a fortune! The key is to stay away from boxed products. You can make many of them yourself for much less! In addition, the boxed versions all include artificial ingredients to keep the product fresh. Artificial ingredients aren't healthy and you can avoid them when you make these products yourself. Here are a few to start you off:
Homemade Bisquick Mix:
6 cups all purpose flour
3 TBS baking powder
1 TBS salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to four months. Use whenever your recipe calls for Bisquick mix. You can see the original recipe here.
Homemade Yellow Box Cake Mix
4 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 TBS baking power
1 TBS salt
1 cup shortening (or butter)
1 TBS vanilla (I make my own, you can see how to do that here.)
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt at least once to remove lumps. Combine shortening with dry ingredients until it resembles fine crumbs. You can use a pastry blender or a Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment. Use in place of a box of yellow cake mix. While there are lots of homemade substitutes for a box of cake mix on the Internet, I don't think any of them are as good as this one! This one came from my friend Chef Tess, you can see the original recipe here.
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I make my own. You can see how to do that here.)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
1 TBS seasoning mix (You can use what ever you like here or try this one: 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp parsley.)
Combine the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup of milk. Whisk until smooth and thick. Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking until it simmers. Continue to simmer and stir until the mixture is smooth and thick, about 5 - 10 minutes. This makes the equivalent of 2 cans of condensed soup. You can see the original recipe here.
While this canned soup substitute seems like a lot of work, here is another one that isn't.
Homemade Condensed Soup Mix Recipe #2
2 cups powdered milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 TBS minced onion (dried)
1/4 cup chicken bullion
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
Use 1/3 cup of the mix and whisk with 1 1/4 cups of water. Cook and stir until thickened. Use in place of a can of condensed soup. This recipe is in my food storage handbook that I created years ago. I didn't note the source! I copied it from somewhere because it is in my handwriting. My apologies to the author/creator!
I have additional recipes for homemade versions of vanilla pudding, stove top stuffing mix, and a few others. I will post those next week in Part II!
If you like this post, you may also like:
Homemade Bisquick Mix:
6 cups all purpose flour
3 TBS baking powder
1 TBS salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to four months. Use whenever your recipe calls for Bisquick mix. You can see the original recipe here.
Homemade Yellow Box Cake Mix
4 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 TBS baking power
1 TBS salt
1 cup shortening (or butter)
1 TBS vanilla (I make my own, you can see how to do that here.)
Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt at least once to remove lumps. Combine shortening with dry ingredients until it resembles fine crumbs. You can use a pastry blender or a Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment. Use in place of a box of yellow cake mix. While there are lots of homemade substitutes for a box of cake mix on the Internet, I don't think any of them are as good as this one! This one came from my friend Chef Tess, you can see the original recipe here.
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I make my own. You can see how to do that here.)
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
1 TBS seasoning mix (You can use what ever you like here or try this one: 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp parsley.)
Combine the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup of milk. Whisk until smooth and thick. Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking until it simmers. Continue to simmer and stir until the mixture is smooth and thick, about 5 - 10 minutes. This makes the equivalent of 2 cans of condensed soup. You can see the original recipe here.
While this canned soup substitute seems like a lot of work, here is another one that isn't.
Homemade Condensed Soup Mix Recipe #2
2 cups powdered milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 TBS minced onion (dried)
1/4 cup chicken bullion
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
Use 1/3 cup of the mix and whisk with 1 1/4 cups of water. Cook and stir until thickened. Use in place of a can of condensed soup. This recipe is in my food storage handbook that I created years ago. I didn't note the source! I copied it from somewhere because it is in my handwriting. My apologies to the author/creator!
I have additional recipes for homemade versions of vanilla pudding, stove top stuffing mix, and a few others. I will post those next week in Part II!
If you like this post, you may also like:
Monday, November 18, 2013
Making Your Own Sourdough (Friendship) Starter
I really like the idea of making my own sourdough starter. The problem I have with starters is the need to continuously feed them. When you know how to make your own starter, you can create it on demand and not be burdened with continuous feeding.
If you use your sourdough starter in place of packaged yeast all year round, then it would be worth it to continuously feed and care for your starter. But for people like me who only use sourdough starter on occasion, it is a waste of flour (and money) to continuously feed it. It is much more useful to learn how to make it yourself when you want to use it. I have previously posted about how to make sourdough starter for bread. You can see that here.
Today's post is about how to make a friendship starter. Friendship starter is a sweet sourdough starter and used for quick breads, cakes, muffins and other types of sweet breads. You can see many kinds of recipes that use a friendship starter here. (It is also called Amish Friendship starter.)
Here is how you make it:
Just like all starters, you can not use any metal containers or tools with a friendship starter. Wood or plastic tools with a glass, plastic or ceramic jar are best. This is what I am using.
I got the container as a gift. It is from the King Arthur Flour company. It is specifically designed to hold sourdough starters. The key to the container you choose for your starter, is to make sure it has a loose cover. You want air to get in, and bugs to stay out.
Day 1:
Place in the container:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
If you search the Internet, you can find friendship starter recipes that include instant yeast. Just as when making a regular sourdough starter, if you add the yeast, your starter may be ready a little bit faster - but it really isn't necessary to add it. For my starter, I did not add any yeast.
Also, I used fresh milk and white all purpose flour from the store. While using fresh ingredients from the store isn't really 'cooking with food storage', after I use this starter in a recipe, I am going to feed it with powdered milk and whole wheat flour.
Stir the mixture well. Mine got all bubbly right away!
Day 2, Day 3, Day 4:
Stir the starter well.
Day 5:
Add to the starter:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
Stir well.
Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9:
Stir the starter well.
Day 10:
Stir the starter well and add:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
You starter is now ready to use. Save one cup of starter (to start the 10-day process over again) and use the rest in your recipes! You will probably have a cup or two left over to give away to friends, if you would like. (Maybe that is why it is called a friendship starter?)
Here is a picture of mine before I added the new ingredients on day 10.
Personally, I think this starter tastes better than regular sourdough. It may be because it is sweeter, the sweetness seems to help take away a strong sour flavor. I have use this starter before, in the basic Amish quick bread recipe. Although it has been a long while since I made one, I recall that it had a wonderful flavor! I am looking forward to making it again!
I will post my results with that recipe soon!
If you use your sourdough starter in place of packaged yeast all year round, then it would be worth it to continuously feed and care for your starter. But for people like me who only use sourdough starter on occasion, it is a waste of flour (and money) to continuously feed it. It is much more useful to learn how to make it yourself when you want to use it. I have previously posted about how to make sourdough starter for bread. You can see that here.
Today's post is about how to make a friendship starter. Friendship starter is a sweet sourdough starter and used for quick breads, cakes, muffins and other types of sweet breads. You can see many kinds of recipes that use a friendship starter here. (It is also called Amish Friendship starter.)
Here is how you make it:
Just like all starters, you can not use any metal containers or tools with a friendship starter. Wood or plastic tools with a glass, plastic or ceramic jar are best. This is what I am using.
I got the container as a gift. It is from the King Arthur Flour company. It is specifically designed to hold sourdough starters. The key to the container you choose for your starter, is to make sure it has a loose cover. You want air to get in, and bugs to stay out.
Day 1:
Place in the container:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
If you search the Internet, you can find friendship starter recipes that include instant yeast. Just as when making a regular sourdough starter, if you add the yeast, your starter may be ready a little bit faster - but it really isn't necessary to add it. For my starter, I did not add any yeast.
Also, I used fresh milk and white all purpose flour from the store. While using fresh ingredients from the store isn't really 'cooking with food storage', after I use this starter in a recipe, I am going to feed it with powdered milk and whole wheat flour.
Stir the mixture well. Mine got all bubbly right away!
Day 2, Day 3, Day 4:
Stir the starter well.
Day 5:
Add to the starter:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
Stir well.
Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9:
Stir the starter well.
Day 10:
Stir the starter well and add:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
You starter is now ready to use. Save one cup of starter (to start the 10-day process over again) and use the rest in your recipes! You will probably have a cup or two left over to give away to friends, if you would like. (Maybe that is why it is called a friendship starter?)
Here is a picture of mine before I added the new ingredients on day 10.
Personally, I think this starter tastes better than regular sourdough. It may be because it is sweeter, the sweetness seems to help take away a strong sour flavor. I have use this starter before, in the basic Amish quick bread recipe. Although it has been a long while since I made one, I recall that it had a wonderful flavor! I am looking forward to making it again!
I will post my results with that recipe soon!
Friday, November 15, 2013
Disassembling the Rain Water Collection System for Winter
One of the reasons I wanted a temporary rainwater collection system is because I don't need it all year round. I want the 'regular' gutters to work if it rains in the winter and early spring. So, a temporary system is more convenient for me because it is so flexible. I can change the location of the rain barrels if need be, or I can omit using them for a year if I decide I want to take a break from gardening. I am really pleased that my rainwater collection solution does just that!
I detached the rain barrels and downspout last week and it was a breeze to do. If you recall, here is what I set up for the summer.
I disconnected the barrels first. I drained out the water (into the garden) and then cleaned them. I used a long handle brush and cleaned both the inside of the barrel and the outside. They cleaned up easily. When they were dry, they went into the garage for the winter.
I knew it would be a few days before I could get back outside to remove the temporary downspout. So in case of rain, I set up this system. It ended up not raining at all so it really wasn't needed.
Taking down the temporary downspout and replacing the original piece could not have been easier! It didn't take more than 15 minutes! I cut off the plastic straps that held the temporary downspout to the original and removed the screw holding it to the gutter on the house.
Then, I put the original piece back on (I stored that in the garage for the summer). All the pieces were a bit cold - it was chilly outside. I had to fiddle with them a bit to get them to fit correctly. I think that was because when I took them apart, it was hot outside. They were probably a bit more flexible because of the heat. Anyway, it wasn't that hard to put back together and few minutes later, everything was done!
I think I am going to leave the blocks where they are for the winter. I don't see any reason to store them in the garage. Overall, I have to say I was really pleased with my collection of rain water this year. It saved a lot of money on our water bill this summer! The barrels paid for themselves before the summer was over!
Next year, I am going to purchase a plain barrel and connect my own faucet. (I am on the look out for some barrels now.) That will be much cheaper than paying retail price for ready made rain barrels! I would like at least two more barrels for next year's garden.
My goal is to reduce my water bill even more next year. That will go a long way to helping us meet our goal of living a frugal life!
If you like this post, you may also like:
I detached the rain barrels and downspout last week and it was a breeze to do. If you recall, here is what I set up for the summer.
I disconnected the barrels first. I drained out the water (into the garden) and then cleaned them. I used a long handle brush and cleaned both the inside of the barrel and the outside. They cleaned up easily. When they were dry, they went into the garage for the winter.
I knew it would be a few days before I could get back outside to remove the temporary downspout. So in case of rain, I set up this system. It ended up not raining at all so it really wasn't needed.
Taking down the temporary downspout and replacing the original piece could not have been easier! It didn't take more than 15 minutes! I cut off the plastic straps that held the temporary downspout to the original and removed the screw holding it to the gutter on the house.
Then, I put the original piece back on (I stored that in the garage for the summer). All the pieces were a bit cold - it was chilly outside. I had to fiddle with them a bit to get them to fit correctly. I think that was because when I took them apart, it was hot outside. They were probably a bit more flexible because of the heat. Anyway, it wasn't that hard to put back together and few minutes later, everything was done!
I think I am going to leave the blocks where they are for the winter. I don't see any reason to store them in the garage. Overall, I have to say I was really pleased with my collection of rain water this year. It saved a lot of money on our water bill this summer! The barrels paid for themselves before the summer was over!
Next year, I am going to purchase a plain barrel and connect my own faucet. (I am on the look out for some barrels now.) That will be much cheaper than paying retail price for ready made rain barrels! I would like at least two more barrels for next year's garden.
My goal is to reduce my water bill even more next year. That will go a long way to helping us meet our goal of living a frugal life!
If you like this post, you may also like:
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