I recently read an article about things we can make from scratch to help us save money at the grocery store in light of the high prices. I realize not everyone has the time or space to grow food, but I thought whoever wrote the list could surely do better. It made me think about the things we make from scratch that save us money that you don’t need a garden to make. I thought I might share my list because, not only does making these things save us money, it also gives us food that tastes so much better than what you get from the grocery store. It also helps us cut down on our plastic consumption. And, truly, the more we learn about the plastics, the more we can see that they are bad for both the planet and our bodies.
I hope you find my list helpful and delicious. If you do, please share it with others.
1. Vanilla
Vanilla was one of the first ingredients I use a lot to get really expensive due to climate change. The areas where vanilla beans are grown began to be impacted by climate change years ago, and I remember watching the price of vanilla just rise and rise. I bake a lot and love vanilla, so I was so thankful to learn how to make my own vanilla. The price of vanilla right now is $7-$10 for 2 ounces, and I am able to make it for $2-$3 for 2 ounces.
And that’s just on the original bottle. You can re-use vanilla beans several times. I keep two bottles going because the one down side of making vanilla is that it does take some time. But once you get some vanilla going, you will have vanilla for a long time. Plus, you can get really pretty bottles, which are a treasure.
To make homemade vanilla, purchase 5 good quality vanilla beans per bottle of vanilla. Slice the beans and scrape out the insides. The insides can be used to make vanilla sugar or other treats, but that’s another post. Anyway, just put in the scraped beans and fill your bottle with alcohol (I used vodka). From there, it will have to sit about six months at least before it is ready to use. Just keep it in a cool, dark space and give it a shake a couple of times a week while it is “making.” Don’t forget to give it those shakes!
2. Chocolate Syrup
Both my children were always big chocolate milk drinkers, and my teen son now makes peanut butter and banana smoothies quite often. He likes to add some chocolate to the mix, but bottles of low-ingredient chocolate syrup was costing us $5 for a small bottle–and it wasn’t even organic. Plus, the plastic bottles going into the trash were heartbreaking to me. When I learned that the plastic used for most chocolate syrup bottles was one of the worst for releasing chemicals, I knew I had to figure out how to make my own. I can’t believe it took me so long to make it because it’s so easy and so inexpensive–and I use organic cocoa powder, which does cost a bit more.
To make homemade chocolate syrup, just add 1 to 1 and 1/4 cups organic sugar to a saucepan, along with 3/4 cup of organic cocoa. Sift it together and add 1 cup of water. Mix it together well and bring to a low boil. Let it boil for three minutes and remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and let it sit to cool. Then, just add it to a lovely bottle, and you are all set–delicious chocolate syrup, which is great for milk, ice cream, or, apparently, a peanut butter and banana smoothie.
3. Tortillas
When I learned about the amount of glyphosate in American breads, I set out to make all of our bread goods from scratch. Organic wheat can still contain some glyphosate from contaminated water, but I’ll take less of that stuff for sure. I knew it would take me a bit to start making all of it from scratch, but I started with tortillas because we eat a lot of tortillas with snacks and meals. Plus, making our own tortillas meant we could use some whole wheat flour that Ron grinds. It’s so fresh and so good–and so much cheaper.
Making tortillas ourselves has been such a good deal, especially since we only want to eat organic breads. And, I have to tell you that there is almost nothing better than a fresh tortilla hot out of the pan.
Because we use olive oil, there is not as much of a cost savings, but there is still some. And you don’t have to use olive oil, though I highly recommend it for overall health.
To make homemade tortillas, combine 4 cups of organic flour (could be a little more or less depending upon the type of wheat flour you use or if you just use all-purpose flour), 6 to 8 Tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 and 1/2 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Combine with a spoon and then your hands until you have a solid dough that is not sticky. If it’s sticky, add a little more flour.
Roll into a bowl, and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Then, cut your dough into 8 to 10 equal pieces, depending upon how big you want your tortillas to be. We make burrito size, so we get 8 tortillas from this recipe.
Now comes the tricky part that will get easier with time and practice. Roll the dough out into thin, tortilla sized pieces. This means a lot of rolling, but it’s great exercise. You will need a good rolling pin! I am never able to make my tortillas perfectly round, but my husband, the Virgo, makes them just about perfect. Still, they taste great, even if they are sometimes shaped like the state of Texas.
My favorite little treat with our homemade tortillas is to fill one with about 1/3 cup of homemade applesauce and then top with some freshly-grated cheddar cheese. Melt in the microwave, wrap the tortilla, and enjoy a delicious and healthy snack!
4. All the Breads
I started with tortillas, but I kept going. We now make every single bread or bun we eat in our home, and it saves us so much money–even without the sourdough starter. We still use yeast. One of our staples is a French bread recipe I modified years ago that we can use for everything from a soup side to sub sandwiches (I just shape the dough into tiny loaves).
Easy French Bread Recipe
2 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil (or other oil)
2 Tablespoons honey
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
about 3 cups of organic flour (again, depends on type of flour you use)
egg white for brushing
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and form into a dough. Knead for five minutes. Clean, dry, and oil your bowl and cover with a damp towel. Place it by a wood stove if you can, but let it rise for between an hour and an hour and a half.
Roll the dough out thin to about 1/3 of an inch and then roll it up, tuck in the ends, and shape it into a French bread shape. I a not the greatest at this, as the dough sometimes bosses me around, but I am getting better with practice. I am learning how to be a little more forceful with the dough.
Cover with your damp towel and let rise another half an hour. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 375 and prepare your egg white. When your dough is ready, slice little cuts into the top to make it look like a French loaf, brush with the egg white, and bake 18 to 22 minutes, depending upon your oven. Basically, you want to be able to thump the loaf and have it sound hollow when it is done.
Here are some links to some recipes from the web that we use as well:
Martha Stewart’s Classic White Bread (only Ron makes this with wheat flour)
5. Pizza Crust for Homemade Pizza
I just checked and a single, thin organic pizza crust is $10 at the grocery store. You can make two thick organic pizza crusts yourself for about half the cost of one at the store. We use our homemade sauce and top with whatever is in season in the garden, but you can top how you please, of course.
This recipe is so easy, but it does take a while to rise. You will want to plan ahead, but it’s so worth it. It’s the best pizza crust I have ever tasted, and my family can’t eat even the best pizza from local restaurants now. This recipe was modified from The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. If you want to save money on your grocery bill, buy this book! This recipe makes one pizza crust, but I always double it to make two because my son is 6’4″ and eats a whole pizza by himself.
Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 to 3 and 1/2 cups organic flour (some combination of white and wheat to your taste)
Directions
In a very large bowl, add the water, yeast, and sugar, and let it sit about five minutes. It should bubble a little. Add the rest of the ingredients until a ball forms and then knead the dough about five minutes. I have a very large bowl and just knead right in the bowl. Remove the dough, wash and dry the bowl, and then lightly oil it. Put the dough back in, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise about 10 hours. Don’t worry. The plastic will not touch your dough as long as you bowl is big enough.
After that 10 hours is up, pull out the dough and place it on a floured surface for rolling and shaping. It’s ready to go after you add your sauce and toppings. Cook at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until your pizza looks done and bubbly to your liking. One trick I learned from Alana Chernila is that you don’t want to put your sauce on the dough until you have all the ingredients ready and can just throw everything on. If the sauce sits on the dough too long, it will make your dough soggy.
OK, I realize that’s a lot to take in. I hope this is a helpful post. We save so much money and eat so well thanks to making things from scratch. It does take a bit more time, but I work full time and have a farm and a son who is a cellist, so I try to keep things fairly quick. The key to the pizza is to just start it in the morning, so it can do the work on its own all day.
Good luck, and let me know if you try anything. Oh, and if you have a tip on a delicious money saver, please share it!