How to Be Frugal by Making Your Own Recipe or Homemade Ingredient Substitutions

Being frugal is as simple as making common (and not so common) and expensive ingredients for recipes. As someone who does not cook or bake much, I dislike buying large amounts of something that I am only going to use once or twice in a year. Solution...substitute and SAVE MONEY TOO!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• See individual recipes.

1. ALLSPICE - Equal portions of Nutmeg + Cinnamon + Cloves. Put in an air-tight container.

2. BAKING POWDER - 1 teaspoon baking soda + 2 teaspoons cream of tartar + 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional). Mix together and use immediately.

3. BROTH - CHICKEN OR BEEF - 1 Cup boiling water + 1 bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon of bouillon granules. Buy cubes/bouillon in bulk. Use in recipes that call for broth. Also, no cans to recycle or to go into a landfill!

4. BUTTERMILK - Rarely used and expensive to buy for minimal use. Just under 1 cup Milk + 1 tablespoon of white vinegar OR lemon juice. Add vinegar OR juice in a cup and add enough milk to bring liquid up to the one-cup line. Mix and let stand in room temperature for 5 or 10 minutes. Use in your recipe.

5. CAKE FLOUR - Don't have it on hand? 1 cup of All-Purpose flour + 2 tablespoons of corn starch.

6. CORN STARCH - I end up using this all the time in soups and gravies. If a recipe calls for a teaspoon of corn starch, substitute double the amount (2 teaspoons) of All-Purpose flour.

7. EVAPORATED MILK - 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk + ¾ cup water. Mix together and use in any recipe.

8. GARLIC SALT - 3 parts of Salt + 1 part of Garlic Powder. Mix and put in air-tight container.

9. HALF & HALF - 1 cup of milk (no low fat) + 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine, melted. Mix well and keep refrigerated.

10. HEAVY CREAM - ¾ cup milk + 1/3 cup melted butter. Melt butter and pour it into the milk and stir. Use in place of one cup of heavy cream.

11. HONEY - 1 ¼ cups of white sugar + ¼ cup of water. Mix the two ingredients to replace honey in a recipe.

12. NUTS - We love nuts in our recipes but not very frugal so replace the nuts in your favorite recipes (cookies, cakes, muffins) with equal part of rolled oats, crispy rice cereal or granola. Nuts are usually added for added texture and these substitutions usually add that nice texture.

13. ONION POWDER - Peeled onions finely chopped. Spread onions out on cookie sheet and put in the oven on 150 degrees. Cook until onions are dry (crumble easily). Take out of oven and let cool. Grind onions down to a powder using any method such as food processor, spice mill, coffee grinder, rolling pin with onions in a bag, etc.

14. SELF-RISING FLOUR - 4 cups flour + 2 teaspoons of salt + 2 tablespoons baking powder. Combine the 3 ingredients and store in air-tight container. Makes 1 pound of flour.

15. STEAK SAUCE - Simple and tasty. ½ cup tomato ketchup + ¼ to ½ cup Worcestershire sauce. More Worcestershire sauce makes a stronger and browner steak sauce. Mix together with spoon. Great for steaks, hamburgers, meatloaf, etc. I like it with chicken nuggets!

16. YEAST - Equal parts of Baking Soda + Lemon Juice.

Tips & Warnings

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