I have something that may prove helpful for your family's budget and health! I made a video almost a year ago that goes over twelve things I've basically stopped buying from grocery stores. I want to share those with you here, including some recipes and links not included in the video.
Canned sodas - Even though I'm a Diet Coke fiend, I transitioned to drinking my own homemade kombucha (since I made this video, I have fallen off the wagon and bought some Diet Coke here and there 🤫.) BUT, Kombucha is much better for you, cheaper, and really yummy. It is a process, but for me it's worth it! There's tons of recipes out there--here's one.
Seasoning mixes - I stopped buying premade seasoning mixes a while back, and it has been a game changer! Now I'm not drying my own herbs (yet!) or anything, but just knowing what ingredients I am mixing together for these makes them so much healthier and yummier than the premixed ones. Here's a PDF of my taco and ranch seasonings.
Salad dressings - I love salads so much, and now that I make my own dressings, I love them even more. My kids' favorite is going to be my Big Mac Salad Dressing, but honestly when you home-make your own Italian, Ranch, whatever, it's going to taste better than those sitting on the shelves with all those preservatives and additives. At the bottom of the ranch seasoning link above, you'll also find how to turn that seasoning into yummy dressing or dip.
Yogurt - I haven't bought yogurt in a long time! Yogurt is so easy and great because once you get into the groove of making it, it's just a thing that essentially reproduces itself (in a way!) I basically get yogurt now for the cost of a gallon of milk, which is WAY cheaper than a gallon of yogurt in the store! Here's the link to an Instagram video I made with the step-by-step. Give it a try if you haven't!
Pasta sauce - We always used to buy bottles of what we call “spaghetti sauce,” but we haven't in a long time because making our own red and white sauces is so simple and waaaay yummier. I highly recommend this to freshen up a meal in an easy way.
Cereal - Except on special occasions (kids' birthdays!), we no longer buy cereal. This is for a number of reasons, including how junky the modern store-bought stuff is. It's also expensive and it just works out better to make homemade granola, something I've actually done since my oldest kids were pretty small. Here's a link to an IG video of mine with my recipe.
Bread - Even though my kids were skeptical of my much-healthier bread long ago when I first started making it, now they miss it if something happens and I stop making bread for a while. There are so many benefits to making your own bread, including that your house smells amazing! If you haven't tried making bread at home, there lots of great recipes out there to get you started, here's my go-to
Heavy whipping cream - Because we buy raw milk, the milk we get has a layer of cream on the top of it. You can shake the bottle up and it makes some nice, creamy milk, but what I usually do is scoop off the cream and use it as our heavy whipping cream. It's so delicious and another great reason for you to consider buying raw milk if you don't already!
Shredded cheese - Long ago, we stopped buying shredded cheese in the store. Yes, packaged shredded cheese is super convenient, especially for a big family like ours, but there's cellulose in the shredded cheese you buy, which has up to 9% wood pulp in it, plus it's more cost effective to shred it yourself. One way to make the shredding easier is to use a food processor or handy rotating cheese grater, like we do. Here's a link to some of our favorite kitchen gadgets, including the rotary cheese grater we love.
Mozzarella cheese - Another thing we stopped buying a while back is mozzarella. This cheese is not super simple to make, but it is so much more tasty freshly made at home, especially if you do have access to raw milk. Like anything, making this right takes practice, but we feel it's worth it for the results. Here's a link to a step-by-step with pictures on the process.
Cottage cheese - Another benefit of raw milk is that is doesn't go bad like pasteurized milk, it just sours. So if I have any of our milk that's starting to sour, I let it sit out and clabber (a natural process where milk curdles) and then heat it, strain it, add salt (maybe some cream) and YUM! That's it! Here's a step-by-step for cottage cheese.
String cheese - When I look back on past grocery hauls, I would buy a lot of string cheese! While it is super convenient, the cost really adds up and I noticed my kids would just mindlessly consume it (I think the packaging called to them.) Now, I buy big bricks of raw milk cheddar from Azure Standard and we cut that up. It's healthier and more cost effective.
I hope this list gives you some ideas for things you could start to make at home yourself (if that's something you want to do!) They really are all doable, but I understand that there's a season for everything, so don't feel bad if the time for you to implement any of these just isn't right now! The idea is that they will actually help you either financially or in regards to health or both, but that doesn't work if they just bring more stress to you, Just some ideas for you to take or leave!
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