5 Things that are Cheaper and Healthier to Make Yourself #3

With our wonderful veggie box has come a lot of veggies that need to find uses before they go bad. This past week we tried our hand at making some wonderful chicken stock, since we also had a chicken carcass around. It was sooooo easy, and even better you can change it up however you see fit. It's also a great way to use veggies that are a little wilted like carrots, celery, etc. Best part: none of that MSG and other not so exciting/healthy stuff. Here is the bare bones recipe:

Chicken Stock
Ingredients
Chicken Bones/Carcass
Veggies
Spices
Water

Directions
1. Prepare any veggies and any fresh spices by cleaning, peeling, and cutting them into pieces that can Fit in the pot. No need to make small pieces.
2. Put chicken and veggies/spices in pot.
3. Fill with enough water to cover.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a long time (we did about 8-10 hours). Skim off any fat that rises to the top and stir occasionally. Your house will smell amazing!
5. Pour entire contents through a mesh or other fine strainer into another pot or large bowl.
6. Allow to cool and then refrigerate. Remove any fat from the top.
7. Freeze in whatever portion size you wish.

Now what kind of veggies and spices can you use?
Here's what we put in ours (what we had on hand):
Leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, dill, parsley, basil, pepper
Other veggies/spices that work well:
Parsnips, bay leaves, scallions, thyme, mushrooms, turnips

You can also make a veggie stock in a similar way.

How does it compare cost wise? Hard to say. But if these are thing that normally would end up in your trash (who wants to snack on limp celery and carrots), then it saves you money. You use something you would have thrown away and you gain something you would have purchased. Win-win in my book!

5 Things That are Cheaper and Healthier to Make Yourself- #2

The second thing that we've recently tried our hands at making on our own is laundry detergent. Laundry detergent is not cheap, sometimes we get some good deals to make some kinds free or cheap, but these don't seem to be often enough for my family. The recipe I used is actually the one used by the Duggars. I figure with that many kids, they must do a lot of laundry, and thusly it's probably a good recipe. You can find it on their site HERE. I've copied the text here for ease of use.

Liquid Laundry Soap
Ingredients
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

Directions
1. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
2.Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
3.Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
4.Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

So how does this break down in cost? Well here was the cost for all the ingredients when I made it:
Borax- $2.99
Washing Soda- 2/$5
Fels Naptha- 99¢
Granted for the Borax and the Washing Soda, I only used part of the box. I have a front loader so even using the cost of the whole box it equals about 1¢ a load, so in reality it's a lot less then that . You can also use other soaps such as Ivory, so you could bring it down even more if you get a good deal on that. It's worked well for our clothes.

You can also find a recipe for powder detergent on their site as well. You can find that HERE.

5 Things That are Cheaper and Healthier to Make Yourself- #1

So while thinking of things to write on here lately, I've thought a lot about things we've been making ourselves here at home that have been huge successes, and that's when I came up with this series.

The first one I've grown quite fond of is Taco Seasoning. For dinner today, we had taco salads and I whipped up a new batch of taco seasoning. I think I like it more then those little packets, and well it's just healthier for you. Most commercial taco seasoning contains MSG and a ton of salt, which just isn't good for anyone. MSG can cause allergic reactions in a lot of people, and for a lot of people it causes headaches. The other great thing about making your own taco seasoning is you can add as much or as little as you like to adjust the spiciness of the food. I like to make a large batch of this and store it in an old spice jar.

Most of the spices listed are common spices that most people have in their pantry. A large jar of any of these spices is usually only $1-$3, and you could make several batches of taco seasoning with it. I don't have exact numbers, but each batch would cost about $1, and each batch makes about 15-20 servings (obviously using more means less servings). That means each serving is about 5¢. Price of a packet of seasoning is usually 50¢ (for store brand) to $1. Occasionally we can get a packet free with the purchase of something else, or get the name brand for store brand price, but it's still 50¢.

My absolute favorite part of the homemade version is the flexibility of it. You can vary the amounts of spices, change the spices a little, and change the amount you use in the dish. For example, I've substituted regular salt and seasoned salt for the sea salt before. I've also used dried onion instead of onion powder. If you are watching your salt intake, you can use less salt or use a salt substitute.

Here is the recipe:

Taco Seasoning
2 TBSP Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Paprika
1 TBSP Ground Cumin
2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tsp Black Pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in an airtight container.
2. To Use: Drain off grease from pan. Add 1/4 cup water and 1 TBSP seasoning per pound of meat, more or less to taste.

Enjoy!