Money Saving Tips: Make Food From Scratch!

I've been wanting to add some money saving tips to the blog for awhile now, and since I made homemade pasta for supper I thought this was a great place to start. About a year ago, I decided to start eating healthier. I started buying more veggies and fruit. I wasn't really buying too much junk, but I wasn't planning meals balanced enough. Just by adding more veggies and fruit into my meals, and less junk, I started saving between $25 - $50 a month on groceries. Later, I started making bread from scratch, and then eventually noodles. I would typically spend about $8 a week on bread; about $10 on noodles would last us a few months. For less than $10 I can make almost twice the amount of noodles! It only takes about an hour to make noodles, plus time to let them dry, but they typically cook faster than store bought noodles and they are so much healthier, and they taste so much better! I know some of you are thinking it's just too much work to make pasta from scratch, but it seriously does only take about an hour and I only have to do it about once a week. I make one batch of noodles, and it makes enough for about 8 servings.

Some day I would like to try making other things from scratch, such as mayo. I make my sauces from scratch also, and my pizza sauce is absolutely yummy! Plus, I love knowing that I'm making healthier choices for myself and my family, while being so much better tasting than the stuff you buy in the stores. I really love that I'm able to take the time to do this for us :)

You can also make your toothpaste from scratch! I do this myself, and wow it's amazing how much better it works than store bought toothpaste. I'll never need whitening, that's for certain! My boyfriend smokes cigarettes, and he was even amazed at how well this worked against his yellow teeth. Just after 1 use his teeth were remarkably whiter. I use a simple mixture: equal amounts baking soda and salt. I usually put some hydrogen peroxide on my toothbrush first, then just dump some of the "paste" on my brush. It really does work great. My friend Trisch makes a bit more advanced formula and explains it on her blog.