Drink Special

Instead of buying gourmet coffee, which usually does taste better than the cheap stuff, add a teaspoon or so of sugar to your usual cheap grounds.  It really does make a difference.  This should be an obvious point but drink your coffee in a ceramic mug!  Plastics of any type change the flavor and make even the best coffee taste cheap and sour.

Don't buy creamer - make it.  Dry creamers are easy and cheap to make and keep for several months, as long as they're stored in airtight containers.  They also dissolve into coffee much better than commercial creamer.  Mix together equal parts sugar and powdered milk.  If you buy the powdered milk in bulk, it's MUCH cheaper in the store.  Do you have any idea how much volume one pound of powdered milk fills?  It's *a lot.*  Add ground spice to taste.  For two cups of creamer, I find 1 Tablespoon of spice is about right.  I just mixed up a pumpkin pie blend last night, it smells absolutely wonderful.  

For a little more variety in flavor, add a handful of sliced nuts to the sugar/milk mix.  Let these sit for about two weeks before opening them.  Half a vanilla bean works wonders.

In high school, I *loved* the International Cafe instant coffees.  But my money had to go towards school, piano lessons, and clothes so I stopped buying the stuff.  But now I know how to make them myself for much less money.  Take two cups of any creamer concoction you love and add an 8oz jar of instant coffee to the mix.  You can blend the whole thing fine in a food processor or blender if you want.  Voila!  Yummy instant coffee for pennies on the dollar.

Want gourmet flavored coffee?  Try tucking a couple vanilla beans into a can of your usual grind.  Or some sliced nuts and/or dried fruit.  Let these sit for a couple weeks before digging in.

I didn't have store bought hot chocolate mix until I was out on my own.  My mom always made her own mix.  I recently found a recipe that's pretty similar to what she always mixed up.  One-quarter cup cocoa powder, 1 cup sugar, and 7 cups dry milk.  Mix ingredients together in a quart jar. Put 4 Tablespoons hot cocoa mix in a cup and pour in boiling water.  Stir and cool slightly. For specialty flavored cocoa, tuck vanilla beans, sliced nuts, dried fruit, fresh herbs like mint or edible flowers (jasmine, lavender, nasturtiums, hibiscus), or coffee beans into the mix and let sit for two weeks before serving.