5 Products You Can Make Cheaper Than Buying Premade

You probably already know that when you buy pre-made foods in a box that you are mostly paying for the convenience of it. What you may not know is exactly how much you are paying for that convenience and how much time it doesn’t take to make the product yourself.

While some things on this list are things you are willing to pay extra for, others are not and you may just decide that making them yourself is the way to go.

1. Microwave popcorn. Purchase an air popper and you will save so much money on this movie time snack. A bag of plain popcorn is less than $2.00 and you can get 10-12 bowls of popcorn out of it, making it less than a quarter a bowl and pennies a serving! Plus, you can eat it plain or with any toppings you want and control the flavor and fat.

2. Flavored yogurts. Each serving costs between 40 cents and a dollar when you buy fruit flavored yogurt. If you buy plain vanilla or unflavored in larger tubs and add fruit preserves to it, you can make it much more frugally.

3. Spaghetti sauce. Everyone has a “secret sauce” recipe for this, but if you are not sure where to look for it, just check Pinterest. Making your own spaghetti sauce is amazingly cheaper. You can make gallons on it for about that same price as a couple jars of the other stuff. Plus, it freezes really well so it can be saved for many meals. If you are worried it is time consuming, don’t. You can make it in a crick pot.

4. Gourmet Coffee. This one is kind of more of a cheat than myself telling you not to buy it at all. You can make your gourmet flavors go further by buying half gourmet and half cheap brand. Just mix together and you will not even notice a difference. If you want to add fancy flavors, try adding cinnamon to it!

5. Any Individual sized snacks. These are HUGE money wasters. Just buy large boxes and bags of your favorite snacks and bag them up yourself. You will save more than half the cost in many cases. Hint: “Baby” carrots are not a magical type of carrot. They are just cut that way by a machine. You can save a tin by cutting up your own carrots and individually bagging them.