Make It Yourself Mondays

Welcome to Make It Yourself Monday!

With the economy tight and my budget seemingly smaller, I thought it would be nice for all of us to share our recipes and tips for making food from home. Fast food and packaged foods can be a budget busters and they are full of ingredients that takes a dictionary to pronounce. By making more foods at home we can save money and know what we are eating. There's no carageum or hydrogenated whey in my list of ingredients!

When deciding to cut my grocery budget, I have to listen to my family's needs (read: wants). They like their easy to prepare, pop it into the microwave and pop it into the mouth foods, especially my husband. So, in order to keep them all happy and not begging for fast food or packaged food, I like to keep a supply of my own creations on hand to satisfy their wants.

My kids love Hot Pockets. Did you just hear that familiar "Hot Pockets" commercial in your head?! I did. Weird! There it is again, la la la la "Hot Pockets"! Here are two ways to start making your own Hot Pockets. The first way involves buying some pre-made stuff and the second is entirely from scratch. The normal cost of a package of Hot Pockets is $2.50 around here. That gets you 2 stuffed-crust sandwiches. Both of these recipes gives you the same product for a lot less.

First Way:

1. You need some pre-made bread. I buy either pre-made pizza crusts or packages of crescent rolls, whichever is cheaper at the time.

2. You need some meat and cheese fillings. Some combos include sliced ham/cheddar, pepperoni/mozzarella, cooked chicken/cheddar, etc. I buy combos that are on sale.

3. You can add in some cooked veggies like broccoli, chopped onions, peppers, etc.

Just roll the crusts out and cut into a bread pocket size. Put your meat and fillings in the middle and bring the sides of the dough up and pinch closed. Place seam side down on a baking sheet and bake at 350 until lightly brown. Cool and place into Ziplock freezer bags.

If I use 2 pizza crusts, 1 bag of cheese, and 1 type of meat I usually spend about $8 and get a total of 15-20 sandwiches depending on size. This equals about $.50 for each sandwich instead of $1.25.

Second Way:

Make your own bread dough by either making a yeast roll mix or homemade pizza dough. Add to this leftover bits of cheese, meats, and veggies that you have stored up or found on sale at a low, low price. (I currently have a ton of cheese!). Cost of this method equal about $.10 per sandwich.

Either way I'm saving money and my kids and husband are happy. Another great idea is to getyour kids involved in making these so they can create their own combos of flavor. Then you have a cooking lesson, convenience food, and happy family all in one. Your turn! Add a link or post a comment on a way you "Make It Yourself" and save money.