Ways to Economize in These Days of High Food Prices

One year when I lived on the island of Guam in the South Pacific, Thanksgiving came and I could find no corn meal any where on the island to make my cornbread dressing for our turkey. I was really upset. My ex-husband said not to fret, he and his family were broke one year in Alabama and had the same problem; however they did have canned hominy (which after all is corn) so he taught me how to make cornbread out of hominy.

This goes to prove that you can economize and make things yourself from ingredients you might have in the house. When we were to go to Iran, I began collecting recipes on how to make all kinds of ingredients that would be too expensive to buy over there. (Ketchup was one such thing as they wanted $30 a bottle for it then.) Since then, I make many of my own mixesor sauces and hardly even, buy what I can make. You might call me cheap, but I prefer to think of myself as frugal. Now with the economy like it is, I find a lot of people are interested in the subject of trying to save as money gets tighter and food prices soar. Here are a few suggestions I hope will help make your life a little easier. Why buy what you can fix yourself for 1/2 the cost?
There are many sites that give recipes for making your own soups, drinks and lots of things. I have listed three such places on the supporting list

HOMEMADE BISCUIT MIX
(Will store nicely for four months.)
5 cups flour ¼ cup baking powder 1 Tablespoons salt
¼ cup sugar or sweetener equivalent 1 cup Crisco
Mix all but Crisco well about six times. Then cut in the Crisco
With your fingers.
Be sure to put a bay leaf in the jar and it will keep out the weevils and other bugs.

TO make BISCUITS:
Mix together 6 oz milk with 2 ½ cups biscuit mix plus
2 TBS Butter.
Roll out and cut to biscuit shapes, bake on ungreased baking sheet
at 450 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes.

To make WAFFLES:
Mix together 2 eggs, 1 1/3 cups milk, 4 Tbs melted butter and 2 cups of biscuit mix.
Pour into a waffle iron and bake till done

To make QUICK COOKIES:
Mix together 3/4 cups homemade biscuit mix , 1/4 cup vegetable oil ,
1 egg, 1 pkg any flavor Instant pudding mix
Mix all ingredients together and pinch off 1" ball of dough and roll in your hands.
Place on a ungreased baking sheet and press down with the palm of your hand until flat.
Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes till browned. Make about two dozen cookies.
Great for a treat especially when you find out you are about to get unexpected company.

HOMINY CORN BREAD
(I figured you might ask for this, so am adding this too)
Mix together: 1 1/2 cups of yellow or white hominy, 1 cup milk,
1 Tablespoon of shortening or butter that is melted,
2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt , 1 teaspoon baking powder
Drain the hominy well and place it in a blender with the, eggs, and milk and blend well..
Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder.
Let it sit for 5 minutes.and see if you need to add any extra milk, if it is too dry you can add a little more milk or water
Pour this mixture into a greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes at about 400 to 425 degrees until it is a nice shade of golden brown.

Have fun saving those pennies!