There are a lot of ways to save money in the kitchen. We all know that making homemade cookies is cheaper than buying a cookie mix, but maybe you’ve never questioned some of the other mixes you buy at the store. Actually, you can find copycat recipes for your favorite mixes really easily. This is a great way to save a little money, and in most cases, your homemade mixes will be healthier. Store-bought mixes often have MSG or other harmful additives.
There are a lot of recipes for mixes available if you take a minute to do a quick search online. The next time you are considering buying a package of some mix (salad dressing, chip dip, etc) you might want to first peruse the Internet to see if you can find a recipe.
I really like Lipton Onion Soup Mix. I use it especially for onion dip and for oven-roasted potatoes. I found a few slightly different versions of the recipe online. Here is my favorite copycat:
Onion Soup Mix
3/4 cup minced onion
1/3 cup beef bouillon granules
4 teaspoons onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container. About 5 Tbsp. of mix are equal to a 1.25 oz pkg.
Besides just onion dip and soup, there are a lot of other recipes that you can use this mix for. Find more recipes for Lipton Onion Soup here.
Here is a recipe for one of my favorites—hot chocolate. Try this instead of buying it at the store:
Cocoa Mix
Makes enough for 10 quarts or 40 one-cup servings
15 cups instant dry milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Mix well.
To use: Mix 1/2 cup cocoa mix with 1 cup hot water.