Coffee - Key to My Survival

I have to have my coffee in the morning.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

But I’ve never been lucky enough to be able to enjoy it black.  I can only really find it palatable if I add a dollop of my very favorite coffee creamer, French Vanilla Coffeemate.

It’s too bad I’m not man enough to take the stuff black.  Really, that is the best Frugal way to go.

So I buy the commercial coffee creamer in the half gallon size, which is about $5.48 a pop.  Ouch! But they have me over a barrel - I’m an addict.

Disaster loomed today.  I saw that I was just about out of the F.V.  I had enough for today’s hit, but not enough for tomorrow.

This put me in a bit of a quandry.  It is almost exactly one week ’til payday.  I have done a great job with spending since last payday, I still have a little something in the checking account, but I really wanted to not spend anything at all until the next paycheck.   Just as a little Frugal challenge for myself.

So I had no alternative.  I would have to figure out how to make it myself.  And I did.  And it’s pretty darn good.

First I found a recipe for liquid Vanilla Coffee Creamer (just Googled it).  This recipe called for sweetened condensed milk, which I don’t have on hand.  So I had to make that, too. I found an easy blender recipe for it at Hillbilly Housewife, where I always know I can find recipes for cooking from scratch.

This sweetened condensed milk recipe made three cups.  I decided to only use half of it.  So I took 1 1/2 cups out of the blender, put it in a recycled margarine container that I had previously written “Teriyaki Sauce” on, and stuck that in the freezer for a later batch.

To the stuff left in the blender, I added 1 1/2 Cups liquid milk and 1 TBSP Vanilla extract.  Whirled it for a few seconds, and there you have it.

I remember I made another version of this quite some time ago.  I liked that, too, but the problem - it involved a bit of stovetop work.  So I didn’t find that convenient enough to fit into my regular Frugal routine.  I kept buying the $5.48 stuff.  This is all blender work - No More Excuses!

It is really good.  More vanilla-y than the commercial stuff, and a little thinner, but it will probably thicken up in the fridge after a while. I don’t really care about that, though. I think I can use less than I usually do with the store-bought stuff, too, because it seems a little sweeter (and more vanilla-y).

So, how much does this cost? I’m not sure, because I am too lazy to work it out, but I’d be very surprised if some melted margarine, sugar, dry milk powder, a little vanilla, and a bit of liquid milk would add up to $5.48, even if I did make a 1/2 gallon of the stuff.  But I do know what it didn’t cost me: gas, extra stuff I would buy at the grocery store “just because I’m already here”, a cardboard container I would throw away when the store-bought stuff is gone, lots of exotic and exciting chemicals (my homemade stuff doesn’t have any of that stuff).

Also, it’s good to know how to make sweetened condensed milk, too.  I don’t use it very often, so I don’t typically have it on hand.  Now I can just make it right when I need it.  The Just-In-Time movement comes to my kitchen!

So I think this is the way to go for me and my coffee from now on. Here it is, in a recyled honey container.  I can’t wait to get my hands on that coffee!