There are lots of ways to save money on the foods we eat every day. One of them is to hunt down coupons for the things you’re already buying. Another is to make everything yourself. In this article we’ll talk about ways to combine these two ideas.
The fact is that coupons serve a valuable purpose to any family on a budget. Coupons give us the chance to save a few cents or (if we use them regularly) quite a few dollars on the things we use every day. They also give us the chance to try new brands that we’ve had our eyes on but have been unwilling to spend money on. Because, quite simply, why spend money on something we don’t already know for sure we’ll love?
The truth is that there are quite a few places to find the coupons. For example, if you are planning a birthday on a budget, you can click here for great savings on birthday treats. These coupon codes can be used for other celebratory days as well.
For other coupons, check out:
- The newspaper
- Magazines
- Websites devoted to coupons
- Websites devoted to the products that you use regularly
- Discount sites
But what if, in addition to wanting to save money, you also want to improve your health? The problem with buying most foods these days (especially snacky foods) is that we do not get to control what ingredients are used. If you want to control what you put in your body, you need to need to make your food and snacks yourself.
It sounds like a daunting task in the beginning but it is actually quite simple! Here is a great recipe for home-made fruit snacks that you can make right now.
Apple Fruit Leather!
Fruit leather, if you didn’t know already, is the food on which the fruit rollups you ate as a kid are based.
Create a puree of apples (you can peel them or not, it doesn’t matter) and lemon juice. Use a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for every quart of fruit. Simply chop up the fruit and put the chunks through a food processor with the lemon juice.
Line a cookie sheet with a sheet of plastic wrap that has been coated in cooking spray (you can rub butter on it if you don’t have or want to use cooking spray). Spread the puree out on the wrap/sheet so that it is about a quarter of an inch deep. Make sure that the puree is divided equally by tilting the tray, not by using a knife. When there is no space left on the tray to cover you’ll know that you have an even level of puree.
From here you can either dry the puree out in the sun (it takes a few days, depending on the heat and humidity levels where you live) or in the oven—cook for a few hours (usually around four or five) at the lowest possible oven temperature (usually around 140 degrees). Make sure you leave the oven door cracked open a few inches.
You’ll know it’s done when the leather is tacky to your touch but can be easily peeled off the plastic wrap. Peel back the leather about an inch or so to test.
You can use coupons here too—simply find produce coupons or deals with your local produce farms! You can also find coupons for the plastic wrap, cookie sheet, maybe even the food processor!
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