Mixes, mixes, mixes!

In my attempts to save money and streamline my meal planning I decided to investigate homemade baking mixes. Over a period of several weeks, I looked over some of the many mix recipes that are out there. After trying various ones I compiled my own by mixing and matching. Through experimentation I made tweaks to each recipe so I feel that I can share them with you.

I decided that I would invest $20 and purchase these containers at Walmart. I am very thankful I did. I believe they were each about $3. All but one of the mixes did not fit in the 1 gallon containers. The baking mix was about double. So, I put the remainder of the mix in a tupperware and stored it in the freezer.

Because these mixes were to put together to make baking quicker and easier, I decided to also print out the recipes for each one on these tags and hang them on the back of the mix jar. Then I would also have the recipe handy, and wouldn't have to take the time finding the recipe each time I wanted to use it.

Using the same template, I created labels for the front as well. I printed the labels on label paper and the recipes on card stock so they would hold up better.

I bet you could substitute powdered buttermilk in the pancake mix? That could be yummy too! If you are using margarine for your shortening than you do need to store it in the fridge. If you use crisco or oil you can store it in the pantry. Have you ever heard of Alison's Pantry? They make a vanilla powder that you could use in these mixes, to eliminate a step when you're using the mix. As far as the pizza dough being a quick mix, it might be a little more challenging. Mostly because you would use yeast instead of baking soda or powder for the leavener. I believe that yeast doesn't do very well being stored at room temperature. An option to this would be to store your premade mix in the freezer. Then the yeast would be fine. The other option would be to include everything in your mix except the yeast, then just add the yeast with the liquid as you would do for other mixes. That would probably be the easiest. When my children were young we lived off of these mixes. My son's favorite was the coffee cake. If any of my kids started, but didn't finish, an apple, I tucked it in the fridge and planned a coffee cake in the next 48 hours. I chopped the flesh into raisin sized pieces and stirred them into the batter and sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on top. This would work with pears, too Made the muffin mix yesterday and a added cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix. I have learned that I can make up the biscuit mix, put them on a wax paper lined baking sheet and put them in the freezer to freeze. Once frozen hard you put them in Ziploc bags and use as many as you want. You can also make up cooked pancakes and put them up in the freezer too. there are a couple of the recipes that make more than 1 gal. The all purpose mix makes about 2 gal. The muffin recipe does as well. The tortilla recipe makes about 2 gal as well, if you make the whole batch. All the others should be 1 gal or less. The biscuits make about 12. Muffins 12 also. The pancakes are 8-10. http://www.redflycreations.com/2012/07/mixes-mixes-mixes.html?spref=fb

Brownie Mix:
8 cups sugar 6 cups flour 2 cups cocoa powder 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder 1 Tbsp salt To Make: (this is the recipe that is on the tag) (just lightly mix the ingredients, if you beat them a lot it gets too much air in the eggs and gives more of a cake-like texture.) 2 1/4 cups brownie mix 2 eggs beaten 1/3 c melted butter 2 tsp vanilla Pour into an 8x8 " pan. Serves 8-9 (these brownies are quite thick- about 2"-- if you want them thinner place them in an 9 x 13 pan. They will be about 1/2-1" thick then) Bake for 30-35 min at 350 degrees. (25-30 min. for the 9x13 pan- serves 12-15)

All Purpose Quick Mix

5 lbs flour (20 cups) 4 c. dry milk 3/4 cups baking powder 2 Tbsp salt 1 Tbsp Cream of Tartar 5 cups vegetable shortening

(you should not use margarine or butter in substitution for the shortening unless you are going to refrigerate your mix) Biscuits 3 cups quick mix 3/4-1 cup water Spread 2 tablespoons of melted butter on biscuits before baking. Bake for 10-12 min at 450 degrees Try to handle the dough as little as possible, as this will create rubberiness if handled too much. Shortcake 3 cups quick mix 2 Tbsp sugar Bake 10-12 min at 450 degrees Coffee Cake 3 cups quick mix 1 cup water Filling 1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla

1 egg (optional: add 1/2 cup sour cream to make it creamier)

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine quick mix, sugar, egg, water and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Prepare filling by mixing dry ingredients together, then cut in the butter. Spread half of the cake mix, half of the filling, then the other half of the cake mix, then the other half of the filling in an 8x8 pan. I used a 2" deep pan and it filled the pan to the top. So, you could probably use a larger pan and the cake would be just a little thinner. Bake for 40-50 min. (mine was done in 30 min.) The original recipe I found only had half the filling recipe and used it only in the middle. The coffee cake really needed some sweetness sprinkled on the top though. So I double the filling and sprinkled the other half on the top----much better!! Cinnamon Roll Biscuits 4 1/2 cups baking mix 1 1/3 c milk 2 T butter 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 T. cinn

Glaze: 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-3 T milk

Mix together mix and milk. Roll out the dough on floured surface. Spread butter, then sprinkle on brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Roll up the dough and cut into 2" wide slices. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 min. Mix together the glaze then spread on rolls when cooled a little.

Homemade Tortilla Mix

(I just made half of this recipe) 16 cups flour 2 Tbsp baking powder 2 Tbsp salt 1/2 cups shortening To make: 2 cups of tortilla mix 1 cup of water Divide dough into 15 little balls, cover and let them rise 10-15 min. Roll them out as thin as you can get them. (You can use a tortilla press, but I have found that a rolling pin works just as well, or better) . Fry on a dry, hot griddle, about 2 min. on each side or until little brown spots begin to appear. If it takes longer than 2 minutes your griddle is not hot enough. The consistency you are looking for in the dough is almost like play dough. If it is too crumbly they will not roll out well. That is why the water amount is so varied. Depending on the humidity of the day, you will need more or less.

Pancake/Waffle Mix
8 cups of unbleached flour 2 cups nonfat dry milk 1/2 cup sugar 3 Tbsp baking powder 1 1/2 Tbsp baking soda 2 tsp salt To Make Pancakes: 2 cups mix 1 3/4 cups of water or milk 1 egg 2 Tbsp vegetable oil To Make Waffles: 2 1/2 cups of mix 2 cups of water 3 eggs 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Corn Bread Mix

4 cups flour 4 cups yellow cornmeal 2 cups dry milk 1 1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup baking powder 1 Tbsp baking soda 2 tsp salt To Make: 1 1/4 cups cornbread mix 1 egg beaten 1/2 cup water or milk (butter milk is even better!) 2 Tbsp oil Pour into 8x8" pan. Bake 12-15 min at 425 degrees (you can also make corn muffins by baking them in muffin tins for 15 min. at 425 degrees)

Muffin Mix
12 cups flour 4 Tbsp baking powder 1 Tbsp baking soda 2 tsp salt 4 1/2 cup sugar Plain muffins: 2 3/4 cups mix 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1/4 cup oil Bake 15-18 min at 400* Optional Streusel Topping: 1/2 cup of flour 1/2 cup of brown sugar 2 tbsp butter Cut the butter into the flour/brown sugar mix. Pour half of muffin mix into half of muffin cups. Sprinkle half of the streusel, then cover with the rest of the muffin mix, and finally top with the rest of the streusel. Blueberry Muffins: 2 3/4 cups of muffin mix 2 eggs 1 cup sour cream 1/4 cup milk 1 cup blueberries 1 tsp vanilla Bake 15-18 min at 400*

The final cost:

$20 for the containers @ $3 each $ 6.36 for the 20 lbs of flour $2.38 for a large container of Baking Powder $2.19 for 4lb sugar $4.00 for shortening All the other ingredients I already had on hand. Probably the most expensive item, if you don't already have it in your pantry, is the powdered milk. So about $35 total. Only about $14 if you take out the containers. Not bad considering you have the equivalent of about: 8 brownie mixes 6 muffin mixes 8 cornbread mixes 5 pancake/waffle mixes 8 tortilla recipes that make at least 15 tortillas each 8-9 shortcake/biscuit/coffe cake mixes

Mix together: 2 1/4 c brownie mix 2 eggs 1/3 c melted butter 2 tsp vanilla

Quick Mix

Coffe Cake: 3 cups quick mix 1/3 cup sugar 1 egg 1 c milk or water *Bake at 350 for 1 tsp vanilla!! 40-50 min. Filling: 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp cinn. 1/4 c butter

Pour into an non greased 8 pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 min.

For Biscuits: For Biscuits: 3 cups quick mix & 3/4 cup milk or water. Bake at 450 for 10-12 min. For Shortcake: 3 cups of quick mix, 3/4 cups of milk or water, and 2 Tbsps of sugar. Bake at 450 for 10-12 min.

Tortillas: Mix 2 cups tortilla mix 1/3-1/2 cups of water. Cover with plastic and let rise 10-15 min. Roll out and fry for 1-2 min. on each side on hot griddle.

Mix: 1 1/4 cup cornbread mix 1 egg beaten 1/2 cup water 2 Tbsp oil Bake at 425 in 8x8 pan for 12-15 min.

Regular Muffins: 2 3/4 cups of mix 2 eggs 1 cup of milk 1/4 cup of oil Bake at 400 for 15-18 min.

Blueberry Muffins: 2 3/4 cups of mix 2 eggs 1/4 cup of milk 1 cup sour cream 1 t. vanilla Bake at 400 for 15-18 min.

Waffles: 2 1/2 cups of mix 2 cups of water 3 eggs 1/4 veg. oil Pancakes: 2 cups of mix 1 1/2 cups of water 1 egg 2 Tbsp of oil

Quick Mix

Tortilla Mix

Muffin Mix

Brownie Mix

Pancake & Waffle Mix

Corn Bread Mix