Going Back to Homemade

I'd like to become less dependent on instant food. Early this morning I was trying to think of ways I could do it. I love cooking from scratch but 2 years of being a student/wife/mom made me docile towards instant foods (where before I detested and shunned them). Not to mention instant foods never add up to the same quality or price savings as making homemade.

So here are some things that I have been using:

1. Instant oatmeal
2. Hot cocoa mix
3. Laundry soap
4. Rice-A-Roni
5. Pancake mix (only during our move - I seriously always make my pancakes from scratch, but I know there are homemade pancake mix recipes out there)
6. Bread
7. Pancake syrup (Eww. I don't even know why I eat the stuff.)
8. Cereal
9. Macaroni & Cheese
10. Tortillas

Of course, for me, the solution for most of these is replacement or making them myself. I am already using my own homemade laundry soap, I found the 100% whole wheat bread and granola recipes from heaven, and I have tried going back to my childhood by putting apple sauce or honey on my pancakes. (A solution my thrifty mom thought up since she never bought pancake syrup.) As a teenager I also thought up another solution since I so desperately wanted that maple syrup: honey with maple flavoring. It's a little intense since it's honey, but it still is really good. Now that I'm a grown up I occasionally buy real maple syrup, but dang, that stuff is expensive!

The key to satisfaction and self-sufficiency is definitely not laziness or what the media terms as "time-saving" but really taking the time to fill your life (and tummy) with good homemade things - things that you can proudly say that you made yourself and where a "Made in China" sticker is nowhere to be found. At least that is what I think.

Later, I will post the recipes for the bread, granola, laundry soap, and other mix recipes that I have. Give them a try!