Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Crackers To Save Your Budget

You may already know from previous posts about saving money when shopping that I often carry food with me to eat before shopping. This is because studies show that people lose ability to resist impulse buying when they are hungry.

This even applies to impulse buying for non-food items. If you have any weakness for hardware or tools, going into a hardware store when you are hungry will fatten your tool chest and slim your wallet. 

If you like clothes or shoes, or crafts, the same thing will happen if you go shopping when you are hungry. You will end up buying things you would probably not have bought if you had not gone shopping when hungry.

Keeping something handy to eat before shopping can save your budget. You can go to a fast food place or restaurant instead, but that certainly won't save you money. You would simply spend it differently.

I use food to carry that is small and light. That often means some kind of dried, or dehydrated food and crackers. I bring water to drink. My most frequent choice is dried fruit and nuts with the crackers.

That is actually a balanced meal and can be healthy. I often make my own crackers to bring. They are not very difficult to make and are healthier than store crackers, because they can be much fresher without chemicals and salt. I pick something to make the crackers that isn't GMOs. (Read my posts about morgellons if you don't know why you might not want to eat GMOs.)

Here is my recipe for the oat crackers that I make most often:

I am looking up equivalents for recipes in metric. I hate to leave non-USA readers to their own devices.

Oatmeal Crackers
1 1/2 c rolled oats, ground to a coarse flour in a blender. (A food processor or mortar and pestle or grain grinder work too. Or you can buy oat flour from a health food store.)
1 c (236.59 milliliters) whole wheat flour
1/4 c plus 1 T(4.93 milliliters) vegetable oil
1 T (4.93 milliliters) honey
1/2 c (118.295) milliliters water

Preheat oven to 350F (176.667 Celsius). Lightly oil a baking sheet. Combine oats and flour in a medium-size bowl. In a large bowl blend oil and honey together. Stir in flour mixture and water, and mix just until dough is smooth.

Press or roll dough to 1/8 inch (0.318 centimeters) thickness on prepared baking sheet. Cut dough into 2-inch (5.08 centimeters) squares with a sharp knife. (A pizza cutter is easier.)

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pan.

Makes about 4 dozen (48 :-) crackers.

I often make the crackers thinner and use two pans for them. You must reduce the cooking time a lot when you do this.

These crackers are very good and it is difficult to keep them around. You have to keep making more. They are healthy, so it is a better than a lot of other things to eat.

These crackers are also very healthy for your budget when you use them to keep from spending money on things you don't really need. It is much cheaper to make these than buying store crackers. You win in all different ways with these crackers.


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