Barley, rice and other flours

Ever wish you had barley flour? Or rice flour? Those things are expensive to buy, but if you have a good blender or a grain mill, you can make your own easily. They're grains, just like wheat. Get it? You can even make bean flour from dry beans (uncooked!).

Frying bacon without curling

Ok, I'm back... just couldn't stand it when I have only a little to say. :)

You could buy something to hold the bacon flat when you're frying it (it can curl even in the microwave, I've found!), but simpler and cheaper because you don't have to buy anything extra: Lightly dust the bacon strips with flour before frying. The fat will fry out of it, and the flour will lightly crust and make the bacon hold its shape. It tastes great, too!

Save flour

When you finish kneading or rolling out dough, don't just clean up with a dishcloth. Instead, use a butter knife to scrape the remaining flour into a cup or bowl, then sift it back into your flour container and throw away only the scraps.

Cheapest bread and cereal

If you're where you can, buy wheat or other grains from a local feed store. (Be sure it's NOT seed grain because that's treated) Winnow it when there's a breeze by pouring it back and forth from one bowl to another. Mill into flour or cook for cereal, etc. Google Wheat berry recipes for some ideas.

Self rising flour

Sorry, I've been missing! Life gets in the way sometimes...

Don't buy self rising flour unless you can get it cheaper than all purpose flour. First, it's not very healthy, since it has a lot of salt in it and secondly, it's very easy to make as you need it. Take a cup of all purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix it thoroughly. If you use it a lot, mix up a bigger batch and store it just like you would any flour.

Forget the Bisquick

Why would you buy something when you can make it cheaper with very little trouble? Here's a self rising crust that's great for cobblers. For meat pies, just omit the sugar!

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 TB oil
Enough milk to make a thick but pourable batter.

Mix it all up and dump it in a baking dish, put the fruit in on top (two cans worth) and bake about an hour at around 400 degrees.

Use it all

Always use all of everything. Turn bottles upside down and drain to get the last bit from them. Tear open sugar and flour sacks to get it all; squeeze or cut open tubes of anything to use it all before buying more. You bought it to use, not throw away.