MONEY SAVER: Make Copy-Cat Coffee Creamers at Home, Cheap

If you are like me, you'd try to squeeze two dimes out of a nickel. We know that can't happen, but there are things you can do to save money around the house.

Will doing just one little thing differently save you a bunch of money? Not likely, unless it is something drastic like dropping cable, selling an extra vehicle, or downsizing your home. It's when you do a bunch of little things differently that can add up in savings.

Eating out a few times a month less, walking to the grocery instead of driving, turning off lights, and eliminating phantom power drains are all little things you can do that will add up to decent savings. Oh, and making your own coffee creamer.

"I like my cream and sugar with a little coffee" is the go-to joke for those who don't drink their joe black, and I fit that description. I'll go through about three of the 32 oz. bottles of the liquid gold known as coffee creamer per month at my house. At around $4.50 a bottle, that can add up.

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You can make your own copy-cat creamers at home for less.

When you combine the cost of store-bought creamers with the fact that I can't pronounce many of the ingredients in those store-bought creamers, homemade coffee creamer begins to taste better and better. Google Shopping lists the ingredients in the Nestle Coffeemate Italian Sweet Cream Liquid Coffee Creamer:

WATER, SUGAR, VEGETABLE OIL (HIGH OLEIC SOYBEAN AND/OR HIGH OLEIC CANOLA), AND LESS THAN 2% OF MICELLAR CASEIN (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, MONO- AND DIGYLCERIDES, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SALT, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, CARRAGEENAN, SUCRALOSE.

What are the ingredients in homemade coffee creamer? According to this post on Facebook, it's simple:

Sweetened condensed milk
Milk or cream
Flavoring(s)

It's that simple. And, from the looks of things, less chemical-ly (is that even a word?).

Take, for instance, the homemade recipe for the Sweet Cream-flavored creamer.

Sweet Cream

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 3/4 heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR the inside of a vanilla bean, scraped
1 teaspoon almond extract

BOOM! DONE!

via Google Shopping

The recipes on this post are so simple and basic.

The "Pros" of making the copy-cat creamers at home include: saving money, you are able to adjust the recipe to your liking, you can make as much as you want.

The "Cons" include: shorter shelf life (if you use milk) and, if you are not a fan of cooking and don't like recipes...well, you get the picture.

I am eager to try some of these at home and even more eager to start saving money! Click the link below to pull up all of the copy-cat recipes for you own, homemade, coffee creamer.

Try these recipes and let me know which was your favorite or what adjustments you made to the recipe to make it better!