Luxury on a Budget: Coffee Creamer

I'm not a huge coffee drinker. Particularly not by Seattle standards. However I do consider it a pleasant treat. Sometimes I really need the caffeine boost. Sometimes just the smell and taste is enough of a placebo.

I'm going to digress for a moment into coffee shop preferences. I love my local places. I feel like I'm supporting friends and contributing to my neighborhood. But with prices, I have to consider this almost charity. I don't feel like my goods totally live up to the price. I'm ok with this though, every once in a while, because, like I said, it makes me feel good. But it's an occasional treat. If I get invited out more than I'm comfortable with, I'll stick to tea.

I also love Starbucks. I know. I'm a materialist sheep. But here's the thing. They're a GREAT company. The give their employees great benefits and they spend time and money on making their customers feel appreciated. For Christmas last year, my aunt gave me a Starbucks membership. It was $25 for the year and it meant I got 10% off any purchase plus free wifi. They ended up changing this program so now there are different levels and at the top, you get free customization. I got automatically bumped to the top because of my pre-existing membership but to get free customization and wifi you only have to go five times in one year. Not too hard for most people. And I did the math: if you buy your five drinks, after going to Starbucks 17 times, it will be as though those drinks were free. With this gold status my soy vanilla latte is the same price as a regular latte and I can enjoy it while perusing the internet. Plus they have the free iTunes song cards and do things like "Free Pastry Day" (my reduced fat berry coffee cake is waiting for me). Basically Starbucks has bought my love.

Now I know that Starbucks is a HUGE corporation and to apply the same standards to these local shops is like comparing apples and oranges but it doesn't change the fact that for now it is more affordable for me, I feel like a rockstar, and I like rewarding impressive marketing (I was also a business major and can be a major business geek).

Back to the subject at hand. Even with the perks from Starbucks, I still can't afford coffee very often. I could make my own drip coffee at home...except that I can't. I swear you need a degree in organic chemistry to find the right balance of water, coffee, milk, and sugar to make it drinkable. Or I'm a 22 year old still incapable of making coffee. At home, my parents make instant and add some coffee creamer:



but that can be expensive, too.

But wait! This is something you CAN make at home.

14oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
14oz. milk of your choice
2 tsps. vanilla extract

I tried this for the first time today and it was pretty dang good. Let’s see how prices compare.

Latte out: $.45/oz.
Store bought creamer: $.25-$.30/oz.
Homemade version: $.14/oz.

I think we have a winner!

For more flavoring ideas look here.