Did Not Expect to See This at Target

First reaction:  Is that mango juice?
Second reaction:  The Philippines brand??
Third reaction:  For real?
Fourth reaction:  On sale???
Fifth reaction:  Am I still in Cleveland?

Worst Cheese in the World Meets the Worst Bread in the World

It all came together in SuperPretzel Softstix, cheese filled soft pretzel sticks.

I knew it would be bad, but I was unprepared for how bad they really were.  The worst part was that they had not sufficiently warmed up in the oven in the time indicated by the package, so the first one I tried was warmish on the outiside, but cold on the inside.  Fake-ish cheese really needs to be hot to be palatable.  It really, really does.

How to Screw Up Muffins

Muffins are so forgiving to bake.  But they can be screwed up.  Here's how I did it!

• Use raspberries that have been in your freezer for ... no one really knows how long.  
• Over-oil the muffin pan.  Be super sloppy about it so that oil drips out of the muffin pan during baking.
• Pull muffins out midway because there is an alarming amount of smoke coming out of your oven.
•  Leave the half-baked muffins out while you try to clean a hot oven and wipe off the residual oil all around the pan.
• Put the half-baked muffins back in the oven an hour later.
• Take them out when done.  Observe how they turned green.  Note how they taste really weird. 

Exactly How Much Money We Saved By Roasting Our Own Coffee Beans

Our coffee roaster.  Love it, love it, love it.

Foodgoat has been roasting his own coffee beans for over a year now, and filling the house with the lovely smell of freshly roasted coffee has become a weekly ritual.  The coffee tastes delicious and  the types of beans and roasts we can try increased tremendously.   Plus, I have a much finer appreciation for the subtleties of coffee flavors and nuances.  We have a big basket filled with beans ready to be roasted, so we never run out of coffee.  It sets off the smoke detector every single time he roasts, but it's well worth it, both in taste and in price.

Recently though, I calculated just how much money we saved by roasting our own coffee.  Here's the breakdown.

How much we paid roasting our own beans:

• Cost of coffee per year, 45 lbs of coffee beans in one year, for two people = $293 (from Sweet Maria's, with shipping). 
• Cost of coffee per pound = $6.50
• Cost of coffee per day (our French press holds 51 ounces) = $0.80
• Cost of coffee, per person, per day = $0.40
• Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.02

How much we would have paid if we used Starbuck's bestselling bag of whole roasted beans, French roast (which, by the way, I cannot believe is the most popular roast, because it is AWFUL):

• Cost of coffee per year, 45 lbs of coffee beans in one year, for two people = $540
• Cost of coffee per pound = $12
• Cost of coffee per day= $1.48
• Cost of coffee, per person, per day = $0.74
• Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.03 

How much we would have paid if we used those terribly wasteful, mediocre-tasting single-serve K-cup things:

• Cost of K-Cup box from Amazon (50 servings, each makes 8 oz) = $29.99
• Cost of one K-cup, each makes a puny 8 oz = $0.60
• Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.07 
• Cost of coffee, per person (assuming 2 K-Cups for one person) per day = $1.20
• Cost of coffee per year, for two people = $876

How much we would have paid if we bought coffee at a coffee shop every single day:

• Cost of one 20 ounce (Venti size) brewed coffee = $2.00
• Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.10
• Cost of two people buying one coffee each per day = $4.00
• Cost of coffee per year for two people = $1,460.00

And just for the heck of it, how much we would have paid if we bought a fancy espresso drink (San Francisco price) at Starbucks every single day:

• Cost of one 16 oz latte = $3.55 
• Cost of brewed coffee, per ounce = $0.22
• Cost of two people buying one coffee each per day = $7.10
• Cost of coffee per year for two people = $2,591.50

So, to recap:

Cost of coffee for our household over one year:

• (Lattes) From Starbucks: $2,591.50
• From coffee shop: $1,460.00
• Using a single-cup brewing machine: $876
• Using bagged whole roasted coffee beans: $540
• Roasting our own beans: $293

By roasting our own coffee instead of buying regular brewed coffee at the coffee shop, we save $1,167 over a year.  Over $1,000!  If we bought lattes, it's over $2,000!! 

Okay, we never in our lives actually bought coffee from a coffee shop every single day.  Does anyone actually do that? 

But by roasting our own instead of buying already roasted beans we still save $247 a year - over $20 a month. 

Of course a roaster does cost money initially, but a dedicated machine costs about $150, still less than what you would spend buying roasted beans in a year, and will last a few years.   And of course, there are even cheaper, DIY ways to go about roasting. 

And maybe you want to support your local coffee shop and coffee roaster, and enjoy the relaxing coffee shop atmosphere.  Nothing wrong with that!

But roasting your own coffee beans at home will save you money, and potentially a lot of it.

Because with all that cash Foodgoat has saved by roasting coffee, he has ... well, I'm not sure what he's done with it.  I think he's bought more beer.

The Best Use of Leftover Fish ...

... is fish tacos. 

You can't even see the fish in this photo, but it's there, and believe me, it's good.