Okay, I'm inspired by all the Starbucks talk to discuss how my family and I gave up on our near-daily Starbucks addiction. As usual, you can save a bundle and not have to give up much if you're willing to work a little harder. In heaven, you probably get this for breakfast every day: a lovely Starbucks coffee drink and a muffin. Ahh... Here on earth though, there are consequences to this breakfast. First, figure you're easily going to spend $6 a pop. That's about $168/month if you have a daily habit. If your husband has the habit too, double that. If your child does, triple it. Yeah, it adds up fast. Don't forget Starbucks just raised their prices today too. The other consequence is that this breakfast is full of fat, sugar, and calories. Now, to be fair, over the years Starbucks has tweaked their pastries so that they are smaller and there are no trans-fats, which is great! But it's still not the healthiest thing to eat every day. I still love Starbucks. We go there maybe once or twice a month still as a family for a treat, and it feels more like a treat because we don't go as much as we used to. Just sayin'. To make your own coffee drinks at home, all you really need is a moka pot. You can get them forLog In or Walmart or wherever you like to shop. Get yourself some coffee at your local grocery store and grind it on the "espresso" setting. It is really easy to make stovetop espresso at home with a moka pot. Once you have the espresso, then you can add milk, if you want to. Just heat the milk up in a pan on the stove. Or, if you want to get fancy and have $100 laying around, you can get one of these... I have this Nespresso brand milk frother at home and use it frequently. It does a great job of heating and frothing enough milk to make two lattes at a time, and it's super easy to rinse out and clean.Log In, but after we renounced the daily trip to Starbucks, suddenly we were able to fit that into our budget. Some of our favorite drinks are: -- Americano: A shot or two of espresso in a coffee cup, then fill the cup up the rest of the way with hot water. -- Cappuccino: A shot or two of espresso in a cup with just some milk foam on top. If that's a bit intense for you, add a little hot milk to the espresso too. Sometimes for dessert I like to serve up cappuccino with sugar or honey and a little cinnamon or nutmeg in the bottom, then top with milk foam and put a little more of the sugar and spices on top. If you don't have milk foam, some Cool Whip is yummy too. Another thing you can add are flavored syrups like Torani. -- Latte: A shot or two of espresso with the rest of the cup filled with milk and topped with a little milk foam. Sweeteners, spices, and flavored syrups are all great with these too, and since they have more milk, people who find the taste of espresso overwhelming will still enjoy these treats. -- Cafe au lait: Skip the espresso altogether. Pour yourself a cup of coffee about 2/3 of the way full, then fill the rest of the cup with milk. Sweeteners, spices, and flavored syrups can all be added here too. You can pour any of these over ice to get iced coffee, or blend with ice in a blender for a "frappe" (milkshake) effect. I also save coffee that isn't consumed in the morning by freezing it in ice cube trays, then blending it with milk and espresso for delicious cold drinks in the summertime. Most mornings, the family is satisfied with some cereal. However, to really have the full Starbucks experience, it's great to bake up some easy muffins. Here is my preferred recipe: 2 cups white whole wheat flour (or use All-purpose if that's what you have on hand) 1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 Tablespoon baking powder 1 cup milk 1 egg 1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened Mix together the dry ingredients, and then add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spray your muffin pans well (don't use paper liners, because they are lowfat and will stick) and bake at 400 degrees for 16 minutes. Enjoy!
The only time I was "addicted" to SB was my last crap job that was literally sandwiched by 2-3 stores. I told myself that I deserved it for facing another day but I knew the whole thing was a joke. As for their products, some are okay but often tasteless. The few things that are worth the indulgence have a short shelf life.A few of these are the coffee cakes (which have disappeared more than once for trendy sweets despite being a longtime favorite), flavored nut mixes and house sandwiches that were pricey but tasted good for when a person couldn't pack a lunch.
Oh wow, that's impressive. Great way to save money, it's amazing how many of the drinks you buy at Starbucks can be easily replicated at home.
Starbucks' pastries used to be really terrible back in 2005, which was great for me, because then I was just addicted to their coffee. But then they improved the quality and freshness of their pastries, and they keep improving. Curse them! My weakness is really the muffins and, yes, the coffee cakes. The best thing for me is just don't go in the door to begin with! At least not too often.
I had a job that was located right next to a Starbucks and of course it hit my pockets heavy cause this was the first known stop when a break came for us. But as soon as I landed a new job those days were over. I started making coffee at home in the morning before leaving home and making my own lunch and breakfast.
I've only had Starbucks two or three times in my life and felt ripped off by the prices. I can't imagine having a daily addiction to $6 coffee. All the big box stores sell milk frothers and frappe machines so I think that a lot more people are making coffee drinks at home. It's easier than it looks.
I'm not keen on Starbucks at all - there are other chains which I much prefer. However, they still cost money. In the mornings, I make my own coffee in a thermal travel mug to take with me. I prefer making my own as I like my coffee to be stronger than the drinks that the stores serve. I have saved myself a small fortune by making my own but I never feel deprived. The only time I buy coffee outside the home now is if I'm on a shopping trip and need a pick-me-up halfway through.
I make my own coffee and muffins. The price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks is not something I am willing to pay. I have friend that goes to Starbucks at least twice a day to get coffee, I will go with her just to chat sometimes but I really will not pay that price for something I really don't like, I don't like Starbucks coffee. I am a very frugal person, that's nicer than saying I am cheap.
I used to be really into Seattle's Best and Caribou Coffee, and was constantly buying bags of their beans each week to brew their coffee at home, but I had to nix that as well because as you noted, it adds up really quickly. I was spending about $120 a month on beans (3 bags a week). Not to mention all the charcoal filters for my coffee machine. I quit buying fancy coffee beans when the price of gas started going through the roof, and I started a new job with an hour long commute each day. Plus, the job itself had fantastic coffee for us all for free, which I totally took advantage of. They had a bunch of Bunn coffee makers in the cafeteria, and some vendor who would bring in these individual foil bags of fresh ground coffee, that was actually really good. To make things even better, all the water in our cafeteria was filtered, so it tasted just as good as bottled water right from the tap.
