I started this back when I was pregnant.  The idea was that after having a baby, I would be busy taking care of him and standing over a hot stove just wouldn't be an option.  So I spent some time coming up with ways to make my life easier once I reached that point.  This meant making and freezing meals to cook or reheat later and.... mixes (gasp)!!  [Note - I didn't know at the time that I'd be dramatically changing my diet after L was born, so all of this great prep work had to be set aside/used by everyone but me...]


I know - some people really like those store-bought mixes for things like cakes or cookies, pancakes or biscuits (and just about anything else you can imagine).  I love the idea behind them - the quick convenience of throwing only a few ingredients in a bowl and coming up with a finished product that would have normally taken a lot longer.  However, I have a hard time buying a convenience item with all kinds of ingredients that I can't pronounce, when I know that I can make it from scratch and that mine will have good, natural ingredients and taste a whole lot better!

So, in order to make my life easier, I started going through my recipes to see how many of them I can turn into mixes.  Making your own is not difficult at all, and it allows you to customize your mix to recipes that you know and love.  When I make my Mixes, they are essentially just the dry ingredients for a specific recipe, in bulk.  I never add powdered milk or eggs for a "just add water" kind of mix.  I find that adding the natural, fresh ingredients just tastes so much better, and cracking an egg really isn't that difficult!

All it takes is a few steps at the beginning, and you'll always have something quick and easy on hand.  A pancake mix definitely makes mornings easier, but if there's a specific cookie or cake recipe that you make often (or would like to) it would be a perfect candidate for a Mix as well.


How to create your own Mix

Step 1: Mix together all the dry ingredients for your original recipe that you're wanting to make into a Mix.

Step 2: Measure how much "powder" you have.  If you plan on using a special scoop for your Mix, you need to know how many of these you'll need.  Otherwise, you need to know how many cups the combined dry ingredients makes.  (Alternately, you could weigh it.)

Step 3:  Double, quadruple, or multiply the recipe by whatever number you need to fill the container you've chosen to store the Mix in.

Step 4:  Label your Mix.  Be sure to write down the "recipe" - how many cups of the Mix (dry ingredients) to mix with the wet ingredients and how to cook it.


A few tips:

Be sure to write down the multiplied measurements as you go.  This saves you the trouble of figuring out all the measurements the next time you need to replenish your Mix, especially when you're trying to fit it all into one container.  

When writing out the "recipe" for the Mixes, I break it down to one egg ratios.  Basically, however many cups of the Mix I need per egg (when the recipe calls for eggs) and the proper amounts of any other wet ingredients.

If including a fat in the Mix (such as the Crisco in the Pie Crust Dough or Biscuits), it is best to keep the mix in the freezer or refrigerator.  The Mix will last a lot longer this way.  Otherwise, fats go rancid quickly, and that's never good.  If stored properly in the freezer, my Pie Crust Dough Mix will last anywhere from 3 to 6 months!