I've been looking for some new low cost dessert options recently. I typically make cakes, pies, crumbles, cookies or brownies, ice cream, jelly, and of course fruit salads. Sometimes I'll just have a piece of fruit too, but a piece of fruit just isn't the same when it's for a special occasion of some sort. I definitely prefer something a bit more indulgent then! What sorts of desserts do you make that are low cost? How do you save money on what you make for dessert?
Well, desserts aren't too expensive to make unless you're making something extravagant. I typically make a good cheesecake or do something fun with food coloring. I suggest you look at some things on Pinterest. They have tons of amazing ideas that can made cheaply.
If you have a Safeway card and digital coupon site at safeway.com clicks acct. there is Safeway's $5 Fridays with desserts going for just $5! Check their site on Wednesdays for each $5 Friday deals-if you can stand the sugar in the bake goods go for it! There is Jello and low or no sugar whip cream too for an economical dessert. If Jello you bought on sale from CVS or elsewhere then it'll be even cheaper. I love cereal with low sugar on sale like Trix that was onsale at Times Supermarket last wk. 14 oz for 2.50, a sliced banana and silk soy unsweetened milk for dessert too. Walmart has a quick sale area near their pastry dept., though you've got to check the quality and etc. plus eat it fast for it's older pastries on quick sale. Sorry not much of a baker, so I look at the sales for packages or cake boxes with frosting of Betty Crocker or Pillsbury on sale usually at CVS from time to time-so much cheaper and saves time if the ingredients are okay for you & your family (these days you've got to check the ingredients and nutritional values). I hope these help and good luck saving money!
Desserts can be cheap to make especially when you reuse a lot of the ingredients. One of my favorite desserts to make is a watergate salad. I make it using pistachio pudding, whipped cream, canned pineapples, pecans, and marshmallows. Pistachio pudding is relatively cheap - typically under a $1. For some odd reason I always find whipped cream for 2 for $5, and nuts and marshmallows can come in really large sizes which are great for other uses. Pinterest is great to look for other dessert recipes also based on what’s in your kitchen at the time.
I find making desserts so much cheaper than buying desserts at the grocery store. So just making desserts is a money saver. For a quick dessert I like to make chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies or brownies. I always have those ingredients on hand. I buy butter when it goes on sale and keep 3 or 4 in the fridge for baking purposes. Of course there is always jello which is super cheap to make and the kids always love it. To add some nutritional value I'll chop up strawberries or apples and add it to the jello.
In the UK we have bananas and custard. It's really cheap and really tasty. Trifle is really nice too and that is super cheap to make, it's just jelly and fruit with custard and cream,yummy.
Here we have lots of dessert items that are sold for cheap and come in small quantities so it's easy to just buy some but if we want something simple and inexpensive to make at home then we usually just make a mango graham cake that's no bake. From what I know it's made of graham crackers butter and brown sugar as a base and the cake itself is also made of graham crackers and condensed milk. It's pretty good and if you do it cleanly enough it doesn't even look that cheap and when you eat it you don't really feel like it's that much of a compromise because it really is a pretty good recipe in itself.
Why not try using fruit as the main ingredient in a more fancy dessert? You could try making fruit sorbet for example, it's great and really refreshing, although might take a little more skill and planning than other desserts. Stuffing bananas with chocolate chips and then roasting or barbecuing them is also fun and tasty. You could also try them with custard as someone else commented, bananas are really cheap.
I would second the Graham Cake recipe. We always make this on special occasions. All you need are the following:Graham CrackersCreamCondensed MilkCanned FruitsAnd that's it really. Then you would need to create three layers of this to make the cake. The first layer would be the graham crackers laid side by side. Then add in the condensed milk and the fruits. Add another layer of graham crackers but instead of the condensed milk, use the cream and then the fruits. The last layer would be another graham crackers with some condensed milk and fruits as well. Another one we love is called Buko Pandan. The ingredients are:Coconut JellyMilkSugarYou just mix them all together and serve chilled. Yum!
Making homemade or boxed brownies is defintely cheap and easy on the wallet. Desserts like Tapioca pudding, any kind of pudding is really not expensive to make. A good old fashioned dump cake is quite affordable, especially this time of the year when the canned fruit toppings are all marked down. A fresh fruit cobbler can also be made affordably, and seasonal favorites like strawberry shortcake don't cost much either.
My grandma would always make peaches and cream as a desert. It is quite simple you buy some peaches and a half-half cream and add a little sugar in it. In Germany, there is also the desert where you put berries in cream and add some sugar as well. It tastes good and is not that sweet either. Other than that we also like to make vanilla puddings becausthey are also reasonable in price.
I used to make boxed brownies all the time because my local store has the mix regularly for $1. You have to add oil and egg, but that's about it. However, I started making my own brownie mix and now spend about .30 cents per batch (plus oil and eggs) to make one of our favorite desserts. Here is a basic recipe for making your own brownie mix:Log In. I have used several recipes and like them all pretty much the same, so just try a few that you find on google and you will get one that suits you. I also triple or quadruple the recipe for the mix so I can always have some brownie mix on hand. It's convenient. However, our all-time favorite cheap recipe is for bread pudding! We volunteer at a local food bank and they also give us an extra bag of food to take home with us. It almost always contains day-old bread and half of the time also contains a box of raisins. The eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, butter and milk (which round out the rest of the ingredients) are almost always things that we have on hand at any given moment. The last time I made bread pudding, I was really tired and took a nap after it came out of the oven. When I woke up from my slumber, dear hubby had eaten the entire 8X8 pan of bread pudding. Like I said, it's everyone's favorite in this house!
