9. Baking Mixes

Boxed mixes for cakes, brownies, and pancakes are certainly convenient. They bundle together the dry ingredients, saving you a few minutes of measuring. However, these mixes are essentially just flour, sugar, salt, and leavening agents—some of the cheapest ingredients in the entire supermarket. The markup on these convenience boxes is enormous.

A typical box of brownie mix costs around $3.00 and requires you to add your own expensive eggs and oil. For just a little more than that, you could buy a five-pound bag of flour, a four-pound bag of sugar, and a container of cocoa powder. These staple ingredients would be enough to make ten or more batches of brownies from scratch, bringing the per-batch cost down to pennies. The same logic applies to pancake mixes and cake mixes.

The Money-Saving Move: Build a Baker’s Pantry

Stock your pantry with baking basics: all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder. With these items on hand, you can make almost any baked good from scratch by following a simple recipe. Making pancakes from scratch, for example, takes less than five minutes of extra work compared to using a mix.

Not only is this approach far more economical, but it also gives you complete control over the ingredients. You can reduce the sugar, use whole wheat flour for more fiber, or avoid the preservatives and artificial flavors often found in mixes. Your homemade treats will taste better and be better for you, all while saving you money.