Frugal Brownie Mixesby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 08 Aug 2007 04:00 PM Just the other day, I posted an article about saving money on those expensive cookie mixes. Prepared food, such as cookie mixes can be a very expensive addition to your grocery bill. Well a comment by a reader asked if I had any ideas for frugal brownies intead of cookies. In fact, I do have a couple of tricks up my apron that allow me to save money on brownies. I did post an article back in February that gave some tried and true tips. It was called Frugal Tips for Brownies, and it mostly covered baking brownies from scratch, which of course is probably the most inexpensive way to make this treat. But, if you don't like to bake from scratch or you just don't have the time, you can use boxed brownie mixes. And, you can still save quite a bit of money on boxed brownie mixes with a couple of tips. First, buy the cheapest brownie box mix that you can find. Aldi's has a very good boxed brownie mix for very little money. I have to admit that I never have tried this particular mix myself, but several friends and readers of the Frugal Living Blog rave about the Aldi brownie mix. Once you have your inexpensive store bought mix, then you can enhance it. One very easy way to do this is to use olive oil instead of regular vegetable oil when preparing the brownies. The brownies will be very rich and taste as if you bought them from a fancy bakery. As an added bonus, olive oil is a good fat for your body to have. Another way to make make cheap brownie mixes taste more expensive is to frost them. No, don't buy those expensive pre-made frostings. Instead, make your own using unsalted butter, unsweetened cocoa, confectioner's sugar and vanilla. For vanilla frosting, just leave out the cocoa. Get creative with add-ins to enhance your inexpensive boxed brownie mix. Use whatever you have on hand to be frugal. Chocolate chips and walnuts are wonderful, but don't be afraid to try bits of marshmallow, mini candy bars, broken candy canes, etc. Using what you have on hand is very frugal. Enjoy! Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Computing Blog here at Families.com where she shares everything from the latest news on technology to cool downloads and fun websites. Related Articles: More Budget Baking (and Cooking) Substitutions Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Tashi (1013) 09 Aug 2007 12:10 PMHey, thanks!! I appreciate the info. After I posted my comment the other day, I did indeed find the frugal brownie recipe wrote about in February. Since brownies (frosted, with nuts, no less) are one of my favorite indulgences, I will absolutely try out the idea you mentioned. I'm partial to homemade frosting, as I've always favored my mom's over all others. Community Tags brownies, baking, frugal, inexpensive, Kids Discuss this article
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