Reducing the Butter Recipes

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

We do a lot of baking in this house, from muffins to quick breads, to supplement our regular meals. I especially like to make muffins, because they can be used for a quick breakfast or a snack, and they freeze well.

Recently, though, I have been trying to get by with less butter. It is getting very expensive here, and I haven't found many good sales lately. If we continue to purchase butter as we normally would, our grocery bill would expand out of our budget. As a result, I've had to change my baking schedule a little bit, to accommodate a reduction in the amount of butter we use.

For some uses, we have been able to substitute the less expensive margarine. We can use it as a spread and in some limited stove top cooking, although I usually use olive oil for the latter. I can also add it to frozen vegetables for a quick microwave side dish. But I have never found margarine to perform as well as butter in baked goods, so I just can't bring myself to use margarine for baking.

Instead, I've been choosing more recipes that do well without butter, such as corn bread or corn muffins, bran muffins and carrot muffins. The resulting muffins are just as filling, more nutritious and help stretch the budget. Once in a while, I will bake a favorite muffin, such as chocolate chip for the family.

I've also looked to other types of goods to act in the place of those muffins, such as whole wheat pancakes or waffles, both of which can be grabbed on the go and heated in a microwave or toaster oven, just as muffins might.

Another baked good recipe that I can make without butter is homemade dinner rolls. They are easy to make in the bread machine or by hand, and they can serve as emergency bread for sandwiches if needed.

Are there any foods that you have reduced or eliminated to reduce your grocery budget?

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.

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